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Jan 15, 2020

The hunt for the ‘angel particle’ continues

Posted by in category: particle physics

In 2017, researchers believed they had found evidence for the elusive Majorana fermion. Now, a new study found that the exotic class of particles may still be confined to theory.

Jan 15, 2020

Art therapy is finally being taken seriously as a tool for boosting health

Posted by in category: health

In the past two decades, scientists have also starting looking at art as a way to keep people mentally and physically healthy. In a report, the World Health Organization points to just how powerful art can be as a therapy. The report has problems but could lend heft and credibility to the field.

Jan 15, 2020

City of Las Vegas detects and deters major cyberattack

Posted by in category: cybercrime/malcode

Security breach took place on January 7, but the city said it detected the intrusion in time to prevent any damage.

Jan 15, 2020

Windows 10 Has a Security Flaw So Severe the NSA Disclosed It

Posted by in categories: privacy, security

In a shift toward transparency, the National Security Agency announced a bug that could have left over 900 million PCs vulnerable to attack.

Jan 15, 2020

Australian man becomes first robotic kidney transplant recipient in the world

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

Tim Sawley’s wife Talitha donated the kidney to him in a medical first.

Jan 15, 2020

The Rise of Superhumans and the Challenges for Learning and Development

Posted by in categories: business, education, transhumanism

How will learning and development cope with the growing trend of humans augmenting their basic capabilities with chemical, electronic, physical, and genetic enhancements?

We’ve been entertained by a never ending stream of Marvel and DC Comics characters with super powers ranging from x-ray vision to mind control. Many of us have also spent time fantasising about the additional capabilities we’d like to help see us through the day. But what happens when those boundaries blur between science fantasy and everyday reality?

The practice of human enhancement or augmentation is a phenomena well underway across society – although the concept may be new to many of us. Over the next 25 years, the integration of information and communications technologies (ICTs), cognitive science, new materials, and bio-medicine could fundamentally improve the human condition and greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities. As a result, the notion of the “transhuman” could emerge. For example, we are well underway with the process of augmenting human beings’ cognitive and intellectual abilities through technological implants, such as memory storage. These enhancements mean humans could achieve heightened senses and biological capabilities that are largely the prerogative of other species (e.g. speed, resistance, adaptation to extreme conditions, etc.).

The speed of development is truly mind blowing. Advances in cognitive enhancement drugs and “nootropic” supplements, electronic brain stimulation techniques, genetic modification, age extension treatments, 3D printed limbs and organs, and body worn exoskeletons, have given rise to the notion of enhancing the human brain and body well beyond the limits of natural evolutionary processes. Indeed, many leaders in the field of AI are fierce advocates of Transhumanism as the next stage of human evolution—arguing that if humans want to keep up with AI, we ourselves will have to become machines—embedding technology in our brains and bodies to give us similar levels of processing power.

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Jan 15, 2020

An ‘unknown’ burst of gravitational waves just lit up Earth’s detectors

Posted by in category: physics

Don’t worry, Betelguese is still there.

Jan 15, 2020

Why Big Tech Is Getting Into Finance | WSJ

Posted by in category: finance

In 2019, many large tech firms announced plans to offer financial products and services. WSJ’s Liz Hoffman explains why Google, Apple, and others are offering products that might someday replace your wallet.

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Jan 15, 2020

Scientists Discovered ‘Mini-Computers’ in Human Neurons—and That’s Great News for AI

Posted by in category: robotics/AI

The neurons in our cortex, the outermost “crust” of our brain, seem to have uniquely evolved to sustain complex computations in their input cables.

Jan 15, 2020

Titrating gene expression using libraries of systematically attenuated CRISPR guide RNAs

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

A lack of tools to precisely control gene expression has limited our ability to evaluate relationships between expression levels and phenotypes. Here, we describe an approach to titrate expression of human genes using CRISPR interference and series of single-guide RNAs (sgRNAs) with systematically modulated activities. We used large-scale measurements across multiple cell models to characterize activities of sgRNAs containing mismatches to their target sites and derived rules governing mismatched sgRNA activity using deep learning. These rules enabled us to synthesize a compact sgRNA library to titrate expression of ~2,400 genes essential for robust cell growth and to construct an in silico sgRNA library spanning the human genome. Staging cells along a continuum of gene expression levels combined with single-cell RNA-seq readout revealed sharp transitions in cellular behaviors at gene-specific expression thresholds. Our work provides a general tool to control gene expression, with applications ranging from tuning biochemical pathways to identifying suppressors for diseases of dysregulated gene expression.