Lifeboat Foundation

A striking new study has tracked the effects of extreme isolation on the brains of nine crew members who spent 14 months living on a remote research station in Antartica. The study presents some of the first evidence ever gathered to show how intense physical and social isolation can cause tangible structural changes in a person’s brain, revealing significant reductions in several different brain regions. Despite the small size of the study the conclusions echo years of research correlating solitary confinement and sensory deprivation with mental health issues, and suggest social isolation may fundamentally change the structure of a person’s brain.

The lonely brain

In 1969 Robert King was arrested and convicted for a robbery he maintained he did not commit. Three years later an inmate on King’s block was murdered. King was blamed for the murder, and despite his claims of innocence he was convicted of murder and sent to solitary confinement.

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. — SpaceX made an early holiday delivery to the International Space Station on Sunday, bringing muscle-bound “mighty mice,” pest-killing worms and a smart, empathetic robot.

The station commander, Italy’s Luca Parmitano, used a large robot arm to grab onto the Dragon three days after its launch from Cape Canaveral. The two spacecraft soared 260 miles (420 kilometres) above the South Pacific at the time of capture.

“Whenever we welcome a new vehicle on board, we take on board also a little bit of the soul of everybody that contributed to the project, so welcome on board,” Parmitano told Mission Control.

Scientists discovered a microbe that eats metals found in meteorites, a discovery expected to guide efforts to identify alien life in space.

Morgan Cable crafts alien environments in miniature. She can stir up a shot-glass-size lake, unleash gentle spritzes of rain, and whip up other wonders to mimic the bizarre surface of Saturn’s moon Titan. In this far-flung world, temperatures plunge hundreds of degrees Fahrenheit below zero, and rivers of liquid methane and ethane sculpt valleys into a frozen landscape of water ice.

“We can, in a way, touch Titan here in the lab—even though it’s millions of miles away,” says Cable, who is a scientist in the Astrobiology and Oceans Worlds Group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

While they’ve been working with these mini worlds for years, the team’s latest tiny Titan facsimile is making waves: By mixing acetylene and butane in a novel way, they’ve created a previously unknown type of “mineral.” The new substance doesn’t precisely fall under the common definition of an earthly mineral, since it still requires confirmation that it can form in nature. Instead, it is technically known as a co-crystal.

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Two of SA’s most promising female technology entrepreneurs have this year raised millions from astute local and international investors for their global-impact businesses in healthcare and space.

Presagen, co-founded by Dr Michelle Perugini, raised a total of $4.5 million from Jungle Capital group in Australia and US private investor 3Lines Venture Capital, with the SA Government also pitching in.

The funding will help commercialise its Life Whisperer artificial intelligence (AI) platform. Life Whisperer uses AI to identify healthy embryos in in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) with the aim of improving pregnancy outcomes for infertile couples globally.

Europe’s police agency is worried that the 5G will interfere with law enforcement’s ability to track people.

Catherine De Bolle, head of Europol is asking European Union leaders to allow their agency to be more engaged in policy conversations involving the adoption of 5G technology, Reuters reports.

If the U.S. doesn’t establish extraterrestrial military supremacy, someone else will.

In comments last weekend at the Reagan National Defense Forum, an annual summit attended by top defence officials and their industry counterparts, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft President Brad Smith pledged to support the Pentagon even in the face of internal revolt.

At the annual Reagan National Defense Forum, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft President Brad Smith argued that closer collaboration is needed to sustain US dominance over autocratic foreign governments.