Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: biological

Is AI the Next Evolution of Our Minds?

What if the future of intelligence isn’t human? In this video, we explore Hans Moravec’s prophetic vision about Artificial Intelligence from his breakthrough book, Mind Children—a world where conscious, superintelligent AIs don’t just outthink us, but carry our legacy forward. Instead of fearing them, should we embrace them as the next phase of mind? If consciousness is our greatest gift, maybe our most important mission is to make sure it survives—even if that means passing the torch to our digital descendants.

0:00 Intro.
1:46 The Inevitability of Smarter, Conscious Machines.
4:45 Beyond Biology: The Short-Sightedness of Flesh-Centric Thinking.
6:09 AI Consciousness: A Lifeboat for the Mind.
8:07 Toward a Conscious Future.
9:02 Outro

Bio-hybrid robots turn food waste into functional machines

EPFL scientists have integrated discarded crustacean shells into robotic devices, leveraging the strength and flexibility of natural materials for robotic applications.

Although many roboticists today turn to nature to inspire their designs, even bioinspired robots are usually fabricated from non-biological materials like metal, plastic and composites. But a new experimental robotic manipulator from the Computational Robot Design and Fabrication Lab (CREATE Lab) in EPFL’s School of Engineering turns this trend on its head: its main feature is a pair of langoustine abdomen exoskeletons.

Although it may look unusual, CREATE Lab head Josie Hughes explains that combining biological elements with synthetic components holds significant potential not only to enhance robotics, but also to support sustainable technology systems.

What If You Could Have a Real-Life Tamagotchi but with Bacteria?

The Tamagotchi craze started during the 1990s, with the original electronic toys. Years before our smartphone obsession, Tamagotchis were pixelated pets you carried around, often on a keychain. You had tiny rubber buttons and a miniature screen to feed, clean, and take care of your Tamagotchi. If you failed, you returned to a tiny digital tombstone.

In recent years, Tamagotchis have made an unlikely comeback. But now, a team of students at Northeastern University want to build something much more real.

SquidKid looks like a whimsical cartoon squid, but it’s actually a “bioreactor,” essentially a biological life support system. Inside it, floating in a special “broth”, are millions of real, living, glowing bacteria. The students who designed it are blunt.

Embryos show specialized asymmetry at the earliest stage

As nearly one in six couples experience fertility issues, in-vitro fertilization (IVF) is an increasingly common form of reproductive technology. However, there are still many unanswered scientific questions about the basic biology of embryos, including the factors determining their viability, that, if resolved, could ultimately improve IVF’s success rate.

A new study from Caltech examines mouse embryos when they are composed of just two cells, right after undergoing their very first cellular division. This research is the first to show that these two cells differ significantly—with each having distinct levels of certain proteins.

Importantly, the research reveals that the cell that retains the site of sperm entry after division will ultimately make up the majority of the developing body, while the other largely contributes to the placenta. While the studies were done in mouse models, they provide critical direction for understanding how human embryos develop. Indeed, the researchers also assessed human embryos immediately after their first cellular division and found that these two cells are likewise profoundly different.

Chance discovery converts toxic nitric oxide into nitrogen gas at room temperature

Nitrogen is a crucial component of proteins and nucleic acids, the fundamental building blocks of all living things, and thus is essential to life on Earth. Gaseous N2 from the atmosphere can be fixed by soil bacteria capable of converting N2 to ammonia or nitrates (NO3).

Nitrifying bacteria in the soil then convert ammonia into NO3, which plants utilize for growth. Animals that consume plants put the N2 back into the soil in the form of ammonia when they die or excrete waste.

The NO3 in the soil is converted back into N2 and released into the atmosphere by the activity of denitrifying microbes in the soil. This native nitrogen cycle regulates the N2 levels in the atmosphere and on Earth and is vital for sustaining life.

Quantum Algorithm Solves Metabolic Modeling Test

A Japanese research team from Keio University demonstrated that a quantum algorithm can solve a core metabolic-modeling problem, marking one of the earliest applications of quantum computing to a biological system. The study shows quantum methods can map how cells use energy and resources.

Flux balance analysis is a method widely used in systems biology to estimate how a cell moves material through metabolic pathways. It treats the cell as a network of reactions constrained by mass balance laws, finding reaction rates that maximize biological objectives like growth or ATP production.

No. The demonstration ran on a simulator rather than physical hardware, though the model followed the structure of quantum machines expected in the first wave of fault-tolerant systems. The simulation used only six qubits.

Moss spores survive 9 months outside International Space Station

Mosses thrive in the most extreme environments on Earth, from the peaks of the Himalayas to the sands of Death Valley, the Antarctic tundra to the lava fields of active volcanoes. Inspired by moss’s resilience, researchers sent moss sporophytes—reproductive structures that encase spores—to the most extreme environment yet: space.

Their results, published in the journal iScience on November 20, show that more than 80% of the spores survived nine months outside of the International Space Station (ISS) and made it back to Earth still capable of reproducing, demonstrating for the first time that an early land plant can survive long-term exposure to the elements of space.

“Most living organisms, including humans, cannot survive even briefly in the vacuum of space,” says lead author Tomomichi Fujita of Hokkaido University. “However, the moss spores retained their vitality after nine months of direct exposure. This provides striking evidence that the life that has evolved on Earth possesses, at the cellular level, intrinsic mechanisms to endure the conditions of space.”

/* */