Lifeboat Foundation

De novo genes are even prompting a rethink of some portions of evolutionary theory. Conventional wisdom was that new genes tended to arise when existing ones are accidentally duplicated, blended with others or broken up, but some researchers now think that de novo genes could be quite common: some studies suggest at least one-tenth of genes could be made in this way; others estimate that more genes could emerge de novo than from gene duplication. Their existence blurs the bou…

Scientists long assumed that new genes appear when evolution tinkers with old ones. It turns out that natural selection is much more creative.

After years in the wilderness, Halo: The Master Chief Collection will bring Halo Reach, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Halo 2: Anniversary, Halo 3: ODST (minus the Firefight mode), Halo 3 and Halo 4 to PC.

The only previous games in the FPS series to launch on PC were Halo and Halo 2, both well over a decade ago (if you don’t count the Halo Wars spin-offs). This is obviously a big moment, and it seems like Microsoft is making some good decisions in bringing them to PC: Namely launching them on Steam, rather than trapping them on the Microsoft Store (though you can buy it there too). There’s much more to go into below, too.

Continue reading “Halo: The Master Chief Collection on PC: everything we know” »

STEPHEN HAWKING declared “a supermassive black is a time machine” and explained how a space agency like NASA could use the phenomenon to fast-forward the clocks.

With the Skydio 2 Dock, a drone-in-a-box solution, the California startup wants to let companies rely on its obstacle-dodging, self-flying drone for automated mapping and surveillance — no humans needed.

Circa 2018

Virtual- and augmented-reality tools allow researchers to view and share data as never before. But so far, they remain largely the tools of early adopters.

SpaceX makes preliminary filing with ITU as it considers big Starlink expansion.

It just announced filters for offensive text. Voice filters are the next goal.

He lay in a hospital bed at the University of Arkansas, stricken with a rare disease. His blood platelet count was so low that even a slight bump to his body could trigger a lethal brain bleed. A doctor told him to write his living will on a piece of paper.

Fajgenbaum was rushed to a CT scan. Tears streamed down his face and fell on his hospital gown. He thought about the first patient who’d died under his care in medical school, and how her brain had bled in a similar way from a stroke.

He didn’t believe he’d live out the scan.