Lifeboat Foundation

A national study, led by researchers at Tufts Medical Center, has found whole genome sequencing (WGS) to be nearly twice as effective as a targeted gene sequencing test at identifying abnormalities responsible for genetic disorders in newborns and infants. The Genomic Medicine in Ill Infants and Newborns (GEMINI) study did, however, find that time to results was longer when carrying out WGS, when compared with a commercially available targeted neonatal gene-sequencing test.

“More than half of the babies in our study had a genetic disorder that would have remained undetected at most hospitals across the country if not for genome sequencing technologies,” said Jonathan Davis, MD, chief of newborn medicine at Tufts Medical Center and co-principal investigator of the study. “Successfully diagnosing an infant’s genetic disorder as early as possible helps ensure they receive the best medical care. This study shows that WGS, while still imperfect, remains the gold standard for accurate diagnosis of genetic disorders in newborns and infants.”

The study, “A Comparative Analysis of Rapid Whole Genomic Sequencing and a Targeted Neonatal Gene Panel in Infants with a Suspected Genetic Disorder: The Genomic Medicine for Ill Neonates and Infants (GEMINI) Study,” is reported in The Journal of the American Medical Association (J AMA).

Learn about the triggers and treatment for non-allergic asthma and how an allergist can help you manage symptoms.

Steve Forbes slams a new electricity billing scheme in California that will use residents’ incomes in part to determine how much is charged.

Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:

Continue reading “Warning To Californians: ‘Shocking New Income Redistribution Scheme’ Coming Ripped By Steve Forbes” »

Bryan Johnson’s anti-aging routine costs him $2 million a year, and he’s constantly monitored. Yet, the tech CEO says he’s never been happier.

A team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado, has reported the successful implementation of a 400,000 pixel superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) that they say will pave the way for the development of extremely light-sensitive large-format superconducting cameras. The camera will also prove invaluable for those doing medical research, where the ability to examine organs such as the brain without disturbing tissue is critical.

Superconducting detectors operate at very low temperatures and generate a minimum of excess noise, making them ideal for testing the non-local nature of reality, investigating dark matter, mapping the early universe, and performing quantum computation and communication. Previously there were no large-scale superconducting cameras – even the largest demonstrations have never exceeded 20 thousand pixels.

This was especially true for one of the most promising detector technologies, the superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD). These detectors have been demonstrated with system detection efficiencies of 98.0%, sub-3-ps timing jitter, sensitivity from the ultraviolet (250nm) to the mid-infrared (10um), and dark count rates below 6.2e-6 counts per second (cps), but despite more than two decades of development they have never achieved an array size larger than a kilopixel. Here, we report on the implementation and characterization of a 400,000 pixel SNSPD camera, a factor of 400 improvement over the previous state-of-the-art. The array spanned an area 4×2.5 mm with a 5x5um resolution, reached unity quantum efficiency at wavelengths of 370 nm and 635 nm, counted at a rate of 1.1e5 cps, and had a dark count rate of 1e-4 cps per detector (corresponding to 0.13 cps over the whole array).

Heat alerts affect over 100 million people in 15 states from the western U.S. and to South Florida. Widespread extreme heat is expected in the coming days.

Starting at 12:40 Liz asks what would your perfect virtual world be like. Not sure what my home world would be like, a Maldives island, an orbital ring colony perhaps. I think my main form of entertainment would be to adventure in the worlds people will create, and perhaps help build them. Someone will detail the 30 million worlds of A Galaxy Far Far Away and go play in it, someone will create a Star Trek Galaxy, D&D, Niven’s Known Space, Potter-verse, LOTR, and so on.

Only a handful of people in the entire world are aware of the work that is going on to increase the lifespan of #humans. Not just in terms of numbers, but also in terms of the quality of life. Most people today are unable to imagine living beyond 80–90, and they absolutely cannot imagine living an active life at 80–90 or beyond, to say nothing of living forever, and leading an active life forever.

Continue reading “Ep#09 Liz & Sar: Did you know you can live forever?” »

Year 2020 Turning trash into graphene for cheap.

Flash Joule heating of inexpensive carbon sources is used to produce gram-scale quantities of high-quality graphene in under a second, without the need for a furnace, solvents or reactive gases.

In a groundbreaking study, researchers have unlocked a new frontier in the fight against aging and age-related diseases. The study, conducted by a team of scientists at Harvard Medical School, has published the first chemical approach to reprogram cells to a younger state. Previously, this was only achievable using a powerful gene therapy.

On July 12, 2023, researchers from Harvard Medical School, University of Maine and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) published a new research paper in Aging, titled, “Chemically induced reprogramming to reverse cellular aging.”

The team’s findings build upon the discovery that the expression of specific genes, called Yamanaka factors, could convert adult cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). This Nobel Prize-winning discovery raised the question of whether it might be possible to reverse cellular aging without causing cells to become too young and turn cancerous.