Lifeboat Foundation

Gene therapy has traditionally been applied to well-understood diseases where a single genetic mutation was to blame. A new generation of technology is expanding the potential of gene therapy to treat conditions that were previously unreachable. Since the first gene therapy clinical trials in the 1990s, the technology has made its way into the market for conditions ranging from blindness to cancer. Gene therapy has the potential to fix any genetic mutation causing disease by inserting a new copy of the faulty gene. However, its reach has historically been limited. We’ve been constrained with the things we.

But Manichean views and tropes of ‘dual use’ miss the point. Some of the key questions that confront science today are about whether its methods, practices and ethos, pursued with very little real change since Maxwell’s day, are fit for purpose in the light of the challenges — conceptual and practical — we now face. Can science continue to fulfil its social contract and to reach new horizons by advancing on the same footing into the future? Or does something need to shift?

Research cannot fulfil its social contract and reach new horizons by advancing on the same footing into the future, argues Philip Ball in the last essay of a series on how the past 150 years have shaped today’s science system, to mark Nature’s anniversary.

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Eat well for a long and healthy life – that’s a mantra that we’re all familiar with, but what are the best foods to help us achieve that goal? In this article, we give you an overview of some of the most healthful and nutritious foods.

Official figures indicate that, currently, the top three countries in the world with the highest life expectancy are the Principality of Monaco, Japan, and Singapore. These are places where the inhabitants experience a high quality of life, and an important element of that is eating healthful meals.

Continue reading “What are the best foods to fight aging?” »

This smart waste bin uses AI to sort your recyclable trash automatically.

Malware on our smartphones isn’t new, and while there are ways to remove them, in some instances where it is particularly severe, the only way to deal with malware would be to factory reset your phone back to the way it was when it was new. Unfortunately, it seems that there is a new Android malware making its rounds that makes it impossible to remove, even with a factory reset.

Dubbed xHelper, this malware isn’t so much about stealing your phone’s information or sensitive details, but rather, it is designed to continuously serve up popup ads, in which presumably that is how its creators are making money off it. There is one particularly dangerous feature of the malware, which according to ZDNet, would see the malware download and install apps on your behalf.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, as we said, the malware cannot be uninstalled or removed even if you factory reset your phone. According to security companies like Symantec and Malwarebytes, they believe that the reason why this app is so persistent is because of a system app that might have been compromised.

French inventor figures out how to turn plastic waste into fuel.

Traditional crutches just got a major redesign.

ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) — It may sound like science fiction, but in a few short years the family dinner table may be laden with steak from a printer and other proteins produced from air, methane or volcanic microbes.

With the explosive success of vegan beef and burger substitutes developed by Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, the alternative protein sector just keeps growing.

According to investment bank Barclays, alternative meat sales could reach $140 billion — or 10% of the global meat industry — within a decade, or a 10-fold increase from current levels.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk went into a bit more detail about the timelines and vehicle requirements to not only reach Mars, but to set up a sustainable base on the Red Planet that can serve as an actual city, supporting a local population. That’s the long-term vision for Musk and his space technology company, after all — making humans an interplanetary species. The timeline that Musk discussed today, replying to fans on Twitter, might be incredibly impressive or incredibly ambitious, depending on your perspective.

Addressing a question about comments he made earlier this week at the U.S. Air Force startup pitch day event in California, Musk said that his stated launch cost of only around $2 million per Starship flight are essentially required, should the final goal be to set up a “self-sustaining city on Mars.” In order to make that city a reality, he added, SpaceX will need to build and fly around 1,000 Starships according to his estimates, which will need to transport cargo, infrastructure and crew to Mars over the course of around 20 years, since planetary alignment only really allows for a realistically achievable Mars flight once every two years.

Musk addressed more near-term potential for Starship as well, including how much payload capacity Starship will provide for Earth orbital transportation. Starship’s design is intended to maximize re-use, and in fact Musk noted that ideally it can fly up to three times per day. That amounts to more than 1,000 flights per year per Starship, which means that if they end up with as many Starships as they currently have built Falcon rockets (around 100) and those can each transport as much as 100 tons to orbit, then on an annual basis, SpaceX will be able to launch upwards of 10 million tons to orbit per year.