Lifeboat Foundation

A mutant bacterial enzyme that breaks down plastic bottles for recycling in hours has been created by scientists.

The enzyme, originally discovered in a compost heap of leaves, reduced the bottles to chemical building blocks that were then used to make high-quality new bottles. Existing recycling technologies usually produce plastic only good enough for clothing and carpets.

The company behind the breakthrough, Carbios, said it was aiming for industrial-scale recycling within five years. It has partnered with major companies including Pepsi and L’Oréal to accelerate development. Independent experts called the new enzyme a major advance.

Quarantine amid coronavirus could boost the nascent practice of seeking romance and friendship from artificial intelligence.

An early analysis of remdesivir, a drug developed by pharmaceutical firm Gilead, has shown that it may have improved severe symptoms of COVID-19 in 68% of patients after 18 days.

For the Gilead-funded study, doctors recruited 61 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 with oxygen saturation of 94% or less while breathing ambient air or receiving oxygen support. To receve remdesivir on a compassionate use basis (a program allowing the use of unapproved medicines when no other treatment options are available), on the first day of treatment, patients were administered 200mg of remesdevir, and then 100 mg daily on the remaining 9 days of treatment.

Continue reading “Remdesivir Improves COVID-19 Symptoms in 68% of Patients in Early Study” »

The FDA issued the emergency authorization to use blood purification devices to treat coronavirus patients on Friday.

Forced to stay at home amid the coronavirus pandemic, more residents of Christianburg, Virginia, are ordering from a pilot drone residential delivery service run by Google parent Alphabet. The most popular items: Coffee, toilet paper and cookies.

3D-printed ‘flexoskeletons’ make it possible to build a soft robot in less than two hours without extravagant costs.

Around a year ago…

Pretty cool.

Continue reading “Remote surgery using robots advances with 5G tests in China” »

Within a week, many world leaders went from downplaying the seriousness of coronavirus to declaring a state of emergency. Even the most efficacious of nations seem to be simultaneously confused and exasperated, with delayed responses revealing incompetence and inefficiency the world over.

So this begs the question: why is it so difficult for us to comprehend the scale of what an unmitigated global pandemic could do? The answer likely relates to how we process abstract concepts like exponential growth. Part of the reason we’ve struggled so much applying basic math to our practical environment is because humans think linearly. But like much of technology, biological systems such as viruses can grow exponentially.

As we scramble to contain and fight the pandemic, we’ve turned to technology as our saving grace. In doing so, we’ve effectively hit a “fast-forward” button on many tech trends that were already in place. From remote work and virtual events to virus-monitoring big data, technologies that were perhaps only familiar to a fringe tech community are now entering center stage—and as tends to be the case with wartime responses, these changes are likely here to stay.

Findings In a case series of 214 patients with coronavirus disease 2019, neurologic symptoms were seen in 36.4% of patients and were more common in patients with severe infection (45.5%) according to their respiratory status, which included acute cerebrovascular events, impaired consciousness, and muscle injury.

Published Online: April 10, 2020. doi: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2020.1127

Author Contributions: Dr B. Hu had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. Drs Mao, Jin, M. Wang, Y. Hu, Chen, He, and Chang contributed equally and share first authorship.

Continue reading “Neurologic Manifestations of Hospitalized Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Wuhan, China” »