Lifeboat Foundation

The process of converting DNA to proteins through an RNA is far from straightforward. Of the several types of RNA involved in the process of protein synthesis, a few may be edited mid-way. In mammals, RNA editing mostly involves converting adenosine (A) to inosine (I) through deamination, which can result in a wide range of effects. For example, A-to-I conversion can regulate gene expression in different ways and significantly alter the final synthesized protein.

While RNA editing is an essential biological process, it is also a key underlying mechanism in some diseases, including cancer. Thus, scientists have created large-scale databases documenting RNA editing sites in various human tissues. These databases serve as useful platforms for identifying potential diagnostic or therapeutic targets from the RNA editome, which encompasses all edited RNA molecules in a given cell or tissue.

Unfortunately, there are currently no databases for RNA editing in hematopoietic cells. The hematopoietic cells are unique in that they can develop into all types of blood cells including red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.

The images shed light on how electrons form superconducting pairs that glide through materials without friction.

When your laptop or smartphone heats up, it’s due to energy that’s lost in translation. The same goes for power lines that transmit electricity between cities. In fact, around 10 percent of the generated energy is lost in the transmission of electricity. That’s because the electrons that carry electric charge do so as free agents, bumping and grazing against other electrons as they move collectively through power cords and transmission lines. All this jostling generates friction, and, ultimately, heat.

But when electrons pair up, they can rise above the fray and glide through a material without friction. This “superconducting” behavior occurs in a range of materials, though at ultracold temperatures. If these materials can be made to superconduct closer to room temperature, they could pave the way for zero-loss devices, such as heat-free laptops and phones, and ultra-efficient power lines. But first, scientists will have to understand how electrons pair up in the first place.

Apple’s Vision Pro headset will use a new type of dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, that has been custom designed to support Apple’s R1 input processing chip, reports The Korea Herald.

Apple Vision Pro is powered by a pair of chips. The main processor is the M2, which is responsible for processing content, running the visionOS operating system, executing computer vision algorithms, and providing graphical content.

A huge solar power station in China is generating clean energy, producing salt from sunlight, and serving as a shrimp-breeding site.

State-owned China Huadian Corporation said the 1-gigawatt (GW) Huadian Tianjin Haijing power station will generate 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year – enough to power around 1.5 million households in China.

Continue reading “This 1 GW solar + salt + shrimp farm is a 3-in-1 power station” »

Like its viral cousins, a somewhat parasitic DNA sequence called a retrotransposon has been found borrowing the cell’s own machinery to achieve its goals.

In a new work appearing online Wednesday in the journal Nature, a Duke University team has determined that retrotransposons hijack a little-known piece of the cell’s DNA repair function to close themselves into a ring-like shape and then create a matching double strand.

The finding upends 40 years of conventional wisdom saying these rings were just a useless by-product of bad gene copying. It may also offer new insights into cancer, viral infections and immune responses.

For cellular agriculture—a technique that grows meat in bioreactors—to successfully feed millions, numerous technological hurdles must be conquered. The production of muscle cells from sources such as chicken, fish, cows, and more will need to increase to the point where millions of metric tons are yielded annually.

Researchers at the Tufts University Center for Cellular Agriculture (TUCCA) have made strides toward this objective by developing immortalized bovine muscle stem cells (iBSCs). These cells possess a rapid growth rate and the ability to divide hundreds of times, potentially even indefinitely, furthering the potential for large-scale meat production.

This advance, described in the journal ACS Synthetic Biology, means that researchers and companies around the globe can have access to and develop new products without having to source cells repeatedly from farm animal biopsies.

Abundant carbon-free energy from nuclear fusion has long been considered a holy grail. Recent technological advances and the emergence of startup companies have led to new optimism, but experts caution that the production of fusion power is still a long way off.

The scientific community has discovered a new planet. It is located 245 light-years away from Earth and has been named TOI-733b. Its size is slightly less than twice the radius of Earth. It has a unique feature: its atmosphere. For now, experts have presented two possibilities. The first is that it may have lost its atmosphere layer. The second is that it could be a “highly irradiated oceanic world.”

This is stated in a study published by the specialized astronomy journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. In the study, it is detailed that this new planet has a density of 3.98 grams per cubic centimeter. To give an idea, it is slightly lower than Earth’s density, which is 5.51 grams per cubic centimeter, but higher than that of our neighbor Mars.

Another point mentioned in the Astronomy & Astrophysics article is that this planet orbits a star slightly smaller than the Sun and completes its orbit in a total of 4.9 days. It is this proximity to the star that serves as an explanation for the first of the two scenarios that scientists have proposed regarding its atmosphere.

Sports teams spend millions of dollars on their players’ health and fitness and any injuries can be detrimental to their players’ careers. Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to significantly change the way that sports spine injuries are diagnosed, treated, and managed. Tools such as Spindle and SpindleX are making it easy to prevent long-term injuries or spinal issues by detecting even the minutest variations in time. However, AI has just begun its foray into the field of healthcare and more importantly radiology or spine imaging.

With AI-related radiology imaging, it is becoming easier to prevent and cure injuries we didn’t even know existed. AI-assisted reports are helping physicians and surgeons take better and more accurate decisions and treatment plans, saving millions of dollars in the healthcare industry. Here are a few examples of how AI is improving the treatment of sports-related spine injuries: