Lifeboat Foundation

Historically, JILA (a joint institute established by the National Institute of Standards and Technology [NIST] and the University of Colorado Boulder) has been a world leader in precision timekeeping using optical atomic clocks. These clocks harness the intrinsic properties of atoms to measure time with unparalleled precision and accuracy, representing a significant leap in our quest to quantify the most elusive of dimensions: time.

The equations that describe physical systems often assume that measurable features of the system—temperature or chemical potential, for example—can be known exactly. But the real world is messier than that, and uncertainty is unavoidable. Temperatures fluctuate, instruments malfunction, the environment interferes, and systems evolve over time.

FRIDAY, Jan. 12, 2024 (HealthDay News) — For patients with immunotherapy recalcitrant KRAS-mutated tumors, the cancer vaccine ELI-002 2P is safe and induces T-cell responses, according to a study published online Jan. 9 in Nature Medicine.

Noting that the cancer vaccine ELI-002 2P enhances lymph node delivery and immune response using Amphiphile (Amph)-modification of G12D and G12R mutant KRAS (mKRAS) peptides (Amph-Peptides-2P) together with CpG oligonucleotide adjuvant (Amph-CpG-7909), Shubham Pant, M.D., M.B.B.S., from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and colleagues treated 25 patients (20 with pancreatic cancer; five with colorectal cancer) positive for minimal residual mKRAS disease after locoregional treatment in a phase 1 study involving fixed-dose Amph-Peptides-2P and ascending dose Amph-CpG-7909.

The researchers found no dose-limiting toxicities; the recommended phase 2 dose was 10.0 mg Amph-CpG-7909. Overall, 21, 21, and six patients (84, 84, and 24 percent) had direct ex vivo mKRAS-specific T-cell responses, tumor biomarker responses, and biomarker clearance, respectively. Median relapse-free survival was 16.33 months. There was a correlation seen for efficacy with T-cell response; the median tumor biomarker reduction was −76.0 versus −10.2 percent. Median relapse-free survival was not reached compared with 4.01 months (hazard ratio, 0.14).

Watch our Celebration of James Bedford Day special service. On this day we celebrate the remembrance of the biotechnology self-experimenter, Dr. James Bedford, who, on January 12, 2024, will have been cryonically preserved for 57 years.

Ben Best presents \.

The HiP framework developed MIT_CSAIL creates detailed plans for robots using the expertise of three different foundation models, helping it execute tasks in households, factories, and construction that require multiple steps.

“All we want to do is take existing pre-trained models and have them successfully interface with each other,” says Anurag Ajay, a PhD student in the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) and a CSAIL affiliate. “Instead of pushing for one model to do everything, we combine multiple ones that leverage different modalities of internet data. When used in tandem, they help with robotic decision-making and can potentially aid with tasks in homes, factories, and construction sites.”

These models also need some form of “eyes” to understand the environment they’re operating in and correctly execute each sub-goal. The team used a large video diffusion model to augment the initial planning completed by the LLM, which collects geometric and physical information about the world from footage on the internet. In turn, the video model generates an observation trajectory plan, refining the LLM’s outline to incorporate new physical knowledge.

Continue reading “Multiple AI models help robots execute complex plans more transparently” »

DARPA is preparing to revolutionize flight as it moves forward with the development of its experimental X-plane, which the agency says will upend a century of flight technology with an aircraft featuring no moving control surfaces.

The X-65, a technology demonstrator with a 30-foot wingspan weighing slightly more than 7,000 pounds, is expected to be capable of reaching Mach 0.7.

The agency has been working with its partners at Aurora Flight Sciences, who were recently given the green light to construct a full-scale experimental aircraft that will demonstrate the company’s novel active flow control (AFC) actuators for its flight control system.

When Rosemary Brown identified a strange particle decay 75 years ago, it set events in motion that would rewrite the laws of physics.

Imperceptible to us, plants are surrounded by a fine mist of airborne compounds that they use to communicate and protect themselves. Kind of like smells, these compounds repel hungry herbivores and warn neighboring plants of incoming assailants.

Scientists have known about these plant defenses since the 1980s, detecting them in over 80 plant species since then. Now, a team of Japanese researchers has deployed real-time imaging techniques to reveal how plants receive and respond to these aerial alarms.

Continue reading “Scientists Film Plant ‘Talking’ to Its Neighbor, And The Footage Is Incredible” »

Astronomers have discovered a super diffuse dwarf galaxy, named Nube, which gives off barely any visible light and seemingly defies explanation.