Lifeboat Foundation

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem announced on Sunday that they have developed a new method of testing for COVID-19 which is not only 4–10 times faster than the tests most commonly used today, but also significantly cheaper, while supplying the same level of accuracy. Moreover, most of the materials required to perform the new test are already available in Israel, easing significantly both the country’s dire shortage of testing materials and its heavy economic dependence on foreign commercial markets. The method was developed in the labs of Prof. Nir Friedman of the Institute of Life Sciences and the School of Engineering and Computer Sciences and Dr. Naomi Haviv of Hebrew University’s Neuroscience Research Center, and is based on materials which are not affected by global shortages and can be recycled for repeated used on future tests. The method commonly used today for COVID-19 testing involves extracting RNA molecules from a patient’s sample to determine if the molecules produced have viral RNA within them, which confirms the presence of the coronavirus. The new test developed by the researchers performs the same action, but is made from more commonly attainable materials, that produce results at a much higher speed. Dr. Naomi Haviv said that “We have an efficient RNA extraction method, 4–10 times faster than the current method. It is based on magnetic beads and can be performed both robotically and manually.”

Other than the magnetic beads, all of the other materials needed to perform the tests are available for purchase in Israel. The beads themselves are recyclable and can be reused to perform future tests. “The robotic method has already undergone a series of tests at Hadassah Hospital, using hundreds of samples from patients — and is now becoming operational.”

Continue reading “Israeli researchers at Hebrew U develop faster, cheaper COVID-19 test” »

The Airspeeder vehicle, which weighs about 550 pounds, uses a battery pack that can be swapped out during the race. The packs are expected to last for about 15 minutes. Four 32-horsepower electric motors propel the cars to a top speed of about 125 miles per hour. The vehicle tears through the air between about 15 and 130 feet off the ground.

Matt Pearson, founder of Alauda and the Airspeeder series, said:

Continue reading “Get ready for all-electric flying car races, they’re coming” »

Talk of a universal basic income (UBI), or regular cash payments with minimal or no requirements for receiving the money, has been brought to the forefront as social distancing and economic concerns have put millions of people out of work.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic Pope Francis says it might be time for some sort of universal basic income.

“This may be the time to consider a universal basic wage” to “acknowledge and dignify the noble, essential tasks” and to “achieve the ideal … of no worker without rights,” Pope Francis said in a letter to the World Meeting of Popular Movements, an organization representing global grassroots organizations, published on Sunday via the Vatican.

Continue reading “Pope Francis: ‘This may be the time to consider a universal basic wage’” »

In an Easter letter to world leaders, Pope Francis opined that “this may be the time to consider a universal basic wage which would acknowledge and dignify the noble, essential tasks you carry out.”

“It would ensure and concretely achieve the ideal, at once so human and so Christian, of no worker without rights,” the Pope argued.

In the letter, Francis argued that many workers, including “street vendors, recyclers, carnies, small farmers, construction workers, dressmakers, the different kinds of caregivers” were being “excluded from the benefits of globalization,” while “the lockdowns are becoming unbearable.”

The digital court could open up commercial opportunities to those who cannot access traditional legal services. Image CC-0.

In a move to save time, money and effort, economics researchers utilized existing blockchain methodologies to create what they call a digital court. This would provide enforcement of contracts wherever a traditional legal court would currently settle disputes. Examples of areas which could make use of this would be auctions, business contracts and sales. As it is based on existing technology, it could be implemented right now.

Blockchain technology has great potential to impact many areas of life, commerce in particular. Put simply it is a way to ensure that information can be recorded in such a way that it cannot be manipulated afterwards. Blockchain is what is known as a distributed ledger, that is, there is no central authority, it is peer-to-peer, and its most famous application at this time is the online currency bitcoin. However, people find other uses for it.

The precious metal has been torn between its potential as a haven investment and a mad scramble to sell the tangible asset in a bid for cash to cover losses in the stock market.

“The Covid-19 outbreak has had a major impact on the gold market, bringing massive price swings as investors react to new developments related to the pandemic,” says Steven Dunn, head of exchange-traded funds at Aberdeen Standard Investments.

“Because of Covid-19, refiners were knocked offline…and the ability to move gold became a challenge as normal means of transport became almost impossible,” he says.

As China begins to reopen its factories and return back to work, what they are returning to will not be the same…

Despite China being the worlds economic darling for the last 40 years, the balance of the worlds economic power has begun to shift to some places that you might not expect.

Continue reading “There’s A Crisis That Is Quietly Creating New Economic Superpowers…” »

Venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya stunned CNBC anchor Scott Wapner and generated widespread applause on social media by declaring in a television interview Thursday that the U.S. government should let hedge funds and billionaire CEOs “get wiped out” by the coronavirus-induced economic collapse and instead focus its attention on rescuing Main Street.

When Wapner, seemingly incredulous at what he was hearing, asked Palihapitiya why he would support the collapse of large companies, the Social Capital CEO said “this is a lie that’s been purported by Wall Street.”

Continue reading “Venture Capitalist Stuns CNBC” »

As part of its economic stimulus package, Japan has earmarked $2.2 billion to help its manufacturers shift production out of China. The Japanese government’s panel on future investment had last month discussed the need for manufacturing of high-added value products to be shifted back to Japan, and for production of other goods to be diversified across Southeast Asia.