Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: biotech/medical – Page 509

The journey of aging brings with it an unavoidable reality for many: an increased accumulation of body fat.

Though much of society seems mostly focused on the aesthetics of being overweight, doctors look past any cosmetic concerns to focus on the health implications of fat byproducts in the body.

Fatty acids are one of the molecular building blocks that make up fats. Though essential for various bodily functions, excessive amounts of fatty acids in the body can be harmful, shortening a person’s health span and life span by increasing their risk of chronic disease, disrupting metabolic processes and promoting inflammation.

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Stanford researchers have developed a new phase-change memory that could help computers process large amounts of data faster and more efficiently.

We are tasking our computers with processing ever-increasing amounts of data to speed up drug discovery, improve weather and climate predictions, train artificial intelligence, and much more. To keep up with this demand, we need faster, more energy-efficient computer memory than ever before.

Innovations in Memory Technology.

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Using CRISPR, an immune system bacteria use to protect themselves from viruses, scientists have harnessed the power to edit genetic information within cells. In fact, the first CRISPR-based therapeutic was recently approved by the FDA to treat sickle cell disease in December 2023. That therapy is based on a highly studied system known as the CRISPR-Cas9 genetic scissor.

However, a newer and unique platform with the potential to make large-sized DNA removals, called Type I CRISPR or CRISPR-Cas3, waits in the wings for potential therapeutic use.

A new study from Yan Zhang, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Chemistry at the University of Michigan Medical School, and her collaborators at Cornell University develops off-switches useful for improving the safety of the Type I-C/Cas3 gene editor. The study, “Exploiting Activation and Inactivation Mechanisms in Type I-C CRISPR-Cas3 for 3 Genome Editing Applications,” is published in the journal Molecular Cell.

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is warning clinicians to remain on alert for measles cases due to a growing number of infections.

Between Dec. 1, 2023, and Jan. 23, 2024, there have been 23 confirmed cases of measles including seven cases from international travelers and two outbreaks with five or more infections each, according to an email sent this week.

Cases have been reported in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and the Washington, D.C. area so far.

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“You need to go back hundreds of million years to understand the full picture of life,” he said. “Fossils are the database for deep-time studies.”

Paleontology may be a look back into the deep past, but it also plays a role in our future.

“Paleontology, and dinosaurs in particular, is a fantastic gateway into science, because all kids are interested in dinosaurs,” Storrs said. “It’s great if they go on to become scientists, but at the very least, they can be part of an informed citizenry that has a basic knowledge of the world and how science operates, because there’s always going to be questions about vaccines for example, or evolution, or climate change. Science plays a huge role in our world today.”

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By 2020, the number of smartphone users in the world is expected to reach almost 2.9 billion — nearly doubling in six years from about 1.6 billion in 2014. Technology companies and researchers have been directly and indirectly imbuing smartphones with additional capabilities, including spectroscopy for biological and medical applications, among other uses (Figure 1).

Figure 1. The Changhong H2 is the first consumer device with an integrated imaging spectrometer. Courtesy of Consumer Physics.

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