Lifeboat Foundation

Dr. Kevin Strange is the CEO and co-founder of Novo Biosciences, a biotechnology company focused on regenerating the heart and other organs. We recently had the opportunity to interview him about MSI-1436 (trodusquemine), a compound that promotes regeneration in multiple animal models.

What, if anything, happens to existing scar tissue in the presence of MSI-1436?

More detailed studies need to be conducted to fully understand how MSI-1436 impacts existing scar tissue. However, our published work is very encouraging. We induced ischemic injury in the adult mouse heart by permanently ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery. This is a standard heart attack model. Twenty-four hours after ligation of the artery, we began treating with MSI-1436 or vehicle (placebo). Hearts were isolated from mice for histological analysis 3 days and 28 days after injury and collagen deposition (i.e., scarring) was quantified. In hearts isolated after 3 days, the scarring index measured as area was the same, ~40%, in both MSI-1436- and vehicle-treated mice. In other words, there was no difference in the extent of initial scarring in the two groups of animals.

This is the first Russian x-risks newsletter, which will present news about Russia and global catastrophic risks from the last 3 months.

Given the combination of high technological capabilities, poor management, high risk tolerance and attempts to catch up with West and China in the military sphere, Russia is prone to technological catastrophes. It has a 10 times higher level of aviation catastrophes and car accidents than developed countries.

Thus it seems possible that a future global catastrophe may be somehow connected with Russia. However, most of the work in global catastrophic and existential risk (x-risks) prevention and policy efforts are happening in the West, especially in US, UK and Sweden. Even the best policies adopted by the governments of these countries may not help if a catastrophe occurs in another country or countries.

Is this for real? The future is here, and it’s alive and beating. Scientists at Tel Aviv University have printed the world’s first 3D heart complete with blood vessels using personalized “ink” made of collagen, a protein that supports the cell structures, and other biological molecules.

On this week’s episode of Futuris, Euronews visits a hazelnut orchard in Italy to see how the new generation of robots can help farmers and agronomists make agriculture cheaper and more environmentally friendly.

• Article
• Open Access
• Published: 09 September 2019

• Lamont J. Wilkins ORCID: orcid.org/0000–0001-9010-330X ¹,
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Computer vision is one of the most popular applications of artificial intelligence. Image classification, object detection and object segmentation are some of the use cases of computer vision-based AI. These techniques are used in a variety of consumer and industrial scenarios. From face recognition-based user authentication to inventory tracking in warehouses to vehicle detection on roads, computer vision is becoming an integral part of next-generation applications.

Computer vision uses advanced neural networks and deep learning algorithms such as Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), Single Shot Multibox Detector (SSD) and Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN). Applying these algorithms requires a thorough understanding of neural network architecture, advanced mathematics and image processing techniques. For an average ML developer, CNN remains to be a complex branch of AI.

Apart from the knowledge and understanding of algorithms, CNNs demand high end, expensive infrastructure for training the models, which is out of reach for most of the developers.

Astronomers are closing in on a signal that has been travelling across the Universe for 12 billion years, bringing them nearer to understanding the life and death of the very earliest stars.

Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology and Politecnico di Milano have identified a crucial new aspect of charge density modulations in cuprate high critical temperature superconductors. They have identified a new electron wave which could help reveal some of the mysteries about superconducting materials. The findings are published in the journal Science.

High critical temperature superconductors have a variable charge density, meaning that their electrical charge is unevenly distributed. This partly results from what are known as ‘charge density waves’, which were discovered a few years ago. But these have only been observed to exist sporadically, under certain conditions. Therefore, they were not believed to be a contributing factor to the materials’ superconducting properties.

What the researchers have now discovered, however, is an additional aspect to the variable charge density, which they term “charge density fluctuations”. These have been identified as an additional charge modulation, collective and with a shorter correlation length. They are very pervasive, meaning that compared to the conventional charge density waves, they are present at a much greater range of temperatures, up to room temperature and beyond, and at different levels of oxygen doping.

Physicists are trying to rewrite the axioms of quantum theory from scratch in an effort to understand what it all means. The problem? They’ve been almost too successful.