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Jan 3, 2023

A Brain Game May Predict Your Risk of Infection

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience

Summary: Findings reveal how a person’s cognitive performance prior to viral exposure can predict the severity of symptoms once the virus develops.

Source: University of Michigan.

If your alertness and reaction time is see-sawing more than usual, you may be more at risk of a viral illness.

Jan 3, 2023

Hundreds of Nomadic Worlds Within 4 Light Years

Posted by in category: futurism

New research indicates that tens to hundreds of planet-sized nomadic worlds may populate the spherical volume centered on Earth and circumscribed by Proxima Centauri, and thus…

Jan 3, 2023

Half Of Sun-Like Stars May Have An Earth-Like Planet, Say NASA Scientists

Posted by in category: space

Year 2020 300 million earth like planets in our galaxy 💜


Scientists can finally say how many “potentially habitable” planets there may be in the Milky Way.

Jan 3, 2023

The Number Of Earth-Like Planets In The Universe Is Staggering

Posted by in category: space

Year 2017 19,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 possible earth like planets in the universe ✨️ 💖 🙏 ❤️


How do scientists know that there are billions of other solar systems like us in the Universe? originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world.

Answer by Robert Frost, Instructor and Flight Controller at NASA, on Quora:

Continue reading “The Number Of Earth-Like Planets In The Universe Is Staggering” »

Jan 3, 2023

Long Out of Math, an AI Programmer Cracks a Pure Math Problem

Posted by in categories: mathematics, robotics/AI

On nights and weekends, Justin Gilmer attacked an old question in pure math using the tools of information theory.

Jan 3, 2023

Thanks to DALL-E, the Race to Make Artificial Protein Drugs Is On

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, information science, robotics/AI

While “protein” often evokes pictures of chicken breasts, these molecules are more similar to an intricate Lego puzzle. Building a protein starts with a string of amino acids—think a myriad of Christmas lights on a string— which then fold into 3D structures (like rumpling them up for storage).

DeepMind and Baker both made waves when they each developed algorithms to predict the structure of any protein based on their amino acid sequence. It was no simple endeavor; the predictions were mapped at the atomic level.

Designing new proteins raises the complexity to another level. This year Baker’s lab took a stab at it, with one effort using good old screening techniques and another relying on deep learning hallucinations. Both algorithms are extremely powerful for demystifying natural proteins and generating new ones, but they were hard to scale up.

Jan 3, 2023

Evolution of CRISPR-associated Endonucleases as Inferred from Resurrected Proteins

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, evolution

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-associated Cas9 protein is an effector that plays a major role in a prokaryotic adaptive immune system, by which invading DNA can be targeted and cut for inactivation. The Cas9 endonuclease is directed to target sites by a guide RNA (gRNA) where Cas9 can recognize specific sequences (PAMs) in foreign DNA, which then serve as an anchoring point for cleavage of the adjacent RNA-matching DNA region. Although the CRISPR-Cas9 system has been widely studied and repurposed for diverse applications (notably, genome editing), its origin and evolution remain to be elucidated. Here, we investigate the evolution of Cas9 from resurrected ancient nucleases (anCas) in extinct firmicutes species as old as 2,600 myr to the current day. Surprisingly, we demonstrate that these ancient forms were much more flexible in their PAM and gRNA scaffold requirements compared to modern day Cas9 enzymes. In addition, anCas portrays a gradual paleoenzymatic adaptation from nickase to double-strand break activity, suggesting a mechanism by which ancient CRISPR systems could propagate when harboring Cas enzymes with minimal PAMs. The oldest anCas also exhibit high levels of activity with ssDNA and ssRNA targets, resembling Cas nucleases in related system types. Finally, we illustrate editing activity of the anCas enzymes in human cells. The prediction and characterization of anCas proteins uncovers an unexpected evolutionary trajectory leading to ancient enzymes with extraordinary properties.

R. P-J., B. A-L. are co-inventors on patent application filed by CIC nanoGUNE and licenced to Integra Therapeutics S.L. relating to work in this article. A. S-M. and M.G. are co-founders of Integra Therapeutics S.L. B.P.K is an inventor on patents and/or patent applications filed by Mass General Brigham that describe genome engineering technologies. B.P.K. is a consultant for Avectas Inc., EcoR1 capital, and ElevateBio, and is an advisor to Acrigen Biosciences and Life Edit Therapeutics.

Jan 3, 2023

Recording of cellular physiological histories along optically readable self-assembling protein chains

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

A history of cellular events is recorded in self-assembling protein chains.

Jan 3, 2023

The Universe Is More in Our Hands Than Ever Before

Posted by in categories: alien life, nuclear energy, particle physics

Pity the poor astronomer. Biologists can hold examples of life in their hands. Geologists can fill specimen cabinets with rocks. Even physicists get to probe subatomic particles in laboratories built here on Earth. But across its millennia-long history, astronomy has always been a science of separation. No astronomer has stood on the shores of an alien exoplanet orbiting a distant star or viewed an interstellar nebula up close. Other than a few captured light waves crossing the great void, astronomers have never had intimate access to the environments that spur their passion.

Until recently, that is. At the turn of the 21st century, astrophysicists opened a new and unexpected era for themselves: large-scale laboratory experimentation. High-powered machines, in particular some very large lasers, have provided ways to re-create the cosmos, allowing scientists like myself to explore some of the universe’s most dramatic environments in contained, controlled settings. Researchers have learned to explode mini supernovas in their labs, reproduce environments around newborn stars, and even probe the hearts of massive and potentially habitable exoplanets.

How we got here is one of the great stories of science and synergy. The emergence of this new large-scale lab-based astrophysics was an unanticipated side effect of a much broader, more fraught, and now quite in-the-news scientific journey: the quest for nuclear fusion. As humanity has worked to capture the energy of the stars, we’ve also found a way to bring the stars down to Earth.

Jan 3, 2023

Are Naked Mole-Rats Immortal?

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

When it comes to longevity in the animal kingdom, the Naked mole-rat is often touted as one of the longest living animals known to man, and some say that they functionally do not age, only ever dying of disease or predation. In this article we will investigate these claims, and discover what exactly is so exciting about these aesthetically challenged rodents which has made so many researchers so optimistic about the future of human longevity.

Are Naked Mole-Rats Immortal?

Let’s dispel one of the largest misconceptions about naked mole-rats (Heterocephalus glaber) before we dive into what makes these rodents so interesting. No, naked mole-rats are not immortal in any sense of the word. First documented in 1,842 by German naturalist Eduard Rüppell, we have formally studied this species of rodent for over 180 years, and we have yet to see any immortal naked-mole rats running around, in the wild or otherwise. Neither have we seen a naked mole-rat coming close to the longevity enjoyed by our own species, let alone the longevity enjoyed by other longer lived species such as the giant tortoise. However, it is not the lifespan itself that is so remarkable about the naked mole-rat, but rather its relative longevity compared to other rodents that makes the naked mole-rat so interesting.