Lifeboat Foundation

The human colon is home to a complex microbial ecosystem (microbiota), composed mostly of anaerobic organisms. Recent data suggest that gut microbes and their metabolites can affect human health through multiple mechanisms including altering the immune response , changing host cell metabolic states , and even affecting the response to immunotherapies.

The potential causative role of gut microbiota in health and disease is one of the most extraordinary findings of the past decade. Yet we are only starting to understand the multitude of mechanisms by which microbes promote changes in intestinal physiology, and how changes in the symbiotic relationship between the host and the resident microbiota contribute to the pathogenesis of both infectious and noninfectious diseases.

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An analysis of more than 17 million people in England — the largest study of its kind, according to its authors — has pinpointed a bevy of factors that can raise a person’s chances of dying from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

The paper, published Wednesday in Nature, echoes reports from other countries that identify older people, men, racial and ethnic minorities, and those with underlying health conditions among the more vulnerable populations.

“This highlights a lot of what we already know about COVID-19,” said Uchechi Mitchell, a public health expert at the University of Illinois at Chicago who was not involved in the study. “But a lot of science is about repetition. The size of the study alone is a strength, and there is a need to continue documenting disparities.”

We hear a lot of talk about the possibility of intelligent E.T.s, but in this episode, neuroscientist Lori Marino gives us the nuts and bolts of what intelligence really is; how it manifests itself on our own Earth; and why intelligent aliens won’t necessarily need ginormous brains.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A company wants to use an advanced balloon to fly customers from Earth’s surface in Alaska to the highest reaches of the planet’s atmosphere.

Florida-based startup firm Space Perspective plans to use the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Kodiak to serve as one of the launch sites for the vehicle, called the Spaceship Neptune, The Anchorage Daily News reported Sunday.

The balloon rides will be manned by a flight crew taking eight passengers in a pressurized capsule suspended beneath a hydrogen balloon the size of a football stadium.

Most cells in your body come with two genetic libraries; one in the nucleus, and the other inside structures called mitochondria — also known as the ‘powerhouses of the cell’.

Until now, we’ve only had a way to make changes to one.

A combined effort by several research teams in the US has led to a process that could one day allow us to modify the instructions making up the cell’s ‘other’ genome, and potentially treat a range of conditions that affect how we power our bodies.

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son’s Vision Fund has been impossible to ignore since its inception, pumping billions upon billions of dollars into tech companies like WeWork and Uber. Now, a string of high-profile losses and the coronavirus pandemic have put the fund deeply in the red. Bloomberg journalists Pavel Alpeyev, Sarah McBride and Tim Culpan break down the controversial investment strategies that have led to this critical moment for Son’s unprecedented fund.

Video by vicky feng and alan jeffries

Continue reading “The Troubled Saga of Masa Son’s $100 Billion Fund” »

A huge comet fizzing past Earth has been captured in dramatic footage recorded from the International Space Station.

Posted to social media on Tuesday, the timelapse video shows the icy object Neowise trailed by its dazzling white tail.

Viewers may be forgiven for thinking the comet is heading towards Earth in the clip, but this is just a trick of the eye.

Big data company Openairlines claims to be helping make flying more eco-friendly through in-depth data analysis, but it may be saving more money than fuel.

Mid-July will see three spacecraft launch to Mars, but if they miss their tight two-week launch windows they’ll have wit until September 2022 for another go.