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When the Human Genome Project reached its ambitious goal of mapping the entire human genome, it seemed the world was entering an era of personalized medicine, where evidence from our own specific genetic material would guide our care.

That was 2003, and nearly a generation after that spectacular collaborative achievement, we are still waiting for that promise to materialize. We may know that a person carries a gene associated with breast cancer, for example, but not whether that person will go on to develop the disease.

New research by McMaster University evolutionary biologist Rama Singh suggests the reason is that there is another, hidden layer that controls how interact, and how the many billions of possible combinations produce certain results. That layer is composed of largely uncharted biochemical pathways that in cells through chemical reactions.

Summary: Combining artificial intelligence, mathematical modeling, and brain imaging data, researchers shed light on the neural processes that occur when people use mental abstraction.

Source: UCL

By using a combination of mathematical modeling, machine learning and brain imaging technology, researchers have discovered what happens in the brain when people use mental abstractions.

Modified RNA CRISPR boosts gene knockdown in human cells.


In the latest of ongoing efforts to expand technologies for modifying genes and their expression, researchers in the lab of Neville Sanjana, PhD, at the New York Genome Center (NYGC) and New York University (NYU) have developed chemically modified guide RNAs for a CRISPR system that targets RNA instead of DNA. These chemically-modified guide RNAs significantly enhance the ability to target – trace, edit, and/or knockdown – RNA in human cells.

Longevity. Technology: In the study published in Cell Chemical Biology, the research team explores a range of different RNA modifications and details how the modified guides increase efficiencies of CRISPR activity from 2-to 5-fold over unmodified guides. They also show that the optimised chemical modifications extend CRISPR targeting activity from 48 hours to four days.

Increasing the efficiencies and “life” of CRISPR-Cas13 guides is of critical value to researchers and drug developers, allowing for better gene knockdown and more time to study how the gene influences other genes in related pathways.

From the time of Aristotle, it has been known that the human liver has the greatest regenerative capacity of any organ in the body, being able to regrow even from a 70% amputation, which has enabled live-donor transplants. Although the liver regenerates fully upon injury, the mechanisms that regulate how to activate or stop the process and when regeneration is terminated, are still unknown. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) in Dresden (Germany), at the Gurdon Institute (Cambridge, UK) and at the University of Cambridge (Biochemistry Department) have now found that a regulatory cell type—mesenchymal cell—can activate or stop liver regeneration. The mesenchymal cells do so by the number of contacts they establish with the regenerating cells (epithelial cells). This study suggests that mistakes in the regeneration process, which can give rise to cancer or chronic liver diseases, are caused by the wrong number of contacts between both populations. The work is described in a paper published in the journal Cell Stem Cell on 2nd August 2021.

The molecular mechanisms by which adult liver trigger the regenerative response remain largely unknown. Approximately 29 million people in Europe suffer from a chronic liver condition such as cirrhosis or liver cancer. They are a major cause of morbidity and mortality with liver diseases accounting for approximately two million deaths per year worldwide. Currently, there is no cure and liver transplants are the only treatment for liver failure. Scientists are therefore exploring new options for how to trigger the regenerative capacity of the liver as an alternative means to restore function.

And here is a really smart person talking about brain interfaces.


In this talk we introduce Shivon Zilis, Project Director at Neuralink, to her team’s work and the ethical impacts of implanting technology into the brain. We learn about the latest developments in Neuralink’s technology and the goals the team keeps in mind when designing and implementing technology that could change the way humans interact and understand technology.

Visit https://cucai.ca/ to learn more.

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The company claims its High-Speed Vertical Take-Off and Landing aircraft could blend “the hover capability of a helicopter with the speed, range and survivability features of a fighter aircraft”. Such a system would be capable of “low-downwash hover” and “jet-like cruise speeds over 400kt [740km/h]”, the manufacturer says.

Bell’s conceptual renderings appear to use foldable proprotor technology that the company has disclosed in patent applications. The firm has explored aircraft that can take off vertically using tiltrotors, but then fly forward in cruise mode using wing-borne lift and thrust from jet engines, according to patent applications. Rotor blades would fold back to reduce drag during forward jet-powered flight.

One way such an aircraft might switch between high-speed cruise and VTOL mode is by relying on a “convertible engine”, a jet engine that switches between turboshaft and turbofan modes, according to patent filings. The Lockheed Martin F-35B uses a similar system, called the Rolls-Royce LiftSystem, to facilitate short take offs and vertical landings.