This is not the first successful research on de-ageing cells. Earlier, Shinya Yamanaka, a Nobel prize-winning stem cell researcher, genetically reprogrammed the mouse skin cells and turned them into induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs, back in 2006. These cells type had the potential to form any cell type in the body. Yamanaka’s method took 50 days and completely reprograms cells to the biological age of an embryo. Gill’s method only took 13 days.
In a statement, Gill said, “Our results represent a big step forward in our understanding of cell reprogramming. We have proved that cells can be rejuvenated without losing their function and that rejuvenation looks to restore some function to old cells.”
Our brains are awash with various unsung chemical heroes, making sure the electrical signals traveling all over the place don’t get out of control.
A new mouse study has now detailed the function of a pair of proteins vital to maintaining this balance – this could help us better understand a range of neurological disorders from epilepsy to schizophrenia.
The two proteins – Rab3-interacting molecule 1 (RIM1) and an enzyme called serine arginine protein kinase 2 (SRPK2) – work together to modify the transmission of information across the gaps between nerves called synapses.
Stuart Russell warns about the dangers involved in the creation of artificial intelligence. Particularly, artificial general intelligence or AGI. The idea of an artificial intelligence that might one day surpass human intelligence has been captivating and terrifying us for decades now. The possibility of what it would be like if we had the ability to create a machine that could think like a human, or even surpass us in cognitive abilities is something that many envision. But, as with many novel technologies, there are a few problems with building an AGI. But what if we succeed? What would happen should our quest to create artificial intelligence bear fruit? How do we retain power over entities that are more intelligent than us? The answer, of course, is that nobody knows for sure. But there are some logical conclusions we can draw from examining the nature of intelligence and what kind of entities might be capable of it.
Stuart Russell is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of California at Berkeley, holder of the Smith-Zadeh Chair in Engineering, and Director of the Center for Human-Compatible AI. He outlines the definition of AI, the risks and benefits it poses for the future. According to him, the idea of an AGI is the most important problem to intellectually to work on.
An AGI could be used for many good and evil purposes. Although there are huge benefits to creating an AGI, there are also downsides to doing so. If we create and deploy an AGI without understanding what risks it can cause for humans and other beings in our world, we could be contributing to great disasters.
Russel also postulates that we should focus on developing a machine that learns what each of the eight billion people on Earth would like the future to be like.
Papers referenced in the video: Dietary oxalate to calcium ratio and incident cardiovascular events: a 10-year follow-up among an Asian population. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35346210/
Association between low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and cardiovascular mortality in statin non-users: a prospective cohort study in 14.9 million Korean adults.
To understand the nature of our galaxy, astronomers had to look to distant island universes.
Turn your eyes toward the night sky and you will see a bright, hazy band of light cutting across the sky.
For millennia, observers speculated about the Milky Way’s true nature. The Greeks said the streak of haze in the sky was milk spurting from the breast of the goddess, Hera, Egyptians thought it was cows’ milk, and some Aboriginal Australians thought it was a river flowing through the sky.
Today, we know that we are looking along the plane of our spiral galaxy, consisting of at least 100 billion stars. But understanding the shape of the Milky Way proved elusive up until the 20th century. The problem is we can’t get a bird’s eye view of our galaxy because our solar system is buried within the galaxy. But with the invention of the telescope, photography, spectroscopy, and radio astronomy, we have uncovered the shape and size of our home galaxy — and our place among the billions of stars that make up our island universe.
