Lifeboat Foundation

Sound waves, like an invisible pair of tweezers, can be used to levitate small objects in the air. Although DIY acoustic levitation kits are readily available online, the technology has important applications in both research and industry, including the manipulation of delicate materials like biological cells.

Researchers at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and the University of New South Wales (UNSW) have recently demonstrated that in order to precisely control a particle using ultrasonic waves, it is necessary to take into account both the shape of the particle and how this affects the acoustic field. Their findings were recently published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

Sound levitation happens when sound waves interact and form a standing wave with nodes that can ‘trap’ a particle. Gorkov’s core theory of acoustophoresis, the current mathematical foundation for acoustic levitation, makes the assumption that the particle being trapped is a sphere.

There is a deep root of mathematics within biology. How this came to be, you’ll have to watch the video to find out.

Created by Prompt Suathim (2nd year undergrad, Integrated Science, UBC)

Continue reading “Using math to decode biology’s programming language” »

Some of them could fertilize ecosystems, while others could have pathogenic potential.

More and more glaciers are melting as the Earth heats up, posing a multitude of threats to humanity. From rising sea levels to increased coastal erosion, the record speed at which the world’s ice sheets are melting has the potential to disrupt societies globally.

Now scientists from Aberystwyth University warn that hundreds of thousands of tonnes of microbes could leak into lakes and rivers as the world’s glaciers melt due to climate change, according to an institutional press release.

Circa 2017 face_with_colon_three

Study of more than 195,000 people finds 16 common genetic variants associated with muscle strength and gives insight into underlying biological mechanisms.

The study shows how deep learning can be used to detect cell image analysis.

Researchers have found a way to observe cell samples to study morphological changes — or the change in form and structure — of cells. This is significant because cells are the basic unit of life, the building blocks of living organisms, and researchers need to be able to observe what could influence the parameters of cells, such as size, shape, and density.

Conventionally, cell samples were observed directly through microscopes by scientists to observe and discover any changes of the cells. They would look for morphological changes in the cell structures.

Continue reading “A breakthrough AI can track real-time cell changes revealing a key mystery in biology” »

High-Risk, High-Payoff Bio-Research For National Security Challenges — Dr. David A. Markowitz, Ph.D., IARPA

Dr. David A. Markowitz, Ph.D. (https://www.markowitz.bio/) is a Program Manager at the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA — https://www.iarpa.gov/) which is an organization that invests in high-risk, high-payoff research programs to tackle some of the most difficult challenges of the agencies and disciplines in the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC).

Continue reading “Dr. David Markowitz, PhD — IARPA — High-Risk, High-Payoff Research For National Security Challenges” »

Harvard University geneticist Dr. David Sinclair’s lab is developing a cheek swab test kit so that you can check your biological age at home. You then get updates on how to slow down and reverse your aging.

Find out how fast you’re aging with Tally Health. The future of healthy aging is here.

Messenger RNA

#biology #biochemistry #rna

Continue reading “Messenger RNA” »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eVyphsl0x0

Where does the mind end and the world begin? Is the mind locked inside its skull, sealed in with skin, or does it expand outward, merging with things and places and other minds that it thinks with? What if there are objects outside—a pen and paper, a phone—that serve the same function as parts of the brain, enabling it to calculate or remember?

In their famous 1998 paper “The Extended Mind,” philosophers Andy Clark and David J. Chalmers posed those questions and answered them provocatively: cognitive processes “ain’t all in the head.” The environment has an active role in driving cognition; cognition is sometimes made up of neural, bodily, and environmental processes.

Continue reading “The Extended Mind | Andy Clark” »