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Jul 2, 2020

Stimulating production of enzyme in roundworms found to increase lifespan

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, life extension

A team of researchers affiliated with several institutions in South Korea has found that stimulating production of a certain enzyme in roundworms can increase their lifespan. In their paper published in the journal Science Advances, the group describes their study of the protein VRK-1 and what they learned about its impact on the longevity of roundworms.

Prior research has shown that one way to increase longevity in some species is to use techniques that slow down mitochondrial respiration. In this new effort, the researchers were looking to better understand why slowing in mitochondria has an impact on aging. As part of their effort, they looked at an energy sensor in mitochondria called adenosine 5’-monophosphate-activated (AMPK), known to play a role in controlling how much energy is used in cells in roundworms. Prior research had suggested its level of activity is controlled by the protein VRK-1. To learn more about its impact on aging, the researchers genetically engineered two lines of roundworms to force them to produce more VRK-1 and two lines of roundworms to force them to produce less VRK-1. They then monitored the roundworms to see how long they lived.

The researchers found those roundworms expressing more than the normal amount of VRK-1 tended to live longer than average, while those expressing less than average amounts of VRK-1 had shorter lifespans. More specifically, control worms representing the normal lifespan of a lived on average 16.9 days. In their experiments, one of the lines expressing more VRK-1 lived on average 20.8 days, while the other lived on average 23.7 days. And one of the lines producing less VRK-1 lived on average just 12.7 days and the other just 15.9 days. The researchers suggest this finding indicates that VRK-1 has a direct impact on roundworm longevity.

Jul 2, 2020

The world’s first 3D-printed vegan steak is here and could hit restaurants soon

Posted by in categories: 3D printing, food

Israeli company Redefine Meat has unveiled the world’s first vegan 3D-printed burger and it could be hitting restaurants soon.

Jul 1, 2020

India TikTok Ban Threatens China’s Rise as Global Tech Power

Posted by in categories: government, internet

India’s unprecedented decision to ban 59 of China’s largest apps is a warning to the country’s tech giants, who for years thrived behind a government-imposed Great Firewall that kept out many of America’s best-known internet names. If India finds a way to carry out that threat, it may present a model for other countries from Europe to Southeast Asia that seek to curtail the pervasiveness of apps like ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok while safeguarding their citizens’ valuable data.


China over the past decade built an alternate online reality where Google and Facebook barely exist. Now its own tech corporations, from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to Tencent Holdings Ltd., are getting a taste of what a shutout feels like.

Jul 1, 2020

Artificial intelligence helping NASA design the new Artemis moon suit

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, space travel

Last fall, NASA unveiled the new suits that Artemis astronauts will wear when they take humanity’s first steps on the lunar surface for the first time since way back in 1972. The look of the A7LB pressure suit variants that accompanied those earlier astronauts to the Moon, and later to Skylab, has since gone on to signify for many the definitive, iconic symbol of humanity’s most ambitiously-realized space dreams.

With Artemis’ 2024 launch target approaching, NASA’s original Moon suit could soon be supplanted in the minds of a new generation of space dreamers with the xEMU, the first ground-up suit made for exploring the lunar landscape since Apollo 17’s Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt took humanity’s last Moon walk (to date). Unlike those suits, the xEMU’s design is getting an assist from a source of “brain” power that simply wasn’t available back then: artificial intelligence.

Jul 1, 2020

Toward principles of gene regulation in multicellular systems

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

A team of quantitative biology researchers from Northwestern University have uncovered new insights into the impact of stochasticity in gene expression, offering new evolutionary clues into organismal design principles in the face of physical constraints.

In cells, are expressed through transcription, a process where genetic information encoded in DNA is copied into messenger RNA (mRNA). The mRNA is then translated to make , the workhorses of cells. This entire process is subject to bursts of natural stochasticity—or randomness—which can impact the outcome of biological processes that proteins carry out.

The researchers’ new experimental and theoretical analyses studied a collection of genes in Drosophila, a family of fruit flies, and found that gene expression is regulated by the frequency of these transcriptional bursts.

Jul 1, 2020

Mystery as hundreds of elephants found dead

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

Mystery surrounds the “completely unprecedented” deaths of hundreds of elephants in Botswana over the last two months.

Dr Niall McCann said colleagues in the southern African country had spotted more than 350 elephant carcasses in the Okavango Delta since the start of May.

But they have been unable to rule out either poisoning or disease. The way the animals appear to be dying — many dropping on their faces — and sightings of other elephants walking in circles points to something potentially attacking their neurological systems, Dr McCann said.

Jul 1, 2020

SpaceX: why Elon Musk is saying ‘your GPS just got slightly better’

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, space travel

The space-faring firm has completed its latest launch, and it means big things for the phone in your pocket.

Jul 1, 2020

Study finds the minimum number of Martian settlers for survival is 110

Posted by in category: space

So you want to colonize Mars. Well, Mars is a long ways away, and in order for a colony to function that far from Earthly support, things have to be thought out very carefully. Including how many people are needed to make it work.

A new study pegs the minimum number of settlers at 110.

Continue reading “Study finds the minimum number of Martian settlers for survival is 110” »

Jul 1, 2020

Going with a view? A spacewalk is the ‘best view for a bathroom,’ astronaut says

Posted by in category: space

Space is the “best view for a bathroom anywhere,” says one NASA astronaut.

A curious young student asked NASA astronaut Bob Behnken the question on everyone’s mind on Monday (June 29) during a series of televised media interviews: How do astronauts go to the bathroom in space?

Jul 1, 2020

Tesla is now worth more than Toyota, Disney and Coke

Posted by in categories: business, Elon Musk, food, sustainability

Elon Musk’s electric car business exceeds the value of almost every company in the S&P 500, including some iconic American companies.

Shares of Tesla (TSLA) were up 4% in midday trading Wednesday to a new record high of above $1,120 a share. At that price, Tesla’s market cap is nearly $210 billion.