Lifeboat Foundation

Emerging and reemerging infections present an ever-increasing challenge to global health. Here, we report a nanoparticle-enabled smartphone (NES) system for rapid and sensitive virus detection. The virus is captured on a microchip and labeled with specifically designed platinum nanoprobes to induce gas bubble formation in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. The formed bubbles are controlled to make distinct visual patterns, allowing simple and sensitive virus detection using a convolutional neural network (CNN)-enabled smartphone system and without using any optical hardware smartphone attachment. We evaluated the developed CNN-NES for testing viruses such as hepatitis B virus (HBV), HCV, and Zika virus (ZIKV). The CNN-NES was tested with 134 ZIKV-and HBV-spiked and ZIKV-and HCV-infected patient plasma/serum samples. The sensitivity of the system in qualitatively detecting viral-infected samples with a clinically relevant virus concentration threshold of 250 copies/ml was 98.97% with a confidence interval of 94.39 to 99.97%.

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Smartphone systems can also benefit from the recent unprecedented advancements in nanotechnology to develop diagnostic approaches. Catalysis can be considered as one of the popular applications of nanoparticles because of their large surface-to-volume ratio and high surface energy (11–16). So far, numerous diagnostic platforms for cancer and infectious diseases have been developed by substituting enzymes, such as catalase, oxidase, and peroxidase with nanoparticle structures (17–20). Here, we adopted the intrinsic catalytic properties of platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) for gas bubble formation to detect viruses on-chip using a convolutional neural network (CNN)–enabled smartphone system.

Scientists at Fermilab in the U.S. have demonstrated, for the first time, sustained and long-distance teleportation of qubits of photons with fidelity greater than 90%.

This is the car that is set to make the Koenigsegg One:1 seem slow and the Bugatti Chiron positively leisurely. The production Hennessey Venom F5 is a U.S. hypercar that—if it delivers on its maker’s bold claims—will be the fastest production car in the world.

Hennessey has long been known as a tuner—one with a reputation for extravagant claims in the past—but the Venom F5 marks its effective debut as a manufacturer in its own right. (The ultra-limited Venom GT that preceded it used a Lotus tub.) It’s named after the highest rating on the Fujita scale of tornado strength, and just 24 cars will be built, each priced at $2.1 million.

After a small piece of wood from the Great Pyramid was donated to a museum in Scotland, it vanished for decades. A curator found it hiding in plain sight.

Researchers in Mexico City recently discovered a new section of a macabre late 15th-century structure.

US Army’s mechanical engineer Dan Baechle carefully planned out a device that doesn’t need batteries, is light-weight and can evenly distribute the load.

The US Air Force has deployed its first automated unmanned air vehicle security system for an airbase.

On today’s episode we are going to continue our virtual global road trip over to the country of South Africa, to the Soweto township of the city of Johannesburg, and meet up with Ms. Sibongile Mongadi, Founder of Uku’hamba Pty Ltd, a start-up company that focuses on biotechnology and healthcare manufacturing with a goal of improving lives of amputees across Africa.

Uku’hamba is a 100% black youth women owned company and Uku’hamba means “To Walk” in Zulu.

Continue reading “Sibongile Mongadi, STEM Innovator, Founder, Uku’hamba, Improving The Lives Of Amputees Across Africa” »

The three biggest news items in astrobiology in 2020:

A lot has been achieved, even in an awful year.