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The biological cycle of our existence seems relatively straightforward: we’re born, we live, we die. The end.
But when you examine existence at the cellular level, things get a bit more interesting. You, me, and all of the 108 billion or so Homo sapiens who’ve ever walked the Earth have all been our own constellation of some 30 trillion cells. Each of our bodies is a collective organism of living human cells and microbes working in cooperation to create what our minds view as “life.” However, a growing number of new studies have found that, at least for some cells, death isn’t the end. Instead, it’s possibly the beginning of something new and wholly unexpected.
A growing snowball of research concerning a new class of AI-designed multicellular organisms known as “xenobots” is gaining scientific attention for their apparent autonomy. In September 2024, Peter Noble, Ph.D., a microbiologist from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, along with Alex Pozhitkov, Ph.D., a bioinformatics researcher at the City of Hope cancer center, detailed this research on the website The Conversation.
Researchers just found common genes linked to autism, ADHD, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, Tourette syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and anorexia.
These disorders all share common genetic variants that influence brain development.
Researchers found that these genetic differences impact multiple stages of brain growth and are involved in complex protein interactions. This discovery could explain why many of these conditions often appear together in individuals and families, offering a fresh perspective on mental health connections.
By identifying 683 genetic variants that regulate brain development, scientists hope to pave the way for new treatments targeting these shared genetic factors. This research challenges traditional classifications of psychiatric disorders and suggests that a single therapy could potentially address multiple conditions. With nearly 1 billion people worldwide affected by mental health disorders, these findings mark a significant step toward more effective, genetically-informed treatments.
According to an alternative model of how intelligent life emerges on planets like Earth, the existence of aliens—and human beings–could be the result of natural planetary processes.
Researchers have developed a new type of photochromic glass that can store and rewrite data indefinitely.
By embedding magnesium and terbium, they’ve created a material that changes colors under different wavelengths of light, allowing for high-density, long-term storage without power. This breakthrough could revolutionize data preservation.
Exploring the potential of glass for data storage.
Researchers from Japan and Taiwan reveal for the first time that helium, usually considered chemically inert, can bond with iron under high pressures. They used a laser-heated diamond anvil cell to find this, and the discovery suggests there could be huge amounts of helium in the Earth’s core. This could challenge long-standing ideas about the planet’s internal structure and history, and may even reveal details of the nebula our solar system coalesced from.
The research is published in the journal Physical Review Letters.
During a volcanic eruption there are often traces of what is known as primordial helium. That is, helium, which differs from normal helium, or 4 He, so called because it contains two protons and two neutrons and is continuously produced by radioactive decay. Primordial helium, or 3 He, on the other hand, is not formed on Earth and contains two protons and one neutron.
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In an international collaboration, researchers have made an important breakthrough in the therapeutic delivery of microRNAs against Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a disease with no cure, to date.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a genetic disorder characterized by the progressive loss of muscle mass, due to mutations in the dystrophin gene. Without the corresponding functional protein, muscles cannot function or repair themselves properly, resulting in the deterioration of skeletal, heart, and lung muscles. Because the dystrophin gene is located on the X chromosome, it mainly affects males, while females are usually carriers.
Researchers have developed a strategy to treat muscular dystrophy, which uses nanoparticles as vehicles to transport therapeutical microRNAs to muscle stem cells. Once inside the muscle stem cells, the nanoparticles release the microRNA to stimulate the production of muscle fibers.
“Now the rise of AI is sparking a new discussion: If automation takes over more physical tasks and artificial intelligence takes over more intellectual ones, humans will be defined by their social abilities, said Raman.”
M doomed! 
The knowledge economy is on the way out, and a new economy is on the way for us humans at work, he said. I’m calling it the innovation economy.
In this new era, human innovation and our uniquely human skills, like social and emotional intelligence will be key, he added.
Anthropic, an artificial intelligence company founded by exiles from OpenAI, has introduced the first AI model that can produce either conventional output or a controllable amount of reasoning needed to solve more grueling problems.
Anthropic says the new hybrid model, called Claude 3.7, will make it easier for users and developers to tackle problems that require a mix of instinctive output and step-by-step cogitation. The user has a lot of control over the behavior—how long it thinks, and can trade reasoning and intelligence with time and budget, says Michael Gerstenhaber, product lead, AI platform at Anthropic.
Claude 3.7 also features a new scratchpad that reveals the model’s reasoning process. A similar feature proved popular with the Chinese AI model DeepSeek. It can help a user understand how a model is working over a problem in order to modify or refine prompts.
Dianne Penn, product lead of research at Anthropic, says the scratchpad is even more helpful when combined with the ability to ratchet a model’s reasoning up and down. If, for example, the model struggles to break down a problem correctly, a user can ask it to spend more time working on it.