Lifeboat Foundation

Oops, duh, Eureka… shouted Archimedes… Or something.

Corn leaves are teaming with bacteria communities (the leaf “microbiome”) that influence plant health and performance, and scientists are still figuring out how. A team of scientists led by Dr. Jason Wallace recently published a study in the open access Phytobiomes Journal that advances what we know about these bacterial communities by investigating their relationships with corn genetics. According to Dr. Wallace, “the end-goal of all this research is to understand how crops interact with their microbial communities so we can harness them to make agriculture more productive and sustainable.”

In one of the largest and most diverse leaf microbe studies to date, the team monitored the active bacteria on the leaves of 300 diverse lines of corn growing in a common environment. They were especially interested to see how corn genes affected bacteria and found there was little relationship between the two — in fact, the bacteria were much more affected by the environment, although genetics still had a small role.

This is an interesting discovery that “breeding probably isn’t the best way to address this,” Dr. Wallace says. Instead, “the leaf community is probably better changed through farmer management.” That is, farmers should be able to change growing practices to enhance their current crops rather than seek out new plant varieties.

I was asked last year what I felt was the best new drug on the market, my response was stem cells??? They said, “no stem cells are just cells from the body???” I explained how once stem cells are removed-extracted they are grown in vitro then injected back into the body in a serum form-making it then a medication-drug. This is amazing Stem cells lined up and sent into battle against the weakest disease on earth. Many children and Women and men have died innocently due to drug users and people living the so-called gay lifestyle.

When looking at a picture of a sunny day at the beach, we can almost smell the scent of sun screen. Our brain often completes memories and automatically brings back to mind the different elements of the original experience. A new collaborative study between the Universities of Birmingham and Bonn now reveals the underlying mechanisms of this auto-complete function. It is now published in the journal Nature Communications.

The researchers presented participants with a number of different scene images. Importantly, they paired each scene image with one of two different objects, such as a raspberry or a scorpion. Participants were given 3 seconds to memorise a given scene-object combination. After a short break they were presented with the scene images again, but now had to reconstruct the associated object image from memory.

“At the same time, we examined participants’ brain activation,” explains Prof. Florian Mormann, who heads the Cognitive and Clinical Neurophysiology group at the University of Bonn Medical Centre. “We focused on two brain regions – the hippocampus and the neighbouring entorhinal cortex.” The hippocampus is known to play a role in associative memory, but how exactly it does so has remained poorly understood.

Continue reading “The brain’s auto-complete function” »

NASA’s administrator, Jim Bridenstine, says India’s satellite shattered into pieces of debris that pose an “unacceptable” threat to ISS astronauts.

Is plantar fasciitis to blame for your heel pain? These simple home remedies can help ease the ache.

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is looking for information on a 1,000 kW-class electrically-pumped laser for defending the United States, its deployed forces, allies, and friends against all ranges of enemy ballistic missiles in all phases of flight.

The post on the federal business opportunities website is asking industry for information on a capability to demonstrate a 1,000 kW-class electrically-pumped laser in the 2025–26 timeframe.

Missile Defense Agency does not provide a specific platform or strategic mission at this time. The proposed ground demonstrator laser system would be designed to have technology maturation and lightweight engineering paths to potential future platforms.

Continue reading “U.S. Missile Defense Agency wants a new 1,000 kilowatt-class laser weapons” »

One day your doctor could prescribe drugs based on how a biochip version of you reacts to them.

As 3D printing evolves and changes manufacturing, no sector will be left untouched—including rocket-building. Using the world’s largest 3D metal printer and Dell technology, Relativity Space will streamline the rocket-building process and make space exploration faster and more accessible. Watch how this revolutionary startup is partnering with Dell to take a leading spot in the race to space.

U.S. commercial space efforts are being undercut by aggressive Chinese plans.