Lifeboat Foundation

Google stops western government hacking.

“Instead of focusing on who was behind and targeted by a specific operation, Google decided to take broader action for everyone. The justification was that even if a Western government was the one exploiting those vulnerabilities today, it will eventually be used by others, and so the right choice is always to fix the flaw today.”

A decision to shut down exploits being used by “friendly” hackers has caused controversy inside the company’s security teams.

Continue reading “Google’s unusual move to shut down an active counterterrorism operation being conducted by a Western democracy” »

Furthermore, it implies that defects in the repair process, not the DNA damage itself, can potentially lead to developmental or neurodegenerative diseases.

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have discovered specific regions within the DNA of neurons that accumulate a certain type of damage (called single-strand breaks or SSBs). This accumulation of SSBs appears to be unique to neurons, and it challenges what is generally understood about the cause of DNA damage and its potential implications in neurodegenerative diseases.

Because neurons require considerable amounts of oxygen to function properly, they are exposed to high levels of free radicals—toxic compounds that can damage DNA within cells. Normally, this damage occurs randomly. However, in this study, damage within neurons was often found within specific regions of DNA called “enhancers” that control the activity of nearby genes.

Continue reading “DNA damage ‘hot spots’ discovered within neurons” »

Given the rate of overweight and obese people in the Western world, there are inevitably lots of fat people interested in life extension. Assuming that weight-loss trends continue with a high failure rate, the majority of fat spanners will not be able to lose and maintain their weight loss through diet and exercise.

This article explores effective life-extension interventions that do not include weight loss for people with an excess of adipose tissue.

Is it possible to be fat and healthy? Is obesity a death sentence? Learn about what the science says about life extension when fat.

Treatment for Myeloma cancer.

The FDA approved Abecma, the first cell-based gene therapy to treat adult patients with multiple myeloma who have not responded to, or whose disease has returned after, at least four prior lines (different types) of therapy.

In the case of DMD caused by a duplication mutation, CRISPR can simply snip away the harmful duplicate gene, which is much simpler than delivering a new gene or replacing the old.

For the first time in a live animal, researchers have successfully reversed a gene mutation, called a “duplication mutation,” by gene editing.

Desert sighting.

While taking images of its new surroundings on the arid Martian surface, the Perseverance rover recently spotted a dust devil whirling by in the distance.

When Renaldo Hudson left the Danville Correctional Center on Sept. 2, he was beaming. As the sun shone down on a hot day in Eastern Illinois, Hudson took his first free steps in 37 years.

Later that day, he arrived at the Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation, a restorative justice nonprofit that helps former prisoners get on their feet. There, he saw friends for the first time in years and hugged his attorney, Jennifer Soble.

He was also handed a Samsung smartphone, a piece of technology that wouldn’t have been imaginable to an American in 1983.

Meet Philippe Croizon, a French quadruple amputee who is set to become the first disabled person to visit outer space on Elon Musk’s space mission.

US payments firm Visa announced Monday that it will enable the use of USD Coin to settle payment transactions on its platform.

Visa piloted the payment option via payment platform Crypto.com, and plans to allow more partners the same route later this year.

“Crypto-native fintechs want partners who understand their business and the complexities of digital currency form factors,” Jack Forestell, Visa’s executive vice president and chief product officer, said in a statement.