Lifeboat Foundation

The harvesting of our personal details goes far beyond what many of us could imagine. So I braced myself and had a look.

HONG KONG (Reuters) — Researchers at a Hong Kong university say they have developed an antiviral coating which could provide 90 days of “significant” protection against bacteria and viruses such as the one causing COVID-19.

The coating, called MAP-1, took 10 years to develop and can be sprayed on surfaces that are frequently used by the public, such as elevator buttons and handrails, researchers at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) say.

“These places are frequently touched, and, at the same time, serve as a very effective medium for transmission of diseases,” said HKUST Adjunct Professor Joseph Kwan, one of the chief researchers in the team that developed the product.

The DRC was on the verge of declaring an end to the epidemic on Monday 13 April.

But a new case was declared by the authorities on Friday 10 April.

In total, the Ebola haemorrhagic fever epidemic has killed 2,279 people in 3,461 cases (3,316 confirmed and 145 probable) since it was officially declared on 1 August 2018.

Circa 2019

The Chinese claim the design will have impressive performance, but similar aircraft in the past have had trouble just getting off the ground.

Continue reading “China Reveals Exotic Flying Saucer-Shaped ‘Armed Helicopter’ Concept (Updated)” »

Ngrave has launched what it claims is the first cryptocurrency wallet boasting EAL7-certification — one of the highest security gradings in the world.

Iran has apparently lofted its first military satellite into orbit, ending a series of setbacks for the nation’s space program.

A two-stage Qassed rocket lifted off from the Markazi Desert in central Iran on Wednesday (April 22) and successfully delivered a military reconnaissance satellite called Nour to orbit, Al-Jazeera reported. The rocket could be seen successfully launching into soace in this video from Iran’s Tasnim News Agency and PressTV.

At the highest level, Mars sample return sounds very straightforward: go to Mars, grab some rocks, and bring them back to Earth. Easy!

Easier said than done, though. While NASA has demonstrated the ability to land on Mars and travel across its surface on several missions, the challenges of gathering samples, putting them into a vehicle that launches them into Martian orbit, and then getting those samples back to Earth, increases the complexity of the endeavor exponentially more than linearly.

NASA announced its intent in August 2017 to pursue a “lean” sample return strategy in an effort to minimize the complexity, and cost, of getting samples back (see “Turning a corner on Mars,” The Space Review, August 19, 2019). Since then, NASA and the European Space Agency have said they will collaborate on a Mars Sample Return program, but the agencies have elaborated little on that overall architecture.

On March 6, the Moon Village Association unveiled a set of 15 draft Moon Village Association (MVA) Principles intended to help facilitate the peaceful settlement of the Moon by establishing best practices for the long-term sustainability of lunar and cislunar activity. The MVA Principles are now published on the MVA website and are open for public comment. The announcement by the president of the MVA, Dr. Giuseppe Reibaldi, took place during a day-long symposium on Returning to the Moon: Legal Challenges as Humanity Begins to Settle the Solar System hosted by the Global Space Law Center at Cleveland State University’s Cleveland-Marshall College of Law (see “Hard law or soft law? The debate about the future of space law”, The Space Review, April 13, 2020).

As discussed further below, all stakeholders, including members of the general public, are invited to submit their comments on the principles through the MVA website. The purpose of this article is to answer some basic questions about the nature of the MVA Principles and to provide a concise summary of the principles to acquaint readers with their scope.

What is the Moon Village Association? The concept of the “Moon Village” is a vision of peaceful global cooperation in lunar exploration and utilization. The concept contemplates a collection of international efforts that involve both governmental and non-governmental (i.e. private) entities conducting activities in a spirit of cooperation and mutual assistance. Everyone is free to contribute to humanity’s future on the Moon in accordance with their individual capabilities. The Moon Village Association (www.moonvillageassociation.org) was incorporated in Vienna in 2017 with the goal of implementing the Moon Village concept by serving as a hub of communication for stakeholders in the new international push to establish a permanent human presence on the Moon. At the core of the MVA is an extensive network of professionals and institutions from more than 40 countries.

A group of researchers has demonstrated that treatment with NMN, a precursor of NAD+, restores neurovascular coupling (NVC) in aged mice [1]. Since NVC deficiency seems to be a major factor in the age-related decline of cognitive and motor functions, this discovery presents exciting new possibilities for longevity research.

Neurovascular coupling

While the human brain is the evolutionary advantage that brought us to where we are today, operating this machine requires considerable resources. Our cerebral blood flow (CBF) accounts for 15% of cardiac output and 20% of resting total oxygen consumption, even though the brain itself comprises just 2% of body mass. CBF has to be constantly redirected to the regions of the brain that are currently active, and NVC is the mechanism in charge of this complex operation. Importantly, the CBF/cardiac output ratio decreases with age [2].