Lifeboat Foundation

Really?

Ethiopia has announced its intention to launch its first satellite during 2019. According to the Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute (ESSTI) at the Addis Ababa University, the satellite is expected to be launched from China during September 2019.

The initial plans to launch the satellite were announced in 2016 at the same time the Ethiopian Council of Ministers approved the establishment of ESSTI.

Continue reading “Ethiopia to launch its first-ever satellite with China’s help” »

Everything you need to know about how to watch #MarsLanding with NASA and the Times Square Alliance #RewriteTomorrow

WATCH: The countdown begins as the Mars Insight Lander is set to touch down today. This will be NASA’s first attempt at landing on Mars since the Curiosity Rover in 2012.

What would it take to become an interstellar civilization?

Professor Michelle Simmons’ team at UNSW Sydney has demonstrated a compact sensor for accessing information stored in the electrons of individual atoms—a breakthrough that brings us one step closer to scalable quantum computing in silicon.

Not sure if this is real or still vaporware yet. But it IS inevitable. It’s not a matter of “if”, but “when”. And we’re most likely not going to be able to regulate it much, either. If an embryo or fetus is not a human, then parents have the right to do anything they want to it. You might think that this is going to result in eugenics, like erasing melanin genes and starting a race against the fictitious “white genocide”. You’re right. But if you think that’s as bad as it’ll get, think more creatively. What happens when poor parents get paid to implant “willing servility” genes into their unborn children, in order to pay bills. The future is now. Cyborgs will not destroy humanity, but humanity itself might. What kinds of rights can be written into law to prevent this kind of extortion, that won’t also grant fetal personhood and end up derailing abortion rights? It’s going to be a bumpy ride, folks, buckle up!

A Chinese researcher claims he helped make the world’s first genetically edited babies — twin girls born this month, and with DNA he says he altered with a powerful new tool capable of rewriting the very blueprint of life.

If true, it would be a profound leap of science and ethics.

Continue reading “Many scientists denounce researcher claiming 1st gene-edited babies born in China” »

All brain cells ‘air-kiss’ before they come together to form a final synaptic relationship, new research by University of Kent scientists has revealed.

The breakthrough study reveals that molecular signaling within the brain operates in a very different way to previously thought, with cells now found to use the same pair of molecules for both distant and close contacts.

The research, by a team led by Professor Yuri Ushkaryov of the University’s Medway School of Pharmacy, may lead to a much better understanding of how neurons send messages to distant parts of the brain or other organs in the body, such as muscle cells.

Today, we want to highlight a study that shows the link between atherosclerosis and the age-related shrinking of the thymus, which is arguably the most important organ of the immune system [1].

The adaptive and innate immune systems and atherosclerosis

The thymus is essentially like an army base where new T cells develop and are trained to become the soldiers of the adaptive immune system. However, as we age, the thymus shrinks, its ability to train new T cells declines, and the immune cell-producing tissue turns to fat and slowly wastes away; this process is known as thymic involution.

Innovation has real costs—monetary, psychological, intellectual and effort-based—that need to be addressed or mitigated if you want people to actually innovate.

There’s an archetype in media that destruction and upheaval brings out the best ideas and creates jobs. In literature and in society, upheaval, necessity and desperation are portrayed as the prime motivators of innovative behaviour. The problem is that outside of soap operas and medical dramas, people usually have something to lose.