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Intelligence Without Brains: A Radical New Idea

What if intelligence doesn’t require a brain? Biologist Michael Levin argues that intelligence is not confined to neurons, but exists on a continuum of goal-directed behavior and problem-solving across a wide range of species and systems. Using a framework he calls the “cognitive light cone,” Levin explores diverse forms of intelligence extending all the way down to the cellular level. His research suggests that cells communicate through electrical networks, enabling them to make collective decisions and adapt to unexpected challenges, evidenced by engineered tadpoles capable of seeing through eyes located on their tails. Levin radically challenges the conventional wisdom even further, proposing that forms of intelligence may extend beyond biology to molecular systems and maybe even the weather.

00:00 What is intelligence?
01:03 The field of diverse intelligence.
01:33 Intelligence at the cellular level.
02:08 The cognitive light cone.
03:01 The intelligence of groups of cells.
03:52 The bioelectric language of cells.
04:20 The mind of the body.
04:23 Cells that solve problems.
05:17 The tadpole experiment.
06:25 The cognitive spectrum.
06:48 Can you train a hurricane?
07:03 A new science of intelligence.
07:28 Beyond human biases.

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Orbital Data Centers Are Seductive on Paper, but They Face Daunting Challenges in Reality

But there is a vast difference between launching satellites and operating an industrial-scale computing infrastructure in orbit. Space is unforgiving. Radiation damages electronics. The electronics generate enormous amounts of heat, and getting rid of that heat is surprisingly difficult in space. Repairs are extraordinarily expensive, and every pound launched into orbit still carries a significant cost.

We are engineering professors who study data-center design and space systems engineering. Building a space-based data center will involve considerations from both sides.

First off, consider what goes into an Earth-based data center, like those that you’ve probably begun to see pop up everywhere. These facilities power cloud computing, video streaming, online banking, scientific computing, and increasingly, artificial intelligence. But a data center is much more than a room full of servers.

The hidden structure behind a widely used class of materials

Materials called relaxor ferroelectrics have been used for decades in technologies like ultrasounds, microphones, and sonar systems. Their unique properties come from their atomic structure, but that structure has stubbornly eluded direct measurement.

Now a team of researchers from MIT and elsewhere has directly characterized the three-dimensional atomic structure of a relaxor ferroelectric for the first time. The findings, reported today in Science, provide a framework for refining models used to design next-generation computing, energy, and sensing devices.

“Now that we have a better understanding of exactly what’s going on, we can better predict and engineer the properties we want materials to achieve,” says corresponding author James LeBeau, MIT’s Kyocera Professor of Materials Science and Engineering. “The research community is still developing methods to engineer these materials, but in order to predict the properties those materials will have, you have to know if your model is right.”

Self-Amplifying RNA: Advantages and Challenges of a Versatile Platform for Vaccine Development

Self-amplifying RNA is synthetic nucleic acid engineered to replicate within cells without generating viral particles. Derived from alphavirus genomes, saRNA retains the non-structural elements essential for replication while replacing the structural elements with an antigen of interest. By enabling efficient intracellular amplification, saRNA offers a promising alternative to conventional mRNA vaccines, enhancing antigen expression while requiring lower doses. However, this advantage comes with challenges. In this review, we highlight the key limitations of saRNA technology and explore potential strategies to overcome them. By identifying these challenges, we aim to provide insights that can guide the future design of saRNA-based therapeutics, extending their potential beyond vaccine applications.

Cachexia-induced alterations of miR-27a-3p drive cell-type specific effects in FAPs and tumor cells that coincide with muscle wasting

Self-amplifying RNA is synthetic nucleic acid engineered to replicate within cells without generating viral particles. Derived from alphavirus genomes, saRNA retains the non-structural elements essential for replication while replacing the structural elements with an antigen of interest. By enabling efficient intracellular amplification, saRNA offers a promising alternative to conventional mRNA vaccines, enhancing antigen expression while requiring lower doses. However, this advantage comes with challenges. In this review, we highlight the key limitations of saRNA technology and explore potential strategies to overcome them. By identifying these challenges, we aim to provide insights that can guide the future design of saRNA-based therapeutics, extending their potential beyond vaccine applications.

Urine: A Pitfall for Molecular Detection of Toscana Virus? An Analytical Proof-of-Concept Study

Toscana virus (TOSV), a sandfly-borne virus, is an important etiological agent in human acute meningitis and meningoencephalitis in the Mediterranean area during the summer. However, the actual number of TOSV infections is underestimated. Laboratory confirmation is necessary because TOSV infection has overlapping clinical features with other neuro-invasive viral infections. Nowadays, the reference test for direct diagnosis in the acute phase of TOSV infection is the PCR based method for detecting TOSV in cerebrospinal fluid and/or plasma, serum, or blood. Although poorly employed, urine is another helpful biological matrix for TOSV detection. Urine is a matrix rich in PCR inhibitors that affect PCR efficiency; consequently, false negatives could be generated.

AI analyses of eye scans can detect diseases like diabetes, osteoporosis and thyroid disease in seconds

A new study presents an artificial intelligence system that scans images of the retina to detect signs of diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, gout, osteoporosis and thyroid disease in seconds. The program—called Reti-Pioneer—is a step toward being able to diagnose many different conditions from a scan of the eye, providing people a quicker diagnosis for common conditions and increasing access to crucial testing.

Associate Professor Lisa Zhuoting Zhu, head of ophthalmic epidemiology at CERA, is one of the leading authors on the paper published in Nature Medicine. She says this technology is making disease diagnosis more efficient, particularly in remote or regional communities.

“This technology will be a real benefit to public health,” says Zhu. “Patients would be able to get information about their health instantly and start interventions as soon as possible instead of waiting for more time-consuming test results.”

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