How to prove an alien is alien: every astrobiologist wants to find an alien. But the public should be skeptical when the “aliens” look like tiny humans… and aliens would most likely not have DNA, but some other way to transfer information.
Posted on BigThink.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkY1pR6zmpg
Can artificial intelligence, or AI, make it possible for us to live forever? Or at least, be preserved for posterity? What are the current developments in the fields of artificial intelligence and biotechnology?
Will humanity exist without biological bodies, in the near future? Could humans and AI merge into one being? This documentary explores these questions, and more.
Continue reading “AI and the quest for immortality — are we defeating death?” »
In 2022, a team of researchers at Baylor College of Medicine discovered that a little-known enzyme called MAPK4 is involved in the growth of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) and its resistance to certain therapies. Looking into the details of this novel role of MAPK4, the researchers have now identified a strategy that can potentially control MAPK4-promoted growth in TNBC and other cancers. The study, published in PLOS Biology, opens new options for treating this devastating disease.
“Some cancers depend on MAPK4 for their growth, and our team studies cellular processes or pathways that participate in MAPK4-induced cancer growth,” said corresponding author Dr. Feng Yang, associate professor of pathology and immunology and of molecular and cellular biology. He also is a member of the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor.
Yang and his team knew that in some TNBC cases, MAPK4 activates an enzyme called AKT, which promotes cancer growth. They also knew that in the same cells, another enzyme called PDK1 can also promote cancer growth by activating both AKT and a series of other enzymes of the AGC group. This PDK1-mediated activation of AGC enzymes mostly depends on the amount of PDK1 in the cell.
The number of kids being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has risen sharply in recent decades, and a new study points to the common plastic additive bisphenol A (BPA) as a potential reason why.
BPA is used in a lot of plastics and plastic production processes, and can also be found inside food and drink cans. However, previous research has also linked it to health issues involving hormone disruption, including breast cancer and infertility.
In this new study, researchers from Rowan University and Rutgers University in the US looked at three groups of children: 66 with autism, 46 with ADHD, and 37 neurotypical kids. In particular, they analyzed the process of glucuronidation, a chemical process the body uses to clear out toxins within the blood through urine.
While the bacteria in the intestine are helpful for digesting food and fighting infections, they have long been suspected to play an essential role in triggering rheumatoid arthritis. This chronic inflammatory disorder affects the joints.
Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered a link between an abundance of specific gut bacteria and the triggering of an immune response against a person’s tissue. They also found that this happens even before the clinical symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis appear. They published their findings from the study in Science Advances.
“As we age, our gut bacteria and their byproducts change, which impacts our immune system,” says senior author Veena Taneja, Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic immunologist. There is a known link between imbalances in gut bacteria, aging, and rheumatoid arthritis, but it is challenging to prove this connection in humans. “This research sheds light on the complex relationship between gut microbiota and rheumatoid arthritis.”
Spiders are incredibly hard to cultivate — let alone farm.
Spider silk, a natural polymeric fiber, breaks this rule. It is somehow both strong and tough. No surprise, then, that spider silk is a source of much study.
The problem, though, is that spiders are incredibly hard to cultivate — let alone farm. If you put them together, they will attack and kill each other until only one or a few survive. If you put 100 spiders in an enclosed space, they will go about an aggressive, arachnocidal Hunger Games. You need to give each its own space and boundaries, and a spider hotel is hard and costly. Silkworms, on the other hand, are peaceful and productive. They’ll hang around all day to make the silk that has been used in textiles for centuries. But silkworm silk is fragile. It has very limited use.
Researchers say they have linked shorter telomeres on white blood cells to higher dementia risk, although outside experts say there are limitations to this study.
Driving Forces Behind the Growth in UAE’s Life Sciences Industry: the latest from the Life Sciences Division of Deep Knowledge Group created by Deep Knowledge Group, Aging Analytics Agency, Deep Pharma Intelligence, NeuroTech.com, FemTech Analytics, and Deep Knowledge Analytics:
Population Aging: With the world’s population getting older, the demand for medical services is soaring. The UAE is no exception, and this demographic shift is a key driver of growth in the life sciences sector.
New Machines and Drugs: Constant innovation is driving the development of new treatments and drugs to address previously unmet health needs. This not only enhances patient care but also sparks technological… More.
A breakthrough technique developed by University of Oxford researchers could one day provide tailored repairs for those who suffer brain injuries. The researchers have demonstrated for the first time that neural cells can be 3D-printed to mimic the architecture of the cerebral cortex. The results have been published in the journal Nature Communications.
Brain injuries, including those caused by trauma, stroke, and surgery for brain tumors, typically result in significant damage to the cerebral cortex (the outer layer of the human brain), leading to difficulties in cognition, movement and communication. For example, each year, around 70 million people globally suffer from traumatic brain injury (TBI), with 5 million of these cases being severe or fatal. Currently, there are no effective treatments for severe brain injuries, leading to serious impacts on quality of life.
Tissue regenerative therapies, especially those in which patients are given implants derived from their own stem cells, could be a promising route to treat brain injuries in the future. Up to now, however, there has been no method to ensure that implanted stem cells mimic the architecture of the brain.
US biotech Immunis has developed an “immunomodulatory secretome” technology targeting age-related immune decline. With preclinical studies showing benefit in muscular atrophy, metabolic and vascular function, tissue inflammation, and immune cell function in a range of age-related disease indications, the Californian company is currently engaged in its first in-human clinical trial for muscle atrophy.
Longevity. Technology: The secretome refers to the substances that are secreted (released) by cells – exosomes, micro-vesicles, proteins, growth factors, hormones, cytokines, and other substances. The secretome is known to play a role in helping repair and regenerate our bodies, but these beneficial secreted factors decline with age. Immunis has developed a novel method to isolate secreted cellular factors that benefit immune system development, modulation, and health – and replenish them. To find out more about the company and its technology, we spoke to its Chairman, Dr Hans Keirstead.
Keirstead is a renowned stem cell expert and serial entrepreneur, founding and successfully exiting several biotech companies in the stem cell space. Back in the early days of the field, he became the first neuroscientist in the world to work with human stem cells.
