Lifeboat Foundation

||The formation of a black hole triggers the formation of a new Universe||

How the heck would it do that? A black hole is nothing but intense gravity. How could it create anything, least of all a brand new Universe? Also assumes that each Universe is governed by the same regularities so that black hole formation is possible. But if the regularities (“laws”) are the same, then the fundamental constants will be the same!

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A new study led by NIMS researchers reveals that, in solid electrolytes, a Si anode composed only of commercial Si nanoparticles prepared by spray deposition – the method is a cost-effective, atmospheric technique – exhibits excellent electrode performance, which has previously been observed only for film electrodes prepared by evaporation processes. This new result therefore suggests that a low-cost and large-scale production of high-capacity anodes for use in all-solid-state Li batteries is possible.

Getting sick is the worst. But if you’re trying to lure customers who are reluctant or unable to leave home, the virus can be an ally.

Throughout 2019, tech companies have ramped up their efforts to secure the best AI talent and technology. Here, we take a look back at some of this activity, with a focus on the “big 5”: Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and (Alphabet’s) Google (FAAMG).

All the big tech firms secured AI talent and technology through acquisitions this year, including Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Google.

Paul Westerman was just 44 when he developed the blood clot that almost killed him after suffering a knee injury while playing tennis.

Eight days after he fell, part of the clot — which had formed in a vein in his calf — travelled to his heart and lungs, with catastrophic results.

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Consuming a diet high in sugar and fat is a known risk factor for a number of health problems, including obesity and type-2 diabetes. A new study from the University of Illinois has found that consuming caffeine from coffee, tea, and other sources may help protect against some of the health consequences often resulting from poor dietary habits. Similar benefits were also associated with consuming synthetic caffeine.

Methylation clocks are far and away the most accurate markers of a person’s age, and so are a promising tool for evaluating anti-aging interventions, but they are a bit of a black box. We know from statistics that certain places on chromosomes become steadily methylated ( or demethylated ) with age, but we often don’t know what effect that has on expression of particular genes.

For the first time, a clock has been devised based on proteins in the blood that is comparable in accuracy to the best methylation clocks. This has the advantage of being downstream of epigenetics, so it is less of a black box. What can we learn from the proteins that are increased ( and decreased ) with age?

I’ve written often and enthusiastically about the utility of methylation clocks for evaluation of anti-aging interventions [ blog, blog, blog, journal article ]. This technology offers a way to promptly identify small age-reversal successes (perhaps not in individuals, but averaged over a cohort of ~50 to 100 subjects). Before these tests were available, we had no choice but to wait — usually 10 years or more — for enough experimental subjects to die that we could be sure the intervention we were evaluating affected life expectancy. (This is the plan of the worthy but ridiculously expensive TAME trial promoted by Nir Barzilai.)

Promising news- very primitive proof of concept for cryonics.

Scientists (and sci-fi fans) have been talking about suspended animation for years. The idea that the functions of the human body can somehow be put on “pause” while life-saving medical procedures are performed (or a person is sent into space, a la Alien) has long seemed untenable — until now. According to New Scientist, doctors have successfully placed humans in suspended animation for the first time, in a trial that could have an enormous influence on the future of emergency room surgery.

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