Lifeboat Foundation

New research in the journal Nature Aging takes a page from the field of renewable energy and shows that genetically engineered mitochondria can convert light energy into chemical energy that cells can use, ultimately extending the life of the roundworm C. elegans. While the prospect of sunlight-charged cells in humans is more science fiction than science, the findings shed light on important mechanisms in the aging process.

“We know that mitochondrial dysfunction is a consequence of aging,” said Andrew Wojtovich, Ph.D., associate professor of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine and Pharmacology & Physiology at the University of Rochester Medical Center and senior author of the study.

“This study found that simply boosting metabolism using light-powered mitochondria gave laboratory worms longer, healthier lives. These findings and new research tools will enable us to further study mitochondria and identify new ways to treat age-related diseases and age healthier.”

Sensing systems are becoming prevalent in many areas of our lives, such as in ambient-assisted health care, autonomous vehicles, and touchless human-computer interaction. However, these systems often lack intelligence: they tend to gather all available information, even if it is not relevant. This can lead not only to privacy infringements but also to wasted time, energy, and computational resources during data processing.

To address this problem, researchers from the French CNRS came up with a concept for intelligent electromagnetic sensing, which uses machine-learning techniques to generate learned illumination patterns so as to pre-select relevant details during the measurement process. A programmable metasurface is configured to generate the learned patterns, performing high-accuracy sensing (e.g., posture recognition) with a remarkably reduced number of measurements.

But measurement processes in realistic applications are inevitably subject to a variety of noise. Noise fundamentally accompanies any measurement. The signal-to–noise ratio can be particularly low in indoor environments where the radiated electromagnetic signals must be kept weak.

Philosophy of the future is needed.

The world is chancing fast. (AI, genome sequencing, demographics changes…)

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Findings underline the importance of a strength-based rather than a deficit-based focus on aging and older adults.

What are the keys to “successful” or optimal aging? A new study followed more than 7,000 middle-aged and older Canadians for approximately three years to identify the factors linked to well-being as we age.

They found that those who were female, married, physically active, and not obese and those who had never smoked, had higher incomes, and who did not have insomnia, heart disease or arthritis, were more likely to maintain excellent health across the study period and less likely to develop disabling cognitive, physical, or emotional problems.

NASA published a video from its Artemis I Orion spacecraft, when it saw Earth disappear behind the Moon at the halfway point of its mission.

I’m so waiting for it! Let the new year go along the path of compassion.

For all who would like to stop animall suffer and still have their favourite meal. There is still a lot of work to be done to make this happen, but much has already been done.

A California-based lab-grown meat start-up received the first green light for such products from the U.S. food safety agency on No. 16, although the product still has more hurdles to clear before being sold to consumers.

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Buckle in.

Year 2022 face_with_colon_three

From the rise of ‘synthetic creativity’ to a study of doppelgängers and a road trip to the edge of the universe, these were the stories we loved in 2022.

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Year 2022 face_with_colon_three

Since the discovery of black holes, they have inspired images of the universe’s extremities in both scientists and storytellers. Their immense gravity — sucking in any matter and light unfortunate enough to come within grabbing distance — conjures images of crushing death and infinite possibility.

That same gravity, however, creates a well which consumes indiscriminately and from whence nothing can ever emerge. The only trouble is that isn’t the case. Among Stephen Hawking’s many accomplishments was the discovery that black holes actually radiate very slowly and will eventually evaporate. This discovery, while enough to make Hawking famous, threw a wrench in contemporary astrophysics by creating a paradox.

Continue reading “If you could see a black hole, it might look like a cosmic koosh ball” »