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Aug 24, 2021

How Soon Can AI Replace Actors In Movies?

Posted by in categories: entertainment, robotics/AI

Israeli synthetic media startup D-ID wants to disrupt production of Hollywood movies with artificial intelligence.

Aug 24, 2021

The Astrobiological Potential of Rogue Planets

Posted by in category: alien life

Some highly speculative ideas how life may spread in the galaxy, for more info see.


There is even more to the astrobiological potential of rogue planets, however. Not only could they hold microbial life bottled up in their subsurface, they may be able to distribute life throughout the galaxy. In our paper we suggest two ways that this kind of panspermia might occur.

If a wandering planet passes close to a habitable rocky planet within a solar system, the outer layer of the rogue planet might be torn apart by gravitational disturbances, and the resulting debris could end up on the habitable world. Dormant life that had been trapped in the icy shell of the rogue planet may become active again and establish a biosphere on the receiving planet.

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Aug 24, 2021

Prozac Changes Fat Composition of the Brain

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry, neuroscience

Lipids are abundant in the brain, where they are found not just in the cell membranes of neurons, whose properties they modulate, but also in the so-called myelin sheaths insulating axons — the brain’s ‘wiring.’ The brain is therefore a surprisingly ‘fat’ organ — in fact, it is nearly 60% fat, the study’s first author, Anna Tkachev from Skoltech, said.


Summary: Prozac reduced polyunsaturated fatty acid lipid concentrations in the brains of juvenile macaque monkeys.

Source: Skoltech

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Aug 24, 2021

‘A combination of failures:’ why 3.6m pounds of nuclear waste is buried under a popular California beach

Posted by in categories: materials, nuclear energy

You may not want to live near areas like this in the country.

“The problem you have here is that the NRC is simply not doing its job as a regulator. So what it has done is allowed the industry to basically determine the conditions under which this material is stored on a temporary basis across the country,” echoed retired Rear Admiral Len Hering, who served more than 30 years in the US navy and was awarded a2005presidential award for leadership in federal energy management from President George W Bush.

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Aug 24, 2021

CRISPR pinpoints new leukemia target and a ‘pocket’ that could make it druggable

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

A team at Penn’s medical school discovered that an epigenetic regulatory protein called ZMYND8 governs the expression of genes that are critical for the growth and survival of AML cells. Inhibiting ZMYND8 in mouse models shrank tumors. The researchers also found a biomarker that they believe could predict which patients are likely to respond to ZMYND8 inhibition, they reported in the journal Molecular Cell.

AML is one of the hardest leukemias to treat, with a five-year survival rate of about 27% in adults. The Penn team had been searching for precision medicine approaches that could improve the prognosis for adults with AML, and they turned to CRISPR for help.

ZMYND8 is known as a “histone reader” in cancer that can recognize epigenetic changes and influence gene expression involved in metastasis.

Aug 24, 2021

The Rise of Man: What Was Our Ultimate Success Formula As a Species?

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, evolution, food, genetics, internet

What we’ll soon see is the ultimate self-directed evolution fueled forward by gene editing, genetic engineering, reproduction assisted technology, neuro-engineering, mind uploading and creation of artificial life. Our success as a technological species essentially created what might be called our species-specific “success formula.” We devised tools and instruments, created new methodologies and processes, and readjusted ecological niches to suit our needs. And our technology shaped us back by shaping our minds. In a very real sense, we have co-evolved with our technology. As an animal species among many other species competing for survival, this was our unique passage to success.

#TECHNOCULTURE : #TheRiseofMan #CyberneticTheoryofMind

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Aug 24, 2021

Dr. Tia Rains, Ph.D., VP Customer Engagement & Strategic Development, Ajinomoto Health & Nutrition

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, food, life extension

Innovation in the amino-sciences for health, wellness, and aging — dr. tia rains phd, VP customer engagement & strategic development, ajinomoto.


Dr. Tia Rains, Ph.D., is Vice President of Customer Engagement & Strategic Development at Ajinomoto Health & Nutrition North America, Inc. (https://www.ajihealthandnutrition.com/), a division of Japanese food and biotechnology Ajinomoto Corporation (https://www.ajinomoto.com/), which produces seasonings, cooking oils, frozen foods, beverage, sweeteners, amino acids, and pharmaceuticals.

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Aug 24, 2021

SpaceX Starship factory breaks ground on an even bigger ‘high bay’

Posted by in categories: climatology, space travel

SpaceX appears to have more or less broken ground on a new, even bigger ‘high bay’ assembly facility at its Boca Chica, Texas Starship factory.

Barely one year ago, SpaceX erected the first prefabricated steel sections of what eventually become its Starship factory ‘high bay’ – a spartan 81m (~265 ft) tall designed at the most basic level to shield final Starship and Super Heavy booster assembly from the elements. Situated near the southernmost tip of Texas and just a few miles west of the Gulf of Mexico, those “elements” can be less than pleasant at SpaceX’s primary Starship factory, ranging from sauna-like heat and humidity and mosquitoes the size of quarters to regular downpours, thunderstorms, tropical conditions, and even hurricanes.

While a great deal of work at Starbase is still done out in the open with little more than an umbrella as protection, SpaceX has nevertheless worked to find a middle ground where the most sensitive work (mainly structural welding) can be mostly shielded from wind and rain. First, SpaceX built a (relatively) tiny ‘windbreak’ too small for much of anything. Two years later, the windbreak is partially used for Starship nose section assembly – when a nose cone is stacked on and welded to a separate stack of four steel rings.

Aug 24, 2021

IBM introduces Telum chips aimed at AI inferencing workloads like fraud detection

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Systems using the chips are expected to be ready for the first half of 2022.

Aug 24, 2021

Ispace Unveils New Larger Lunar Lander

Posted by in category: space travel

Updated 11:45 p.m. to correct lunar orbit payload.

COLORADO SPRINGS — Japanese lunar space transportation company ispace is developing its design for a larger lunar lander that will be built in the United States.

The Tokyo-based company unveiled the design of the lander at the 36th Space Symposium Aug. 23. The lander, being developed by the company’s U.S. office in Denver, will fly as soon as2024on the company’s third mission to the moon.