Lifeboat Foundation

They reveal the origin of wine, the age of bones and fossils, and they serve as diagnostic tools in medicine. Isotopes and isotopologues—molecules that differ only in the composition of their isotopes—also play an increasingly important role in astronomy. For example, the ratio of carbon-12 (12C) to carbon-13 (13C) isotopes in the atmosphere of an exoplanet allows scientists to infer the distance at which the exoplanet orbits its central star.

Until now, 12C and 13C bound in carbon monoxide were the only isotopologues that could be measured in the atmosphere of an exoplanet. Now a team of researchers has succeeded in detecting ammonia isotopologues in the atmosphere of a cold brown dwarf.

As the team has just reported in the journal Nature, ammonia could be measured in the form of 14NH3 and 15NH3. Astrophysicists Polychronis Patapis and Adrian Glauser, who are members of the Department of Physics as well as of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS, were involved in the study—Patapis as one of the first authors.

There were mixed reactions across gene editing space on Thursday after CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ: CRSP) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX), in a world’s first, won U.K. approval for their CRISPR-based drug exa-cel for sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia.

CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP) has added ~5%, and MaxCyte (NASDAQ: MXCT), which has a licensing deal with the Swiss biotech, has gained ~4%. Vertex Pharma (VRTX) is trading lower for the third straight session.

Other CRSPR-based drug developers Graphite Bio (GRPH) and Precision BioSciences (DTIL) are also among the gainers, while notable gene editing biotechs Editas Medicine (EDIT), Beam Therapeutics (BEAM), Intellia Therapeutics (NTLA), and Verve Therapeutics (VRTX) are in the red.

Over the years, Einstein received a lot of letters from children. “I am a little girl of six,” one announced in large letters drawn haphazardly across the full width of the writing paper. “I saw your picture in the paper. I think you ought to have a haircut, so you can look better.” Having given her advice, the girl, with model formality, signed it, “Cordially yours, Ann.”

“I have a problem I would like solved,” wrote Anna Louise of Falls Church, Virginia. “I would like to know how color gets into a bird’s feather.” Dear Mr. Einstein was asked the age of Earth and whether life could exist without the sun (to which he replied that it very much could not). One child asked him whether all geniuses were bound to go insane. Frank, from Bristol, Pennsylvania, asked what was beyond the sky—“My mother said you could tell me.”

Kenneth, from Asheboro, North Carolina, was more philosophical: “We would like to know, if nobody is around and a tree falls, would there be a sound, and why.” Similarly, Peter, from Chelsea, Massachusetts, drove straight to the heart of human inquiry: “I would appreciate it very much if you could tell me what Time is, what the soul is, and what the heavens are.”

It just launched into space—so we’re about to find out if that’s actually true.

The “Cosmic Vine” is a massive structure in the cosmic web that links 20 galaxies in the early universe.

Major work led by Dr. André Veillette’s team at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM), in collaboration with a group of researchers, and just published in Nature Immunology, managed to identify a previously unknown molecular action that prevents phagocytosis, which is a process that promotes the immune system’s response to cancer. A Research Briefing on the work done by the team has been published in the same journal.

Macrophages are cells of the immune system. One of the roles of macrophages is to engulf, or “eat,” cells that are defective or dangerous, including cancer cells. This process is named phagocytosis. Macrophages can be called into action to eliminate cancer cells. However, this capacity is often defective, because macrophages are put in a state of dormancy by the cancer cells.

This is in part because a particular molecule called CD47 is often over-abundant on cancer cells. CD47 prevents phagocytosis by triggering a molecule or “receptor” on macrophages named SIRPα. Agents that block the ability of CD47 to trigger SIRPα have shown promising results for treating cancer.

SpaceX’s Starship rocket system is on the launchpad once again, preparing for its second test flight after a fiery explosion ended its first attempt in April.

One question has relentlessly followed ChatGPT in its trajectory to superstar status in the field of artificial intelligence: Has it met the Turing test of generating output indistinguishable from human response?

Two researchers at the University of California at San Diego say it comes close, but not quite.

ChatGPT may be smart, quick and impressive. It does a good job at exhibiting apparent intelligence. It sounds humanlike in conversations with people and can even display humor, emulate the phraseology of teenagers, and pass exams for law school.

Some neural nets can work well using both bits and qubits.