Lifeboat Foundation

Over the past year or so, generative AI models such as ChatGPT and DALL-E have made it possible to produce vast quantities of apparently human-like, high-quality creative content from a simple series of prompts.

Though highly capable – far outperforming humans in big-data pattern recognition tasks in particular – current AI systems are not intelligent in the same way we are. AI systems aren’t structured like our brains and don’t learn the same way.

Continue reading “Networks of Silver Nanowires Appear to Learn And Remember Like The Human Brain” »

This clip is from the Before Skool Podcast ep. # 4 with Rupert Sheldrake. Full podcast can be accessed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68fjlUuvOGM&t=3784s.

Rupert Sheldrake, PhD, is a biologist and author best known for his hypothesis of morphic resonance. At Cambridge University he worked in developmental biology as a Fellow of Clare College. He was Principal Plant Physiologist at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics in Hyderabad, India. From 2005 to 2010 he was Director of the Perrott-Warrick project for research on unexplained human and animal abilities, administered by Trinity College, Cambridge. Sheldrake has published a number of books — A New Science of Life (1981), The Presence of the Past (1988), The Rebirth of Nature (1991), Seven Experiments That Could Change the World (1994), Dogs That Know When Their Owners are Coming Home (1999), The Sense of Being Stared At (2003), The Science Delusion (Science Set Free) (2012), Science and Spiritual Practices (2017), Ways of Going Beyond and Why They Work (2019).

Continue reading “AI will Not Become Conscious — Rupert Sheldrake” »

Among the biggest environmental problems of our time, micro-and nanoplastic particles (MNPs) can enter the body in various ways, including through food. And now for the first time, research conducted at MedUni Vienna has shown how these minute particles manage to breach the blood-brain barrier and as a consequence penetrate the brain. The newly discovered mechanism provides the basis for further research to protect humans and the environment.

Published in the journal Nanomaterials, the study was carried out in an animal model with oral administration of MNPs, in this case polystyrene, a widely-used plastic which is also found in food packaging. Led by Lukas Kenner (Department of Pathology at MedUni Vienna and Department of Laboratory Animal Pathology at Vetmeduni) and Oldamur Hollóczki (Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Debrecen, Hungary) the research team was able to determine that tiny polystyrene particles could be detected in the brain just two hours after ingestion.

The mechanism that enabled them to breach the blood-brain barrier was previously unknown to medical science. “With the help of computer models, we discovered that a certain surface structure (biomolecular corona) was crucial in enabling plastic particles to pass into the brain,” Oldamur Hollóczki explained.

A vertical farm built inside a greenhouse in Texas can produce hundreds of thousands of heads of lettuce with significantly less energy than usual.

By James Dinneen

Future food.

Think about grasshopper fries, a protein bar made of crickets or silkworm cocoons. As unconventional as it may sound, Singapore is trying to make insect food mainstream. The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) has given approval to 16 species of insects, such as crickets, silkworms and grasshoppers for human consumption.

Continue reading “Singapore approves 16 species of insects including silkworms and grasshopper for human consumption” »

See why history may hang in the balance on this critical launch attempt.

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Continue reading “Starship Launch Set 8am 17 Apr 23 Historic Launch Attempt” »

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The cells in your body are like computer software: they’re “programmed” to carry out specific functions at specific times. If we can better understand this process, we could unlock the ability to reprogram cells ourselves, says computational biologist Sara-Jane Dunn. In a talk from the cutting-edge of science, she explains how her team is studying embryonic stem cells to gain a new understanding of the biological programs that power life — and develop “living software” that could transform medicine, agriculture and energy.

Continue reading “The next software revolution: programming biological cells | Sara-Jane Dunn” »

NAIROBI, April 14 (Reuters) — Kenya launched its first operational earth observation satellite on Saturday onboard a SpaceX rocket from the United States, a live feed from Elon Musk’s rocket company showed.

The satellite, developed by nine Kenyan engineers, will collect agricultural and environmental data, including on floods, drought and wildfires, that authorities plan to use for disaster management and to combat food insecurity.

The Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Taifa-1 satellite, took off at about 648 GMT without incident from Vandenberg Base in California, after three postponements due to bad weather.

What did scientists think about aging in 1931? That’s right. 1931. because that is the year the first biological textbook was published “The Science of Life”. I managed to get my hands on the first edition of this textbook. This was my face when i first received it. As you can see i was quite excited. And this textbook is made up of separate books. I bought book i last year and i read it. Having enjoyed it and discovered that it was part of this massive ensemble piece — well, i’ve read the first “book” — there are, if my roman numerals are correct, 9 books in total. And in this first book, penned “The Living Body”, the authors, most famously, H.G.Wells, Sir Julian Huxley and G.P.Wells, H.G’s son discusses the body as a machine and that.

“For the present it is enough to remember that all animals (including men) are combustion engines of an intricate and curious kind, which live by oxidising their food”

Continue reading “What they thought of aging in 1931” »