Lifeboat Foundation

Scientists have developed a pill-shaped, swallowable camera that can be controlled by physicians once ingested to help doctors diagnose digestive issues.

Ingestible pill-shaped endoscopes are not a new idea. Last year, PetaPixel reported on the Pillcam which is just such a device, but it had limitations just like all other swallowable pill cameras: doctors can’t control it once it is ingested.

Continue reading “Remote-Controlled Pill Camera Can Help Diagnose Digestive Issues” »

It is June 2022, and a flying machine that looks like a cross between a prehistoric beast and a spaceship is about to take off. Named the Zephyr S, it has long spindly wings the length of an airliner’s. Together with its small, thin body and head, these make it resemble a pterodactyl. Its shimmering tinfoil-like solar panels and lightweight skeletal frame are more like something you’d see on a craft meant for space.

Its mission for the US Army is a secret, but clearly on its manufacturer’s mind is the desire to shatter a few records, particularly that for the longest flight duration for any type of airplane, which has stood for 63 years. In 1959 two men flew a four-seat Cessna light aircraft for 64 days, 22 hours and 19 minutes, refuelling in-flight from a truck.

British aviation pioneer Chris Kelleher designed the first Zephyr in 2002. His vision was of an uncrewed aircraft capable of “eternal flight” in the stratosphere. He foresaw that solar power and lightweight materials would lead to aircraft capable of staying aloft for months, or even years. The Zephyr S is the first production model.

Continue reading “Stratoplanes: The aircraft that will fly at the edge of space” »

I’ve found a lot of reasons – from finding components that are overheating (which can indicate faulty components), identifying overheating wires and connectors (which can indicate damaged wires or connectors), diagnosing issues with HVAC, find draughts at home, and much, much more.

Also: This $10 gadget is my favorite repair tool of all time

Continue reading “Are smartphone thermal cameras sensitive enough to uncover PIN codes?” »

While the advent of immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment, its use in the treatment of glioblastoma (GBM) has been less successful. Most studies using immunotherapy in GBM have been negative and the reasons for this are still being studied. In clinical practice, interpreting response to immunotherapy has been challenging, particularly when trying to differentiate between treatment-related changes (i.e., pseudoprogression) or true tumor progression. T cell tagging is one promising technique to noninvasively monitor treatment efficacy by assessing the migration, expansion, and engagement of T cells and their ability to target tumor cells at the tumor site.

The team, led by Professor Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz, developed the embryo model without eggs or sperm, and instead used stem cells – the body’s master cells, which can develop into almost any cell type in the body.

The researchers mimicked natural processes in the lab by guiding the three types of stem cells found in early mammalian development to the point where they start interacting. By inducing the expression of a particular set of genes and establishing a unique environment for their interactions, the researchers were able to get the stem cells to ‘talk’ to each other.

Researchers have created model embryos from mouse stem cells that form a brain, a beating heart, and the foundations of all the other organs of the body.

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Walmart, Meta and LinkedIn are three companies currently testing internal generative AI options for employees that are safe for the use of company data, either in the form of generative AI “playgrounds” that offer a variety of models to choose from, or in the case of Meta, its own in-house internal chatbot.

These examples stand in contrast to companies that have banned the use of public generative AI tools like ChatGPT, including Goldman Sachs, Amazon and Verizon.

Denmark was in full chaotic collapse in the early 19th century. Why was its art so beautifully serene?

Bengaluru-based Professor Saji Varghese founded a startup called Sunbird Straws, which sells eco-friendly straws made from coconut leaves. So far, the company has sold over 20 million pieces worldwide.

Scientists have taken a journey back in time to unlock the mysteries of Earth’s early history, using tiny mineral crystals called zircons to study plate tectonics billions of years ago. The research sheds light on the conditions that existed in early Earth, revealing a complex interplay between Earth’s crust, core, and the emergence of life.

Plate tectonics allows heat from Earth’s interior to escape to the surface, forming continents and other geological features necessary for life to emerge. Accordingly, “there has been the assumption that plate tectonics is necessary for life,” says John Tarduno, who teaches in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Rochester. But new research casts doubt on that assumption.

Tarduno, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Geophysics, is lead author of a paper published in Nature examining plate tectonics from a time 3.9 billion years ago, when scientists believe the first traces of life appeared on Earth.