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A team of scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison claim to have 3D-printed functional human brain tissue for the first time.

They hope their research could open the doors for the development of treatments for existing neurological disorders, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

As detailed in a new paper published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, the team flipped the usual method of 3D-printing on its side, fabricating horizontal layers of brain cells encased in soft “bio-ink” gel.

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Kickstarter has been the graveyard for several high-profile 3D printers. The crowdfunding platform has also introduced numerous subpar 3D printers, alongside some truly outstanding ones. It was on Kickstarter that Formlabs soared to remarkable heights. The platform also brought us the 3D printing pen. There was a period when a new 3D printing project on Kickstarter emerged every week, but both Kickstarter and additive manufacturing (AM) have become considerably less bustling recently. In 2014, things were simpler, as there were far fewer 3D printers available. Now, with the advent of Bambu Labs and sophisticated open-source 3D printers like Prusas, making a significant impact has become much more challenging. NAW 3D is currently attempting to enter the market with a pellet 3D printer on Kickstarter.

The N300 Pellet 3D Printer

NAW3D’s N300 Desktop Pellet 3D Printer boasts an automatic pellet feeding system, with a 100g capacity consumables box and a 2000cm³ material storage space for continuous printing. Additionally, all axes are equipped with linear guides. What’s more, each stage of the printer incorporates double guides. The printer’s nozzles are capable of reaching temperatures up to 300°C. The print head is designed to deposit substantial amounts of material, with printing tracks ranging from 0.2 to 2mm. This capability suggests that the printer can handle both fine details and rapid, large-scale printing tasks.

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The deadly storm that is walloping California with hurricane-force winds and record amounts of rainfall was fueled in part by the powerful weather phenomenon known as a “bomb cyclone,” according to the National Weather Service office in Monterey, Calif.

“For those keeping score, it also looks like it reached ‘bomb’ status,” a weather service forecast issued Sunday evening said.

The meteorologists who took over on Monday morning clarified that their colleagues were talking about “Bomb, meaning the intensity of the low pressure, not bomb meaning awesome.”

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Two decades ago, engineering designer proteins was a dream.

Now, thanks to AI, custom proteins are a dime a dozen. Made-to-order proteins often have specific shapes or components that give them abilities new to nature. From longer-lasting drugs and protein-based vaccines, to greener biofuels and plastic-eating proteins, the field is rapidly becoming a transformative technology.

Custom protein design depends on deep learning techniques. With large language models—the AI behind OpenAI’s blockbuster ChatGPT—dreaming up millions of structures beyond human imagination, the library of bioactive designer proteins is set to rapidly expand.

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For the next year and a half, the camera captured snippets of his life. He crawled around the family’s pets, watched his parents cook, and cried on the front porch with grandma. All the while, the camera recorded everything he heard.

What sounds like a cute toddler home video is actually a daring concept: Can AI learn language like a child? The results could also reveal how children rapidly acquire language and concepts at an early age.

A new study in Science describes how researchers used Sam’s recordings to train an AI to understand language. With just a tiny portion of one child’s life experience over a year, the AI was able to grasp basic concepts—for example, a ball, a butterfly, or a bucket.

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Google has launched Gemini, a new artificial intelligence system that can seemingly understand and speak intelligently about almost any kind of prompt—pictures, text, speech, music, computer code, and much more.

This type of AI system is known as a multimodal model. It’s a step beyond just being able to handle text or images like previous algorithms. And it provides a strong hint of where AI may be going next: being able to analyze and respond to real-time information from the outside world.

Although Gemini’s capabilities might not be quite as advanced as they seemed in a viral video, which was edited from carefully curated text and still-image prompts, it is clear that AI systems are rapidly advancing. They are heading towards the ability to handle more and more complex inputs and outputs.

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