Lifeboat Foundation

A Cambridge-based biotech company that is creating a colony of “human” mice is locked in a Tom and Jerry-style fight with a US pharmaceutical giant.

Kymab, which is backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and counts fund manager Neil Woodford among its investors, is seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court in a row over patents. It follows a ruling by the Court of Appeal earlier this year that Kymab infringed a patent belonging to US company Regeneron. A previous judgment ruled that Regeneron’s patent was insufficient.

The legal tussle relates to Kymab’s “Kymouse” work, in which it manipulates the genome of mice. Kymab removes the genes that make antibodies in mice and replaces them with human antibody genes. This means that.

Global shipping has dropped off, and exporters are warning that refrigerated container (reefer) shortages pose major problems for food trade. Soil is even wetter than last year in US Midwest, presaging a difficult — and potentially catastrophic — 2020 season. UK is under water. China is shutdown. Australia reported record low crops. Grow food. Store it. Prepare for a limited collapse of our food system.

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Continue reading “Shipping Shutdown: Exporters Warn of Global Food Trade Collapse” »

Today, when a deadly virus explodes out of nowhere, geneticists are indispensable players in the international game of whodunit. Here’s how they help.

When tested in mice, the molecule, dubbed halicin, effectively treated the gastrointestinal bug Clostridium difficile (C. diff), a common killer of hospitalized patients, and another type of drug-resistant bacteria that often causes infections in the blood, urinary tract, and lungs.

The most surprising feature of the molecule? It is structurally distinct from existing antibiotics, the researchers said. It was found in a drug-repurposing database where it was initially identified as a possible treatment for diabetes, a feat that showcases the power of machine learning to support discovery efforts.

A single raindrop can now power 100 small LED light bulbs, effectively setting a new milestone for energy-harvesting technologies, scientists have reported.

The droplet-based electricity generator has a high energy-conversion efficiency and power density thousand times bigger than its counterparts.

© Provided by Daily Mail Light wave readings taken at the IRAM 30-meter telescope in Granada, Spain (pictured above) helped scientists detect signatures of molecular oxygen in the Markarian 231 galaxy, the first time the compound has been… For the first time ever, astronomers have identified molecular oxygen in a galaxy outside the Milky Way.

The discovery was made by a team of astronomers at Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, led by Junzhi Wang.

The team identified the presence of molecular oxygen by analyzing light waves that had reached Earth from Markarian 231, a galaxy around 581 million light years away.

A tomb that was buried thousands of years ago and revered by ancient Romans as the resting place of their city’s mythical founder Romulus has now been rediscovered beneath the Forum in Rome.

The underground tomb and the temple built around it are thought to date from the sixth century B.C., according to archaeologists.

A team of scientists at MIT have developed a computer program that will help humans decide how to best deal with the end of the world, so long as that comes in form of a catastrophic asteroid collision.

Experts say there as many as two or three new asteroids, sometimes called ‘Near Earth Objects,’ discovered every night.

Continue reading “MIT scientists create doomsday AI that will take over during end times” »

In this post, you’ll find why I think SENS Research Foundation (SRF) is great to finance from an EA perspective along with the interview questions I want to ask its Chief Science Officer, Aubrey de Grey. You are welcome to contribute with your own questions in the comments or through a private message. Here is a brief summary of each section:

Introduction: Aging research looks extremely good as a cause-area from an EA perspective. Under a total utilitarian view, it is probably second or third after existential risk mitigation. There are many reasons why it makes sense to donate to many EA cause-areas, such as to reduce risk, if there are particularly effective specific interventions, or if some cause-areas are already well funded.

SRF’s approach to aging research: SRF selects its research following the SENS general strategy, which divides aging into seven categories of damage, each having a corresponding line of research. This categorization is very similar to the one described in the landmark paper The Hallmarks of Aging. This sort of damage repair approach seems more effective and tractable than current geriatrics and biogerontology that are aimed at slowing down aging, as it enables LEV and many more QALYs. It makes rejuvenation possible instead of just slowing down aging as a best-case scenario, and it doesn’t require an in-depth knowledge of our metabolism, which is extremely complicated and full of unknown-unknowns.