A device, created at Stevens Institute of Technology, uses millimeter-wave imaging — the same technology used in airport security scanners — to scan a patient’s skin to detect if they have skin cancer. Millimeter-wave rays harmlessly penetrate about 2mm into human skin, so the team’s imaging technology provides a clear 3D map of scanned skin lesions.
Elon Musk’s Neuralink rival Synchron has begun human trials of its brain implant that lets the wearer control a computer using thought alone.
The firm’s Stentrode brain implant, about the size of a paperclip, will be implanted in six patients in New York and Pittsburgh who have severe paralysis.
Continue reading “Elon Musk’s Neuralink rival Synchron starts human trials of implants” »
The team, part of Surrey’s research program in the exciting new field of quantum biology, have shown that this modification in the bonds between the DNA strands is far more prevalent than has hitherto been thought. The protons can easily jump from their usual site on one side of an energy barrier to land on the other side. If this happens just before the two strands are unzipped in the first step of the copying process, then the error can pass through the replication machinery in the cell, leading to what is called a DNA mismatch and, potentially, a mutation.
In a paper published this week in the journal Communications Physics, the Surrey team based in the Leverhulme Quantum Biology Doctoral Training Center used an approach called open quantum systems to determine the physical mechanisms that might cause the protons to jump across between the DNA strands. But, most intriguingly, it is thanks to a well-known yet almost magical quantum mechanism called tunneling—akin to a phantom passing through a solid wall—that they manage to get across.
The molecules of life, DNA, replicate with astounding precision, yet this process is not immune to mistakes and can lead to mutations. Using sophisticated computer modeling, a team of physicists and chemists at the University of Surrey have shown that such errors in copying can arise due to the strange rules of the quantum world.
Continue reading “Quantum mechanics could explain why DNA can spontaneously mutate” »
Not 6 million but 21 million.
And it has all happened because of a virus that caught the world unprepared.
The WHO report released today states that total deaths as reported by national health authorities attributable to COVID-19 don’t take into account excess mortality, or as it describes, “the mortality above what would be expected based on the non-crisis mortality rate.”
Continue reading “World Health Organization Acknowledges Undercounting of COVID-19 Deaths” »
Scientists have uncovered changes in neurological structure that could underlie the autism spectrum disorder known as Pitt Hopkins syndrome, thanks to the help of lab-grown brains developed from human cells.
Furthermore, the researchers were able to recover lost genetic functions through the use of two different gene therapy strategies – hinting at the possibility of treatments that could one day give those with the condition new options in improving their quality of life.
Pitt Hopkins syndrome is a neurodevelopmental condition stemming from a mutation in a DNA-management gene called transcription factor 4 (TCF4). Classed on the autism spectrum on account of its severe impact on motor skills and sensory integration, it’s a complex condition that presents with a range of severities.
It’s not often that a failed clinical trial leads to a scientific breakthrough.
When patients in the UK started showing adverse side effects during a cancer immunotherapy trial, researchers at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) Center for Cancer Immunotherapy and University of Liverpool went back through the data and worked with patient samples to see what went wrong.
Their findings, published recently in Nature, provide critical clues to why many immunotherapies trigger dangerous side effects—and point to a better strategy for treating patients with solid tumors.
Reimagining A Healthier Future for All — Dr. Pat Verduin PhD, Chief Technology Officer, Colgate, discussing the microbiome, skin and oral care, and healthy aging from a CPG perspective.
Dr. Patricia Verduin, PhD, (https://www.colgatepalmolive.com/en-us/snippet/2021/circle-c…ia-verduin) is Chief Technology Officer for the Colgate-Palmolive Company where she provides leadership for product innovation, clinical science and long-term research and development across their Global Technology Centers’ Research & Development pipeline.
A growing group of startups and established logistics firms have created a multi-billion-dollar industry applying artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge… See more.
LONDON, May 3 (Reuters) — Over the last two years a series of unexpected events has scrambled global supply chains. Coronavirus, war in Ukraine, Brexit and a container ship wedged in the Suez Canal have combined to delay deliveries of everything from bicycles to pet food.
In response, a growing group of startups and established logistics firms has created a multi-billion dollar industry applying the latest technology to help businesses minimize the disruption.
Continue reading “Startups apply artificial intelligence to supply chain disruptions” »
In removing cilia from human pluripotent stem cells, Freedman and his colleagues sought to understand what would happen in their subsequent transformation into tissues and organoids. As it happened, the cilia-free stem cells appeared normal but were unable to fully realize new forms.
“It was surprising to me that, at a certain point after they were turning into tissues, they seemed to break down,” Freedman said. “They struggled to transform into anything sophisticated. I think one lesson from this is that the cilia help get cells through their final stage of development.”
It was first reported in 2000 that PKD could stem from defects in cilia, but the mechanism of damage that causes cysts to form has escaped scientists. By creating cilia-free stem cells that harbor disease, Freedman said, the researchers now have a framework with which to test and compare molecular actions in the cilia.
Estimates put this industry’s worth at a staggering $610 billion by 2025. 😳
The Renaissance philosopher Montaigne quipped that “death has us by the scruff of the neck at every moment.” He could have added: until, finally, it strangles us. But what if we knew how to escape death’s chokehold? What if we could avoid death and live forever?
Immortality might seem like the stuff of science fiction, yet it’s increasingly becoming the focus of real science. In 2013, Google launched Calico, a biotech firm whose objective is to “solve” death. PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, meanwhile, has pledged to “fight” death. And last year, it was reported Amazon chairman Jeff Bezos had invested in Altos Labs, a company that plans to “rejuvenate” cells in order to “reverse disease.” (Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
Continue reading “The long and gruesome history of people trying to live forever” »
