ALS is a cruel disease. It robs the body of its ability to control itself—the ability to move, the ability to communicate. While there are currently no effective treatments to reverse its debilitating symptoms, Allen Institute researchers have opened a window of hope.
For the first time ever, scientists have developed a precise genetic toolkit that can target the exact nerve cells destroyed by the disease and potentially deliver therapies where they are needed most—a discovery that could dramatically speed up the quest for a cure. The findings were recently published in the journal Cell Reports.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive and devastating disease that gradually kills off motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement. As these neurons die, people with ALS lose the ability to move, speak, and eventually breathe. Despite decades of research, there’s still no effective treatment or cure. Unlike many other brain cells, motor neurons in the spinal cord have been extremely hard to reach with genetic tools. This has slowed down research and made it hard to test new treatments in the cells that matter most.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have discovered that cancer can be detected in the bloodstream a full three years before it’s spotted by doctors for an official diagnosis.
As detailed in a partially government-funded study published in the journal Cancer Discovery last month, the team found that genetic material being shed by cancer tumors can show up in the bloodstream far earlier than previously thought, paving the way for promising new cancer screening methods that could potentially head off the disease long before it gets more serious.
In some cases, the advanced detection could make the difference between being able to beat the cancer or not, according to the researchers.
A research team has identified genetic factors that influence the shape of subcortical brain regions—far beyond volume measurements. The results could open up new approaches for the early detection of neurological and mental disorders.
The large-scale study led by Forschungszentrum Jülich, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, and Helmholtz Munich examined the genetic influences on the shape of certain brain regions. The researchers focused on 22 subcortical structures, including the cerebellum. For the analysis, they used data from around 20,000 healthy White-British UK Biobank participants.
The research is published in the journal Science Advances.
Scientists at UCLA and the University of Toronto have developed an advanced computational tool, called moPepGen, that helps identify previously invisible genetic mutations in proteins, unlocking new possibilities in cancer research and beyond.
The tool, described in Nature Biotechnology, will help understand how changes in our DNA affect proteins and ultimately contribute to cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and other conditions. It provides a new way to create diagnostic tests and to find treatment targets previously invisible to researchers.
Proteogenomics combines the study of genomics and proteomics to provide a comprehensive molecular profile of diseases. However, a major challenge has been the inability to accurately detect variant peptides, limiting the ability to identify genetic mutations at the protein level. Existing proteomic tools often fail to capture the full diversity of protein variations.
In this in-depth interview, Joscha Bach shares his insights into AI: what it illuminates about consciousness, how it will develop, and what it means for humanity.
Is AI our only chance at achieving real understanding?
With a free trial, you can watch our full archive of Joscha Bach’s talks and debates at https://iai.tv/home/speakers/joscha-b… Introduction 00:08 What is Artificial General Intelligence, and how far away are we from creating it? 01:08 Do you consider AI humanlike now? 02:43 Why do you defend a computational perspective? 03:44 Is AI the method for the universe to understand itself? 04:26 How is AI transforming society now, and how will it transform society in the next few years? 05:20 Do you think we have the capacity to reconceive how our institutions will function in light of these changes? 06:17 How could AI help us solve the climate crisis, when our biggest problem is inaction? 08:24 Have we become less critical, as a species? 10:40 Would you agree that social media has been detrimental to our society? 12:58 How do you think AGI will be realised? 18:46 What are the differences between evolved systems and designed systems? 20:31 What did you think of the infamous open letter about AI safety? 24:24 How can we solve AI’s misalignment to human values? 25:43 Do you have hope for the future? 27:33 Do you think it’s possible to build a machine that understands? 30:32 Do you think that we are living in base reality? Join cognitive scientist and AI researcher Joscha Bach in this exclusive interview on the limits, risks, and future of AI. From the potential of Artificial General Intelligence to the alignment problem and the fundamental ways AI learns differently from humans, Bach explores whether AI might one day grasp reality on a deeper level than we can. He also examines the systemic failures of institutions in tackling the climate crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing that the internet’s potential for collective intelligence remains largely untapped. Might AI help us overcome these challenges, or does it merely reflect our own limitations? Interviewed by Darcy Bounsall. #ai #agi #artificialintelligence #artificialgeneralintelligence #consciousness #computerscience Joscha Bach is a cognitive scientist, AI researcher, and philosopher whose research aims to bridge cognitive science and AI by studying how human intelligence and consciousness can be modelled computationally. The Institute of Art and Ideas features videos and articles from cutting edge thinkers discussing the ideas that are shaping the world, from metaphysics to string theory, technology to democracy, aesthetics to genetics. Subscribe today! https://iai.tv/subscribe?utm_source=Y… For debates and talks: https://iai.tv For articles: https://iai.tv/articles For courses: https://iai.tv/iai-academy/courses.
00:00 Introduction. 00:08 What is Artificial General Intelligence, and how far away are we from creating it? 01:08 Do you consider AI humanlike now? 02:43 Why do you defend a computational perspective? 03:44 Is AI the method for the universe to understand itself? 04:26 How is AI transforming society now, and how will it transform society in the next few years? 05:20 Do you think we have the capacity to reconceive how our institutions will function in light of these changes? 06:17 How could AI help us solve the climate crisis, when our biggest problem is inaction? 08:24 Have we become less critical, as a species? 10:40 Would you agree that social media has been detrimental to our society? 12:58 How do you think AGI will be realised? 18:46 What are the differences between evolved systems and designed systems? 20:31 What did you think of the infamous open letter about AI safety? 24:24 How can we solve AI’s misalignment to human values? 25:43 Do you have hope for the future? 27:33 Do you think it’s possible to build a machine that understands? 30:32 Do you think that we are living in base reality?
Join cognitive scientist and AI researcher Joscha Bach in this exclusive interview on the limits, risks, and future of AI. From the potential of Artificial General Intelligence to the alignment problem and the fundamental ways AI learns differently from humans, Bach explores whether AI might one day grasp reality on a deeper level than we can. He also examines the systemic failures of institutions in tackling the climate crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing that the internet’s potential for collective intelligence remains largely untapped. Might AI help us overcome these challenges, or does it merely reflect our own limitations?
Cancer plasticity allows tumor cells to change their identity, evade therapies, and adapt to environmental pressures, contributing to treatment resistance and metastasis. New research is targeting this adaptability through epigenetic drugs, immune checkpoint inhibitors, and strategies to limit phenotypic switching.
Cells are constantly subjected to DNA damage from a range of internal and environmental sources. It is estimated that cells can experience as many as 100,000 DNA lesions per day. One of the most deleterious types of DNA lesions is the DNA double-strand break (DSB). Just one unrepaired DNA DSB may be enough to cause mutations or cell death leading to a wide range of pathologies including cancer, immune deficiency, premature aging and neurodegeneration.
To respond to the array of DNA lesions that occur, cells have developed a complex and coordinated series of steps involving DNA damage recognition, cell cycle arrest and signaling-induced activation of the DNA repair machinery—processes collectively referred to as the DNA damage response (DDR). In recent years, progress has been made in understanding how this process is initiated. However, the later stages of this process, including long range DNA end-resection, are not well understood.
In a new study published in Nature Cell Biology, researchers from Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School, identified several uncharacterized chromatin factors (proteins that regulate gene expression) that are recruited to sites of DNA damage, including the gene ZNF280A. Importantly, this gene is hemizygously deleted—meaning one of the two copies of alleles is missing—in a subset of patients with a human developmental syndrome called 22q11.2 distal deletion syndrome.
The study provides critical new insights into the African Humid Period, a time between 14,500 and 5,000 years ago when the Sahara desert was a green savanna, rich in water bodies that facilitated human habitation and the spread of pastoralism. Later aridification turned this region into the world’s largest desert. Due to the extreme aridity of the region today, DNA preservation is poor, making this pioneering ancient DNA study all the more significant.
Genomic analyses reveal that the ancestry of the Takarkori rock shelter individuals primarily derives from a North African lineage that diverged from sub-Saharan African populations at about the same time as the modern human lineages that spread outside of Africa around 50,000 years ago. The newly described lineage remained isolated, revealing deep genetic continuity in North Africa during the late Ice Age. While this lineage no longer exists in unadmixed form, this ancestry is still a central genetic component of present-day North African people, highlighting their unique heritage.
An international team led by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, has sequenced the first ancient genomes from the so-called Green Sahara, a period when the largest desert in the world temporarily turned into a humid savanna-like environment. By analyzing the DNA of two 7,000-year-old naturally mummified individuals excavated in the Takarkori rock shelter in southwestern Libya by the Archaeological Mission in the Sahara, Sapienza University of Rome, the team showed that they belonged to a long-isolated and now extinct North African human lineage. This group of cattle pastoralists has only a minor genetic component of non-African ancestry, suggesting that animal husbandry may have spread into the Green Sahara through cultural exchange rather than large-scale migrations.
A newly discovered mechanism that leads to liver dysfunction may be a key factor in type 2 diabetes and other metabolic disorders in individuals with obesity, according to a new study led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The dysfunction identified—dysregulated hepatic coenzyme Q metabolism—leads to excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by mitochondria at a single specific site in an enzyme called complex I. The researchers say the discovery offers a potential path for new, precise treatments for metabolic diseases.
“Our findings provide the first step toward solving a complex problem in the field of metabolic disease research that has stood for three decades,” said corresponding author Gökhan S. Hotamisligil, James Stevens Simmons Professor of Genetics and Metabolism.
Dr. Mohammed Enayat has access to all sorts of experimental antiaging treatments at his clinic, but a core part of his longevity routine is pretty cheap and accessible: supplements.
Enayat told Business Insider that his most recent “biological age” tests, taken 18 months ago, said he was 24, or 17 years younger than his chronological age of 41. There’s no consensus on how to define or measure biological age, but Enayat used GlycanAge and TruAge PACE, which measure inflammation and epigenetics, respectively.
The primary care doctor, who’s also the founder of London’s Hum2n longevity clinic, has been closely tracking his health for the past seven years, using wearable tech, including an Oura ring and a Whoop strap, plus regular blood, urine, and microbiome tests.
