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Better heart ‘digital twins’ could help target treatment for atrial fibrillation

A cross-university paper led by researchers at Queen Mary University of London, published in the Journal of Physiology, shows how better “digital twins” could help doctors treat people with atrial fibrillation.

One of the leading causes of stroke, atrial fibrillation (AF) is an erratic, quivering heartbeat that affects more than 1.5 million people in the U.K. The most common treatment is a procedure called ablation, in which doctors use heat or cold energy to destroy the small patches of heart tissue that trigger the chaotic rhythm. It works, but not for everyone and not always the first time.

Repeat ablation is common in persistent AF partly because the condition involves complex, distributed electrical changes that are hard to map in a single procedure.

New technology helps reveal how the heart generates cells with regenerative potential

Two research teams at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC) have developed a pioneering technique in Spain to characterize the proteome of individual cardiomyocytes—the cells responsible for heart contraction.

The study, published in Genome Biology, shows that the transcription factor Myc, used in regenerative strategies, alters protein expression in each cell differently, generating a subpopulation of cardiomyocytes with regenerative potential.

According to study leaders Miguel Torres and Jesús Vázquez, the findings provide key insights into the mechanism of action of Myc at the level of individual cardiomyocytes and offer new opportunities for the development of future regenerative therapies.

Quantum-inspired AI could tailor patients’ cancer treatment to their entire molecular background

For a child diagnosed with neuroblastoma—the most common infant cancer, occurring when early nerve cells grow out of control—the path to treatment isn’t simple. Some types of neuroblastoma resolve on their own, while others require aggressive intervention. Researchers have tried matching treatments to patients based on one-gene mutations with limited success. This is because patients’ outcomes depend on their entire molecular background, containing millions or even billions of features, such as DNA and RNA from tissues and blood.

“It’s much more than just one gene—everything that’s happening in the cells of the patient matters,” said Orly Alter, an associate professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Utah’s Scientific Computing & Imaging Institute.

Current artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) approaches require massive amounts of training data and, specifically, vastly more patient samples than genetic features.

Intracellular mechanisms promote tumor survival during hypoxia

Northwestern Medicine scientists have, for the first time, described the underlying mechanisms that regulate how cells rapidly change gene expression in response to hypoxia, a key feature of many treatment-resistant tumors, according to a recent study published in Science Advances.

Ali Shilatifard, Ph.D., the chair and Robert Francis Furchgott Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, was the senior author of the study.

FTC gives Musk the OK to acquire SpaceX alumni startup Mesh

Mesh Optical came out of stealth in February when it announced that it raised a $50 million Series A led by Thrive Capital.

Before founding Mesh Optical, the startup’s co-founders, Travis Brashears, Cameron Ramos, and Serena Grown-Haeberli, developed the optical communication links that keep thousands of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites interconnected.

The Mesh co-founders saw an opportunity to develop optical transceivers for terrestrial data centers, as light-based hardware is faster and more energy-efficient than traditional electrical-based systems.

SpaceX Wants Its Own Gas Pipeline to Feed All the Starships

Elon Musk’s rocket company is taking one step further in controlling nearly every stage of its supply chain, building its own natural gas infrastructure to fuel upcoming Starship launches.

SpaceX plans on building a natural gas pipeline stretching across 8 miles (14 kilometers) to its Starbase facility in Texas, Reuters reported based on county filings. The pipeline, called Starpipe, is expected to provide enough propellant for SpaceX’s Starship rocket to fly dozens of times a year.

The move highlights SpaceX’s vision to maintain end-to-end control of its supply chain, minimizing the company’s dependence on outside providers for much-needed resources.

Scientists found an 8-year-old Neanderthal child in a Belgian cave, and the molar DNA found is said to be the oldest human genetic code ever sequenced, turning one hillside into a rare window on our deep past

Scientists have uncovered the oldest human genetic code from an 8-year-old Neanderthal child in Belgium, offering profound insights into our evolutionary past and Neanderthal development.

How GE Vernova builds the massive gas turbines powering the AI data center boom

“When we think of what the world needs for electrification and what we need to power this AI surge that we’re living, a lot of that stuff comes right out of this factory,” said Koziner.

Microsoft just bought seven of them to power its data center in Texas. At 2.7 gigawatts, it’s enough electricity to power about 3 million homes.

GE Vernova turbines are already online at Elon Musk’s xAI Colossus 1 campus in Tennessee, and nearly a gigawatt more are being deployed at OpenAI’s Stargate project in Texas, according to Cleanview, an organization that tracks data center development.

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