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Microsoft has built an AI tool that predicts the accuracy of CRISPR so that researchers can avoid making incorrect edits of DNA.

Missing the target: CRISPR uses two components: a cutting protein and a guide RNA that directs it to the part of a genome you want to cut. The guide RNA is about 20 letters long. Problem is, multiple sites in a genome can have the same series of letters, so CRISPR could snip the wrong section—known as an “off target” effect.

Why that matters: Off-target effects are one of the biggest safety concerns with CRISPR. Making incorrect cuts in a genome could, say, switch on a cancer-causing gene.

Continue reading “AI can warn researchers where CRISPR might make a mistake” »

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V 0.1.0 — “Hydrogen”

What are some of the things you don’t think machines are ever going to be able to do? Computers are still very weak when it comes to understanding. They can’t process a textbook and use the knowledge the way humans do. But that’s being worked on. There’s no real problem- solving limit to what can be done. Understanding what does it mean in terms of consciousness or anything like that, I know that the software won’t be in that realm at all. But it will be an incredible problem solver.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates spoke with TIME’s Nancy Gibbs about looking forward and what makes him optimistic about the future.

A new conception of quantum mechanics rests on the idea that parallel universes exist, and that they interact with our own to create weird and wonderful quantum phenomena.

Just a prototype for now.

After months of teasing, so much so that we had actually seen pretty much the entire vehicle and we have been aware of its main specs, Fisker officially launched its new EMotion all-electric vehicle at CES in Las Vegas last night.

Bell Helicopter showed its vision for airborne mobility, essentially an air taxi passengers could summon like an Uber, at CES 2018.

It’s crazy to think that we still don’t quite understand the mechanism behind one of the most common medical interventions — general anaesthetic.

But researchers in Australia just got a step closer by discovering that one of the most commonly used anaesthetic drugs doesn’t just put us to sleep; it also disrupts communication between brain cells.

The team investigated the drug propofol, a super-popular option for surgeries worldwide. A potent sedative, the drug is thought to put us to sleep through its effect on the GABA neurotransmitter system, the main regulator of our sleep-and-wake cycles in the brain.

Continue reading “Scientists Just Changed Our Understanding of How Anaesthesia Messes With The Brain” »