Lifeboat Foundation

DOOM has been ported to quantum computers, marking another milestone for this seminal 3D gaming title. However, the coder behind this feat admits that there is currently no quantum computer capable of executing (playing) this code right now. All is not lost, though, as Quandoom can run on a classical computer, even a modest laptop, using a lightweight QASM simulator.

Barcelona ICFO-based Quantum Information PhD student Luke Mortimer, AKA Lumorti, is behind this newest port of DOOM. In the ReadMe file accompanying the Quandoom 1.0.0 release, Lumorti quips that “It is a well-known fact that all useful computational devices ever created are capable of running DOOM,” and humorously suggests that Quandoom may be the first practical use found for quantum computers.

To make sense of the world around us, the brain must process an…

Neurons in certain brain areas integrate ‘what’ and ‘when’ information to discern hidden order in events happening in real time.

By Miryam Naddaf & Nature magazine

Continue reading “How Your Brain Detects Patterns without Conscious Thought” »

New deadlier viruses?

This article discusses the journeys of three gene therapy startups in South Korea, Japan, and China, and the products they are developing.

SCIENTISTS claim to have reversed a woman’s type 1 diabetes with a pioneering stem cell transplant.

The 25-year-old had suffered from the chronic condition for more than a decade.

Spider silk is one of the strongest materials on Earth, technically stronger than steel for a material of its size. However, it’s tough to obtain—spiders are too territorial (and cannibalistic) to breed them like silkworms, leading scientists to turn to artificial options.

Teaching microbes to produce the spider silk proteins through genetic engineering is one such option, but this has proved challenging because the proteins tend to stick together, reducing the silk’s yield. So, Bingbing Gao and colleagues wanted to modify the natural protein sequence to design an easily spinnable, yet still stable, spider silk using microbes.

The team first used these microbes to produce the silk proteins, adding extra peptides as well. The new peptides, following a pattern found in the protein sequence of amyloid polypeptides, helped the artificial silk proteins form an orderly structure when folded and prevented them from sticking together in solution, increasing their yield.

Water contamination by the chemicals used in today’s technology is a rapidly growing problem globally. A recent study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control found that 98 percent of people tested had detectable levels of PFAS, a family of particularly long-lasting compounds also known as “forever chemicals,” in their bloodstream.

A new filtration material developed by researchers at MIT might provide a nature-based solution to this stubborn contamination issue. The material, based on natural silk and cellulose, can remove a wide variety of these persistent chemicals as well as heavy metals. And, its antimicrobial properties can help keep the filters from fouling.

The findings are described in the journal ACS Nano, in a paper by MIT postdoc Yilin Zhang, professor of civil and environmental engineering Benedetto Marelli, and four others from MIT.

Immunotherapies are the cornerstone of treatment for multiple myeloma (MM), demonstrating clinically meaningful improvements in response rates and progression-free survival (PFS) through the use of more precise, targeted therapies.

Experts discuss immunotherapy advancements and challenges of resistance, efficacy, and toxicity in patient management.

These OptoAssays allow for the bidirectional, light-induced movement of biomolecules and the reading of test results without the need for additional mechanical washing steps.

An OptoAssay uses a sender and a receiver area, which are brought into contact by adding the test reagent. In the sender area, there is a special protein that reacts to light. This protein can either bind or release specific molecules, depending on the type of light it captures.

When an LED emits red light at a wavelength of 660 nanometers, the molecules bind to the protein. Upon switching to far-red light with a wavelength of 740 nanometers, the molecules detach from the protein. In the receiver area, there are antibodies specifically designed to recognize and capture the target protein in the test reagent.

A recent study has unveiled a transformative nonlinear optical metasurface technology. This new technology, characterized by structures smaller than the wavelength of light, paves the way for significant advancements in next-generation communication technologies, including quantum light sources and medical diagnostic devices.