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Cerebellum may set the stage for development of mental empathy in early childhood

We can’t see what other people are thinking, so we have to infer it and that’s very crucial for our communication as humans. That’s how we create shared meaning and that’s how we choose our words to be understood, a kind of mental empathy.

A pivotal milestone in the development of Theory of Mind reasoning occurs between the ages of 3 and 5 years, a breakthrough period in which children typically start succeeding in false-belief tasks, widely regarded as a critical test of Theory of Mind abilities. These tasks require children to recognize false beliefs held by a story character, typically in the context of the character’s mental misrepresentations regarding an object’s location, content, or nature. Successfully passing false-belief tasks is argued to reflect the emergence of representations of others’ mental states.

To find out more about this critical period where evolves, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences used collected data from 41 children between 3 and 12 years old.

Gene editing treats smooth muscle disease in preclinical model

Using gene editing in a preclinical model, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center blocked the symptoms of a rare smooth muscle disease before they developed. Their findings, published in Circulation, could eventually lead to gene therapies for this and other genetic diseases affecting smooth muscle cells.

“Gene editing has been used in other disease contexts, but its application to inherited vascular diseases, particularly targeting in vivo, is still emerging. Our approach advances the field by demonstrating functional correction in a cell type that’s notoriously difficult to target,” said Eric Olson, Ph.D., Chair and Professor of Molecular Biology and a member of the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center at UT Southwestern.

Dr. Olson co-led the study with Ning Liu, Ph.D., Professor of Molecular Biology, and first author Qianqian Ding, Ph.D., postdoctoral researcher, both members of the Olson Lab.

Rare Gene Mutation Delays Alzheimer’s by Damping Immune Cell Inflammatory Signaling

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine report that a rare gene mutation that delays Alzheimer’s disease does so by damping inflammatory signaling in brain-resident immune cells in a preclinical study. The finding adds to growing evidence that brain inflammation is a major driver of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s—and that it may be a key therapeutic target for these disorders.

In their study “The R136S mutation in the APOE3 gene confers resilience against tau pathology via inhibition of the cGAS-STING-IFN pathway,” in Immunity, the investigators examined the effects of the mutation APOE3-R136S—known as the “Christchurch mutation”—which was recently found to delay hereditary early-onset Alzheimer’s. The scientists showed that the mutation inhibits the cGAS-STING pathway, an innate immune signaling cascade that is abnormally activated in Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. The researchers found that pharmacologically blocking the cGAS-STING pathway with a drug-like inhibitor replicated key protective effects of the mutation in a preclinical model.

“This is an exciting study because it suggests that inhibiting this cGAS-STING pathway could make the brain more resistant to the Alzheimer’s process, even in the face of significant tau accumulation,” said study senior author Li Gan, PhD, the Burton P. and Judith B. Resnick Distinguished Professor in Neurodegenerative Diseases and director of the Helen and Robert Appel Alzheimer’s Disease Research Institute at Weill Cornell Medicine.

Two-step system makes plastic from carbon dioxide, water and electricity

What if a machine could suck up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, run it through a series of chemical reactions, and essentially spit out industrially useful plastic?

“I think that is something that we, as a society, would be interested in. After all, in addition to being a , carbon dioxide is an abundant and inexpensive feedstock,” says Theo Agapie, Ph.D., the John Stauffer Professor of Chemistry and the executive officer for chemistry at Caltech. “With our new work, we have taken a significant step in that direction.”

Reporting in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Agapie and a team of Caltech chemists have developed a system that uses electricity from sustainable sources to carry out the chemical conversion of carbon dioxide (CO2) into molecules, such as ethylene and , that are useful for making more complex compounds.

Turning captured carbon into natural gas could provide cost-competitive energy storage

Solar and wind energy are highly variable, dependent on the day, weather and location of the facilities. At times, they can generate more electricity than is needed, but they can also fall short when demand is at its peak. Unfortunately, any extra energy created by these sources is often wasted, as there are few methods that adequately store it long-term. To improve energy security in the United States, the nation requires both sources of energy and novel ways to store and distribute it.

In a new study, published in Cell Reports Sustainability, researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) have explored how a reactive capture and conversion (RCC) process could be used to produce synthetic renewable natural gas—a chemical form of long-duration energy storage.

“Rather than sourcing carbon from below-ground, RCC enables the use of above-ground carbon as a resource,” said LLNL scientist and lead author Alvina Aui. “Synthetic renewable natural gas, when used as an energy-storage option, can reduce grid instability caused by the intermittency of energy sources like wind and solar.”

“Delete-To-Recruit” — Scientists Discover Simpler Approach to Gene Therapy

Repositioning genes awakens fetal hemoglobin to treat disease. CRISPR editing may change future gene therapy.

Researchers have discovered a promising new approach to gene therapy by reactivating genes that are normally inactive. They achieved this by moving the genes closer to regulatory elements on the DNA known as enhancers. To do so, they used CRISPR-Cas9 technology to cut out the piece of DNA separating the gene from its enhancer. This method could open up new ways to treat genetic diseases. The team demonstrated its potential in treating sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia, two inherited blood disorders.

In these cases, a malfunctioning gene might be bypassed by reactivating an alternative gene that is usually turned off. This technique, called “delete-to-recruit,” works by altering the distance between genetic elements without introducing new genes or foreign material. The study was conducted by researchers from the Hubrecht Institute (De Laat group), Erasmus MC, and Sanquin, and published in the journal Blood.

Connected Minds: Preparing For The Cognitive Gig Economy

There’s also the risk of neuro-exploitation. In a world where disadvantaged individuals might rent out their mental processing to make ends meet, new forms of inequality could emerge. The cognitive gig economy might empower people to earn money with their minds, but it could also commoditize human cognition, treating thoughts as labor units. If the “main products of the 21st-century economy” indeed become “bodies, brains and minds,” as Yuval Noah Harari suggests, society must grapple with how to value and protect those minds in the marketplace.

Final Thoughts

What steam power and electricity were to past centuries, neural interfaces might be to this one—a general-purpose technology that could transform economies and lives. For forward-looking investors and executives, I recommend keeping a close eye on your head because it may also be your next capital asset. If the next era becomes one of connected minds, those who can balance bold innovation with human-centered ethics might shape a future where brainpower for hire could truly benefit humanity.