Lifeboat Foundation

Billions of years ago, Mars is hypothesized to have been a much warmer and wetter planet featuring active volcanoes and vast liquid water oceans. However, something happened that caused the Red Planet to become the cold and dry world we see and explore today, but where did its atmosphere go? This is what a recent study published in Science Advances hopes to address as a team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) investigated how the large amounts of carbon that once existed in Mars’ atmosphere could now exist in the clay across the planet’s surface. This study holds the potential to help scientists better understand the formation and evolution of Mars and what that means in the search for life on the Red Planet, and beyond Earth.

For the study, the researchers calculated the amount of carbon storage within clays that potentially existed during what’s known as the Noachian Period on Mars, or between approximately 3.6 to 4 billion years ago. Their hypothesis is that when liquid water existed on the Red Planet, this water could have seeped its way into rocks, resulting in carbon dioxide being removed from the atmosphere and being converted into methane. In the end, the researchers calculated that the clays on Mars could potentially be housing up to 1.7 bar of carbon dioxide, or just over one standard atmosphere’s worth of carbon dioxide and approximately 80 percent of Mars’ ancient atmosphere.

“Based on our findings on Earth, we show that similar processes likely operated on Mars, and that copious amounts of atmospheric CO₂ could have transformed to methane and been sequestered in clays,” said Dr. Oliver Jagoutz, who is a professor of geology in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) and the sole co-author on the study. “This methane could still be present and maybe even used as an energy source on Mars in the future.”

Meet Barbara Di Ventura, an engineer turned synthetic biologist at the University of Freiburg, who explores protein dynamics across cell types. Outside of the laboratory, she moonlights as a musician. Di Ventura harmonizes her passion for art and science in musical abstracts, using a guitar to riff about her latest research, transforming scientific communication into a lively experience.

What inspired you to start creating musical abstracts?

I was inspired by Uri Alon, a systems biologist at the Weizmann Institute of Science, who played the guitar and sang songs about his group’s projects in an entertaining way. Then in 2021, we published a paper on a novel optogenetic tool for controlling gene expression in bacteria, and I had this vision to write a song about it.¹ We’re constantly asked to describe our work in new ways despite the numerous figures we produce. To me, writing song lyrics is easier than new text. The song “American Pie” came to mind, and it sounded cool with “Bye-bye, L-arabinose drive,” where L-arabinose is the normal inducer of this system.

Take a listen to this 7-min.

Podcast preview discussing the D-Theory of Time paper and the upcoming eBook release: The nature of time has long been a subject of profound inquiry within both the realms of physics and philosophy. This research paper introduces the “D-Theory of Time,” a novel conceptual framework that seeks to advance our comprehension of temporal mechanics. Departing from traditional paradigms, the D-Theory posits that time is not merely a linear progression of events but a dynamic, multidimensional construct influenced by both physical and cognitive phenomena. By integrating insights from quantum mechanics, relativity, and cognitive science, this theory offers a more holistic understanding of temporal flow and its implications on our perception of reality. Key elements include the exploration of temporal entanglement, the fluidity of past, present, and future, and the interplay between consciousness and temporal experience. This paper aims to elucidate the foundational principles of the D-Theory, provide empirical support through experimental data, and discuss its potential to resolve longstanding paradoxes in the study of time. The D-Theory of Time represents a significant upgrade to our understanding of temporal mechanics, opening new avenues for research and philosophical contemplation.

Continue reading “Temporal Mechanics: D-Theory of Time | Podcast Preview” »

Mental health issues are one of the most common causes of disability, affecting more than a billion people worldwide. Addressing mental health difficulties can present extraordinarily tough problems: what can providers do to help people in the most precarious situations? How do changes in the physical brain affect our thoughts and experiences? And at the end of the day, how can everyone get the care they need?

Answering those questions was the shared goal of the researchers who attended the Mental Health, Brain, and Behavioral Science Research Day in September. While the problems they faced were serious, the new solutions they started to build could ultimately help improve mental health care at individual and societal levels.

“We’re building something that there’s no blueprint for,” said Mark Rapaport, MD, CEO of Huntsman Mental Health Institute at the University of Utah. “We’re developing new and durable ways of addressing some of the most difficult issues we face in society.”

Extremely thin materials consisting of just a few atomic layers promise applications for electronics and quantum technologies. An international team led by TU Dresden has now made remarkable progress with an experiment conducted at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR): The experts were able to induce an extremely fast switching process between electrically neutral and charged luminescent particles in an ultra-thin, effectively two-dimensional material.

Amazing success at reversing Type 1 diabetes.

A 25-year-old woman with type 1 diabetes started producing her own insulin less than three months after receiving a transplant of reprogrammed stem cells.

She is the first person with the disease to be treated using cells that were extracted from her own body.

Continue reading “Stem cells reverse woman’s diabetes — a world first” »

Starship is the world’s largest and most powerful rocket and is shaping up to be the rocket that will finally realize the company’s dream, sourced from Elon Musk, of making humans a multi-planetary species. With a few Starship launches under its belt SpaceX is full steam ahead to achieving its goal, but it appears its being blocked by US regulators more than necessary, at least according to SpaceX.

Despite its goals, we have now learned an approximate figure SpaceX has spent on Starship’s development, with the company’s Chief Operating Officer, Gwynne Shotwell, saying in front of the Texas Appropriations Committee for Texas Space Commission that SpaceX has invested $3 billion into developing Starship and its surrounding facilities. Shotwell also pointed out SpaceX is about to break through the four million mark for Starlink customers and that as the network grows, it plans to expand its facilities and put more Starlink satellites in orbit.

The Menlo Park-based molecular diagnostics company is expanding to Austin, with eyes set on completing a 220,000-square-foot facility in EastVillage by 2026.

Its 1 million-square-foot facility promises to become more efficient at manufacturing printed circuit boards than rival factories in Southeast Asia, SpaceX’s president tells Texas lawmakers.