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Apr 16, 2020

How will the COVID-19 pandemic end? A virologist explains

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, education, robotics/AI

How and when will this pandemic end? We asked a virologist: https://bit.ly/3afDiMy from World Economic Forum P.S., Many people predict that life will be permanently changed after COVID-19 pandemic. Some new things will become the norm, such as remote working, #telemedicine, the increase of #automation, online education, and so on (e.g., https://bit.ly/2z6qF9I). Our opinion is that “whether the above things become permanent depends on how the pandemic ends.” If the virus becomes seasonal, as predicted by the virologist in the interview, then our lives may gradually shift towards these new practices (i.e., working remotely, seeing doctor remotely, and learning online, etc.). However, if the virus disappears abruptly, just like the 1918 Spanish flu (https://bit.ly/3bdJKop), our lives may slowly go back to what we used to know before the COVID-19 crisis.


We spoke to Belgian virologist Guido Vanham, the former head of virology at the Institute for Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium, and asked him: how will this pandemic end? And on which factors might that depend?

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Apr 16, 2020

Can We Opt Out of Aging? | Greg Fahy | TEDxResedaBlvd

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

NOTE FROM TED: Please do not look to this talk for medical advice. This talk only represents the speaker’s personal views and understanding of aging which remains an emerging field of study. We’ve flagged this talk because it falls outside the content guidelines TED gives TEDx organizers. TEDx events are independently organized by volunteers. The guidelines we give TEDx organizers are described in more detail here: http://storage.ted.com/tedx/manuals/tedx_content_guidelines.pdf

Could we reverse epigenetic aging by re-growing the thymus? In the future, will it be possible to extend our lives or increase our longevity? Dr. Greg Fahy is a low-temperature biologist and investigator of aging intervention in humans. His first clinical trial, intended to reverse immune system aging, provided evidence that aging could be reversed in humans. Dr. Greg Fahy is a low-temperature biologist and investigator of aging intervention in humans. His first clinical trial, intended to reverse immune system aging, provided the first evidence that global aging can be reversed in humans. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.

Apr 16, 2020

Xi fears Japan-led manufacturing exodus from China

Posted by in category: futurism

The year of the metal rat returns every 60 years — and brings calamity with it.

KATSUJI NAKAZAWA, Nikkei senior staff writer April 16, 2020 04:20 JST.

Apr 16, 2020

Sustainable Space & Renaissance Africa! /Phd. Malak 223. Debt Nation

Posted by in categories: life extension, neuroscience, sustainability, transhumanism

CHECK OUT SEASON 1 PLAYLIST: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ic9AV4mMbOQ&list=PL_GIV9cvJ8…itbMC34bPF

KEEP THE SHOW ON-AIR! : WWW.PATREON.COM/DEBTNATION

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Apr 16, 2020

‘Directing’ evolution to identify potential drugs earlier in discovery

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, evolution

Help with covid-19 antibody treatment research?

Apr 16, 2020

EnergySails Aim to Harness Wind and Sun To Clean Up Cargo Ships

Posted by in categories: energy, transportation

Ships with sails that capture the wind and convert the sun’s rays to electrical charge can cut fossil fuel use and emissions by more than 10 percent.

Apr 16, 2020

Coronavirus Picks on Some Cells More Than Others

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

The virus may infect bronchial transient secretory cells more because of high levels of ACE2 and TMPRSS2.

Apr 16, 2020

Dual-Functional Plasmonic Photothermal Biosensors for Highly Accurate Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Detection

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, computing, health

Test Coronavirus in minutes:

The ongoing outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has spread globally and poses a threat to public health in more than 200 countries. Reliable laboratory diagnosis of the disease has been one of the foremost priorities for promoting public health interventions. The routinely used reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is currently the reference method for COVID-19 diagnosis. However, it also reported a number of false-positive or –negative cases, especially in the early stages of the novel virus outbreak. In this work, a dual-functional plasmonic biosensor combining the plasmonic photothermal (PPT) effect and localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) sensing transduction provides an alternative and promising solution for the clinical COVID-19 diagnosis. The two-dimensional gold nanoislands (AuNIs) functionalized with complementary DNA receptors can perform a sensitive detection of the selected sequences from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) through nucleic acid hybridization. For better sensing performance, the thermoplasmonic heat is generated on the same AuNIs chip when illuminated at their plasmonic resonance frequency. The localized PPT heat is capable to elevate the in situ hybridization temperature and facilitate the accurate discrimination of two similar gene sequences. Our dual-functional LSPR biosensor exhibits a high sensitivity toward the selected SARS-CoV-2 sequences with a lower detection limit down to the concentration of 0.22 pM and allows precise detection of the specific target in a multigene mixture. This study gains insight into the thermoplasmonic enhancement and its applicability in the nucleic acid tests and viral disease diagnosis.

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Apr 16, 2020

Earth-sized, habitable planet found hidden in early NASA Kepler data

Posted by in categories: astronomy, space
An illustration of Kepler-1649c orbiting around its host red dwarf star. This newly discovered exoplanet is in its star’s habitable zone and is the closest to Earth in size and temperature found yet in Kepler’s data.
Credits: NASA/Ames Research Center/Daniel Rutter

A team of transatlantic scientists, using reanalyzed data from National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Kepler space telescope, has discovered an Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting in its star’s habitable zone, the area around a star where a rocky planet could support liquid water.

Scientists discovered this planet, called Kepler-1649c, when looking through old observations from Kepler, which the agency retired in 2018. While previous searches with a computer algorithm misidentified it, researchers reviewing Kepler data took a second look at the signature and recognized it as a planet. Out of all the exoplanets found by Kepler, this distant world – located 300 light-years from Earth – is most similar to Earth in size and estimated temperature.

A comparison of Earth and Kepler-1649c, an exoplanet only 1.06 times Earth’s radius
Credits: NASA/Ames Research Center/Daniel Rutter


This newly revealed world is only 1.06 times larger than our own planet. Also, the amount of starlight it receives from its host star is 75% of the amount of light Earth receives from our Sun – meaning the exoplanet’s temperature may be similar to our planet’s, as well. But unlike Earth, it orbits a red dwarf. Though none have been observed in this system, this type of star is known for stellar flare-ups that may make a planet’s environment challenging for any potential life.

“This intriguing, distant world gives us even greater hope that a second Earth lies among the stars, waiting to be found,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. “The data gathered by missions like Kepler and our Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will continue to yield amazing discoveries as the science community refines its abilities to look for promising planets year after year.”

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Apr 16, 2020

The Electron goes reusable.

Posted by in categories: disruptive technology, innovation, space
Electron test article during a March 2020 parachute test. Credit Rocket Lab

No, it’s not a high budget Mission Impossible action movie, but it could have been. Tom Cruise wasn’t piloting a helicopter that grabbed a rocket falling back to the Earth. Instead, a crew wearing black Rocket Lab t-shirts with the words “recovery team” written on the back took the skies in helicopters to grab a falling rocket. Since it wasn’t Tom Cruise, the video of the team grabbing a rocket midflight ranked higher on the awesome scale.

Daring capture of Booster

A few weeks ago, Rocket Lab took a major step forward to recover boosters. In a recent release to media, Rocket Lab shared videos successfully grabbing a parachute & test booster out of the sky using a helicopter. On the first try, the helicopter grabbed the first stage test article with a grappling hook.

There are intrinsic risks with helicopters. Recently SpaceX lost a test article when it became necessary to prematurely drop a Crew Dragon test article. However, Rocket Lab did better in the Electron parachute tests. The success marks another step closer for the company in recovering the boosters it uses to launch small payloads into low earth orbit.