Lifeboat Foundation

As any cat owner will tell you, a cat’s ears are great indicators of its state of mind: pointed forward if they want your attention, turned backwards if they’re angry, and folded down flat when they’re afraid. Humans sometimes don cat ear headbands as a fashion statement, but sitting motionless those ears are more likely to confuse a cat than to provide any meaningful communication.

[Jazz DiMauro] aims to fill that gap by designing a cat ear headband that actually responds to your emotions. It does so by continuously taking an EEG measurement and extracting the “attention” and “meditation” variables from it. Those values are then applied to a set of servos that allow two-axis motion on each 3D printed ear. The EEG readout device is an off-the-shelf MindWave headset, which outputs its sensor data through Bluetooth. An Arduino then reads out the data and drives the servos.

Turning all this into a usable wearable device was a project on its own: [Jazz] went through several iterations to find a suitable power source and wiring strategy until they settled on a pair of lithium-polymer batteries and a single flat cable. The end result looks comfortable enough to wear, and the ears’ motion looks smooth and natural. All that’s left is to test it with real cats, to find out if they can now finally understand their human’s emotions too.

Senolytics are an emerging class of drugs designed to target zombie-like cells that have stopped dividing and build up in the body as we age, and the past few years have seen some exciting discoveries that demonstrate their potential. Adding another to the list are Mayo Clinic researchers, who have shown that these drugs can protect against aging and its related diseases, by acting on a protein long associated with longevity.

The zombie-like cells involved in this research are known as senescent cells, and their accumulation during aging is associated with a range of diseases. Recent studies have shown that using senolytics to clear them out could serve as new and effective treatments for dementia and diabetes, and also improve health and lifespan more broadly.

The Mayo Clinic team were exploring how senolytics can influence levels of a protein called a-klotho, known to help protect older people from the effects of aging. The role of this protein in the aging process is well established and has placed it at the center of much research in this space, with studies demonstrating how it could help reverse osteoarthritis and regenerate old muscles.

Fabrication routes for high-performance pitch-based carbon fibers are identified through a comprehensive modeling framework.

Summary: AI technology helped map out diverse and subjective psychedelic experiences to different brain regions.

Source: The Conversation.

For the past several decades, psychedelics have been widely stigmatized as dangerous illegal drugs. But a recent surge of academic research into their use to treat psychiatric conditions is spurring a recent shift in public opinion.

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It will be a webcast live next month.

On April 25, two pilots, Luke Aikins and Andy Farrington will jump out of their single-seater aircraft and attempt to switch planes as they plummet towards the Earth, energy drink company, Red Bull has announced on its website.

Continue reading “A Stunt Pilot Just Shattered the World Tunnel Flight Record” »

States seeking electric vehicle charging station funds can calculate job creation.

With the sale of electric vehicles on the rise, the race is on to build a network of convenient, affordable electric vehicle charging stations to keep the cars running.

There are currently about 47,000 public charging stations across the country. As the administration rolls out its plan to build a network of 500,000 electric charging stations across the nation by the end of the decade, the number of charging stations will increase significantly — and quickly.

Scientists have developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) technology that models and maps the natural environment in intricate detail. Check out how this could help scientists in their work.