Lifeboat Foundation

Summary: The BrainGate brain-machine interface is able to transmit signals from a single neuron resolution with full broadband fidelity without physically tethering the user to a decoding system.

Source: Brown University.

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are an emerging assistive technology, enabling people with paralysis to type on computer screens or manipulate robotic prostheses just by thinking about moving their own bodies. For years, investigational BCIs used in clinical trials have required cables to connect the sensing array in the brain to computers that decode the signals and use them to drive external devices.

New study points to potential widespread phagocytosis among green algae, suggests improved methodology in environmental microbiology.

New research suggests that the ability of green algae to eat bacteria is likely much more widespread than previously thought, a finding that could be crucial to environmental and climate science. The work, led by scientists at the American Museum of Natural History, Columbia University, and the University of Arizona, found that five strains of single-celled green algae consume bacteria when they are “hungry,” and only when those bacteria are alive. The study is published today in The ISME Journal.

“Traditionally, we think of green algae as being purely photosynthetic organisms, producing their food by soaking in sunlight,” said Eunsoo Kim, an associate curator at the American Museum of Natural History and one of the study’s corresponding authors. “But we’ve come to understand that there are potentially a number of species of green algae that also can eat bacteria when the conditions are right. And we’ve also found out just how finicky they are as eaters.”

NASA is working to make sure that future astronauts headed to the Moon and Mars have food that is safe, nutritious, palatable, and more.

In 2020, TSMC spent a record $18 billion on building new factories for their chips. TSMC just announced they are spending $100 billion on new factories over the next 3 years. This will radically change the chip landscape. Many other companies, including Samsung and Intel, are upping their spending as well.

Of course, at some point there will be a chip glut again but this greatly increased chip capacity will change the world that we live in. It will also make AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) that much closer to reality… (All this money gives companies an incentive to spend R&D on smaller transistors, etc.)

But whenever companies experiment with a new technology that has the potential to transform entire business models, like electricity, it can take decades before changes yield real-world results, Mr. Brynjolfsson said, speaking on Wednesday at The Wall Street Journal Pro AI Executive Forum. The Digital Economy Lab is part of Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered AI.

Companies leading the charge in adopting AI tools and platforms are taking time to target spending in the right digital capabilities and talent, he said.

“We’re having a few superstars doing really well,” Mr. Brynjolfsson said. “But the whole reason it takes so long in the first place is that it’s not easy.” He expects to see a “productivity J-curve” as companies figure out how best to deploy AI in their daily operations.

Gene editing has shown great promise as a non-heritable way to treat a wide range of conditions, including many genetic diseases and more recently, even COVID-19. But could a version of the CRISPR gene-editing tool also help deliver long-lasting pain relief without the risk of addiction associated with prescription opioid drugs?

In work recently published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, researchers demonstrated in mice that a modified version of the CRISPR system can be used to “turn off” a gene in critical neurons to block the transmission of pain signals [1]. While much more study is needed and the approach is still far from being tested in people, the findings suggest that this new CRISPR-based strategy could form the basis for a whole new way to manage chronic pain.

This novel approach to treating chronic pain occurred to Ana Moreno, the study’s first author, when she was a Ph.D. student in the NIH-supported lab of Prashant Mali, University of California, San Diego. Mali had been studying a wide range of novel gene-and cell-based therapeutics. While reading up on both, Moreno landed on a paper about a mutation in a gene that encodes a pain-enhancing protein in spinal neurons called NaV1.7.

Dr. Shawna Pandya MD, is a scientist-astronaut candidate with Project PoSSUM, physician, aquanaut, speaker, martial artist, advanced diver, skydiver, and pilot-in-training.

Dr. Pandya is also the VP of Immersive Medicine with the virtual reality healthcare company, Luxsonic Technologies, Director of the International Institute of Astronautical Sciences (IIAS)/PoSSUM Space Medicine Group, Chief Instructor of the IIAS/PoSSUM Operational Space Medicine course, Director of Medical Research at Orbital Assembly Construction (a company building the world’s first rotating space station providing the first artificial gravity habitat), clinical lecturer at the University of Alberta, podcast host with the World Extreme Medicine’s WEMCast series, Primary Investigator (PI) for the Shad Canada-Blue Origin student micro-gravity competition, member of the ASCEND 2021 Guiding Coalition, Life Sciences Team Lead for the Association of Spaceflight Professionals, sesional lecturer for the “Technology and the Future of Medicine,” course at the University of Alberta, and Fellow of the Explorers’ Club.

Continue reading “Dr Shawna Pandya MD — Physician, Scientist, Astronaut Candidate, Aquanaut, Martial Artist, Sky-Diver” »

The companies attempting to avoid transparency.

Jerry Lehnert.

· 1tSpohntsnorted ·

Continue reading “State’s Largest Business Lobby Sues Environmental Regulators Over PFAS Sampling Of Wastewater” »

I’ll believe it when I see it. But this is a skyhook which can be made with existing materials.

With one end of a steel cable hovering in Earth’s orbit and the other end somewhere in outer space, the concept of a futuristic floating “space elevator” promises to amplify humans’ ability to explore the universe — and scientists engineering an improved take on the 19th-century idea say the one-time fantasy is close to becoming a reality.

“Technical-wise, it’s kind of ready,” said George Zhu, a professor of mechanical engineering at York University and a coauthor of a new study on the idea. “It just has small engineering [adjustments], and there’s no fundamental difficulty to do that.”

Continue reading “Far from science fiction, space elevators may be nearing deployment” »