A new method allows large quantities of muscle stem cells to be safely obtained in cell culture. This provides a potential for treating patients with muscle diseases – and for those who would like to eat meat, but don’t want to kill animals.
Elon Musk delves into the groundbreaking potential of Neuralink, a revolutionary venture aimed at interfacing with the human brain to tackle an array of brain-related disorders. Musk envisions a future where Neuralink’s advancements lead to the resolution of conditions like autism, schizophrenia, memory loss, and even spinal cord injuries.
Elon Musk discusses the transformative power of Neuralink, highlighting its role in restoring motor control after spinal cord injuries, revitalizing brain function post-stroke, and combating genetically or trauma-induced brain diseases. Musk’s compelling insights reveal how interfacing with neurons at an intricate level can pave the way for repairing and enhancing brain circuits using cutting-edge technology.
Continue reading “Elon Musk on Neuralink: Solving Brain Diseases & Reducing the Risk of AI” »
A research team co-led by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) and The University of Hong Kong (HKU) has recently made a significant advancement in spinal cord injury treatment by using genetically-modified human neural stem cells (hNSCs).
They found that specifically modulating a gene expression to a certain level in hNSCs can effectively promote the reconstruction of damaged neural circuits and restore locomotor functions, offering great potential for new therapeutic opportunities for patients with spinal cord injury. The findings were published in the journal Advanced Science under the title “Transplanting Human Neural Stem Cells with ≈50% Reduction of SOX9 Gene Dosage Promotes Tissue Repair and Functional Recovery from Severe Spinal Cord Injury.”
Traumatic spinal cord injury is a devastating condition that commonly results from accidents such as falls, car crashes or sport-related injuries.
Remember when eggs were so high? A vaccine for birds, now that can make money. 🤔
In the past two years, a viral disease has swept across much of the planet — not Covid but a type of avian flu. It’s devastated the poultry industry in the US, Europe, and elsewhere, sickening millions of farmed birds, which either die from infection or are killed by farmers seeking to stem the spread.
The ongoing outbreak of avian flu has killed hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of wild birds, including endangered species like the California condor. It’s one of the worst wildlife disease outbreaks in history. Having now spread across five continents and hundreds of wildlife species, scientists call the current outbreak a panzootic, meaning a pandemic among animals.
Continue reading “A frightening virus is killing a massive number of wild birds” »
Scientists at Stanford University have found a way to induce cell death in cancer cells with a method that could be effective in around 50% of cancers. In a paper, “Rewiring cancer drivers to activate apoptosis,” published in Nature, the team describes a new class of molecules called transcriptional/epigenetic CIPs (TCIPs) that can activate apoptosis with the help of cancer growth gene expressions within the cancer cells.
The researchers designed small molecules that bind specific transcriptional suppressors to transcription activators. The most potent molecule created, TCIP1, works by linking small molecules that bind BCL6 to those that bind transcriptional activators BRD4.
One of the components that makes cancer cells cancerous is that they ignore signals from surrounding healthy tissues to stop growing and to initiate apoptosis or cell death. The apoptosis pathways still exist but are actively blocked in certain types of cancer where the transcription factor B cell lymphoma 6 (BCL6) binds to the promoters of apoptosis genes and suppresses their expression through epigenetic mechanisms.
The origin and early evolution of life is generally studied under two different paradigms: bottom up and top down. Prebiotic chemistry and early Earth geochemistry allow researchers to explore possible origin of life scenarios. But for these “bottom–up” approaches, even successful experiments only amount to a proof of principle. On the other hand, “top–down” research on early evolutionary history is able to provide a historical account about ancient organisms, but is unable to investigate stages that occurred during and just after the origin of life. Here, we consider ancient electron transport chains (ETCs) as a potential bridge between early evolutionary history and a protocellular stage that preceded it. Current phylogenetic evidence suggests that ancestors of several extant ETC components were present at least as late as the last universal common ancestor of life. In addition, recent experiments have shown that some aspects of modern ETCs can be replicated by minerals, protocells, or organic cofactors in the absence of biological proteins. Here, we discuss the diversity of ETCs and other forms of chemiosmotic energy conservation, describe current work on the early evolution of membrane bioenergetics, and advocate for several lines of research to enhance this understanding by pairing top–down and bottom–up approaches.
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In this “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) episode, Peter delves into the realm of genetics, unraveling its connection to disease and emphasizing the value of understanding one’s genetic risks. He elucidates essential background knowledge on genetics before delving into the myriad reasons why individuals might consider genetic testing. Peter differentiates scenarios where genetic testing provides genuine insights from those where it may not be as useful. From there, Peter explores a comprehensive comparison of commercial direct-to-consumer genetic tests, providing insights on interpreting results and identifying the standout options for gaining insights into personal health.
Since the release of ChatGPT, huge amounts of attention and funding have been directed toward chatbots. These A.I. systems are trained on copious amounts of human-generated data and designed to predict the next word in a given sentence. They are hilarious and eerie and at times dangerous.
But what if, instead of building A.I. systems that mimic humans, we built those systems to solve some of the most vexing problems facing humanity?
Continue reading “A.I. Could Solve Some of Humanity’s Hardest Problems. It Already Has” »
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In October 2020, Argentina approved the world’s first genetically engineered wheat for cultivation and consumption. Production expanded dramatically in 2021, and will continue to expand in 2022, after Argentina received regulatory approval in late 2021 for exports to Brazil, a major consumer of Argentina’s wheat.
The lessons from Argentina’s experience are important as other countries decide whether they want to follow suit. Argentina’s genetically engineered, drought-tolerant wheat — named HB4 — could have large environmental benefits, but other countries’ choices will determine their scale.
Argentina is increasingly struggling with drought and saw an opportunity for HB4 wheat to help stabilize production and revenue. Yields have been steadily decreasing since 2017, partially due to drought, with the 2020/21 season yields the second-lowest in ten years. Yields in the 2021/22 season bounced back thanks to sufficient rainfall at critical times. HB4 wheat, genetically engineered to be drought resistant, can help protect against such variability by maintaining high yields even under drought conditions. HB4’s drought resistance gene comes from sunflowers, so it qualifies as transgenic — containing genes from a different species — and therefore as bioengineered, genetically modified, or a GMO.
