Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog – Page 10806

Aubrey de Grey in this new interview with Vox.

We all grow old. We all die.

For Aubrey de Grey, a biogerontologist and chief science officer of the SENS Research Foundation, accepting these truths is, well, not good enough. He decided in his late twenties (he’s currently 54) that he “wanted to make a difference to humanity” and that battling age was the best way to do it. His life’s work is now a struggle against physics and biology, the twin collaborators in bodily decay.

“I understand it takes a certain amount of guts to aim high.” —Aubrey de Grey.

Continue reading “Scientists are waging a war against human aging. But what happens next?” | >

Who says that cartoons are for kids?

Artificial intelligence (AI) kicks off the Microsoft Story Labs animated “Explanimators” series about big, important, cutting-edge areas of technology that remain mysterious (if not just plain confusing) to people who don’t have an engineering or computer science degree.

While artificial intelligence is increasingly all around us, helping people do more, save time and work smarter – let’s be honest – it’s tricky to wrap your head around how it works and where it’s headed.

Read more

A robotic claw, one of several innovative tools developed at JPL for exploring icy, ocean worlds like Europa.

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Want to go ice fishing on Jupiter’s moon Europa? There’s no promising you’ll catch anything, but a new set of robotic prototypes could help.

Since 2015, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, has been developing new technologies for use on future missions to ocean worlds. That includes a subsurface probe that could burrow through miles of ice, taking samples along the way; robotic arms that unfold to reach faraway objects; and a projectile launcher for even more distant samples.

Continue reading “NASA Tests Robotic Ice Tools” | >

  • Researchers have discovered that a compound in the mucus found on the back of a frog can cause flu virus particles to explode.
  • If they can harness this compound, called urumin, they may be able to create a universal flu vaccine.

A compound in the mucus found on the oozy backs of a South Indian frog — known locally as a germ killer — can cause flu virus particles to explode. Researchers at Emory University have discovered that the compound, a peptide they’ve called urumin, is potent, yet precise, and capable of destroying an entire class of flu viruses while other cells and even other viruses emerge unscathed. Unlike other frog-based compounds, urumin is uniquely nontoxic, another unusual feature that makes it more promising from a therapeutic standpoint.

Read more

  • Of the estimated 100,000 mushroom species on Earth, only about 80 glow. Scientists uncovered the explanation behind two of these glowing mushrooms.
  • Studying the mushrooms allowed researchers to make chemicals that glow various colors that may help us make more scientific breakthroughs.

Mushrooms are our favorite fungi. From savory dishes to surprising video game power-ups — we can’t seem to get enough of the little things. What’s more interesting, however, is the fact that mushrooms can be far more relevant to our own progress as a society than we imagined. The Neonothopanus gardneri and Neonothopanus nambi are two distinct species of glow-in-the-dark mushroom found in Brazil and Vietnam respectively, that have reshaped our perspective on bioluminescence permanently.

Read more

For decades, scientists have tracked hints of a thread-like structure that ties together galaxies across the universe. Theories, computer models, and indirect observations have indicated that there is a cosmic web of dark matter that connects galaxies and constitutes the large-scale structure of the cosmos. But while the filaments that make up this web are massive, dark matter is incredibly difficult to observe.

Now, researchers have produced what they say is the first composite image of a dark matter filament that connects galaxies together.

“This image moves us beyond predictions to something we can see and measure,” said Mike Hudson, a professor of astronomy at the University of Waterloo in Canada, co-author of a new study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Read more

A very popular theme during NASA’s “Planetary Science Vision 2050 Workshop” was the exploration of Titan. In addition to being the only other body in the Solar System with a nitrogen-rich atmosphere and visible liquid on its surface, it also has an environment rich in organic chemistry. For this reason, a team led by Michael Pauken (from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory) held a presentation detailing the many ways it can be explored using aerial vehicles.

The presentation, which was titled “Science at a Variety of Scientific Regions at Titan using Aerial Platforms “, was also chaired by members of the aerospace industry – such as AeroVironment and Global Aerospace from Monrovia, California, and Thin Red Line Aerospace from Chilliwack, BC.

Together, they reviewed the various aerial platform concepts that have been proposed for Titan since 2004.

Read more

Israel’s oldest newspaper Haaretz (in #Hebrew) recently translated and published The New York Times Magazine feature story on my radical science and #transhumanism work in their own Sunday magazine. I can’t find the link in Hebrew yet, but here’s the fun 2-page spread of me atop my #ImmortalityBus. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/09/magazine/600-miles-in-a-c…tself.html

Read more