Lifeboat Foundation

Tomatoes gene-edited to produce vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin, could be a simple and sustainable innovation to address a global health problem.

Researchers used gene editing to turn off a specific molecule in the plant’s genome which increased provitamin D3 in both the fruit and leaves of tomato plants. It was then converted to vitamin D3 through exposure to UVB light.

Vitamin D is created in our bodies after skin’s exposure to UVB light, but the major source is food. This new biofortified crop could help millions of people with vitamin D insufficiency, a growing issue linked to higher risk of cancer, dementia, and many leading causes of mortality. Studies have also shown that vitamin D insufficiency is linked to increased severity of infection by Covid-19.

Plastic bottles, punnets, wrap – such lightweight packaging made of PET plastic becomes a problem if it is not recycled. Scientists at Leipzig University have now discovered a highly efficient enzyme that degrades PET in record time. The enzyme PHL7, which the researchers found in a compost heap in Leipzig, could make biological PET recycling possible much faster than previously thought. The findings have now been published in the scientific journal “ChemSusChem” and selected as the cover topic.

One way in which enzymes are used in nature is by bacteria to decompose plant parts. It has been known for some time that some enzymes, so-called polyester-cleaving hydrolases, can also degrade PET. For example, the enzyme LCC, which was discovered in Japan in 2012, is considered to be a particularly effective “plastic eater”. The team led by Dr Christian Sonnendecker, an early career researcher from Leipzig University, is searching for previously undiscovered examples of these biological helpers as part of the EU-funded projects MIPLACE and ENZYCLE. They found what they were looking for in the Südfriedhof, a cemetery in Leipzig: in a sample from a compost heap, the researchers came across the blueprint of an enzyme that decomposed PET at record speed in the laboratory.

The researchers from the Institute of Analytical Chemistry found and studied seven different enzymes. The seventh candidate, called PHL7, achieved results in the lab that were significantly above average. In the experiments, the researchers added PET to containers with an aqueous solution containing either PHL7 or LCC, the previous leader in PET decomposition. Then they measured the amount of plastic that was degraded in a given period of time and compared the values with each other.

Power-hungry, fossil-fuel dependent Japan has successfully tested a system that could provide a constant, steady form of renewable energy, regardless of the wind or the sun.

For more than a decade, Japanese heavy machinery maker IHI Corp. has been developing a subsea turbine that harnesses the energy in deep ocean currents and converts it into a steady and reliable source of electricity. The giant machine resembles an airplane, with two counter-rotating turbine fans in place of jets, and a central ‘fuselage’ housing a buoyancy adjustment system. Called Kairyu, the 330-ton prototype is designed to be anchored to the sea floor at a depth of 30–50 meters (100−160 feet).

Tested in one of the world’s strongest ocean currents, a prototype generator could herald the start of a new stream of renewable energy.

Continue reading “Giant Deep Ocean Turbine Trial Offers Hope of Endless Green Power” »

In a major milestone for computing, Oak Ridge National Laboratory today announced that Frontier has achieved 1.1 exaFLOPS. https://www.futuretimeline.net/blog/2022/05/30-bird-extincti…e-2027.htm

Doc would be proud.

DeLorean has officially unveiled its upcoming electric adaptation of the 1981 DMC, the Alpha5.

Lycopene, which makes fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes red, improves the efficiency of perovskite solar cells.

The mission, called OSAM-1 (On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing-1), will send a robotic spacecraft equipped with robotic arms and all the tools and equipment needed to fix, refuel, or extend satellite lifespans, even if those satellites were not designed to be serviced on-orbit.

If Earthly destinations are not enough to quench your wanderlust, a trip to a space hotel might get on your radar within the next few years. The designer of the Von Braun Space Station revealed numerous plans that detail the construction of a veritable resort in space.

Built by the Gateway Foundation, the world’s first space hotel will have gravity, bars, inviting interiors and full-fledged kitchens. They plan to have the station visited by about a 100 tourists per week by 2025.

The Von Braun Space Station, based on the concepts of a controversial scientist, is moving ahead with construction plans.

The animals that inhabit these arid regions are already suffering the consequences. For example, earlier research has shown that multiple bird species are breeding earlier and for a shorter amount of time, impairing their reproductive success.

“There is rapidly growing evidence for the negative effects of high temperatures on the behaviour, physiology, breeding, and survival of various bird, mammal, and reptile species around the world,” said first author Dr Nicholas Pattinson, of the University of Cape Town. “For example, heat-related mass die-off events over the period of a few days are increasingly being recorded, which no doubt pose a threat to population persistence and ecosystem function.”

The southern yellow-billed hornbill’s distribution includes most of southern Africa, with a large portion falling within the Kalahari Desert. Known for its peculiar breeding and nesting strategy, the bird is a socially monogamous species. They are cavity nesters; the female seals herself into the nest cavity and stays there for an average of 50 days to brood and care for chicks, with only a narrow vertical slit for an opening, through which the male feeds the female and chicks.