Lifeboat Foundation

Progress must not be held back by the fearful and ignorant. Progress will be made with or without permission. New and useful technology will emerge to help humanity despite those that cannot understand how they might benefit. This is happening and will continue to happen as it has behind closed doors and in secret but it can be different. It can be well regulated, it can be well informed, and results can be more readily available for the purpose of doing great things by voting YES to Human Cloning for Therapeutic Reasons and showing support for Science.

We, the undersigned, urge the United Nations to establish a timetable for a declaration on human cloning for therapeutic reasons. As you are aware, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted Resolution 59/280, containing the UN Declaration on Human Cloning, on 8 March 2005, by a recorded vote of 84 to 34, with 37 abstentions. The Declaration culminated an effort that had commenced in 2001 with a proposal by France and Germany for a convention against reproductive cloning of human beings. For three-and-a-half years a major confrontation took place at the United Nations between those states favouring a narrow ban limited to cloning for reproductive purposes, and those insisting on prohibiting all forms of human cloning, including for ‘therapeutic’ purposes.

Not only was the Declaration adopted by a vote, it was carried only by a plurality (84 states), not even a majority, of states members of the United Nations. Moreover, the text of the Declaration is ambiguous in terms of calling upon states both to adopt all necessary measures to protect adequately human life in the application of life sciences and to prohibit all forms of human cloning inasmuch as they are incompatible with human dignity and the protection of human life.

Continue reading “Consideration by the United Nations of a Declaration on Human Cloning for Therapeutic Reasons” »

There’s a short list of weapons that should never be used in war. Landmines are high on that list.

“Mr Trump’s policy rollback is a step toward the past, like many of his other decisions, and sends exactly the wrong message to those working to rid the world of the scourge of landmines,” said Jody Williams, who won the 1997 Nobel peace prize for her work campaigning against the weapons.

“Mr Trump’s landmine move would be in line with all of his other moves to undercut arms control and disarmament in a world much in need of them.”

Continue reading “Trump to reportedly allow use of landmines, reversing Obama-era policy” »

My day was completely ruined yesterday when I stumbled upon a fun fact that absolutely obliterated my mind. I saw this tweet yesterday that said that not everyone has an internal monologue in their head. All my life, I could hear my voice in my head and speak in full sentences as if I was talking out loud. I thought everyone experienced this, so I did not believe that it could be true at that time.

Literally the first person I asked was a classmate of mine who said that she can not “hear” her voice in her mind. I asked her if she could have a conversation with herself in her head and she looked at me funny like I was the weird one in this situation. So I began to become more intrigued. Most peo ple I asked said that they have this internal monologue that is running ram pant throughout the day. However, every once in a while, someone would say that they don’t experience this.

The World Health Organization said the fast-spreading coronavirus that’s infected more than 8,200 people across the world is a global health emergency — a rare designation that helps the international agency mobilize financial and political support to contain the outbreak.

The announcement comes just hours after the U.S. confirmed its first human-to-human transmission of the virus, which has killed at least 171 people in China and has now spread to at least 18 other countries.

Since emerging less than a month ago in Wuhan, China, the coronavirus has infected more people than the 2003 SARS epidemic, which sickened roughly 8,100 people across the globe over nine months. As of Thursday, there are at least eight cases in four countries, outside of China, of human-to-human transmission of the new coronavirus.

Scientists are one step closer to understanding how fish can repair their own heart, offering clues for treatment in millions of heart attack patients.

Zebrafish, a Mexican fish, are often the focus of scientific research because they are known to remarkably regenerate their own heart tissue.

University of Oxford scientists were ‘surprised’ to find that immune cells, called macrophages, were involved in the process.

Researchers from Stanford University and Michigan State University have teamed up to create a nanoparticle that can eat away at the arterial plaques that lead to strokes and heart attacks in a mouse model of atherosclerosis.

The team has created a nanoparticle that acts like a Trojan horse, targeting atherosclerotic plaque to reduce its amount and prevent it from getting out of control. A considerable amount of plaque material consists of dead and dying macrophages, a type of immune cell, which have become trapped and overwhelmed while trying to remove debris and fatty deposits. As these cells die, they attract more macrophages which arrive to try to clear up the waste; they too become trapped, and this is the foundation of atherosclerotic plaque.

The new study demonstrates how the nanoparticle is able to locate the plaque while showing high selectivity for macrophages [1]. Once it has located its target, the nanoparticle enters the macrophages within the plaque and delivers a drug payload to the cells, encouraging the macrophages to engulf and consume cellular debris. Essentially, this means that the macrophages eat the dead and dying cells within the plaque and thus reduce its overall size.

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Have humans become an indoor species? Given that Americans spend, on average, 93 percent of their time indoors, it would seem that we are indeed suffering from what some call “nature deficit disorder.”

We don’t need a fancy term to realize we might benefit from spending more time outdoors. Getting out for a gentle walk or a vigorous hike is likely to reduce stress, improve health, and increase emotional well-being.

If you spend much time on a computer, you probably reach a time in the day when you have so many browser tabs and programs open that your computer slows considerably. It’s time for a reset.