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Jul 6, 2019

Star Trails Swirl Over Israel’s Negev Desert (Photo)

Posted by in category: futurism

Miguel Claro is a professional photographer, author and science communicator based in Lisbon, Portugal, who creates spectacular images of the night sky. As a European Southern Observatory photo ambassador, a member of The World At Night and the official astrophotographer of the Dark Sky Alqueva Reserve, he specializes in astronomical “skyscapes” that connect Earth and the night sky. Join him here as he takes us through his photograph “Light Trails in Israel Desert.”

Star trails circle over Ramon Crater in this long-exposure photo of the night sky over Israel’s Negev Desert.

I captured this photo from inside Ramon Crater (also known as Makhtesh Ramon), the world’s largest erosion cirque. The Ramon Crater geological formation has nothing to do with a meteor strike, despite its name. Rather, this “crater” formed about 220 million years ago when the ocean that once covered the area dried up. The eroding ocean floor then gave way to the crater-like valley we see there today.

Jul 6, 2019

AI can simulate quantum systems without massive computing power

Posted by in categories: quantum physics, robotics/AI, supercomputing

It’s difficult to simulate quantum physics, as the computing demand grows exponentially the more complex the quantum system gets — even a supercomputer might not be enough. AI might come to the rescue, though. Researchers have developed a computational method that uses neural networks to simulate quantum systems of “considerable” size, no matter what the geometry. To put it relatively simply, the team combines familiar methods of studying quantum systems (such as Monte Carlo random sampling) with a neural network that can simultaneously represent many quantum states.

Jul 6, 2019

Aging is associated with a systemic length-driven transcriptome imbalance

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension, robotics/AI

Aging manifests itself through a decline in organismal homeostasis and a multitude of cellular and physiological functions. Efforts to identify a common basis for vertebrate aging face many challenges; for example, while there have been documented changes in the expression of many hundreds of mRNAs, the results across tissues and species have been inconsistent. We therefore analyzed age-resolved transcriptomic data from 17 mouse organs and 51 human organs using unsupervised machine learning3 5 to identify the architectural and regulatory characteristics most informative on the differential expression of genes with age. We report a hitherto unknown phenomenon, a systemic age-dependent length-driven transcriptome imbalance that for older organisms disrupts the homeostatic balance between short and long transcript molecules for mice, rats, killifishes, and humans. We also demonstrate that in a mouse model of healthy aging, length-driven transcriptome imbalance correlates with changes in expression of splicing factor proline and glutamine rich (Sfpq), which regulates transcriptional elongation according to gene length. Furthermore, we demonstrate that length-driven transcriptome imbalance can be triggered by environmental hazards and pathogens. Our findings reinforce the picture of aging as a systemic homeostasis breakdown and suggest a promising explanation for why diverse insults affect multiple age-dependent phenotypes in a similar manner.

The transcriptome responds rapidly, selectively, strongly, and reproducibly to a wide variety of molecular and physiological insults experienced by an organism. While the transcripts of thousands of genes have been reported to change with age, the magnitude by which most transcripts change is small in comparison with classical examples of gene regulation2,8 and there is little consensus among different studies. We hence hypothesize that aging is associated with a hitherto uncharacterized process that affects the transcriptome in a systemic manner. We predict that such a process could integrate heterogenous, and molecularly distinctive, environmental insults to promote phenotypic manifestations of aging.

We use an unsupervised machine learning approach3 5 to identify the sources of age-dependent changes in the transcriptome. To this end, we measure and survey the transcriptome of 17 mouse organs from 6 biological replicates at 5 different ages from 4 to 24 months raised under standardized conditions (Fig. 1A). We consider information on the structural architecture of individual genes and transcripts, and knowledge on the binding of regulatory molecules such as transcription factors and microRNAs (miRNAs) (Fig. 1B). We define age-dependent fold-changes as the log2-transformed ratio of transcripts of one gene at a given age relative to the transcripts of that gene in the organs of 4-month-old mice. As expected for models capturing most measurable changes in transcript abundance, the predicted fold-changes (Fig. S1) match changes empirically observed between distinct replicate cohorts of mice (Figs. S2 and S3).

Jul 6, 2019

Another earthquake felt in Vegas! Did you feel it?

Posted by in category: transportation

A 7. 1 earthquake has taken place in Ridgecrest, Californa, according to the USGS. The quake happened at 8:19 p. m. According to McCarran Airport, fortunately, there were no operational interruptions and all runways were checked and cleared. According to Las Vegas Fire & Rescue, no calls in the city were related to the earthquake. RELATED | The Latest: Southern California reels from 7. 1 quake. On July 4th, a 6.

Jul 6, 2019

Indigenous students win berth at Japan robotics competition

Posted by in categories: education, robotics/AI

A team of two indigenous Nahua students from Guerrero came in first place at a national robotics contest held in Quintana Roo, winning them a berth to represent Mexico in an international competition in Japan next year.

The contest was organized by Conalep, a system of public high schools that offer technical education.

Victor Manuel Bautista Nieves and Próspero Romero Gerardo, both 18-year-old students at the Conalep school in Chilapa, Guerrero, won the contest by designing a robot able to locate and extinguish three randomly-placed candles on a determined field within three minutes.

Jul 6, 2019

Unexpected Evidence of a Brain Microbiome

Posted by in category: neuroscience

Researchers have recently found bacteria residing in the brain, once believed to be a completely sterile environment. The discovery raises profound questions.

Jul 5, 2019

Effect of the Energy of Consciousness (The Trivedi Effect®) on Withania somnifera Root Extract Using Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience, nuclear energy

Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha) root extract is very popular ancient herbal medicine. The objective of the study was to characterize and evaluate the impact of The Trivedi Effect® — Energy of Consciousness Healing Treatment (Biofield Energy Healing) on phytoconstituents present in the ashwagandha root extract using GC-MS and NMR. Ashwagandha root extract was divided into two parts. One part was denoted as the control, while the other part was defined as The Trivedi Effect® — Biofield Energy Treated sample, which received The Trivedi Effect® — Energy of Consciousness Healing Treatment remotely from eighteen renowned Biofield Energy Healers. The GC-MS data indicated that the peak height and peak area of The Trivedi Effect® treated sample were found to be altered compared with the control sample. The peak height of the phytoconstituents present in the treated ashwagandha sample was altered significantly in the range of −8.32% to 89.25% compared with the control sample. Similarly, the peak area of the treated sample was altered significantly in the range of — 4.28% to 216.30% compared with the control sample. Overall, the change in the peak area% of the treated sample was significantly altered in the range of −18.29% to 170.18% compared with the control sample. The GC-MS and NMR analysis results identified the presence of withanolides such as glyco-withanolides, alkaloids, and sugars in the root extract in both the sample. The peak area of 2,3,4,5-tetrahydropyridazine , methyl ethyl sulfoxide , 5,6-dihydro-2-methyl-4(H)pyran-3,4-dione , diethoxy-2-methyl-propane , 2,3,4,5-tetrahydroxy-tetrahydro-pyran , and 3,4-dimethyl-2(3H)-furanone were significantly increased by 170.18%, 58.21%, 7.74%, 139.50%, 23.16%, and 45.63%, respectively in the treated sample compared with the control sample. On the contrary, the peak area% of 2-hydroxy-γ-butyrolactone was decreased by — 14.96% in the treated ashwagandha compared with the control sample. From the results, it can be hypothesized that The Trivedi Effect® — Biofield Energy Treatment might have the impact on the intrinsic physicochemical properties of the phytoconstituents present in the ashwagandha root extract and responsible for the alteration in the relative peak height/area of treated sample compared with the control sample. As a result, the concentrations of the phytoconstituents assumed to be increased in treated sample compared with the control sample. This treated ashwagandha root extract would be helpful for designing better nutraceutical/pharmaceutical formulations which might be providing a better therapeutic response against autoimmune diseases, nervous and sexual disorders, infectious diseases, antiaging, diabetes, cancer, immunological disorders, stress, arthritis, etc.

Keywords:

Biofield Energy Healing Treatment, Biofield Energy Healers, Consciousness Energy Healers, The Trivedi Effect®, Withania somnifera, Withanolides, GC-MS, NMR.

Jul 5, 2019

Decline in Insect Populations

Posted by in category: futurism

Insects are disappearing at an incredibly fast rate!

Jul 5, 2019

Common cold virus ‘helps destroy’ bladder cancer

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

HOT OFF THE PRESS! The cohort size (15 patients) is small, but this approach of successfully using viruses against cancer is worth celebrating! https://www.bbc.com/news/health-48868261


A small UK study found promising signs of a kinder, less invasive treatment for the disease.

Jul 5, 2019

Gene Editing Startups Fabricate Industrial-Grade CRISPR Tools

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical

The old DIY CRISPR tickles some, but it underwhelms others, namely, the developers of commercial applications. They prefer the new CRISPR—scalable, reliable, and deliverable.