Lifeboat Foundation

To investigate this, the research group launched experiment to try to bind a kaon to a nucleus. To do the experiment, the researchers decided to use a helium-3 target—a nucleus made up of two protons and a single neutron. By knocking out a neutron from the helium-3 target they were able to greatly reduce the energy of the kaon by using the recoil from the ejection and replacing the neutron with a kaon, forming a tightly bound nucleus with two protons and a single kaon.

“What is important about this research,” says Masahiko Iwasaki, the leader of the team, “is that we have shown that mesons can exist in nuclear matter as a real particle—like sugar that is not dissolved in water. This opens up a whole new way to look at and understand nuclei. Understanding such exotic nuclei will give us insights into the origin of the mass of nuclei, as well as to how matter forms in the core of neutron stars. We intend to continue experiments with heavier nuclei to further our understanding of the binding behavior of kaons.”

Both genes and the environment shape a person’s risk of disease, but while genes are frequently cataloged, perturbed, activated, turned off and systematically tested in the lab, environmental exposures are often studied as one-offs. Now Harvard Medical School investigators at Brigham and Women’s Hospital have developed an approach to systematically and simultaneously evaluate the effects of hundreds of environmental factors on the development of neurological diseases.

Through a series of investigations, the team has identified environmental factors that boost neurological inflammation, including an herbicide used in the United States but currently banned in Europe. Details of the team’s approach and findings are published Jan. 17 in Cell.

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From Reese Witherspoon to Jeff Bezos, those who are super successful in their chosen domain accept this truth.

Life-producing elements came to Earth from another planet — study.

The elemental building-blocks of life arrived on Earth when it collided with a “Mars-sized planet” 4.4 billion years ago – an impact that also created the Moon, a new study has found.

Carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and other volatile elements integral to life were transferred to Earth’s outer layers through collision with a slightly smaller planet rich in these elements at the beginning of its existence. This impact produced the moon and, eventually, gave rise to carbon-based life, according to a new model of Earth’s development devised by petrologists at Rice University.

Continue reading “Planetary collision that created Moon also seeded Earth with life-producing elements – study” »

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ProCas9 is an “extra layer of security” that limits CRISPR’s editing skills to only a subset of cells to ensure accurate cutting.

In the future, industrial robots may create jobs, boost productivity and spur higher wages. But one thing seems more certain for now: They’re vulnerable to hackers.

Factories, hospitals and other big robot users often lack sufficient levels of defense against a digital attack, according to cybersecurity experts, robot manufacturers and engineering researchers. The risk levels are rising as more robots morph from being offline and isolated to being internet-connected machines, often working alongside humans.

5G promises to make factories a lot smarter. And that means they’ll be a lot more vulnerable.

Continue reading “For Industrial Robots, Hacking Risks Are On the Rise” »

Nature nurture part… One of the better talks I’ve heard so far though lately on the subject. Might even give the book a try. More enjoyable and informative for me than Robert Plomin’s exploits lately, though they are kind of in agreement in some regards.