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Apr 5, 2021

Neuralink Co-Founder Says We Have the Tech to Build an Actual Jurassic Park

Posted by in categories: existential risks, genetics, neuroscience, sustainability

For the uninitiated, “Jurassic Park” and “Jurassic World” make up a five-movie franchise — with a sixth in the works — all based on Michael Crichton’s hit novel about how bad of an idea it was to open a place like Jurassic Park. Leveraging recent advances in genetic research to create entirely new creatures is certainly an enticing idea, though there’s a big difference between something potentially being feasible and actually being a good idea.

But it’s not all fun and games when you’re playing god and creating new dinosaurs. Hodak later added that de-extinction could be a valuable tool for increasing biodiversity, perhaps because we find ourselves in the midst of an era of mass extinction.

“Biodiversity (antifragility) is definitely valuable; conservation is important and makes sense,” Hodak tweeted minutes later. “But why do we stop there? Why don’t we more intentionally try to generate novel diversity?”

Apr 5, 2021

Mars Helicopter Live Q&A: One Step Closer to First Flight

Posted by in category: space

Tune in for this live Q&A with Ingenuity experts to get the latest updates on the Mars Helicopter, and next steps for this trailblazing technology demonstration.

Talent:
• MiMi Aung, Mars Helicopter Project Manager.
• Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity Deputy Operations Lead.

Apr 5, 2021

NASA’s Sonification Project Lets You Listen to Stars and Black Holes

Posted by in category: cosmology

When we think about objects in space, like galaxies and black holes, our only frame of reference are the images we’ve seen, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and similar instruments. Now, thanks to NASA’s new data sonification series, we can translate data signals of these objects into audio.

Apr 5, 2021

Lockheed Martin buys up to 58 launches over the next decade from rocket builder ABL Space

Posted by in category: space travel

Rocket builder ABL Space signed a long-term agreement for multiple launches with Lockheed Martin, agreeing to provide the defense giant with as many as 58 rockets through the end of the decade.

Lockheed Martin will buy up to 26 of ABL’s RS1 rockets through 2025, with an option for up to 32 additional launches through 2029, ABL announced on Monday.

“Having this assured access to space will accelerate our ability to demonstrate the spacecraft and associated payload technologies we are developing to the meet the future mission needs for our customers,” Lockheed Martin Space executive vice president Rick Ambrose said in a press release.

Apr 5, 2021

Sneaky New Bacteria on the ISS Could Build a Future on Mars

Posted by in categories: biological, space

NASA tracks the microbes that live on the space station, and sometimes it discovers new ones. Those hardy bugs may offer clues about surviving long missions.

Apr 5, 2021

Space mining is not science fiction, and Canada could figure prominently

Posted by in categories: geopolitics, law, space, treaties

There’s an additional reason why international agreement and co-operation in the outer space domain is crucial: the peaceful use of outer space, as required by the Outer Space Treaty.

In October 2020, eight countries signed a NASA-led initiative called the Artemis Accords. These included the United States, Canada, Australia and Luxembourg. Notably absent were Russia and China, who have since agreed to collaborate with each other on space initiatives.

Legal issues about the ownership of space resources must urgently be addressed to avoid space wars over natural resources between superpowers like the U.S., Russia and China. This includes the legal status of the Artemis Accords. Ideally, it should be done before space mining starts.

Apr 5, 2021

Antiaging Has to Cure Frailty or It Does Not Work

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

If we look at the mortality tables, it can explain why reversing aging damage reversal has to work very well for people to live very long lives.

Let us imagine that we are able to reverse aging damage so that someone is 65 or older has the same amount of aging as someone who is 65. This means for an average American man, then half of those people will still be dead by the time they have reached 95 years of age. This is because 1.6% of them are dying every year in the 65-year-old condition. Also, only 80% of them have survived from birth to the age of 65.

Asian American women in New Jersey live to a life expectancy of 93. Half of them reach the age of 93. Antiaging that reverses the aging damage every year for men so that they never get worse physically than when they are 65, get them to a life expectancy that is just beyond what Asian American women in New Jersey already achieve.

Apr 5, 2021

Inara Tabir

Posted by in categories: evolution, finance, space

April 6 — 7, 2021, 9:00am — 5:00pm EST

MAKING IN SPACE
FROM MINING TO MANUFACTURING
As humanity expands into space and unlocks the incalculable abundance of the CisLunar Econosphere, Orbital Manufacturing is a necessary first step.

Here on Earth, settlements emerged around concentrations of natural resources: rivers, forests, ores, harbors, fertile fields. Roads then developed between the resources and settlements, and towns grew. Resource extraction (mining) and resource optimization (manufacturing) evolved. Eventually, specialization led to local, regional, and national competitive advantages. With growth speeding the process, communities and people prospered!

Continue reading “Inara Tabir” »

Apr 5, 2021

Gene Changes Linked to Severe Repetitive Behaviors Seen in Autism, Schizophrenia, and Drug Addiction

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

“Our new data suggest that the upregulation of Neuregulin-responsive genes in animals with severely repetitive behaviors reflects gene changes in the striosomal neurons that control the release of dopamine,” Crittenden explains. “Dopamine can directly impact whether an animal repeats an action or explores new actions, so our study highlights a potential role for a striosomal circuit in controlling action-selection in health and in neuropsychiatric disease.”


Graybiel lab identifies genes linked to abnormal repetitive behaviors often seen in models of addiction and schizophrenia.

Extreme repetitive behaviors such as hand-flapping, body-rocking, skin-picking, and sniffing are common to a number of brain disorders including autism, schizophrenia, Huntington’s disease, and drug addiction. These behaviors, termed stereotypies, are also apparent in animal models of drug addiction and autism.

Continue reading “Gene Changes Linked to Severe Repetitive Behaviors Seen in Autism, Schizophrenia, and Drug Addiction” »

Apr 5, 2021

Revolutionary Research: Scientists Create First Model of an Early Human Embryo From Skin Cells

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

For first time, fibroblast-derived model of early embryo will allow extensive study into causes of very early miscarriage and effects of toxins and drugs on early development.

In a discovery that will revolutionize research into the causes of early miscarriage, infertility and the study of early human development — an international team of scientists led by Monash University in Melbourne, Australia has generated a model of a human embryo from skin cells.

The team, led by Professor Jose Polo, has successfully reprogrammed these fibroblasts or skin cells into a 3-dimensional cellular structure that is morphologically and molecularly similar to human blastocysts. Called iBlastoids, these can be used to model the biology of early human embryos in the laboratory.