Lifeboat Foundation

“Previous work mostly focused on what was going on at the microscale of DNA,” says study co-author Michael Shelley, group leader for biophysical modeling at the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Biology in New York City and co-director of the Courant Institute’s Applied Mathematics Laboratory at New York University. “People didn’t really think about what was going on at the larger scale.”

Shelley and colleagues simulated the motions of chromatin, the functional form of DNA inside the nucleus. Chromatin looks like beads on a string, with ball-like clusters of genetic material linked by strands of DNA. The researchers propose that molecular machines along the DNA cause segments of the chromatin to straighten and pull taut. This activity aligns neighboring strands to face the same direction. That alignment, in turn, results in a cascading waltz of genetic material shimmying across the nucleus.

The dancing DNA may play a role in gene expression, replication and remodeling, though the exact effects remain unclear, the researchers reported online October 22 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A man in the U.K. managed to capture photos and video of a lifetime, documenting the exact moment when a meteor exploded and then disintegrated above a castle.

The images and video were caught during the Orionid meteor shower on Saturday, Oct. 20, SWNS reports. 44-year-old Nick Jackson was heading to take images of Clun Castle in Shropshire when the celestial object made its debut.

Mid-way during the shoot, Jackson saw the giant meteor behind the castle and said: “I immediately thought, ‘I hope that was caught in the frame.’”

Continue reading “Breathtaking video captures meteor exploding in night sky: It’s ‘a once-in-a-lifetime thing’” »

Wow! Earth looks stunning even from 27 MILLION miles away! 🤩.

Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), Aalto University in Finland, and ETH Zurich have demonstrated a prototype device that uses quantum effects and machine learning to measure magnetic fields more accurately than its classical analogues. Such measurements are needed to seek mineral deposits, discover distant astronomical objects, diagnose brain disorders, and create better radars.

“When you study nature, whether you investigate the human brain or a supernova explosion, you always deal with some sort of electromagnetic signals,” explains Andrey Lebedev, a co-author of the paper describing the new device in npj Quantum Information. “So measuring magnetic fields is necessary across diverse areas of science and technology, and one would want to do this as accurately as possible.”

Every year, various members of the illusion community—which is made up of scientists, neurologists, researchers, and even artists—get together to decide which of their recently created mind-melters deserves the honor of Best Illusion of the Year. This year, Japan’s Kokichi Sugihara claimed the top prize with a deceptively simple illusion that plays with how our mind perceives 3D objects.

This isn’t the first time Kokichi Sugihara, a mathematician at Meiji University in Japan, has won the Best Illusion of the Year honor. Nor is it the first time his fantastic illusions have shown up on Gizmodo. Triply Ambiguous Object, his latest award-winning creation, appears to be a simple 3D structure, with a tiny flag mounted on one of its many corners.

Continue reading “The ‘Best Illusion of the Year’ Will Make You Mistrust Your Brain” »

The results of the poll are in.

Not in the Philippines?

A new component makes existing fiber optic cables 100 times faster.

They pack a powerful health wallop, but they’re tasty, too.