Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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The power of gravity is writ large across our visible universe. It can be seen in the lock step of moons as they circle planets; in wandering comets pulled off-course by massive stars; and in the swirl of gigantic galaxies. These awesome displays showcase gravity’s influence at the largest scales of matter. Now, nuclear physicists are discovering that gravity also has much to offer at matter’s smallest scales.

New research conducted by at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility is using a method that connects theories of gravitation to interactions among the smallest particles of matter to reveal new details at this smaller scale. The research has now revealed, for the first time, a snapshot of the distribution of the strong force inside the proton. This snapshot details the shear stress the force may exert on the quark particles that make up the proton. The result was recently published in Reviews of Modern Physics.

According to the lead author on the study, Jefferson Lab Principal Staff Scientist Volker Burkert, the measurement reveals insight into the environment experienced by the proton’s building blocks. Protons are built of three quarks that are bound together by the .

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This self-assembling ‘metallaknot’ of gold emerged when gold acetylide was combined with a carbon structure known as a diphosphine ligand.

Since 1989, chemists have been exploring ways to tie molecular knots using metal ions to guide helical chains into specific configurations. These knots are typically secured by the presence of metal atoms, which are removed at the end of the process to prevent untying.

However, the self-assembly of the new gold knot suggests a different mechanism at play, one that even the researchers, including chemist Richard Puddephatt from the University of Western Ontario, find mysterious.

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This image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope features an H II region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way. This nebula, known as N79, is a region of interstellar atomic hydrogen that is ionized, captured here by Webb’s Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI).

N79 is a massive star-forming complex spanning roughly 1,630 light-years in the generally unexplored southwest region of the LMC. N79 is typically regarded as a younger version of 30 Doradus (also known as the Tarantula Nebula), another of Webb’s recent targets. Research suggests that N79 has a efficiency exceeding that of 30 Doradus by a factor of two over the past 500,000 years.

This particular image centers on one of the three giant molecular cloud complexes, dubbed N79 South (S1 for short). The distinct “starburst” pattern surrounding this bright object is a series of diffraction spikes. All telescopes that use a mirror to collect light, as Webb does, have this form of artifact that arises from the design of the telescope.

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Richard Mansell, Chief Executive Officer at IVO Limited gave the reasons he is optimistic about the Quantum Space Drive tests that will be done in orbital microgravity.

IF the orbital test works then it will lead to interstellar travel and shrinking it down would give material that would have anti-gravity like effects. We would spend the money to make nanocavities so that we could have propellantless thrust for floating cities. All of space and propulsion related science fiction would become possible within about three decades short of faster than light. This drive is in orbit now for a few months. I think DARPA gave them more money to conclusively prove if it works or not. All of the ground tests show it might work. But if it proves out then we first get 1,000 times better than a hall effect thruster but with no fuel limit. No fuel is used. So long as you have power, solar or nuclear the drive keeps working. So nuclear fuel supply for decades then thrust for decades. The theory proves out, then we make nanocavities which could act like antigravity then we get 1G or even 3G thrusters in space. This would be the Expanse TV show tech.

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Summary: Researchers identified cortical gray matter thinning as a potential early biomarker for dementia. In a study involving 1,500 participants from diverse backgrounds, thinner cortical gray matter was linked to a higher risk of developing dementia 5 to 10 years before symptoms appeared.

This finding suggests that measuring gray matter thickness via MRI could be key in early dementia detection and intervention. The research highlights the importance of early diagnosis in managing and possibly slowing the progression of dementia.

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If you give a rat a camera, it will apparently take selfies.

That was the biggest takeaway from a fresh riff on a classic rat experiment undertaken by French photographer and amateur behaviorist Augustin Lignier, who told the New York Times that when he taught some pet store rats how to take selfies using a lever that snapped a pic and rewarded them with some sugar, the photo-snapping continued even after the treats stopped.

Born from a desire to understand why people take and post so many self-portraits online, Lignier designed a modified version of behaviorist B.F. Skinner’s conditioning experiments wherein rats were given food for pushing a button inside a box. Known now as the “Skinner box,” this groundbreaking methodology developed in the 1930s has been used repeatedly in the past century not just to study behavior but also as an allegory — and has even served to describe humans’ relationship to social media.

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