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Abstract: In a cohort of over 1,000 patients with BreastCancer

Emilio Hirsch & team identify SH3BP5L as the most highly expressed guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) for RAB11A, and its inhibition lowers lung metastasis and cell spreading in triple negative breast cancer models (TNBC):

The figure shows immunohistochemical assessment of SH3BP5L expression in tissue from patients with breast cancer.

@unito.it @fondazioneumbertoveronesi

1Department of Molecular Biotechnology and Health Sciences, Molecular Biotechnology Center “G. Tarone,” University of Torino, Torino, Italy.

2IEO, European Institute of Oncology IRCCS, Milan, Italy.

3Department of Oncology and Hemato-Oncology, University of Milano, Milano, Italy.

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When water meets rock: Exploring water quality impacts from legacy lithium mining in North Carolina

Starting just outside Charlotte, North Carolina, a vast underground deposit of lithium stretches south for 25 miles. A key component of rechargeable batteries and energy grid storage systems, the soft, silvery metal is a global commodity, making this subterranean cache a geopolitically important and potentially lucrative resource.

Here, lithium primarily occurs within granite-like rocks called pegmatite, bound to a green-tinged mineral called spodumene. Two large lithium mines once operated in this region—called the Carolina Tin-Spodumene Belt—but closed decades ago. As demand for renewable energy climbs, mining companies have growing interest in the area.

The presence of historic, or legacy, lithium mines and the prospect of new lithium mining activity have led nearby residents to wonder about the possibility of drinking water contamination. Over the past several years, a team led by Avner Vengosh, Distinguished Professor and Nicholas Chair of Environmental Quality at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, has been working to address those concerns.

Antibodies block bacteria that cause tuberculosis, study shows

A study led by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers has found that certain antibodies inhibit Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the cause of tuberculosis (TB), the infectious disease that claims the most lives worldwide. Published in Cell Reports, the study identified characteristics of these antibodies and revealed insights that may lead to clinical tools that help prevent TB and other diseases.

“This data changes how we think about using the immune system against tuberculosis by showing how some antibodies activate immune cells in patients to block Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb),” said the study’s senior author, Lenette Lu, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Immunology and a member of the Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine at UT Southwestern.

Despite widespread use of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), the only licensed TB vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 10.8 million people became ill with TB in 2023 and 1.25 million died.

Humans will merge with AI in 10 years | Ray Kurzweil and Lex Fridman

Lex Fridman Podcast full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykY69lSpDdo.
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GUEST BIO:
Ray Kurzweil is an author, inventor, and futurist.

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“The Bioelectric Interface to the Collective Intelligence of Morphogenesis” by Michael Levin

This is a ~57 minute talk titled “The Bioelectric Interface to the Collective Intelligence of Morphogenesis: development, regeneration, cancer, and beyond” which I gave at a UCSF seminar for an audience of graduate students and post-docs in Biophysics, Bioinformatics, and Chemical Biology. I covered the role of bioelectricity as cognitive glue underlying high-level adaptive plasticity in living tissue, recent progress in exploiting that interface, and new developments in research platforms for this field.

Brave New Biology: Intelligence Trumps DNA — with Dr. Michael Levin and Dr. John Vervaeke

Dr. Michael Levin is a professor in the Department of Biology at Tufts University and an associate faculty member at the Wyss Institute at Harvard. He directs the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts, where his team integrates biophysics, computational modeling, and behavioral science to study how cellular collectives make decisions during embryogenesis, regeneration, and cancer.

Levin’s research centers on diverse forms of intelligence and unconventional embodied minds, bridging conceptual theory, experimental biology, and translational work aimed at regenerative medicine. His lab also pioneers efforts in artificial intelligence and the bioengineering of novel living machines.

Read more about Dr. Michael Levin’s work: https://drmichaellevin.org/
X: https://twitter.com/drmichaellevin.
YouTube: ‪@drmichaellevin‬

John Vervaeke’s YouTube channel: ‪@johnvervaeke‬

📖 Let’s take our stories back. Check out our latest book in the Tales for Now and Ever series, Rapunzel and the Evil Witch: https://rapunzelbook.com/

Join Fr. Stephen De Young in his Jubilees and the Nephilim course, now streaming live on The Symbolic World: https://www.thesymbolicworld.com/cour… 00:00 — Coming up 01:14 — Intro music 01:40 — Introduction 02:23 — What Michael does 06:19 — Example experiments 07:51 — Memories outside the brain 12:46 — Terminology: memory 13:59 — Communicate to biological cells 15:54 — Limitations? 17:39 — Platonic patterns 34:06 — Incarnation and constraints 39:26 — Causes 49:28 — New beings in new spaces 52:25 — What the Enlightenment dismissed 55:32 — Molecular medicine 57:36 — Subtle bodies 01:00:45 — Ethics 01:03:37 — Medical and meaning applications 01:11:42 — Frightening 01:14:31 — Against the status quo 01:19:03 — Should we dabble in this technology? 💻 Website and blog: http://www.thesymbolicworld.com 🔗 Linktree: https://linktr.ee/jonathanpageau 🔒 BECOME A PATRON: https://thesymbolicworld.com/subscribe Our website designers: https://www.resonancehq.io/ My intro was arranged and recorded by Matthew Wilkinson: https://matthewwilkinson.net/

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Beyond the Brain: Michael Levin on Living Intelligence & Minds in the era of AI

A conversation co-published by AI House Davos and Michael Levin’s Academic Content (@drmichaellevin)

In this conversation, we explore how intelligence exists across all scales of life, from cells to collectives, and what this means for our understanding of AI, minds, and what it means to be human.

Professor Michael Levin challenges the assumption that intelligence begins with brains, revealing how biological systems improvise, adapt, and solve problems in ways that go far beyond what our computational architectures attempt. From cognitive glue to the ethics of diverse intelligence, this interview questions the categories we’ve inherited and asks what truly matters as we enter an era of radically different embodiments.

Speaker.
Michael Levin (Director at Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University)

Moderator.
Louisa Hillegaart (Founder’s Associate, AI House Davos)

© AI House Davos 2025

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Living Systems, Alignment & AGI: Michael Levin, Stephen Grossberg & Verses AI Break Down the Future

In this powerful opening session of the Strong AI Summit, moderator Dr. Mahault Albarracin brings together legendary thinkers redefining the boundaries between biology, cognition, active inference, and AGI.

00:00 Introduction by Dr. Mahault Albarracin.
00:42 Why study living systems when designing AI?
02:10 Dr. Michael Levin on biological intelligence and collective behavior.
04:25 Dr. Dalton on active inference foundations.
06:10 Prof. Stephen Grossberg on alignment and stable learning.
09:05 Limits of biological analogies in AI design.
11:45 Collective problem-solving and emergent goals.
13:30 Closing reflections.

Featuring:

Dr. Michael Levin, pioneer in morphogenesis, bioelectric signaling, and the xenobot project.

Prof. Stephen Grossberg, the most cited computational neuroscientist and creator of ART theory.

Dr. Dalton Sakadolsky, leading theoretician in Bayesian mechanics & active inference.

Continue reading “Living Systems, Alignment & AGI: Michael Levin, Stephen Grossberg & Verses AI Break Down the Future” | >
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