Skin fibrosis is a painful condition in which the skin thickens and hardens. New Yale research uncovers its underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms and yields potential targets for treatment: bit.ly/40UInas
People with skin fibrosis experience a painful thickening of the skin, for which there is no treatment. Findings from a Yale study may point the way.
Posted in computing, neuroscience | Leave a Comment on Spatial resource arrangement influences both network structures and activity of fungal mycelia: A form of pattern recognition?
Scientists discovered that a species of fungus can sense its surroundings and make strategic decisions.
A new study suggests that the fungus Phanerochaete velutina might have a surprising ability — recognizing shapes and adjusting its growth strategy accordingly.
Researchers from Tohoku University conducted experiments where the fungus was placed in different spatial arrangements and observed how it spread. Rather than expanding indiscriminately, the mycelium formed connections, retracted excess strands, and focused its foraging in strategic directions.
In circular arrangements, tendrils avoided the center, while in cross-shaped formations, the outermost blocks served as primary hubs for exploration.
This behavior hints at a level of perception and decision-making previously unrecognized in fungi.
Despite today’s AI-driven tools for modeling a bioprocess and a host of sensors to track the progress of a bioprocess in action, an expert’s hand still plays a key role in making protein-based drugs. As Hiller put it: “The science (or art!) of preparing very concentrated feed mixtures often relies on the careful order of addition of chemicals, manipulation of pH (up and down) and temperature, and separate preparation of certain concentrated solutions before addition to the bulk feed mixture.”
Culturing cells always included some art, with a bit of superstition thrown in the mix. When I worked in a cell-culture lab in the early 1980s, there were rumors of cells dying when an incubator was moved from one side of a room to another. So people rarely moved anything. Plus, if the media included horse serum, scientists shuddered if a batch came from a different herd. Maybe some of the superstition disappeared over the decades, but some of the art remains, as Hiller confirmed.
Still, science underlies the ongoing attempt to replicate a cell’s natural environment during a bioprocess. Instead of just putting the cells in a vat filled with medium, which is the essence of batch processing, perfusion can add nutrients and remove waste. As Hiller noted, perfusion culture “is somewhat analogous to the processes that occur for cells within an organ in the body.”
What if the “magic” of tomorrow is just science we don’t yet understand? In this episode, we explore the wildest speculative technologies—faster-than-light travel, Dyson Spheres, teleportation, wormholes, and more. Could these breakthroughs redefine our future or explain the Fermi Paradox? Find out as we dive into the impossible! Watch my exclusive video Big Alien Theory https://nebula.tv/videos/isaacarthur–… Nebula using my link for 40% off an annual subscription: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthur Get a Lifetime Membership to Nebula for only $300: https://go.nebula.tv/lifetime?ref=isa… Use the link gift.nebula.tv/isaacarthur to give a year of Nebula to a friend for just $30. Visit our Website: http://www.isaacarthur.net Join Nebula: https://go.nebula.tv/isaacarthur Support us on Patreon: / isaacarthur Support us on Subscribestar: https://www.subscribestar.com/isaac-a… Facebook Group:
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/ discord Credits: Impossible Technologies: The Clarketech Compendium Episode 486a; February 16, 2025 Written, Produced & Narrated by: Isaac Arthur Editors: Ludwig Luska, Thomas Owen, Lukas Konecny Graphics: Jeremy Jozwik, Ken York YD Visual, Mihail Yordanov, Sergio Botero Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images Music Courtesy of Epidemic Sound http://epidemicsound.com/creator Phase Shift, “Forest Night” Chris Zabriskie, “Unfoldment, Revealment”, “A New Day in a New Sector”, “Oxygen Garden” Stellardrone, “Red Giant”, “Billions and Billions” Lombus, “Hydrogen Sonata” “Cosmic Soup” Segments/Breaks 0:00 Intro 2:00 Defining Clarketech 5:00 Fermi Paradox & Implications 7:59 Ascension Machines & Apotheosis 10:53 Anti-Gravity 13:00 Attotech 14:57 Dark Matter Manipulation 17:02 Disintegration Devices 21:07 Dyson Sphere 25:52 Big Alien Theory 27:17 Entropy Manipulation 32:37 Faster-than-Light Travel (FTL) 35:06 Femtotech 38:36 Field Nullifiers & Amplifiers 41:17 Hammerspace 43:59 Kugelblitz Black Holes 47:36 Magmatter 50:02 Mass Manipulation 52:05 Matter-to-Energy Conversion 56:31 Negative Matter & Mass 58:07 Neutronium 59:47 Parallel Universes & Alternate Realities 1:01:47 Perpetual Motion Machine 1:05:06 Photogravitics & Photoneutrino Devices 1:07:32 Probability Manipulation 1:08:33 Reactionless Drive 1:10:08 SFIA Intermission 1:10:46 Slow Time Fields 1:12:52 Subverse Creation 1:14:11 Technological Suppression Zones 1:16:40 Teleportation & Gateways 1:18:14 Tachyon Tech 1:20:32 Time Manipulation 1:23:27 Utility Fog & Smart Matter 1:27:06 Wormholes 1:28:39 Zero Point Energy 1:30:20 Outro.
Mashour is one of a small set of clinicians and scientists trying to change that. They are increasingly bringing the tools of neuroscience into the operating room to track the brain activity of patients, and testing out anesthesia on healthy study participants. These pioneers aim to learn how to more safely anesthetize their patients, tailoring the dose to individual patients and adjusting during surgery. They also want to better understand what governs the transitions between states of consciousness and even hope to crack the code of coma.
Your brain on anesthesia
Today’s anesthetic arsenal eschews Morton’s original formula for newer, safer drugs. These include ether-based inhalants such as sevoflurane and isoflurane, and the widely used, intravenous anesthetic propofol, all of which wear off faster than early ether-based anesthetics, enabling quicker recovery. (They are also less likely to cause fires and explosions in the operating room, a regular occurrence through the first half of the 20th century.) Despite these improvements, the risks associated with excessive sedation remain high. Depending on the complexity and length of surgery, between 17 and 43 percent of patients may have cognitive problems, typically in memory and executive functions.1 These typically last only one to two weeks after surgery, but few rigorous studies have examined changes in cognitive function in the general population beyond six months after surgery.
As civilizations advance, they may need to migrate across the galaxy, and some researchers speculate they could use their own stars as massive engines.
New research explores the possibility of a binary stellar engine, particularly spider pulsars, as potential propulsion systems. By carefully manipulating these systems, a highly advanced extraterrestrial species.
A species is a group of living organisms that share a set of common characteristics and are able to breed and produce fertile offspring. The concept of a species is important in biology as it is used to classify and organize the diversity of life. There are different ways to define a species, but the most widely accepted one is the biological species concept, which defines a species as a group of organisms that can interbreed and produce viable offspring in nature. This definition is widely used in evolutionary biology and ecology to identify and classify living organisms.
Posted in futurism, robotics/AI | Leave a Comment on Sam Altman says AI is progressing faster than Moore’s law as he predicts AGI is ‘coming into view’, and it’s leaving me worried about the future
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Possible beginnings of the Economic Singularity 🤖
“A seemingly endless wave of mass layoffs is ravaging the tech industry as startup fails skyrocket and tech giants shovel their operating budgets into the AI furnace.”
Silicon Valleys software engineers are finding their previously ironclad careers crumbling under the growing cost of AI development.
