Lifeboat Foundation

The biology underpinning a rare genetic mutation that allows its carrier to live virtually pain-free, heal more rapidly and experience reduced anxiety and fear, has been uncovered by new research from UCL.

The study, published in Brain, follows up the team’s discovery in 2019 of the FAAH-OUT gene and the rare mutations that cause Jo Cameron to feel virtually no pain and never feel anxious or afraid. The new research describes how the mutation in FAAH-OUT “turns down” FAAH gene expression, as well as the knock-on effects on other molecular pathways linked to wound healing and mood. It is hoped the findings will lead to new drug targets and open up new avenues of research in these areas.

Jo, who lives in Scotland, was first referred to pain geneticists at UCL in 2013, after her doctor noticed that she experienced no pain after major surgeries on her hip and hand. After six years of searching, they identified a new gene that they named FAAH-OUT, which contained a rare genetic mutation. In combination with another, more common mutation in FAAH, it was found to be the cause of Jo’s unique characteristics.

In a distant star system, a sunlike star orbits an invisible object that may be the first example of a ‘boson star’ made of dark matter, new research suggests.

Mount Etna enjoyed its first major eruption in 30 years on Sunday, and footage of the busy volcano’s spewing and flowing orange lava against the black and white billowing smoke is stunning. (See video caught by Massimiliano Salfi, posted by Earth42morrow, below).

Europe’s most active volcano caused Sicily’s Catania airport to shut down yesterday after ash covered its runways, according to CNN, but has mostly reopened as of Monday.

People in nearby towns reportedly heard loud booming sounds at the time of the eruption, but no injuries have been reported. Mount Etna’s last eruption of this size was in 1992.

Tunnels deep underground in North Yorkshire are providing a unique opportunity to study how humans might be able to live and operate on the moon or on Mars.

Researchers at the University of Birmingham have launched the Bio-SPHERE project in a unique research facility located 1.1 km below the surface, in one of the deepest mine sites in the UK. The project investigates how scientific and medical operations would take place in the challenging environments of the moon and Mars.

It is the first of a series of new laboratory facilities planned to study how humans might work—and stay healthy—during long space missions, a key requirement for ensuring mission continuity on other planets.

AI is one of humanity’s oldest dreams. It goes back at least to classical Greece and the myth of Hephaestus, blacksmith to the gods, who had the power to bring metal creatures to life. Variations on the theme have appeared in myth and fiction ever since then. But it was only with the invention of the computer in the late 1940s that AI began to seem plausible.

Computers are machines that follow instructions. The programs that we give them are nothing more than finely detailed instructions — recipes that the computer dutifully follows. Your web browser, your email client, and your word processor all boil down to these incredibly detailed lists of instructions. So, if “true AI” is possible — the dream of having computers that are as capable as humans — then it too will amount to such a recipe. All we must do to make AI a reality is find the right recipe. But what might such a recipe look like? And given recent excitement about ChatGPT, GPT-4, and BARD — large language models (LLMs), to give them their proper name — have we now finally found the recipe for true AI?

How would you feel if millions of people watched your childhood tantrums?

Popocatépetl, Mexico’s second-tallest active volcano, has been spewing ash and smoke for weeks, and authorities warn evacuations could follow.

For generations, physicists were sure the laws of physics were perfectly symmetric. Until they weren’t.

Symmetry is a tidy and attractive idea that falls apart in our untidy universe. Indeed, since the 1960s, some kind of broken symmetry has been required to explain why there is more matter than antimatter in the universe—why, that is, that any of this exists at all.

But pinning down the source behind this existential symmetry violation, even finding proof of it, has been impossible.

Move over, Cortana. Copilot is the new assistant in Windows town.

Microsoft is adding a Copilot AI assistant to Windows 11. Much like the Copilot sidebars we’ve seen in Edge, Office apps, and even GitHub, Windows Copilot will be integrated directly into Windows 11 and available to open and use from the taskbar across all apps and programs.

“Once open, the Windows Copilot side bar stays consistent across your apps, programs, and windows, always available to act as your personal assistant,” explains Panos Panay, Microsoft’s head of Windows and devices. “It makes every user a power user, helping you take action, customize your settings, and seamlessly connect across your favorite apps.

Continue reading “Microsoft announces Windows Copilot, an AI ‘personal assistant’ for Windows 11” »