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Category: biotech/medical – Page 2,419

Elon Musk Wants You to Watch ‘Do You Trust This Computer?’ in Memory of Stephen Hawking, and It’s Free.

Because “nothing will affect the future of humanity more than digital super-intelligence,” Elon Musk thinks you should watch Chris Paine’s artificial-intelligence movie “Do You Trust This Computer?” And, wouldn’t you know it, the film is streaming for free until later tonight.

Here’s the synopsis: “Science fiction has long anticipated the rise of machine intelligence. Today, a new generation of self-learning computers has begun to reshape every aspect of our lives. Incomprehensible amounts of data are being created, interpreted, and fed back to us in a tsunami of apps, personal assistants, smart devices, and targeted advertisements. Virtually every industry on earth is experiencing this transformation, from job automation to medical diagnostics, even military operations. ‘Do You Trust This Computer?’ explores the promises and perils of our new era. Will A.I. usher in an age of unprecedented potential, or prove to be our final invention?”

Nothing will affect the future of humanity more than digital super-intelligence. Watch Chris Paine’s new AI movie for free until Sunday night at http://doyoutrustthiscomputer.org/watch

Continue reading “Do You Trust This Computer” | >

Cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) is one of the most commonly associated causes of age-related dementia and stroke. New research, led by the University of Edinburgh, may have finally uncovered the mechanism by which SVD causes brain cell damage, as well as a potential treatment to prevent the damage, and possibly even reverse it.

SVD is thought to be responsible for up to 45 percent of dementia cases, and the vast majority of senior citizens are suspected of displaying some sign of the condition. One study strikingly found up to 95 percent of subjects between the ages of 60 and 90 displayed some sign of SVD when examined through MRI scans.

The new research set out to examine early pathological features of SVD and found that dysfunction in endothelial cells are some of the first signs of the disease’s degenerative progression. These are cells that line small blood vessels in the brain and, in early stages of SVD, they secrete a protein that impairs production of myelin, a compound essential for the protection of brain cells.

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The world’s most powerful tractor beam just lifted a 2 centimeter ball, but could it make levitating humans a reality?

One Shot Could Provide All the Vaccines You’ll Ever Need — https://youtu.be/qQ1VKYX4Vl0

Thumbnail image courtesy of University of Bristol.

The world’s most powerful acoustic tractor beam could pave the way for levitating humans.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180121221627.htm
“Acoustic tractor beams use the power of sound to hold particles in mid-air, and unlike magnetic levitation, they can grab most solids or liquids. For the first time University of Bristol engineers have shown it is possible to stably trap objects larger than the wavelength of sound in an acoustic tractor beam.”

Weaponizing Sound: How a ‘Silent’ Sonic Weapon Might Work
https://www.seeker.com/tech/weaponizing-sound-how-a-sonic-weapon-might-work
“A super secret sonic weapon being used to attack diplomats in a foreign country may sound like the start of a sci-fi novel, but that’s exactly what several US diplomats in Cuba may have been exposed to, the US State Department recently announced.”

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A team of scientists, looking to figure out how hardy little creatures known as archaea thrive in boiling, volcanic pools of sulfuric acid like they were hot tubs, may have uncovered the key to an anti-aging drug. By manipulating a so-called “super hero” protein common to both archaea and humans, the researchers found a way to “trick” cells into acting younger by keeping the DNA repairing process running much longer than usual.

In previous studies, the researchers examined how archaea have managed to survive in such harsh conditions for billions of years. Eventually they determined that a protein called ssB1 was responsible by helping the organisms repair damage to their DNA. The team says the real eureka moment came when they discovered that we humans have our own versions of this protein, hSSB1.

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A new study by Caltech researchers has shown that the A.I. they created is fully capable of reading handwritten numbers.

Scientists have been able to create a completely artificial neural network by using DNA and a test tube, and the results of this AI experiment have been nothing short of astonishing.

During experiments, this artificial intelligence was able to accurately assess handwritten numbers, with scientists suggesting that this research shows that humans are edging ever closer to taking AI and placing it in organic circuits, as the Daily Mail reports.

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A vaccine against HIV is on the horizon after scientists showed a new drug triggered a protective immune response in humans and stopped two thirds of monkeys becoming infected.

In the 35 years since the HIV epidemic began, just four vaccines have been tested on humans, with the best only lowering infection rates by 31 per cent, leading to trials being discontinued.

But in what was described as “promising” and “an important milestone”, an international team of scientists showed that the new vaccine boosted the immune systems of nearly 400 healthy adults.

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Canadian researchers have discovered a new and direct molecular mechanism to stop cancer cells from proliferating. In the prestigious journal Nature Cell Biology, scientists from Université de Montréal show that a disruption of a fine balance in the composition of ribosomes (huge molecules that translate the genetic code into proteins) results in a shutdown of cancer cell proliferation, triggering a process called senescence.

“Ribosomes are complex machines composed of both RNAs and proteins that make all the proteins necessary for to grow,” said UdeM biochemistry professor Gerardo Ferbeyre, the study’s senior author. Cancer cells grow and proliferate relentlessly and thus require a massive amount of ribosomes, he explained. Growing cells must coordinate the production of both ribosomal RNAs and ribosomal proteins in order to assemble them together in strict proportion to each other.

“We were surprised, however, to find that if the production of ribosomal RNA– proportions are driven out of balance in a cancer cell, proliferation can be shut down by in a very simple and direct manner,” said Ferbeyre.

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