Lifeboat Foundation

Who are we? Where did we come from? How did we get here? Throughout the ages, humans have sought answers to these questions, pursuing wisdom through religion, philosophy, and eventually science. Evolutionary analyses published by Genome Biology and Evolution (GBE) allow us to peer into the mirror and better understand ourselves as a species, bringing us closer than ever to uncovering the answers to these long-held questions. GBE’s latest virtual issue on human genetics highlights some of the most exciting research published in the journal within the last year and a half, demonstrating the wide variety of evolutionary approaches to this avenue of research as well as a number of fascinating insights into our own biology.

Taking over a decade to complete, the original Human Genome Project cost nearly $3 billion and involved the collective effort of hundreds of scientists. Since then, advances in sequencing technology have resulted in an explosion in human genetics and genomics research, with an estimated one million human genomes sequenced to date. While this wealth of data has the potential to answer some of our most fundamental questions, unlocking its mysteries has necessitated the invention of new analytic and computational methods and the integration of techniques and ideas from diverse biological sciences, including physiology, anatomy, medicine, population genetics, bioinformatics, and computational, molecular, and evolutionary biology.

A key area of investigation involves identifying ways in which humans differ from other primates—in other words, what makes us human? Several studies published over the last 18 months suggest that part of the answer may be found in transcriptional regulation and changes in gene expression. Edsall et al. (2019) evaluated differences in chromatin accessibility, which impacts access of the transcriptional machinery to the DNA, across five primates including humans. They found high levels of differentiation across species, as well as classes of sites that differed based on selection, genomic location, and cell type specificity. More specifically, Swain-Lenz et al. (2019) found that differences in chromatin accessibility near genes involved in lipid metabolism may provide a mechanistic explanation for the higher levels of body fat observed in humans compared to other primates. Arakawa et al.

Interesting technology looking to revolutionize both medical imaging and brain computer interfacing.

Han from WrySci HX explains the amazing Openwater system, which could rival Neuralink in the Brain Machine Interface space. More below ↓↓↓

Continue reading “Neuralink’s Biggest Rival You Haven’t Heard Of: Openwater” »

A new D-Theory of Time, or Digital Presentism, is predicated on reversible quantum computing at large, including the notion of ‘Anti-Time’ around which the present article revolves. If you think Anti-Time is nothing but fiction, and doesn’t apply to our reality, think again. As Dr. Antonin Tuynman writes in his Foreword to The Physics of Time: D-Theory of Time & Temporal Mechanics by Alex M. Vikoulov: “Whereas quantum physics and relativity theory have been solidly in place for over a century now, stubbornly and forcedly we still cling to atavistic interpretations, which are no longer in line with the well-established findings of our experiments in physics. Amidst the turmoil of this spinning convoluted dreamtime of our digital Cyberbardo, Vikoulov carves out a trajectory for understanding.”

#AntiTime #PhysicsofTime #DTheoryofTime #DigitalPresentism #TemporalMechanics

Many temporal concepts are undoubtedly extremely counterintuitive. Time directionality and time symmetry are especially notorious ones. Any of the possible pasts may have led to the present “digital” conscious instant. This is a strange idea if you are accustomed to looking at the world in a strictly linear, deterministic way, but it reflects the uncertain world described by quantum mechanics. A major counterargument to the multitude of pasts could be a combinatorial explosion of observer ‘anti-time’-lines, i.e., digital timelines extending in the opposite temporal direction from the present temporal singularity to the Alpha Point (Digital Big Bang). So, how in the quantum multiverse are those digital anti-timelines supposed to converge once again at the Alpha Point?

Continue reading “Anti-Time: A Twin of Time?” »

An exclusive look into programming on Honeywell’s new quantum computers.

This cloud-based quantum computing service includes verification and is now available to members of the IBM Q Network.

IBM and Cambridge Quantum Computing have built a random number generator that uses quantum computing with verification and plan to offer the new capability as a cloud service.

IBM and CQC announced the news Thursday at the final day of the IBM Q Summit. CQC developed the application, which generates true maximal randomness, or entropy.

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“Hyperdegeneracy” could be used in quantum computing.

Microscopic oil droplets held aloft with optical tweezers can contain more than 200 resonant optical modes of similar energies, creating “hyperdegeneracy” for the first time. That is the claim of researchers in Israel, Spain and the US, who say that their breakthrough could ultimately find application in high-speed optical communications, sensing, quantum data processing and even the creation of dynamic optical circuits.

When optical materials with a high refractive index are formed into certain symmetrical shapes — such as rings, cylinders or spheres —light can be repeatedly reflected around the inside of the material, much in the same way that sound waves pass around the inside edge of St Paul’s Cathedral’s famous “whispering gallery”. The circulating light undergoes constructive interference, forming discrete resonant modes – or so-called degenerate states – with similar energies.

Continue reading “Floating oil droplet contains hundreds of degenerate optical modes” »

Circa 2015 one day a whole skin computer could be not just a computer in skin but actually made from skin.

Forget click wheels, computer mice, and touch screens, we can now control our cell phones with our forearms.

Continue reading “Skin made of silicon can now control cell phones” »

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This stunning image captured last year by physicists at the University of Glasgow in Scotland is the first-ever photo of quantum entanglement — a phenomenon so strange, physicist Albert Einstein famously described it as ‘spooky action at a distance’.

It might not look like much, but just stop and think about it for a second: this fuzzy grey image was the first time we’d seen the particle interaction that underpins the strange science of quantum mechanics and forms the basis of quantum computing.

Continue reading “Looking Back on The First-Ever Photo of Quantum Entanglement” »

Does the enormous computing power of neurons mean consciousness can be explained within a purely neurobiological framework, or is there scope for quantum computation in the brain?