Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog – Page 9

When you think of a mushroom—whether psilocybin or portobello—you probably envision a stem and cap common for this type of fungi. The new Snowball mushroom is anything but typical.

This particular strain of “magic mushroom” is aptly named, as it resembles dozens of snowballs packed together. Mycologist Pope Joseph painstakingly coaxed a mutation from another mushroom species into creating the look he wanted, says Drew Collins, founder and CEO of InoculateTheWorld (ITW). His company distributes mushroom spores and introduced the Snowball mushroom to the world.

The Snowball is a significant development in growing mushrooms that have psilocybin, a compound that causes psychedelic effects, such as visual and auditory hallucinations. This form is unlike anything that’s ever been seen in mushroom cultivation before, Collins says. “I’ve been describing it as that moment you look out the window of a plane and there’s a never ending field of clouds.”

Read more | >

Science fiction writers have long featured terraforming, the process of creating an Earth-like or habitable environment on another planet, in their stories. Scientists themselves have proposed terraforming to enable the long-term colonization of Mars. A solution common to both groups is to release carbon dioxide gas trapped in the Martian surface to thicken the atmosphere and act as a blanket to warm the planet.

However, Mars does not retain enough carbon dioxide that could practically be put back into the atmosphere to warm Mars, according to a new NASA-sponsored study. Transforming the inhospitable Martian environment into a place astronauts could explore without life support is not possible without technology well beyond today’s capabilities.

Read more | >

The latest AI News. Learn about LLMs, Gen AI and get ready for the rollout of AGI. Wes Roth covers the latest happenings in the world of OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, NVIDIA and Open Source AI.

My Links 🔗
➡️ Subscribe: ➡️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/WesRothMoney ➡️ AI Newsletter: https://natural20.beehiiv.com/subscribe #ai #openai #llm.
➡️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/WesRothMoney.
➡️ AI Newsletter: https://natural20.beehiiv.com/subscribe.

#ai #openai #llm

Read more | >

The rapid technological advancements of our world have been enabled by our capacity to design and fabricate ever smaller electronic chips. These underpin computers, mobile phones and every smart device deployed to date.

One of the many challenges is that electronic components generate increasingly more heat as they are miniaturized. A significant issue lies in making the wires which connect the transistors on the chip thinner while ensuring that the minimum amount of heat is released.

These interconnects are typically made from copper, and as we start to scale them down to nano-scale thicknesses, their electrical resistance increases rapidly because the electrons moving along the wires have a higher probability of colliding into the surface of the wire. Known as scattering, this leads to energy being released in the form of waste heat, meaning you need more power to maintain the same level of performance.

Read more | >

In today’s AI news, the OpenAI commercial, developed under new CMO Kate Rouch, deliberately avoids mentioning AGI or superintelligence, which are at the core of OpenAI’s mission. “We want the message to feel relevant to the audience that is watching the Super Bowl, which includes tens of millions of people who have no familiarity with AI,” Rouch said.

S $254-billion software industry by 45% over the next five years, according to a survey by consulting firm EY India. This boost will come through the dual effect of the IT industry integrating elements of GenAI and client projects move from concept to production. + Then, the French government plans Monday to pledge a gigawatt of nuclear power for a new artificial-intelligence computing project expected to cost tens of billions of dollars. France is making a bid to catch up in the artificial intelligence race by leaning on one of its strengths: plentiful nuclear power.

And, Canadian investment firm Brookfield plans to invest €20 billion by 2030 in artificial intelligence projects in France (around $20.7 billion at current exchange rates), according to a report from La Tribune Dimanche confirmed by news agency AFP. The majority of the sum will be used to build AI-focused data centers.

In videos, we join Adrian Locher, Merantix Capital, Wei Li, BlackRock, Scott Sandell, NEA, Rob Heyvaert, Motive Partners, and Guru Chahal, Lightspeed Venture Partners, discussing how to identify the next category-defining opportunities in AI across venture capital, private equity, and beyond?

Is what happens when millions of people get access to a transformational general purpose technology such as artificial intelligence, enabling superpowers that benefit both individuals and society.” + Then, check out the cutting-edge world of “hackbots”—AI agents designed to autonomously hack websites. Joseph Thacker, Principal AI Engineer at AppOmni as well as a security researcher who specializes in application security and AI, discusses the basics of hackbots, the current landscape of the technology, and its potential future implications.

Continue reading “Inside OpenAI’s Million Super Bowl Ad” | >

Make a tax-deductible donation of any amount to help support Closer To Truth continue making content like this: https://shorturl.at/OnyRq.

Can biology be explained entirely in terms of chemistry and then physics? If so, that’s “reductionism.” Or are there “emergent” properties at higher levels of the hierarchy of life that cannot be explained by properties at lower or more basic levels?

Alan C. Love, Ph.D., is a professor in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota. He also serves as director of the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science.

Shop Closer To Truth merchandise for unique items like notebooks, mugs, and sweatshirts: https://bit.ly/3P2ogje.

Continue reading “Alan Love — Philosophy of Reductionism & Emergence” | >

The interaction between cellular senescence and cancer is complex and multifaceted, senescence can both promote and inhibit tumor progression through various mechanisms. M6A methylation modification regulates the aging process of cells and tissues by modulating senescence-related genes. In this review, we comprehensively discuss the characteristics of cellular senescence, the signaling pathways regulating senescence, the biomarkers of senescence, and the mechanisms of anti-senescence drugs. Notably, this review also delves into the complex interactions between senescence and cancer, emphasizing the dual role of the senescent microenvironment in tumor initiation, progression, and treatment. Finally, we thoroughly explore the function and mechanism of m6A methylation modification in cellular senescence, revealing its critical role in regulating gene expression and maintaining cellular homeostasis. In conclusion, this review provides a comprehensive perspective on the molecular mechanisms and biological significance of cellular senescence and offers new insights for the development of anti-senescence strategies.

Cellular senescence is a complex and multifaceted biological process characterized by a stable arrest of the cell cycle in response to various stressors, such as DNA damage, oxidative stress, and oncogene activation (1). Although senescent cells no longer proliferate, they remain metabolically active and exhibit distinct phenotypic changes, including the secretion of pro-inflammatory factors, collectively termed the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) (2, 3). Senescence plays dual roles in physiological and pathological contexts: it is essential for processes like tissue remodeling, wound healing, and tumor suppression, yet its accumulation contributes to aging, chronic inflammation, and the progression of age-related diseases, including cancer and neurodegenerative disorders (4). Understanding the mechanisms underlying cellular senescence is crucial for developing therapeutic strategies to harness its beneficial aspects while mitigating its detrimental effects.

Read more | >

Synaptic vesicles (SVs) store and transport neurotransmitters to the presynaptic active zone for release by exocytosis. After release, SV proteins and excess membrane are recycled via endocytosis, and new SVs can be formed in a clathrin-dependent manner. This process maintains complex molecular composition of SVs through multiple recycling rounds. Previous studies explored the molecular composition of SVs through proteomic analysis and fluorescent microscopy, proposing a model for an average SV. However, the structural heterogeneity and molecular architecture of individual SVs are not well described. Here, we used cryoelectron tomography to visualize molecular details of SVs isolated from mouse brains and inside cultured neurons. We describe several classes of small proteins on the SV surface and long proteinaceous densities inside SVs.

Read more | >