Lifeboat Foundation

Microsoft’s Power Apps, Oracle’s Visual Builder, and other tools let you create software without needing to code.

Mushroom-munching bonobos in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have introduced scientists to a new species of truffle.

Commonly used by Congolese communities to bait traps for small mammals, Hysterangium bonobo is also savored by bonobos, an endangered species of great ape. Scientists say the truffle hints at vast reserves of undescribed fungal diversity in the region.

“Truffles aren’t just for gourmet chefs—they’re also for our closest relatives,” said Matthew Smith, an associate professor in the University of Florida department of plant pathology and curator of the UF fungal herbarium. “There’s so much to learn about this system, and we’re just scratching the surface.”

The first 200 people to sign up with Brilliant using my link will get 20% off the annual subscription!
http://brilliant.org/thethoughtemporium
_________________________________________________________________________
What started as a dream more than 10 years ago, has finally become reality. After more than 2 years of work, dozen of failures, hundreds of hours of lab work and design time, we’ve finally done it. We’ve engineered a strain of yeast that produce real spider silk! This video explains how.

Check out our new merch: https://teespring.com/stores/the-thought-emporium

Continue reading “I Grew Real Spider Silk Using Yeast” »

Could this be China’s smartest’ warehouse?

Newly published results offer compelling evidence that hydrogen is a metal at extremely high pressures. But is the research enough to convince the field at large that metallic hydrogen exists?

This eBike has the longest range ever — 245 miles on one charge.

Delfast Prime 2.0 eBike has the longest range ever – 245 miles on one charge. Version 2 of a legendary model with the Guinness World Record.

A Nebraska student has grown her own canoe using fungus — and it sprouts new mushrooms every time she takes it out on the water.

Katy Ayers, 28, created the 8ft-long boat from fibrous mushroom roots, otherwise known as mycelium.

The roots are usually found beneath soil and known for their dense, buoyant and waterproof properties, The Times reported.

Techniques for imaging through scattering media are generally invasive, operate at microscopic scales or require a priori information. Here, the authors overcome these limitations by introducing confocal diffuse tomography, which captures the 3D shape of objects hidden behind scattering media.

The soil bacteria breathe through ‘giant snorkels’ made of a special conductive protein, the researchers found.