Lifeboat Foundation

Only two new coronaviruses have spread globally the past 2 decades: SARS-CoV, which caused an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2,003 and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. But that may just be the tip of the iceberg of undetected infections with related viruses emerging from bats, a new paper claims. In a preprint published yesterday researchers estimate that an average of 400,000 people are likely infected with SARS-related coronaviruses every year, in spillovers that never grow into detectable outbreaks.

The researchers, including Peter Daszak from the EcoHealth Alliance and Linfa Wang from Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore, created a detailed map of the habitats of 23 bat species known to harbor SARS-related coronaviruses, the group to which SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 belong, and then overlaid it with data on where humans live to create a map of potential infection hot spots. They found that close to 500 million people live in areas where spillovers can occur, including northern India, Nepal, Myanmar, and most of Southeast Asia. The risk is highest in southern China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and on Java and other islands in Indonesia (see map, below).

Study pinpoints Asian regions that could spark the next coronavirus pandemic.

Continue reading “SARS-like viruses may jump from animals to people hundreds of thousands of times a year” »

University of Arizona aerospace and mining engineers are mapping out a plan for harvesting the moon’s resources using autonomous robot swarms and new excavation techniques.

With scientists beginning to more seriously consider constructing bases on celestial bodies such as the moon, the idea of space mining is growing in popularity.

After all, if someone from Los Angeles was moving to New York to build a house, it would be a lot easier to buy the building materials in New York rather than buy them in Los Angeles and lug them 2,800 miles. Considering the distance between Earth and the moon is about 85 times greater, and that getting there requires defying gravity, using the moon’s existing resources is an appealing idea.

A series of four 3D-printed homes have just been completed in East Austin, offering buyers an alternative in one of the country’s hottest real estate markets.

Cuba on Monday became the first country in the world to vaccinate children from the age of two against Covid-19, using home-grown jabs not recognised by the World Health Organization. The communist island of 11.2 million people aims to inoculate all its children before reopening schools that have been closed for the most part since March 2020. The new school year started on Monday, but from home via television programmes, as most Cuban homes do not have internet access.

Cuba is vaccinating children from the age of two using home-grown jabs not recognised by the World Health Organization.

Volkner’s over-the-top motorhome package slides a 1,480-hp Bugatti Chiron aboard its $2.4-million Performance S motorhome and treats owners of the elaborate ultra-luxury/hypercar vehicle experience.

In the past, we’ve seen Volkner edge out its few competitors for “most expensive motorhome of the Düsseldorf Caravan Salon” honors with stretched luxury homes as “modestly” priced as $1.7 million. This year, it leaves the competition in the dust, going all out on the priciest, most over-the-top motorhome package on the show floor. It slides a 1,480-hp Bugatti Chiron aboard its $2.4-million Performance S motorhome and treats owners of the elaborate ultra-luxury/hypercar vehicle experience to a lavishly appointed abode complete with custom Burmester audio system carefully tailored to the mobile space.

For more than a decade, Volkner has been wowing the Düsseldorf crowds with the sporty roadsters and supercars it manages to squeeze between the axles of its huge motorhomes. This year, it’s really upped its own game.

Continue reading “Volkner pulls out all stops on Bugatti-stowing $7.7-million motorhome” »

The business of private survival shelters has grown during the pandemic. They’re not just for survivalists and doomsday preppers anymore. Bunkers buried in backyards or remote landscapes are capable of withstanding nuclear fallout and hurricanes, as well as violent conflict.

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Continue reading “Why Survival Bunkers Are So Expensive | So Expensive” »

How entrepreneur Franco Perez is helping to fix the affordable housing crises with mobile homes.

Not an endorsement (because frankly I can see way to many things that could be or could go wrong with this type of housing) but…

Is Boxabl the future of housing for planet earth?

This house can unfold and fold itself in 10 minutes.