Free Republic

The new processor stores data in modified DNA molecules and uses microfluidic channels to perform basic computations. Scientists have created a new biocomputing chip that makes calculations using a DNA substrate, including mathematical operations essential to artificial intelligence (AI) training and big data processing. Researchers described the new biocomputing platform Oct. 19,2023, in the journal PLOS One. DNA is known as the blueprint for life and encodes genetic information, like data can be encoded onto electronic-based storage devices. DNA-based devices have previously been used to encode data on a small scale, but this prototype chip uses DNA to process data...

Recreate the iconic tomato sauce from 'The Godfather' and bring a taste of the Corleone family into your homeFew films have made as lasting an impact in popular culture as "The Godfather." And beyond the silver screen, its influence extends from the couch to the kitchen. One of the most iconic culinary elements in the movie is the tomato sauce recipe, a closely guarded secret in the Corleone family. Here's a deep dive into the mystique of "The Godfather" tomato sauce — and how to recreate this legendary concoction.

High-intensity exercise induces brain-protective effects that have the potential to not just slow down but possibly reverse the neurodegeneration associated with Parkinson's disease, a new pilot study suggests. Prior research has shown that many forms of exercise are linked to improved symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Now, a small proof-of-concept study involving 10 patients showed that high-intensity aerobic exercise preserved dopamine-producing neurons, the brain cells that are most vulnerable to destruction in patients with the disease. In fact, after six months of exercise, the neurons actually had grown healthier and produced stronger dopamine signals. Dopamine is a chemical that helps brain...

Researchers have discovered a key mechanism used by Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), also known as human herpesvirus 8 (HHV8), to induce cancer. The research points to effective new treatment options for KSHV-associated cancers, including Kaposi's sarcoma, primary effusion lymphoma, and HHV8-associated multicentric Castleman disease. "Our findings have significant implications: viruses cause between 10% to 20% of cancers worldwide. Treating virus-induced cancers with standard cancer therapies can help shrink tumors that are already there, but it doesn't fix the underlying problem of the virus," said Jun Zhao, Ph.D. The study reveals that KSHV manipulates two human enzymes called CDK6 and CAD...

Lily Gladstone's not happy with the Super Bowl champs' name ... and she says the NFL runner-ups' mascot ain't much better. The actress and activist spoke during a Santa Barbara International Film Festival panel last weekend, before the Chiefs defeated the 49ers ... and ripped Chiefs fans' use of the tomahawk chop -- a hand gesture and chant used by fans of teams with Native American mascots. LG said the gesture is a reminder of what Hollywood has done to Native Americans ... pointing out the chant was used in old Westerns before indigenous actors were given the opportunity to...

The essence of the case, the Manhattan D.A. says, is that Trump "corrupt[ed] a presidential election" by concealing embarrassing information.When Donald Trump's lawyers urged a federal appeals court to approve "absolute" presidential immunity last month, they argued that it was necessary to prevent frivolous, politically motivated criminal charges against former presidents. Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit unanimously rejected that argument, along with the other reasons Trump offered for shielding him from prosecution for trying to reverse the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. The three-judge panel said the danger Trump perceived "appears slight" given...

This week, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas called on Hamas to reach a deal to free the Israeli hostages and spare Gaza additional death and destruction. The move was brazen — because while Hamas is distressingly popular among Palestinians, Pres. Abbas (who’s plagued by corruption charges) is not. Either way, it’s a call that the rest of the Middle East’s supposedly moderate Sunni Arab leaders could clearly learn from.

Like most African Americans, I come from a family with a history that includes generations of enslavement. But unlike most, the men and women who held my ancestors in bondage were not white, they were Native American—people who were themselves oppressed by the process that led to my family’s freedom.

Plastic producers should ‘pay for the damage they’ve caused’ after decades of deception, the report's authors say. Recycling has been promoted as a solution to plastic waste management for more than 50 years. But big oil companies and the plastics industry have known for decades that it’s not a technically or economically viable solution, a new report reveals. Combining existing research and recently revealed internal documents, the report by the Center for Climate Integrity Research (CCI) could form the foundation for legal action, its authors say. “When corporations and trade groups know that their products pose grave risks to society,...

Mutant wolves that roam the human-free Chernobyl Exclusion Zone have developed cancer-resilient genomes that could be key to helping humans fight the deadly disease, according to a study. The wild animals have managed to adapt and survive the high levels of radiation that have plagued the area after a nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl power plant exploded in 1986, becoming the world’s worst nuclear accident. Humans abandoned the area after the explosion leaked cancer-causing radiation into the environment, and a 1,000-square-mile zone was roped off to prevent further human exposure. But in the nearly 38 years since the nuclear disaster,...

Farmers in Greece have been blockading many roads throughout the country in the last weeks demanding state assistance to combat rising production costs. Roadblocks have been set up on many roads and highways in Macedonia and Thessaly, while the main Athens-Thessaloniki highway has been blocked at Malgara. Farmers have also continued their protests at the city centers of Larisa and Karditsa, symbolically placing hay bales and emptying milk on the streets while holding banners and flares and chanting slogans. Farmers’ demands in Greece The farmers’ demands include duty-free agricultural diesel, reduced electricity costs, subsidies on supplies and animal feed, renegotiation...

Delta Airlines has been hit with a lawsuit for the wrongful death of a woman whose husband fatally mowed her down in a Utah airport parking lot — with her estate claiming flight attendants overserved her beau. Representatives for the estate of slain mom Charlotte Sturgeon and her child — who witnessed the gruesome accident — say in the suit filed Thursday that the airline is to blame for her tragic death because its employees served husband Shawn Sturgeon at least two additional drinks despite him consuming “multiple” alcoholic beverages before even boarding the plane, according to a report by...

In a historic move, Ghana has secured a 6-year loan of gold treasures looted from the Ashanti Kingdom during colonial wars. Some 32 items from British museums will return home, 150 years after being stolen. In a historic development, Ghana has successfully secured a six-year loan agreement for the return of gold and silver treasures looted from the Ashanti Kingdom during colonial wars, chief negotiator Ivor Agyeman-Duah told The Africa Report. The deal is the result of nine months of negotiations to reunite the Asante royal court’s precious regalia with the people of Ghana as the Asantehene (Asante king), Otumfuo...

As far as experts are aware, the birth of a great white shark has never been witnessed, but YouTuber Carlos Gauna may have captured the closest thing to that.

“I’ve had enough of what they call shrinkflation," Biden said. "It's a rip-off.”President Joe Biden has a message for snack companies: Knock it off with shrinkflation. On Sunday, just ahead of the Super Bowl, Biden posted on X (formally known as Twitter), sharing a video aimed at snack companies, saying that they are shrinking the size of their products without also reducing costs to consumers. It’s a practice the president bluntly called a “rip-off.” “When buying snacks for the big game, you might have noticed one thing,” Biden said. “Sports drink bottles are smaller, a bag of chips has fewer...

MIT scientist ran Doom on E. coli cells in an experiment that sounds like sci-fiIf you buy through a BGR link, we may earn an affiliate commission, helping support our expert product labs. It’s crazy to think of how far video games have come since the original Doom release in 1993. But, as iconic of a game as it is, what has even become more iconic than the game itself is getting it to run on tons of different things. In fact, we’ve seen Doom play on a myriad of things. And now, some scientists have even managed to run...

An apparent innocent bystander was killed and at least five others – including two teenagers – were injured when gunfire erupted on a subway train as it pulled into a Bronx station during rush-hour Monday afternoon, police and law enforcement sources said. Up to 10 shots were fired at the Mount Eden Avenue station after a fight between two groups of teenagers broke out aboard a northbound 4 train at around 4:40 p.m., creating “total pandemonium,” according to witnesses and police. A 35-year-old man was killed after he was shot in the chest, police and sources said. His identity was...

Sen. Mike Lee's "technological exploitation" bill also redefines consent.Is Congress really trying to outlaw all sex work? That's what some people fear the Preventing Rampant Online Technological Exploitation and Criminal Trafficking (PROTECT) Act would mean. The bill defines "coerced consent" to include consent obtained by leveraging "economic circumstances"—which sure sounds like a good starting point for declaring all sex work "coercive" and all consent to it invalid. (Under that definition, in fact, most jobs could be considered nonconsensual.) Looking at the bill as a whole, I don't think this is its intent, nor is it likely be enforced that way....

Green Bay Packers fans turned out in droves to welcome their Super Bowl championship football team back to town on Monday. Fans lined the city streets all along the Packers’ route from Austin-Straubel Airport back to Lambeau Field after the team’s plane landed around 1:45 p.m. The players and coaches traveled in a caravan of Green Bay city buses, and on some streets fans were lined up as much as five or six people deep, on both sides. The crowds grew considerably larger the closer the team got to Lambeau. Upon arriving at the stadium, thousands of fans were waiting...

Is anyone else tired of all the elaborate roadside memorials? I believe the whole thing has gotten completely out of hand. Years ago I said we would soon being seeing regulation tombstones in place of homemade crosses, etc. Well, last week it happened. I didn't stop to see if it was engraved (or whatever the process of writing on a tombstone is called), but I'll bet it was. Enough, already. That's what cemetaries are for! Obviously, it has nothing to do with the deceased; it's all about the survivors. I guess the problem with confining such remembrances to a cemetary...