Lifeboat Foundation

Optical tweezers manipulate tiny things like cells and nanoparticles using lasers. While they might sound like tractor beams from science fiction, the fact is their development garnered scientists a Nobel Prize in 2018.

Scientists have now used supercomputers to make optical tweezers safer to use on living cells with applications to cancer therapy, environmental monitoring, and more.

“We believe our research is one significant step closer towards the industrialization of optical tweezers in biological applications, specifically in both selective cellular surgery and targeted drug delivery,” said Pavana Kollipara, a recent graduate of The University of Texas at Austin.

The blood disorder that mostly affects people of color is under-researched.

Imagine a skin cream that heals damage occurring throughout the day when your skin is exposed to sunlight or environmental toxins. That’s the potential of a synthetic, biomimetic melanin developed by scientists at Northwestern University.

In a new study, the scientists show that their synthetic melanin, mimicking the natural melanin in human skin, can be applied topically to injured skin, where it accelerates wound healing. These effects occur both in the skin itself and systemically in the body.

When applied in a cream, the synthetic melanin can protect skin from sun exposure and heals skin injured by sun damage or chemical burns, the scientists said. The technology works by scavenging free radicals, which are produced by injured skin such as a sunburn. Left unchecked, free radical activity damages cells and ultimately may result in skin aging and skin cancer.

The main risk factors for throat cancer are using tobacco and heavy drinking. Symptoms of throat cancer may include:

• Sore throat that does not go away.

• Lump in the neck.

Continue reading “Throat Cancer” »

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute and Aalborg University in Copenhagen have shown that changes can be detected in blood tests up to eight years before a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease and up to three years before a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis.

This means the beginnings of inflammatory bowel diseases start a long time before symptoms occur, and in the future may provide an opportunity for doctors to take preventative action before symptoms begin, or prescribe medication when it will be most effective.

Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are collectively known as inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). They are incurable conditions which involve excessive inflammation in the gut, leading to symptoms like abdominal pain and diarrhea. Early diagnosis and treatment are key to improving outcomes, but nearly a quarter of the 25,000 people diagnosed each year in the UK wait over a year.

The single-dose shot, called Ixchiq, is designed to prevent an illness that can cause debilitating joint pain for months to years.

Neuralink reportedly aims to implant its device into 11 humans next year. Elon Musk said it will be inserted by robot.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s research in quantum biology and AI has significantly improved the efficiency of CRISPR Cas9 genome editing in microbes, aiding in renewable energy development.

Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) used their expertise in quantum biology, artificial intelligence, and bioengineering to improve how CRISPR Cas9 genome editing tools work on organisms like microbes that can be modified to produce renewable fuels and chemicals.

CRISPR is a powerful tool for bioengineering, used to modify genetic code to improve an organism’s performance or to correct mutations. The CRISPR Cas9 tool relies on a single, unique guide RNA.

In an interesting revelation, a collaborative team of researchers across various institutions in London has shown that rocket scientists and neurosurgeons, who are often held on a high pedestal for their superior intellect are, in fact, no smarter than the general public, BBC reported.

When failing to complete day-to-day tasks, one often comes across the term “It’s not rocket science”. The phrases that have been used by the public at large tacitly imply that rocket science or brain surgery is not a menial job and requires an individual of a higher intellect. Interestingly, it was a team of neurosurgeons and those involved in studying the human brain who decided to probe whether this held true.