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An oil tanker abandoned and anchored in the Red Sea could produce an oil spill that would spread over the southern half of the body of water and block ports, close desalination plants, and produce a food and water crisis for the people of Yemen.


A UN rescue plan for the rusting tanker off Yemen’s coast has ballooned in cost to $129 million. So far money raised is $34 million short.

March 24, 2023 – At least half a million urinary tract infections are caused by eating meat contaminated with E.coli bacteria, a new study reports.

E.coli is the most common bacteria to cause urinary tract infections, and it usually lives harmlessly in the human intestinal tract, although it is well-known to be a source of food poisoning.

“Most people understand that eating uncooked meat, or accidentally ingesting bacteria from meat, can cause you to have an upset stomach,” said researcher Lance B. Price, a professor at George Washington University, according to The Washington Post. “But now we also know that specific varieties of E. coli, coming from raw meat, are also causing hundreds of thousands of UTIs.”

More magnesium in our daily diet leads to better brain health as we age, according to scientists from the Neuroimaging and Brain Lab at The Australian National University (ANU).

The researchers say increased intake of -rich foods such as spinach and nuts could also help reduce the risk of dementia, which is the second leading cause of death in Australia and the seventh biggest killer globally.

The study of more than 6,000 cognitively healthy participants in the United Kingdom aged 40 to 73 found people who consume more than 550 milligrams of magnesium each day have a brain age that is approximately one year younger by the time they reach 55 compared with someone with a normal magnesium intake of about 350 milligrams a day.

Genetic Engineering extends far beyond the controversial news headlines that obsess over ‘designer babies’. In the science community, gene-editing tools like CRISPR and PRIME editing will do nothing less than save the planet.

The Rise Of Genetic Engineering (2022)
Writers: Kyle McCabe, Christopher Webb Young.
Stars: Rodolphe Barrangou, George Church, Mary Beth Dallas.
Genre: Documentary.
Country: United States.
Language: English.
Release Date: August 24, 2022 (United States)

Synopsis:
Genetic Engineering extends far beyond the controversial news headlines that obsess over ‘designer babies’. In the science community, gene-editing tools like CRISPR and PRIME editing will do nothing less than save the planet.

Methods like this allow scientists to alter and ‘re-program’ the genetics of living organisms.

This episode shows scientists at large using gene-editing technologies to revolutionize the food supply chain, bolstering food crops to prevent famines, and even speed up reforestation efforts that will reverse global warming. Genetic Engineering in farm animals is helping scientists to ‘select’ desirable traits, like physical features and gender. Incredibly, one scientist is using gene-editing technologies to resurrect the DNA of extinct species, like the Wooly Mammoth!

Despite some public concern, gene-editing is definitely a cause for hope in the fight against genetic disorders in humans. It’s already reversing a type of congenital blindness in children. And with the hyper-precision afforded by PRIME editing being prepared for clinical trials, a much more hopeful world will be revealed for families in the future.

Growing brains can be a tricky process, but growing ones that can make muscles move? That’s an incredible feat. Here’s how scientists did it.

How Close Are We to Farming Human Body Parts? — https://youtu.be/oRHxX9OW9ow.

Cerebral organoids at the air-liquid interface generate nerve tracts with functional output.
https://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/cerebral-organoids-at-the-air…al-output/
“The capacity for this model to be used to investigate the way in which neurons connect up within the brain and with the spinal cord could have important implications for our understanding of a range of diseases. In particular defects in neuronal connectivity are thought to underlie various psychiatric illnesses, including schizophrenia, autism, and depression. ”

Cerebral organoids at the air–liquid interface generate diverse nerve tracts with functional output.
https://www.readcube.com/articles/10.1038/s41593-019-0350-2
“Finally, through electrophysiological and co-culture studies, we demonstrate functionality of these tracts, which are even capable of eliciting coordinated muscle contractions in co-cultured mouse spinal cord–muscle explants. This approach is likely to be a useful new tool, not only because of its ease, but also due to its util-ity in studying axon guidance, tract formation, and connectivity in a human system”

What’s Wrong With Growing Blobs of Brain Tissue?
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/04/what-hap…ns/558881/
“The stuff we really care about in the brain, like consciousness, are emergent phenomena—they arise from the collective workings of individual neurons, which create a whole that’s greater than the sum of its parts. The problem is that we don’t know at what level these phenomena emerge. A neuron is not conscious. A person is. What about all the steps in the middle? What about 2 million neurons? 20 million? 200 million?”

Elements is more than just a science show. It’s your science-loving best friend, tasked with keeping you updated and interested on all the compelling, innovative and groundbreaking science happening all around us. Join our passionate hosts as they help break down and present fascinating science, from quarks to quantum theory and beyond.

Food tech startup Farther Farms has developed a process that keeps foods that would normally need to be refrigerated or frozen fresh at room temperature — and their first product is a bag of shelf-stable French fries.

The cold chain: Microorganisms are a major cause of food spoilage, and they thrive at room temperature. By keeping some foods cold, we can slow the growth of these microbes, extending the life of the food.

To do that, the foods must be prepared, shipped, and stored along a temperature-controlled supply chain (a “cold chain”). If the cold chain is broken at any point along the way, the food may quickly become unsafe to eat.

GARMI will also serve meals, open a bottle of water and place emergency calls.

Robots are gradually making their way into a variety of industries, from restaurant service to healthcare. Scientists have been working hard to rapidly expand robot capabilities, and it is clear that robotics will shape our daily lives in the near future.

Now, it’s time to meet “GARMI”. This white-colored humanoid which has come to the aid of doctors, nurses, and elderly citizens in need.


CHRISTOF STACHE — AFP/Getty Images.

Medicine and elderly healthcare could benefit the most from robotics advancements.

ChatGPT launched a tide wave of interest in AI. For many consumers, AI is finally living up to long overdue expectations. The accomplishments of ChatGPT in a short period of time are phenomenal. But what is yet to come when AI is combined with robotics will change everything.

I have been promoting the advances in robotics for several years. I even called 2022 the year of robotics, partially because of the growing need to overcome shortages in labor and to handle tasks beyond the physical or mental capability of humans, and partially because of the continued advances that AI, accelerated processing, semiconductor, sensors, wireless connectivity, and software technologies are enabling to develop advanced, autonomous machines. Robots are no longer just for the manufacturing floor. They are hazardous material handlers, janitors, personal assistants, food preparers, food deliverers, security guards, and even surgeons that are increasingly autonomous. Essentially, they are AI in the physical world. As a result, robot competitions are heating up from middle schools to Las Vegas.

As seen at CES, robotics technology is advancing rapidly with advances in technology. My favorite examples were the multi-configurable Yarbo outdoor robot and the John Deere See & Spray. Yarbo can be a mower, a leaf blower, or a snow blower. If it could dispose of animal excrement and the annoying neighbor, it would be perfect yard tool. On the other end of the spectrum was the John Deere See & Spray Ultimate, a tractor with up to a 120-foot (36.6m) reach that uses AI/ML to detect weeds smaller than the size of a smart phone camera and spray herbicide accordingly. John Deere also offers self-drive tractors.

A system of robots that harvest and transport crops on their own without human assistance has been developed for use in agricultural facilities such as smart farms.

The research team under Choi Tae-yong, principal researcher at the AI Robot Research Division’s Department of Robotics and Mechatronics of the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, an institution under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Science and ICT, has developed a multiple-robot system for harvesting crops.

This technology can be used to help at agricultural sites where there is a noticeable shortage of manpower by harvesting crops through an automated system. This system also includes robots that use autonomous driving technology to then transport the harvested crops to loading docks.