Lifeboat Foundation

Aqueous droplet formation by liquid-liquid phase separation (or coacervation) in macromolecules is a hot topic in life sciences research. Of these various macromolecules that form droplets, DNA is quite interesting because it is predictable and programmable, which are qualities useful in nanotechnology. Recently, the programmability of DNA was used to construct and regulate DNA droplets formed by coacervation of sequence designed DNAs.

A group of scientists at Tokyo University of Technology (Tokyo Tech) led by Prof. Masahiro Takinoue has developed a computational DNA droplet with the ability to recognize specific combinations of chemically synthesized microRNAs (miRNAs) that act as biomarkers of tumors. Using these miRNAs as molecular input, the droplets can give a DNA logic computing output through physical DNA droplet phase separation. Prof. Takinoue explains the need for such studies, “The applications of DNA droplets have been reported in cell-inspired microcompartments. Even though biological systems regulate their functions by combining biosensing with molecular logical computation, no literature is available on integration of DNA droplet with molecular computing.” Their findings were published in Advanced Functional Materials.

Developing this DNA droplet required a series of experiments. First, they designed three types of Y-shaped DNA nanostructures called Y-motifs A, B, and C with 3 sticky ends to make A, B, and C DNA droplets. Typically, similar droplets band together automatically while to join dissimilar droplets a special “linker” molecule is required. So, they used linker molecules to join the A droplet with the B and C droplets; these linker molecules were called AB and AC linkers, respectively.

Both Macron and Madonna have expressed concerns about genetic privacy. As DNA collection and sequencing becomes increasingly commonplace, what may seem paranoid may instead be prescient.

GPS might rely on satellites to function on Earth, but its use in space is a little trickier.

NASA is preparing to test a new lunar navigation system that will connect to the Earth’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) from the moon, a report from the space agency explains.

The unprecedented mission will break a record for the most distant connection to GPS at roughly 238,000 miles from Earth’s surface. It will be delivered to the moon for testing by Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander no earlier than 2024, NASA says.

In Shark Bay off the west coast of Australia, scientists have discovered what they believe to be the largest plant on Earth.

A team of astronomers in Japan, for the first time, discovered a faint radio emission covering a giant galaxy as a result of achieving high imaging dynamic range. Radio emission is emitted by the gas created directly by the central black hole.

Using the same technique to additional quasars, the team hopes to learn more about how a black hole interacts with its host galaxy.

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile (ALMA), astronomers targeted the quasar 3C 273, which lies at 2.4 billion light-years from Earth. It is the first quasar ever discovered, the brightest, and the best studied. However, much less has been known about its host galaxy itself because combining the faint and diffuse galaxy with the 3C273 nucleus required such high dynamic ranges to detect.

CBC Radio.

Bob McDonald’s blog: The movie’s fictional Darkstar aircraft is based on historical innovations in hypersonic flight.

Dear SRI Friends and Supporters.

You are warmly invited to follow **Aldo Spadoni, President and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the International Association of Astronomical Artists (IAAA),** next Monday June 6th, 19:00 UTC, discussing the role of art in space exploration and humanity expansion into outer space.

Continue reading “Exploring the Role of Art in Advancing Space Exploration” »

Canadian agri-tech company Solinftec has announced that it will expand the launch of its new cutting-edge AgTech robotic platform, Solix Ag Robotics, into Canada in partnership with Stone Farms and the University of Saskatchewan. The new robot is state-of-art technology built to scan and monitor fields providing detailed real-time data.

Solinftec’s new technology aims to provide farmers and agronomists with a new level of information to increase yields, improve the usage of inputs, lower environmental impact, and support the global demand for food supply. The robot should be commercially available for use in wheat crops in time for next year’s growing season.

Solinftec’s Solix Ag Robot will autonomously move back and forth through farmers’ fields on four wheels. It will use onboard cameras and other sensors – along with AI-based software – to check the health of plants and assess their nutritional content. Solix Ag is integrated with the company’s artificial intelligence platform, ALICE A.I. Programmed with a neurological network featuring a complex detection algorithm, the new in-field robotic device has the ability not only to scan for crop health and nutrition, insects, and weeds but is built to monitor the entire field ecosystem and provide real-time insights.

Transhumanism is a movement that aims to address – or end – what Bohan calls the “tragedies of reality”: ageing, sickness and involuntary death. It is, she writes, “a philosophy and a project that aims to make us more than human”.

Whether we recognise or understand it, that project has already begun, she says, and it will transform our world – and minds and bodies – within our lifetimes. Not only is it happening, she says, but this transition is necessary if humanity is to survive in perpetuity.

For Bohan, it is no great to leap to imagine that a baby born in 2030 may have its entire genome mapped at birth, that data uploaded to a central health record and cross-referenced at any medical appointment throughout its life. It is no great stretch to think that AI will become the most powerful intellectual force of the century. That human consciousness might be transferred from our “meat sacks” (bodies) into a technological sphere. That the rise of AI and automation might render great swathes of human labour redundant, and that maybe – if we get it right – that could leave more time for leisure, big thinking, meditation, connection.