Lifeboat Foundation

Government representatives from nearly 170 countries will this month consider whether to temporarily ban the release of organisms carrying gene drives — a controversial technology that can quickly propagate a chosen gene throughout a population. The technique has the potential to eradicate disease, control pests and alter entire ecosystems, but with unpredictable consequences — leading some groups to call for a global moratorium on its field applications.

Research is moving fast on the divisive genetic technology, which could help to eradicate diseases but also risks altering ecosystems in unpredictable ways.

A tiny transparent worm could be the key to finding out how to stop the frailty and ill health which often comes with old age.

British scientists are sending tens of thousands of worms into space in a government backed project to see if two drugs can prevent or slow down muscle wasting brought on by microgravity.

In space, the 1mm long c-elegans worms have nothing to push against to maintain their muscle mass and so quickly start losing strength, mirroring the effect experienced by elderly people back on Earth or those with conditions like muscular dystrophy.

Continue reading “How blasting worms into space could help slow down the ageing process” »

Google’s services went down for an hour yesterday after its IP addresses were routed way from normal paths to Nigeria, China and Russia. Google told Ars Technica it doubted the leak was malicious, despite the fact that government-owned China Telecom was recently caught routing Western carrier traffic through mainland China. Some of Google’s most sensitive data, including its corporate WAN infrastructure and VPN, were reportedly redirected.

Bullets that never miss, super soldiers with extreme strength and robot warriors capable of rising up against humans may sound like the stuff of science fiction… but the truth is that they have all already been developed.

A top-secret US government body called the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is behind these space-age innovations, which it has developed as part of its mission to revolutionize the way America fights the wars of the future. (Just think of Q’s lab in James Bond, but for the US army).

Ever since it was established in 1958, DARPA has been the subject of conspiracy theories claiming — among other things — that the agency was covering up UFO landings, trying to develop mind control and working on Earth-shattering super-weapons like death rays.

Continue reading “Bullets that don’t miss, weaponized insects and more: Innovations from DARPA, America’s secret lab” »

The faces of Capitol Hill are changing.

When the 116th Congress heads to Washington in January, there will be a record number of women in the ranks — at least 123, according to the news website Axios, including the first Muslim women, the first Somali-American, and the first Native American women.

There will be more scientists too.

Continue reading “The US just elected 9 new scientists to Congress, including an ocean expert, a nurse, and a biochemist. Here’s the full list” »

Preprogrammed AI definitely won’t.

This year, more candidates with degrees in science, medicine and engineering ran for Congress than ever before. Of the nearly two-dozen new candidates in this crop, at least seven won seats in the House of Representatives.

This year, scientists, doctors and engineers ran for office like never before. Here’s how they did.

With the rapid advances in drone technology spanning the 20^th century, it should come as no surprise that miniature flying robots are on the horizon: Between now and 2020, Goldman Sachs’ forecasts a $100 billion market opportunity for drones, helped by growing demand from the commercial and civil government sectors.

What is surprising is that it has taken researchers more than two decades to finally come up with a fully autonomous version. That’s because the electronics needed to power and control the wings were so heavy that, until now, flying robotic insects had to be tethered to a wire attached to an external power source.

Yet a team of engineers at the University of Washington, led by assistant professor Sawyer Fuller, were able to figure it out. Relying on funding from UW, they created RoboFly, a robo-insect powered by an invisible laser beam that is pointed at a photovoltaic cell, which is attached above the robot and converts the laser light into enough electricity to operate its wings.

Continue reading “Slightly heavier than a toothpick, the first wireless insect-size robot takes flight” »

At Quora.com, I respond to quetions on Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency. Today, a reader asked “Will we all be using a blockchain-based currency some day?”.

This is an easy question to answer, but not for usual Geeky reasons: A capped supply, redundant bookkeeping, privacy & liberty or blind passion. No, these are all tangential reasons. But first, let’s be clear about the answer:

Yes, Virginia. We are all destined to move,
eventually, to a blockchain based currency.

I am confident of this because of one enormous benefit that trumps all other considerations. Also, because of flawed arguments behind perceived negatives.

Continue reading “Will we all be using a blockchain currency some day?” »