Lifeboat Foundation

What’s got the body of a piglet and cells from a monkey? This pig-monkey chimera.

In terms of biological ageing, the body seems to shift gears three times during our lifespans, new research suggests – with 34 years, 60 years and 78 years the key thresholds.

In other words, we now have evidence that ageing isn’t one long, continuous process that moves at the same speed throughout our lives.

The findings might help us understand more about how our bodies start to break down as we get older, and how specific age-related diseases – including Alzheimer’s or cardiovascular disease – could be better tackled.

Recently world-renowned theoretical physicist, Doctor Michio Kaku, sat down for an interview with world-renowned artificial intelligence Doctor Ray Kurzweil, to talk about The Singularity; who is at the forefront of artificial intelligence and robotics.

The two geniuses talked about how soon computer intelligence will soon surpass us and the possible outcomes of this.

A team led by an Indian-origin scientist, Hariom Yadav, has identified a dead probiotic that can reduce age-related leaky gut and control harmful, ageing-related inflammation. Leaky gut, in which microbes and bacteria in the gut leak into the blood stream, causes an increase in low-grade inflammation, and these conditions are common in older people.

O.o.

Quantum teleportation has only ever been performed with qubits, which have two dimensions. Now it’s been done with a 3D qutrit for the first time.

The Star Trek Blueprints (or Booklet of General Plans) are a detailed “Complete Set of 12 Authentic Blueprints” (sized 9-by-30 inches) of the USS Constitution (NCC-1700), a ship of the same class as the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701). (The cover claims the blueprints are “of the Fabulous Starship Enterprise”.)

These could definitely exist and their fuel is everywhere.

The dark-matter engines are engines created by Professor Farnsworth for the Planet Express ship. Fueled by dark matter, the engines allow the ship to travel vast distances very quickly by moving the universe around the ship (rather than the ship around the universe). The Professor also has an emergency engine, though he may have pawned it. As of Bender’s Game these have been converted to use whale oil.

Quantum field theory doesn’t get much coverage in popular science and if you open any textbook on the subject you’ll see why. It looks like an unholy crossbreed between quantum physics in a bad mood and every button you never push on a calculator. The idea of summarising it in 1,500 words or less for this article sounded daunting at first (it took a whole chapter to cover it in my recent book) but then again if I really did have to present it to a jury of aliens I wouldn’t have a choice.

Therefore, your honour, I request that you give me five minutes of your intergalactic attention. My presentation may not feature Jason Statham roundhouse kicking a shark in the eyeball, but I am going to try and justify the continued existence of the human race. Here goes…

Continue reading “Quantum field theory: ‘An unholy crossbreed between quantum physics in a bad mood and every button you never push on a calculator’” »

The numbers are in, and Woodstock’s September cyber attack is set to cost the city more than $667,000, even though the city didn’t pay, and never reached out, to the hackers behind the ransomware.

It seems like a big number – roughly nine times what nearby Stratford paid as a ransom after a spring cyber attack – but experts say it’s a short-term hit for a long-term gain in cyber security.

While difficult to compare the Woodstock and Stratford attacks – no two cities conduct cyber security the same way – Woodstock’s costs are in line with what residents should expect, one cyber-sector expert said.