Lifeboat Foundation

A team of biologists in Montana and Germany has found that, regardless of type, those insects that express a protective stick-or leaf-like appearance all evolved the same basic body parts. In their study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Romain Boisseau, Douglas Emlen and Sven Bradler measured and compared characteristics from 1,359 stick insects covering 212 stick and leaf species and assessed the possibility of predicting evolutionary change.

Prior evidence has shown that similar physical characteristics can evolve in unrelated creatures, a process called convergent evolution. For this new study, the researchers looked at two specific types of insects to learn more about how convergence works. They discovered that stick-and leaf-imitating insects had all evolved the same 20 basic body features, including body shape, head shape and lobster-like features. In all cases, they noted, the features had evolved to help the insects blend into the background to avoid being eaten by predators.

Something else the team learned was that because the same body parts kept evolving in different insects, they could predict how some modern insects will evolve. The key was looking at the environmental factors that led to changes that had already occurred. Creatures that live in similar environments, they note, tend to evolve in similar ways, including their means of camouflage. This tends to be the best way to avoid predators.

The innovation offers potential advancements in diagnosing conditions like arrhythmia and Alzheimer’s.

Researchers at MIT have unveiled a biosensing technique that uses tiny, wireless antennas to monitor electrical signals in biological systems with unprecedented precision.

By eliminating the need for wires and amplifiers, the innovation simplifies cellular studies, offering potential advancements in diagnosing conditions like arrhythmia and Alzheimer’s and enabling more targeted treatments.

Continue reading “MIT creates tiny antennas to track brain and heart disease signals” »

In an era of medical care that is increasingly aiming at more targeted medication therapies, more individual therapies and more effective therapies, doctors and scientists want to be able to introduce molecules to the biological system to undertake specific actions.

Examples are gene therapy and drug delivery, which for widespread use need to be both effective and inexpensive. In service of this goal, a trio of researchers has used machine learning to design a way to remove molecules inside a molecular cage. Their study is published in Physical Review Letters.

The research, whose lead author is Ryan K. Krueger of Harvard University, but to which each co-author contributed equally, uses differentiable molecular dynamics to design complex reactions to direct the system to specific outcomes.

Biannual publication spotlights ‘visual experiments and conceptually refined pieces’

Tiny balls of mineral are opening a new window into the history of life on Earth.

These millimeter-sized objects are more than half a billion years old – the fossilized embryos of animals that lived during the early Cambrian period, some 535 million years ago.

They belong to a group called Ecdysozoa, which includes insects, spiders, crustaceans, and worms.

Metaverse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80IIEnSNwQc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLOcj5qvOio.

AR Healthcare.

Continue reading “20 Emerging Technologies That Will Blow Your Mind” »

New methods could uncover hidden megastructures in distant stellar systems.

Ubitium doesn’t just envision a single Universal Processor; they’re aiming to build an entire lineup, ranging from tiny embedded devices to high-performance computing systems that could potentially compete with the largest chips from Nvidia, AMD, and Intel.

The potential upsides are tantalizing. For one, Ubitium claims its Universal Processor can deliver 10 to 100 times better performance per cost compared to today’s dedicated chips.

A Japanese university and construction company have partnered on research to develop a lunar habitat capable of generating artificial gravity, enabling people to live on the Moon under conditions similar to those on Earth.

Kyoto University and Kajima Corp. aim to construct a ground-based prototype of the “Neo Lunar Glass,” a paraboloid structure that generates gravity through rotation, by the 2030s.

The technology is expected to address concerns about the adverse effects of prolonged exposure to microgravity on the human body, including bone and muscle loss.