Lifeboat Foundation

A few years back, we heard about Mobile Recon Systems’ KittyHawk, a large-ish quadcopter that could carry three GoPro cameras. Well, the Kentucky-based company has now announced the new Dauntless UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle), which can lift and transport over 200 lb (90 kg).

The experimental investigation of ultracold quantum matter makes it possible to study quantum mechanical phenomena that are otherwise inaccessible. A team led by the Innsbruck physicist Francesca Ferlaino has now mixed quantum gases of two strongly magnetic elements, erbium and dysprosium, and created a dipolar quantum mixture.

A few years ago, it seemed unfeasible to extend the techniques of atom manipulation and deep cooling in the ultracold regime to many-valence-electron atomic species. The reason is the increasing complexity in the atomic spectrum and the unknown scattering properties. However, a team of researchers, led by Ben Lev at Stanford University and an Austrian team directed by Francesca Ferlaino at the University of Innsbruck demonstrated quantum degeneracy of rare-earth species. Ferlaino’s group focused the research on erbium and developed a powerful, yet surprisingly simple approach to produce a Bose-Einstein condensate.

“We have shown how the complexity of atomic physics can open up new possibilities,” says Ferlaino. Magnetic species are an ideal platform to create dipolar quantum matter, in which particles interact with each other via a long-range and orientation dependent interaction as little quantum magnets.

Ordinarily, city officials only know about leaks in municipal water pipes once those leaks have become quite large and troublesome. A new artificial intelligence-based system, however, could catch such leaks much earlier – by listening for them.

A remarkable study from researchers at the Salk Institute has uncovered a profound new insight into how our circadian rhythms are regulated through light-sensing mechanisms within our eyes. The research could lead to new ways to combat insomnia and help reset the internal clocks of people with disrupted circadian rhythms.

Explore the Fornax galaxy for the first time.

Giulio Prisco ‘s key point: “My first reaction to Satoshi’s white paper was like, here’s a possibly viable implementation of an internet currency independent of nation states, which can be used for online payments with strong privacy. My current description of bitcoin is exactly the same.”

Forget the ongoing bitcoin crash. Forget that you lost 80 percent of your crypto wealth since Christmas last year. If you HODL, Crypto Santa will make you filthy rich by Christmas next year.

The world’s most famous genetic tool has a major diversity problem.

It appears that researchers in China have facilitated the birth of the first “designer baby” – actually babies, twin girls who are supposedly genetically resistant to HIV.

The scientist who created the embryos, as well as some American scientists like Harvard’s George Church, have praised the beneficent intent to producing a child who is resistant to disease.

Who could argue with such good intentions?

Continue reading “A Scientist Explains Why The Alleged CRISPR Babies News Is More Shocking Than You Might Realise” »

A landmark global study has, for the first time, homed in on 12 specific genomic regions associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The research reveals the genetic underpinnings of this highly heritable condition and suggests this discovery is only a small part of the wider genetic puzzle that makes up ADHD.