Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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A biomaterial that can mimic certain behaviors within biological tissues could advance regenerative medicine, disease modeling, soft robotics and more, according to researche(rs at Penn State.

Materials created up to this point to mimic tissues and extracellular matrices (ECMs) — the body’s biological scaffolding of proteins and molecules that surrounds and supports tissues and cells — have all had limitations that hamper their practical applications, according to the team. To overcome some of those limitations, the researchers developed a bio-based, “living” material that encompasses self-healing properties and mimics the biological response of ECMs to mechanical stress.

They published their results in Materials Horizons, where the research was also featured on the cover of the journal.

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Super Humanity — This documentary examines breakthroughs in neuroscience and technology. Imagine a future where the human brain and artificial intelligence connect.

Super Humanity (2019)
Director: Ruth Chao.
Writers: Ruth Chao, Paula Cons, Alphonse de la Puente.
Genre: Documentary, Sci-Fi.
Country: Portugal, Spain.
Language: English.
Release Date: December 27, 2019 (Spain)

Also Known As (AKA):
(original title) O Futuro da Mente.
El futuro de la mente.
Netherlands O Futuro da Mente.
Poland O Futuro da Mente.
Portugal O Futuro da Mente.
South Korea O Futuro da Mente.
Spain El futuro de la mente.
United States Mind Forward.

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NASA has significantly lowered the risk of near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4 as an impact threat to Earth for the foreseeable future. When first discovered, asteroid 2024 YR4 had a very small, but notable chance of impacting our planet in 2032. As observations of the asteroid continued to be submitted to the Minor Planet Center, experts at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s (JPL’s) Center for Near-Earth Object Studies were able to calculate more precise models of the asteroid’s trajectory and now have found there is no significant potential for this asteroid to impact our planet for the next century. The latest observations have further reduced the uncertainty of its future trajectory, and the range of possible locations the asteroid could be on Dec. 22, 2032, has moved farther away from the Earth.

There still remains a very small chance for asteroid 2024 YR4 to impact the Moon on Dec. 22, 2032. That probability is currently 1.7%.

NASA will continue to observe asteroid 2024 YR4 with observatories funded by its Planetary Defense Coordination Office, and NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will observe the asteroid in March to further gain insights about its size for scientific purposes.

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Using an approach called DNA origami, scientists at Caltech have developed a technique that could lead to cheaper, reusable biomarker sensors for quickly detecting proteins in bodily fluids, eliminating the need to send samples out to lab centers for testing.

“Our work provides a proof-of-concept showing a path to a single-step method that could be used to identify and measure and proteins,” says Paul Rothemund (BS ‘94), a visiting associate at Caltech in computing and mathematical sciences, and computation and neural systems.

A paper describing the work recently appeared in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The lead authors of the paper are former Caltech postdoctoral scholar Byoung-jin Jeon and current graduate student Matteo M. Guareschi, who completed the work in Rothemund’s lab.

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Researchers developed a theoretical model that predicts a substantial increase in the brightness of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) by leveraging novel quantum states called polaritons. Integrating polaritons into OLEDs effectively requires the discovery of new materials, making practical implementation an exciting challenge.

OLED technology has become a common light source in a variety of high-end display devices, such as smartphones, laptops, TVs or smart watches.

While OLEDs are rapidly reshaping lighting applications with their flexibility and eco-friendliness, they can be quite slow at converting electric current into light, with only a 25% probability in emitting photons efficiently and rapidly. The latter is an important condition for boosting the brightness of OLEDs, which tend to be dimmer than other light technologies.

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Quantum light sources are fickle. They can flicker like stars in the night sky and can fade out like a dying flashlight. However, newly published research from the University of Oklahoma proves that adding a covering to one of these light sources, called a colloidal quantum dot, can cause them to shine without faltering, opening the door to new, affordable quantum possibilities. The findings are available in Nature Communications.

Quantum dots, or QDs, are so small that if you scaled up a single quantum dot to the size of a baseball, a baseball would be the size of the moon. QDs are used in a variety of products, from computer monitors and LEDs to and biomedical engineering devices. They are also used in and communication.

A research study led by OU Assistant Professor Yitong Dong demonstrates that adding a crystalized molecular layer to QDs made of perovskite neutralizes surface defects and stabilizes the surface lattices. Doing so prevents them from darkening or blinking.

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You may recognize graphite as the “lead” in a pencil, but besides helping you take notes or fill in countless bubbles on exam answer sheets, it is helping scientists grapple with the secrets of superconductivity.

Superconductivity happens when an electric current is transmitted through wires without the loss of any energy in the form of heat or resistance. Superconducting materials have the potential to revolutionize many aspects of our daily lives, from improving the electrical grid to making more powerful computers.

However, generally requires very low temperatures, so low they may become impractical, and the exact mechanisms of superconductivity are not well understood for many .

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Experiments coupling light and sound reveal the surprising effect that measuring nothing can cool the vibrations of an object.

We use measurements to understand the world around us. With our eyes and ears, we constantly infer the state of our surroundings through the sights and sounds that reach us, allowing us to navigate our daily lives. While these “measurements” often focus on observing the presence of something, the absence of something also provides valuable information.

Researchers spanning Imperial College London, the University of Oxford, the University of Waterloo, the University of Leeds, and the University of Copenhagen have used the absence of scattered light to cool the motion of a tiny glass bead below room temperature.

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General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) recently announced that it has successfully completed a series of key tests at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). These tests are a major step forward in developing Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) technology, which could enable faster and more efficient transportation for missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Conducted in collaboration with NASA, the tests evaluated whether GA-EMS’s specially designed nuclear fuel can withstand the extreme conditions required for space travel.

Advancing Deep Space Travel

“The recent testing results represent a critical milestone in the successful demonstration of fuel design for NTP reactors,” said Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS. “Fuel must survive extremely high temperatures and the hot hydrogen gas environment that an NTP reactor operating in space would typically encounter. We’re very encouraged by the positive test results proving the fuel can survive these operational conditions, moving us closer to realizing the potential of safe, reliable nuclear thermal propulsion for cislunar and deep space missions.”

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