Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog – Page 5

Get the latest international news and world events from around the world.

Log in for authorized contributors

Insectoid Aliens — Hive Minds, Swarms, and Alien Evolution

Forget little green men — the galaxy’s most likely aliens may be hives and swarms. From biology to starships, insectoid life could shape civilizations stranger than ours.

Go to https://PIAVPN.com/IsaacArthur to get 83% off from our sponsor Private Internet Access with 4 months free!

Grab one of our new SFIA mugs and make your morning coffee a little more futuristic — available now on our Fourthwall store! https://isaac-arthur-shop.fourthwall… our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net Join Nebula: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthur Support us on Patreon: / isaacarthur Support us on Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/isaac-a… Facebook Group: / 1,583,992,725,237,264 Reddit: / isaacarthur Twitter: / isaac_a_arthur on Twitter and RT our future content. SFIA Discord Server: / discord Credits: Insectoid Aliens — Hive Minds, Swarms, and Alien Evolution Written, Produced & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur Editor: Thomas Owens Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images Music Courtesy of Stellardrone & Music by Epidemic Sound: http://nebula.tv/epidemic Chapters 0:00 Intro 3:30 Hive Reproduction Strategy 6:10 Insectoid Evolutionary Paths 13:47 Signals in the Swarm 16:53 Sensory Worlds 18:13 Intelligence & Individuality in Hive Species 19:35 Privacy 22:08 Hive Architecture & Technology 20:54 Alien Ecology & Predators 23:21 Cultural & Political Models 24:31 Spacefaring Adaptations 25:52 Final Thoughts.

Visit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net.
Join Nebula: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthur.
Support us on Patreon: / isaacarthur.
Support us on Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/isaac-a…
Facebook Group: / 1583992725237264
Reddit: / isaacarthur.
Twitter: / isaac_a_arthur on Twitter and RT our future content.
SFIA Discord Server: / discord.
Credits:
Insectoid Aliens — Hive Minds, Swarms, and Alien Evolution.
Written, Produced & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur.
Editor: Thomas Owens.
Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images.
Music Courtesy of Stellardrone & Music by Epidemic Sound: http://nebula.tv/epidemic.

Chapters.
0:00 Intro.
3:30 Hive Reproduction Strategy.
6:10 Insectoid Evolutionary Paths.
13:47 Signals in the Swarm.
16:53 Sensory Worlds.
18:13 Intelligence & Individuality in Hive Species.
19:35 Privacy.
22:08 Hive Architecture & Technology.
20:54 Alien Ecology & Predators.
23:21 Cultural & Political Models.
24:31 Spacefaring Adaptations.
25:52 Final Thoughts

Prefusion-stabilized Hantaan virus glycoprotein nucleic acid vaccine elicits potent neutralizing antibody responses via germinal center activation

This study presents a prefusion-stabilized vaccine candidate against Hantaan virus. The DNA and mRNA-LNP formats induce lasting neutralizing immunity in female mice, highlighting a promising advance in vaccine development.

Stelarc on Transhumanism: We Are in a Time of Circulating Flesh!

“We are in a time of circulating flesh.”

Stelarc said that to me 13 years ago. In 2026, it reads less like art criticism and more like a status report.

He had grown an ear on his arm. He had hung himself from hooks 25 times. He had let strangers on the internet choreograph his muscles through electrical stimulation, his body remote-controlled across continents.

Most people called it spectacle. I think it was inquiry.

Because long before deepfakes, before voice cloning, before AI agents wearing our faces, was already asking the question we now cannot avoid:

Where does the body end and the network begin?

Continue reading “Stelarc on Transhumanism: We Are in a Time of Circulating Flesh!” | >

Scientists may have found the brain’s switch for chronic pain

Scientists may have found the brain’s “pain switch”—and how to turn it off. New research from the University of Colorado Boulder points to a little-known brain circuit that may determine whether short-term pain fades away or becomes a long-lasting problem. The findings suggest that this pathway plays a key role in turning temporary pain into chronic pain that can persist for months or even years.

The study, conducted in animals and published in the Journal of Neuroscience, focused on a region called the caudal granular insular cortex (CGIC). Researchers found that shutting down this circuit can both prevent chronic pain from developing and stop it after it has already begun.

“Our paper used a variety of state-of-the art methods to define the specific brain circuit crucial for deciding for pain to become chronic and telling the spinal cord to carry out this instruction,” said senior author Linda Watkins, distinguished professor of behavioral neuroscience in the College of Arts and Sciences. “If this crucial decision maker is silenced, chronic pain does not occur. If it is already ongoing, chronic pain melts away.”

Say Goodbye to the Generative AI Buffet Line

Remember the early days of AI when a single monthly fee seemed like the ultimate golden ticket? It felt like having a limitless digital brain at our fingertips—until the dreaded usage limit pop-up appeared right in the middle of a critical project. Suddenly, that all-access pass felt more like a restrictive tether, leaving many of us frustrated by hidden caps and invisible throttles just when we needed peak performance the most.

It turns out, we were looking at AI pricing all wrong. Instead of a standard software subscription, artificial intelligence is much more like a utility—a highly measurable resource that actually makes more sense on a pay-as-you-go basis. Imagine a single, centralized workspace where you can seamlessly switch between the biggest powerhouse models on the market for your heavy-duty coding or reasoning, and then route simple summaries to lightning-fast, budget-friendly models.

No more juggling five different logins, and no more getting cut off; just total transparency and control over exactly what you spend.

We are finally entering an era where users hold the reins, and the chaotic days of unpredictable quotas are fading fast. I just published a new piece diving deep into how this shift toward unified, ledger-based AI platforms is completely changing the game for creators, developers, and everyday users alike.

Check out the full article at the link below to explore how this new approach works and why it is exactly the upgrade we have all been waiting for!

Remember late 2022 and early 2023? In tech years, it feels like a lifetime ago. That was when generative AI first exploded onto the scene, and the pricing was brilliantly, beautifully simple. You signed up for a basic flat subscription—usually around $20 a month—and you had the magic of the universe at your fingertips. If you were an enterprise team, maybe you stepped up to a specialized tier. But overall, the premise was the same.

Continue reading “Say Goodbye to the Generative AI Buffet Line” | >

Alien AI And The Von Neumann Data Collector

An exploration of human AI versus alien AI and the idea of a galaxy wide data collection network operating at light speed to transfer information on the biology within it.

My Patreon Page:

/ johnmichaelgodier.

My Event Horizon Channel:

/ eventhorizonshow.

Music:

Continue reading “Alien AI And The Von Neumann Data Collector” | >

This ‘living plastic’ activates and self-care destructs on command

Many plastic products are designed to be used only once, yet the material itself lasts for years. But a new strategy is addressing this problem by creating products that self-destruct on command, known as living plastics. These materials incorporate activatable, plastic-degrading microbes alongside the polymers. One team reporting in ACS Applied Polymer Materials used two bacterial strains that worked together and completely broke down the material within just six days, without making microplastics.

Why scientists are rethinking plastics Zhuojun Dai, a corresponding author on the paper, explains that “the realization that traditional plastics persist for centuries, while many applications, like packaging, are short-lived, led us to ask: Could we build degradation directly into the material’s life cycle?”

Many microbes can break long polymeric chains into smaller pieces using enzymes. Because plastics are polymers, these enzymes or the microbes that make them could be incorporated into living plastics.

US federal funds awarded to spur SMR deployment

In October 2024, the US Department of Energy (DOE) — under the Joe Biden administration — opened applications for funding to support the initial domestic deployment of Generation III+ small modular reactor (SMR) technologies, with up to USD800 million to go to two “first-mover” teams, with an additional USD100 million to address so-called gaps that have hindered plant deployments. According to the solicitation documentation, a Gen III+ SMR is defined as a nuclear fission reactor that uses light water as a coolant and low-enriched uranium fuel, with a single-unit net electrical power output of 50–350 MWe, that maximises factory fabrication approaches, and the same or improved safety, security, and environmental benefits compared with current large nuclear power plant designs.

The solicitation was re-issued by the DOE in March 2025 to better align with President Donald Trump’s agenda on unleashing American energy and AI dominance.

In December last year, the DOE selected Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Holtec Government Services to each receive USD400 million in federal cost-shared funding to support early deployments of advanced light-water small modular reactors in the USA. TVA’s application was selected for funding to accelerate the deployment of a GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300 at its Clinch River site in East Tennessee. Holtec plans to deploy two SMR-300 reactors — named Pioneer 1 and 2 — at the Palisades Nuclear Generating Station site in Michigan.

Fungus-powered farming delivers higher yields and better-tasting crops, says study

Can we have higher yields and better taste? Using a natural extract from the fungus Pseudozyma aphidis, this method improves the firmness and natural sugar content of crops like tomatoes and melons while significantly boosting production. This discovery offers a practical path to meeting global food demands without compromising the health of the planet or produce quality. Furthermore, because the approach uses stable microbial secretions instead of live cultures, it ensures consistent and reliable performance across various agricultural environments and climates.

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have identified a natural, eco-friendly way to significantly increase agricultural yields while also improving the quality and taste of produce. The study, led by Professor Maggie Levy alongside researchers Anton Fennec and Neta Rotem, focuses on an extract derived from the yeast-like fungus Pseudozyma aphidis.

As the global population continues to grow, the demand for higher agricultural output has historically led to the heavy use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. These chemicals often contribute to soil and water pollution and increase greenhouse gas emissions. The new research, published in the journal Plant Physiology, suggests that beneficial micro-organisms can offer a sustainable alternative to these traditional agricultural inputs.

/* */