Lifeboat Foundation

Over the last 540 million years, the Earth has weathered three major ice ages—periods during which global temperatures plummeted, producing extensive ice sheets and glaciers that have stretched beyond the polar caps.

Now scientists at MIT, the University of California at Santa Barbara, and the University of California at Berkeley have identified the likely trigger for these ice ages.

In a study published in Science, the team reports that each of the last three major ice ages were preceded by tropical “arc-continent collisions”—tectonic pileups that occurred near the Earth’s equator, in which oceanic plates rode up over continental plates, exposing tens of thousands of kilometers of oceanic rock to a tropical environment.

Obsessed with work, insensitive, socially detached, and neglectful of family and friends — these may not be the most endearing qualities in a person, but they are just a few of the common characteristics a researcher found when studying some of the world’s most famous and prolific inventors.

New 2D materials research shows their capacity to survive and work well in the environment of space.

A new study from The Australian National University (ANU) has found a number of 2D materials can not only withstand being sent into space, but potentially thrive in the harsh conditions.

Typhus and other infectious illnesses hit homeless communities.

• By Anna Gorman, Kaiser Health News on March 15, 2019

Researchers are shedding new light on how animals perform whole-body regeneration, and uncovered a number of DNA switches that appear to control genes used in the process.

If you accept cosmic inflation and quantum physics, there’s no way out. The Multiverse is real.

Bitnation is growing up.

🔥 🔥 🔥 NEW RELEASE: #BITNATION JURISDICTION v. 1.4.0 for Android and iOS 🤩 🥳 🥰

The 1.4.0 release has been a crazy road! After the 1.3.4 release, we thought “this app somehow does not say: ”I’m a virtual nation” or ”I’m a blockchain jurisdiction”, but rather we thought it looked more like a confused web3 app which didn’t really know its purpose.

Continue reading “Susanne Tarkowski Tempelhof Photo” »

“The modern people of Basque Country, in northern Spain, are genetically similar to the Iberian Iron Age people with ancestry from the Russian steppe. While people around them mixed with different groups and changed, the Basques held on to their heritage.”

Ancient DNA is uncovering the secrets of the unique populations of what are now Portugal and Spain. Two studies published this week include unexpected findings from the DNA of people who lived thousands of years ago on the Iberian Peninsula.

The rugged peninsula is positioned between North Africa, Europe and the Mediterranean on the westernmost edge of the continent, so the DNA of its ancient population shows how it was affected by migration over time.

Continue reading “DNA reveals that local men were replaced in Iberian gene pool thousands of years ago” »

“Codec avatars,” as Facebook researchers call them, are all but indistinguishable from the humans they represent—and may be a staple of our virtual lives sooner than we think.