Lifeboat Foundation

Research into an intricate toxin delivery system found in bacteria could overcome the problem of pesticide resistance in insects, and might even lead to new cancer treatments.

An international team led by Dr. Michael Landsberg at The University of Queensland has revealed the detailed inner workings of the newest member of a family of naturally occurring insecticidal toxins.

“This toxin, known as YenTc, is a highly effective toxin-delivering nanomachine,” Dr. Landsberg said.

Continue reading “Bacterial toxin research could improve pesticides and help treat cancer” »

Airborne lead from recycled car batteries at the Exide plant in Vernon ended up in the baby teeth of children living nearby, a USC study shows.

“We found the higher the level of lead in the soil, the higher the amount of lead in baby teeth,” said first author Jill Johnston, an assistant professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. “There’s no safe level of lead; it’s a potent neurotoxin. Our study provides insight into the legacy of the impact of industrial contamination on children.”

The Exide plant, located just southeast of downtown Los Angeles, recycled 11 million auto batteries per year and released 3,500 tons of lead until it closed in March 2015 as part of a legal settlement for hazardous waste violations.

Continue reading “Lead contamination found in baby teeth of children living near Exide battery plant” »

Chatting with Cortana is going to sound a lot more natural soon.

In the future, your local fast food joint might know your order before you even get to the drive-thru window.

Fast food giant McDonald’s has installed AI-powered kiosks in 700 of its restaurants during an initial trial period. The menus are capable of suggesting menu items that sell best depending on the time of day, the weather, or that are currently trending — think ice cream on hot summer days — as well as add-on items depending on your current order.

It’s a glimpse of a future in which AI does substantial legwork in food service — but also one in which human cashiers could become obsolete.

Continue reading “McDonald’s Is Installing AI-Powered Kiosks to Predict Your Order” »

The Estonian Ministry of Justice has officially asked Ott Velsberg, the country’s chief data officer, to design a “robot judge” to take care of a backlog of small claims court disputes, Wired reports.

The artificial intelligence-powered “judge” is supposed to analyze legal documents and other relevant information and come to a decision. Though a human judge will have an opportunity to revise those decisions, the project is a striking example of justice by artificial intelligence.

Pixel users can get walking directions from Google Maps in augmented reality.

A Mongolian couple died from the bubonic plague after eating raw marmot meat, sparking a quarantine that trapped tourists for days, officials said Monday.

According to AFP, the couple died May 1 in a remote area of the country’s Bayan-Ölgii province, which borders China and Russia.

A six-day quarantine of 118 people who had come in contact with the couple, including locals and a number of foreign tourists, had been lifted as of Tuesday, Ariuntuya Ochirpurev, a World Health Organization official, told the BBC.

Continue reading “After eating raw rodent’s kidney for ‘good health,’ couple dies of bubonic plague, sparks quarantine” »

Scientists have developed a new plastic material that can be recycled repeatedly.

Microsoft is adding a real Linux kernel to Windows 10, and has a new Windows Terminal command-line app for developers.