Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Verily and GlaxoSmithKline have partnered to form Galvani Bioelectronics, a new company which will focus on the research, development, and commercialization of bioelectronics. One of the first projects will be to develop a precision device that can fix type 2 diabetes.

Verily, formerly known as Google Life Sciences, is partnering with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) to develop bioelectronic medicines that can “harness electrical signals in the body to treat chronic disease.”

The collaboration marries GSK’s pharmaceutical expertise with Verily’s prowess in developing tiny low power electronics. The unification will result in a new company called Galvani Bioelectronics, after Italian scientist Luigi Aloisio Galvani who was an early pioneer of bioelectricity.

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New York City has a long and sprawling history, but looking at the city today, it’s hard to tell what it looked like in the past. Luckily, an enterprising coder has solved that problem by creating a Google Street View map for New York City for the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Developer Dan Vanderkam collaborated with the New York Public Library to plot all the old photos from the Photographic Views of New York City, 1870s-1970s collection on an interactive map.

The project, called OldNYC, lets you browse 19th-century New York as easily as you would click around on Google Maps. The collection contains over 80,000 original photographs.

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A universal cancer vaccine is on the horizon after scientists discovered how to rewire immune cells to fight any type of disease.

The potential new therapy involves injecting tiny particles of genetic code into the body which travel to the immune cells and teach them to recognise specific cancers.

Although scientists have shown previously that is it is possible to engineer immune cells outside the body so they can spot cancer it is the first time it has happened inside cells.

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Tesla buys SolarCity.

(Reuters) — SolarCity Corp agreed to be acquired by sister company Tesla Motors Inc in a deal worth $200 million less than the initial offer, sending shares of both companies down in early trading on Monday.

Electric vehicle maker Tesla expects to achieve “significant” cost savings and “dramatic improvements” in manufacturing efficiency as a result of the acquisition of solar panel installer SolarCity, Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said on Monday.

Musk said the combined companies will have a “stronger balance sheet,” but likely will require a “small equity capital raise” next year. Both companies have been burning through cash and have projected achieving positive cash flow later this year.

Continue reading “Tesla acquires sister firm SolarCity for .6 billion” | >

The spectacular growth of the New Energy Vehicle (NEV) market in China continues; state media reports that sales were up a massive 162% to 170,000 units in the first half of the year. NEVs include pure-electric vehicles (EV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV).

The 170,000 NEVs were divided by 134,000 EVs and 36,000 PHEVs.

The new numbers confirm China’s position as the largest market worldwide for NEVs. The United States follows at a respectable distance in second place with sales of 64,000 EVs and PHEVs.

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Elon Musk’s SpaceX is planning on going to Mars. NASA estimates that the cost will only be around $300 million.

Ever since Musk founded SpaceX is 2002, with the intention of eventually colonizing Mars, every move he has made has been the subject of attention. And for the past two years, a great deal of this attention has been focused specifically on the development of the Falcon Heavy rocket and the Dragon 2 capsule – the components with which Musk hopes to mount a lander mission to Mars in 2018.

Among other things, there is much speculation about how much this is going to cost. Given that one of SpaceX’s guiding principles is making space exploration cost-effective, just how much money is Musk hoping to spend on this important step towards a crewed mission? As it turns out, NASA produced some estimates at a recent meeting, which indicated that SpaceX is spending over $300 million on its proposed Mars mission.

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Fighter pilots and brain surgeons have a lot in common. With limited time and a high degree of risk, they must zero in on a dangerous target with the intent to destroy, making sure to minimise any collateral damage.

Perhaps no one understands that relationship better than Alon Geri and Moty Avisar, veterans of the Israeli Air Force and co-founders of Surgical Theatre, an Ohio-based company that brings state-of-the-art virtual reality to brain surgeons.

Physicians in thick black goggles can step inside a patient’s skull, explore the malformed region, craft a strategy for entry, elimination, and exit, and even do dry runs of the surgery itself. When it comes time to make the first incision, there are fewer surprises.

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Technology is amazing and can be used to help so many. When I position technology; I do so in showing how it helps folks to combat devastating diseases, live life fully even if they became paralyzed at some point in their life and with technology they can walk again, etc. I caution folks to ensure that when we introduce technology that we explain our message well to the broader masses; or risk not be adopted.

We have to do a better job in explaining how AI, BMI, etc. will help the population. When we present things like BMI, Cell Circuitry, etc. we must market how folks used the technology to combat a disease, a disability, or be able to live a more fuller life, etc. I keep seeing either no message or the wrong message being presented to the masses. Instead of waiting for the technology being available; we must take consumers on a journey of possibilities that they can have with tech.

Most Americans are put off by the idea of using science to “enhance” human abilities — and these attitudes are strongly connected with people’s religiosity.

Continue reading “Religion plays a role in attitudes toward human enhancement technologies” | >