Lifeboat Foundation

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.

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’” »

The 42-foot research vessel (R/V) Bob and Beyster was underwritten by a $1.2 million philanthropic campaign.

It’s safe to say that no one likes the thought of getting a needle in the eye. If they have to, therefore, it would certainly be best if the procedure were performed correctly the first time. A new “smart” tissue-sensing needle is designed to help that happen.

Youtube has decided to start demonetizing anti-vaccination videos. They’ll also start running a disclaimer below the videos.

After advertisers complained about programmatic ad placements on anti-vax videos, YouTube removed ads on videos that advocate against vaccination.

By Caroline O’Donovan

Continue reading “YouTube Just Demonetized Anti-Vax Channels” »

An astrophysicist involved with the research said he was “very surprised.”

You’d think that the world’s biggest bee would be hard to lose track of. But Wallace’s Giant Bee — an Indonesian species with a 2.5-inch (6.4 centimeters) wingspan and enormous mandibles — was last seen by researchers in 1981; it was feared to be extinct. However, scientists finally spotted the rare bee in January, in the Indonesian province of North Maluku on the Maluku Islands. They detected a solitary female bee after investigating the region for five days, and a photographer captured the first-ever images of a living Wallace’s Giant Bee (Megachile pluto) at the insect’s nest in an active termite mound.

Wallace’s Giant Bee — the largest bee on Earth — hasn’t been seen for decades. However, scientists recently tracked it down on an island in Indonesia.

An immune checkpoint molecule, SA-4-1BB developed for cancer immunotherapy also protects against future development of multiple types of cancer when administered by itself, shows a new study.

The recombinant protein molecule SA-4-1BBL has been used to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of cancer vaccines with success in pre-clinical animal models.