Lifeboat Foundation

In an article published yesterday in MIT Technology Review, Rachel Nuwer wrote a thought provoking piece exploring the boundaries between life and death.

Beyond the brain and brain death itself, related efforts are studying and attempting to develop techniques for restoring metabolic function in a number of organs other than the brain after death, including the heart and kidneys, which could greatly enhance organ donation capabilities.

While these developments are promising, researchers caution against overpromising. The path to these medical advancements is paved with years of research and ethical considerations. The exploration into the dying process will surely challenge not only scientific and medical fields but also societal, theological, and legal considerations, as it reshapes our understanding of one of life’s most profound phenomena. At some point, policy and regulations will need to follow—further adding to the complexity of the topic.

Continue reading “Re-Thinking The ‘When’ And ‘How’ Of Brain Death” »

Meta has been investing heavily in generative AI, as it sees it as a key area of innovation and growth in the competitive tech industry.

IStock/COM & O

Responsible AI and layoffs.

Continue reading “Meta’s responsible AI team disbanded as company shifts focus” »

The material will reduce structural material costs by approximately 40 times.

The University of Hong Kong.

In terms of steam methane reforming, the material is used in the construction of reformers, heat exchangers, and other components of the process as it is particularly well-suited to withstand high temperatures and corrosive environments.

Continue reading “New stainless steel boosts green hydrogen production from seawater” »

Following a successful laboratory test in October, Lockheed Martin has announced that it is gearing up for a 2024 orbital delivery of its 5G.MIL satellites.

Lockheed Martin.

Continue reading “Lockheed Martin to deploy its first all-space 5G.MIL assets next year” »

Amazon has successfully tested its prototype satellites for its planned Project Kuiper.

Amazon.

Continue reading “Amazon’s first two Project Kuiper satellites are ‘working brilliantly’” »

We have lost the data from the second stage…

SpaceX/ Twitter.

The much-anticipated launch was scheduled to take place yesterday, November 17, but had to be delayed by a day to swap out one of the Super Heavy first-stage booster’s grid fins.

Continue reading “SpaceX Starship forced to give up and self-destruct after losing signal” »

EPFL scientists have crafted a biological system that mimics an electronic bandpass filter, a novel sensor that could revolutionize self-regulated biological mechanisms in synthetic biology.

Synthetic biology holds the promise of enhancing and modifying biological systems into innumerable new technologies for the benefit of society. This engineering approach to biology has already reaped benefits in the fields of drug delivery, agriculture, and energy production.

In a paper published in Nature Chemical Biology, EPFL researchers at the Laboratory of Protein Design and Immunoengineering (LPDI) at the School of Engineering have taken an important step in designing more performative biological systems.

In this episode, we explore the Hubble constant problem, which is one of the most intriguing and perplexing mysteries in cosmology. We explain how a recent study used the Hubble Space Telescope to measure the expansion rate of the universe, and how it differs from the prediction of the cosmic microwave background and the standard cosmological model. We also discuss some of the possible implications and solutions for this discrepancy, such as the nature of dark energy, dark matter and dark radiation, and the need to revise our understanding of the universe.

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction.
01:13 Measuring the Hubble Constant.
03:36 Comparing the Results.
05:39 Implications and Solutions.
07:54 Outro.
08:39 Enjoy.

Continue reading “A New Study Finds a Surprising Answer on How Fast the Universe is Expanding” »

In the very early universe, physics were weird. A process known as inflation, during which the universe went from a single infinitesimal point to everything we see today, was one such instance of those weird physics. Now, scientists from the Chinese Academy of Science have sifted through 15 years of pulsar timing data in order to put some constraints on what physics looks like.

The 15 years of data come from the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves or NANOGrav’s goal is to use an unconventional way to detect gravitational waves —by looking at pulsars. These fast-spinning objects are commonly used as “clocks” in astronomical terms.

Continue reading “The echoes from inflation could still be shaking the cosmos today” »