Lifeboat Foundation

For the first time ever, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine discovered that phages — tiny viruses that attack bacteria — are key to initiating rapid bacterial evolution leading to the emergence of treatment-resistant “superbugs.” The findings were published today in Science Advances.

The researchers showed that, contrary to a dominant theory in the field of evolutionary microbiology, the process of adaptation and diversification in bacterial colonies doesn’t start from a homogenous clonal population. They were shocked to discover that the cause of much of the early adaptation wasn’t random point mutations. Instead, they found that phages, which we normally think of as bacterial parasites, are what gave the winning strains the evolutionary advantage early on.

“Essentially, a parasite became a weapon,” said senior author Vaughn Cooper, Ph.D., professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at Pitt. “Phages endowed the victors with the means of winning. What killed off more sensitive bugs gave the advantage to others.”

Soldiers and Marines teamed up to test new tactical biological detection and chemical contamination systems that aim to keep service members safe. The systems indicate when chemical agents are present so decontamination can take place.

DUGWAY PROVING GROUND, Utah — Soldiers from Fort Drum and Joint Base Lewis-McChord teamed with Marines from Camp Pendleton to test new tactical biological detection and chemical contamination indicator systems here.

Soldiers with the 59th Hazard Response Company and 13th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion along with Marines from the 3rd Marine Air Wing went hands-on with the Joint Biological Tactical Detection System (JBTDS) and the Contamination Indication Disclosure Assurance System (CIDAS), which indicates chemical agent contaminants so proper decontamination can take place.

Continue reading “Soldiers, Marines test new chemical, biological systems at Dugway” »

Last week, Amazon patented a delivery system involving self driving trucks carrying several small robots that deliver packages to homes.

Once all the small delivery bots are back on board, the truck (which would have a human driver in the near future but likely be autonomous in the less-near future) drives off to the next block—its fleet of mini-me’s restocking with new packages en route—and the scene repeats itself.

Cool/creepy? Good/bad? Depends on your perspective. On the one hand, employing fewer humans would bring Amazon more cost savings in the long run, which it would ideally pass on to customers and re-invest in other parts of the business, leading to hiring more people in a virtuous circle.

Continue reading “Amazon Patented a New Delivery System That Could Have Your Block Crawling With Robots” »

Using “soft robotics,” engineers at the University of Maryland built a prosthesis powered by water and air.

NIH will award nearly $80 million to support the establishment of the Mendelian Genomics Research Consortium and the development of novel methods and approaches that help researchers identify the genetic causes of single-gene diseases.

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The New York Times.

Continue reading “A Plane in Utah Lets the Fish Fly” »

Former NASA astronaut Leland Melvin is tackling a smell that’s out of this world.

“Emerging markets have no need to build up huge electrical infrastructure based on fossil fuels. Instead, they are leapfrogging this stage and meeting growth in demand by deploying clean energy systems — such as wind and solar — with huge potential to boost economic development and bring electricity to millions more people.”

Fossil fuel electricity generation has peaked worldwide as emerging markets seize the opportunities of low-cost renewables, according to a report published this week by India’s Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) and the financial think tank Carbon Tracker.

Renewables are already the cheapest source of new electricity additions in 90% of the world, the report notes. Emerging markets (non-OECD nations plus Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Costa Rica) therefore have no need to build up huge electrical infrastructure based on fossil fuels. Instead, they are leapfrogging this stage and meeting growth in demand by deploying clean energy systems – such as wind and solar – with huge potential to boost economic development and bring electricity to millions more people.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have trapped a tiny sphere measuring a hundred nanometres using laser light and slowed down its motion to the lowest quantum mechanical state. This technique could help researchers to study quantum effects in macroscopic objects and build extremely sensitive sensors.

Why can atoms or elementary particles behave like waves according to quantum physics, which allows them to be in several places at the same time? And why does everything we see around us obviously obey the laws of classical physics, where such a phenomenon is impossible? In recent years, researchers have coaxed larger and larger objects into behaving quantum mechanically. One consequence of this is that, when passing through a double slit, these objects form an interference pattern that is characteristic of waves.

Up to now, this could be achieved with molecules consisting of a few thousand atoms. However, physicists hope one day to be able to observe such quantum effects with properly macroscopic objects. Lukas Novotny, professor of photonics, and his collaborators at the Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering at ETH Zurich have now made a crucial step in that direction. Their results were recently published in the scientific journal Nature.