Lifeboat Foundation

Technically, an animal could use RNA editing to change the nature of its proteins without completely altering the underlying DNA instructions. This makes the cephalopods’ ability to do it a very interesting phenomenon, but it’s unclear as to why the species requires this much RNA editing. Many of the edited proteins were found in the animals’ brains, which is why scientists think the editing and their brainpower could be linked.

More than any other species on earth, octopuses are particularly smart—they can solve puzzles, use tools, and communicate using color. Now scientists are saying they’re also capable of editing their RNA.

A team of scientists led by Joshua Rosenthal at the Marine Biological Laboratory and Noa Liscovitch-Braur and Eli Eisenberg at Tel Aviv University have discovered that octopuses and squid are capable of a type of genetic alteration called RNA editing. The process is rare among other species, leading scientists to believe that the cephalopods have evolved to follow a special kind of gene recoding.

Continue reading “These Species Can Recode Their Own Genetics” »

Some weird religious stories w/ transhumanism Expect the conflict between religion and transhumanism to get worse, as closed-minded conservative viewpoints get challenged by radical science and a future with no need for an afterlife: http://barbwire.com/2017/04/06/cybernetic-messiah-transhuman…elligence/ & http://www.livebytheword.blog/google-directors-push-for-comp…s-explain/ & http://ctktexas.com/pastoral-backstory-march-30th-2017/

By J. Davila Ashcroft

The recent film Ghost in the Shell is a science fiction tale about a young girl (known as Major) used as an experiment in a Transhumanist/Artificial Intelligence experiment, turning her into a weapon. At first, she complies, thinking the company behind the experiment saved her life after her family died. The truth is, however, that the company took her forcefully while she was a runaway. Major finds out that this company has done the same to others as well, and this knowledge causes her to turn on the company. Throughout the story the viewer is confronted with the existential questions behind such an experiment as Major struggles with the trauma of not feeling things like the warmth of human skin, and the sensations of touch and taste, and feels less than human, though she is told many times she is better than human. While this is obviously a science fiction story, what might comes as a surprise to some is that the subject matter of the film is not just fiction. Transhumanism and Artificial Intelligence on the level of the things explored in this film are all too real, and seem to be only a few years around the corner.

Continue reading “The Cybernetic Messiah: Transhumanism and Artificial Intelligence” »

Keeping up with the demand for meat worldwide could one day ruin the planet. But teams of scientists are hard at work growing animal-free burgers, chicken, turkey, and fish that are sustainable, healthy, and, some say, pretty delicious.

A group of German scientists have discovered a way to use sperm in fighting cancer.

What if doctors could monitor patients at home with the same degree of accuracy they’d get during a stay at the hospital? Bioelectronics innovator Todd Coleman shares his quest to develop wearable, flexible electronic health monitoring patches that promise to revolutionize healthcare and make medicine less invasive.

Could costumed robots one day roam the streets of Walt Disney World?

A new patent application from Disney (DIS) suggests it’s something the company has considered.

The document says Disney is developing robots, including “humanoid robots,” that have been “adapted for soft contact and/or interaction with a human.”

Continue reading “Disney seeks patent for a ‘humanoid robot’ that can play a character” »

The spikes also have a big effect on wholesale energy prices, which dipped to zero or even to negative territory this spring during certain hours in California, the EIA said.

The extraordinary success of solar power in some pockets of the world that combine sunshine with high investment in the technology mean that governments and energy companies are having radically to rethink the way they manage—and charge for—electricity.

California is one such a place.

Continue reading “California is getting so much power from solar that wholesale electricity prices are turning negative” »

Carriers of the mutation are essentially playing catch-up for their entire lives.

Any night owls reading this will be familiar with the struggle of constantly trying to fit into a morning person’s world. And now researchers say they’ve finally identified the genetic typo that causes this social jetlag.

A new study has revealed that many people who stay up late and struggle to wake up in the morning aren’t lazy, their internal clock is simply genetically programmed to run between 2 and 2.5 hours slower than the rest of the population, thanks to a mutation in a body clock gene called CRY1.

Continue reading “Scientists Have Pinpointed the Annoying Genetic Mutation That Turns Us Into Night Owls” »

The next billion dollar industry will not be a service or product – it will be upgrading humans, an expert has revealed.

It has been suggested that humans will have access to technology that will allow them to ‘upgrade themselves into gods’.

Bestselling author Yuval Noah Harari has also warned that because not everyone will be able to experience the upgrade, due to costs, there will be a divide that could spark ‘old racist ideologies’ — but this time, differences will be ‘engineered and manufactured’.

Continue reading “Upgrading humans into GODS will be the next ‘billion dollar industry’” »