Lifeboat Foundation

Particles known as “bottom mesons” are not decaying in the way the Standard Model of particle physics says they should, and it’s causing some excitement.

We wouldn’t blame you for thinking that Julius Horsthuis spent weeks designing and animating his sci-fi short, Fraktaal, using 3D software. But as the artist reveals, “It so happens that I’m a lazy animator.” So he instead relied on complex mathematical fractal patterns to automatically generate the alien worlds and cities visited in his film.

What if we could stop aging forever?

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Continue reading “How to Cure Aging – During Your Lifetime?” »

The folks at Kurzgesagt have created another great video about aging and thanks to them for giving us the opportunity to work with them in creating this video. If you would like to support our work check out (https://www.lifespan.io/campaigns/join-us-become-a-lifespan-hero/).

The video today discusses the near future technologies that are changing how we treat aging and could potentially bring it under medical control soon. It is important to discuss this topic now and its great to see popular channels like Kurzgesagt are keen to get involved in that dialogue.

The CRISPR-Cas9 system has revolutionised gene-editing, but cutting DNA isn’t all it can do. From turning gene expression on and off to fluorescently tagging particular sequences, this animation explores some of the exciting possibilities of CRISPR.

Download a poster on ‘The expanding CRISPR toolbox’ here: https://www.nature.com/posters/crisprtoolbox

Continue reading “Gene editing and beyond” »

China’s heaviest cargo unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) AT200 prepares for its maiden flight in Neifu Airport in Pucheng, northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, Oct. 26, 2017. China’s heaviest cargo unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) completed its maiden flight in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province Thursday. With a maximum take-off weight of around 3.4 tonnes and a payload of 1.5 tonnes, the AT200 could be one of the world’s most powerful civilian UAVs. (Xinhua)

BEIJING, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) — China’s heaviest cargo unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) completed its maiden flight in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province Thursday.

The AT200 drone, jointly developed by several research institutes and companies, made a successful 26-minute maiden flight, according the Institute of Engineering Thermophysics.

In many ways, stem cells are the divas of the biological world. On the one hand, these natural shapeshifters can transform themselves into virtually any type of cell in the body. In that regard, they hold the promise of being able to cure ills ranging from spinal cord injuries to cancers.

On the other hand, said associate professor of materials science and engineering Sarah Heilshorn, stem cells, like divas, are also mercurial and difficult to work with.

“We just don’t know how to efficiently and effectively grow massive numbers of stem cells and keep them in their regenerative state,” Heilshorn said. “This has prevented us from making more progress in creating therapies.”

A new drug being trialled for treating breast cancer and diabetes has been shown to ‘melt away’ the fat inside arteries that can cause heart attacks and strokes.

Researchers from the University of Aberdeen, using pre-clinical mouse models, showed that just a single dose of the drug (Trodusquemine) completely reversed the effects of a disease that causes a host of heart problems.

Atherosclerosis is the build-up of fatty material inside the arteries.

The big roll out is set for 2021–2022.

A decade ago, there wasn’t much talk about self-driving cars or autonomous-cars, but Toyota and Lexus were setting the stage with their self-parking cars. They aired television commercials showing how cars magically parallel-parked themselves. That was before any mention of the first iPhone or Android. At the time, it seemed amazing, but that was nothing compared to what’s coming next.

The self-parking revolution that spread throughout the automotive industry over the last decade is now expanding. There is more technology in cars today than ever before: navigation systems, automatic updates wirelessly downloaded to the dashboard, in-cabin WiFi and much more.