Lifeboat Foundation

Precise observation using ultra-high magnetic field 7T MRI.

For the first time, a research team in Korea has discovered there is a significant relationship between depression and the taurine concentration in the hippocampus, an area of the brain responsible for memory and learning functions. This discovery provides the opportunity to publicize the role and importance of taurine in future prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of depression.

Advanced imaging techniques reveal key insights.

USC Dornsife’s CReATiNG technique revolutionizes synthetic biology by facilitating the cost-effective construction of synthetic chromosomes, promising significant advancements in various scientific and medical fields.

A groundbreaking new technique invented by researchers at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Science may revolutionize the field of synthetic biology. Known as CReATiNG (Cloning Reprogramming and Assembling Tiled Natural Genomic DNA), the method offers a simpler and more cost-effective approach to constructing synthetic chromosomes. It could significantly advance genetic engineering and enable a wide range of advances in medicine, biotechnology, biofuel production, and even space exploration.

Simplifying Chromosome Construction

Saw this early this morning…better than getting stuck AND might work better in humans…Let’s hope! I mean, monkeys are even closer to humans than rats.

New results hint at how to perfect ‘mucosal’ vaccines, which are delivered up the nose or down the throat.

In a new paper, Sinclair and his co-authors outline a theory arguing that epigenetic changes are the underlying cause of aging [1].

It is not every day that one of the most prominent geroscientists presents a new theory of aging. David Sinclair of Harvard, along with two co-authors, Yuancheng Ryan Lu and Xiao Tian, have just published “The Information Theory of Aging” in Nature Aging. This theory was proposed by Sinclair years ago [2], and this new paper is an attempt to summarize it based on the most recent research.

The ability to store and retrieve information is central to life, which relies on the constant reproduction of complex organisms using DNA blueprints. However, on top of that digital genetic code, there is a much messier realm of epigenetics, which regulates how genetic information is translated into proteins.

A study led by researchers at Stanford Medicine questions the long-held belief that adult liver cells rarely divide:

Cells in the adult liver were thought to divide rarely. But a study led by Stanford Medicine researchers found intermittent fasting causes rapid cell division.

Why are we mentally sharper at certain times of day? A study led by Jonathan Lipton MD, Ph.D., at Boston Children’s Hospital spells out the relationship between circadian rhythms—the body’s natural day/night cycles—and the brain connections known as synapses.

The work is the first to provide a cellular and molecular explanation for natural fluctuations over the day in alertness, cognition, and the ability to learn and remember.

“We have known for more than a century that the time of day influences cognition and memory, but until now the mechanisms have been elusive,” says Lipton, a sleep physician in the Department of Neurology and researcher in the F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center.

DNA is the building block of life, and the genetic alphabet comprises just four letters or nucleotides. These biochemical building blocks comprise all types of DNA, and scientists have long wondered whether creating working artificial DNA would be possible. Now, a breakthrough may finally provide the answer.

The main goal of a new study, the findings of which were published in Nature Communications this month, shows that scientists may finally be able to create new medicines for certain diseases by creating DNA with new nucleotides that can create custom proteins.

Being able to create artificial DNA could open the door for several important uses. Being able to expand the genetic code could very well diversify the “range of molecules we can synthesize in the lab,” the study’s senior author Dong Wang, Ph.D., explained (via Phys.org).

Scientists have fused human brain tissue to a computer chip, creating a mini cyborg in a petri dish that can perform math equations and recognize speech.

Dubbed Brainoware, the system consists of brain cells artificially grown from human stem cells, which have been fostered to develop into a brain-like tissue. This mini-brain organoid is then hooked up to traditional hardware where it acts as a physical reservoir that can capture and remember the information it receives from the computer inputs.

The researchers wanted to explore the idea of exploiting the efficiency of the human brain’s architecture to supercharge computational hardware. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has massively increased the demand for computing power, but it’s somewhat limited by the energy efficiency and performance of the standard silicon chips.

A hole in your throat is nothing to sneeze at, as shown by a case report recently published in BMJ Case Reports. And the case report showed the dangers of pinching your nose and closing your mouth in an attempt to stifle a sneeze. A man in his 30s tried doing this and was left with a hole is his trachea, which can be a hole lot of trouble.

This man who had a history of allergies was wearing a seat belt while driving his car when he felt the need to sneeze and in a pinch tried to keep the sneeze from exiting from either his nostrils or his mouth. This led to quite a pressure-filled situation. Normally, sneezing can generate a pressure of one to two kilopascals in the upper airways which, in turn, can blast air and accompanying gunk out through your nose and mouth. But guess what happens when you pinch your nose shut and keep your mouth closed at the same time? Rather than rushing out of these holes, the air has no place to go. That can build up pressure your the upper airways that is up to 20 times higher than what a released sneeze would generate.

After this sneezus interruptus, the man began experiencing severe neck pain and eventually ended up in the emergency department of Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, UK. The four authors of the case report (Rasads Misirovs, Gary Hoey, Calum Carruthers and Samit Majumdar) work at this hospital. There doctors found the man’s neck to be swollen on both sides. An X-ray of his neck revealed evidence of air where it wasn’t supposed to be, and a CT of the neck and chest with contrast showed a 2 mm by 2 mm by 5 mm in his trachea, otherwise known as his windpipe.