Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Perhaps not the most complete and/or updated view on dopamine, but pretty fun short talk overall. No, we’re not that different.

http://www.scienceandnonduality.com

In this talk from SAND 2018, Robert Sapolsky considers the unlikely realms where humans are merely on a continuum with other species…until you look closely. With a host of surprising and fascinating examples and illustrations he spells out the case that humans are a type of ape, operating on the same basic types of neurons found throughout the animal kingdom. So is there any behavior that we can say for certain is unique to humans?

Continue reading “Are We Just Another Primate? Robert Sapolsky” | >

While the company is no doubt losing quality employees, Fossil is still committed to wearable tech.

Rumors about a Pixel Watch have abounded for years. Such a device would certainly make sense as Google attempts to prove the viability of its struggling wearable operating system, Wear OSeems the company is finally getting serious about the prospect. Today Fossil announced plans to sell its smartwatch IP to the software giant for $40 million.

Sounds like Google will be getting a nice head start here as well. The deal pertains to “a smartwatch technology currently under development” and involves the transfer of a number of Fossil employees to team Google.

“Wearables, built for wellness, simplicity, personalization and helpfulness, have the opportunity to improve lives by bringing users the information and insights they need quickly, at a glance,” Wear OS VP Stacey Burr said in a statement. “The addition of Fossil Group’s technology and team to Google demonstrates our commitment to the wearables industry by enabling a diverse portfolio of smartwatches and supporting the ever-evolving needs of the vitality-seeking, on-the-go consumer.”

Continue reading “Google is buying Fossil’s smartwatch tech for million” | >

In 2018, scientists announced the discovery of a extrasolar planet orbiting Barnard’s star, an M-type (red dwarf) that is just 6 light years away. Using the Radial Velocity method, the research team responsible for the discovery determined that this exoplanet (Barnard’s Star b) was at least 3.2 times as massive as Earth and experienced average surface temperatures of about −170 °C (−274 °F) – making it both a “Super-Earth” and “ice planet”.

Based on these findings, it was a foregone conclusion that Barnard b would be hostile to life as we know it. But according to new study by a team of researchers from Villanova University and the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC), it is possible – assuming the planet has a hot iron/nickel core and experiences enhanced geothermal activity – that this giant iceball of a planet could actually support life.

The findings were shared at the 233rd meeting of the American Astronomy Society (AAS), which took place from January 6th to 10th in Seattle, Washington. The presentation, titled “X-Ray, UV, Optical Irradiances and Age of Barnard’s Star’s New Super Earth Planet – ‘Can Life Find a Way’ on such a Cold Planet”, was delivered during a press conference on January 10th and concerned findings that appeared in a recent study.

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Research in immunotherapy identifies mechanism that helps fight lung cancer and melanoma.

In a breakthrough discovery, scientists from Harvard Medical School along with a team at Bar-Ilan University have uncovered a mechanism in which the immune system is capable of attacking cancer cells. This contributes greatly to research in immunotherapy, particularly in fighting lung cancer and melanoma (skin cancer). The research team was composed of Prof. Nick Hainin of Harvard Medical School and Prof. Erez Levanon of the Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences at Bar-Ilan University, along with doctoral student, Ilana Buchumansky and many others.

The study was published two weeks ago in the journal Nature, detailing how scientists have uncovered a mechanism that assists the cell by leaving markers on human virus-like genes thereby preventing them from being recognized as viruses. When this channel is inhibited, the immune system can be utilized to destroy cancerous cells, particularly in the cases of lung cancer and melanoma. The immune system reacts when this path is blocked or shut off, and allows the body to destroy cancer cells at a more effective rate.

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Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital spaceflight system will fly again on Monday (Jan. 21), if all goes according to plan.

Blue Origin, which is led by billionaire Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, had originally aimed to launch the 10th uncrewed New Shepard test flight in mid-December but was thwarted by an issue with the infrastructure at the company’s West Texas test site. That problem has now been resolved.

New Shepard will now launch Monday at 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT/9 a.m. CST), Blue Origin representatives said in a statement.

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Salk researchers have mapped the genomes and epigenomes of genetically modified plant lines with the highest resolution ever to reveal exactly what happens at a molecular level when a piece of foreign DNA is inserted. Their findings, published in the journal PLOS Genetics on January 15, 2019, elucidate the routine methods used to modify plants, and offer new ways to more effectively minimize potential off-target effects.

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