Lifeboat Foundation

While inspecting a known globular cluster, a team of astronomers began to notice that some of its stars didn’t seem to belong. Investigating further, they realized the anomalous stars were part of a nearby galaxy—one previously unknown to us.

Science works in mysterious ways.

One moment you’re investigating a globular cluster, and the next you’re unexpectedly writing a research paper about something else entirely, namely the discovery of previously unknown dwarf spheroidal galaxy. But that’s how it goes sometimes, and the authors of the new study, published this week in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, couldn’t be happier.

Continue reading “Astronomers Accidentally Discover a Hidden Galaxy Right Next Door” »

Dr. Rico explained: “When we compare human genomes from different people, we see that they are way more different than we initially expected when the Human Genome Project was declared to be ”completed” in 2003. One of the main contributions to these differences are the so called Copy Number Variable (CNV) regions. CNV regions are in different copy number depending on each individual, and their variability can be greater in some human populations than others. The number of copies of CNV regions can contribute to both normal phenotypic variability in the populations and susceptibility to certain diseases.

Research has shown a direct relationship between mutations in introns and variability in human populations.

One of the greatest challenges of genomics is to reveal what role the ”dark side” of the human genome plays: those regions where it has not yet been possible to find specific functions. The role that introns play within that immense part of the genome is especially mysterious. The introns, which represent almost half the size of the human genome, are constitutive parts of genes that alternate with regions that code for proteins, called exons.

Continue reading “Exploring the dark side of the genome” »

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Brought to you by Nicola Bagalà, the Rejuvenation Roundup is our monthly digest, which takes a look at the big news stories involving the industry and helps keep you informed of current developments in the aging research field.

Welcome to the first Rejuvenation Roundup of the new year! There is quite a bit of news to go through and upcoming events to look forward to, so get comfortable and let’s get started.

LEAF News

Continue reading “Rejuvenation Roundup January 2019” »

Gmail’s Smart Replies automate messages, but that’s not a new idea.

#HiddenFigures #Friday Here we spotlight some of the women who revolutionized our understanding of the elements. Marie Curie is the most celebrated, for her double Nobel-prizewinning research on radioactivity and for discovering polonium and radium. Stories of other women’s roles are scarce. So, too, is an appreciation of the skills required, including tenacity and diligence in performing experiments, sifting through data and reassessing theories.

Brigitte Van Tiggelen and Annette Lykknes spotlight female researchers who discovered elements and their properties.

https://paper.li/e-1437691924#/

Philosopher Peter Sloterdijk provides insight into the upheavals to come.

Since the first Roomba came out in 2002, it has seemed inevitable that one day iRobot would develop a robotic lawn mower. After all, a robot mower is basically just a Roomba that works outside, right? Of course, it’s not nearly that simple, as iRobot has spent the last decade or so discovering, but they’ve finally managed to pull it off.

More than 10 years in the making, Terra wants to do for your lawn what Roomba has done for your floors.

Continue reading “IRobot Finally Announces Awesome New Terra Robotic Lawnmower” »

At the IEEE International Symposium on High-Performance Computer Architecture in February, Illinois computer engineering associate professor Rakesh Kumar and his collaborators will make the case for a wafer-scale computer consisting of as many as 40 GPUs. Simulations of this multiprocessor monster sped calculations nearly 19-fold and cut the combination of energy consumption and signal delay more than 140-fold.

Engineers aim to use “silicon interconnect fabric” to build a computer with 40 GPUs on a single silicon wafer.