Lifeboat Foundation

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The 2020 Nobel Prize for Chemistry was awarded to Dr. Jennifer Doudna and Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier for their work on the gene editing technique known as CRISPR-Cas9. This gives us the ability to change the DNA of any living thing, from plants and animals to humans.

The applications are enormous, from improving farming to curing diseases. A decade or so from now, CRISPR will no doubt be taught in High Schools, and be a basic building block of medicine and agriculture. It is going to change everything.

Continue reading “Throw Forward Thursday: CRISPR” »

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2017.10.

Nishiyama et al. “Virus-Mediated Genome Editing via Homology-Directed Repair in Mitotic and Postmitotic Cells in Mammalian Brain.” Neuron (2017). doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2017.10.

Continue reading “Making CRISPR-Cas9 work in the brain” »

Researchers have for the first time characterised the molecular mechanism of the early stages of programmed cell death or apoptosis, a process which plays a crucial role in the prevention of cancer.

The study, published today (2 June) in Science Advances, was led by Dr Luke Clifton at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) ISIS Neutron and Muon Source (ISIS) in Oxfordshire. They worked alongside partners at the University of Umea and European Spallation Source in Sweden.

It is the most recent in a series of research collaborations by this team, investigating the cellular proteins responsible for apoptosis.

Yup that’s right a Tesla Affordable Home.

Known for turning a sofa in the Boca Chica SpaceX office into his bed, Elon Musk, The World’s Richest Man, took it to another level when he announced Tesla’s $10,000 sustainable unboxable moveable home. If you are remotely familiar with the Tesla CEO, you wouldn’t be surprised that he is building a sustainable home. So, how did Elon go from overhauling the tech space to completely disrupting the real estate industry?Well, it all started with this tweet from 2020. At the height of the pandemic, Elon Musk made this insane announcement.

Retired naval officer Joseph Dituri has spent more than three months living inside a 100sqft pod in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.

His time spent below the waves was part of a study group to research the effects of a pressurised environment on the human body.

Sucralose, a widely used artificial sweetener, produces a DNA

DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is a molecule composed of two long strands of nucleotides that coil around each other to form a double helix. It is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms that carries genetic instructions for development, functioning, growth, and reproduction. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (where it is called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA).

This study provides a new perspective on the relationship between the visual environment and cognitive performance, based on the results of path analysis (Supplementary Fig. 5). Regarding reading on a paper medium, moderate cognitive load may generate sighs (or deep breaths) and appears to restore respiratory variability and control of prefrontal brain activity. In contrast, reading on smartphones may require sustained task attention³⁴, and acute cognitive load may inhibit the generation of sighs, causing overactivity in the prefrontal cortex. Sighing has been found to be associated with various cognitive functions^13,27,28, and may reset respiratory variability^36,37. This reset may also be associated with improved executive functions¹⁴.

The current study has several limitations. First, our experiment did not entail any measurement of subjective cognitive load. Based on the differences in the number of sighs and brain activity between reading on smartphones and paper media, it is highly likely that there might have been a difference in cognitive load as well. In future, it is necessary to assess cognitive load indices and examine the relationship between breathing and brain activity. Second, we did not control the movements when turning pages or pointing movements to maintain the focus of attention on the text. These bodily movements may have had some influence on the present index. In the future, such physical limitations should be taken into consideration.

The results of this study suggest that reduced reading comprehension on smartphone devices may be caused by reduced sighing and overactivity of the prefrontal cortex, although the effect on electronic devices other than smartphones has yet to be confirmed. Recent reports indicate that the use of smartphones and other electronic devices has been increasing due to pandemic-related lockdowns, and there are indications that this is negatively influencing sleep and physical activity^38,39. The relationships among visual environment, respiration/brain activities, and cognitive performance detected in this study may indicate one of the negative effects of electronic device use on the human body. If the negative effects of smartphones are true, it may be beneficial to take deep breaths while reading since sighs, whether voluntary or involuntary, regulate disordered breathing³⁶.

A group of scientists has discovered new laws governing the flow of fluids by conducting experiments on an ancient technology: the drinking straw. This newfound understanding has the potential to enhance fluid management in medical and engineering contexts.

“We found that sipping through a straw defies all the previously known laws for the resistance or friction of flow through a pipe or tube,” explains Leif Ristroph, an associate professor at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and an author of the study, which appears in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics. “This motivated us to search for a new law that could work for any type of fluid moving at any rate through a pipe of any size.”

The movement of liquids and gases through conduits such as pipes, tubes, and ducts is a common phenomenon in both natural and industrial contexts, including in scenarios like the circulation of blood or the transportation of oil through pipelines.