Lifeboat Foundation

Historically, colonialism was initially predicated on a simple “rob and take home” concept. During the first colonialist age, the superpowers of that era (primarily England and France) used to send their agents overseas to obtain precious goods at very low prices, and to bring those goods back to their home countries, selling them at very high prices (today, such practices are far from being obsolete!). Such policies were often socially detrimental, especially when they boosted the use of drugs (e.g., stimulating opium dependence in several Chinese provinces). In many cases, colonialist policies lead to conflicts and wars (in order to ensure control over certain regions). In most cases, nothing positive remained for the colonized populations, since the colonialist behaviors primarily engaged populations with a culture based on robbery and exploitation – not to advance civil rights. Regarding the “new world” (America’s two continents), colonialists have also invaded these territories, stealing the land and natural resources from native inhabitants, and exterminating these inhabitants by any means. During the last age of colonialism (up to the 20th Century), the practice of depredation continued, in many cases retarding or preventing the development of colonized countries, notwithstanding the abundance of natural riches, from which native peoples could never benefit.

Ok, I am listening now to your classical objections. I, for one, have noted this several times while discussing space colonization: in the solar system there are no native intelligent beings, therefore we would not steal anything from anyone, by colonizing territories on the Moon, Mars, Jupiter Moons and beyond. Of course, I am talking about the very essential part of colonialism: to take resources and bring them home. In our cases, to take asteroid and exo-planetary resources from the Moon, asteroids, Mars and beyond, and bring them on Earth surface – why would this be harmful?

Space colonialism would be both a dangerous and harmful undertaking for several reasons.

Is the Executive Director of the Innovative Genomics Institute (https://innovativegenomics.org/people/brad-ringeisen/), an organization founded by Nobel Prize winner Dr. Jennifer Doudna, on the University of California, Berkeley campus, whose mission is to bridge revolutionary gene editing tool development to affordable and accessible solutions in human health and climate.

Dr. Ringeisen is a physical chemist with a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from Wake Forest University, a pioneer in the field of live cell printing, and an experienced administrator of scientific research and product development.

Continue reading “Dr. Brad Ringeisen, Ph.D. — Executive Director, Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI)” »

As we age, our bodies change and degenerate over time in a process called senescence. Stem cells, which have the unique ability to change into other cell types, also experience senescence, which presents an issue when trying to maintain cell cultures for therapeutic use. The biomolecules produced by these cell cultures are important for various medicines and treatments, but once the cells enter a senescent state they stop producing them, and worse, they instead produce biomolecules antagonistic to these therapeutics.

While there are methods to remove older cells in a culture, the capture rate is low. Instead of removing older cells, preventing the cells from entering senescence in the first place is a better strategy, according to Ryan Miller, a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Hyunjoon Kong (M-CELS leader/EIRH/RBTE), a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering.

“We work with mesenchymal stem cells, that are derived from fat tissue, and produce biomolecules that are essential for therapeutics, so we want to keep the cell cultures healthy. In a clinical setting, the ideal way to prevent senescence would be to condition the environment that these stem cells are in, to control the oxidative state,” said Miller. “With antioxidants, you can pull them the cells out of this senescent state and make them behave like a healthy stem cell.”

ChatGPT isn’t the only tool available though. Google is working with medicine and so is IBM and I believe, Microsoft though they use ChatGPT. So far, I’m liking the responses more from Bard on many questions so I am hoping Google keeps up the good work. But whoever stays ahead in AI, I hope it helps humanity. BTW, ask Bard and Bing AI how it they will help humanity. They have different but somewhat similar answers now. At first Bing was on the fence on if it would help humanity when the Singularity arrived but Bard was firm in saying it would help us. So yes, I have more faith in Bard than ChatGPT. I am a little biased though. I’m a Pixel Super Fan and own a Pixel 6 and have owned several Google products/services. Anyway, what are your thoughts in AI and medicine? I think we should be cautious because it can be manipulated by hackers more easily, like chat bots were, but at the same time there’s great potential to benefit humanity.

Andrew Beam, deputy editor of a new journal on AI and co-host of a podcast on the topic, discusses both the potential and challenges of the powerful tool.

Elon Musk / Twitter.

Ship 25, the Starship upper stage prototype that will attempt to fly to orbit during the fully-integrated Starship launch system’s second test flight, performed the static fire test on Monday, June 26 at 8:27 pm EDT.

Some AI things from Microsoft. One is New skills for a new way of working.

AI offers tremendous potential to empower workers around the world—but only if everyone, everywhere has the skills to use it.

Check out the AI initiative.

Continue reading “AI Skills Initiative CSR” »

After using the Whisker Litter-Robot 4, I will never return to a regular litter box. The insight it gives me into Norbert’s overall health and the daily cleaning makes it completely worth it. Just be patient with the setup process and with your cat learning a new routine. Norbert’s opinion also upholds the new litter box since he was able to transition pretty seamlessly and gets to have a clean litter box every single time.

Also: This army robot dog is part of a bigger battle for brain-machine interface tech

The Whisker Litter-Robot 4 is no doubt expensive, but the company also offers the previous generation Litter-Robot 3 for a bit cheaper at $549. It’s definitely an investment, but this is a type of automated technology I can get behind.

If you want to do some internet browsing via ChatGPT on mobile, now you can. Check out how.

Most of the world’s population either chronically suffers from plaque and dental cavities or will develop them at some point in their lives. Toothpastes, mouthwashes, and regular checkups do their part, but more can always be done. Now, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev scientists and their colleagues at Sichuan University and the National University of Singapore have discovered that 3,3′-Diindolylmethane (DIM), a naturally occurring molecule also known as bisindole, reduces by 90% the biofilms that produce plaque and cavities. The molecule is also found to have anti-carcinogenic properties.

Their findings were published earlier this month in the journal Antibiotics.

Your mouth is a great reservoir for bacteria such as S. mutans, which is believed to be one of the primary actors in dental cavities. After you eat, S. mutans grows in the moist and sugary atmosphere of your mouth in a biofilm that coats your teeth. Biofilm generates plaque, attacks enamel and causes cavities. The scientists found that the bisindole (DIM) disrupted that biofilm by 90% and therefore the bacterium was not given a chance to grow.