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In recent years, roboticists have developed increasingly sophisticated robotic systems designed to mimic both the structure and function of the human body. This work includes robotic hands, grippers that allow robots to grasp objects and manipulate them like humans do while completing everyday tasks.

Ideally, robotic hands should be able to perform highly precise movements, while also being relatively affordable and easy to fabricate. However, most bio-inspired skeleton structures for robotic hands introduced so far have highly intricate designs containing numerous advanced components, which makes them difficult to fabricate on a large scale.

Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recently created a new highly precise that could be easier to upscale, as its components can be crafted using commonly employed techniques, such as 3D printing and laser cutting. Their robotic hand, introduced in a paper published in the journal 2023 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft), is based on a so-called modular structure, meaning that it comprises multiple that can be rearranged to achieve different movements.

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Physicists working on the ATLAS experiment at CERN have observed entanglement between pairs of top quarks for the first time. The finding demonstrates that entanglement can occur at energies more than 12 orders of magnitude higher than is typical for laboratory entanglement experiments. They also show that particle-physics facilities such as CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) can be used to study quantum mechanics and quantum information.

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Entanglement is one of quantum mechanics’ strangest features. Dubbed “spooky action at a distance” by Albert Einstein, it creates an invisible connection between two objects that share a joint quantum state, such that measuring the state of one object – the spin of a particle, for example – immediately gives the state of the other, regardless of the distance between them. Many objects have been entangled, including photons, atoms and molecules as well as larger objects such as macroscopic diamonds.

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After a researcher discovered that an Android TV streaming box, known as T95, was infected with preloaded malware, researchers at Human Security released information regarding the extent of infected devices and how malicious schemes are connected to these corrupted products.

Daniel Milisic, a systems security consultant, created a script alongside instructions to help other users mitigate the threat after first coming across the issue. Now, Human Security’s threat intelligence and research team has dubbed the operation “Bandbox,” which it characterizes as a complex, interconnected series of ad fraud schemes on a massive scale.

Human Security describes the operation as “a global network of consumer products with firmware backdoors installed and sold through a normal hardware supply chain.” Once activated, the malware on the devices connect to a command-and-control (C2) server for further instructions. In tandem, a botnet known as Peachpit is integrated with Badbox, and engages in ad fraud, residential proxy services, fake email/messaging accounts, and unauthorized remote code installation.

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Mayo Clinic research has developed a new type of chimeric antigen receptor-T cell therapy (CAR-T cell therapy) aimed at killing B-cell blood cancers that have returned and are no longer responding to treatment. This pioneering technology, designed and developed in the lab of Hong Qin, M.D., Ph.D., killed B-cell tumors grown in the laboratory and tumors implanted in mouse models. The preclinical findings are published in Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy.

“This study shows our experimental CAR-T cell therapy targets several blood cancers, specifically chronic lymphocytic leukemia,” says Dr. Qin. “Currently there are six different CAR-T cell therapies approved for treatment of relapsed blood cancers. While the results are impressive, not everyone responds to this treatment. Our goal is to provide novel cell therapies shaped to each patient’s individual need.”

Dr Qin’s team developed a cell therapy to target a protein known as B-cell activating factor receptor (BAFF-R) found in patients with B-cell cancers, particularly those with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The BAFF-R protein is linked to tumor growth. The cell therapy under investigation allows the immune system to quash cancer and target tumors that have returned or have resisted available CAR-T cell therapies.

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Prof. Donald Hoffman talks to Essentia Foundation’s Hans Busstra about his theory of conscious agents, according to which space and time are cognitive constructs in consciousness, not an objective scaffolding of the world outside. The interview also touches on Prof. Hoffman’s personal history and life, bringing the warmth of his humanity to the academic rigor of his theories.

00:00 Intro: Beyond the spacetime headset.
03:32 About Donalds personal background.
07:35 On the importance of mathematics.
13:22 Quantum theory and spacetime.
19:24 Why exactly is spacetime ‘doomed’?
24:34 Did physics ‘encounter’ consciousness in quantum theory?
32:49 On heavy vs light metaphysical claims.
37:36 How is your theory affecting your personal life?
42:17 Is The Matrix a good metaphor?
46:38 How can the space time interface affect consciousness?
53:09 What makes you say that if spacetime is not fundamental, consciousness must be fundamental?
55:44 Physicalism fails to give an accurate model of consciousness… 1:00:24 How can we put the spacetime headset off? 05:39 Beyond the spacetime fantasies of Christopher Nolan and the Matrix… 1:09:27 The ontology of conscious agents 1:15:05 Are meditation and psychedelics ‘hacks’ in the interface? 1:21:41 Should we revalue religious and mystic literature? 1:29:54 Could idealism as a worldview help us better solve the challenges humanity faces? 1:34:23 The role of mathematics in bringing together science and spirituality Copyright © 2022 by Essentia Foundation. All rights reserved. https://www.essentiafoundation.org.
1:00:24 How can we put the spacetime headset off?
05:39 Beyond the spacetime fantasies of Christopher Nolan and the Matrix…
1:09:27 The ontology of conscious agents.
1:15:05 Are meditation and psychedelics ‘hacks’ in the interface?
1:21:41 Should we revalue religious and mystic literature?
1:29:54 Could idealism as a worldview help us better solve the challenges humanity faces?
1:34:23 The role of mathematics in bringing together science and spirituality.

Copyright © 2022 by Essentia Foundation. All rights reserved.

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New case report worth reading! A patient underwent subtotal cholecystectomy for severe cholecystitis. Post-op he developed jaundice and abscess requiring percutaneous transhepatic drainage (PTAD).

Shock and massive hemothorax occurred after removal of the PTAD tube. The cause was bleeding from the liver at the PTAD site. The patient required emergency hemostasis and embolization. This highlights the need for extreme care when handling PTAD tubes after complicated gallbladder surgery.

A 59-year-old man with a past medical history of gallstones was diagnosed with acute cholecystitis and received antibiotic treatment. He was discharged after ten days of hospitalization and was due to undergo laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Three months later, however, he had to be readmitted due to a recurrence of acute cholecystitis. Subsequently, laparoscopic reconstituting subtotal cholecystectomy was performed because Inflammation of the gallbladder was severe. At the first postoperative outpatient visit, the patient reported obstructive jaundice, and computed tomography (CT) scan revealed fluid collection in the hepatic bed and a missed common bile duct stone. Percutaneous transhepatic abscess drainage (PTAD) was performed on admission, and endoscopic stone removal was attempted the following day but was challenging due to a periampullary diverticulum.

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Of course, this study was performed on a relatively small group of individuals in an agricultural community, which is not the environment that most American teenagers grow up in. These links may also be due to some other confounding factors, like spending more time on the farm than in formal education. However, these results are still striking and important to consider for young people in farming communities (and non-farming communities) around the world.

“Many chronic diseases and mental-health disorders in adolescents and young adults have increased over the last two decades worldwide, and exposure to neurotoxic contaminants in the environment could explain a part of this increase,” senior author Jose Ricardo Suarez, an associate professor in the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health, said in a statement.

“Hundreds of new chemicals are released into the market each year, and more than 80,000 chemicals are registered for use today,” Suarez added. “Sadly, very little is known about the safety and long-term effects on humans for most of these chemicals. Additional research is needed to truly understand the impact.”

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The scent of coffee. The clarity of sunlight dappling through the trees. The howl of the wind in the dark of night.

All this, according to a philosophical argument published in 2003, could be no more real than pixels on a screen. It’s called the simulation hypothesis, and it proposes that if humanity lives to see a day it can repeatedly simulate the Universe using come kind of computer, chances are we are living in one of those many simulations.

If so, everything we experience is a model of something else, removed from some kind of reality.

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