Lifeboat Foundation

The relentless evolution of the coronavirus, which has spawned new variants to fuel fresh surges of disease every four to six months, could in the not-distant future propel the virus to overtake measles as the most contagious of all known infections.

Increasing infectiousness does not necessarily make the virus deadlier, but it could make it harder to control, and leave communities vulnerable to the repeated waves of illness that have defined the pandemic.

The variants now dominating around the world may be five to 10 times more infectious than the original virus that sparked the pandemic in China in late 2019, health experts believe. Lately each variant has outpaced its parent — omicron, with its massive evolutionary jump, was about three times more infectious than delta. Its subvariants — BA.2 and BA.2.12.1, which are driving the latest surge in the Bay Area — are each more infectious still, by 20% to 30%.

Massachusetts health officials on Wednesday confirmed a single case of monkeypox virus infection in an adult male who health officials said recently traveled to Canada.

The Department of Public Health said monkeypox is a rare but potentially serious viral illness that typically begins with flu-like symptoms and swelling of the lymph nodes. It progresses to a rash on the face and body, with most infections lasting two to four weeks.

Len RosenFalcon 9 has been a spectacular success for SpaceX. The purpose of the Falcon Heavy is likely to be superseded by Starship which likely means the Heavy will be discontinued sooner than later.

Eric KlienAuthor.

Len Rosen Actually, Starship will rapidly grab all of the Falcon 9 payloads, except for humans which will be much slower to transition. In fact, it looks like the first orbital Starship launch will try to launch some Starlink satellites.

Continue reading “U.S. health officials say a third of people live in areas with so much virus they should consider masks indoors” »

The findings could have implications for long-duration space missions.

The researchers found that the total PVS volume of novice astronauts increased after their trips to space. The PVS of experienced astronauts, by contrast, did not show this growth — in fact, their total PVS volume actually decreased. This may indicate that their brains “reached some kind of homeostasis,” Piantino said in a statement. In other words, their brains may have adjusted more to microgravity after previous spaceflight.

In fact, the researchers found that the total PVS volume of experienced astronauts before their current flight tended to be higher, and that this baseline volume correlated with previous amount of time spent in space. Though neither of these trends were statistically significant, meaning they could have happened by chance, they fit with previous research suggesting that changes in the brains of astronauts depend on the total time spent in space and the frequency of space missions.

Continue reading “New astronauts have changes in their brains after their first long-duration mission” »

Slow processing… but good for display devices, interacting with other systems, bio-sensors/health monitoring, etc.

In this video I explain Organic Flexible CPUs and Organic Transistors. What is the-state-of-the-art of Organic Electronics? If this technology can replace Silicon Chips or not?
#CPU #OrganicCPU #FlexibleCPU

Continue reading “Organic Transistors Explained. Printing CPUs at Home. What is Smart Skin” »

Summary: Mouse study reveals exercise increases dopamine signaling in motor areas of the brain. The findings may explain why exercise eases symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

Source: SfN

Exercise increases dopamine signaling in the motor areas of mice, according to research recently published in Journal of Neuroscience.

In the not-too-distant future, many of us may routinely use 3D headsets to interact in the metaverse with virtual iterations of companies, friends, and life-like company assistants. These may include Lily from AT&T, Flo from Progressive, Jake from State Farm, and the Swami from CarShield. We’ll also be interacting with new friends like Nestlé‘s Cookie Coach, Ruth, the World Health Organization’s Digital Health worker Florence, and many others.

Creating digital characters for virtual reality apps and in ecommerce is a fast-rising new segment of IT. San Francisco-based Soul Machines, a company that is rooted in both the animation and artificial intelligence (AI) sectors, is jumping at the opportunity to create animated digital avatars to bolster interactions in the metaverse. Customers are much more likely to buy something when a familiar face — digital or human — is involved.

Investors, understandably, are hot on the idea. This week, the 6-year-old company revealed an infusion of series B financing ($70 million) led by new investor SoftBank Vision Fund 2, bringing the company’s total funding to $135 million to date.

The latest COVID-19 variant – dubbed BA.2.12.1 – has been linked to 43% of total coronavirus cases in the U.S., a jump from 7% in April.

And, as more data about the variant becomes known, a pattern in early symptoms is emerging. BA.2.12.1 is a descendant of the BA.2 virus, a subvariant of the omicron strain of COVID. It has the ability transmit easier than its predecessors and expect it to become the dominant strain of COVID-19 within a few weeks.

Like previous COVID omicron strains, BA.2.12.1 often presents with upper respiratory symptoms that can appear like the flu. Experts said BA.2.12.1 is triggering mild breakthrough cases in vaccinated individuals with people feeling like they are suffering from a cold or seasonal allergies.

The individuals live together but are not linked to the case announced on 7 May, health agency says.