Lifeboat Foundation

Using this natural process as a basis, scientists developed a gene-editing tool called CRISPR/Cas that can cut a specific DNA sequence by simply providing it with an RNA template of the target sequence. This allows scientists to add, delete, or replace elements within the target DNA sequence. Slicing a specific part of a gene’s DNA sequence with the help of the Cas9 enzyme, aids in DNA repair.

This system represented a big leap from previous gene-editing technologies, which required designing and making a custom DNA-cutting enzyme for each target sequence rather than simply providing an RNA guide, which is much simpler to synthesize.

CRISPR gene editing has already changed the way scientists do research, allowing a wide range of applications across multiple fields. Here are some of the diseases that scientists aim to tackle using CRISPR/Cas technology, testing its possibilities and limits as a medical tool.

The Messier 82 Galaxy (commonly known as M82) is a starburst galaxy located approximately 12 million light-years from Earth, with starburst meaning it is experiencing an unusually high rate of star formation, with approximately 10 times the number of stars being formed compared to our own Milky Way Galaxy. While M82 has a long history of being studied, specifically by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, a recent study published in The Astrophysical Journal uses data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to conduct more in-depth observations of M82 and its starburst characteristics.

Images of Messier 82 obtained by NASA’s Hubble in 2006 (left) versus recent images obtained by NASA’s JWST (right). (Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, A. Bolatto (University of Maryland))

“M82 has garnered a variety of observations over the years because it can be considered as the prototypical starburst galaxy,” said Dr. Alberto Bolatto, who is a professor in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Maryland and lead author of the study. “Both NASA’s Spitzer and Hubble space telescopes have observed this target. With Webb’s size and resolution, we can look at this star-forming galaxy and see all of this beautiful, new detail.”

Tesla’s FSD V12 impresses drivers with its advanced navigation and decision-making capabilities, including navigating complex driving situations and making unexpected decisions.

Questions to inspire discussion.

Continue reading “19 Times Impressive Tesla FSD V12 Leaves Drivers in Awe!” »

A great many cosmic puzzles still remain unsolved. By embracing a broad and varied approach, particle physics heads toward a bright future.

Global workspace theory of consciousness.

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Recent research published in Nature Communications from the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Oxford has identified 15 modifiable risk factors for dementia, and of those diabetes, alcohol intake, and traffic-related air pollution are the most harmful.

Previous research from this group revealed an area of weakness in the brain of a specific network of higher-order regions that only develop later in adolescence but also display earlier degeneration in old age, and they showed that this brain network is particularly vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia. This study investigated genetic and modifiable influences on these regions by utilizing data from the UK Biobank.

Continue reading “Risk Factors For Faster Brain Aging” »

Researchers believe they have discovered a new biological mechanism for obesity, pointing to rare variants on two genes that dramatically increase the risk of carrying excess weight.

The 61-year-old explained that learning coding was once an all-important task, but in today’s world, it holds little value. “Over the last 10–15 years, almost everybody who sits on a stage like this would tell you that it is vital that your children learn computer science, everybody should learn how to program. In fact, it is almost exactly the opposite,” he said.

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Huang stressed the need to create technologies that allow computers to understand human prompts instead of humans learning languages like C++ and Java. “It is our job to create computing technology such that nobody has to program and that the programming language is human. Everybody in the world is now a programmer. This is the miracle of AI,” he said.

The potential impacts of AI are so far-reaching, no one wants to be faced with the implications of failing to actively participate in molding its future development.