Lifeboat Foundation

Summary: A new mathematical model that identifies essential connections between neurons reveals some neural networks in the brain are more essential than others.

Source: HHMI

After a career spent probing the mysteries of the universe, a Janelia Research Campus senior scientist is now exploring the mysteries of the human brain and developing new insights into the connections between brain cells.

A look at the concept of Self-Replicating Machines, Universal Assemblers, von Neumann Probes, Grey Goo, and Berserkers. While we will discuss the basic concept and some on-Earth applications like Medical Nanotechnology our focus will be on space exploration and colonization aspects.

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Continue reading “Self Replicating Machines” »

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As ancient and vast as the Universe is, it seems like some alien race arose in the galaxy long before us, but who rose before them? What would the cosmos be like for the first civilization to arise, and what if it is us?

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Continue reading “The Fermi Paradox: Firstborn” »

A deep look at some of the truly advanced and surprising options that might become available to us as we improve our skill with genetic engineering, ranging from altering humans to adapting life to live on alien planets or to serve as machines. We will also look at methods for doing genetic engineering, such as DNA printing and CRISPR, as well as consider some of the ethical concerns associated to using this technology.

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Continue reading “Bioforming and Gene Tailoring” »

An international team of researchers, led by scientists at the University of Manchester, has developed a fast and economical method of converting methane, or natural gas, into liquid methanol at ambient temperature and pressure. The method takes place under continuous flow over a photo-catalytic material using visible light to drive the conversion.

To help observe how the process works and how selective it is, the researchers used neutron scattering at the VISION instrument at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Spallation Neutron Source.

Continue reading “Found: The ‘holy grail of catalysis’—turning methane into methanol under ambient conditions using light” »

A company plans to bring global power for years through a gyrotron.

Three Seattle biotech companies are joining forces to support open-access development of protein folding and design software.

The project, called OpenFold, brings together Cyrus Biotechnology, Outpace Bio, and Arzeda, startups developing new proteins that can be used as drugs or in industrial applications.

“It doesn’t make sense for all of us to replicate the same work,” Cyrus CEO Lucas Nivon told GeekWire. “Especially if it doesn’t give any one company a competitive advantage.”

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Today we will begin our look at the spaceships we might use for colonizing interstellar space in the future. In order to cover the vast distances between even the nearest stars in our galaxy within the boundaries of known physics, we need vessels able to voyage at high speeds for very long periods of time while carrying everything they need to colonize another solar system, a concept typically known as a space ark or generation ship. We will explore the challenges and options for such a vessel, as well as some alternative approaches to the problem.

“The World, The Flesh And The Devil” by J.d. Bernal:
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.

Continue reading “Generation Ships” »