Summary: Study uncovers new genetic risk factors for age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of vision loss in adults.
Source: PLOS
Combining a map of gene regulatory sites with disease-associated loci has uncovered a new genetic risk factor of adult-onset macular degeneration (AMD), according to a new study publishing January 17 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Ran Elkon and Ruth Ashery-Padan of Tel Aviv University, Israel, and colleagues.
Summary: Study opens the door for the exploration of information processing in vestibular synapses.
Source: Rice University.
The sensory organs that allow us to walk, dance and turn our heads without dizziness or loss of balance contain specialized synapses that process signals faster than any other in the human body.
Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have made a ground-breaking discovery in the field of synthetic DNA, using AI to control the cells’ protein production.
This new technology could revolutionize the way we produce vaccines, drugs for severe diseases, and alternative food proteins by making the process faster and significantly cheaper than current methods.
The process of gene expression is fundamental to the function of cells in all living organisms. In simple terms, the genetic code in DNA is transcribed into the molecule messenger RNA (mRNA), which tells the cell’s factory which protein to produce and in what quantities.
What could the consequences be in the future?
An interesting tweet is making headlines regarding Amazon’s adoption of robots within its company. Posted by Sam Korus, the tweet includes a graph showing the relative numbers of robots and human employees (in the thousands) at the beginning of every year between 2013 and 2022.
The graph shows a growing trend in the number of humans and robots over time, with a noticeable uptick during the pandemic as people spent more time shopping online at home. Korus’ tweet predicts that more robots will be employed than humans at some point in the future; he might have a point.
Oselote/iStock.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Amazon added more robots than people at some point within the next few years.
The robotics inflection is quite evident reading through Amazon’s robotics posts from just the past few months.https://t.co/OIX82yBuiVhttps://t.co/XbxHkvQX4shttps://t.co/K9n3msssC1
— Brett Winton (@wintonARK) January 12, 2023
pic.twitter.com/44aV4dEAmM— Sam Korus (@skorusARK) January 13, 2023
The decline has come faster than the governments predicted. Will this change China’s stance?
Population in China has dipped for the first time in over 60 years, as per data released by the National Bureau of Statistics today. The country that had 1.41260 billion people in 2021 now has 1.41175 billion at the end of 2022. The small difference in decimals here is actually a difference of 850,000 people on the ground.
The decline in China’s population comes in the backdrop of the country reeling under an intense wave of COVID-19 infections after letting go of its ‘zero-COVID’ policy.
Danielvfung/iStock.
These deaths cannot single-handedly account for the large drop in the population, thereby confirming what population experts have been long predicting: China is set to see a period of negative population growth.
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) (THE CONVERSATION) As with weeds in a garden, it is a challenge to fully get rid of cancer cells in the body once they arise. They have a relentless need to continuously expand, even when they are significantly cut back by therapy or surgery.
Whalen et al. couple deep learning with functional assays in chimpanzee and human cells to interrogate the neurodevelopmental enhancer potential of 2,645 human accelerated regions (HARs). Activity is dominated by cis rather than trans effects, and compensatory changes are identified as a driver of rapid HAR evolution.