Lifeboat Foundation

The race to find medical treatments for Covid-19—and future pandemics—is on, driving renewed investments by the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries in Real-World Data (RWD) and Real-World Evidence (RWE). A new report on AI and the real-world studies industry, from Deep Pharma Intelligence (DPI), Evomics Medical and The Yuan (an online forum focused on AI in healthcare, for which I am a contributor), provides fresh insights into this rapidly evolving patient-centric approach to increasing R&D efficiency, accelerating the introduction of new drugs, and improving health outcomes. Full Story:

Qualcomm kicked off its annual Snapdragon Technology Summit with its new premium smartphone SoC dubbed the Snapdragon Series 8 Gen 1. As expected, the new SoC improves performance and efficiency in every aspect of the chip, but enhancements in AI and image processing are especially important for the next generation of premium smartphones.

The new Series 8 Gen 1 SoC follows the previous Snapdragon 888 generation as Qualcomm’s premium smartphone SoC. And yes, there is a new naming convention with this generation. Rather than continuing to count up until the company runs out of numbers for new products, Qualcomm changed the naming convention to that basic series number (Series, 8, 7, 6, and 4) followed by a generational number, similar to what the company began doing with its Snapdragon 8CX SoCs for PCs. Since this is the first generation of smartphone SoCs to use the new nomenclature, the new family of devices will be “Gen 1”. For now, however, the company only announced the premium chip — the Series 8 Gen 1.

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Mexican biologist Ingrid Fetter-Pruneda is studying the longevity and fertility in ants in the hope of helping to develop strategies to avoid, slow down or reverse female reproductive aging in other animals or in humans.

Fetter-Pruneda, an Assistant Professor at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), says most animals show a trade-off between longevity and fertility, but one of the most striking features of ants is that the queens are simultaneously very long lived and very fertile, while the workers are short lived and sterile.

“I am trying to figure out the cellular and molecular mechanisms that allow queens to remain fertile throughout their relatively long lives,” Fetter-Pruneda says, “Many molecular pathways are conserved across many species, and new discoveries in ants could help direct research in other organisms.”

In October, world leaders came together for the annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), the regulatory body that governs the waters around Antarctica. Yet CCAMLR failed to establish vital protections for Antarctica’s Southern Ocean once again despite resounding international support for the Commission to take sweeping conservation actions.

CCAMLR was first established in 1982 in response to growing commercial interest in Antarctica’s ocean resources, particularly krill. Since then, CCAMLR has passed many conservation measures to protect Antarctica, including measures that established the South Orkney Islands and Ross Sea marine protected areas (MPAs) in 2009 and 2016, respectively. But in recent years, CCAMLR has failed to establish additional MPAs despite the Commission’s formal commitment to establish a network of MPAs around the continent over a decade ago. Today, only about 5% of Antarctica’s Southern Ocean is protected.

What about S-500 makes it so fearsome for stealth fighter jets?

The F-35 is one of the most advanced flying machines ever developed by human beings. Sleek, stealthy, but very expensive, it should dominate the skies for many years to come.

But, has it met its match with the development of the new Russian S-500 surface-to-air missile defense system? Let’s take a look.

Continue reading “Russia’s S-500 Defense System Is Ready To Launch. Is It the Ultimate F-35 Killer?” »

Circa 2019

Researchers of Sechenov University and University of Pittsburgh described the most promising strategies in applying genetic engineering for studying and treating Parkinson’s disease. This method can help evaluate the role of various cellular processes in pathology progression, develop new drugs and therapies, and estimate their efficacy using animal disease models. The study was published in Free Radical Biology and Medicine.

Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder accompanied by a wide array of motor and cognitive impairments. It develops mostly among elderly people (after the age of 55–60). Parkinson’s symptoms usually begin gradually and get worse over time. As the disease progresses, people may have difficulty controlling their movements, walking and talking and, more importantly, taking care of themselves. Although there is no cure for Parkinson’s disease, medicines, surgical treatment, and other therapies can often relieve some symptoms.

Continue reading “Scientists listed ways of applying genetic engineering to treat Parkinson’s disease” »

During a keynote address today at its re: Invent 2021 conference, Amazon announced SageMaker Canvas, which enables users to create machine learning models without having to write any code. Using SageMaker Canvas, Amazon Web Services (AWS) customers can run a machine learning workflow with a point-and-click user interface to generate predictions and publish the results.

Low-and no-code platforms allow developers and non-developers alike to create software through visual dashboards instead of traditional programming. Adoption is on the rise, with a recent OutSystems report showing that 41% of organizations were using a low-or no-code tool in 2019/2020, up from 34% in 2018/2019.

“Now, business users and analysts can use Canvas to generate highly accurate predictions using an intuitive, easy-to-use interface,” AWS CEO Adam Selipsky said onstage. “Canvas uses terminology and visualizations already familiar to [users] and complements the data analysis tools that [people are] already using.”

Claims to offer higher resolutions, better image quality, and full auto-focus — for just $18 while crowdfunding and $25 after.

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Kaleidoscope Presents: We Are Stars.

Continue reading “We Are Stars with Andy Serkis — 360 VR Video” »