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Stanford CS25: Transformers United V6 I From Representation Learning to World Modeling

For more information about Stanford’s graduate programs, visit: https://online.stanford.edu/graduate-educationApril

April 9, 2026
This seminar covers:
• How world models are increasingly moving away from reconstruction and toward prediction in latent space.
• Two recent JEPA-based approaches that illustrate this shift from complementary angles.

Follow along with the seminar schedule. Visit: https://web.stanford.edu/class/cs25/

Guest Speakers: Hazel Nam & Lucas Maes (Brown University)

Instructors:
• Steven Feng, Stanford Computer Science PhD student and NSERC PGS-D scholar.
• Karan P. Singh, Electrical Engineering PhD student and NSF Graduate Research Fellow in the Stanford Translational AI Lab.
• Michael C. Frank, Benjamin Scott Crocker Professor of Human Biology Director, Symbolic Systems Program.
• Christopher Manning, Thomas M. Siebel Professor in Machine Learning, Professor of Linguistics and of Computer Science, Co-Founder and Senior Fellow of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI)

Stealth switch in tuberculosis enzyme could open route to drug-resistant treatment

Recent research published in Communications Biology marks an advance in structural biology by enhancing understanding of protein regulation mechanisms in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), a global health threat. The team led by the University of Melbourne combined several advanced techniques at the Australian Synchrotron and the National Deuteration Facility to reveal the hidden allosteric mechanism that activates a key enzyme, ICL2.

The study opens a target pathway to treat drug-resistant TB with modulators that can interfere with the enzyme’s “on switch.” Traditional drugs often targeted the enzyme’s active site, which is difficult to block effectively.

However, ICL2 is unique to mycobacteria and is essential for the survival of the TB bacterium during infection, especially when it is starved of sugar and forced to live on fats.

CDK1-dependent N-terminal NuMA phosphorylation promotes dynein-dynactin-NuMA assembly for accurate chromosome segregation

Van Toorn et al. show that CDK1-mediated phosphorylation of NuMA at serine 203 promotes stable dynein-dynactin-NuMA assembly in human cells. This mitotic phosphorylation thereby contributes to robust spindle formation and accurate chromosome segregation.

What is “gravitic propulsion” and could the US government hide it?

Learn science whenever and wherever with Brilliant! First 30 days are free and 20% off the annual premium subscription when you use our link ➜ https://brilliant.org/sabine.

The Cybertruck bomber’s mention of a “gravitic device” ignited rumours that the U.S. government might be trying to hide developments in physics, similar to what it did when the country was developing the nuclear bomb. Would that even be possible? Here’s what I think.

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The Unseen Monster Pulling Our Galaxy: The Great Attractor Explained

Welcome back to the Bureau of The Unexplained! 👽🌌 Where we dive into all things weird and unexplained.

Right now, as you sit watching this video, you are hurtling through space. The Milky Way galaxy, along with roughly 100,000 of our neighboring galaxies, is being dragged at millions of miles per hour toward a mysterious, terrifying gravitational anomaly. Scientists call it… The Great Attractor.

For decades, astronomers had no idea what it was. Why? Because it sits directly behind the \.

Genomic and Transcriptomic Approaches Advance the Diagnosis and Prognosis of Neurodegenerative Diseases

Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), Huntington’s disease (HD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), represent a growing societal challenge due to their irreversible progression and significant impact on patients, caregivers, and healthcare systems. Despite advances in clinical and imaging-based diagnostics, these diseases are often detected at advanced stages, limiting the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions. Recent breakthroughs in genomic and transcriptomic technologies, including whole-genome sequencing, single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq), and CRISPR-based screens, have revolutionized the field, offering new avenues for early diagnosis and personalized prognosis.

Redox chemistry of early Earth and the origin of life

Redox reactions played an important role in shaping the conditions that enabled the emergence of life on the early Earth, but how these relate to specific environmental conditions and whether they led to heterotroph or autotroph organisms remains a matter of debate. In this Review, the authors summarize and discuss evidence reconciling dominant theories — from the redox nature of the Hadean atmosphere and the presence of conditions that could have supported both heterotrophs and chemoautotrophs, to the transport of organic compounds that could have led to the emergence of life in multiple local environments.

Genome pioneer Craig Venter dies: here’s how he transformed science

It’s very sad that Craig Venter passed away. One of a few people I’ve admired since middle school. Truly a life well lived.

Venter redrew the boundaries of biology — sequencing DNA at unprecedented speed, engineering synthetic life and charting ocean microbes.

Swine reporter model for preclinical evaluation and characterization of gene delivery vectors

Pigs which express tdTomato upon Cre or CRISPR editing of a genetic cassette inserted into their genome. (Pig analogue of Ai9 mice). This model system will aid translational preclinical studies for gene editing therapies.

A “turn-on” swine reporter model is developed to characterize local and systemic delivery of gene editors in vivo using viral or non-viral vectors. This adds the functionality of a reporter to preclinical gene delivery research in a large animal model that is more broadly accessible than nonhuman primates.

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