GlaxoSmithKline has said research shows its Covid-19 antibody treatment is effective against the full combination of mutations in the new Omicron variant.
5h ago.
Tests done in-vitro against a pseudo-virus that recreates a synthesised version of Omicron showed that sotrovimab, Glaxo’s antibody treatment, stands up to all mutations in the spike protein of the omicron variant and not just the key mutations, the drugmaker said in a statement on Tuesday. The tests included all 37 mutations identified to-date in the spike protein.
Transhumanism, briefly explained, means the modification of human beings through technology and engineering. It employs a variety of methods used to cure ailments, or upgrading humans just for the sake of it. Creating people that are smarter, stronger, healthier, or more productive.
It comes with plenty of social and ethical implications and challenges. How will we face this future? Let’s find out today.
Notes and References: [1] Harari, N.Y. (2017). Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. HarperCollins Publishing: New York, NY [2] Niller, E. (2018, August 10). Why Gene Editing Is the Next Food Revolution. Time. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/food-…ne-editing. [3] Epstein, L.R., Lee, S.S., Miller, M.F., & Lombardi, H.A. (2021). CRISPR, animals, and FDA oversight: Building a path to success. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(22) e2004831117, doi:10.1073/pnas.2004831117 [4] Park, A. (2019, August 6). CRISPR Gene Editing Is Being Tested in Human Patients, and the Results Could Revolutionize Health Care. Time. Retrieved from https://time.com/5642755/crispr-gene-editing-humans/ [5][Neuralink]. (2021, April 8). Monkey MindPong[Video]. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsCul1sp4hQ [6] Ritchie, H., Ortiz-Ospina E. & Roser, M. (2013). Life Expectancy. OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy. [7] Sinclair, D.A. & LaPlante, M.D. (2019). Lifespan: Why We Age and Why We Don’t Have To. Atria Books: New York, NY. [8] Kharpal, A. (2017, February 13). Elon Musk: Humans must merge with machines or become irrelevant in AI age. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/02/13/elon-musk-humans-merge-machi…obots.html. [9] Humanity+ —World Transhumanist Association. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://humanityplus.org.
Do you want to learn more about Transhumanism? Check out these sources!
Wakanda, the mythical setting for Marvel’s superhero film “Black Panther,” is home to some not-so-mythical technology. An indestructible cape might not yet be possible, but Wakanda’s levitating high-speed trains could zoom into reality with the help of superconductors.
Now, a new discovery about electron behavior may represent a step toward that superpowered world.
Superconductors give electrons—and, therefore, electricity—resistance-free highways. They have the potential to create power lines that permit super-fast transmission without shedding energy, enhance imaging technologies like MRIs, and levitate more than trains. But most of today’s fledgling superconductors require extremely cold temperatures to work. And while some scientists hope to find an answer in the right combination of materials, the solution might be hidden in how electrons move, not only what they move through.
Liftoff is scheduled for 2:38 a.m. EST (0738 GMT) on Wednesday.
Two space tourists will launch toward the International Space Station on Wednesday (Dec. 8), and you can watch the action live.
A Russian Soyuz rocket carrying Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, video producer Yozo Hirano and cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin is set to launch at 2:38 a.m. EST (0738 GMT or 1:38 p.m. local time) Wednesday from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Check your refrigerator for fully cooked ham and pepperoni products from Alexander & Hornung. The Michigan-based company is recalling the products because of possible exposure to Listeria monocytogenes.
The recall was announced Sunday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).
Alexander & Hornung, which is also a unit of Perdue Premium Meat Co., Inc., said it has voluntarily recalled 234,391 pounds of 17 processed meat products.
A team of researchers affiliated with a host of institutions in China and the U.S. has found that injecting procyanidin C1 (PCC1), a chemical found in grape seed extract, into older mice extended their lifespan. In their paper published in the journal Nature Metabolism, the group describes the link between PCC1 and extended lifespan in mice and the experiments they carried out with the material.
Scientists have been trying for many years to understand the aging process. The hope is that once it is understood, mitigation efforts can slow or stop the process to allow people to live longer or to live in a more healthy way as they age. In this new effort, the researchers screened 46 plant extracts looking for anti-aging capabilities. They came across PCC1. Initial tests during screening showed it reduced the number of senescent cells in the human prostate. Such cells are known to contribute to aging. Intrigued with their results, the researchers tested it further. They found that at low doses it prevented senescent cells from contributing to inflammation, and at higher doses killed them outright without harming other cells.
The team then injected 171 mice with PCC1, 91 of whom were considered to be old. They found that this increased the overall lifespan of the mice by 9 percent and their remaining lifespans by 60 percent, on average. The researchers also injected younger mice with the extract chemical over a period of four months and found it improved their physical fitness. They then injected mice that had cancerous tumors with the chemical and found that doing so helped to shrink tumors when given in conjunction with chemotherapy. They also found it did the same with human tumor cells implanted into mice.
In their quest to discover effective new medicines, scientists search for drug-like molecules that can attach to disease-causing proteins and change their functionality. It is crucial that they know the 3D shape of a molecule to understand how it will attach to specific surfaces of the protein.
But a single molecule can fold in thousands of different ways, so solving that puzzle experimentally is a time consuming and expensive process akin to searching for a needle in a molecular haystack.
MIT researchers are using machine learning to streamline this complex task. They have created a deep learning model that predicts the 3D shapes of a molecule solely based on a graph in 2D of its molecular structure. Molecules are typically represented as small graphs.
Formula 1 brakes are some of the most incredible pieces of tech on the planet. They’re able to haul a car doing over 200 mph down to walking speed in a matter of seconds, generating up to 5 g’s of force on deceleration. But how do they work? This video is a nifty explainer.
Scott Mansell of the Driver61 YouTube channel got his hands on a collection of brake system parts from an F1 car, and took the time to explain how each piece works. The first thing you’ll notice is that there’s not one, but two master cylinders. In F1 cars, there’s one for the front brakes, and one for the rear. They’re mounted on a pivoting fork that’s used to adjust brake bias, which is pretty genius.
The wild engineering behind this absurdly powerful braking system.
