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Jun 15, 2024

The wild race to improve synthetic embryos

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, ethics, law

“We need a defined framework, but instead what we see here is a fairly wild race between labs,” one journal editor told me during the ISSCR meeting. “The overarching question is: How far do they go, and where do we place them in a legal-moral spectrum? How can we endorse working with these models when they are much further along than we were two years ago?”

So where will the race lead? Most scientists say the point of mimicking the embryo is to study it during the period when it would be implanting in the wall of the uterus. In humans, this moment is rarely observed. But stem-cell embryos could let scientists dissect these moments in detail.

Yet it’s also possible that these lab embryos turn out to be the real thing—so real that if they were ever transplanted into a person’s womb, they could develop into a baby.

Jun 15, 2024

Global 5G Evolution

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, internet, robotics/AI

https://www.youtube.com/global5gevolution

Elon Musk says Tesla could make 100 million Optimus robots a year, costing $10k-20k each, to do everything from babysitting to working in factories, leading to the population of humanoid robots exceeding that of humans.

https://youtube.com/global5gevolution click #subscribe.

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Jun 15, 2024

Metformin slows colorectal cancer growth using microRNAs, study finds

Posted by in category: biotech/medical

This study provides new insights into metformin’s effect on the molecular mechanisms inside cells and why it reduces proliferation of cancer cells, emphasising the role of miRNAs in colorectal cancer.

The authors suggest their findings highlight the potential for developing RNA therapeutics for cancer prevention and treatment and possibly for targeted interventions. Although there are several challenges in the field of miRNA therapeutics, this study could signal another step in their development as potential cancer treatments.

Jun 15, 2024

Powerful new AI software maps virtually any protein interaction in minutes

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, chemistry, robotics/AI

Predicting how proteins bind to other molecules could revolutionize biochemistry, drug discovery.

Jun 15, 2024

12 billion years of black hole history, revealed through X-rays and simulations

Posted by in category: cosmology

Now, however, astronomers Fan Zou and W. Niel Brandt, both of Penn State University, have led a team that connected the two mechanisms of black-hole growth from observations and simulations. The results may provide some answers at last.

Related: NASA telescope spots ‘cosmic fireworks’ and faint echos from the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole

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Jun 15, 2024

MIT researchers ordered and combined parts of the 1918 pandemic influenza virus. Did they expose a security flaw?

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, security

The authors of a new study were able to order all the synthetic genes necessary to reconstruct the 1918 pandemic influenza virus. Do their findings represent a security flaw in a critical area of biotechnology?

Jun 15, 2024

China’s ‘artificial sun’ achieves breakthrough in nuclear fusion

Posted by in categories: nuclear energy, space

Chinese scientists have made a groundbreaking milestone in nuclear fusion. They have announced a major achievement in discovering an advanced magnetic field structure “for the first time in the world” using the Huanliu-3 (HL-3) tokamak, also known as China’s “artificial sun.”

The discovery is the result of the first round of international joint experiments conducted on the HL-3 tokamak, a project that opened to global collaboration at the end of 2023.

Jun 15, 2024

New study finds potential alien mega-structures known as ‘dyson spheres’

Posted by in category: futurism

A group of researchers have identified at least seven stars that might be surrounded by advanced alien mega-structures known as “dyson spheres.” NBC News’ Ellison Barber speaks with Janna Levin, a professor of physics and astronomy at Barnard College, about the findings and whether the truth is out there.

Jun 15, 2024

QStr Talk by Makiko Yamada: A neuroimaging dataset during sequential color qualia similarity

Posted by in category: futurism

This is a talk on our recent preprint & database paper A neuroimaging dataset during sequential color qualia similarity judgments with and without reports By Takahiro Hirao, Mitsuhiro Miyamae, Daisuke Matsuyoshi, Ryuto Inoue, Yuhei Takado, Takayuki Obata, Makoto Higuchi, Naotsugu Tsuchiya, Makiko Yamada bioRxiv 2024.05.16.594267; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.05.16.59

Jun 15, 2024

Voyager 1 Returning Science Data From All Four Instruments

Posted by in categories: engineering, health, particle physics, science, space

Most distant spacecraft, #Voyager1, is now returning data from all four science instruments for the first time following a technical issue last November.


NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft is conducting normal science operations for the first time following a technical issue that arose in November 2023.

The team partially resolved the issue in April when they prompted the spacecraft to begin returning engineering data, which includes information about the health and status of the spacecraft. On May 19, the mission team executed the second step of that repair process and beamed a command to the spacecraft to begin returning science data. Two of the four science instruments returned to their normal operating modes immediately. Two other instruments required some additional work, but now, all four are returning usable science data.

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