Lifeboat Foundation

Researchers have created an unusual new alloy made up of not two, but five different metals, and put it to work as a catalyst. The new material is two-dimensional, and was able to convert carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide effectively, potentially helping to turn the greenhouse gas into fuels.

The new alloy belongs to a class of materials called transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), which are, as the name suggests, made up of combinations of transition metals and chalcogens. Extremely thin films of TMDCs have recently shown promise in a range of electronic and optical devices, but researchers on the new study wondered if they could also be used as catalysts for chemical reactions.

The thinking goes that because reactions occur on the surface of a catalyst, materials with high surface areas will be more effective catalysts. And as sheets only a few atoms thick, TMDCs are almost nothing but surface area.

Preliminary results showed potent inhibition of both the Beta and Gamma variants by opaganib at non-cytotoxic doses, the company said.

Opaganib is a unique host-targeted, dual antiviral and anti-inflammatory drug that acts on the cause and effect of COVID-19.

It’s not hard to kill cancer cells,” says Dr. Marianne Koritzinsky, who led the study. “It’s hard to kill cancer cells without harming the cancer patient.

By better understanding the way cancer cells are able to thrive in the human body, scientists continue to learn where their vulnerabilities lie, and with that comes potential new forms of treatment. Researchers in Canada taking this approach have made a significant discovery around pancreatic cancer, pinpointing a protein the cells rely on for growth and targeting it to inhibit tumor growth in the lab.

Led by scientists at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, the study focuses on the unique biology of pancreatic cancer cells, which drive a particularly deadly form of the disease with a five-year survival rate of just eight percent. The scientists knew that these cancer cells increase levels of a key metabolite called NADPH that helps fuel their growth, so they carried out genomic analysis to shed more light on the process.

Continue reading “Addicted pancreatic cancer cells die when denied key protein” »

Flying train Circa 2015.

Amazon announced Thursday that it plans to develop new technology for its autonomous delivery vehicles in Helsinki, Finland.

The Seattle-headquartered tech giant said in a blog post that it is setting up a new “Development Center” to support Amazon Scout, which is a fully electric autonomous delivery robot that is being tested in four U.S. locations.

Two dozen engineers will be based at the Amazon Scout Development Center in Helsinki initially, the company said, adding that they will be focused on research and development.

Researchers have finally sequenced the complete human genome, filling the gaps in the Human Genome Project’s (HGP) historic first draft.

“Having been part of the original Human Genome Project in 2001, and especially focused on the difficult regions, it’s really satisfying for me to see this done even though it took 20 years,” researcher Evan Eichler, a genome scientist from the University of Washington in Seattle, told New Scientist.

The human genome: A genome is like a genetic instruction manual — it contains all the information an organism needs to grow and function. The human genome is written in DNA, and while your exact genome is unique to you, about 99.9% of it is identical across all people.

Autonomous rollers and growing workforce of construction robots work on Chinese infrastructure for new Futuristic City.

Major infrastructure projects increasingly feature a workforce of construction robots, including autonomous rollers that can navigate construction sites.

NASA is no closer to figuring out what went wrong earlier in June, which is bad news for the telescope, which is the only one currently capable of visible light.

SOCOM is using Other Transaction Authority (OTA) funds to partner with private biotech laboratory Metro International Biotech, LLC (MetroBiotech) in the pill’s development, which is based on what is called a “human performance small molecule,” he explained.

“These efforts are not about creating physical traits that don’t already exist naturally. This is about enhancing the mission readiness of our forces by improving performance characteristics that typically decline with age,” Hawkins said. “Essentially, we are working with leading industry partners and clinical research institutions to develop a nutraceutical, in the form of a pill that is suitable for a variety of uses by both civilians and military members, whose resulting benefits may include improved human performance – like increased endurance and faster recovery from injury.”

Hawkins said SOCOM “has spent $2.8 million on this effort” since its launch in 2018.