Lifeboat Foundation

A scientist in California has taken steps toward a long-sought gamma ray laser by harnessing positronium bubbles in special liquid helium. Positronium is a volatile, short-lived atom that seems kind of like hydrogen but has a positron—an antiparticle considered opposite to an electron, sometimes even called an antielectron—instead of a proton.

Holding positronium in liquid helium extends its viable stability, a relationship that’s decades old: “Positronium’s long lifetime in liquid helium was first reported in 1957,” says the press release, which links to a paper by physicist Richard A. Ferrell about the “reduced pickoff” positronium experiences when it can form a bubble inside liquid helium.

‘Twisted’ layers of 2D materials produce photonic topological transition at ‘magic’ rotation angles.

Monash researchers are part of an international collaboration applying ‘twistronics’ concepts (the science of layering and twisting 2D materials to control their electrical properties) to manipulate the flow of light in extreme ways.

The findings, published today in the journal Nature, hold the promise for leapfrog advances in a variety of light-driven technologies, including nano-imaging devices; high-speed, low-energy optical computers; and biosensors.

NDSU researchers recently developed a new method of creating quantum dots made of silicon. Quantum dots, or nanocrystals, are tiny nanometer-scale pieces of semiconductor that emit light when their electrons are exposed to UV light. The most common application of quantum dots is in QLED displays. Through their use, digital displays have become brighter and much thinner, resulting in improvements to television and, potentially, cell-phone technology.

Because silicon is abundant and nontoxic, silicon quantum dots have unique technological appeal. Silicon quantum dots are currently being used for applications such as windows that remain transparent while serving as active photovoltaic collectors of energy, and they hold promise in medicine where quantum dots are coated with organic molecules to create nontoxic fluorescent biomarkers.

While traditional methods for creating silicon quantum dots require dangerous materials such as silicon tetrahydride (silane) gas or hydrofluoric acid, the NDSU team’s research uses a liquid form of silicon to make the tiny particles at room temperature using relatively benign components.

As part of their studies, the scientists also examined the mechanisms by which some of the modified drugs were altered by the cultured microbiomes. To understand exactly how the transformations occurred, they traced the source of the chemical transformations to particular bacterial species and to genes within those bacteria. They also showed that microbiome-derived metabolic reactions discoverable using their approach could be recapitulated in a mouse model, which is the first step in adapting the approach for human drug development.

The framework could feasibly be used to aid drug discovery by identifying potential drug-microbiome interactions early in development, and so inform on formulation changes. It could also be used during clinical trials to better analyze drug toxicity and efficacy, and be harnessed to help personalize treatment to the microbiome of each patient. This could help to predict how a certain drug will behave, and suggest changes to the therapeutic strategy if undesired effects are predicted. “Our framework identifies novel drug-microbiome interactions that vary between individuals and demonstrates how the gut microbiome might be used in drug development and personalized medicine,” the team concluded.

“This is a case where medicine and ecology collide,” said Jaime Lopez, a graduate student in the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics and a co-first author on the study, who contributed the computational and quantitative analysis of the data. “The bacteria in these microbial communities help each other survive, and they influence each other’s enzymatic profiles. This is something you would never capture if you didn’t study it in a community.”

Continue reading “Gut Microbiome Could Potentially Make Some Medicines Toxic, Study Finds” »

The orbiter has been snapping pictures of the Red Planet since 2006.

The article is providing an answer to the following questions that are relevant to the study of intelligence:

What is “understanding”?

How can we tell whether a system has it or not? https://bit.ly/3fynqYu

Continue reading “Consciousness – An obstacle to the understanding of intelligence” »

NASA goes old school in its concept study for a robotic surface hopper designed to explore the foreboding surfaces of Europa and Enceladus.

The loose alliance, whose backers include Infosys Ltd. co-founders Nandan Nilekani and Kris Gopalakrishnan as well as prominent startups from Practo to Policybazaar, will be formally unveiled as soon as this week in an attempt to salvage a decrepit system by digitizing everything from patient data and records to creating online platforms for hospital care and doctor consultations. Called Swasth — meaning health in Hindi — its 100-plus members have pledged to build new services and coordinate efforts to improve emergency responses.

Some of India’s richest people form an alliance with tech entrepreneurs to fix the country’s broken healthcare system.

Indian forces engage in show of strength over flashpoint Himalayan area as China repeats India provoked June 15 clash.