Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Studies by a growing number of labs have identified neurological health benefits from exposing human volunteers or animal models to light, sound and/or tactile stimulation at the brain’s “gamma” frequency rhythm of 40Hz. In the latest such research at The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and Alana Down Syndrome Center at MIT, scientists found that 40Hz sensory stimulation improved cognition and circuit connectivity and encouraged the growth of new neurons in mice genetically engineered to model Down syndrome.

Li-Huei Tsai, Picower Professor at MIT and senior author of the new study in PLOS ONE, said that the results are encouraging but also cautioned that much more work is needed to test whether the method, called GENUS (for Gamma Entrainment Using Sensory Stimulation), could provide clinical benefits for people with Down syndrome. Her lab has begun a small study with human volunteers at MIT.

“While this work, for the first time, shows the beneficial effects of GENUS on Down syndrome using an imperfect mouse model, we need to be cautious as there is not yet data showing whether this also works in humans,” said Tsai, who directs The Picower Institute and The Alana Center, and is a member of MIT’s Brain and Cognitive Sciences faculty.

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Learning and memory impairments in a Down syndrome mouse model were reversed by correcting expression of a gene that influences the generation of new neurons in the brain. The finding could pave the way to treat the cognitive impairment associated with the syndrome in humans.

Adult neurogenesis is the process of generating new neurons in the adult brain. Defects in this process have been observed in various animal models of neurological disorders including schizophrenia, depression, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and such as Down syndrome. But the precise cellular and underlying adult neurogenesis and their links to neurological disorders are not well understood.

Molecular neurobiologist Kyung-Tai Min at Korea’s Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology and his colleagues found that interactions between a gene called the Down syndrome critical region 1 (DSCR1) and two other molecules, TET1 and miRNA-124, were necessary for adult neurogenesis and were important in learning and memory.

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An experiment that could confirm the fifth state of matter in the universe—and change physics as we know it—has been published in a new paper from the University of Portsmouth.

Physicist Dr. Melvin Vopson has already published research suggesting that has mass and that all , the smallest known building blocks of the universe, store information about themselves, similar to the way humans have DNA.

Now, he has designed an experiment—which if proved correct—means he will have discovered that information is the fifth form of matter, alongside solid, liquid, gas and plasma.

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Dark energy makes up roughly 70% of the universe, yet we know nothing about it.

Around 25% of the universe is the equally mysterious dark matter, leaving just 5% for everything that we can see and touch—matter made up of atoms.

Dark energy is the placeholder name scientists have given to the unknown force causing the universe to expand faster and faster over time.

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When Albert Einstein introduced his theory of general relativity in 1915, it changed the way we viewed the universe. His gravitational model showed how Newtonian gravity, which had dominated astronomy and physics for more than three centuries, was merely an approximation of a more subtle and elegant model.

Einstein showed us that gravity is not a mere force but is rather the foundation of cosmic structure. Gravity, Einstein said, defined the structure of space and time itself.

But in the past century, we have learned far more about the cosmos than even Einstein could have imagined. Some of our observations, such as gravitational lensing clearly confirm general relativity, but others seem to poke holes in the model. The rotational motion of galaxies doesn’t match the predictions of gravity alone, leading astronomers to introduce .

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Despite testing negative for rheumatoid arthritis, doctors diagnosed her with the condition after four months of visits.

However, the 40-year-old, who owns a marketing company, soon experienced excruciating stomach pains and a dramatic 14-pound weight loss within a month, with doctors attributing it to acid reflux.

Unsatisfied and desperate for answers, Bannon turned to the AI chatbot developed by OpenAI for a potential diagnosis, which she had been using for work.

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Scientists in Germany have crafted “skyrmion bags” of light—complex vortex-like structures—on the surface of gold by cleverly manipulating how laser beams interact with nano-etched patterns.

This unusual feat not only adds a surprising twist to the physics of light but also hints at future technologies that could break the limits of current microscopes.

Skyrmion light bags: a new breakthrough

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But now, a bold new idea is challenging this tidy system. Scientists at Rice University in Texas believe there may be a third kind of particle—one that doesn’t follow the rules of fermions or bosons. They’ve developed a mathematical model showing how these unusual entities, called paraparticles, could exist in real materials without breaking the laws of physics.

“We determined that new types of particles we never knew of before are possible,” says Kaden Hazzard, one of the researchers behind the study. Along with co-author Zhiyuan Wang, Hazzard used advanced math to explore this idea.

Their work, published in Nature, suggests that paraparticles might arise in special systems and act differently than anything scientists have seen before.

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