Lifeboat Foundation

From regulators to researchers and most industries in between, all eyes are on PFAS, per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of highly fluorinated human-made compounds that have been used for decades in everything from nonstick cookware and personal care products to fire-fighting foams and school uniforms. Their commonality and extreme resistance to environmental degradation has made them ubiquitous in ground water, soil, and worst of all humans. Linked to a slew of health risks including liver toxicity, bladder cancer, and decreased immune response to vaccinations, exposure to PFAS is concerning. So, how can we eliminate these “forever chemicals?”

Historically, PFAS substances have only been characterized in water and soil, but the emission of these compounds during chemical manufacturing, use, and disposal results in their emission into the air. Ryan Sullivan, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University, has been developing new methods to measure PFAS in both the atmosphere and in aerosol particles to answer outstanding questions regarding PFAS atmospheric components that lead to human exposure. His group is also developing new approaches to destroy forever molecules that are not removed by conventional water treatment plants.

The research is published in the journal Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts.

Most existing COVID-19 tests “rely on the same principle, which is that you have accumulated a detectable amount of viral material, for example, in your nose,” says study lead author Frank Zhang, who worked on the project as a Flatiron research fellow at the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Biology (CCB) in New York City. “That poses a challenge when it’s early in the infection time window and you haven’t accumulated a lot of viral material, or you’re asymptomatic.”

The new technique is instead based on how our bodies mount an immune response when invaded by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. When the assault starts, specific genes turn on. Segments of those genes produce mRNA molecules that guide the building of proteins. The particular blend of those mRNA molecules changes the types of proteins produced, including proteins involved in virus-fighting functions. The new method can confidently identify when the body is mounting an immune response to the COVID-19 virus by measuring the relative abundance of the various mRNA molecules. The new study is the first to use such an approach to diagnose an infectious disease.

We often think that our world is an infinite realm comprising great plains, jungles and oceans, teeming with wild animals featured in memorable nature shows like the BBC’s Planet Earth. But the first global census of wild mammal biomass, conducted by Weizmann Institute of Science researchers and reported today in PNAS, reveals the extent to which our natural world—along with its most iconic animals—is a vanishing one.

The new report shows that the biomass of wild mammals on land and at sea is dwarfed by the combined weight of cattle, pigs, sheep and other domesticated mammals. A team headed by Prof. Ron Milo found that the biomass of livestock has reached about 630 million tons—30 times the weight of all wild terrestrial mammals (approximately 20 million tons) and 15 times that of wild marine mammals (40 million tons).

An earlier, widely-discussed study in Nature by researchers in Milo’s lab in Weizmann’s Plant and Environmental Sciences Department showed that in 2020, the mass of human-made objects—anything from skyscrapers to newspapers—had surpassed the planet’s entire biomass, from redwood trees to honeybees. In the latest study, the researchers offer a new perspective on humanity’s rapidly increasing impact on our planet, seen in the ratio between humans and domesticated mammals, and wild mammals.

Year 2021 face_with_colon_three

In this paper, we demonstrate, in the context of Loop Quantum Gravity, the Quantum Holographic Principle, according to which the area of the boundary surface enclosing a region of space encodes a qubit per Planck unit. To this aim, we introduce fermion fields in the bulk, whose boundary surface is the two-dimensional sphere. The doubling of the fermionic degrees of freedom and the use of the Bogolyubov transformations lead to pairs of the spin network’s edges piercing the boundary surface with double punctures, giving rise to pixels of area encoding a qubit. The proof is also valid in the case of a fuzzy sphere.

It’s not “The Last of Us,” but it sure is weird. Here’s how mushrooms and fungi can be used to carry out problems computers typically solve.

Altman acknowledges that “our current progress could hit a wall.” I think this is important given the hype surrounding large language models (LLM). Constant progress in LLMs and other deep learning models has led some to believe that we’re on the path to creating AGI. But there are clear signs that LLMs alone cannot solve critical aspects of intelligence and can make fatal mistakes if entrusted with sensitive tasks.

A new blog post by Sam Altman explains OpenAI’s updated roadmap for artificial general intelligence. He answers some questions and leaves many others unanswered.

In a recent study published in Nature Cardiovascular Research, researchers assessed T-cell tolerance checkpoints observed in atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the arteries. It is characterized by the presence of atherosclerotic plaque present in the inner layer of arteries. Plaques that rupture result in strokes or heart attacks. Significant innate immune cells that contribute to atherosclerosis have been identified.

In addition, certain subtypes of T cells, such as CD4+ regulatory T (T_reg) cells and CD8+ T cells, promote or suppress the illness in mice. Yet, fundamental problems regarding T cell immunity noted in atherosclerosis are unanswered. In particular, it is unknown whether T cell responses linked with atherosclerosis are incident in the circulation.

While the chatter around the metaverse has slowed down, both social media companies and phone manufacturers have been experimenting with tech that could lead to commercial AR glasses. At the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Xiaomi unveiled its new prototype Wireless AR Glass Discovery Edition, which weighs 126 grams and has a “retina-level” display.

Xiaomi has used a pair of MicroLED screens with a peak brightness of 1,200 nits and free-form light-guiding prisms to recreate an image. The company said that when PPD (pixels per degree) reaches 60, humans can’t perceive individual pixels. The Xiaomi AR glass display boasts 58 PPD, so that’s close enough.

Xiaomi said it is using electrochromic lenses to adjust viewing in different light conditions. The glasses also have a complete blackout mode for a fully immersive experience — kind of making it like a VR headset.

A person in Charlotte County, Florida caught a rare “brain-eating” infection.