Lifeboat Foundation

Researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) report new data that support the hypothesis that remdesivir, a drug with broad antiviral activity, may be a promising treatment against Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV).

In the team’s experiments, remdesivir reduced the severity of disease, virus replication, and damage to the lungs when administered to infected monkeys. The authors suggest that it be considered for implementation in clinical trials and that it may also have utility for other, related coronaviruses, such as SARS-CoV-2 (previously known as 2019-nCoV).

The experimental antiviral remdesivir successfully prevented disease in rhesus macaques infected with MERS-CoV. Remdesivir prevented disease when administered before infection and improved the condition of macaques when given after the animals already were infected.

Is it so outlandish to believe that countries in the future might resort to military force to prevent other countries from altering the shared genetic code of humanity? Many countries have been invaded for far less.

The genetics revolution that will transform our health care, the way we make babies, the nature of the babies we make, and ultimately our evolutionary trajectory as a species has already begun. Just like parents in many places will need to make tough choices about whether, if at all, to genetically engineer their children, states will be forced to make monumental collective decisions on these issues with potentially fateful consequences.

Continue reading “The designer baby debate could start a war” »

The synchronized footage, published online in January, was assembled by a mostly anonymous online group of sleuths called Osint HK, which has been keeping tabs on protesters and journalists’ often-violent encounters with police during the more than eight months of Hong Kong’s near-daily anti-government, pro-democracy protests. Osint HK has spent hours each day scouring social networks for videos and other media to document police misconduct across Hong Kong.

The protests are still happening, but they’ve slowed due to fears over the coronavirus, which has been spreading from China across the globe. So Osint HK more recently has begun focusing its efforts on educating the public about the virus.

“People are confused, and they don’t know where to turn,” says Trey Menefee, the founder and public face of Osint HK. “We are trying to be a trusted source of information, cutting through the fog to find out what did or didn’t happen.”

Solar panels may be worse for than environment than we thought, but researchers say there’s still time to change that with a new panel design.

The gene-editing tool CRISPR has been used for the first time inside the body of an adult, in an attempt to cure a form of blindness.

The treatment: According to the Associated Press, doctors dripped just a few drops of a gene-editing mixture beneath the retina of a patient in Oregon who suffers from Leber congenital amaurosis, a rare inherited disease that leads to progressive vision loss.

Cells that take up the mixture can have their DNA permanently corrected, potentially restoring a degree of vision.

Scientists have identified a sub-atomic particle that could have formed the “dark matter” in the Universe during the Big Bang.

Up to 80% of the Universe could be dark matter, but despite many decades of study, its physical origin has remained an enigma. While it cannot be seen directly, scientists know it exists because of its interaction via gravity with visible matter like stars and planets. Dark matter is composed of particles that do not absorb, reflect or emit light.

Now, nuclear physicists at the University of York are putting forward a new candidate for the mysterious matter—a particle they recently discovered called the d-star hexaquark.

A young Star Wars fan and amputee has received an R2-D2 bionic limb and a phone call from Luke Skywalker himself.

Bella Tadlock, from Tallahassee, Florida, raised almost 14,000 dollars (about £11,000) for her bionic hero arm, created by Bristol company Open Bionics.

The 11-year-old started a fundraiser that first caught the eye of actor Mark Hamill in November — Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars movies, retweeted her appeal to his 3.6 million followers.

What is dark energy? More is unknown than is known — we know how much there is, and we know some of its properties; other than that, dark energy is a mystery — but an important one. Roughly 70% of the Universe is made of dark energy. Dark matter makes up about 25%. The rest — everything on Earth, everything ever observed with all of our instruments, all normal matter adds up to less than 5% of the Universe. Then again, maybe it shouldn’t be called “normal” matter since it is a small fraction of the Universe!

A gene has been found that controls the conversion of the parasite Toxoplasma gondii into a form that chronically infects the human brain. The discovery could aid the design of therapies to eliminate this currently untreatable infection. A transcription factor controls Toxoplasma gondii differentiation.