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Some house cats carry a gut parasite that can infect humans, study finds

Giardia duodenalis is a microscopic, flagellated parasite that often calls the human and animal gut its home. In most cases, it coexists harmlessly with its host, and most infected pets and people show no signs of illness. However, when it becomes pathogenic, it can cause diarrhea, digestive issues or weightloss.

Cats can carry a pathogenic version of the gut parasite that also infects humans, but how common is it among pet cats, and how often do they harbor such strains?

A recent study investigated these questions by analyzing stool test data from 157,616 pet cats across 49 U.S. states and five Canadian provinces between March 2022 and August 2023.

Supercurrent enables the reading of quantum information without destroying it

One of the fundamental challenges of quantum computing is obtaining information from a quantum bit, or qubit. Unlike a conventional bit, which can be read repeatedly without altering its content, direct measurement of a quantum system typically causes the state to collapse before it can be determined. In other words, reading the information modifies it.

A new study proposes circumventing this problem by using a unique property of a certain type of qubit called an “Andreev qubit.” This qubit produces an oscillating electric supercurrent through its own quantum dynamics. This supercurrent would serve as a macroscopic indicator of the qubit’s state, enabling its reconstruction in a virtually nondestructive manner.

The study was published in the journal Physical Review B and was led by José Carlos Egues, a full professor at the São Carlos Institute of Physics at the University of São Paulo (IFSC-USP) in Brazil, and Yugui Yao of the School of Physics at the Beijing Institute of Technology in China. According to the authors, this method could eliminate the need for ancillas, auxiliary qubits used in current techniques for nondestructive quantum readout.

Subaquatic robot leverages biomimetics for natural movement

A few years ago, the same team designed an aquatic robot inspired by a manta ray. It could swim impressively fast, but it had one major drawback: a lack of three-dimensional maneuverability. Moving forward is one thing, but moving up and down, changing direction, and rotating in place is a whole different challenge. Many underwater robots have that same limitation, so the researchers decided to tackle this problem.

For their latest invention, they took inspiration from the feather star. These marine creatures have multiple flexible, feather-like limbs that help them move in different directions. Watching them, their movements seem almost effortless, but reproducing those maneuvers in robots is very difficult. It would typically require complex control systems and additional actuators – robotic components that produce movement.

But the new robot can maneuver in three dimensions using a few elastic limbs and just two actuators. And that’s exactly what makes it innovative.

MIT scientists build a tiny robot that swims using living muscle cells

MIT engineers have built a paper-thin swimming robot powered by living muscle cells that respond to flashes of light, allowing it to swim and steer through water. The breakthrough could pave the way for tiny, self-healing biological robots capable of exploring fragile environments that ordinary machines cannot safely navigate.

Matthew Cole on Vegan Sociology, Ethics, Transhumanism and Technology

“Every time technology tries to stand in for ethics, we do ourselves a disservice… we deny ourselves the opportunity for growth.”

Dr. Matthew Cole said that to me in late 2020. At the time, we were talking about vegan meat. Read it again with AI in mind.

Matthew is a criminologist at The Open University and the only #vegan sociologist I know. He studies how we raise children to love animals and eat them at the same time, and how that contradiction gets quietly filed under “normal.”

Over two hours, we went from thrash metal guitar to Doctor Who, breaching experiments, David Pearce’s Hedonistic Imperative, and the human exceptionalism hiding inside a lot of #transhumanism. He also changed how I think about the small daily inconveniences of my own choices.

If you’re certain you’re a predator, and nothing could change your mind, skip this one. Everyone else, a question worth sitting with: which of your ethical decisions are you hoping #technology will make for you?

The full 2-hour conversation with Dr. Matthew Cole, video and audio: [ https://snglrty.co/3ZN6fgl](https://snglrty.co/3ZN6fgl)