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AI‑designed gene‑editing enzymes expand the CRISPR toolbox

Scientists have made many advances using traditional CRISPR technology, especially in medicine, but they are now seeking ways to create genuinely new gene-editing enzymes with properties that have not already evolved naturally. A new study, published in Science, describes a new AI-designed synthetic TnpB enzyme, called SynTnpBs, that has outperformed the natural reference enzyme.

Creating new gene editors CRISPR tools use a programmable guide RNA to direct an enzyme to a specific target in the genome to edit (cut, insert or correct) DNA. The TnpB enzyme is a compact ancestor of certain CRISPR enzymes, called CRISPR-Cas12 enzymes. Researchers think its small size could make it useful in situations where delivery space is limited, like some kinds of gene editing in plants. However, these enzymes can be difficult to redesign.

While AI has been useful for automating complex genome editing and predicting DNA repair outcomes, most AI methods used for generating gene-editing enzymes have produced versions that are still very similar to natural proteins. When researchers have attempted to create new editors with novel, useful properties, they have found it challenging to change the protein without breaking the molecular contacts needed for DNA editing.

CERN Experiments Detect Signs of the Universe’s Primordial Matter

All four major LHC experiments have found new evidence that collisions between oxygen and neon may produce the extreme state of matter that existed during the first microseconds after the Big Bang.

Inside the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), collisions between relatively light oxygen and neon nuclei may be producing matter from the earliest moments of the Universe. One year after the collider’s first oxygen runs, all four major LHC experiments, ALICE, ATLAS, CMS, and LHCb, have reported signs of quark–gluon plasma (QGP).

QGP forms under immense pressure at temperatures more than 100,000 times hotter than the center of the Sun. In these conditions, composite particles break apart into quarks and the gluons that normally bind them together. This state of matter is thought to have filled the Universe during the first millionths of a second after the Big Bang. Nearly 14 billion years later, physicists can briefly recreate it through high-energy nuclear collisions at the LHC.

Largescale compressive microscopy via diffractive multiplexing across a sensor array Photonics

By combining an array of 48 sensors with a diffractive mask and compressive sensing, researchers developed a 25 gigapixel-per-second computational microscope that can image at micrometre resolution across multi-centimetre areas at 120 frames per second.

‘Within 20 Km of 2 Million People’: Major Volcano Is Hiding Two Active Magma Chambers

A major volcano in Nicaragua has not one but two active magma chambers, scientists reveal in a new study, shedding important light on the inner workings of a highly active volcano located near a large human population.

Masaya in western Nicaragua is one of the region’s busiest volcanoes, although its activity in modern times has been mostly “passive degassing, lava lake formation, and vent-clearing explosions,” the study’s authors write in Geophysical Research Letters.

It’s a basaltic shield volcano, so that behavior isn’t surprising. Shield volcanoes are known for highly fluid lava that erupts in slow, effusive flows – such as typical Hawaiian eruptions – rather than the violent blasts of stratovolcanoes.

Withinpatient gene transfer between transiently and chronically infecting bacteria causes extreme antibiotic resistance during lung infections Microbiology

Antibiotic resistance gene acquisition by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Achromobacter from transiently infecting bacteria drives rapid and extreme resistance to tobramycin during chronic lung infection within patients.

Popular vs. reliable sources—a blind spot in how LLMs assess information

Large language models (LLMs), the artificial intelligence (AI) systems underpinning ChatGPT and similar conversational platforms, are now used by many people worldwide to find and summarize information and generate different types of text. Despite their widespread use, these models still have notable limitations.

When generating text or answers to user queries, current LLMs do not rely only on patterns observed and data analyzed during training. They can also retrieve information from external sources, such as websites, databases and search engines.

Giving LLMs access to external resources allows them to produce responses that are up to date and more comprehensive. If a model cannot reliably judge the reliability of external sources of information, however, it may generate text that is untrustworthy or inaccurate.

Mechanical Thrombectomy in Ischemic Stroke With Medium or Distal Arterial Occlusion

This randomized clinical trial evaluates the benefit of mechanical thrombectomy with medical treatment, compared with medical treatment alone, in adult patients with acute ischemic stroke related to a primary and isolated medium and distal vessel occlusion.

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