Lifeboat Foundation

What interesting trends are we seeing in genetics research right now? originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world.

Answer by Carrie Northover, Research Director at 23andMe, on Quora:

One of the coolest things right now is the size and scale of the research we’re able to do with human genetics, and those numbers are just getting bigger and bigger.

A new technique for the decontamination of organs before transplantation using ultraviolet and red light irradiation has been developed by Brazilian and Canadian researchers and is described in an article titled “Inactivating hepatitis C virus in donor lungs using light therapies during normothermic ex vivo lung perfusion,” published in the journal Nature Communications. The research was partially conducted at the Optics and Photonics Research Center (CEPOF), hosted by the University of S\xE3o Paulo (USP) at S\xE3o Carlos in S\xE3o Paulo State (Brazil).

“This biophotonic technique is revolutionary, as it helps avoid the transmission of diseases during organ transplantation,” said Vanderlei Bagnato, full professor at the University of S\xE3o Paulo, director of its S\xE3o Carlos Physics Institute (IFSC-USP), and principal investigator for CEPOF.

Bagnato’s group partnered with researchers at the University of Toronto in Canada, which has the world’s largest lung transplantation program, having performed 197 such surgeries in 2018 alone. According to thoracic surgeon Marcelo Cypel, who heads the service, the number of transplants could be higher if organs could be decontaminated, especially when the prospective donor has a chronic viral infection such as hepatitis C.

Continue reading “Biophotonic therapy eliminates bacteria and viruses from organs before transplantation” »

Scientists say our brains will connect to computers within decades to form an ‘internet of thoughts’ that will provide instant access to information…

Forward-leaning scientists and researchers say advancements in society’s computers and biotechnology will go straight to our heads — literally.

Continue reading “Experts say our brains and computers will form ‘internet of thoughts’” »

SpaceX will launch NASA’s $69 million mission to crash a spacecraft into an ASTEROID in 2021 to test methods that could save Earth from deadly impacts…

The groundbreaking mission will be the first demonstrated attempt to deflect an asteroid by purposely crashing an object into it at high speed.

After launching from California’s Vandenberg Air Force base atop a Falcon 9 rocket in 2021, the DART craft is expected to reach the object Didymos in October 2022, when it’s 11 million kilometers (6.8 million miles) from Earth.

Continue reading “SpaceX will launch NASA’s mission to crash spacecraft into an asteroid” »

Spine-chilling new series from The Walking Dead creator will explore dystopian future where social media is linked to your BRAIN using tech that ‘Elon Musk and Facebook are already trying to develop…

Channing Powell, the creator of the hit horror television series ‘The Walking Dead’, is not someone who is easily spooked.

Continue reading “Series to explore future where social media is linked to your BRAIN” »

Researchers have now made a material that is superelastic even at extremely cold temperatures, which could be helpful in space.

Imagine a future technology that would provide instant access to the world’s knowledge and artificial intelligence, simply by thinking about a specific topic or question. Communications, education, work, and the world as we know it would be transformed.

Writing in Frontiers in Neuroscience, an international collaboration led by researchers at UC Berkeley and the US Institute for Molecular Manufacturing predicts that exponential progress in nanotechnology, nanomedicine, AI, and computation will lead this century to the development of a “Human Brain/Cloud Interface” (B/CI), that connects brain cells to vast cloud-computing networks in real time.

Environmentalism and climate change are increasingly being pushed on us everywhere, and I wanted to write the transhumanism and life extension counter argument on why I prefer new technology over nature and sustainability. Here’s my new article:

On a warming planet bearing scars of significant environmental destruction, you’d think one of the 21st Century’s most notable emerging social groups—transhumanists—would be concerned. Many are not. Transhumanists first and foremost want to live indefinitely, and they are outraged at the fact their bodies age and are destined to die. They blame their biological nature, and dream of a day when DNA is replaced with silicon and data.

Their enmity of biology goes further than just their bodies. They see Mother Earth as a hostile space where every living creature—be it a tree, insect, mammal, or virus—is out for itself. Everything is part of the food chain, and subject to natural law: consumption by violent murder in the preponderance of cases. Life is vicious. It makes me think of pet dogs and cats, and how it’s reported they sometimes start eating their owner after they’ve died.

Continue reading “Environmentalists are Wrong: Nature Isn’t Sacred and We Should Replace It” »

Thanks to way cool new tech, Venus may no longer be such a longshot for robotic landers. Let’s hope that Brandon gets his additional Phase Two study out of NIAC and NASA will finally send a lander to Venus.

Thanks to innovative new technology, Venus may no longer be such a longshot for robotic landers.