Lifeboat Foundation

In 2003, the data visualization expert Edward Tufte traced that year’s Columbia disaster—in which seven astronauts died when their shuttle disintegrated—to a piece of software. It was PowerPoint, he argued, that prevented people at NASA from understanding the gravity of the risks facing the shuttle. PowerPoint all but forced “breaking up narratives and data into … minimal fragments,” “a preoccupation with format not content,” and “a smirky commercialism that turns information into a sales pitch.” Serious dangers got buried at the bottom of a multilevel hierarchy of bullet points under a bigger, sunnier title. If only the information had been delivered in a proper technical report, Tufte implied, the astronauts might still be alive.

Twenty years later, there’s a new office tool keeping us from fully expressing and processing important information: the digital whiteboard. These boards are vast canvases on which you can add and drag around virtually limitless quantities of text, images, tables, diagrams, emoji, and shapes. In their typical state, they are mostly covered with sticky notes on which people have written a word or three. What the words signify in context can quickly become hard to remember, but that’s OK. Like books used as decorations, they get their value from the fact that they signify something.

When asked how this model can cover such a broad scale, Xie says, that it “is rooted in the integration of mechanistic modeling and ML statistical methods, which allows the model to provide a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of various aspects of RNA and related processes, while quantifying uncertainties due to limited knowledge.”

For example, she explains that, “The mechanistic aspect of the model captures intricate physical and chemical properties at the atomic level, which supports a deep understanding of the underlying biological processes, and the machine-learning element can effectively capture patterns in complex datasets—such as molecular simulations and single-molecule fluorescence microscopy time-course data—and learn relationships that might not be explicitly described in existing mechanistic models.”

In addition to helping scientists better understand the fundamental biology of RNA, the Northeastern team’s hybrid model promises many commercial benefits in the production of monoclonal antibodies, cell and gene therapies, and mRNA vaccines. As Xie says, “It can advance the knowledge of RNA manufacturing mechanisms and guide simultaneous design/control strategies at different levels, such as RNA sequence selection and specifications of critical quality attributes, with less experiments.”

A team of scientists led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has found that an existing cancer drug could be repurposed to target a subset of cancers that currently lack targeted treatment options and are often associated with poor outcomes.

This subset of cancers makes up 15% of all cancers and is especially prevalent in aggressive tumors such as osteosarcoma (bone tumor) and glioblastoma (brain tumor).

These cancerous cells stay “immortal” using a mechanism called the alternative lengthening of telomeres (ALT), but the team has demonstrated that ponatinib, a cancer drug approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, blocks key steps in the ALT mechanism that leads it to fail.

Stem cells are valuable to a wide range of biomedical and pharmaceutical research applications because of their high self-renewal and differentiation potential. But working with human stem cells is not easy. For starters, they are high-maintenance and expensive to culture. They also need to be constantly monitored, to ensure they remain pluripotent, viable and homogeneous. In order to set yourself up for success, firstly, you need a precise and gentle way to isolate stem cells.

Challenges of stem cell isolation

Stem cells are cultured in the lab using specialized “recipes” that vary depending on the application. For example, adult cells can be reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) by adding cofactors like Oct3/4, KLF4, Sox2 and c-Myc1. Along the way, stem cells are isolated for routine testing to make sure they have the expected features.

Stumbling across seashells and sea creatures is commonplace while on a trip to Florida, but finding a message in a bottle seems like something straight out of a storybook.

Brent Coleman, his 13-year-old son Garrison, and his friend, 13-year-old Lane McCall, had traveled from Georgia for a vacation when they came across a bottle while walking on Bradenton Beach, as reported by WFLA.

Inside the bottle was a handwritten note from a man named Howard Brown. He had written that he would have loved to live a life in Florida with his wife of 57 years, but “cancer had other plans.” The note continued, stating that by the time someone found the bottle, he would be gone.

As researchers make major advances in medical care, they are also discovering that the efficacy of these treatments can be enhanced by individualized approaches. Therefore, clinicians increasingly need methods that can both continuously monitor physiological signals and then personalize responsive delivery of therapeutics.

Implanted bioelectronic devices are playing a critical role in these treatments, but there are a number of challenges that have stalled their widespread adoption. These devices require specialized components for signal acquisition, processing, data transmission, and powering.

Up to now, achieving these capabilities in an implanted device has entailed using numerous rigid and non-biocompatible components that can lead to tissue disruption and patient discomfort. Ideally, these devices need to be biocompatible, flexible, and stable in the long term in the body. They also must be fast and sensitive enough to record rapid, low-amplitude biosignals, while still being able to transmit data for external analysis.

An Israeli startup has developed a wearable device that can predict the likelihood of an imminent stroke through changes in the carotid artery’s blood flow, potentially helping early intervention and preventing disablity.

Strokes are most commonly caused by a clot blocking the essential supply of blood to the brain, and according to the World Health Organization are the second leading cause of death and the leading cause of disability across the globe.

Continue reading “Wearable Device Predicts Stroke, Saving Crucial Treatment Time” »

A better world without Facebook and all its negative impacts would be a significant step forward. Facebook’s dominance and influence have often been associated with issues such as privacy breaches, the spread of misinformation, and the erosion of real social connections. By breaking free from Facebook’s grip, we can foster a healthier online environment that prioritizes privacy, genuine interactions, and reliable information. It is time to envision a world where social media platforms serve as catalysts for positive change, promoting authentic communication and meaningful connections among individuals.

^{(Image credit: Adobe Stock)}

Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of Facebook (now Meta), recently celebrated reaching 100 million users in just five days with his new Twitter-like platform called Threads. However, this achievement doesn’t impress me much. Instead, it highlights Zuckerberg’s tendency to imitate rather than innovate.

While I used to admire him, I now realize that he doesn’t belong in the same league as my true idols. Comparing the 100 million sign-ups for ChatGPT to the 100 million Threads users is simply absurd.

Continue reading “Mark "Superhero Copycat" Zuckerberg” »

Here’s my latest opinion article, just published at Merion West. It’s about AI and the environment! Give it a read!

“With artificial general intelligence (AGI) likely just decades away, there is an urgent need to consider the extent of environmental harm we are causing. AGI will likely question if humans are good stewards of the planet and quickly come to the conclusion that we are not.”

Many artificial intelligence (AI) scientists believe that artificial general intelligence (AGI)—intelligence on par with humans—will be achieved within 20 years. If this happens, what will AI think of people?

Continue reading “Could AI Become Angry at Humans for Causing Environmental Destruction?” »