Litecoin (LTC) Price Analysis: Fresh Rally To $50 Seems Likely – Live Bitcoin News

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Litecoin price is rising again and trading above $44.00 against the US Dollar, similar to bitcoin. LTC price is likely to settle above $45.50 and it could rise towards $50.00 in the near term.

In the past few sessions, there was a steady rise in bitcoin, Ethereum, ripple, and litecoin against the US Dollar. Earlier, LTC price formed a strong support base near the $40.00 and $40.50 levels.

It started a fresh increase after it surpassed the $42.00 resistance level and the 55 simple moving average (4-hours). Moreover, there was a break above a significant bearish trend line with resistance near $42.30 on the 4-hours chart of the LTC/USD pair.

The pair even surged above the $44.00 and $45.00 levels. A high is formed near $45.65 and the price is currently consolidating gains near the $45.50 level. It corrected below the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the recent wave from the $42.87 low to $45.65 high.

On the downside, there is a strong support forming near the $44.20 and $44.00 levels. The 50% Fib retracement level of the recent wave from the $42.87 low to $45.65 high is also at $44.26.

If there is a downside break below the green zone at $44.00, there is a risk of a larger correction towards the $43.20 level. The main support is now forming near the $42.00 level.

Conversely, the price may perhaps start a fresh increase above the $45.50 and $46.00 levels. A successful close above the $46.00 level could open the doors for a push towards the next major hurdle at $50.00 in the near term.

Litecoin Price

Looking at the chart, litecoin price is clearly trading near a crucial resistance at $45.50. It could either continue to rise towards the $50.00 level or it might start a major downside correction towards the $42.20 level.

4 hours MACD The MACD for LTC/USD is slowly losing momentum in the bullish zone.

4 hours RSI (Relative Strength Index) The RSI for LTC/USD is currently correcting lower towards the 60 level.

Key Support Levels $44.20 and $42.20.

Key Resistance Levels $45.50 and $50.00.

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Litecoin (LTC) Price Analysis: Fresh Rally To $50 Seems Likely - Live Bitcoin News

NIH Funds Research to Understand How Genomics of Diverse Populations Affect Clinical Care – AJMC.com Managed Markets Network

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Polygenic risk scores, which evaluate disease risk based on DNA variants, have previously been based almost entirely on patients who had European ancestry.

The project, Electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE) Genomic Risk Assessment and Management Network, will build upon work of the existing eMERGE Network, and help these institutions recruit a higher percentage of patients from diverse ethnic backgrounds. The goal is to serve patients who are typically underrepresented in clinical trials or who typically have poor clinical outcomes.

NHGRI funds eMERGE, which brings together DNA biorepositories with electronic health record (EHR) systems to allow high-throughput genetic research to advance personalized medicine. While much of this kind of work is associated with cancer research, eMERGE and the grants awarded in the new round of funding will work to advance protocols that will determine care models for diabetes and cardiovascular disease and determine who is at risk for Alzheimer disease.

The challenge of bringing diversity to clinical trials has been well-documented in the scientific literature in recent years. A 2016 workshopat the European Society of Human Genetics explored the need to address disparities by engaging communities that been historically underrepresented in genomics research; without data from these populations, interpreting genetic testing results would be difficult when these patients sought care, and pathways based on clinical trials might not produce the same outcomes in these populations.

Where the Money Goes

In addition to the $61 million to the 10 sites, $13.4 million will go to the eMERGE Network Coordinating Center at Vanderbilt University.

The 10 sites will be in 2 categories. The first group, to include Mayo Clinic, Rochester,Minnesota; Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee; Brigham and Womens Hospital, Boston; and Northwestern University, Chicago, will seek 10,000 patients, of which at least 35% should be from underrepresented groups.

The second set of locations, called enhanced diversity clinical sites, will seek 15,000 patients, of which 75% must be from diverse groups. These are the University of Alabama, Birmingham; Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City; Cincinnati Children'sHospital Medical Center; Columbia University, New York City; Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia; and University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle.

Officials for Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) noted the specific requirements of this round of funding called for enrolling at least 2500 new participants who had not been previously involved with the hospitals Center for Applied Genomics (CAG), of which 75% must be African American.

The Center for Applied Genomics and the National Institutes of Health have had an excellent partnership within the eMERGE Network, and we are thrilled to continue to build upon the valuable work that we have been able to achieve so far with particular emphasis on resolving diseases in diverse patient populations and minority groups, Hakon Hakonarson, MD, PhD, director of the CAG at CHOP and principal investigator of the program, said in a statement. The primary goals of this program are to identify disease risks faced by patients and their families and to determine the most appropriate actions we can take to improve health outcomes. The program specifically focuses on African American children and their families, who will constitute 75% of participants.

Polygenic risk scores, which evaluate disease risk based on DNA variants, have previously been based almost entirely on patients who had European ancestry. Investigators have seen a need to incorporate data from patients from non-European ancestry into risk scores, as well as those who have clinical and lifestyle characteristics seen in the real world, such as higher body mass index (BMI), alcohol use, elevated blood glucose levels, and other factors that affect a persons risk level.

The eMERGE Network, launched in 2007, first collected electronic health record data to address this problem. The sites that will proactively collect data over the next 5 years will add new data to incorporate into risk calculations.

The goal is to develop protocols to estimate risk for common, complex diseases, such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, or Alzheimers disease, and incorporate health management recommendations for clinicians into the EHR using the Fast Healthcare Interoperability ResourceStandard, which spells out how health information is to be shared electronically.

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NIH Funds Research to Understand How Genomics of Diverse Populations Affect Clinical Care - AJMC.com Managed Markets Network

Parasitic worms use their keen senses to wriggle through their hosts – University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Parasitic filarial nematodes infect hundreds of millions of people, causing diseases such as river blindness and lymphatic filariasis, which can lead to elephantiasis, a severe swelling of the limbs.

Mosquitoes spread the parasitic worms, which engage in sophisticated migrations within their insect and mammal hosts. One worm, Brugia malayi, starts in the mosquitos gut, migrates to its flight muscles, then to its mouth. In its human host, the worm travels between the lymphatic system and the blood. Researchers have little idea how the nematodes achieve these nomadic lifestyles that are crucial for their survival.

Researchers prepare to inject an anaesthetized mosquito infected with parasitic Brugia malayi nematodes with gene-disrupting molecules to study how the nematodes rely on chemical sensation to migrate within their hosts. Courtesy of Zamanian lab

In new research, University of WisconsinMadison scientists provide the first look at the genetic underpinnings of the worms migration through their hosts. They identified two genes the nematodes use to respond to cues in their host environment. When the genes are disrupted, the worms are lost and less effective at infecting their hosts.

The genes are part of the nematodes chemosensation network, a combination of chemical-sensing proteins and nerve cells that let the parasites detect and respond to molecules in their environment. Because these responses are key for the nematodes complex life cycle, theyre a potential target for future treatments.

Were hopeful that a better understanding of how worms are transmitted between hosts and move within them may lead to new approaches for parasite treatment and control, says Mostafa Zamanian, a professor of pathobiological sciences in the UWMadison School of Veterinary Medicine and senior author of the report. The work was published in June in the journal PLOS Biology.

All animals use chemosensation. Its what allows a bee to follow the scent of a flower or a human to track down the aroma of baking cookies. The Zamanian lab figured that filarial nematodes used the same system to travel to the right part of their mosquito and human hosts at the right time by following specific chemical signatures their hosts produce.

To test this idea, the researchers mined over 40 parasite genomes to identify sensory genes in filarial parasites. Then they measured the expression of chemosensory genes throughout the parasites life cycle. They looked at chemoreceptors proteins that detect a specific signal during distinct stages of the parasites life cycles within human and mosquito hosts, when the parasites migrate to different tissues.

Mostafa Zamanian

Nicolas Wheeler

We saw chemoreceptors turned on and turned off at very specific time points, likely to help the nematodes get to the right destination at the right time, says Nicolas Wheeler, a postdoctoral researcher in the Zamanian lab and lead author of the new study.

The researchers tested whether disrupting the chemosensation network would impair the worms ability to migrate within and infect their hosts. They singled out two genes known to act as messengers for chemosensation in distantly related nematodes: OSM-9 and TAX-4.

To test OSM-9s function, they exposed the nematodes to the OSM-9-disrupting chemical nicotinamide at different stages of their life cycles. When these nicotinamide-laced worms were fed to mosquitoes, the insects ended up infected with 20 to 40 percent fewer parasites. Those nematodes that did survive in the mosquitoes were worse at migrating to the insects flight muscles compared to nematodes with normally functioning OSM-9.

The researchers also extracted larvae from mosquitoes during the stage when they can infect humans and exposed them to nicotinamide. In a petri dish experiment, the larvae became less likely to move toward chemical signals in mammalian blood. The results of the nicotinamide experiments suggested that OSM-9 is key for helping the worms navigate.

The filarial nematode Brugia malayi during the larval life stage when it can infect humans, where the parasite can cause severe swelling in the limbs known as elephantiasis. Courtesy of Zamanian lab

Using another system, the research team was able to disrupt both OSM-9 and TAX-4 while the nematodes were developing within their mosquito hosts. The researchers had to inject hundreds of mosquitoes by hand with molecules tailored to disrupt each gene finicky, time-consuming work.

Because the mosquitoes were infected with the parasites and potentially able to transmit them, the researchers had to don head-to-toe protective clothing to avoid getting bitten. Then they tested how well the nematodes could respond to chemical signatures in mammals.

The filarial nematode Brugia malayi during the lifestage when it is taken up by mosquitoes feeding on infected humans. In mosquitoes, the parasite must travel from the insects gut to its flight muscles and eventually its mouth to make it back to human hosts. Courtesy of Zamanian lab

It was worth it in the end, because we were able to show both OSM-9 and TAX-4 are involved in the infective larvas ability to crawl toward (host signals in the blood), says Wheeler. These are the first two genes to be linked to migratory behavior in these parasitic nematodes.

There are effective treatments against filarial parasites, but the complex drug regimens have potentially severe side effects, and the nematodes have developed drug resistance. There is also growing evidence that sensory systems play an important role in how parasites respond to existing antiparasitic drugs. A better understanding of how the worms detect chemical signatures and find their way within hosts could one day help researchers disrupt these critical migrations, potentially bolstering treatment.

This is a starting point, says Wheeler.

This work was funded in part by the National Institutes for Health (grants K22AI125473 and R01AI151171).

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BridgeBio Pharma’s Phoenix Tissue Repair to Highlight Interim Phase 1/2 Study Data in a Presentation at the Society for Pediatric Dermatology’s 45th…

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BOSTON, July 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BridgeBio Pharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: BBIO) affiliate Phoenix Tissue Repair (PTR) today announced an upcoming presentation of interim data from an ongoing Phase 1/2 study of PTR-01 (BBP-589), an intravenously-administered recombinant collagen 7 protein replacement therapy for patients with recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB). The presentation will be made during the Society for Pediatric Dermatologys (SPD) 45th Annual Meeting, to be held virtually July 10-12, 2020.

The poster presentation, which includes safety and tolerability data observed so far in patients enrolled in cohorts 1-3, will be delivered by Anna L. Bruckner, MD, associate professor of dermatology and pediatrics at University of Colorado School of Medicine. The pre-recorded presentation will be available online to meeting registrants until December 31, 2020. The poster will also be available on the Phoenix Tissue Repair website.

Details for the presentation are below:

Title: Interim update from a Phase 1/2 trial examining the safety and tolerability of PTR-01, a collagen 7 protein replacement therapy, in patients with recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosaPresenter: Anna L. Bruckner, MD

AboutDystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa (DEB)DEB is a rare genetic disorder symptomatic from birth that is caused by mutations in the gene for a protein called collagen type VII (C7). The C7 protein is essential for the formation of anchoring fibrils, structures which connect the epidermis and dermisthe uppermost two layers of the skin. Patients with the recessive form of DEB (RDEB) tend to have particularly severe symptoms due to severe insufficiency of functional C7. Symptoms include extreme skin and mucosal fragility that present as recurrent, painful blistering and scarring of the skin, as well as ulcerations of the mouth, tongue and dental caries. In addition to the cutaneous and oral symptoms, severe forms are associated with erosions and scarring of mucous membranes of the eye, esophagus, genitals and anus. Joint contractures, mutilating deformities of hands and feet, malnutrition, growth retardation, recurrent infections and a significantly increased risk for squamous cell carcinoma are also common. There are currently no approved disease-modifying therapies for any form of DEB, and the standard of care focuses on wound and pain management.

About Phoenix Tissue Repair and PTR-01Phoenix Tissue Repair is aBoston-based company that is an affiliate of BridgeBio Pharma, and is focused on advancing a novel systemic treatment for recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB).PTR-01 is an investigational protein replacement therapy which uses a recombinant collagen type VII (rC7) for the treatment of RDEB. PTR-01 is designed to be systemically available through intravenous delivery. Phoenix Tissue Repair acquired worldwide rights to PTR-01 in 2017. Preclinical studies of PTR-01 have demonstrated C7 staining in basement membranes withde novoanchoring fibril formation and improved survival in models of RDEB.

PTR-01 has been granted Orphan Drug Designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency.

About BridgeBioPharma, Inc.BridgeBio is a team of experienced drug discoverers, developers and innovators working to create life-altering medicines that target well-characterized genetic diseases at their source. BridgeBio was founded in 2015 to identify and advance transformative medicines to treat patients who suffer from Mendelian diseases, which are diseases that arise from defects in a single gene, and cancers with clear genetic drivers. BridgeBios pipeline of over 20 development programs includes product candidates ranging from early discovery to late-stage development. For more information, visit bridgebio.com.

Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements contained herein other than statements of historical fact constitute forward-looking statements, including statements relating to expectations, plans, and prospects regarding Phoenix Tissue Repair's clinical development plan, clinical trial results, timing and completion of clinical trials, and ability to take advantage of expedited FDA review for PTR-01. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including, but not limited to, Phoenix Tissue Repair's ability to advance PTR-01 in clinical development in accordance with its plans, the results from any clinical trials and nonclinical studies of PTR-01, and the nature of Phoenix Tissue Repair's interactions with regulatory authorities. Moreover, Phoenix Tissue Repair operates in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment in which new risks emerge from time to time. These forward-looking statements are based upon the current expectations and beliefs of Phoenix Tissue Repair's management as of the date of this release and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to Phoenix Tissue Repair as of the date hereof, and Phoenix Tissue Repair disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements except as required by law.

Investor Relations Contact:Mike Mangone, Ph.D.Vice President, Business Development & Corporate Strategy857-449-0970info@phoenixtissuerepair.com

Media Relations Contact:Carolyn HawleyCanale Communications(619) 849-5382carolyn@canalecomm.com

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BridgeBio Pharma's Phoenix Tissue Repair to Highlight Interim Phase 1/2 Study Data in a Presentation at the Society for Pediatric Dermatology's 45th...

Genetic testing and hitching a ride with the British; In The News for July 10 – Medicine Hat News

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By The Canadian Press on July 10, 2020.

In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is whats on the radar of our editors for the morning of July 10

What we are watching in Canada

OTTAWA The Supreme Court of Canada is slated to rule this morning on the constitutionality of a federal law that forbids companies from making people undergo genetic testing before buying insurance or other services.

The Genetic Non-Discrimination Act also outlaws the practice of requiring the disclosure of existing genetic test results as a condition for obtaining such services or entering into a contract.

The act is intended to ensure Canadians can take genetic tests to help identify health risks without fear they will be penalized when seeking life or health insurance.

The law, passed three years ago, is the result of a private members bill that was introduced in the Senate and garnered strong support from MPs despite opposition from then-justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould.

The Quebec government referred the new law to the provincial Court of Appeal, which ruled in 2018 that it strayed beyond the federal governments jurisdiction over criminal law.

The Canadian Coalition for Genetic Fairness then challenged the ruling in the Supreme Court of Canada, which heard the appeal last October.

Also this

OTTAWA Canadian troops are being forced to hitch a ride with the British military to get to and from Latvia due to a shortage of working planes.

A CC-150 Polaris was to carry about 120 Canadian soldiers to Latvia on Wednesday and fly back with a similar number of returning troops.

Yet the Defence Department says those plans changed after a problem was found with the planes landing gear, which is when the military asked the British for help.

The Air Force has three Polaris capable of ferrying personnel to different parts of the world but the Defence Department says the other two were unavailable.

One is currently ferrying troops to and from the Middle East while the third which normally serves as the prime ministers plane is out of commission until at least January after a hangar accident last October.

Defence Department spokeswoman Jessica Lamirande says the British plane took off with the 120 departing troops on Thursday and will return with a similar number of soldiers in the coming days.

What we are watching in the U.S.

International students worried about a new immigration policy that could potentially cost them their visas say they feel stuck between being unnecessarily exposed during the coronavirus pandemic and being able to finish their studies in the United States.

The students from countries such as India, China and Brazil say they are scrambling to devise plans after federal immigration authorities notified colleges this week that international students must leave the U.S. or transfer to another college if their schools operate entirely online this fall.

Some say they are considering the possibility of returning home or moving to Canada.

What we are watching elsewhere in the world

SEOUL The sudden death of the Seoul mayor is triggering an outpouring of public sympathy but also questions about his behaviour.

Park Won-sun was found dead in the South Korean capital, hours after his daughter reported him missing.

Media reports say one of his secretaries lodged a complaint with police over his alleged sexual harassment.

Many mourn Parks death, while others worry sympathy for him could lead to a criticism of the woman who filed the complaint.

Despite gradually improvements in womens rights in recent years, South Korea remains a male-centred society.

Today in 1912

Montreals George Hodgson won Canadas first Olympic swimming gold medal. He set a world record of 22 minutes flat in the 1,500-metre freestyle at the Games in Stockholm. That record lasted 11 years. Four days later, Hodgson won the 400-metre freestyle. Canada did not capture another Olympic swimming title until 1984.

The Canadian economy

Statistics Canada is set this morning to give a snapshot of the job market as it was last month as pandemic-related restrictions eased and reopenings widened.

Economists expect the report will show a bump in employment as a result, further recouping some of the approximately three million jobs lost over March and April.

Financial data firm Refinitiv says the average economist estimate for June is for employment to increase by 700,000 jobs and the unemployment rate to fall to 12.0 per cent.

The unemployment rate in May was a record-high 13.7 per cent, a far turn from the record low of 5.5 per cent recorded in January.

The Bank of Canada and federal government say the worst of the economic pain from the pandemic is behind the country, but Canada will face high unemployment and low growth until 2021.

The economic outlook released by the Liberal government Wednesday forecasted the unemployment rate to be 9.8 per cent for the calendar year, dropping to 7.8 per cent next year based on forecasts by 13 private sector economists.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 10, 2020.

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A WHO-led mission may investigate the pandemic’s origin. Here are the key questions to ask – Science Magazine

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An emergency response team on 11 January at work in the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, China, initially said to be the source of COVID-19.

By Jon CohenJul. 10, 2020 , 4:30 PM

Science's COVID-19 reporting is supported by the Pulitzer Center and the Heising-Simons Foundation.

The two-person team from the World Health Organization (WHO) traveling to China today to address the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic is unlikely to come home with answers. Rather, the duoan epidemiologist and an animal health expert whose names have not been releasedwill discuss with Chinese officials the scope of alarger international mission later, according to a WHO statement.

But this initial trip offers real hope that the mystery of the virus origins, which has become a political powder keg and the subject of countless conspiracy theories, will finally be investigated more thoroughly and transparently. (A similar WHO-led mission to examine how China was handling its fight against the virus, launched after weeks of diplomatic wrangling, returned in February with a surprising wealth of information.)

Science must stay open to all possibilities about the pandemics origins, Mike Ryan, executive director of WHOs Health Emergencies Programme, said at a press conference on 7 July. We need to lay out a series of investigations that will get the answers that Im sure the Chinese government, governments around the world, and ourselves really need in order to manage the risk going forward into the future.

Questions range from hunting for animals that might harbor the virus to examining the possibility that it came from a laboratory. There are plenty of details to investigate, and it could be a long road. Origin riddles for other new infectious diseases often took years to solve, and the route to answers has involved wrong turns, surprising twists, technological advances, lawsuits, allegations of cover ups, and high-level politics. Determining how a pathogen suddenly emerges in people requires a lot of sleuthing, but past successes offer clues of where to look for new insights, as do the few data points that now exist for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

The initial, tidy origin story told by health officials in Wuhan during the first few weeks of January was that a cluster of people connected to a seafood market developed an unusual pneumonia, and that the outbreak stopped after the market was closed and disinfected. But confusion about the origin of the novel coronavirus identified in Wuhan patients arose when researchers published the first epidemiologic studies of the citys outbreak:Four of the first five casesconfirmed to have SARS-CoV-2 infections had no link to the market.

Soon, other theories emerged. Some believe its no coincidence that the city is host to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), home to leading bat coronavirus researcher Shi Zheng-Li. Her group, one of the first to isolate and sequence SARS-CoV-2, has trapped bats in the wild for 15 years, hunting for coronaviruses to help identify pandemic threats. In theirfirst report about the new virus, the scientists described a bat coronavirus in their collection that was 96.2% similar to SARS-CoV-2.

U.S. President Donald Trump early on endorsed speculation that the virus entered humans because of an accident at WIV. Amore contentious theoryis that the lab created the virus. (Researchers at the lab insist neither scenario has any merit, and evolutionary biologists elsewhere have argued the virus shows no evidence of having been engineered.)

The most popular hypothesis is that SARS-CoV-2 spread into humans from an intermediate host, an animal species susceptible to the virus that acted as a bridge between bats and humans. In the case of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), civets turned out to play that role for the responsible coronavirus. For Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS), also a coronavirus disease, itquickly became clearcamels were the culprit because highly similar viruses were found in the animals and people caring for them.

Chinese officials have reported conducting tests for SARS-CoV-2 at the Wuhan seafood market but what they foundremains sketchy. Chinas state-run news agency, Xinhua, said environmental samples tested positive for the virus in a zone of the market that sold wildlife, but the report had no details about the results or even a list of the species for sale. Other studies have discovered similarities between SARS-CoV-2 and a coronavirus found in pangolins, an endangered species that eats ants, but the pangolin virus is more divergent genetically from SARS-CoV-2 than the closest bat virus and theres no evidence pangolins or their scalesused in traditional Chinese medicinewere sold at the market.

Some more fringe theories still suggest SARS-CoV-2 came fromsnakes,cometary debris, or aU.S. Army lab.

So, assuming WHOs team and the Chinese government work out a deal for an international mission to study the pandemics origins, where would it start? Here are some key questions that need answers.

Scientists realized camels were the source of Middle East respiratory syndrome when highly similar viruses were found in the animals and people caring for them.

Another outstanding question is whether Shis team or other researchers in Wuhan manipulated bat viruses in gain-of-function experiments that can make a virus more transmissible between humans. In 2015, Shi co-authored a paper that made a chimeric SARS virus by combining one from bats with a strain that had been adapted to mice. Butthat workwas done at the University of North Carolina, not in Wuhan, and in collaboration with Ralph Baric. Did Shis group later carry out other gain-of-function studies in Wuhanand if so, what did they find?

Finally, diplomatic cablesfrom the U.S. Embassy in Beijing in 2018 warned that a new, ultra-high security lab at WIV had a serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators. Did Shis team ever work with coronaviruses in that lab, and, if so, why?

If history repeats itself, it might take yearsor even decadesto crack this case. Scientists havent unequivocally identified Ebolas source 45 years after its discovery. But the key, time and again, to clarifying the origins of emerging infectious diseases is unearthing new data. WHOs push to organize the probe promises to, at the very least, accelerate what has been a plodding pursuit for answers.

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Scientists need to track genetic diversity of COVID-19 for effective vaccine: U of M study – CTV News Winnipeg

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WINNIPEG -- A new study out of the University of Manitoba has determined that in order for the creation of an effective COVID-19 vaccine, experts must track the genetic diversity of the virus

The work, conducted by researchers at the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences and a virology lab at Universidad de Concepcin in Chile, also found that if scientists dont monitor how the virus is changing in different parts of the world, the testing could produce false negative results. Dr. Carlos Farkas, a postdoctoral researcher in pharmacology and therapeutics for the Max Rady College of Medicine and the Research Institute in Oncology and Hematology, was the studys lead author.

To conduct the study, the research team used datasets to look at whole genome sequencing samples from people infected before March 27 with the virus that causes COVID-19.

According to a news release from the university, this team was the first to combine genomic sequencing data from two worldwide sources in order to detect variants by geographic region. The group found 146 different variants.

Dr. Jody Haigh, co-author and associate professor of pharmacology and therapeutics and a senior scientist at the Research Institute in Oncology and Hematology, said one of the major findings was that samples from Washington had a distinctive footprint of viral sequence changes.

About 39 per cent of Washington State samples had this footprint. Asian and European samples were more diverse in terms of changes in viral sequence, but their footprints were clearly different from those in the U.S. samples, Haigh said in the release.

The researchers noted when labs test for SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19), they use small pieces of DNA that bind to the viral sequence and amplify viral RNA/DNA.

Farkas said in order for a robust positive test result, the DNA needs to exactly match the viral sequence.

If researchers design these primers to bind to regions of the virus that they dont realize have changed in a particular population, there may be poor amplification and the result can be false negatives, Farkas said.

The study did find some changes in viral sequence in regions of the virus where the DNA was supposed to bind, which could explain why there have been some false negative testing results.

Because SARS-CoV-2 is changing rapidly, researchers should be aware of its current local viral footprints in order to design DNA primers that dont bind to regions of the virus that have changed. Other regions of the virus that dont show these changes should be used for designing primers, Haigh said.

The research team hopes its work will impact COVID-19 testing and vaccine development.

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Libertarian Solutions to Reforming Police State | Opinion | Northern Express – northernexpress.com

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Guest Opinion By Donna Gundle-Krieg | July 4, 2020

Americans are finally seeing the need to reform the way our society enforces laws, as the issue of police force has been placed front and center before us.

The Libertarian Party has been ahead of the game for decades on the issues of reforming our criminal justice system.

Since the 1960s, we have advocated for getting rid of laws that create victimless crimes. We have long believed in holding police accountable. Last but not least, Libertarians believe that the job descriptions, policies, and procedures of the police departments need to be reformed.

In fact, back in 1969, Lanny Friedlander, founder of the leading Libertarian magazine, Reason, said, "The police of a free society, engaging in retaliatory force only, enforcing laws of a defensive nature only, would be bound by the same laws they enforced and would stand fully accountable for their actions.

Achieving this free society starts with getting rid of victimless crimes. In other words, we need to minimize the opportunity for the police to act against the public. This means fewer laws and less intrusive enforcement of the laws that we do have.

In 1971, the fledgling Libertarian Party called for the repeal of all 'crimes without victims,' such as the prohibitions on drug use that have driven so much of the escalation in aggressive police tactics.

Fifty years later, the Libertarian Party platform states: Government force must be limited to the protection of the rights of individuals to life, liberty, and property, and governments must never be permitted to violate these rights.

We favor the repeal of all laws creating crimes without victims, such as gambling, the use of drugs for medicinal or recreational purposes, and consensual transactions involving sexual services.

Voters in Michigan took a huge step toward repealing drug laws when they voted for recreational marijuana to be legal. According to Pew Research, in 2018, 40 percent of all arrests in the United States were for marijuana offenses. Making this drug legal certainly helps reduce the opportunity for the police to act against the public.

In addition to repealing victimless crimes, Libertarians favor holding government agencies and their employees accountable for their actions.

"We support full restitution for all loss suffered by persons arrested, indicted, tried, imprisoned, or otherwise injured in the course of criminal proceedings against them which do not result in their conviction," the Libertarian Party declared in 1979.

"Law enforcement agencies should be liable for this restitution unless malfeasance of the officials involved is proven, in which case they should be personally liable."

More recently, Grand Rapids Justin Amash, the only Libertarian in the U.S. Congress, introduced the first-ever tri-partisan bill, which would eliminate qualified immunity.

The Ending Qualified Immunity Act will restore Americans ability to obtain relief when police officers violate their constitutionally secured rights, stated Amash.

The brutal killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police is merely the latest in a long line of incidents of egregious police misconduct. This pattern continues because police are legally, politically, and culturally insulated from consequences for violating the rights of the people whom they have sworn to serve.

In addition to holding police officers accountable and eliminating victimless crimes, Libertarians believe that we must take back some of the tremendous power that society has given to police.

"Over the last 25 years, America has seen a disturbing militarization of its civilian law enforcement, along with a dramatic and unsettling rise in the use of paramilitary police units for routine police work," warned the Cato Institutes Radley Balko in his 2013 book,Rise of the Warrior Cop.

He explained that he was referring to Special Weapons and Tactics, or SWAT, teams. These types of teams perform no-knock raids, which so often end in tragedy when police kick in the wrong door, or when a suddenly awakened resident tries to defend against intruders.

This month, libertarian-leaning Senator Rand Paul introduced legislation to stop the use of no-knock warrants, an idea that Democrats are also pushing in their calls for police reform. The bill requires law enforcement officers to give notice of their authority and purpose before entering a home.

In addition to qualified immunity and ending no-knock warrants, there are many other reforms that need to happen. Nearly all Americans favor at least some level of change to the nations criminal justice system, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, which concluded that Americans overwhelmingly want clear standards on when police officers may use force and consequences for officers who do so excessively.

Thankfully, Americans are finally agreeing with Libertarians and implementing many of the reforms and policy changes that we have been fighting for decades.

The Libertarian party might have the deck stacked against it during elections. However, we have always been the first and often the only party to fight the battle against abusive government power.

Donna Gundle-Krieg is a Real Estate Broker in Mancelona. She is the Political Director of Northwest Michigan Libertarians, and will be on the ballot in November as a Libertarian candidate running for Mancelona Township Trustee. Contact her at dokrieg@gmail.com, or see http://www.nwmichiganlibertarians.org.

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Elon Musk’s Boring Company Announces Tunnel-Digging Contest

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Elon Musk's The Boring Company has decided to put on a fun competition, challenging the general public to dig a tunnel faster than a snail.

Digging a Hole

Elon Musk’s tunneling startup, The Boring Company, has decided to host a fun competition, challenging the general public to dig a tunnel faster than a snail — one of the company’s own main goals.

The objective in the “Not-a-Boring Competition” is to come up with a tunneling solution that can dig a 30-meter (98 foot) tunnel with the equivalent opening of a circle with a .5 meter (19.7 inch) diameter.

Dig Faster

Prizes — the company has yet to reveal what they are — will be given out to teams that complete the tunnel in the quickest time and teams that dig with the most accuracy. The Boring Company will even send a tiny remote-controlled Tesla through the tunnel to test the driving surface.

The company is eyeing Spring 2021 to hold the event.

Tunnel to the Future

The Boring Company was first dreamed up by Musk to realize the dream of the Hyperloop, a futuristic mode of transport that involves shooting passenger pods through a vacuum tube.

As of right now, however, that dream has been downgraded to Tesla cars zipping through tunnels at considerable speeds.

So far, the company has shown off technology that could cut down the time and costs of digging tunnels for such a system considerably.

But demand has been sluggish. The company is only working on a handful of projects right now, including a tunnel system that connects various parts of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Inside those tunnels, autonomous electric vehicles will ferry up to 4,400 passengers per hour, at speeds of up to 249 kilometers per hour (155 miles per hour), according to a May 2019 press release.

READ MORE: Elon Musk’s Boring Company wants to hold its first tunneling competition [CNET]

More on The Boring Company: Elon Musk’s Boring Co. Didn’t Ask Homeowners Before Tunneling Under Them

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Scientists Still Don’t Know Why COVID-19 Hits Men and Women Differently

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The coronavirus seems to kill more men than women for unknown reasons, but a new data tracker may help scientists get to the bottom of it.

When the coronavirus pandemic began, doctors quickly realized that the disease seemed to be hitting men harder — and killing them at higher rates — than it did women.

But even now, several months later, scientists still aren’t sure why that is, Wired reports. Researchers at Harvard’s GenderSci Lab are trying to get to the bottom of the complicated question, which was made even more difficult by the lack of standardized data and case reports about COVID-19.

“We began by just simply trying to look for the data, and we couldn’t find it,” Sarah Richardson, a history of science professor who runs the GenderSci lab, told Wired. “So we realized that we would have to assemble it on our own.”

That resulted in a data tracker, released last month, that breaks down coronavirus cases and fatalities in each U.S. state by sex. It also adjusts the rates by age to correct for each state’s varied demographics. With these new tools in hand, the team hopes they’ll be able to figure out which factors, whether they’re biological, cultural, environmental, or a combination of all three, are behind the disproportionate male death toll.

Scientists suspect estrogen may play a role in protecting against the coronavirus, but also that women may be more likely to have a doctor they see regularly than men — so the reason death rates vary by sex is likely far more complex than one isolated factor.

“Maybe there is some aspect of sex-linked biology playing into this, but it’s looking like it’s being swamped by contextual social factors,” Heather Shattuck-Heidorn, assistant director of the GenderSci Lab, told Wired. “The variability in death rates is immense.”

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NASA Pumps Funding Into Startup That Says It Can Harvest Oxygen From Lunar Regolith

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A company called Pioneer Astronautics just got millions in funding from NASA to develop a way to extract oxygen from beneath the lunar surface.

Dusty Cloud

NASA just awarded substantial funding to Pioneer Astronautics, a company that claims it can gather up lunar regolith and turn it into usable oxygen.

Pioneer Astronautics is one of four companies to win funding through a newly-established Phase II round of NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program, TechCrunch reports. The company will split the total $17 million pot with three other firms ­— though the exact breakdown hasn’t been disclosed — because the space agency believes it could prove valuable to the fledgling Artemis program.

Space Alchemy

The plan — gathering up the Moon’s loose rocks and dust and abracadabra-ing some oxygen out of it — is less outlandish than it seems. Lunar regolith can be as deep as 15 meters in some regions of the Moon, and gasses like oxygen can get trapped down there amidst the rubble.

Pioneer Astronautics’ plan to extract and make use of that oxygen is still a difficult technological feat — hence the millions of dollars in funding — but there’s no actual wizardry involved.

Gas Bubble

This also isn’t Pioneer Astronautics’ first rodeo with NASA. The company has won several rounds of funding from the space agency, dating back to at least 2006 for its plan to scoop up Moon air.

At that point, NASA was interested in developing a supply of breathing air for astronauts, but a similar award in 2019 says the program could help provide oxides for batteries and launch vehicles. Either way, it poses a fascinating attempt to make lunar bases self-sustaining.

READ MORE: NASA injects $17M into four small companies with Artemis ambitions [TechCrunch]

More on Artemis: Congress Budget Denies NASA Full Funding for Moon Missions

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On an Interstellar Flight, Language Itself Would Evolve

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If a spacecraft ferried passengers to new star systems, their language would evolve to the point of making communicating with Earth extremely difficult.

Local Dialect

In science fiction, there’s something called a generation ship: a spacecraft that ferries humankind on a multiple-generation-long journey to brand new star systems or even galaxies.

The idea has also been touted here in the real world by those hell-bent on traversing the stars. But there’s a major problem with the concept, and we’re not talking about the countless generations doomed to be born and die for the sake of a mission they never agreed to — that’s a whole other thing. Rather, Universe Today points out that, if past is prelude, the language spoken on the ship would eventually evolve to the point that it seems incoherent back on Earth.

Lingua Astra

Language is a fluid, constantly evolving construct, where rules and conventions are gradually tossed out or updated, or even branched into new tongues. Assuming an interstellar journey takes ten generations, a linguistics study published in the journal Acta Futura in April concludes that the languages of Earth and the ship would drift so far apart that communication would become immensely difficult — perhaps even pointless.

“If you’re on this vessel for 10 generations, new concepts will emerge, new social issues will come up, and people will create ways of talking about them,” University of Kansas linguistics professor Andrew McKenzie said in a press release.

Future History

McKenzie recommends reserving a few seats for linguistics experts — a translation algorithm, he thinks, could never keep up with the task of bridging the barrier for two independently-developing languages.

“There will be need for an informed linguistic policy on board that can be maintained without referring back to Earth-based regulations,” reads the paper.

READ MORE: Languages Will Change Significantly on Interstellar Flights [Universe Today]

More on interstellar travel: Scientists Are Planning a 1,000 Year Trip to Another Planet

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Scientists Detect “Ringing” in the Earth’s Atmosphere

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According to a new study by an international team of researchers, the Earth's entire atmosphere vibrates much as the same way a ringing bell does.

Air Bell

According to a new study by an international team of researchers, the Earth’s entire atmosphere vibrates much like a ringing bell — a low-pitched fundamental tone alongside higher-pitched “overtones.”

The discovery could help scientists better predict weather patterns and understand the makeup of our atmosphere.

“This finally resolves a longstanding and classic issue in atmospheric science, but it also opens a new avenue of research to understand both the processes that excite the waves and the processes that act to damp the waves,” co-author Kevin Hamilton, a professor at the International Pacific Research Center at the University of Hawaii, said in a statement.

Atmo Reso

The atmospheric resonances were first proposed at the beginning of the 19th century by French physicist Pierre-Simon Laplace, whose dynamic theory of ocean tides has since allowed scientists to predict deformations in a planet’s atmosphere.

The tones, according to Hamilton and his collaborators, are created by massive pressure waves that travel around the globe. Each wave corresponds to each of these different resonant frequencies.

“Our identification of so many modes in real data shows that the atmosphere is indeed ringing like a bell,” Hamilton said.

Wave Modes

The new study includes a detailed analysis of pressure observations spanning 38 years. The researchers found dozens of separate waves circling the Earth in a checkerboard pattern.

“For these rapidly moving wave modes, our observed frequencies and global patterns match those theoretically predicted very well,” lead author Takatoshi Sakazaki, assistant professor at the Kyoto University Graduate School of Science, said in the statement. “It is exciting to see the vision of Laplace and other pioneering physicists so completely validated after two centuries.”

READ MORE: New study detects ringing of the global atmosphere [University of Hawaii at Manoa]

More on Earth’s atmosphere: New Research: Earth’s Atmosphere Extends Well Beyond the Moon

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China Says There’s a New Disease That’s Even Deadlier Than COVID [UPDATED]

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China's embassy in Kazakhstan has put out a statement warning of an

Update: Kazakh officials are now pushing back against China’s claims — though questions remain. Here’s our latest story.

China’s embassy in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan has put out a statement warning of an “unknown pneumonia” that is reportedly even deadlier than the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the South China Morning Post reports.

“The death rate of this disease is much higher than the novel coronavirus,” read the warning to Chinese citizens in Kazakhstan, as quoted by the SCMP. “The country’s health departments are conducting comparative research into the pneumonia virus, but have yet to identify the virus.”

Pneumonia is an infection of either one or both lungs and is caused by either bacteria, viruses or fungi. The inflammation can make it difficult to breathe and in some extreme cases can be life-threatening.

The statement doesn’t include any details and doesn’t elaborate on the nature of the virus. COVID-19 has also been shown to cause severe pneumonia in both lungs for some patients.

Local media have been reporting a worrying uptick in pneumonia cases in a number of Kazakh cities since mid-June, as the SCMP reports, with as many as 500 reported patients across three locations, 30 of whom are in critical condition. Officials and the media in Kazakhstan, according to the SCMP, are saying the cases are just regular pneumonia.

Reported pneumonia deaths in June account for over a third of pneumonia deaths in the country since the beginning of the year, according to the embassy’s statement.

Kazakhstan hasn’t been immune to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. A state of emergency was declared in mid-March, with lockdowns lifted in mid-May. Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev warned of a second wave this week on a televised address.

There have been over 250 COVID-19 deaths in the country of roughly 18 million residents so far, with just shy of 50,000 reported cases.

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SpaceX Is Planning Starship’s First Test Flight for Next Week

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SpaceX is planning the first test flight of its Starship prototype as soon as next week if a Raptor rocket engine test goes according to plan.

Static Fire

SpaceX is planning the first test flight of its Starship prototype as soon as next week, Teslarati reports — if a Raptor rocket engine test slated for earlier in the week goes according to plan.

Workers are currently installing a Raptor engine on the prototype in question, SN5, in preparation for a rehearsal static fire test on Monday.

That’s according to recent road closure filings around the company’s Boca Chica, Texas, testing facilities, which describe a 150-meter launch of the prototype.

That initial test flight’s date is still subject to change, and SpaceX has yet to directly confirm the plans. The event also depends on the success of the Raptor engine static fire test. “Surely too soon?” commented NASA Spaceflight reporter Michael Baylor on Twitter.

Simulating Mass

A video uploaded to YouTube by NASA Spaceflight on Thursday showed SpaceX mounting a “mass simulator” on top of the SN5 prototype, likely an effort to simulate a payload during proceeding test flights.

A remaining question, as Teslarati points out, is that SpaceX has yet to test Starship’s mysterious landing legs, which differ greatly from the company’s tried-and-true Falcon 9 design.

The legs retract to the inside of the engine section rather than outside, as a visualized approximation in April showed. The sleek animation was later confirmed to be “very close” to what SpaceX is working on, according to Musk.

A lot can go wrong during testing, as we’ve seen with a number of preceding Starship prototypes — and that means we should expect further delays as well.

READ MORE: SpaceX’s first Starship flight (re)scheduled for next week [Teslarati]

More on Starship: Here’s How Many Shipping Containers You Could Fit Inside SpaceX’s Starship

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Kazakhstan Denies China’s Claim of Disease Deadlier Than COVID-19

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According to a statement released by China’s embassy in Kazakhstan on Thursday, a deadly

According to an alarming statement by China’s embassy in Kazakhstan this week, a deadly “unknown pneumonia” is spreading in the country of 18 million people — with a mortality rate “much higher than the novel coronavirus.”

Unsurprisingly, the ominous news quickly spread worldwide.

But now Kazakh officials are firing back. A Facebook post by the Kazakhstan Ministry of Health shows a screenshot of the SCMP article that broke the story, with the words “FAKE NEWS” stamped in red over the top.

“In response to these reports, the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan officially declares that this information does not correspond to reality,” the statement read.

Specifically, CNN reports, Kazakh officials say they have been using an “unspecified” category to mark cases in which COVID-19 has been diagnosed by a medical professional, but which haven’t been confirmed by a laboratory test — a practice they say was adopted in response to World Health Organization guidelines.

In other words, the spike in pneumonia deaths in the country could end up being chalked up to a statistical quirk of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, rather than a new disease.

Confusingly, though, the Kazakh officials also acknowledged the existence of “viral pneumonias of unspecified etiology.”

For their part, Chinese officials seem confused by the update.

“We would also like to get more information,” a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs told reporters on Friday, as quoted by CNN. “China hopes to work together with Kazakhstan to fight the epidemic and to safeguard the two countries’ public health security.”

That’s a step back from the country’s verbiage yesterday, but only slightly.

“The country’s health departments are conducting comparative research into the pneumonia virus, but have yet to identify the virus,” read the warning to Chinese citizens in Kazakhstan on Thursday, as quoted by the South China Morning Post.

The statement pointed at peaking numbers of pneumonia-related deaths in three different Kazakh cities since mid-June. Registered cases of pneumonia in the country rose by a whopping 300 percent in June compared to June 2019, according to a Thursday briefing by the Kazakhstan Ministry of Health.

To date, Kazakhstan has over 53,000 registered cases of COVID-19 and 264 deaths.

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Astronomers Baffled by Mysterious Ring-Shaped Objects in Deep Space

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Mysterious ring-shaped objects deep in space have astronomers baffled: after ruling out some usual suspects, they think they're something brand new.

Lord of the Rings

Astronomers have found four distant, ring-shaped objects in space they say are unlike anything observed previously.

The rings, which Live Science likened to floating islands, have been temporarily named named “odd radio circles,” or ORCs, because they look like brightly glowing discs when viewed at radio wavelengths. Scientists can’t tell what they are, or even how far away they are from us, but they’re starting to explore some new hunches.

Orc Fortress

The ORCs are undetectable at infrared, x-ray, and the visible light spectrums, but were spotted at radio frequencies through a project called the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU), according to preprint research shared online last month.

“This is a really nice indication of the shape of things to come in radio astronomy in the next couple of years,” Kristine Spekkens, a Royal Military College of Canada astronomer who didn’t work on the study, told Live Science. “History shows us that when we open up a new [avenue of looking at] space to explore… we always find new and exciting things.”

Some Guesswork

The next step will be figuring out what these ORCs actually are — the astronomers behind the study have already ruled out supernovae, star formation, planetary nebulas, or gravitational lensing effects, Live Science reports.

Because visible galaxies are sitting in the center of two of the ORCs like a distant bullseye, the researchers think the bizarre rings could be shockwaves linked to some sort of galactic event. But right now, Live Science reports, any potential explanation is just an educated guess.

READ MORE: 4 mysterious objects spotted in deep space are unlike anything ever seen [Live Science]

More on space: Scientists Ponder Gory Mayhem of Zero-Gravity Surgery

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Astronomers Discover Deep-Space “Structure,” 1.4 Billion Light Years Across

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Astronomers have created a 3D map of a gigantic cosmic structure called the

Astronomers have created a 3D map of a cosmic structure so gigantic that it’s almost impossible to even comprehend.

The “South Pole Wall” is a flabbergasting 1.4 billion light years across and contains hundreds of thousands of galaxies, Live Science reports. That puts it on par with the Sloan Great Wall, the sixth largest cosmic structure ever discovered at 1.38 billion light-years across.

“The surprise for us is that this structure is as big as the Sloan Great Wall and twice as close, and remained unnoticed, being hidden in an obscured sector of the southern sky,” Daniel Pomarède from Paris-Saclay University and lead author of a paper about the research published in The Astrophysical Journal today, told The New York Times in an email.

“The discovery is a wonderful poster child for the power of visualizations in research,” co-lead Brent Tully of the University of Hawaii, told the Times.

To create their map of the South Pole Wall, the cosmographers had to use new sky surveys to peek past the “Zone of Galactic Obscuration,” an area in the southern part of the observable universe that’s obscured by the comparatively bright Milky Way.

The new research builds on a 2014 discovery by the same team of cosmographers of a supercluster of galaxies — with the Milky Way being one of approximately 100,000 galaxies contained within — called “Laniakea.”

To put the size of the South Pole Wall into perspective, our own Milky Way galaxy is a mere 52,850 light years across.

Counted in miles, the distance of the South Pole Wall end-to-end would end up have 21 zeroes attached to it. Estimates put the number of grains of sand on Earth at just 7.5 quintillion (18 zeros).

These gigantic structures are made up of countless clumps called “cosmic webs” floating inside enormous clouds of hydrogen gas. Outside these larger structures, there’s not a whole lot of stuff, as far as we know.

To make the discovery, the team came up with a new technique to measure the dizzying size of the South Pole Wall, which takes into account the velocity of galaxies as they exert gravitational forces on each other.

This new technique was even able to take dark matter into consideration, the mysterious stuff believed to make up approximately 85 percent of the matter in the universe. While dark matter remains a mystery, astronomers suggest it could be the scaffolding that determines the shape of these cosmic structures.

As of right now, the largest cosmic structure ever discovered is the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall, which spans 10 billion light-years. Even then, the Wall accounts for only a tenth the size of the observable universe, which spans about 93 billion light years.

READ MORE: Astronomers discover South Pole Wall, a gigantic structure stretching 1.4 billion light-years across [Live Science]

More on super structures: Strange Theory: Entire Universe Structured by “Quantum Static”

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Elon Musk Teases Major Neuralink Reveal

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Elon Musk has announced that the mysterious computer-brain interface startup Neuralink he co-founded is about to update us on its progress on August 28.

August 28

Elon Musk has announced that the mysterious computer-brain interface startup Neuralink, which he co-founded, will release an update on its progress on August 28.

“If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em,” Musk wrote, referring to his greater ambitions to make sure humanity can keep up with advanced AI. “Neuralink mission statement.”

Skull Lasers

Context suggests that this could be a major reveal.

During a July 2019 livestream event, Neuralink announced details about its efforts to connect the human brain to computers. The idea is to implant flexible threads of electrodes into the brain, where they can pick up signals from neurons. These signals are then wirelessly transmitted to a computer nearby.

To implant these electrodes, Neuralink is planning to shoot tiny holes in the skull with lasers.

In a chat with Joe Rogan back in May, Musk claimed that “we may be able to implant a neural link in less than a year in a person I think.”

Still, it’s unclear exactly what Neuralink has been working on. In February, Musk promised that the upcoming version of Neuralink’s brain-computer interface device will be “awesome.”

AI Symbiosis

Earlier versions, Musk has said, will likely be aimed at restoring brain functionality for those with serious neurological disorders.

Later versions, if Musk has anything to do with it, will likely have far greater ambitions, including the concept of enhancing human cognition and “symbiosis with artificial intelligence.”

READ MORE: Elon Musk sets update on brain-computer interface company Neuralink for August 28 [TechCrunch]

More on Neuralink: Elon Musk: Neuralink Will Do Human Brain Implant in “Less Than a Year”

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Astronomers Want to Figure Out What the Hell Planet Nine Is Once and For All

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A team of astronomers from Harvard University and the Black Hole Initiative developed a new method to hunt for evidence of Planet Nine.

Is there a ninth planet lurking beyond the orbit of Neptune?

Astronomers have been observing strange gravitational patterns of a cluster of bodies known as “trans-Neptunian objects,” or TNOs, that could be explained by the presence of  massive ninth planet in our solar system. The hypothetical planet, dubbed “Planet Nine,” would orbit our star at hundreds of times the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

It’s been a contentious topic, with some writing off the odd behavior of TNOs as being caused by a cluster of much smaller space rocks. Others predict that such a planet would be five times the mass of the Earth, orbiting our star at about 400 times the Earth’s distance from the Sun.

Finally, there’s the possibility that Planet Nine is actually a teeny-tiny black hole left over from the Big Bang. So tiny, in fact, that it’d only measure about five centimeters across — basically impossible to see with any kind of telescope.

“There has been a great deal of speculation concerning alternative explanations for the anomalous orbits observed in the outer solar system,” explained Amir Siraj, a Harvard undergraduate student, in a statement. “One of the ideas put forth was the possibility that Planet Nine could be a grapefruit-sized black hole with a mass of five to 10 times that of the Earth.”

So which is it then? In a new paper accepted into the The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Siraj, alongside a team of astronomers from Harvard University and the Black Hole Initiative outlined a newly developed method that could hopefully answer that question once and or all.

Their plan is to look for accretion flares given off as the tiny black hole gobbles up matter surrounding it. If they find some, it’d mean that Planet Nine is actually a black hole. “In the vicinity of a black hole, small bodies that approach it will melt as a result of heating from the background accretion of gas from the interstellar medium onto the black hole,” Siraj said.

“Because black holes are intrinsically dark, the radiation that matter emits on its way to the mouth of the black hole is our only way to illuminate this dark environment,” added Avi Loeb, professor of science at Harvard who was also involved in the research.

The team is placing their bets on the upcoming Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) mission taking place at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile. Astronomers involved in the mission are hoping to answer questions about the nature of dark energy and dark matter as well as the formation and properties of planets in our solar system.

“LSST has a wide field of view, covering the entire sky again and again, and searching for transient flares,” Loeb said. “Other telescopes are good at pointing at a known target, but we do not know exactly where to look for Planet Nine. We only know the broad region in which it may reside.”

According to Loeb, the LSST’s “unprecedented depth” will be able to spot even the smallest of flares.

It’s not the only attempt to uncover the mysteries behind Planet Nine. Most recently, a different team of astronomers announced it’s hoping to launch a fleet of thousands of “nanospacecraft” to search for the mysterious object.

Unfortunately, that vision is still a moonshot, with cost estimates breaking the $1 billion mark — that is, if it’s even feasible from a technological standpoint in the first place.

READ MORE: Scientists propose plan to determine if Planet Nine is a primordial black hole [Harvard]

More on Planet Nine: A Black Hole May Be Orbiting Our Sun. This Guy Wants to Find It.

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