Lifeboat Foundation

Some interesting new information on how humans use energy and why exercise is not necessarily useful for losing weight (though it can help prevent gaining weight in the first place and of course is good for health).

I’m still curious why I accidentally lost about 30 pounds without intending to while I was eating probably twice as much as normal when I spent three months at the South Pole (2007−08). Did the cold increase my brown fat and my metabolism? Did it have something to do with unpolluted air and water? Was it a difference in the food, most of which was from New Zealand? Was it the high altitude (equivalent to about 10,500 feet at the equator)? Did the roughly 30 pounds of extra clothing I wore every day somehow trigger weight loss to “maintain” my previous weight? Something else?

As this example shows, there is still a great deal we can learn about these questions which are crucial to maintaining human health.

Continue reading “This scientist busts myths about how humans burn calories—and why” »

The robot takeover starts at the drive thru as fast food rapidly turns to automation.

Before the pandemic started (ah, those glorious days…) a collective panic was mounting over automation and robots gradually replacing workers in various fields, or “stealing our jobs,” as the common refrain went. These worries haven’t subsided two years later, but they’re being countered by severe and largely unexpected labor shortages across multiple sectors of the economy. One of the industries that’s struggling most is restaurants. While we may still encounter automation-related unemployment problems down the road, right now it seems robots are lending a much-needed hand in food service.

One of these robots is none other than Flippy, initially debuted in 2017 to flip burgers at a California fast food chain. Since then Miso Robotics, Flippy’s maker, has expanded the bot’s capabilities, creating a version that can cook chicken wings, fries, and other greasy delights. This week also brought a significant expansion to Flippy’s presence as White Castle announced plans to install the robot at more than 100 restaurants this year.

Continue reading “Flippy the Fast Food Robot Just Got Hired in 100 Restaurants” »

Scientists have uncovered a set of neurons in fruit flies that shut down in cold temperatures and slow reproduction, a system conserved in many insects, including mosquitoes, which could provide a target for pest control.

Their study, published Feb. 16 in the journal Current Biology, takes a step toward understanding how a fly’s brain contributes to sensing the cold and limiting reproduction. Insects and animals, including many mammals, curb reproduction in the winter to protect their newborns from being exposed to harsh winter conditions.

The study has public health and agricultural implications, as tapping into environmentally-dependent mechanisms that influence reproduction in mosquitoes and crop pests may offer new control strategies. Mosquitoes act as reservoirs for the malaria-causing Plasmodium falciparum parasite, which spend the winter inside them.

With marine debris a growing concern, innovators are getting creative — designing autonomous boats that act as on-the-water trash-eating machines.

The latest development comes from the Danish company RanMarine Technology. They’ve created an aquadrone called WasteShark that sucks up waste from the water much like a Roomba — consuming up to 200 liters of garbage in a single ride.

Boeing 737 sized aircraft can “ski” on water.

China is set to test the latest prototype of its amphibious aircraft, the AG600, that will increase its maritime coverage to the entire South China Sea. The previous iterations of the aircraft have conducted separate trials on the land and sea in 2017 and 2020 respectively, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.

Continue reading “China to test the latest version of the world’s largest amphibious aircraft” »

Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk donated more than 5 million Tesla shares in November, days after the U.N. World Food Program outlined a plan to potentially use a $6 billion donation from the world’s richest man.

A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission made public Monday showed the donation, but not the recipient. The Tesla TSLA, +4.48% shares were transferred in batches between Nov. 19 and Nov. 29, as Musk was also selling Tesla stock in preparation for a large tax bill.

Biotechnology is a rapidly growing industry with lots of exciting innovations! So, I created this list as a resource to help people learn about and keep track of key biotechnology companies.

PDF version: List of Biotechnology Companies to Watch

I created this list to serve as a resource to help people learn about and keep track of key biotechnology companies. Some of these are emerging startups, some are established giants, and some provide useful services. Though this list is far from comprehensive, I have tried to cover as many of the key players as possible. In the next iteration of this list, I would especially like to add more agricultural biotechnology companies. It is also important to realize that this landscape is constantly changing, so some of the information on this list will eventually transition into antiquity (this current version was written over the course of 2021 and early 2022). I think many people will find my compilation both interesting and useful. I hope you enjoy delving into the exciting world of biotechnology!

Continue reading “List of Biotechnology Companies to Watch” »

US poultry producers are tightening safety measures for their flocks as disease experts warn that wild birds are likely spreading a highly lethal form of avian flu across the country.

Indiana on Wednesday reported highly pathogenic bird flu on a commercial turkey farm, leading China, South Korea and Mexico to ban poultry imports from the state. The outbreak put the US industry on edge at a time that labor shortages are fueling food inflation.

The disease is already widespread in Europe and affecting Africa, Asia and Canada, but the outbreak in Indiana, which is on a migratory bird pathway, particularly rattled U.S. producers. A devastating US bird-flu outbreak in 2015 killed nearly 50 million birds, mostly turkeys and egg-laying chickens in the Midwest.