Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: biotech/medical – Page 77

A new way of creating hydrogen, which eliminates direct CO2 emissions at source, has been developed by an international team of scientists.

The process reacts hydrogen-rich and sustainably sourced bioethanol taken from agricultural waste with water at just 270°C using a new bimetallic catalyst. Unlike traditional methods, which operate between 400°C and 600°C, are energy-intensive and generate large amounts of CO2, the catalyst shifts the chemical reaction to create hydrogen without releasing as a byproduct.

Instead, the process co-produces high-value , an organic liquid used in , household cleaning products, manufacturing and medicine, and has an annual global consumption exceeding 15 million tons.

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Beyond the general recommendation to consume yogurt, this research raises questions about which products might offer the most benefit. Not all yogurts contain the same bacterial strains or concentrations. While many products include Bifidobacterium, the amounts can vary significantly. Future research may help determine whether certain formulations provide better protection against colorectal cancer.

Different subtypes of colorectal cancer may respond differently to preventive measures, suggesting that a one-size-fits-all approach to prevention might not be optimal. This understanding could eventually lead to more personalized prevention strategies based on individual risk factors and gut bacterial composition.

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Thanks to their excellent smelling ability, dogs have been used for hundreds of years to hunt down wild game and search for criminals. At airports, they help identify explosives and illicit drugs. In disaster situations, they can rescue survivors and find human remains.

But each dog can only be trained to detect one class of odor compounds, which limits the range of smells it’s able to detect. Training costs tens of thousands of dollars and takes several months. For Florida startup Canaery, the solution is merging canines with neurotechnology to allow them to detect everything from bombs and other contraband to human diseases and environmental toxins—no specialized training needed.

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A team of Chinese scientists has used targeted gene editing to develop rice that produces coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), a vital compound for human health.

Led by Prof. Chen Xiaoya from the CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences/Shanghai Chenshan Research Center and Prof. Gao Caixia from the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the researchers used targeted gene editing to modify just five amino acids of the Coq1 rice enzyme, creating new rice varieties capable of synthesizing CoQ10.

The study is published in Cell.

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Combining lab-grown muscle tissue with a series of flexible mechanical joints has led to the development of an artificial hand that can grip and make gestures. The breakthrough shows the way forward for a new kind of robotics with a range of potential applications.

While we’ve seen plenty of soft robots at New Atlas and a truly inspiring range of mechanical prosthetics, we’ve yet to see too many inventions that quite literally combine human tissue with machines. That’s likely because the world of biohybrid science is still in its very early stages. Sure, there was an artificial fish powered by human heart cells and a robot that used a locust’s ear to hear, but in terms of the practical use of the technology, the field has remained somewhat empty.

Now though, researchers at the University of Tokyo and Waseda University in Japan have shown a breakthrough demonstrating the real promise of the technology.

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Researchers from Mass General Brigham and collaborating institutions have developed a non-invasive approach to manipulate cardiac tissue activity by using light to stimulate an innovative ink incorporated into bioprinted tissue. Their goal is to develop a technique that can be used to repair the heart. Their findings in preclinical models, published in Science Advances, show the transformative potential of non-invasive therapeutic methods to control electrically active tissues.

“We showed for the first time that with this optoelectronically active ink, we can print scaffolds that allow remote control of engineered heart tissues,” said co-corresponding author Y. Shrike Zhang, Ph.D., of the Division of Engineering in Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham health care system. “This approach paves the way for non-invasive light stimulation, tissue regeneration, and host integration capabilities in cardiac therapy and beyond.”

Three-dimensional bioprinted tissues composed of cells and other body-compatible materials are a powerful emerging tool to repair damaged heart tissue. But most bioprinted tissues cannot generate the necessary electrical activity for cellular function. They must instead rely on invasive wire and electrode placement to control heart activity, which can damage body tissues.

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