Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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A new scanner which can distinguish tumour material from healthy tissue more accurately than current methods could change the way breast cancer is diagnosed and treated, researchers have said.

It is hoped the scanner, developed by scientists at the University of Aberdeen, could lead to patients undergoing fewer surgeries and receiving more individually-tailored treatments.

Scientists from the university, in collaboration with NHS Grampian, used a prototype version of the new Field Cycling Imager (FCI) scanner to examine the breast tissue of patients newly diagnosed with cancer.

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Taking melatonin could help night shift workers avoid cancer, researchers said Monday.

Researchers from North Carolina and British Columbia say the sleep supplement could be a “viable intervention strategy to reduce the burden of cancer” among that group, boosting the body’s ability to repair damage to their DNA caused by their irregular sleep cycle and disruption of the body’s circadian rhythm that regulates physical and behavioral processes.

“This trial is the first of its kind to evaluate the impact of melatonin supplements on oxidative DNA damage among night shift workers,” they wrote in a study published Monday in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine..

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The astounding numbers of the human body:

Your body consists of 37 trillion cells divided into 200 different types.

100 billion cells make up the skin, which is the largest organ in your body. 100 billion neurons in the brain allow you to process as many as 60,000 thoughts per day.

You also have 127 million retinal cells that allow you to see the world in as many as 10 million different colors. You have 30 trillion red blood cells, 42 billion blood vessels, and 6 liters (1.6 gallons) of blood in your body. Your blood makes up approximately 10% of your body weight. Your nose has 1,000 olfactory receptors that allow you to distinguish 50,000 different smells.

Your lungs allow you to breathe 23,040 breaths per day, while your heart beats around 115,200 heartbeats per day or 42 million heartbeats per year. You have 640 muscles, 360 joints, 206 bones and 100,000 hair follicles. You produce around 23,000 liters (6,075 gallons) of saliva in your lifetime, which is enough to fill two swimming pools.

Continue reading “Do You Know How Much Blood Your Circulatory System Pumps?” | >

The biological cycle of our existence seems relatively straightforward: we’re born, we live, we die. The end.

But when you examine existence at the cellular level, things get a bit more interesting. You, me, and all of the 108 billion or so Homo sapiens who’ve ever walked the Earth have all been our own constellation of some 30 trillion cells. Each of our bodies is a collective organism of living human cells and microbes working in cooperation to create what our minds view as “life.” However, a growing number of new studies have found that, at least for some cells, death isn’t the end. Instead, it’s possibly the beginning of something new and wholly unexpected.

A growing snowball of research concerning a new class of AI-designed multicellular organisms known as “xenobots” is gaining scientific attention for their apparent autonomy. In September 2024, Peter Noble, Ph.D., a microbiologist from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, along with Alex Pozhitkov, Ph.D., a bioinformatics researcher at the City of Hope cancer center, detailed this research on the website The Conversation.

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Researchers just found common genes linked to autism, ADHD, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, Tourette syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and anorexia.

These disorders all share common genetic variants that influence brain development.

Researchers found that these genetic differences impact multiple stages of brain growth and are involved in complex protein interactions. This discovery could explain why many of these conditions often appear together in individuals and families, offering a fresh perspective on mental health connections.

By identifying 683 genetic variants that regulate brain development, scientists hope to pave the way for new treatments targeting these shared genetic factors. This research challenges traditional classifications of psychiatric disorders and suggests that a single therapy could potentially address multiple conditions. With nearly 1 billion people worldwide affected by mental health disorders, these findings mark a significant step toward more effective, genetically-informed treatments.

Continue reading “Massively parallel reporter assay investigates shared genetic variants of eight psychiatric disorders” | >

Researchers have developed a new type of photochromic glass that can store and rewrite data indefinitely.

By embedding magnesium and terbium, they’ve created a material that changes colors under different wavelengths of light, allowing for high-density, long-term storage without power. This breakthrough could revolutionize data preservation.

Exploring the potential of glass for data storage.

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Researchers from Japan and Taiwan reveal for the first time that helium, usually considered chemically inert, can bond with iron under high pressures. They used a laser-heated diamond anvil cell to find this, and the discovery suggests there could be huge amounts of helium in the Earth’s core. This could challenge long-standing ideas about the planet’s internal structure and history, and may even reveal details of the nebula our solar system coalesced from.

The research is published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

During a there are often traces of what is known as primordial helium. That is, helium, which differs from normal helium, or 4 He, so called because it contains two protons and two neutrons and is continuously produced by radioactive decay. Primordial helium, or 3 He, on the other hand, is not formed on Earth and contains two protons and one neutron.

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