Lifeboat Foundation

Scientists can now edit multiple sites in the genome at the same time to learn how different DNA stretches co-operate in health and disease.

CRISPR-based DNA editing has revolutionized the study of the human genome by allowing precise deletion of any human gene to glean insights into its function. But one feature remained challenging—the ability to simultaneously remove multiple genes or gene fragments in the same cell. Yet this type of genome surgery is key for scientists to understand how different parts of the genome work together in the contexts of both normal physiology and disease.

Now such a tool exists thanks to the teams of Benjamin Blencowe and Jason Moffat, both professors of molecular genetics at the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research. Dubbed ‘CHyMErA’, for Cas Hybrid for Multiplexed Editing and Screening Applications, the method can be applied to any type of mammalian cell to systematically target the DNA at multiple positions at the same time, as described in a study published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

Disaster emergency is in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic and the effects it is having on the city.

The City of Boulder has declared a local disaster emergency in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic and the effects it is having on the city.

City Manager Jane Brautigam issued a disaster emergency declaration today effective at 6 p.m. This creates a state of emergency for Boulder. The declaration provides the city manager with tools necessary to protect the public health and safety. The City Manager has authority to issue a disaster emergency declaration for a period of up to 7 days. To be effective for more than 7 days, the declaration must be confirmed and extended by the city council. Staff will ask the city council to consider doing so at the March 17, 2020 council meeting. The disaster emergency declaration provides the city manager with the authority to, among other things, order a curfew, limit large gatherings, close streets and sidewalks and order businesses to close. Violation of any emergency order would be punishable by a fine of up to $1000 and up to 90 days in jail.

Coronavirus’s economic danger is exponentially greater than its health risks to the public. If the virus does directly affect your life, it is most likely to be through stopping you going to work, forcing your employer to make you redundant, or bankrupting your business.

The trillions of dollars wiped from financial markets this week will be just the beginning, if our governments do not step in. And if President Trump continues to stumble in his handling of the situation, it may well affect his chances of re-election. Joe Biden in particular has identified Covid-19 as a weakness for Trump, promising “steady, reassuring” leadership during America’s hour of need.

Continue reading “Coronavirus will bankrupt more people than it kills — and that’s the real global emergency” »

A regular face mask won’t stop the coronavirus. An N95 respirator can help, but you need special training to learn how to use one, and they are most needed for health care workers.

Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Tulsi GabbardLawmakers call for universal basic income amid coronavirus crisis Tulsi Gabbard calls for giving Americans K a month during coronavirus outbreak Biden consolidates majority support in new Hill/HarrisX 2020 poll MORE (D-Hawaii) called for introducing a universal basic income (UBI) of $1,000 a month until coronavirus “no longer presents a public health emergency.”

“Most Americans don’t have that safety emergency bank account even for a short term, what to speak of if you’re talking about weeks, or in this case people are looking at potentially months,” Gabbard said in an interview on Hill. TV.

Her proposal, H.R. 897, would give a UBI of $1,000 per month to all adult Americans “until COVID-19 no longer presents a public health emergency.”

Japan’s government says it will pay up to about 80 dollars per person per day to businesses as income compensation for parents taking leave from work in response to temporary school closures that began nationwide.

The health and labor ministry on Monday revealed the details of a new subsidy system as the government strives to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.

The ministry will pay the subsidy of up to 8,330 yen per person per day to businesses if their employees take paid leave to take care of their children due to school closures.

“I think we should be very grateful for the virus because it might be the reason we survive as a species.”

Dutch trends forecaster Li Edelkoort has a provocative outlook on Covid-19, the deadly coronavirus strain that has upended manufacturing cycles, travel plans, and conference schedules around the world. Speaking at Design Indaba, a conference in Cape Town last week, the celebrated 69-year old design industry advisor pictured Covid-19 as a sobering force that will temper our consumerist appetites and jet-setting habits.

Edelkoort, who in recent years has become a fashion sustainability crusader, believes we can emerge from the health crisis as more conscientious humans. “We need to find new values—values of simple experience, of friendship,” she told Quartz. “It might just turn the world around for the better.”

The House is preparing to vote on Thursday on a coronavirus-relief bill that would provide Americans with paid sick leave, food assistance, free coronavirus testing, and more substantial unemployment benefits.

But Ocasio-Cortez pushed for a more sweeping response, including expanding Medicare or Medicaid to cover all Americans, a freeze on evictions, a universal basic income, ending work requirements for food-assistance programs, criminal-justice reform, and freezing student-debt collection.

“This is not the time for half measures,” she tweeted on Thursday. “We need to take dramatic action now to stave off the worst public health & economic affects. That includes making moves on paid leave, debt relief, waiving work req’s, guaranteeing healthcare, UBI, detention relief (pretrial, elderly, imm).”

First wave 🌊.

Your questions answered — an update (11−03−2020): Professor Neil Ferguson on the current status of the COVID-19 Coronavirus outbreak, case numbers, intervention measures and challenges countries are currently facing.

Continue reading “Update on COVID-19 outbreak with Professor Neil Ferguson” »