Lifeboat Foundation

The desert moss Syntrichia caninervis is a promising candidate for Mars colonization thanks to its extreme ability to tolerate harsh conditions lethal to most life forms. The moss is well known for its ability to tolerate drought conditions, but researchers report June 30 in the journal The Innovation that it can also survive freezing temperatures as low as −196°C, high levels of gamma radiation, and simulated Martian conditions involving these three stressors combined. In all cases, prior dehydration seemed to help the plants cope.

“Our study shows that the environmental resilience of S. caninervis is superior to that of some of highly stress-tolerant microorganisms and tardigrades,” write the researchers, who include ecologists Daoyuan Zhang and Yuanming Zhang and botanist Tingyun Kuang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. “S. caninervis is a promising candidate pioneer plant for colonizing extraterrestrial environments, laying the foundation for building biologically sustainable human habitats beyond Earth.”

A small number of previous studies have tested the ability of microorganisms, algae, lichens, and plant spores to withstand the extreme environments of outer space or Mars, but this is the first study to test whole plants.

A new study shows that suppressing a protein turns ordinary fat into a calorie burner and may explain why drug trials attempting the feat haven’t been successful.

Researchers at UC San Francisco have figured out how to turn ordinary white fat cells, which store calories, into beige fat cells that burn calories to maintain body temperature.

The discovery could open the door to developing a new class of weight-loss drugs and may explain why clinical trials of related therapies have not been successful.

A US Senate investigation is shedding light on just how often America’s big banks refuse to reimburse victims of fraud.

The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations says JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America collectively refused to reimburse $880 million in Zelle transactions that customers reported as fraud between 2021 and 2023.

Specifically, the banks refused to reimburse $320 million to customers who were hit by unauthorized transactions – and rejected an additional $560 million in reimbursement to customers who were tricked into authorizing an illicit transaction.

The remarkable preservation reveals intricate details about ancient burial customs.

The discovery includes “thousands of marble slabs” in “hundreds of different shapes” found in a submerged ancient city.

Renaissance astronomer Tycho Brahe, known for his studies of the heavens, was also a alchemist. A new study of glass shards reveals what Brahe was working with in his lab.

Researchers in Amsterdam discover how Rembrantd made the golden pigment in The Night Watch.

Astronomers have uncovered the secrets behind an epic collision of two massive galaxy clusters, showing that dark matter and regular matter can actually separate during these huge events.

Located billions of light-years away, these clusters are home to thousands of galaxies and provide deep insights into the complexities of our universe.

Continue reading “Dark matter seen separating from normal matter after galaxy cluster collision” »

NASA’s Fermi Telescope has revealed new details about the brightest of all time gamma-ray burst which may help explain these extreme and mysterious cosmic events.

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) usually last less than a second. They originate from the dense remains of a dead giant star’s core, called a neutron star. But what causes neutron stars to release huge amounts of energy in the form of gamma radiation is still a mystery.

In October 2022, astronomers detected the largest gamma-ray burst ever seen – GRB 221009A. It came from a supernova about 2.4 billion light years away. The event had an intensity at least 10 times greater than any other GRB detected. It was dubbed the BOAT, for brightest of all time.