Lifeboat Foundation

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Rutgers researchers have discovered the origins of the protein structures responsible for metabolism: simple molecules that powered early life on Earth and serve as chemical signals that NASA could use to search for life on other planets.

Their study, which predicts what the earliest proteins looked like 3.5 billion to 2.5 billion years ago, is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Continue reading “Scientists have discovered the origins of the building blocks of life” »

Chinese officials say they’ll have a coronavirus vaccine ready next month for emergency situations and clinical trials.

Eight institutes in the country are working on five approaches to inoculations in an effort to combat COVID-19, according to the South China Morning Post. The contagious illness has sickened more than 118,000 people and killed at least 4,200 worldwide, mostly in mainland China, as of Tuesday afternoon.

“According to our estimates, we are hopeful that in April some of the vaccines will enter clinical research or be of use in emergency situations,” Zheng Zhongwei, director of the National Health Commission’s Science and Technology Development Center, said Friday.

Borexino detector makes best-ever measurement of solar neutrino fluxes.

Palgrave Commun ications volume 6, Article number: 28 (2020) Cite this article.

There are only a few Japanese mid-engine supercars that have existed, but if Mazda were to make one, it would probably look like this.

Erythropoietin, or Epo for short, is a notorious doping agent. It promotes the formation of red blood cells, leading thereby to enhanced physical performance — at least, that is what we have believed until now. However, as a growth factor, it also protects and regenerates nerve cells in the brain. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine in Göttingen have now revealed how Epo achieves this effect. They have discovered that cognitive challenges trigger a slight oxygen deficit (termed ‘functional hypoxia’ by the researchers) in the brain’s nerve cells. This increases production of Epo and its receptors in the active nerve cells, stimulating neighbouring precursor cells to form new nerve cells and causing the nerve cells to connect to one another more effectively.

The growth factor erythropoietin is among others responsible for stimulating the production of red blood cells. In anaemia patients it promotes blood formation. It is also a highly potent substance used for illegal performance enhancement in sports.

“Administering Epo improves regeneration after a stroke (termed ‘neuroprotection’ or ‘neurogeneration’), reducing damage in the brain. Patients with mental health disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder or multiple sclerosis who have been treated with Epo have shown a significant improvement in cognitive performance,” says Hannelore Ehrenreich of the Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine. Along with her colleagues, she has spent many years researching the role played by Epo in the brain.

What follows is a thread of information, my interpretation, links to sources & predictions. Let’s start with what you need to know… #coronavirus #COVIDー19

Astronomers know that much about how neutron stars are born. Yet exactly what happens afterwards, inside these ultra-dense cores, remains a mystery. Some researchers theorize that neutrons might dominate all the way down to the centre. Others hypothesize that the incredible pressure compacts the material into more exotic particles or states that squish and deform in unusual ways.

Now, after decades of speculation, researchers are getting closer to solving the enigma, in part thanks to an instrument on the International Space Station called the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER).

These stellar remnants are some of the Universe’s most enigmatic objects — and they are finally starting to give up their secrets.

Scientists can now edit multiple sites in the genome at the same time to learn how different DNA stretches co-operate in health and disease.

CRISPR-based DNA editing has revolutionized the study of the human genome by allowing precise deletion of any human gene to glean insights into its function. But one feature remained challenging—the ability to simultaneously remove multiple genes or gene fragments in the same cell. Yet this type of genome surgery is key for scientists to understand how different parts of the genome work together in the contexts of both normal physiology and disease.

Now such a tool exists thanks to the teams of Benjamin Blencowe and Jason Moffat, both professors of molecular genetics at the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research. Dubbed ‘CHyMErA’, for Cas Hybrid for Multiplexed Editing and Screening Applications, the method can be applied to any type of mammalian cell to systematically target the DNA at multiple positions at the same time, as described in a study published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.