Lifeboat Foundation

Scientists aim to 3D print human tissue so they can better study how new drugs interact with our bodies. A recent advance? 3D printed blood vessels.

Coming from a fusion of the words ‘protein’ (a molecule that a cell uses as a machine or scaffolding) and ‘stasis’ (meaning to keep the same), the term ‘proteostasis’ can essentially be simplified into “Each function reliant on proteins is running as it should. There are enough proteins to serve a function, and the concentrations of proteins are being maintained at healthy levels.”

Proteostasis is the process that cells perform in order to have all their proteins functioning properly; this, in turn, allows cells to work properly. Since cells are the building blocks of our bodies, when they work properly, we are healthy.

When proteostasis is not maintained, cells become dysfunctional and can die; this failure can lead to aging, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, inflammation, developmental defects, and other problems. The loss of proteostasis is thought to be a primary reason we age, and we discuss how this happens in more detail here.

@realDonaldTrump “Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path!”

#LockedAndLoaded

How the tech billionaires are planning to send you into space.

John Thornhill investigates whether big government or big business will fund the future of space exploration.

Continue reading “The billionaire space race” »

The inventor of the EmDrive, a controversial space propulsion device that may speed up space travel, has revealed details of how it could be used to create a reusable launch vehicle to take rockets and satellites into space, as well as for personal flight.

Roger Shawyer has published a presentation about the third generation of the EmDrive, which he says is an improvement on the second generation. The original concept for the EmDrive, developed in 2008, was designed to enable in-orbit propulsion. The second generation, which has been in development since 2010, uses a superconducting cavity.

Gecko-like grippers could provide a solution to cleaning up space junk.

I’m excited to announce a feature on transhumanism and my governor run in one of Asia’s premier publications, the South China Morning Post. This is in their weekend magazine:

Enter Zoltan Istvan, the wannabe governor of California whose transhumanist agenda has influential fans, including dotcom billionaires hoping to live forever.

By Richard Godwin

Continue reading “Immortality: welcome to the transhumanist era” »

DeepMind’s scientific mission is to push the boundaries of AI by developing systems that can learn to solve complex problems. To do this, we design agents and test their ability in a wide range of environments from the purpose-built DeepMind Lab to established games, such as Atari and Go.

Testing our agents in games that are not specifically designed for AI research, and where humans play well, is crucial to benchmark agent performance. That is why we, along with our partner Blizzard Entertainment, are excited to announce the release of SC2LE, a set of tools that we hope will accelerate AI research in the real-time strategy game StarCraft II. The SC2LE release includes: