Lifeboat Foundation

A new study published in Nature Ecology and Evolution led by scientists from the University of Chicago challenges one of the classic assumptions about how new proteins evolve. The research shows that random, noncoding sections of DNA can quickly evolve to produce new proteins. These de novo, or “from scratch,” genes provide a new, unexplored way that proteins evolve and contribute to biodiversity.

“Using a big genome comparison, we show that noncoding sequences can evolve into completely novel proteins. That’s a huge discovery,” said Manyuan Long, PhD, the Edna K. Papazian Distinguished Service Professor of Ecology and Evolution at UChicago and senior author of the new study.

Tim Berners-Lee has consistently warned about the threats facing the web he helped create.

In a first-of-its-kind study from researchers at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine, a new kind of non-invasive electrical brain stimulation has been trialed in patients with major depression. The results show this new technique to be extraordinarily promising in reducing depressive symptoms, with larger trials set to explore this novel treatment in greater detail.

Classical computing will require more energy than our entire energy grid by 2040.

Snipr Biome has raised (PDF) $50 million (€43 million, DKK320 million) to take CRISPR-based microbiome drugs into clinical trials. The Danish biotech is using CRISPR/Cas to selectively target and kill bacteria with specific DNA sequences.

Christian Grøndahl, the CEO of Snipr, began working with his co-founders on the use of gene editing to modify or kill bacteria shortly after he left Kymab in 2015. The work led to a series of patents on altering microbiota, for reasons including immune modulation, and a €2.6 million investment from Lundbeckfonden Emerge to support research into potential applications for the technology.

Now, Lundbeckfonden has joined with Dutch VC shop LSP to lead a $50 million series A round. The jump in funding follows a period in which Snipr has begun to validate its technology and refine its R&D strategy.

Continue reading “Snipr raises $50M to use CRISPR to modulate the microbiome” »

The Hubble Space Telescope has just released some spectacular new cosmic eye candy. This wild image shows NGC 6052, a pair of colliding galaxies 230 million light-years away.

William Herschel first discovered the object in 1784 and thought it was a single galaxy. More recent observations have demonstrated that’s not the case; instead, it consists of two galaxies merging under the influence of gravity. Last imaged in 2015, this newest observation presents a clear picture of the object using Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 instrument. Now, each individual galaxy is clearly visible; it looks as if the spiral of one galaxy seen head on is being absorbed by the other, viewed from the side. But one day they’ll merge so much they’ll be indistinguishable.

Researchers at the University of Florence and Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi, in Italy, have recently proved that the invasiveness of quantum measurements might not always be detrimental. In a study published in Physical Review Letters, they showed that this invasive quality can actually be exploited, using quantum measurements to fuel a cooling engine.

Michele Campisi, one of the researchers involved in the study, has been studying quantum phenomena for several years. In his recent work, he investigated whether quantum phenomena can impact the thermodynamics of nanoscopic devices, such as those employed in quantum computers.

“Most colleagues in the field were looking at coherence and entanglement while only few were looking at another at genuine quantum phenomenon, i.e., the quantum measurement process,” Campisi told Phys.org. “Those studies suggested that you need to accompany measurements with feedback control, as in Maxwell’s demon, in order to exploit their potential. I started thinking about it, and eureka—since quantum measurements are very invasive, they are accompanied by energy exchanges, hence can be used to power engines without the need to do feedback control.”

That may not be fair to SpaceX, but it’s a good deal for taxpayers.

One Wall Street firm sees major upside for Facebook if its secretive cryptocurrency plan works out.