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The future of electronics will be based on novel kinds of materials. Sometimes, however, the naturally occurring topology of atoms makes it difficult for new physical effects to be created. To tackle this problem, researchers at the University of Zurich have now successfully designed superconductors one atom at a time, creating new states of matter.

What will the computer of the future look like? How will it work? The search for answers to these questions is a major driver of basic physical research. There are several possible scenarios, ranging from the further development of classical electronics to neuromorphic computing and quantum computers.

The common element in all these approaches is that they are based on novel physical effects, some of which have so far only been predicted in theory. Researchers go to great lengths and use state-of-the-art equipment in their quest for new quantum materials that will enable them to create such effects. But what if there are no suitable materials that occur naturally?

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The Death of Death: The Scientific Possibility of Physical Immortality and its Moral Defense (Copernicus Books) — Kindle edition by Cordeiro, José, Wood, David. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Death of Death: The Scientific Possibility of Physical Immortality and its Moral Defense (Copernicus Books).

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Now that Virgin Galactic has flown its first commercial spaceflight, it’s ready to take civilians aboard. The company now expects to launch its first private passenger flight, Galactic 2, as soon as August 10th. Virgin isn’t yet revealing the names of everyone involved, but there will be three passengers alongside the usual crew. You can watch a live stream on the company website.

The inaugural commercial flight, Galactic 1, flew in late June. However, all three passengers were Italian government workers (two from the Air Force and one research council member) conducting microgravity studies. While it’s not clear what 02’s civilian crew will do, they can be tourists this time around.

The firm has been ramping up its operations in recent months after numerous delays from previous years. While Galactic 2 is just Virgin’s seventh spaceflight of any kind, it’s the third in 2023. The company says it’s establishing a “regular cadence” of flights, and you can expect them to become relatively routine if this voyage goes as planned.

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It’s one of the biggest conferences of the year that almost no one is allowed to go to.

Allen & Co.’s annual conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, often referred to as “summer camp for billionaires,” is a who’s who of the biggest players in media and tech. This year’s attendees include Disney’s Bob Iger, Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav, Apple’s Tim Cook, and OpenAI’s Sam Altman.

The event even got the “Succession” treatment.

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Virtual Event.

Discover the latest breakthroughs in precision medicine for solid tumors and join the forefront of cancer testing and treatment. Don’t miss out on our one-day virtual event, where you’ll get exclusive access to clinical insights from top lab experts. Some of the exciting highlights of the conference include:

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Electronic warfare systems are now able to jam precision guided weapons.

In the midst of ongoing conflict, Ukrainian forces are leveraging US-supplied glide bombs to their advantage. This video delves into the use of two distinct glide bombs: the GLSDB (Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb) and the JDAM-ER (Joint Direct Attack Munition-Extended Range). However, these American-made guided weapons are facing challenges due to Russia’s electronic interference, impacting their precision and effectiveness.

Despite the initial success of the HIMARS system in Ukraine’s counteroffensive in September 2022, recent reports suggest that Russian electronic jammers have disrupted the system’s GPS-guided targeting, leading to missed targets. The stakes are high as Ukraine heavily relies on HIMARS to target Russian logistical and military infrastructure.

Continue reading “What makes US Precision Guided Missiles “FLOP” In Ukraine?” | >

The immune system is one of the most complex parts of our body. It keeps us healthy by getting rid of parasites, viruses or bacteria, and by destroying damaged or cancer cells. One of its most intriguing abilities is its memory: upon first contact with a foreign component (called antigens) our adaptive immune system takes around two weeks to respond, but responses afterwards are much faster, as if the cells remembered the antigen. But how is this memory attained?

In a recent publication, a team of researchers coordinated by Dr. Ralph Stadhouders, from Erasmus MC, and Dr. Gregoire Stik, Group Leader at the Josep Carreras Leukemia Research Institute, provides new clues on immune memory using state-of-the-art methodologies.

In their research paper, published in the journal Science Immunology, the first-author Anne Onrust-van Schoonhoven and colleagues compared the response of immune cells that had never been in contact with an antigen (called naïve cells) with cells previously exposed to antigen () and sort of knew it. They focused on the differences in the epigenetic control of the cellular machinery and the nuclear architecture of the cells, two mechanisms that could explain the quick activation pattern of memory cells.

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Researchers at New York University (NYU), Columbia University, and the New York Genome Center have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) platform that can predict on-and off-target activity of CRISPR tools that target RNA instead of DNA.

The team paired a deep learning model with CRISPR screens to control the expression of human genes in different ways, akin to either flicking a light switch to shut them off completely or by using a dimmer knob to partially turn down their activity. The resulting neural network, which they called targeted inhibition of gene expression via gRNA design— TIGER—was able to predict efficacy from guide sequence and context. The team suggests the new technology could pave the way to the development of precise gene controls for use in CRISPR-based therapies.

“Our deep learning model can tell us not only how to design a guide RNA that knocks down a transcript completely, but can also ‘tune’ it—for instance, having it produce only 70% of the transcript of a specific gene,” said Andrew Stirn, a PhD student at Columbia Engineering and the New York Genome Center. Stirn is co-first author of the researchers’ published paper in Nature Biotechnology, titled “Prediction of on-target and off-target activity of CRISPR-Cas13D guide RNAs using deep learning.” In their paper, the researchers concluded, “We believe that TIGER predictions will enable ranking and ultimately avoidance of undesired off-target binding sites and nuclease activation, and further spur the development of RNA-targeting therapeutics.”

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