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Goldbeating, an age-old craft pioneered by ancient Egyptian artisans more than five millennia ago, involves the meticulous thinning of bulk gold into gossamer-like leaves. Throughout history, this intricate process has adorned various masterpieces, such as the tombs of Thebes and Saqqara, and has cemented its place in art and adornments across cultures. Today, nanoscale gold is used not only for decorating fancy desserts, but is indispensable for modern applications ranging from microelectronics to nanomedicine.

Human Immortality — If you thought Human Immortality was just a concept in science fiction, this episode reveals how it will become science fact. For some scientists featured in this program, achieving Immortality is not a question of ‘If’. The real question is ‘When?’.

Human Immortality (2022)
Director: Emma Watts.
Writers: Kyle McCabe, Christopher Webb Young.
Stars: Samantha Brady, Aubrey DeGrey, Leonard Guarente.
Genre: Documentary.
Country: United States.
Language: English.
Release Date: August 31, 2022 (United States)

Synopsis:
If you thought Human Immortality was just a concept in science fiction, this episode reveals how it will become science fact. For some scientists featured in this program, achieving Immortality is not a question of ‘If’. The real question is ‘When?’.

One scientist shows how she is making lab-grown organs called ‘ghost hearts’ that not only grow quickly, but that can be accepted in any host’s body without rejection—ending the agony for those waiting for organ transplants. Another biologist is looking at Immortality at the microbiological level. In his lab, he’s identified the ‘longevity gene’ (called SIR2) that can slow the ageing process, and which holds the key that will unlock our ability to better control the rate at which we age. One gerontologist is unearthing the immortal secrets of lobsters, who never stop growing and naturally live up to the astonishing age of 122 years. Inspired by how their bodies regulate cellular division, he’s developing cutting-edge medications that will boost human longevity.

This post is also available in: he עברית (Hebrew)

Important computer systems at hospitals and clinics have been offline for over two weeks after a cyberattack forced emergency room shutdowns and ambulance diversions. According to Prospect Medical Holdings, progress is being made “to recover critical systems and restore their integrity,” but the company, which runs 16 hospitals and dozens of other medical facilities in various states could not say when operations will return to normal.

The recovery process for this situation can often take weeks, and in the meantime, hospitals are reverting to paper systems and people to monitor equipment, run records between departments, and do other tasks that are usually electronic.

Researchers from the Center for Regenerative Medicine (CReM), a joint venture between Boston University and Boston Medical Center, have discovered a novel approach for engrafting engineered cells into injured lung tissue. These findings may lead to new ways for treating lung diseases, such as emphysema, pulmonary fibrosis and COVID-19.

The two studies describing the methodologies for engineering lung and transplanting them into injured experimental lungs without immunosuppression appear online in Cell Stem Cell.

For more than 20 years, the scientists leading this work have pursued a way to engraft cells into injured lung tissues with the goal of regenerating lung airways or alveoli. They suspected that for engraftment to be long-lived and functional it would be important to reconstitute the stem or progenitor “compartments” of the lung, also sometimes known as stem cell niches.

Expensive to build and often needing highly skilled engineers to maintain, artificial intelligence systems generally only pay off for large tech companies with vast amounts of data. But what if your local pizza shop could use AI to predict which flavor would sell best each day of the week? Andrew Ng shares a vision for democratizing access to AI, empowering any business to make decisions that will increase their profit and productivity. Learn how we could build a richer society – all with just a few self-provided data points.

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