Researchers have the molecular structure of telomerase. This should speed up the discovery of the best activators and inhibitors of telomerase.
Good activators of telomerase has been shown to boost the lifespan of mice by 20%.
Nature – Cryo-EM structure of substrate-bound human telomerase holoenzyme.
Professor Daniel Kahneman was awarded a Nobel Prize for his work on the psychology of judgment and decision-making, as well as behavioral economics. In this age of human/machine collaboration and shared learning, IDE Director, Erik Brynjolfsson, asked Kahneman about the perils, as well as the potential, of machine-based decision-making. The conversation took place at a recent conference, The Future of Work: Capital Markets, Digital Assets, and the Disruption of Labor, in New York City. Some key highlights follow.
P rofessor Daniel Kahneman was awarded a Nobel Prize for his work on the psychology of judgment and decision-making, as well as behavioral economics. In this age of human/machine collaboration and shared learning, IDE Director, Erik Brynjolfsson, asked Kahneman about the perils, as well as the potential, of machine-based decision-making. The conversation took place at a recent conference, The Future of Work: Capital Markets, Digital Assets, and the Disruption of Labor, in New York City. Some key highlights follow.
Erik Brynjolfsson: We heard today about algorithmic bias and about human biases. You are one of the world’s experts on human biases, and you’re writing a new book on the topic. What are the bigger risks — human or the algorithmic biases?
Daniel Kahneman: It’s pretty obvious that it would be human biases, because you can trace and analyze algorithms.
Business Impact
How the nature of cause and effect will determine the future of quantum technology.
An unprecedented, global-scale test of one of quantum theory’s most counterintuitive predictions sheds new light on the nature of reality and how we can exploit it with quantum technologies.
Aurora Flight Services’ Autonomous Aerial Cargo Utility System (AACUS) took another step forward as an AACUS-enabled UH-1H helicopter autonomously delivered 520 lb (236 kg) of water, gasoline, MREs, communications gear, and a cooler capable of carrying urgent supplies such as blood to US Marines in the field.
Last week’s demonstration at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms in California was the first ever autonomous point-to-point cargo resupply mission to Marines and was carried out as part of an Integrated Training Exercise. The completion of what has been billed as the system’s first closed-loop mission involved the modified helicopter carrying out a full cargo resupply operation that included takeoff and landing with minimal human intervention.
Developed as part of a US$98-million project by the US Office of Naval Research (ONR), AACUS is an autonomous flight system that can be retrofitted to existing helicopters to make them pilot optional. The purpose of AACUS is to provide the US armed forces with logistical support in the field with a minimum of hazard to human crews.
Nathalie Mezza-Garcia is a political scientist turned “seavangelesse” — her term for an evangelist in favor of living off the grid — and on the ocean.
Mezza-Garcia spoke with CNBC’s Matthew Taylor about what she sees as the trouble with governments, and why she believes tech startups should head to Tahiti.
This seavangelesse is a researcher for the Blue Frontiers and Seasteading Institute’s highly-anticipated Floating Island Project.
Posted in robotics/AI
We propose a method that can generate soft segments, i.e. layers that represent the semantically meaningful regions as well as the soft transitions between them, automatically by fusing high-level and low-level image features in a single graph structure. The semantic soft segments, visualized by assigning each segment a solid color, can be used as masks for targeted image editing tasks, or selected layers can be used for compositing after layer color estimation.
Abstract
Accurate representation of soft transitions between image regions is essential for high-quality image editing and compositing. Current techniques for generating such representations depend heavily on interaction by a skilled visual artist, as creating such accurate object selections is a tedious task. In this work, we introduce semantic soft segments, a set of layers that correspond to semantically meaningful regions in an image with accurate soft transitions between different objects. We approach this problem from a spectral segmentation angle and propose a graph structure that embeds texture and color features from the image as well as higher-level semantic information generated by a neural network. The soft segments are generated via eigendecomposition of the carefully constructed Laplacian matrix fully automatically. We demonstrate that otherwise complex image editing tasks can be done with little effort using semantic soft segments.
At the cellular level, aging and cancer are two sides of the same coin. The mechanism that limits a cell’s lifespan can be slowed down, but that can turn them cancerous, as they divide unchecked. Now, scientists at EPFL have found a way to manipulate that mechanism to effectively turn off cancer’s immortality, letting it die slowly and naturally.
Every time a cell divides, it consults the blueprints contained in the chromosomes, but some genetic information is lost with every division. To protect the important bits, the tips of the chromosomes are covered with repeating sequences of “junk” DNA known as telomeres. Eventually even they erode away, leaving the cell vulnerable to damage – which we recognize as wrinkles, grey hairs, decreased metabolism, and higher chances of disease. In that way, telomere length is inextricably linked to aging.
An international team of astronomers has completed the most comprehensive ultraviolet survey of the local universe to date, with the help of the venerated Hubble Space Telescope. The newly-released survey data will help scientists to better understand how stars come to form, and the processes by which galaxies like our own Milky Way evolve over time.
Found in turmeric, curcumin has previously been shown to have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties in lab studies. It also has been suggested as a possible reason that senior citizens in India, where curcumin is a dietary staple, have a lower prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease and better cognitive performance.
“Exactly how curcumin exerts its effects is not certain, but it may be due to its ability to reduce brain inflammation, which has been linked to both Alzheimer’s disease and major depression,” said Dr. Gary Small, director of geriatric psychiatry at UCLA’s Longevity Center and of the geriatric psychiatry division at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, and the study’s first author.
The double-blind, placebo-controlled study involved 40 adults between the ages of 50 and 90 years who had mild memory complaints. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either a placebo or 90 milligrams of curcumin twice daily for 18 months.
Insect-sized flying robots could help with time-consuming tasks like surveying crop growth on large farms or sniffing out gas leaks. These robots soar by fluttering tiny wings because they are too small to use propellers, like those seen on their larger drone cousins. Small size is advantageous: These robots are cheap to make and can easily slip into tight places that are inaccessible to big drones.
But current flying robo-insects are still tethered to the ground. The electronics they need to power and control their wings are too heavy for these miniature robots to carry.
Now, engineers at the University of Washington have for the first time cut the cord and added a brain, allowing their RoboFly to take its first independent flaps. This might be one small flap for a robot, but it’s one giant leap for robot-kind. The team will present its findings May 23 at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Brisbane, Australia.
