Lifeboat Foundation

There is a theory that humans’ long life spans and women’s long postreproductive lives, might be connected through the grandmother effect. “…An analysis of church birth and death records in Finland for individuals born between 1731 and 1890 showed that having a maternal grandmother between 50 and 75 years of age while a grandchild was 5 years old or younger increased the child’s survival… The second study … it’s not just the existence of a grandmother, but her proximity that matters. The shorter the distance between grandmother and grandchild, the more involved the grandmother can be and the more benefits that accrue to her daughter and grandchildren…” See More.

As greenery round the childhood residence shrunk, risk of mental illness as an adolescent and adult went up. Kids who grew up in plots with the least vegetation had a 15 to 50% greater incidence of a range of psychiatric problems, including depression, eating disorders, anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder.

Two studies link parks and poshness to lower depression and cognitive decline, for reasons still unclear. Paul Biegler reports.

Forget the past.

However, a study from Berkley University suggests that entering a specific black hole in the universe can actually erase everything that had happened in a person’s past. Not only that, it could also give humans infinite futures!

But, how is that even possible?

Continue reading “There’s a black hole that can let humans erase their past, astrophysicists say” »

Those aren’t city lights.

Updated at 6:40 a.m. Friday

You might think the world’s biggest bee would be easy to find. But that’s not the case: Until recently, the last time anyone had reported seeing a Wallace’s giant bee living in the wild was in 1981. That changed in January, when the rare bee was spotted on an island of Indonesia.

The Wallace’s giant bee — Megachile pluto — towers over European honeybees. The female’s size has been recorded as at least an inch and a half long, with a tongue that’s nearly an inch long. Add to that a pair of gigantic mandibles, and it’s a bee like no other.

Continue reading “World’s Largest Bee Is Spotted For First Time In Decades” »

Six of the top 10 nations are in Europe.

A start-up called Lightmatter is working on a chip for artificial intelligence that will draw on optical technology that has previously been used to quickly send information around data centers.

A team of NASA researchers has created a new form of alien DNA which could be vital in the search and discovery of extraterrestrial life in our solar system and beyond.

Very few people are going to want to leave this planet permanently — it’s just too amazing.

“Ultimately what will happen, is this planet will be zoned residential and light industry,” he said. “This is the gem of the Solar System. Why would we do heavy industry here? It’s nonsense.”

Bezos also referenced the work of physicist Gerard O’Neill, who came up with the idea of a cylinder-shaped space settlement design known as an “O’Neill cylinder,” in which two counter-rotating cylinders would provide gravity for human settlers while mitigating gyroscopic effects.

Continue reading “Jeff Bezos: In the Future, We’ll Live In ‘Giant Space Colonies’” »