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Mar 8, 2021

This is the year that CRISPR moves from lab to clinic

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, food, genetics, health

While these tools will enable our society to reopen (and stay open) by improving detection of the virus, CRISPR will also have an important effect on the way we treat other diseases. In 2021, we will see increased use of CRISPR-Cas enzymes to underpin a new generation of cost-effective, individualised therapies. With CRISPR enzymes, we can cut DNA at precise locations, using specifically designed proteins, and insert or delete pieces of DNA to correct mutations.

As we deepen our understanding of the human genome and genetic disorders, patients with previously intractable diseases, such as sickle-cell disease and cancer, will benefit more widely from CRISPR-based therapies that are rapidly moving from the lab to the clinic. In 2019, sickle-cell patient Victoria Gray, for example, became one of the first patients in the world to receive CRISPR therapy for her genetic disease. She has already seen significant improvements to her health, including reduced pain and less frequent need for blood transfusions.

CRISPR will also allow us to act more boldly in the face of other important, interconnected issues such as food security, environmental sustainability and social inequality. The technology will help us grow more nutritious and robust crops, establish “gene drives” to control the spread of other infectious diseases such as Zika, and develop cleaner energy sources such as algae-based biofuels.

Mar 8, 2021

Neuecc/ZeroFormatter

Posted by in category: futurism

Infinite code speed program on github.


Infinitely Fast Deserializer for. NET,.NET Core and Unity. — neuecc/ZeroFormatter.

Mar 8, 2021

Autonomous Delivery Robots Are Now ‘Pedestrians’ in Pennsylvania

Posted by in categories: drones, law, robotics/AI

The legal rights of robots have expanded, at least in Pennsylvania. There, autonomous delivery drones will be allowed to maneuver on sidewalks and paths as well as roadways and will now technically be considered “pedestrians.” It’s the latest change in the evolving relationship between autonomous vehicles and humans.

Mar 8, 2021

Viral Tom Cruise Deepfakes are AMAZING… — YouTube

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

Clip from Lew Later (7 Things Apple Should Steal From Android…) — https://youtu.be/GgNF1YuOOuc

Mar 8, 2021

New Lego-like beams could revolutionize construction

Posted by in categories: bioengineering, sustainability

Researchers from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV) have come up with and patented a new system for manufacturing beams that aims to revolutionize the architecture, construction and civil engineering sectors. They are manufactured with 3D-printed plastic pieces that can be assembled as if they were pieces of Lego adding a high-performance layer of concrete in the most compressed area.

Its advantages, according to its creators, are several: they weigh up to 80% less than concrete or metallic beams, which means that no heavy cranes or lorries are needed to carry and install them; they save time and money on labor and materials; and they can be printed and assembled in situ, which facilitates their installation anywhere, regardless of how difficult it is to reach. In addition to all of this, it uses recycled plastics as the raw material, giving a new life to this product and thus helping move towards more sustainable construction.

The development of these innovative beams is the result of almost three years of research. “Our goal was to propose an alternative to the current reinforced concrete beams. These are made using profiles built for the length of the piece, which requires expensive installation and are hard to transport,” says José Ramón Albiol, lecturer at the Higher Technical School of Construction Engineering (ETSIE) of the Polytechnic University of Valencia. Following numerous hours of tests and trials, the combination of 3D printing, plastics and concrete provided optimum results. And last October they patented the system.

Mar 8, 2021

Light could levitate micron-thin aircraft in Earth’s mesosphere

Posted by in categories: nanotechnology, transportation

Gossamer film of tangled carbon nanotubes gives objects a lift.

Mar 8, 2021

Finally found the time to complete this 17 image sequence of SpaceX Starship SN10 test flight from Boca Chica Texas on March 3rd 2021

Posted by in category: space travel

This image captures about 80% of the test flight. The other 20% off camera is when Starship SN10 was hovering at 10 kilometers and slowly moving west just up and out of the camera view.

SpaceX is getting very close to landing these Starship prototypes. They lost three Starships currently SN8, SN9 & SN10. It’s estimated that Starship is four times as expensive as a Falcon 9 so a very rough cost is about $280 million for each Starship prototype.

Mar 8, 2021

A magnetic trap captures elusive ultracold plasma

Posted by in categories: energy, physics, space

Pinning plasma within a set of magnetic fields offers physicists a new way to study clean energy, space weather and the inner workings of stars.

Mar 8, 2021

SpaceX wants to connect its Starlink satellite internet network to moving vehicles

Posted by in categories: internet, policy, satellites

SpaceX wants to begin connecting moving vehicles – from cars and trucks to jets and ships – to its Starlink satellite internet network, according to a request the company filed with the Federal Communications Commission.

“This application would serve the public interest by authorizing a new class of ground-based components for SpaceX’s satellite system that will expand the range of broadband capabilities available to moving vehicles throughout the United States and to moving vessels and aircraft worldwide,” SpaceX director of satellite policy David Goldman wrote in a letter to the FCC filed on Friday.

Starlink is the company’s capital-intensive project to build an interconnected internet network with thousands of satellites, known in the space industry as a constellation, designed to deliver high-speed internet to consumers anywhere on the planet.

Mar 8, 2021

Nvidia and Harvard develop AI tool that speeds up genome analysis

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, robotics/AI

Researchers affiliated with Nvidia and Harvard today detailed AtacWorks, a machine learning toolkit designed to bring down the cost and time needed for rare and single-cell experiments. In a study published in the journal Nature Communications, the coauthors showed that AtacWorks can run analyses on a whole genome in just half an hour compared with the multiple hours traditional methods take.

Most cells in the body carry around a complete copy of a person’s DNA, with billions of base pairs crammed into the nucleus. But an individual cell pulls out only the subsection of genetic components that it needs to function, with cell types like liver, blood, or skin cells using different genes. The regions of DNA that determine a cell’s function are easily accessible, more or less, while the rest are shielded around proteins.

AtacWorks, which is available from Nvidia’s NGC hub of GPU-optimized software, works with ATAC-seq, a method for finding open areas in the genome in cells pioneered by Harvard professor Jason Buenrostro, one of the paper’s coauthors. ATAC-seq measures the intensity of a signal at every spot on the genome. Peaks in the signal correspond to regions with DNA such that the fewer cells available, the noisier the data appears, making it difficult to identify which areas of the DNA are accessible.