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Category: bioengineering

Intelligence Without Brains: A Radical New Idea

What if intelligence doesn’t require a brain? Biologist Michael Levin argues that intelligence is not confined to neurons, but exists on a continuum of goal-directed behavior and problem-solving across a wide range of species and systems. Using a framework he calls the “cognitive light cone,” Levin explores diverse forms of intelligence extending all the way down to the cellular level. His research suggests that cells communicate through electrical networks, enabling them to make collective decisions and adapt to unexpected challenges, evidenced by engineered tadpoles capable of seeing through eyes located on their tails. Levin radically challenges the conventional wisdom even further, proposing that forms of intelligence may extend beyond biology to molecular systems and maybe even the weather.

00:00 What is intelligence?
01:03 The field of diverse intelligence.
01:33 Intelligence at the cellular level.
02:08 The cognitive light cone.
03:01 The intelligence of groups of cells.
03:52 The bioelectric language of cells.
04:20 The mind of the body.
04:23 Cells that solve problems.
05:17 The tadpole experiment.
06:25 The cognitive spectrum.
06:48 Can you train a hurricane?
07:03 A new science of intelligence.
07:28 Beyond human biases.

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Quantum-inspired AI could tailor patients’ cancer treatment to their entire molecular background

For a child diagnosed with neuroblastoma—the most common infant cancer, occurring when early nerve cells grow out of control—the path to treatment isn’t simple. Some types of neuroblastoma resolve on their own, while others require aggressive intervention. Researchers have tried matching treatments to patients based on one-gene mutations with limited success. This is because patients’ outcomes depend on their entire molecular background, containing millions or even billions of features, such as DNA and RNA from tissues and blood.

“It’s much more than just one gene—everything that’s happening in the cells of the patient matters,” said Orly Alter, an associate professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Utah’s Scientific Computing & Imaging Institute.

Current artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) approaches require massive amounts of training data and, specifically, vastly more patient samples than genetic features.

High-resolution mapping of CCR4-NOT recruitment elements reveals transcriptome-wide drivers of mRNA decay

Luo et al. present TRACER, a transcriptome-wide approach to identify RNA elements that recruit the CCR4-NOT complex. TRACER uncovers thousands of CCR4-NOT-associated elements, many mapping to known or predicted RBP and miRNA target sites. These elements drive mRNA repression and can be targeted using gene editing or ASO approaches.

Transhumanism: Should We Become More Than Human?

In the future, humanity may embrace genetic engineering and cybernetic augmentation of mind and body, but what does this Transhuman future look like? And should we embrace or resist these paths?

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Credits:
Transhumanism \& Humanity’s Future.
Science \& Futurism with Isaac Arthur.
Episode 375, December 29, 2022
Written, Produced \& Narrated by Isaac Arthur.

Editors:
Briana Brownell.
Donagh Broderick.
Keith Blockus.
Lukas Konecny.

Graphics:
Jeremy Jozwik.
Ken York of YD Visual.

Music Courtesy of Epidemic Sound http://epidemicsound.com/creator

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Can scientists learn cells’ led team aims to decode cellular conversations

“You have many different cells playing different parts,” said Dr. Dino Di Carlo, the Armond and Elena Hairapetian Professor and Chair of Bioengineering at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering. “A healthy tissue emerges when those parts are coordinated — when cells listen and respond to one another in the right way.”

But when those signals are misheard or go out of sync, the results can be devastating. In fibrosis, a misfiring message drives cells into a scar-producing overdrive, stiffening lungs, hearts and kidneys. In cancer, tumor cells can distort the score, sending molecular signals that suppress or misdirect immune attack. What sounds like harmony in health can become discord in disease.

Now, in a perspective published in Nature Biotechnology, Di Carlo and colleagues from UCLA, USC and Caltech are calling on the scientific community to join the Billion Cell×Cell Project — an effort to understand the cellular symphony one duet at a time, by systematically mapping how individual pairs of cells influence one another.

New effort will get genome sequences for entire Endangered Species list

The US Endangered Species Act compels the government to identify species at risk of extinction and devise plans to restore populations and the habitats they depend on. It has seen some spectacular successes, such as the restoration of the bald eagle to much of its original range. But over 2,300 plant and animal populations remain on the list, requiring ongoing government intervention.

On Thursday, it was announced that all of those species would see their genomes sequenced and tissue samples preserved to aid future conservation efforts. The work will be done by a partnership between two unexpected parties. One is the US government, which has generally attempted to undercut the Endangered Species Act as part of its anti-regulatory efforts. It is joined by Colossal Biosciences, a biotech company that has a controversial take on what actually constitutes a species.

Colossal has always said it had a conservation focus, but its headline-grabbing efforts have been directed toward restoring species that have been driven to extinction. It intends to do that by developing a combination of gene editing and reproductive technologies that it expects it can profitably license. But its dire wolf announcement, in which only a tiny handful of genetic changes were edited in to grey wolves, have raised some questions about its seriousness regarding these efforts.

Synthetic DNA toolkit expands scientists’ ability to recognize genetic targets

A new method for recognizing and targeting DNA that dramatically expands the range of genetic sequences scientists can identify has been developed by experts at the University of Portsmouth. Published this week in Nature Communications, the research opens new possibilities for gene-targeting technologies, molecular diagnostics and DNA nanotechnology.

Dr. David Rusling, associate professor in bioengineering from the University of Portsmouth’s School of Medicine, Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, said, Our lab develops synthetic molecules that can recognize and bind to unique gene sequences. By introducing synthetic DNA bases into these molecules, we’ve been able to significantly improve how they recognize their targets.

I’ve worked in this area for around 20 years, and this is the first time we’ve had a system that combines strong recognition under physiological conditions with building blocks that are commercially available to other researchers.

Lab-Grown Organs: Revolutionizing Transplants!

Discover the groundbreaking world of lab-grown organs in our latest YouTube Shorts! In “Lab-Grown Organs: Revolutionizing Transplants,” we explore how scientists are utilizing bioprinting, scaffold tissue engineering, and induced pluripotent stem cells to create functional organs like kidneys, livers, and hearts. This innovative approach not only eliminates transplant waiting lists but also uses a patient’s own cells, reducing the risk of rejection. Join us as we unveil the future of organ transplantation and the incredible advancements in organogenesis!

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#LabGrownOrgans #TransplantRevolution #Bioprinting #Organogenesis #MedicalInnovation.

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Mind May Be Older Than the Brain | Michael Levin on Life and Intelligence

Michael Levin is a developmental and synthetic biologist at Tufts University whose work sits at the intersection of biology, bioelectricity, artificial life, regenerative medicine, synthetic biology, computer science, cognitive science, and philosophy of mind. He is known for his research on how cells communicate, make decisions, build bodies, repair tissues, and form collective intelligence through bioelectric signals. His work on Xenobots and Anthrobots has opened new questions about living robots, synthetic life forms, biological machines, morphogenesis, basal cognition, cellular intelligence, regeneration, cancer, aging, and the nature of mind beyond the brain.

In this conversation, Michael Levin and I explore whether mind and intelligence are binary or exist on a continuum, why cognition may be much older than brains, and how systems from cells to humans can pursue goals in different ways. We discuss the TAME framework, the spectrum of persuadability, cognitive light cones, bioelectricity, gap junctions, multicellular intelligence, Xenobots, Anthrobots, kinematic self-replication, neural wound healing, emergence, physicalism, mathematics, Platonic space, algorithms, bubble sort, Turing machines, evolution, human creativity, artificial intelligence, regenerative medicine, and the future of biology. This episode is for anyone interested in philosophy, consciousness, mind, intelligence, synthetic biology, developmental biology, AI, complex systems, evolution, and the deeper question of what it means for matter to become alive, intelligent, or aware.

If you enjoyed the episode, please consider leaving a like, subscribing, and leaving a review on Youtube, Spotify and Apple. #philosophy #science.

Michael’s website: https://drmichaellevin.org/

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James Hughes on Citizen Cyborg: Interrogate and Engage the World

In 2012, I sat down with Dr. James Hughes, bioethicist, sociologist, and executive director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies.

Fourteen years later, the questions we wrestled with have only sharpened.

Why are transhumanist atheists so often drawn to Buddhism? Is optimism rational, or just a posture we adopt to keep moving? What does it mean to redesign the human being, and which democratic institutions are ready to respond when we do?

James does not flinch from any of it. He talks about his first book Citizen Cyborg, the then forthcoming Cyborg Buddha, moral enhancement, animal uplift, and what our actual chances are of surviving the technological singularity.

What struck me most was his refusal to retreat into easy camps.

Not a cheerleader, not a doomsayer. Someone who interrogates the world and engages it on its own terms.

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