Lifeboat Foundation

Homeowners tend to equate termites with property value apocalypse, but ecologically speaking, they’re more a force of stability than destruction. A new study points to how termites can help the rainforests they call home to weather droughts—which are expected to increase in frequency and intensity as climate change causes the tropics to heat up.

Termites are found across the tropics, where they feed on wood and dead leaves and build mounds that can sometimes be seen from space. Despite the wide-ranging influence of these ecological engineers, there’s been little research on how termites impact the ability of the forests they call home to withstand one of the biggest natural disturbances they face: drought.

https://paper.li/e-1437691924

Bioscience and medical technology are propelling us beyond the old human limits. Are Extremes and The Posthuman good guides to this frontier?

By David Cohen

Continue reading “What does it mean to be posthuman?” »

The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas revealed what the tech world has in store for us this year. From the spectacular to the controversial – as well as some total tosh – here are 10 of the most memorable products unveiled at CES 2019 last week.

Also unveiled in Las Vegas: the world’s first rollable TV and Alexa for your toilet.

The vast global DNA library resulting from mass genomic profiling is helping us understand how we could extend “longevity”, that is living younger and healthier for longer. It also means the search for the elixir of youth may no longer be the preserve of billionaires but be accessible to billions.

This may be old but still interesting:

A paper by Harvard researchers wonders whether the interstellar object known as “‘Oumuamua” is a visitor from an alien civilization.

By giving $1,000 per month to a family.

• Democrat Andrew Yang is running for president of the United States. His long-shot campaign is centered on providing a universal basic income for Americans.
• Yang wants to help Americans who are losing jobs to automation, and he believes a basic income could create 4.5 million new jobs.
• The core of Yang’s campaign is the Freedom Dividend, which would give out $1,000 per month to every American between the ages of 18 and 64.
• Yang is testing the dividend this year in Goffstown, New Hampshire, where one family will receive $1,000 a month for a year. The family got the first payment on New Year’s Eve.

Presidential candidate Andrew Yang, a 43-year-old entrepreneur-turned-politician, is focusing his campaign on helping Americans who are losing jobs to automation.

Yang wants all Americans to benefit from a universal basic income, which would provide regular cash payments to people regardless of their employment status. Although he is a long-shot candidate, the Democrat said he believes so strongly in the need for a basic income that he is dedicated to running.

Continue reading “A Democrat running for president in 2020 is testing a basic income proposal” »

Studies of jelly embryos suggest a single ancient origin of the nervous system from secretory cells.

This company wants to pay you to display ads on your car windows.

Cryptocurrency is not infallible… yet.

With IBM’s announcement of Q System One, the world’s first commercially available quantum computing system, will the processing power sufficient to break blockchain become readily available?