Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: health – Page 202

Canadian agri-tech company Solinftec has announced that it will expand the launch of its new cutting-edge AgTech robotic platform, Solix Ag Robotics, into Canada in partnership with Stone Farms and the University of Saskatchewan. The new robot is state-of-art technology built to scan and monitor fields providing detailed real-time data.

Solinftec’s new technology aims to provide farmers and agronomists with a new level of information to increase yields, improve the usage of inputs, lower environmental impact, and support the global demand for food supply. The robot should be commercially available for use in wheat crops in time for next year’s growing season.

Solinftec’s Solix Ag Robot will autonomously move back and forth through farmers’ fields on four wheels. It will use onboard cameras and other sensors – along with AI-based software – to check the health of plants and assess their nutritional content. Solix Ag is integrated with the company’s artificial intelligence platform, ALICE A.I. Programmed with a neurological network featuring a complex detection algorithm, the new in-field robotic device has the ability not only to scan for crop health and nutrition, insects, and weeds but is built to monitor the entire field ecosystem and provide real-time insights.

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Transhumanism is a movement that aims to address – or end – what Bohan calls the “tragedies of reality”: ageing, sickness and involuntary death. It is, she writes, “a philosophy and a project that aims to make us more than human”.

Whether we recognise or understand it, that project has already begun, she says, and it will transform our world – and minds and bodies – within our lifetimes. Not only is it happening, she says, but this transition is necessary if humanity is to survive in perpetuity.

For Bohan, it is no great to leap to imagine that a baby born in 2030 may have its entire genome mapped at birth, that data uploaded to a central health record and cross-referenced at any medical appointment throughout its life. It is no great stretch to think that AI will become the most powerful intellectual force of the century. That human consciousness might be transferred from our “meat sacks” (bodies) into a technological sphere. That the rise of AI and automation might render great swathes of human labour redundant, and that maybe – if we get it right – that could leave more time for leisure, big thinking, meditation, connection.

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LONDON, June 1 (Reuters) — Monkeypox appears to be spreading from person to person in England, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said on Wednesday.

The usually mild viral disease, which is endemic in west and central Africa, is understood to spread through close contact. Until early May, cases rarely cropped up outside Africa and were typically linked to travel to there.

“The current outbreak is the first time that the virus has been passed from person to person in England where travel links to an endemic country have not been identified,” the agency said.

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Due to safety concerns, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has withdrawn its approval for the cancer medicine Ukoniq (umbralisib). Ukoniq was approved to treat two specific types of lymphoma: marginal zone lymphoma (MZL) and follicular lymphoma (FL).

Updated findings from the UNITY-CLL clinical trial continued to show a possible increased risk of death in patients receiving Ukoniq. As a result, we determined the risks of treatment with Ukoniq outweigh its benefits. Based upon this determination, the drug’s manufacturer, TG Therapeutics, announced it was voluntarily withdrawing Ukoniq from the market for the approved uses in MZL and FL.

Health care professionals should stop prescribing Ukoniq and switch patients to alternative treatments. Inform patients currently taking Ukoniq of the increased risk of death seen in the clinical trial and advise them to stop taking the medicine. In limited circumstances in which a patient may be receiving benefit from Ukoniq, TG Therapeutics plans to make it available under expanded access.

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Is it all down to a cup of joe then?

People who drink coffee regularly, with or without sugar, both seem to benefit from the beverage as it cuts down on the risk of early death, * The Guardian* reported.

Grabbing a cup of coffee may just be something you do almost unconsciously as you sit down with your morning newspaper or before you start your workday. As the day wears on, you might be down three cups or maybe even five without giving it a second thought. However, scientists have been very conscious of the world’s coffee consumption.

Estimates suggest that over 400 million cups of coffee are consumed every day) in the U.S. That’s literally more than a cup of coffee for every inhabitant of the country. Since not everybody consumes coffee every day, the numbers suggest that an average American coffee consumer drinks three cups of coffee a day.

## How does coffee affect your health?

The critical component of coffee, caffeine is a stimulant of the central nervous system. Every time you consume caffeine or a soft drink that is also pumped with caffeine, the chemical blocks the action of adenosine on the neuronal receptors and stops you from feeling drowsy.

While this helps you feel more active and energized, caffeine is an addictive drug and researchers have warned against excessive consumption of it. Strangely though, consumption of coffee has also been linked to positive outcomes such as limiting the growth of prostate cancers or warmer brews being packed with antioxidants.

Continue reading “Coffee drinkers have a 29 percent lower risk of death than non-coffee drinkers” | >

In response to a request from the province of British Columbia (BC), from January 31, 2023 to January 31, 2026, adults (18 and over) in BC will not be subject to criminal charges for the possession of up to 2.5 grams of certain illegal drugs for personal use.

The federal Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health granted the province of British Columbia (BC)’s request for a subsection 56 exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act for adults (18 years of age and older) in the province to possess small amounts of certain illegal drugs for personal use. BC has referred to this as “decriminalization of personal possession of illegal drugs”.

What this means is that from January 31, 2023 to January 31, 2026, adults (18 and over) in BC will not be subject to criminal charges for the possession of a cumulative total of up to 2.5 grams of certain illegal drugs for personal use. Instead, all individuals found in possession of substances listed in the exemption of up to 2.5 grams for personal use will, at minimum, be provided with information on available local health and social services. They can also be provided with assistance to connect with those services if requested. The exemption only covers possession for personal use by adults (18 and over) in BC with no intent to traffic, produce or export.

British Columbia has been greatly impacted by overdose deaths and related harms, and declared the overdose crisis a public health emergency in 2016. As part of the province’s comprehensive public health response, BC requested a subsection 56 exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) so that adults in the province will not be subject to criminal charges for personal possession of small amounts of certain illegal drugs.

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Tomatoes gene-edited to produce vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin, could be a simple and sustainable innovation to address a global health problem.

Researchers used gene editing to turn off a specific molecule in the plant’s genome which increased provitamin D3 in both the fruit and leaves of tomato plants. It was then converted to vitamin D3 through exposure to UVB light.

Vitamin D is created in our bodies after skin’s exposure to UVB light, but the major source is food. This new biofortified crop could help millions of people with vitamin D insufficiency, a growing issue linked to higher risk of cancer, dementia, and many leading causes of mortality. Studies have also shown that vitamin D insufficiency is linked to increased severity of infection by Covid-19.

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Scientists have long known that touching plants can set off a stress reaction in them – but until now it hasn’t been exactly clear how that worked at a molecular level, something that a new study hopes to shed light on.

The researchers behind the study have identified certain genetic keys inside plants that lead to two separate signaling pathways, explaining why plants react so strongly to being touched.

Understanding more about how this process works at a fundamental level could help researchers in a variety of different areas, from improving plant health to getting higher harvest yields from the same crop.

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