Menu

Blog

Page 8892

Feb 19, 2019

How Beauty Is Making Scientists Rethink Evolution

Posted by in category: evolution

Feature

The extravagant splendor of the animal kingdom can’t be explained by natural selection alone — so how did it come to be?

A male Indian peafowl. Credit Credit Kenji Aoki for The New York Times.

Continue reading “How Beauty Is Making Scientists Rethink Evolution” »

Feb 19, 2019

A Japanese Spacecraft Is About to Shoot an Asteroid With a Bullet

Posted by in category: space travel

Pew pew :3.


The goal is to loosen up rocks for a return sample.

Read more

Feb 19, 2019

Self-driving cars take the wheel

Posted by in categories: robotics/AI, transportation

Advanced technologies come together to get autonomous vehicles driving safely and efficiently.

Read more

Feb 19, 2019

A New Species Of Psychedelic Lichen Found To Contain Psilocybin & DMT

Posted by in category: biological

A newly discovered species of lichen from Ecuador that contains both tryptamine and psilocybin has recently been discovered, dispelling the belief that the infamous ‘magic mushrooms’ are the only plant species containing this hallucinogenic compound.

Lichens are of particular interest to biologists because of their symbiotic relationship between algae and fungi. The fungus creates the network that sustains, hydrates, and protects the algae, which in turn generates the sugars necessary to feed it through photosynthesis. While they both exhibit plant-like characteristics, neither are actually plants — they are composite organisms. This makes the psychedelic lichen even more intriguing.

Continue reading “A New Species Of Psychedelic Lichen Found To Contain Psilocybin & DMT” »

Feb 19, 2019

The British Military Is Working on Anti-Aircraft Drone Swarms

Posted by in categories: drones, military

A swarm of 150 drones buzzed over Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine’s head during this year’s Super Bowl half time show, spelling out the words “One Love.”

It was a dazzling display of drone technology — and military developers in the United States and United Kingdom are increasingly interested in using something similar, but with a very different goal in mind: to surround enemy aircraft, confusing them and forcing them out of the sky.

Read more

Feb 19, 2019

A new CRISPR/Cas9 therapy can suppress aging

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, life extension, neuroscience

LA JOLLA—(February 18, 2019) Aging is a leading risk factor for a number of debilitating conditions, including heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, to name a few. This makes the need for anti-aging therapies all the more urgent. Now, Salk Institute researchers have developed a new gene therapy to help decelerate the aging process.

The findings, published on February 18, 2019 in the journal Nature Medicine, highlight a novel CRISPR/Cas9 genome-editing that can suppress the accelerated aging observed in mice with Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that also afflicts humans. This treatment provides important insight into the molecular pathways involved in accelerated aging, as well as how to reduce toxic proteins via .

“Aging is a complex process in which cells start to lose their functionality, so it is critical for us to find effective ways to study the molecular drivers of aging,” says Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, a professor in Salk’s Gene Expression Laboratory and senior author of the paper. “Progeria is an ideal aging model because it allows us to devise an intervention, refine it and test it again quickly.”

Continue reading “A new CRISPR/Cas9 therapy can suppress aging” »

Feb 19, 2019

Without Bugs, We Might All Be Dead

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, economics, existential risks, food, genetics

There are 1.4 billion insects for each one of us. Though you often need a microscope to see them, insects are “the lever pullers of the world,” says David MacNeal, author of Bugged. They do everything from feeding us to cleaning up waste to generating $57 billion for the U.S. economy alone.

Today, many species are faced with extinction. When National Geographic caught up with MacNeal in Los Angeles, he explained why this would be catastrophic for life on Earth and why a genetically engineered bee could save hives—and our food supply—worldwide.

Read more

Feb 19, 2019

James Hughes’ Problems of Transhumanism: A Review (Intro + Part 1)

Posted by in categories: geopolitics, transhumanism

This is Part 1 of a 5-part series by USTP’s Foreign Ambassador in Nigeria, Chogwu Abdul, as he explores the thought-provoking intricacies of James Hughes’ “Problems of Transhumanism.”

Become a member of the U.S. Transhumanist Party / Transhuman Party for free, no matter where you reside: https://transhumanist-party.org/membership/


Ojochogwu Abdul

Introduction

Continue reading “James Hughes’ Problems of Transhumanism: A Review (Intro + Part 1)” »

Feb 19, 2019

AI is still terrible at spotting fake news

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

It should be possible to automatically identify dubious news sources—but we’ll need a lot more data.

Read more

Feb 19, 2019

Fungus provides powerful medicine in fighting honey bee viruses

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, food, health, security

In field trials, colonies fed mycelium extract from amadou and reishi fungi showed a 79-fold reduction in deformed wing virus and a 45,000-fold reduction in Lake Sinai virus compared to control colonies.

Though it’s in the early stages of development, the researchers see great potential in this research.

“Our greatest hope is that these extracts have such an impact on viruses that they may help varroa mites become an annoyance for bees, rather than causing huge devastation,” said Steve Sheppard, a WSU entomology professor and one of the paper’s authors. “We’re excited to see where this research leads us. Time is running out for bee populations and the safety and security of the world’s food supply hinges on our ability to find means to improve pollinator health.”

Read more