Lifeboat Foundation

Scientists have discovered the cause of a rare condition within a part of the genome that has been largely unexplored in medical genetics. A team at the University of Exeter has found genetic changes in a region that controls the activity of the genome, turning on or off genes, and in doing so they have found a key that could unlock other causes of rare conditions.

The finding, published in Nature Genetics, is a very rare case of a cause of disease that only results from changes outside the exome, the region of the genome that codes for genes. It is also the first time that changes have been shown to affect a gene—known as HK1—that does not normally have a role in the relevant body tissue—in this case, the pancreas.

Until now, scientists have typically sequenced the part of the genome that describes the genetic code of all genes in individuals with a rare disease. They do this looking for variants in the DNA that affects a protein known to have an important role in the disease-relevant organ. A good example is observed in neonatal diabetes, where genetic variants disrupt the function of the pancreatic protein insulin, causing high blood sugar levels.

You can imagine starting at the beginning, evolving the Universe forward according to the laws of physics, and measuring those earliest signals and their imprints on the Universe to determine how it has expanded over time. Alternatively, you can imagine starting here and now, looking out at the distant objects as we see them receding from us, and then drawing conclusions as to how the Universe has expanded from that.

Both of these methods rely on the same laws of physics, the same underlying theory of gravity, the same cosmic ingredients, and even the same equations as one another. And yet, when we actually perform our observations and make those critical measurements, we get two completely different answers that don’t agree with one another. This is, in many ways, the most pressing cosmic conundrum of our time. But there’s still a possibility that no one is mistaken and everyone is doing the science right. The entire controversy over the expanding Universe could go away if just one new thing is true: if there was some form of “early dark energy” in the Universe. Here’s why so many people are compelled by the idea.

Elon Musk from his Twitter bully pulpit tells U.S. voters for whom they should cast their ballots.

When social media first arrived I hoped it would facilitate global engagement and serve to advance humanity’s common purpose.

A team of engineers has developed a new type of camera that can detect radiation in terahertz (THz) wavelengths. This new imaging system can see through certain materials in high detail, which could make it useful for security scanners and other sensors.

Terahertz radiation is that which has wavelengths between microwaves and visible light, and these frequencies show promise in a new class of imaging systems. They can penetrate many materials and capture new levels of detail, and importantly the radiation is non-ionizing, meaning it’s safer than X-rays when used on humans.

The problem is that detectors that pick up THz wavelengths can be bulky, slow, expensive, difficult to run under practical conditions, or some combination of these. But in a new study, researchers at MIT, Samsung and the University of Minnesota have developed a system that can detect THz pulses quickly, precisely and at regular room temperature and pressure.

The company gives its customers full control over their data and claims to increase security, with a focus on compliance and auditing.

A study conducted by scientists from Trinity College Dublin could suggest that quantum processes are involved in the functions of our brains.

The robot can understand natural language commands, remember what it learned, and reuse instructions for similar tasks down the line.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inpTY8mnwos

Music in this video:
Creator: Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio.
Title: Melancholic Synthwave *No Beat* — Dreams of 1984
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpPI4xiMCD8&list=RDkpPI4xiMCD8&start_radio=1
Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/WhiteBatAudio.

Carl Sagan: Pale Blue Dot (1994) — Wanderers: An Introduction.

BOSTON (AP) — Elon Musk tweeted Sunday that Twitter will permanently suspend any account on the social media platform that impersonates another.

The platform’s new owner issued the warning after some celebrities changed their Twitter display names — not their account names — and tweeted as ‘Elon Musk’ in reaction to the billionaire’s decision to offer verified accounts to all comers for $8 month as he simultaneously laid off a big chunk of the workforce.

“Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying “parody” will be permanently suspended,” Musk wrote. While Twitter previously issued warnings before suspensions, now that it is rolling out “widespread verification, there will be no warning.”