Lifeboat Foundation

Despite the fact that sex is a basic instinct and a near-universal experience, we know remarkably little about it. And so, this week, we’re teaming up with our friends at Futurism, oracles of all things science, technology and medicine, to look at the past, present and future of pleasure from a completely scientific perspective.

For a while now, the neurotransmitter dopamine has been seen as the conductor of good feelings. It’s the subject of love songs, the seductress of biohackers and the ostensible “pleasure chemical.” But as research continues to uncover more about our brain’s reward system, dopamine is beginning to look less like the maestro and more like a member of the band.

Buoyed by research that says inhabiting someone else’s body can change how you perceive your own, researchers have started to investigate the vast, erotic potential of virtual sex.

Despite the fact that sex is a basic instinct and a near-universal experience, we know remarkably little about it. And so, this week, we’re teaming up with our friends at Futurism, oracles of all things science, technology and medicine, to look at the past, present and future of pleasure from a completely scientific perspective.

Continue reading “The Brave New World of Erotic VR Body-Swapping” »

It’s not easy being green.

Prostate cancer growth is driven by male sex hormones called androgens. And so, lowering levels of these hormones can help slow the growth of cancer.

Hormone therapy has been successful in keeping metastatic, or advanced prostate cancer, under control. Patients with metastatic prostate cancer often receive treatment with anti-hormonal therapy, which inhibits the signal sent out by testosterone that stimulates tumor growth.

But eventually, the tumor cells could become resistant to it. An international team of researchers led by the Netherlands Cancer Institute has now unveiled an “unexpected potential” solution, not designed to fight cancer but to target proteins that regulate a cell’s circadian rhythm.

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Continue reading “Albumin: What’s Optimal For Youth And Health? (2022 Update)” »

From the engine in your car to the components in your laptop, mechanical systems tend to heat up when they’re working harder. Now new research has revealed that the same can be said of the brain – and it runs hotter than was previously thought.

Some parts of the deep brain can get up to 40 °C (104 °F), a new study shows, though this varies by sex, time of day, and various other factors. Compare that with the average oral temperature in human bodies, which is typically under 37 °C (98.6 °F).

This isn’t a sign of malfunctioning though, researchers think, and may actually be evidence that the brain is operating healthily. Unusual heat signatures could potentially be used in the future to look for signs of brain damage or disorder.

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Continue reading “Bile Acids: The Next Frontier In Longevity?” »

In celebration of Pride Month, Inara, one of our moderators, is fundraising to pay for her transition surgery. I donated.

Gender dysphoria is the term used to describe a sense of discomfort or distress that a person may experience because of a mismatch between their gender identity and their sex assigned at birth. Methods of relieving gender dysphoria include transitioning socially (pronoun usage, name change, etc.) and physically (surgery).

I have medical insurance but it does not cover trans healthcare. Yes, we are still fighting for trans rights! I need allies willing to take action on my behalf.

Electric organs help electric fish, such as the electric eel, do all sorts of amazing things: They send and receive signals that are akin to bird songs, helping them to recognize other electric fish by species, sex and even individual. A new study in Science Advances explains how small genetic changes enabled electric fish to evolve electric organs. The finding might also help scientists pinpoint the genetic mutations behind some human diseases.

Evolution took advantage of a quirk of fish genetics to develop electric organs. All fish have duplicate versions of the same gene that produces tiny muscle motors, called sodium channels. To evolve electric organs, electric fish turned off one duplicate of the sodium channel gene in muscles and turned it on in other cells. The tiny motors that typically make muscles contract were repurposed to generate electric signals, and voila! A new organ with some astonishing capabilities was born.

“This is exciting because we can see how a small change in the gene can completely change where it’s expressed,” said Harold Zakon, professor of neuroscience and integrative biology at The University of Texas at Austin and corresponding author of the study.