Lifeboat Foundation

Excitons are quasiparticles made from the excited state of electrons and—according to research being carried out EPFL—have the potential to boost the energy efficiency of our everyday devices.

It’s a whole new way of thinking about electronics. Excitons—or quasiparticles formed when electrons absorb light—stand to revolutionize the building blocks of circuits. Scientists at EPFL have been studying their extraordinary properties in order to design more energy-efficient electronic systems, and have now found a way to better control excitons moving in semiconductors. Their findings appear today in Nature Nanotechnology.

Quasiparticles are temporary phenomena resulting from the interaction between two particles within solid matter. Excitons are created when an electron absorbs a photon and moves into a higher energy state, leaving behind a hole in its previous energy state (called a “valence band” in band theory). The electron and electron hole are bound together through attractive forces, and the two together form what is called an exciton. Once the electron falls back into the hole, it emits a photon and the exciton ceases to exist.

The characteristics of a new, iron-containing type of material that is thought to have future applications in nanotechnology and spintronics have been determined at Purdue University.

The native material, a topological insulator, is an unusual type of three-dimensional (3D) system that has the interesting property of not significantly changing its crystal structure when it changes electronic phases—unlike water, for example, which goes from ice to liquid to steam. More important, the material has an electrically conductive surface but a non-conducting (insulating) core.

However, once iron is introduced into the native material, during a process called doping, certain structural rearrangements and magnetic properties appear which have been found with high-performance computational methods.

A spot of sunshine is all it could take to get your washing done, thanks to pioneering nano research into self-cleaning textiles.

Researchers at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, have developed a cheap and efficient new way to grow special nanostructures—which can degrade organic matter when exposed to light—directly onto textiles.

The work paves the way towards nano-enhanced textiles that can spontaneously clean themselves of stains and grime simply by being put under a light bulb or worn out in the sun.

TABLE OF CONTENTS —————
0:00–17:57 : Introduction (Meaning of Life)
17:58–37:45 CHAPTER 1: Longevism and Life Extension
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WHY DOES AGING HAPPEN?
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37:46–54:39 CHAPTER 2 : Gerontonology and Aging a. Free Radical Theory of Aging b. Waste Accumulation Theory of Aging c. Stem Cell Theory of Aging d. DNA Damage Theory of Aging.
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HOW DO WE CURE AGING?
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54:39–1:08:39 : CHAPTER 3 :The Biochemical Solution (#1)
a. mitoSENS
b. oncoSENS
c. lysoSENS
d. amyloSENS
e. apoptoSENS
f. repliSENS
g. glycoSENS
1:08:40–2:13:12 CHAPTER 4 : The Physiological Solution (#2)
a. Parabiosis and Biovampirism b. Regeneration and Stem Cells c. Lab Grown Organs and Bioprinting d. Head Transplants and Doppleganger Bodies.
2:13:12–2:33:19 CHAPTER 5 : The Genetic Solution (#3)
a. TALEN genetic engineering b. Zinc-Finger gene tailoring c. CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing.
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WILL WE CURE AGING GENETICALLY?
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2:33:20–2:49:58 : CHAPTER 6 : Genomics and DNA
2:49:59–3:05:48 : CHAPTER 7 : Transcriptomics and RNA
3:05:49–3:22:08 : CHAPTER 8 : Proteomics and TNA
3:22:09–3:39:38 : CHAPTER 9 : Xenobiology and XNA
a. alien proteins b. alien base pairs c. alien DNA
3:39:39–3:54:58 : CHAPTER 10 : Vectors and Gene Therapy (Gene Editing #1)
3:54:59–4:14:57 : CHAPTER 11 : Synthetic Biology (Gene Editing #2)
4:14:58–4:32:14 : CHAPTER 12 : Chimeras, Rianths, and Splices (Gene Editing #3)
4:32:15–4:48:35 : CHAPTER 13 : Ouroborology and Immortal Chimeras (Gene Editing #4)
4:48:36-:5:03:52 : CHAPTER 14 : Kleptoplasty and Photosynthesis (Gene Editing #5)
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HOW TO SURVIVE UNTIL AGING IS CURED
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5:03:53–5:14:27 : CHAPTER 15 : Survive to the Singularity a. the breakeven point b. longevity escape velocity c. the longevity dividend.
5:14:28–5:30:16 : CHAPTER 16 : Centennarians and Blue Zones (Survival Method #0)
a. loma linda b. ikaria c. sardinia d. okinawa.
5:30:17–5:42:26 : CHAPTER 17 : Risk Aversion and Micromorts (Survival Method #1)
a. micromorts
b.microlives
5:42:27–5:58:18 : CHAPTER 18 : Nutraceuticals and Geroprotectors (Survival Method #2)
a. rapamycin b. metformin c. selegilene d. nicotinamide riboside e. resverratrol.
5:58:19–6:12:51 : CHAPTER 19 : Caloric Restriction (Survival Method #3)
a. endocrine b. epigenetic c. genetic
6:12:52–6:51:57 : CHAPTER 20 : Cryonics & Cryogenics (Survival Method #4)
a. the efficacy question b. the cost question c. the resurrection question d. the identity question e. the legal question f. the catastrophe question g. the culture question.
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CAN WE BE IMMORTAL WITHOUT CURING AGING?
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6:51:58–7:04:08 : CHAPTER 21 : Genetic Immortality — Test Tube Babies
7:04:09–7:24:02 : CHAPTER 22 : Genetic Immortality — Designer Babies
7:24:03–7:41:55 : CHAPTER 23 : Genetic Immortality — Clone Babies
7:41:56–7:53:08 : CHAPTER 24 : Genetic Immortality — Artificial Wombs
7:53:08–7:53:09 CHAPTER 25 : Immortalism and Ethics a. the crime argument b. the natural argument c. the boredom argument d. the inequality argument e. the overpopulation argument f. the gerontocracy argument g. the economic argument h. EPILOGUE

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A British engineer has found a way to filter unwanted cells from blood using magnets — and his tool could be used in clinical trials as soon as next year.

Thanks to existing research, biochemical scientist George Frodsham knew it was possible to force magnetic nanoparticles to bind to specific cells in the body. But while other researchers did so primarily to make those cells show up in images, he wondered whether the same technique might allow doctors to remove unwanted cells from the blood.

“When someone has a tumour you cut it out,” he told The Telegraph. “Blood cancer is a tumour in the blood, so why not just take it out in the same way?”

Deadly conditions like leukaemia, sepsis and malaria could be drawn from the body using magnets, after a British engineer designed a blood filtering system which sieves away disease.

Dr George Frodsham, came up with the idea while studying how magnetic nanoparticles can be made to bind to cells in the body, to allow, for example those cells to show up on scanners.

But he realised that if it was possible to magnetise cells for imaging, it should also be possible to then suck them out of the blood.

AMOLF researchers and their collaborators from the Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC/CUNY) in New York have created a nanostructured surface capable of performing on-the-fly mathematical operations on an input image. This discovery could boost the speed of existing imaging processing techniques and lower energy usage. The work enables ultrafast object detection and augmented reality applications. The researchers publish their results today in the journal Nano Letters.

Image processing is at the core of several rapidly growing technologies, such as augmented reality, autonomous driving and more general object recognition. But how does a computer find and recognize an object? The initial step is to understand where its boundaries are, hence edge detection in an image becomes the starting point for image recognition. Edge detection is typically performed digitally using integrated electronic circuits implying fundamental speed limitations and high energy consumption, or in an analog fashion which requires bulky optics.

Superhydrophobic materials, which are excellent at repelling water, can be extremely useful for a whole range of reasons, both obvious and not-so-obvious. They can prevent ice from building up on surfaces, make electronics waterproof, make ships more efficient or keep people from peeing in public. Now engineers have found a quirky new use for superhydrophobic materials – making “unsinkable” metals that stay floating even when punctured.

Superhydrophobic materials get their water-repelling properties by trapping air in complex surfaces. These air bubbles make it hard for water to stick, so droplets instead bounce or roll right off. But, of course, air also makes things buoyant, so the team set out to test how superhydrophobic materials could be used to make objects that float better.

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