Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Blog – Page 17

The human brain contains about 86 billion neurons. These cells fire electrical signals that help the brain store memories and send information and commands throughout the brain and the nervous system.

The brain also contains billions of astrocytes — star-shaped cells with many long extensions that allow them to interact with millions of neurons. Although they have long been thought to be mainly supportive cells, recent studies have suggested that astrocytes may play a role in memory storage and other cognitive functions.

MIT researchers have now put forth a new hypothesis for how astrocytes might contribute to memory storage. The architecture suggested by their model would help to explain the brain’s massive storage capacity, which is much greater than would be expected using neurons alone.

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Researchers have revealed the structural mechanisms of a major DNA repair pathway in human cells.

The research, published today as a Reviewed Preprint in eLife, is described by the editors as a landmark study with compelling evidence on how an important player in DNA repair—the RAD51 filament—promotes the exchange of strands between DNA molecules that contain homologous (identical or similar) sequences. They added that the findings will be very valuable for research communities studying DNA repair and genome stability.

Homologous recombination (HR) is one of the key DNA repair pathways in cells. It is essential for repairing double-stranded breaks in DNA and for DNA crossover events during sexual reproduction. Moreover, cells deficient in HR are more prone to cancer, and targeting the cells’ HR machinery—together with other DNA repair pathways—can be used to kill cancer cells (an approach called synthetic lethality).

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A fresh study suggests that the way a person’s pupils change while they concentrate hints at how well that mental scratchpad is working.

Working memory does more than hold stray reminders; it stitches together phone digits until they are dialed, keeps track of a spoken sentence until the meaning lands, and buffers half-finished ideas during problem-solving.

Unlike long-term memory, it works on a tight clock measured in seconds. Because the capacity is finite – typically three to seven items at once – small differences in efficiency can ripple through reading, mathematics, and decision-making.

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A research team from the University of South China has developed a set of algorithms to help optimize radiation-shielding design for new types of nuclear reactors.

Their achievement, which was published in the journal of Nuclear Science and Techniques and shared by TechXplore, will help engineers meet the difficult demands for next-gen reactors, including transportable models, as well as those intended for marine and space environments.

Safety is of paramount concern when it comes to nuclear energy, especially considering the public’s perception of this clean energy source following some notable accidents over the past 68 years.

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Notably in April, Sierra Space announced the completion of successful hypervelocity impact trials conducted at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, to optimize the structural integrity of Sierra Space’s LIFE habitat space station technology. This included the use of NASA’s .50 caliber two-stage light gas gun to replicate micrometeoroid and orbital debris (MMOD) impacts to LIFE’s outer shield, to prepare the space station of use in orbit.

About Sierra Space.

Sierra Space is a leading commercial space company and emerging defense tech prime that is building an end-to-end business and technology platform in space to benefit and protect life on Earth. With more than 30 years and 500 missions of space flight heritage, the company is reinventing both space transportation with Dream Chaser®, the world’s only commercial spaceplane, and the future of space destinations with the company’s expandable space station technology. Using commercial business models, the company is also delivering orbital services to commercial, DoD and national security organizations, expanding production capacity to meet the needs of constellation programs. In addition, Sierra Space builds a host of systems and subsystems across solar power, mechanics and motion control, environmental control, life support, propulsion and thermal control, offering myriad space-as-a-service solutions for the new space economy.

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Machine-learning algorithms can now estimate the “brain age” of infants with unprecedented precision by analyzing electrical brain signals recorded using electroencephalography (EEG).

A team led by Sarah Lippé at Université de Montréal’s Department of Psychology has developed a method that can determine in minutes whether a baby’s brain development is advanced, delayed or in line with their chronological age.

This breakthrough promises to enable early screening and personalized monitoring of developmental disorders in babies.

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SpaceX’s prototype Starship exploded over the Indian Ocean on Tuesday, capping another bumpy test flight for the rocket central to billionaire Elon Musk’s dream of colonizing Mars.

The biggest and most powerful launch vehicle ever built lifted off around 6:36 pm (2336 GMT) from the company’s Starbase facility, near a southern Texas village that earlier this month voted to become a city — also named Starbase.

Excitement ran high among SpaceX engineers and spectators alike, after the last two outings ended with the upper stage disintegrating in fiery cascades over the Caribbean.

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