Lifeboat Foundation

Protein in squid teeth could hold the solution for self-healing materials.

A way of shrinking the devices used in quantum sensing systems has been developed by researchers at the UK Quantum Technology Hub Sensors and Timing, which is led by the University of Birmingham.

Sensing devices have a huge number of industrial uses, from carrying out ground surveys to monitoring volcanoes. Scientists working on ways to improve the capabilities of these sensors are now using quantum technologies, based on cold atoms, to improve their sensitivity.

Machines developed in laboratories using quantum technology, however, are cumbersome and difficult to transport, making current designs unsuitable for most industrial uses.

Scientists have revived 100-million-year-old microbes, giving us another glimpse at what life was like far in the past.

United Launch Alliance teams have started the countdown for launch of an Atlas 5 rocket Thursday from pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. The two-hour launch window opens at 7:50 a.m. EDT (1150 GMT).

LIVE COVERAGE: https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/07/28/atlas-5-av-088-mission-status-center/

Researchers Figure Out How To Genetically Alter Squid : Shots — Health News Scientists have modified the genes of a squid, and genetically-altered octopuses could be coming soon.

Summary: Researchers successfully applied a gene therapy platform to completely correct brain defects in a large animal model of a human genetic disease.

Source: University of Pennsylvania

A lone genetic mutation can cause a life-changing disorder with effects on multiple body systems. Lysosomal storage diseases, for example, of which there are dozens, arise due to single mutations that affect production of critical enzymes required to metabolize large molecules in cells. These disorders affect multiple organs including, notably, the brain, causing intellectual disability of varying degrees.

Researchers in Boston have designed a sleep wearable called Dormio to explore how to improve creativity in our sleep.

According to the University of Minnesota trial data supports dexamethasone over Hydroxychloroquine:

Data from a large randomized controlled trial in the United Kingdom showing a benefit from use of the steroid dexamethasone in hospitalized COVID-19 patients was released today in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), while two more studies show no benefit for the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine.

The NEJM data, which were originally reported in a press release in mid-June by the chief investigators of the RECOVERY (Randomized Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy) trial after an interim analysis, show that in patients needing mechanical ventilation, dexamethasone reduced deaths by 36% compared with usual care. In patients receiving oxygen, the incidence of death was 18% lower for patients on dexamethasone.

Continue reading “Trial data support dexamethasone, but not hydroxychloroquine, for COVID-19” »

To learn more about the science behind a dog’s ability to find its way home, researchers tracked the 27 hunting dogs representing 10 breeds as they roamed the woods.