Lifeboat Foundation

This paper presents a “hybrid” approach to direct drive inertial confinement fusion that can exploit a high-energy gas laser with two opposed beams. The target and driver are asymmetric, much like experiments performed on the National Ignition Facility, but have been designed to benefit from scale and their particular compatibility with a fusion power plant. The imploded masses (and areal densities) are increased by a factor of 12 relative to findings by Abu-Shawareb et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 75,001 (2022)] and provide a path to high-gain implosions that robustly ignite. The design also mitigates common concerns such as laser imprint and cross-beam energy transfer. We discuss the rationales for a hybrid target, the methods used to control implosion symmetry, and the implication(s) for inertial fusion energy.

A plan to use millions of smartphones to map out real-time variations in Earth’s ionosphere has been tested by researchers in the US. Developed by Brian Williams and colleagues at Google Research in California, the system could improve the accuracy of global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs) such as GPS and provide new insights into the ionosphere.

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A GNSS uses a network of satellites to broadcast radio signals to ground-based receivers. Each receiver calculates its position based on the arrival times of signals from several satellites. These signals first pass through Earth’s ionosphere, which is a layer of weakly-ionized plasma about 50–1500 km above Earth’s surface. As a GNSS signal travels through the ionosphere, it interacts with free electrons and this slows down the signals slightly – an effect that depends on the frequency of the signal.

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Scientists reveal gut transit time and pH as key drivers of microbiome and metabolic individuality, paving the way for personalized dietary strategies.

Surprisingly, the complex signaling system predated the idea of a simple stop sign by nearly 30 years.

Has human evolution come to a standstill? Advances in technology and medicine have radically changed the way we live, but could they be changing the course of our genetic future? The surprising truth behind how modern progress may be changing our biology — and what it means for our survival.

Junk DNA may not be so ‘junky’ after all – these regions may hide genetic material coding for tiny proteins involved in disease processes like cancer and immunology.

Our records of the human genome may still be missing tens of thousands of ‘dark’ genes. These hard-to-detect sequences of genetic material can code for tiny proteins, some involved in disease processes like cancer and immunology, a global consortium of researchers has confirmed.

They may explain why past estimates of our genome’s size were way larger than what the Human Genome Project discovered 20 years ago.

Continue reading “‘Dark Genes’ Hiding Unseen in Human DNA Have Just Been Revealed” »

In a recent study published in The Lancet Diabetes Endocrinology, researchers evaluate the effects of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists on kidney and cardiovascular outcomes.

Improving kidney and cardiovascular outcomes

Non-communicable diseases account for nearly 70% of global deaths, with diabetes and chronic kidney disease (CKD) among the top causes.

The manipulation of mechanical strain in materials, also known as strain engineering, has allowed engineers to advance electronics over the past decades, for instance enhancing the mobility of charge carriers in devices. Over the past few years, some studies have tried to devise effective strategies to manipulate strain in two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors that are compatible with existing industrial processes.

Researchers at Stanford University recently introduced a CMOS-compatible approach to engineer the tensile strain (i.e., stretchiness) in monolayer semiconductor transistors.

This approach, outlined in a paper published in Nature Electronics, relies on the use of silicon nitride capping layers that can impart strain on monolayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) transistors integrated on silicon substrates.

A research team affiliated with UNIST has unveiled an ultra-strong adhesive patch platform that adheres effectively to rough skin surfaces and shows remarkable motion adaptiveness during dynamic body movements, all while offering irritation-free removal on demand. The key to this technology lies in the surface adaptability inspired by barnacles and armadillo carapaces, which feature a tessellated structure that balances rigidity and flexibility.

The team, led by Professor Hoon Eui Jeong from the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Professor Jae Joon Kim from the Department of Electrical Engineering at UNIST, along with researchers from the National Institute of Ecology (NIE), has introduced a highly adhesive, detachable, and stretchable skin patch, known as the Motion Adaptive Tessellation Patch.

This innovative technology is garnering attention for its potential to facilitate the commercialization of wearable electronic devices, such as health care monitoring systems and transdermal drug delivery systems. The research is published in the journal Advanced Materials.