Lifeboat Foundation

Circa 2004

On the largest scales, matter in the Universe is arranged in a vast network of filamentary structures known as the ‘cosmic web’, its tangled strands spanning hundreds of millions of light years. Dark matter, which emits no light, forms the backbone of this web, which is also suffused with primordial hydrogen gas left over from the Big Bang. Galaxies like our own Milky Way are embedded inside this web, but fill only a tiny fraction of its volume.

Now a team of astronomers led by Khee-Gan Lee, a post-doc at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, has managed to create a three-dimensional map of a large region of the far-flung cosmic web nearly 11 billion light years away, when the Universe was just a quarter of its current age. Similar to a medical CT scan, which reconstructs a three-dimensional image of the human body from the X-rays passing through a patient, Lee and his colleagues reconstructed their map from the light of distant background galaxies passing through the cosmic web’s hydrogen gas.

Continue reading “‘CT Scan’ of Distant Universe Reveals Cosmic Web in 3D” »

Essentially based on myth the sirius cat people live here. O,.,o.

Sirius, Alpha Canis Majoris (α CMa), is the brightest star in the night sky and one of the nearest star systems to Earth. It has an apparent magnitude of −1.46 and lies at a distance of only 8.6 light years from the Sun. It is also known as the Dog Star, in reference to its position as the luminary of the constellation Canis Major, the Greater Dog.

Sirius appears so bright both because it is intrinsically luminous, with an energy output about 25.4 times that of the Sun, and because of its proximity to the solar system. However, compared to other bright stars like Rigel (120,000 solar luminosities), Betelgeuse (90,000 to 150,000 L_☉) and Canopus (10,700 L_☉), or even Arcturus (170 L_☉) and Capella (78.7 L_☉), Sirius is not exceptionally bright.

Continue reading “Sirius (Alpha Canis Majoris) Facts: Star System, Location, Constellation” »

Adv Exp Med Biol. 1987;218:569–76.

Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is caused by one of several strains of feline coronaviruses which are grouped into 2 general types of viruses. Infection of cats with FIP virus results in production of serum antibodies which may be protective in conjunction with cell mediated immunity, may provided no protection at all, or may produce an immune enhancement to subsequent exposure to another FIP virus or a recrudescence of the original infecting virus. Attempts at immunization of cats against FIP with inactivated or live FIP viruses have been generally unsuccessful, and often sensitizing the cat through immune enhancement rather than providing protection. Heterologous live virus vaccines using viruses of the same antigenic cluster (transmissible gastroenteritis of swine, canine coronavirus, and human coronavirus 229E) have failed to provide protection against FIP virus.

Circa 2012

Data transmitted 1 km using elusive particles.

Circa 2019

Researchers at Delft University of Technology have created a quantum circuit to listen to the weakest radio signal allowed by quantum mechanics. This new quantum circuit opens the door to possible future applications in areas such as radio astronomy and medicine (MRI). It also enables experiments to shed light on the interplay between quantum mechanics and gravity. The results have been published in Science.

The usual solution to a weak radio signal is to find a bigger signal, for instance, by picking a different radio station or by moving to the other side of the room. However, m what if we could just listen more carefully?

Continue reading “Listening to quantum radio” »

You may have noticed that the LEAF website is no longer there! Don’t panic, we will explain everything.

We have come a long way

Back in late 2016, we launched the LEAF website as a companion site to Lifespan.io, our research fundraising platform. Since those first steps, the site has become increasingly popular and has enjoyed rapid growth during this time.

We’re proud to announce that will premier at the 2020 Phoenix Film Festival with two theatrical showings this March/April. This will be your only chance to view the film in a theatre! Dates and more information on the premiere to follow shortly. Digital release information to follow shortly thereafter. Thank you all for your patients. We’re so glad to finally be able to share the film and hope to see you all at the premiere!

This will be your only chance to view the film in a theatre! Dates and more information on the premiere to follow shortly. Digital release information to follow shortly thereafter. Thank you all for your patients. We’re so glad to finally be able to share the film and hope to see you all at the premiere!

Chinese official house arrest their people under threat of coronavirus coronavirus-chinese-officials-lock-people-homes-ban-funerals-weddings-zhejiang.

In four cities that are home to more than 30 million people, each household is given a so-called passport. It permits one person to leave every two days.

This is a disorienting time. Disagreements are deep, factions stubborn, the common reality crumbling. Technology is changing who we are and the society we live in at a blinding pace. How can we make sense out of these changes? How can we forge new tools to guide our future? What is our new identity in this changing world?

Social upheavals caused by new technologies have occurred throughout history. When the Spaniards arrived in the New World in 1492, some of their horses esca…

Our world is a system, in which physical and social technologies co-evolve. How can we shape a process we don’t control?