Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Blog – Page 12

The FAST (Fusion by Advanced Superconducting Tokamak) project has been launched in Japan with the aim of achieving fusion-based power generation by the end of the 2030s.

FAST, to be sited in Japan, aims to generate and sustain a plasma of deuterium-tritium (D-T) reactions, demonstrating an integrated fusion energy system that combines energy conversion including electricity generation and fuel technologies. The project will employ a tokamak configuration, chosen for its well-established data and scalability. The project brings together top researchers from prominent institutions, along with industrial and international partners from Japan, the UK, the USA and Canada.

Targeting a power generation demonstration by the end of the 2030s, FAST will address remaining technical challenges enroute to commercial fusion power plants. The FAST Project Office notes that power generation refers to producing energy from fusion reactions, but does not imply net positive power production where electricity output exceeds electricity consumption.

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The small trial showed durable results in nine patients three years after treatment with the experimental vaccine

Findings published this week in the journal Nature showed how personalized therapeutic vaccines can change the course of kidney cancer, though longer trials will be needed to confirm this approach.

The vaccines were tailored to particular mutations in the tumors of kidney cancer patients using so-called neoantigens, which are unique proteins or peptides generated by tumor cells that differ from those found in normal tissues. Not only do the neoantigens shield against cancer recurrence, but they also prevent unintended damage to healthy cells, which is a major concern with traditional chemotherapy regimens.

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When the immune system becomes unbalanced, it can lead to serious problems, such as type 1 diabetes, other autoimmune diseases, or organ rejection after a transplant. Current treatments often involve suppressing the entire immune system, which can cause severe side effects, including a higher risk of infections and other complications. A better approach would be to regulate the immune response in a precise and targeted way. That’s exactly what researchers have now achieved by engineering specialized immune cells designed to restore balance without compromising overall immunity.

Engineering Immune Cells to Protect Rather Than Attack

The immune system defends the body against viruses, bacteria, and other threats by identifying harmful invaders and mounting a response. It also distinguishes between the body’s own cells and foreign ones, adjusting its reaction as needed. However, when the immune system becomes dysregulated, it can mistakenly attack the body’s own tissues. This happens in conditions like type 1 diabetes, where the immune system destroys insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. It can also reject transplanted organs, treating them as foreign threats. While immunosuppressant drugs can prevent these harmful reactions, they come with serious risks, including increased vulnerability to infections and cancer.

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A study published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (JCAP) presents a methodology to test the assumption of cosmic homogeneity and isotropy, known as the Cosmological Principle, by leveraging weak gravitational lensing—a light distortion effect described by general relativity—in astronomical images collected by new observatories such as the Euclid Space Telescope. Finding evidence of anomalies in the Cosmological Principle could have profound implications for our current understanding of the universe.

“The Cosmological Principle is like an ultimate kind of statement of humility,” explains James Adam, astrophysicist at the University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa, and lead author of the new paper. According to the Cosmological Principle, not only are we not at the center of the universe, but a true center does not exist.

A further assumption, similar to but distinct and independent from homogeneity, is that the universe is also isotropic, meaning it has no preferred directions. These assumptions underlie the Standard Model of Cosmology, the theoretical framework used to explain the origin, evolution, and current state of the universe. It is currently the most robust and consistent model, verified by numerous scientific observations, though not yet perfect.

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Our guts are home to trillions of bacteria, and research over the last few decades has established how essential they are to our physiology—in health and disease. A new study from EMBL Heidelberg researchers shows that gut bacteria can bring about profound molecular changes in one of our most critical organs—the brain.

The new study, published in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, is the first to show that bacteria living in the gut can influence how proteins in the brain are modified by carbohydrates—a process called glycosylation. The study was made possible by a new method the scientists developed—DQGlyco—which allows them to study glycosylation at a much higher scale and resolution than previous studies.

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Your smartphone gallery may contain photos and screenshots of important information you keep there for safety or convenience, such as documents, bank agreements, or seed phrases for recovering cryptocurrency wallets. All of this data can be stolen by a malicious app such as the SparkCat stealer we’ve discovered. This malware is currently configured to steal crypto wallet data, but it could easily be repurposed to steal any other valuable information.

The worst part is that this malware has made its way into official app stores, with almost 250,000 downloads of infected apps from Google Play alone. Although malicious apps have been found in Google Play before, this marks the first time a stealer Trojan has been detected in the App Store. How does this threat work and what can you do to protect yourself?

Spectre-like SLAP and FLOP vulnerabilities in Apple CPUs can be used in real-world attacks.

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Your smartphone gallery may contain photos and screenshots of important information you keep there for safety or convenience, such as documents, bank agreements, or seed phrases for recovering cryptocurrency wallets. All of this data can be stolen by a malicious app such as the SparkCat stealer we’ve discovered. This malware is currently configured to steal crypto wallet data, but it could easily be repurposed to steal any other valuable information.

The worst part is that this malware has made its way into official app stores, with almost 250,000 downloads of infected apps from Google Play alone. Although malicious apps have been found in Google Play before, this marks the first time a stealer Trojan has been detected in the App Store. How does this threat work and what can you do to protect yourself?

SparkCat infostealer infected apps in the App Store and Google Play. It scans photos on infected devices and steals crypto wallets.

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VeinViewer® Flex is a highly portable vascular access imaging device that can help you find the optimal venipuncture site and avoid potential complications.

With HD imaging and Df² technology, this small VeinViewer model is the brightest and only handheld vein illuminator that provides benefits for all patients during the entire Pre-, During-and Post-vascular access procedure. It is ideal for alternate care facilities, such as surgery and blood/plasma centers, as well as home healthcare and Emergency Medical Services (EMS), VeinViewer Flex is designed for durability and maximum portability. Flex is also suited for hospital departments such as the Emergency Department and NICU where space requirements and speed of assessment demand an ultra-portable and reliable vein finder.

How Does It Work?

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