Physicists have long puzzled over whether black holes destroy information or conserve it – now a proposed lab experiment could use a plasma wave to find out.
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Scientists have engineered the first ever ‘semi-synthetic’ organisms, by breeding E. coli bacteria with an expanded, six-letter genetic code.
While every living thing on Earth is formed according to a DNA code made up of four bases (represented by the letters G, T, C and A), these modified E. coli carry an entirely new type of DNA, with two additional DNA bases, X and Y, nestled in their genetic code.
The team, led by Floyd Romesberg from the Scripps Research Institute in California, engineered synthetic nucleotides — molecules that serve as the building blocks of DNA and RNA — to create an additional base pair, and they’ve successfully inserted this into the E. coli’s genetic code.
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For D-Wave, the path to quantum computers being widely accepted is similar to the history of today’s computers. The first chips came more than 30 years ago, and Microsoft’s Basic expanded the software infrastructure around PCs.
Quantum computers are a new type of computer that can be significantly faster than today’s PCs. They are still decades away from replacing PCs and going mainstream, but more advanced hardware and use models are still emerging.
“A lot of that is unfolding and will have a similar dramatic change in the computing landscape,” Vern Brownell, D-Wave’s CEO, said in an interview.
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Back in September, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative – the philanthropic company set up by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan – set a goal to invest $3 billion to cure, prevent, and manage disease by the end of the century.
The company has taken a huge first step toward the objective by partnering with scientists, doctors, engineers, and other key stakeholders. With the acquisition of Toronto-based company, Meta, the team is moving even closer to their goal by creating tools and technology designed to empower the scientific community.
Meta is a research paper search engine that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver the most relevant results to researchers. Following this acquisition, the Chan Zuckerberg initiative will enhance the service before eventually rolling it out for free.
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