Lifeboat Foundation

Plant biologists have long sought a deeper understanding of foundational processes involving kinases, enzymes that catalyze key biological activities in proteins. Analyzing the processes underlying kinases in plants takes on greater urgency in today’s environment increasingly altered by climate warming.

Certain “SnRK2” kinases (sucrose-non-fermenting-1-related protein kinase-2s) are essential since they are known to be activated in response to drought conditions, triggering the protective closure of small pores on leaf surfaces known as stoma. These pores allow carbon dioxide to enter leaves, but plants also lose more than 90 percent of their water by evaporation through them. Pore opening and closing functions help optimize growth and drought tolerance in response to changes in the environment.

Now, plant biologists at the University of California San Diego have developed a new nanosensor that allows researchers to monitor SnRK2 protein kinase activity in live plant cells. The SnRK2 activity sensor, or “SNACS,” is described in the journal eLife.

Predictive biology is the next great chapter in synthetic and systems biology, particularly for microorganisms. Tasks that once seemed infeasible are increasingly being realized such as designing and implementing intricate synthetic gene circuits that perform complex sensing and actuation functions, and assembling multi-species bacterial communities with specific, predefined compositions. These achievements have been made possible by the integration of diverse expertise across biology, physics and engineering, resulting in an emerging, quantitative understanding of biological design. As ever-expanding multi-omic data sets become available, their potential utility in transforming theory into practice remains firmly rooted in the underlying quantitative principles that govern biological systems. In this Review, we discuss key areas of predictive biology that are of growing interest to microbiology, the challenges associated with the innate complexity of microorganisms and the value of quantitative methods in making microbiology more predictable.

There aren’t many computer chips that you have to build a life support system for.

But when you’re combining actual living brain cells with inorganic silicon chips, you can’t feed them just electricity. You actually need to supply everything they would normally get in a fully biological body.

Why bother?

Like biological brains, artificial neural networks may depend on slow-wave sleep for learning.

Just as a literature buff might explore a novel for recurring themes, physicists and mathematicians search for repeating structures present throughout nature.

For example, a certain geometrical structure of knots, which scientists call a Hopfion, manifests itself in unexpected corners of the universe, ranging from particle physics, to biology, to cosmology. Like the Fibonacci spiral and the golden ratio, the Hopfion pattern unites different scientific fields, and deeper understanding of its structure and influence will help scientists to develop transformative technologies.

Continue reading “Novel insight reveals topological tangle in unexpected corner of the universe” »

Circa 2019 o.o

There are enormous methods such as physical, chemical, and biological, for the synthesis of metallic nanoparticles (MNPs), which has become a matter of focus among material scientists. Green chemistry-based MNP synthesis is an area, which has gained much importance presently due to their non-toxicity and monodispersed nanoparticle preparation methodologies. Among green synthesis methods, plants are considered as efficient candidates for nanoparticle synthesis. The meticulous formation of different sizes and shapes of the nanoparticles using plants has spurred encouraging interest. The rate kinetics and stability of nanoparticle synthesis are well studied as well as appreciated in the arena of materials. Their capability to sequester metal ions and fastidiously define the dimensions using a plethora of capping proteins such as glutathione and phytochelatins is intriguing giving it a monodispersed size. This review is a comprehensive understanding of the metal nanoparticles synthesized by plants and apprehends the mechanism of nanoparticle synthesis exhaustively.

The company’s series B funding round was led by inventors at Andreessen Horowitz and includes new investor Casdin Capital.

Dr. Michael R. Rose is Professor at Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at University Of California, Irvine. His main area of work has been the evolution of aging.
“Our task is to make nature, the blind force of nature, into an instrument of universal resuscitation and to become a union of immortal beings.“
- Nikolai F. Fedorov

We hold faith in the technologies & discoveries of humanity to END AGING and Defeat involuntary Death within our lifetime.

Continue reading “Dr. Michael R. Rose presents ‘Biological Immortality is REAL’” »

Transhumanism is a form of “Humanism” (atheism or naturalism). The word and concept was coined by Julian Huxley back in the day. I was a student of A.J. Ayer who suceeded Huxley as head of British Humanism. https://humanism.org.uk/humanism/the-humanist-tradition/20th…an-huxley/ We must nowadays include “Christian Transhumanism” and tolerate all religions and superstitions (however daft), without right to criticise such “Holy” sanctified cows. And so the posthuman goddesses and gods 😉 have decreed it is a good idea to make MVT, FM-2030 and post/ “humanist” ideas available tor current religious self-IDers, I have kicked things off with Posthuman Buddhism https://www.facebook.com/groups/posthumanbuddhism/ and Posthuman Christianity https://www.facebook.com/groups/2164360640528843/

Perhaps we can update and reform such bastions of anachronism and conventionalism with the light of (actual, not gospel) truth?

Julian Huxley was the grandson of T H Huxley (staunch supporter of Charles Darwin and creator of the term “agnostic”). He continued his grandfather’s valuable work – in 1927, he joined H G Wells and his son in producing a comprehensive book called The Science of Life, which helped to spread a general understanding of evolution and to promote Biology in the school curriculum. He believed that the study of evolution could help us to understand our own nature and behaviour. He was a professor at King’s College, London, and a pioneer in the study of animal behaviour (ethology) and conservation.

Continue reading “Sir Julian Huxley” »