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The field of Artificial Intelligence was founded in the mid 1950s with the aim of constructing “thinking machines” — that is to say, computer systems with human-like general intelligence. Think of humanoid robots that not only look but act and think with intelligence equal to and ultimately greater than that of human beings. But in the intervening years, the field has drifted far from its ambitious old-fashioned roots.

Continue reading “#58 Dr. Ben Goertzel — Artificial General Intelligence” »

Artificial Intelligence is pretty much THE HOLY GRAIL of Future Technologies.
There is no big Company nor University, which is not working on the development of Artificial Intelligence.
Role models are often the superior performance of the biological brain, but that’s also a lot of work.
So a development team in Australia therefore wants to save tedious development time and insert brain cells into Computers!
You may think that sounds crazy?
But their first prototype is already learning faster than traditional Artificial Intelligences of computers.

How did they even do that? This is exactly what we will talk about in this video.

The Virus Zoo is my latest educational blog post! I’ve written up ~1 page ‘cheat sheets’ on the molecular biology of specific viruses. I cover genome, structure, and life cycle. So far, my zoo includes adeno-associated virus (AAV), adenovirus, and herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1). However, I plan to add more viruses as time goes on! Some others I would like to incorporate later are coronavirus, HIV, anellovirus, lentivirus, ebolavirus, and MS2 bacteriophage. Feel free to suggest other interesting viruses in the comments! All images were created by me. #virology #molecularbiology #biotechnology #genetherapy #virus #biochemistry #genetics

Genome and Structure:

AAV genomes are about 4.7 kb in length and are composed of ssDNA. Inverted terminal repeats (ITRs) form hairpin structures at ends of the genome. These ITR structures are important for AAV genomic packaging and replication. Rep genes (encoded via overlapping reading frames) include Rep78, Rep68, Rep52, Rep40.¹ These proteins facilitate replication of the viral genome. As a Dependoparvovirus, additional helper functions from adenovirus (or certain other viruses) are needed for AAVs to replicate.

Continue reading “The Virus Zoo: A Quick Primer on Molecular Virology” »

Click on photo to start video.

Back in March this year, a study published in Evolutionary Biology claimed that fossils categorized as Tyrannosaurus rex represent three separate species. However, a new study published on July 25 in Evolutionary Biology refutes this claim and suggests that the previous research lacked evidence and Tyrannosaurus rex is made of only one species.

The previously controversial research implied that T. rex should be reclassified as three different species, including the standard T. rex, the bulkier “T. imperator,” and the slimmer “T. regina.” Researchers analyzed 38 T. rex fossils that contained leg bones and teeth samples, a press release revealed.

However, paleontologists at the American Museum of Natural History and Carthage College were determined to review the data of the previous research, adding data points from 112 species of living dinosaurs—birds—and from four non-avian theropod dinosaurs.

Circa 2013

What if your running shoes could really adapt to your feet — and not just in the way that footwear retailers describe to solidify sales. These cutting-edge Protocells Trainers present the fascinating possibilities of wearable living materials that can grow, modify and repair themselves through continuous use.

Shamees Aden has been working with Dr. Martin Hanczyc on these innovative kicks, developing a synthetic biological substance that could be 3D printed to fit the wearer’s feet like gloves. The composite organic fabric would provide surface protection to toes and soles, yet it could also offer support skeletal and muscular. The anatomical tissue of the Protocells Trainers would thicken in areas that experience more pressure, and they could heal their own tears while bottled in a special solution overnight.

Circa 2016

Penn State scientists made a coating that allows conventional textiles used in everyday clothing to patch themselves up. Derived from squid ring teeth, the coating can turn virtually any fabric into a self-healing one. Simply adding water is enough to kick start the repairing process.

Continue reading “Self-healing textiles means you don’t have to throw away your torn jeans — just add water” »

A panel of experts agrees and disagrees on exactly which parts of biology we should be taking inspiration from for neuromorphic technologies.

To understand the architecture of human language, it is critical to examine diverse languages; however, most cognitive neuroscience research has focused on only a handful of primarily Indo-European languages. Here we report an investigation of the fronto-temporo-parietal language network across 45 languages and establish the robustness to cross-linguistic variation of its topography and key functional properties, including left-lateralization, strong functional integration among its brain regions and functional selectivity for language processing. fMRI reveals similar topography, selectivity and inter-connectedness of language brain areas across 45 languages. These properties may allow the language system to handle the shared features of languages, shaped by biological and cultural evolution.