The Zen of Technology & Scientific Discovery! (& Robots)

[Jundo]

I would also like to make special mention of this, a RadioLab podcast episode on how common gender fluid behavior is throughout the animal kingdom ...

In the 1970s, as LGBTQ+ people in the United States faced conservatives whose top argument was that homosexuality is “unnatural,” a pair of young scientists discovered on a tiny island off the coast of California a colony of seagulls that included… a significant number of female homosexual couples making nests and raising chicks together. The article that followed upended the culture’s understanding of what’s natural and took the discourse on homosexuality in a whole new direction.

https://radiolab.org/podcast/seagulls

Gassho, J

stlah

[Jundo]

This would be wonderful news ... treating human addictions, and other excess desires, medically ... saving untold lives ...

Beating the Opioid Crisis: Human Trials for Fentanyl and Heroin Vaccines Nearing Launch

Scientists from the University of Montana, along with their partners, are close to initiating human trials for vaccines designed to prevent overdoses from fentanyl and heroin.

These vaccines aim to offer a safeguard for individuals grappling with substance addiction or those vulnerable to unintentional overdoses. Data from the National Institutes of Health indicates that in 2021, over 106,000 drug overdose fatalities occurred in the U.S., with 71,000 of these deaths linked to synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.

... His research team designs haptens and drug conjugate vaccines that can elicit the production of antibodies against target opioids. ... “Our vaccines are designed to neutralize the target opioid, while sparing critical medications such as methadone, buprenorphine, naltrexone, and naloxone, which are used in the treatment of opioid addiction and reversal of overdose,” he said. ... [But] “It takes a long time – years – to get to a final approved product,” Evans said. “Based on the efficacy data we see in our preclinical data and the established safety profile in animal models, we are very hopeful these vaccines will be successful. But there is still a lot of work to be done.”

https://scitechdaily.com/beating-the...earing-launch/

Getting at another route: ... Dopamine ...

Ozempic seems to curb cravings for alcohol. Here's what scientists think is going on

... With the drug's surge in popularity, doctors and patients have begun to notice a striking side effect of these drugs: They appear to reduce people's cravings for alcohol, nicotine and opioids. They may also reduce some types of compulsive behaviors, such as gambling and online shopping.

"There's really been a large number of clinical and anecdotal reports coming in suggesting that people's drinking behaviors are changing and in some instances pretty substantially while taking [Ozempic or Wegovy]," says Christian Hendershot, a psychologist and addiction researcher at the University of North Carolina. ... He's leading one of six clinical trials now underway aimed at understanding how semaglutide may alter people's drinking and smoking habits.

"All these reports, for the most part, are anecdotal," Hendershot adds. "At the same time, it does seem like there's a pretty strong signal here."

... "It's really not surprising," says pharmacologist Elisabet Jerlhag.

For more than a decade now, Jerlhag and her colleagues at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden have been figuring out in great detail how GLP-1 drugs, such as Ozempic, reduce alcohol consumption in rats.

She and other scientists have published nearly a dozen studies showing how these drugs stop binge drinking in rats or mice, prevent relapse in "addicted" animals, and overall decrease their consumption of alcohol. "So we see a reduction by over 50%, which is quite dramatic," Jerlhag says. Other studies in animals have also found that GLP-1 drugs reduce the consumption of nicotine, opioids, as well as psychostimulants, such as cocaine and methamphetamine.

So why would a weight-loss drug do this? Turns out, these drugs (as well as the GLP-1 hormone) don't just work on blood sugar. "They also work in your brain," says Dr. Lorenzo Leggio, who's the clinical director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse. "The mechanism in the brain that regulates overeating overlaps with those responsible for the development and maintenance of addiction, including alcohol disorder," he says.

... "Dopamine in the striatum [the brain's motivation center] is the motivation and learning signal for everything. Not just for food," DiFeliceantonio says. "All addictive drugs increase dopamine there. That's a common thing." ... But studies have found that in animals and people, GLP-1 drugs reduce the release of dopamine in this region when you eat something sweet and fatty, or when you consume alcohol. ...

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-...gs-semaglutide

Can we live long enough to see the future's changes?

New Breakthrough Paves the Way for Extending Human Lifespan – Scientists Successfully Transfer Longevity Gene

Researchers successfully transferred a longevity gene from naked mole rats to mice, leading to enhanced health and increased lifespan. Naked mole rats, noted for their resistance to age-related diseases, have a gene that produces high molecular weight hyaluronic acid (HMW-HA), which when introduced to mice, demonstrated potential anti-aging benefits.

The successful transfer of a gene that produces HMW-HA paves the way for improving the health and lifespan of humans, too. ... “Our study provides a proof of principle that unique longevity mechanisms that evolved in long-lived mammalian species can be exported to improve the lifespans of other mammals,” says Vera Gorbunova, the Doris Johns Cherry Professor of biology and medicine at Rochester.

... This led to improved health and an approximate 4.4 percent increase in the median lifespan for the mice.

Naked mole rats are mouse-sized rodents that have exceptional longevity for rodents of their size; they can live up to 41 years, nearly ten times as long as similar-sized rodents. Unlike many other species, naked mole rats do not often contract diseases—including neurodegeneration, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, and cancer—as they age. ... Compared to mice and humans, naked mole rats have about ten times more HMW-HA in their bodies. When the researchers removed HMW-HA from naked mole rat cells, the cells were more likely to form tumors. ...

https://scitechdaily.com/new-breakthrough-paves-the-way-for-extending-human-lifespan-scientists-successfully-transfer-longevity-gene/

Apart from that earth-shaking news, something truly universe-shaking ... right down to our cells ...

... constants finely tuned billions of years before life, yet necessary for our our lives now ...

Scientists Have Made a Discovery That Could Change Our Understanding of the Universe

Scientists have revealed that fundamental constants, previously thought to be unchanging, have a range where they can vary.
This variability is pivotal for maintaining the necessary viscosity for life processes within cells. ... This is an important piece of the puzzle in determining where these constants come from and how they impact life as we know it. ...

... Fundamental physical constants shape the fabric of the universe we live in. Physical constants are quantities with a value that is generally believed to be both universal in nature and to remain unchanged over time – for example, the mass of the electron. They govern nuclear reactions and can lead to the formation of molecular structures essential to life, but their origin is unknown. ...

... Life processes in and between living cells require motion and it is viscosity that sets the properties of this motion. If fundamental constants change, viscosity would change too impacting life as we know it. For example, if water was as viscous as tar life would not exist in its current form or not exist at all. This applies beyond water, so all life forms using the liquid state to function would be affected.” ... “Any change in fundamental constants including an increase or decrease would be equally bad news for flow and for liquid-based life. We expect the window to be quite narrow: for example, viscosity of our blood would become too thick or too thin for body functioning with only a few percent change of some fundamental constants such as the Planck constant or electron charge.” Professor of Physics Kostya Trachenko said.

Surprisingly, the fundamental constants were thought to be tuned billions of years ago to produce heavy nuclei in stars, and back then life as we know it today didn’t exist. There was no need for these constants to be fine-tuned at that point to also enable cellular life billions of years later, and yet these constants turn out to be bio-friendly to flow in and between living cells.

An accompanying conjecture is that multiple tunings may have been involved and this then suggests a similarity to biological evolution where traits were acquired independently. Through evolutionary mechanisms, fundamental constants may be the result of nature arriving at sustainable physical structures. It remains to be seen how the principles of evolution can be helpful to understand the origin of fundamental constants.

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-have-made-a-discovery-that-could-change-our-understanding-of-the-universe/#google_vignette

We are still in the dark about this ...

Challenging Einstein – New Study Suggests That Dark Matter Interacts With Gravity in a Non-Local Way

The principle of locality states that an object is directly influenced only by its surrounding environment: distant objects cannot communicate instantaneously, only what is here right now matters. However, in the past century, with the birth and development of quantum mechanics, physicists discovered that non-local phenomena not only exist but are fundamental to understanding the nature of reality.

Now, a new study from SISSA – Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, recently published in The Astrophysical Journal, suggests that dark matter, one of the most mysterious components of the Universe, interacts with gravity in a non-local way. According to the authors, Ph.D. students Francesco Benetti and Giovanni Gandolfi, along with their supervisor Andrea Lapi, this discovery could provide a fresh perspective on the still unclear nature of dark matter. Dark matter is a fundamental component of nature: it is responsible for the formation of the structures we observe in the Universe today and surrounds luminous matter in galaxies, contributing to the motion of the stars we see in the sky. However, the nature of dark matter, especially its interaction with gravity in smaller galaxies, remains mysterious. ...

... The study proposes a new model of non-local interaction between the dark matter of a galaxy and gravity: “It’s as if all the matter in the universe tells the dark matter in a galaxy how to move,” state the authors. ...
https://scitechdaily.com/challenging...non-local-way/

But some things prove right ...

Demon Hunting: Strange 67-Year-Old Particle Physics Prediction Finally Confirmed

67 years after its theoretical prediction by David Pines, the elusive “demon” particle, a massless and neutral entity in solids, has been detected in strontium ruthenate, underscoring the value of innovative research approaches.

In 1956, theoretical physicist David Pines predicted that electrons in a solid can do something strange. Although electrons typically have a mass and an electric charge, Pines asserted that they could combine to create a composite particle that is massless, neutral, and doesn’t interact with light. He named this theoretical particle a “demon.” Since then, it has been theorized to play an important role in the behaviors of a wide variety of metals. Unfortunately, the same properties that make it interesting have allowed it to elude detection since its prediction.

https://scitechdaily.com/demon-hunti...oogle_vignette

No stars, no us ...

Hubble’s Gaze Into a Stellar Cradle

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured an entrancing dust-filled image of the protostellar object OH 339.88-1.26. Located 8,900 light-years away in the constellation Ara. This image showcases winding lanes of dark dust intertwined with bright stars, their brilliance emphasized by crisscrossing diffraction spikes.

https://scitechdaily.com/maser-mystique-hubbles-gaze-into-a-stellar-cradle/#google_vignette

We also need ribosomes in order to be us ...

New Research Sheds Light on the Formation of One of Nature’s Most Fundamental Molecules

Life runs on ribosomes. Every cell across the globe requires ribosomes to convert genetic data into the vital proteins required for the organism’s operation, and, subsequently, for the production of more ribosomes. However, scientists still lack a clear understanding of how these essential nanomachines are assembled.

Now, new high-resolution images of the large ribosomal subunit are shedding light on how arguably nature’s most fundamental molecule coalesces in human cells. The findings, published in Science, bring us one step closer to a complete picture of ribosome assembly. ...

... For the current study, Klinge and colleagues focused on the human large ribosomal subunit (60S). ... Vanden Broeck and Klinge combined new techniques involving a mashup of genome editing and biochemistry, to capture high-resolution cryo-EM structures of 24 human large ribosomal subunit assembly intermediates as they were maturing. The resulting images show how assembly factors, various proteins, and enzymes, interact with RNA elements to drive the formation and maturation of the 60S. Together, the findings represent a near-complete picture of how the human large subunit assembles. ...

https://scitechdaily.com/new-researc...tal-molecules/

No oxygen, no us ...

The Great Oxidation Event: Decoding Earth’s Ancient Atmospheric Mysteries

Using synchrotron techniques, scientists have unveiled important information on The Great Oxidation Event by studying apatite inclusions in zircon crystals from old magmas with the ESRF – Extremely Brilliant Source.

Around 2.4 billion years ago, a pivotal moment in Earth’s history took place: The Great Oxidation Event. During this period, a significant amount of oxygen accumulated in the atmosphere. This surge in oxygen production led to a dramatic shift in the composition of the atmosphere, altering the chemistry of the planet. The event marked a turning point as oxygen levels rose, enabling the development of more complex multicellular life forms and fundamentally reshaping Earth’s ecosystems. ...

https://scitechdaily.com/the-great-o...oogle_vignette

Exploring the unknown chemical universe ... much of which is necessary for us ... and not one atom of which stood in our way ...

Peeling Back the Chemical Unknown: Scientists Are on the Hunt for the Other 99 Percent

The universe is awash in billions of possible chemicals. Despite the arsenal of advanced technology at their disposal, researchers have only identified the molecular makeup of a minuscule portion, perhaps around 1 percent, of these compounds.

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) are taking aim at the other 99 percent, creating new ways to learn more about a vast sea of unknown compounds. There may be cures for disease, new approaches for tackling climate change, or new chemical or biological threats lurking in the chemical universe. ... “There may be millions of microbes in just a gram of soil, and we don’t know who most of them are or what they do. There’s a lot of discovery still to happen,” said Metz. “From the viewpoint of challenging science, it’s either a worst-case scenario or one of our greatest opportunities, depending on how you look at it.” ...

https://scitechdaily.com/peeling-bac...er-99-percent/

More new tools for biophysical exploration ...

A New Era in Biophysics Discovery Unleashed by Exascale Supercomputers

The fusion of high-performance computing and biophysical research is paving the way for revolutionary discoveries in biology, with next-generation supercomputers and AI tools playing pivotal roles. The dynamic interplay where high-performance computing converges with biophysical exploration is pushing the frontiers of knowledge and catalyzing a new era of unprecedented discoveries in biology.

... Rather than being mere observers, today’s biophysicists, with the aid of advanced high-performance computing (HPC), are now trailblazers who can challenge longstanding biological assumptions, illuminate intricate details, and even create new proteins or design novel molecular circuits. ...

... One of the most important aspects discussed in their perspective article is the new ability of computational biophysicists to simulate complex biological processes that range from subatomic processes to whole-cell models, with extraordinary detail. As Dr. Bernardi articulates, “The new exascale computers allow computational biophysicists to go beyond what can done experimentally and simulate biological processes with a much higher level of detail. For instance, we can now understand how pathogenic bacteria bind to humans during infection at an atomistic level, generating data for AI models and opening new roads of exploration.” ...

https://scitechdaily.com/a-new-era-in-biophysics-discovery-unleashed-by-exascale-supercomputers/

Really tiny photos by really tiny cameras?

Pioneering Single-Pixel Technology Achieves 3D Imaging of Living Cells

Scientists have developed a groundbreaking three-dimensional single-pixel imaging (3D-SPI) technique based on 3D light-field illumination. This method enables high-resolution imaging of microscopic objects. The 3D-SPI approach can potentially revolutionize the visualization of various biological absorption contrasts, cell morphology, and growth, presenting new opportunities in biomedical research and optical sensing.

https://scitechdaily.com/pioneering-...-living-cells/

A discovery good for the brain ... and necessary for us ...

Neurology Breakthrough: New Pathway To Regenerate Myelin Discovered

A study led by Dr. Hyun Kyoung Lee, associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine and investigator at the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital, has identified a previously unknown biological mechanism for repairing and regenerating myelin. Myelin is the insulating layer around nerve fibers that is crucial for the fast and precise transmission of neural signals. ... This study has implications for treating neurological diseases like multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy. ...

Myelin is produced by a type of glial precursor cells called oligodendrocytes (OLs) which are among the most numerous cells in the nervous system. Damage or loss of myelin sheath is the hallmark of various neurological diseases in adults (e.g. multiple sclerosis) and infants (e.g. cerebral palsy) and is common after brain injuries. The Wingless (Wnt) signaling pathway is one of the key regulators of OL development and myelin regeneration. In certain diseased conditions and brain injury, its levels are elevated in the white matter, which impairs myelin production by forcing oligodendroctyes to remain in a “stalled/quiescent state”.

A few years back, Dr. Lee and others found that a glial protein, Daam2 inhibits the differentiation of oligodendrocytes during development as well as myelin regeneration and repair. However, until now precise mechanisms underlying this process have remained a mystery. ... “Intriguingly, we found Daam2 phosphorylation differentially impacts distinct stages of oligodendrocyte development – in early stages, it accelerates the conversion of precursor OLs to glial cells but in later stages, it slows down their maturation and their ability to produce myelin,” Dr. Lee said.

https://scitechdaily.com/neurology-breakthrough-new-pathway-to-regenerate-myelin-discovered/

A discovery bad for the brain ...

Startling Findings – Scientists Discover That Microplastics Could Be Changing Your Brain

New research has found that exposure to microplastics led to behavioral changes and immune alterations in mice, particularly older ones. The study discovered that microplastics accumulated in multiple tissues, including the brain, and may contribute to conditions similar to dementia.

... Ross and her team focused on neurobehavioral effects and inflammatory response to exposure to microplastics, as well as the accumulation of microplastics in tissues, including the brain. They have found that the infiltration of microplastics was as widespread in the body as it is in the environment, leading to behavioral changes, especially in older test subjects.

“Current research suggests that these microplastics are transported throughout the environment and can accumulate in human tissues; however, research on the health effects of microplastics, especially in mammals, is still very limited,” said Ross, an assistant professor of biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences at the Ryan Institute for Neuroscience and the College of Pharmacy. “This has led our group to explore the biological and cognitive consequences of exposure to microplastics.” ...

... “Given that in this study the microplastics were delivered orally via drinking water, detection in tissues such as the gastrointestinal tract, which is a major part of the digestive system, or in the liver and kidneys was always probable,” Ross said. “The detection of microplastics in tissues such as the heart and lungs, however, suggests that the microplastics are going beyond the digestive system and likely undergoing systemic circulation. The brain-blood barrier is supposed to be very difficult to permeate. It is a protective mechanism against viruses and bacteria, yet these particles were able to get in there. It was actually deep in the brain tissue.” ...

https://scitechdaily.com/startling-f...ng-your-brain/

Magic Mushrooms for Mental Health? But let's take care ...

The Psychedelic Paradigm Shift: Revolutionary Treatment or a Slippery Slope for Mental Health?

Psychedelics occupy a critical junction in the realm of mental health, presenting innovative pathways for treating a variety of mental disorders, including hard-to-treat depression and PTSD. However, their ability to alter mental states also brings unique ethical and clinical dilemmas.

In a newly published article in Nature Medicine, leading psychiatrists, psychologists, and psychotherapists highlight the importance of protecting patients during these vulnerable states of altered consciousness and the imperative for regulatory frameworks and collaborative efforts to fully realize the potential benefits of this emerging treatment paradigm.

... As Albino Oliveira-Maia, senior author of the article and head of the Champalimaud Foundation’s Neuropsychiatry Unit, notes, “Up until now, psychedelic therapies have largely been confined to the realm of research and clinical studies. But this looks set to change. We’re already witnessing off-label use of ketamine, once solely viewed as an anesthetic, in treating depression and substance use disorders, despite the lack of clear guidelines, formal approval from regulatory agencies, and recommendations regarding psychological support.”

Unlike most drug treatments, psychedelics are typically coupled with psychotherapy to safeguard patients and potentially enhance clinical effectiveness through shaping the drug-induced subjective experiences. The authors emphasize the necessity of assessing the clinical effectiveness of the accompanying therapy. ...

https://scitechdaily.com/the-psyched...mental-health/

You might see something like this on Magic Mushrooms ... see-thru squids ...

How scientists engineered a see-through squid with its brain in plain view

Once these squid are genetically altered, "they're really hard to spot," even for their caretakers, says Joshua Rosenthal, a senior scientist at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass. ...The see-through squid are offering scientists a new way to study the biology of a creature that is intact and moving freely. "It changes the way you interpret what's going on in this animal," says Caroline Albertin, a fellow at the lab. "You can look through and see their three hearts beating, you can see their brain." ...

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-...-in-plain-view

AI does good things ...

Groundbreaking AI-Method Finds a Way to People’s Hearts

Scientists have developed an AI model that accurately identifies cardiac functions and valvular heart diseases using chest radiographs. The research could supplement traditional echocardiography, improve diagnostic efficiency, and be especially useful in settings lacking specialized technicians.

https://scitechdaily.com/groundbreaking-ai-method-finds-a-way-to-peoples-hearts/

AI doing stupid things ... and lies ... but so do people ...

AI tools make things up a lot, and that’s a huge problem

... AI-powered tools like ChatGPT have mesmerized us with their ability to produce authoritative, human-sounding responses to seemingly any prompt. But as more people turn to this buzzy technology for things like homework help, workplace research, or health inquiries, one of its biggest pitfalls is becoming increasingly apparent: AI models often just make things up.

Researchers have come to refer to this tendency of AI models to spew inaccurate information as “hallucinations,” or even “confabulations,” as Meta’s AI chief said in a tweet. Some social media users, meanwhile, simply blast chatbots as “pathological liars.” ...

... The reality, Venkatasubramanian said, is that large language models — the technology underpinning AI tools like ChatGPT — are simply trained to “produce a plausible sounding answer” to user prompts. “So, in that sense, any plausible-sounding answer, whether it’s accurate or factual or made up or not, is a reasonable answer, and that’s what it produces,” he said. “There is no knowledge of truth there.” ...

... Companies behind AI chatbots have put some guardrails in place that aim to prevent the worst of these hallucinations. But despite the global hype around generative AI, many in the field remain torn about whether or not chatbot hallucinations are even a solvable problem ...

... A veteran New York lawyer also landed in hot water when he used ChatGPT for legal research, and submitted a brief that included six “bogus” cases that the chatbot appears to have simply made up. News outlet CNET was also forced to issue corrections after an article generated by an AI tool ended up giving wildly inaccurate personal finance advice when it was asked to explain how compound interest works.

Cracking down on AI hallucinations, however, could limit AI tools’ ability to help people with more creative endeavors — like users that are asking ChatGPT to write poetry or song lyrics. ...

https://us.cnn.com/2023/08/29/tech/ai-chatbot-hallucinations/index.html

... f-AI-kes ...

Google launches watermarks for AI-generated images


In an effort to help prevent the spread of misinformation, Google on Tuesday unveiled an invisible, permanent watermark on images that will identify them as computer-generated.

The technology, called SynthID, embeds the watermark directly into images created by Imagen, one of Google’s latest text-to-image generators. The AI-generated label remains regardless of modifications like added filters or altered colors.

The SynthID tool can also scan incoming images and identify the likelihood they were made by Imagen by scanning for the watermark with three levels of certainty: detected, not detected and possibly detected.

“While this technology isn’t perfect, our internal testing shows that it’s accurate against many common image manipulations,” wrote Google in a blog post Tuesday.

https://us.cnn.com/2023/08/30/tech/g...ark/index.html

Well, maybe our enhanced eyes of the future can spot the fakes ...

The Future of Vision: Scientists Develop Flexible Cornea-Thin Battery Charged by Saline Solution

Researchers at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore (NTU Singapore) have created a flexible battery that’s as thin as a human cornea. This innovative energy storage device charges itself when submerged in a saline solution and has the potential to fuel smart contact lenses in the future.

Smart contact lenses are high-tech contact lenses capable of displaying visible information on our corneas and can be used to access augmented reality. Current uses include helping to correct vision, monitoring wearers’ health, and flagging and treating diseases for people with chronic health conditions such as diabetes and glaucoma. In the future, smart contact lenses could be developed to record and transmit everything a wearer sees and hears to cloud-based data storage.

However, to reach this future potential a safe and suitable battery needs to be developed to power them. Existing rechargeable batteries rely on wires or induction coils that contain metal and are unsuitable for use in the human eye, as they are uncomfortable and present risks to the user.

https://scitechdaily.com/the-future-...oogle_vignette

The astronauts saw some amazing beauty with their eyes ...

Astronaut’s Breathtaking View: Moonglint, Volcanic Aleutians, and Aurora Borealis

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) captured this stunning photo of the Aleutian Islands off the coast of mainland Alaska. The archipelago is illuminated by moonglint—a phenomenon similar to sunglint that occurs only when the Moon’s light reflects from the water at a particular angle. Capturing moonglint is rare in astronaut photography, making this image all the more special.

And seeming harmony and cooperation in space, a lovely thing ...

Intercontinental Fusion in Space: Station Hosts 11 Astronauts From 5 Countries

The orbital outpost’s newest crew of four, representing the U.S., Denmark, Japan, and Russia, arrived on Sunday aboard the SpaceX Dragon Endurance spacecraft. NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Andreas Mogensen, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Satoshi Furukawa, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov are familiarizing themselves with station safety procedures and getting used to life on orbit. ... the new crew members were joined by station commander Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos and Flight Engineer Sultan Alneyadi of (UAE) United Arab Emirates) ...

https://scitechdaily.com/intercontin...m-5-countries/

But the most important discovery of all ... a phone that won't break when dropped!

Scientists Invent New Glass With Supreme Toughness

Scientists have produced an oxide glass with unprecedented toughness. Under high pressures and temperatures, they succeeded in paracrystallizing an aluminosilicate glass: The resulting crystal-like structures cause the glass to withstand very high stresses and are retained under ambient conditions. Paracrystallization thus proves to be a promising process for producing extremely break-resistant glasses.

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-...eme-toughness/

Gassho, J

stlah

[Jundo]

Finding a new voice ...

Woman with paralysis speaks through an avatar 18 years after a stroke, thanks to a brain implant and AI

In 2005, Ann Johnson suffered a stroke that left her severely paralyzed and unable to speak. She was 30.

At best, she could make sounds like “ooh” and “ah,” but her brain was still firing off signals.

Now, in a scientific milestone 18 years after Johnson's stroke, an experimental technology has translated her brain signals into audible words, enabling her to communicate through a digital avatar. The technology, developed by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, and the University of California, Berkeley, relies on an implant placed on the surface of Johnson's brain in regions associated with speech and language.

The implant, which Johnson received in an operation last year, contains 253 electrodes that intercept brain signals from thousands of neurons. During the surgery, doctors also installed a port in Johnson's head that connects to a cable, which carries her brain signals to a computer bank.

The computers use artificial intelligence algorithms to translate the brain signals into sentences that get spoken through a digitally animated figure. So when Johnson tried to say a sentence like “Great to see you again,” the avatar on a nearby screen uttered those words out loud.
The system appears to be significantly faster and more accurate than previous technologies that attempted similar feats, and it allowed Johnson to communicate using a relatively expansive vocabulary.

The researchers used a recording of Johnson speaking at her wedding to personalize the avatar’s voice. The system also converted Johnson's brain signals into facial movements on the avatar, such as pursed lips, and emotional expressions, like sadness or surprise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHzj8Y7fN3U

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...nts-rcna101420

AI M.D.

The Future of Medicine? ChatGPT Shows “Impressive” Accuracy in Clinical Decision Making

A recent study found that ChatGPT demonstrated a 72% accuracy in clinical decision-making across all medical specialties, with performance akin to a medical school graduate. The research suggests the potential of LLMs in augmenting medical practices but emphasizes the need for more research before clinical integration. ... ChatGPT achieved an accuracy rate of almost 72% across all medical specialties and phases of clinical care, and 77 percent accuracy in making final diagnoses. ... It was lowest-performing in making differential diagnoses, where it was only 60 percent accurate. And it was only 68 percent accurate in clinical management decisions, such as figuring out what medications to treat the patient with after arriving at the correct diagnosis.

https://scitechdaily.com/the-future-...oogle_vignette

AI goes to school ...

Meet Khan Academy’s chatbot tutor

Artificial intelligence often induces fear, awe or some panicked combination of both for its impressive ability to generate unique human-like text in seconds. But its implications for cheating in the classroom — and its sometimes comically wrong answers to basic questions — have left some in academia discouraging its use in school or outright banning AI tools like ChatGPT.

That may be the wrong approach.

More than 8,000 teachers and students will test education nonprofit Khan Academy’s artificial intelligence tutor in the classroom this upcoming school year, toying with its interactive features and funneling feedback to Khan Academy if the AI botches an answer.

The chatbot, Khanmigo, offers individualized guidance to students on math, science and humanities problems; a debate tool with suggested topics like student debt cancellation and AI’s impact on the job market; and a writing tutor that helps the student craft a story, among other features.

First launched in March to an even smaller pilot program of around 800 educators and students, Khanmigo also allows students to chat with a growing list of AI-powered historical figures, from George Washington to Cleopatra and Martin Luther King Jr., as well as literary characters like Winnie the Pooh and Hamlet.

Khan Academy’s Chief Learning Officer Kristen DiCerbo told CNN that Khanmigo helps address a problem she’s witnessed firsthand observing an Arizona classroom: that when students learn something new, they often need individualized help — more help than one teacher can provide all at once. ... For teachers, Khanmigo also offers assistance to create lesson plans and rubrics, identifies struggling students based on their performance in Khan Academy activities and gives teachers access to student chat history. ...

https://us.cnn.com/2023/08/21/tech/k...tor/index.html

AI with a face ...

Apptronik's latest humanoid robot is Apollo - it's being built to do the jobs that humans don't want to, and to one day build settlements on the Moon and Mars.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF-RJoMmI7A&t=3s

AI Glitches ... for now ...

GM’s Cruise slashed fleet of robotaxis by 50% in San Francisco after collisions

California authorities have asked General Motors to “immediately” take some of its Cruse robotaxis off the road after autonomous vehicles were involved in two collisions – including one with an active fire truck – last week in San Francisco. ... The DMV is in contact with Cruise and law enforcement officials to determine the facts and requested Cruise to immediately reduce its active fleet of operating vehicles by 50% until the investigation is complete ... " ... That means Cruise, which is the self-driving subsidiary of General Motors, can have no more than 50 driverless cars in operation during the day, and 150 in operation at night, according to the department.

... Cruise’s general manager for San Francisco said the firetruck crash occurred when an emergency vehicle that appeared to be en route to an emergency scene moved into an oncoming lane of traffic to bypass a red light. Cruise’s driverless car identified the risk, the blog post said, but it “was ultimately unable to avoid the collision.”

That crash resulted in one passenger being taken to the hospital via ambulance for seemingly minor injuries, according to the company.

Cruise told CNN the other crash on Thursday took place when another car ran a red light “at a high rate of speed.” ... “The AV detected the vehicle and braked but the other vehicle made contact with our AV. There were no passengers in our AV and the driver of the other vehicle was treated and released at the scene,” Hannah Lindow, a Cruise spokesperson, told CNN.

It is unclear whether the two accidents would have been avoided had there been a human driver rather than an autonomous vehicle (AV) involved – but the crashes were not the only two incidents involving Cruise’s driverless cars in San Francisco last week.

On Tuesday, Cruise confirmed on X, formerly known as Twitter, that one of its driverless taxis drove into a construction area and stopped in wet concrete.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBq9EnJOZKE

https://us.cnn.com/2023/08/21/tech/g...ons/index.html

Why Y?

Scientists have finally decoded mysteries of the Y chromosome. Here’s why it matters

... The first attempt to determine the building blocks of our genetic code took place 20 years ago, but there were still significant gaps left in the sequences of all 23 pairs of human chromosomes. Those blanks were largely filled in last year by an international group of 100 scientists called the Telomere-to-Telomere (T2T) Consortium. However, over half of the sequences within the Y chromosome, the smallest and most complicated of the 46 human chromosomes, remained unknown. Now, the same group of researchers has filled in the missing information, publishing a complete Y chromosome sequence Wednesday in the journal Nature. ...

What Y could reveal:

Humans typically have a pair of sex chromosomes in each cell. People who are assigned male at birth have an X and a Y chromosome, while those assigned female at birth have two X chromosomes.

The more detailed information provided by the new Y reference sequence will make it easier to study conditions and disorders linked to the chromosome, such as lack of sperm production that leads to infertility.

Recent research suggests the Y chromosome is also important for health and longevity, said Kenneth Walsh, a professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, who was not involved in the new research.

“Genes have been identified on the Y chromosome that have been shown to be required for the prevention of cancer and cardiovascular disease,” ... “The Y chromosome has represented the ‘dark matter’ of the genome,” he added. “This new analysis will allow us to better understand the regions of the Y chromosome that have regulatory functions and may encode mRNA and proteins.”
https://us.cnn.com/2023/08/25/world/...scn/index.html

Brain Genes ...

Largest-Ever Study of the Genetics of the Brain Identifies How the Brain Is Organized

Our brains are intricate and highly complex organs, displaying significant variation between individuals in aspects such as overall brain volume, the folding patterns of the brain, and the thickness of these folds. Little is known about how our genetic makeup shapes the development of the brain. ... The largest-ever study of brain genetics has identified over 4,000 genetic variants associated with brain structure. The study, which utilized MRI scans from adults and children, revealed that different sets of genes contribute to the folding and size of the cortex, and found that many genes linked to brain size in the general population overlap with genes implicated in cephalic conditions, shedding light on the genetic basis of brain development and its implications for neurological and psychiatric conditions.

... Dr. Warrier added: “This work shows that how our brain develops is partly genetic. Our findings can be used to understand how changes in the shape and size of the brain can lead to neurological and psychiatric conditions, potentially leading to better treatment and support for those who need it.”

https://scitechdaily.com/largest-eve...oogle_vignette

Math brain ...

Mind-Blown: Mathematical Rule Discovered Behind the Distribution of Neurons in Our Brains

Human Brain Project researchers from Forschungszentrum Jülich and the University of Cologne (Germany) have uncovered how neuron densities are distributed across and within cortical areas in the mammalian brain. They have unveiled a fundamental organizational principle of cortical cytoarchitecture: the ubiquitous lognormal distribution of neuron densities.

Numbers of neurons and their spatial arrangement play a crucial role in shaping the brain’s structure and function. Yet, despite the wealth of available cytoarchitectonic data, the statistical distributions of neuron densities remain largely undescribed. ... The results align with previous observations that surprisingly many characteristics of the brain follow a lognormal distribution. “One reason why it may be very common in nature is because it emerges when taking the product of many independent variables,” says Alexander van Meegen, joint first author of the study. In other words, the lognormal distribution arises naturally as a result of multiplicative processes, similar to how the normal distribution emerges when many independent variables are summed.

According to the study, in principle, cortex-wide organizational structures might be by-products of development or evolution that serve no computational function; but the fact that the same organizational structures can be observed for several species and across most cortical areas suggests that the lognormal distribution serves some purpose.

“We cannot be sure how the lognormal distribution of neuron densities will influence brain function, but it will likely be associated with high network heterogeneity, which may be computationally beneficial,” says Aitor Morales-Gregorio, first author of the study, citing previous works that suggest that heterogeneity in the brain’s connectivity may promote efficient information transmission. In addition, heterogeneous networks support robust learning and enhance the memory capacity of neural circuits. ...

https://scitechdaily.com/mind-blown-...oogle_vignette

We're just a bit more complicated than a worm ...

Neural Navigators: How MIT Cracked the Code That Relates Brain and Behavior in a Simple Animal

MIT researchers model and map how neurons across the tiny brain of a C. elegans worm encode its behaviors, revealing many new insights about the robustness and flexibility of its nervous system ... [A] team of scientists in The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT has produced a meticulous accounting of the neurons in the tractably tiny brain of a humble C. elegans worm, mapping out how its brain cells encode almost all of its essential behaviors, such as movement and feeding.

... To make the measurements needed to develop their model, Flavell’s lab invented a new microscope and software system. This setup automatically tracks almost all behaviors of the worm (movement, feeding, sleeping, egg-laying, etc.) and the activity of every neuron in its head (cells are engineered to flash when calcium ions build up). Reliably distinguishing and tracking separate neurons as the worm wriggles around and bends required writing custom software, utilizing the latest tools from machine learning. It proved to be 99.7 percent accurate in sampling individual neuron’s activities with greatly improved signal-to-noise compared to previous systems, the scientists report. ...

Data analysis revealed three novel observations about neural activity in the worm: Neurons track behavior not only of the present moment but also the recent past; they tune their encoding of behaviors, such as motion, based on a surprising variety of factors; and many neurons simultaneously encode multiple behaviors. For example, while the behavior of wriggling around one’s little laboratory dish might seem like a very simple act, neurons represented factors such as speed, steering, and whether the worm is eating or not. In some cases they represented the animal’s motion spanning back in time by about a minute. By encoding recent, rather than just current motion, these neurons could help the worm compute how its past actions influenced its current outcome. Many neurons also combined behavioral information to execute more complex maneuvers. Much like a human driver must remember to steer the car in the opposite way when going in reverse versus going forward, certain neurons in the worm’s brain integrated the animal’s direction of motion and steering direction.

BELOW: A two-minute-long excerpt from an example neural/behavioral dataset. The blue, orange, and green dots are targets for tracking, which allowed the team to locate the worm’s head and keep the animal centered in view.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0rJmcFhndQ&t=120s

The unseen synapse ...

Neuroscience Breakthrough – New Images Capture Unseen Details of the Synapse.

Scientists have created one of the most detailed 3D images of the synapse, the important juncture where neurons communicate with each other through an exchange of chemical signals. These nanometer-scale models will help scientists better understand and study neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington’s disease and schizophrenia. ... “It is one thing to understand the structure of the synapse from the literature, but it is another to see the precise geometry of interactions between individual cells with your own eyes” ...

... Astrocytes are members of a family of support cells in the brain called glia and help maintain the proper chemical environment at the synapse. ... In the brains of healthy mice, the team observed that astrocytic processes engaged with and completely enveloped the space around the disk-shaped synapse, creating a tight bond. In contrast, the astrocytes in Huntington’s mice were not as effective in investing or sequestering the synapse, leaving large gaps. This structural flaw allows potassium and glutamate—chemicals that regulate communication between cells—to leak from the synapse, potentially disrupting normal cell-cell communication. Astrocyte dysfunction has been linked with other conditions, including schizophrenia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and frontotemporal dementia. ,,,

[BELOW] See-through 3D model that shows the axon (red), medium spinal motor neuron (green), and astrocyte converging at the synapse (yellow).

https://scitechdaily.com/neuroscienc...f-the-synapse/

From brains to muscles ...

Lab-Grown Muscles Breakthrough: The Future of Medicine and Meat

Professor Ori Bar-Nur and his colleagues at ETH Zurich are pioneering the cultivation of muscle cells in the lab, currently using mouse cells as their primary model. While their current studies are centered on mouse cells, the team is also keen on exploring the potential of human and cow cells. The implications of their research are manifold: lab-cultured human muscle tissue could serve surgical needs, while human muscle stem cells might offer therapeutic solutions for those with muscle diseases. On the other hand, cultivating cow muscle tissue in labs could transform the meat industry by eliminating the necessity of animal slaughter.

For now, however, the ETH team’s research is focused on optimizing the generation of muscle stem cells and making it safer. They have now succeeded in doing so via a new approach.

No genetic engineering

... An important component of the used cocktail – and a central catalyst for cell transformation – is the protein MyoD. This is a transcription factor that regulates the activity of certain muscle genes in the cell nucleus. MyoD is not normally present in connective tissue cells. Before these cells can turn into muscle cells, scientists have to coax them to produce MyoD in their nucleus for several days. Until now, researchers have turned to genetic engineering for this process: They used viral particles to carry the DNA blueprint for the MyoD protein into the cell nucleus. There, the viruses insert these building instructions into the genome, enabling the cells to produce the MyoD protein.

However, this approach carries a safety risk: scientists cannot control where exactly in the genome viruses insert these instructions. Sometimes the viruses integrate into the middle of a vital gene, damaging it, or this insertion process might lead to changes that can trigger cancer cell formation.

This time, Bar-Nur and his colleagues used a different approach to deliver MyoD to connective tissue cells, inspired by the mRNA vaccines for COVID-19: instead of using viruses to introduce the DNA blueprint of the MyoD gene, they introduce the mRNA transcript of this gene into cells.

Since this leaves the cells’ genome unchanged, it avoids the negative consequences associated with such changes. The mRNA still enables the connective tissue cells to produce the MyoD protein, such that – together with the other components of the cocktail optimised by the ETH researchers – they can turn into muscle stem cells and fibers.

https://scitechdaily.com/lab-grown-muscles-breakthrough-the-future-of-medicine-and-meat/

Was there a tooth fairy back then?

Scientists Successfully Extract Stable Antibodies From 800-Year-Old Medieval Human Teeth

A recent study has discovered that teeth may have the ability to preserve antibodies for several centuries. This could provide scientists with a valuable resource for exploring the history of infectious diseases in humans.

Antibodies are proteins that the immune system generates in response to pathogens such as viruses and bacteria. These proteins function to identify these harmful microbes, enabling the immune system to target and eliminate them from the body.

In the new paper, published by iScience, antibodies extracted from 800-year-old medieval human teeth were found to be stable and still able to recognize viral proteins.

The study, led by Professor Robert Layfield and research technician Barry Shaw from the School of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham, in collaboration with Professor Anisur Rahman and Dr. Thomas McDonnell from the Department of Medicine at University College London, expands the study of ancient proteins, referred to as palaeoproteomics, potentially allowing experts to analyze how human antibody responses developed through history.

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-...l-human-teeth/

Our earliest ancestors get their start ... but a little later than thought ...

Research Sheds New Light on the Evolution of Animals

A study led by the University of Oxford has edged us closer to unraveling an age-old question that has intrigued naturalists since the time of Charles Darwin: when did the first animals emerge in Earth’s history? ... Animals first occur in the fossil record around 574 million years ago. Their arrival appears as a sudden ‘explosion’ in rocks from the Cambrian period (539 million years ago to 485 million years ago) and seems to counter the typically gradual pace of evolutionary change. Many scientists (including Darwin himself) believe that the first animals actually evolved long before the Cambrian period, but they cannot explain why they are missing from the fossil record. ...

... This provides the first “evidence for absence” and supports the view that animals had not evolved by the early Neoproterozoic era, contrary to some molecular clock estimates.’ ... According to the researchers, the study suggests a possible maximum age to the origin of animals of around 789 million years: the youngest estimated age of the Svalbard formation. The group now intends to search for progressively younger Neoproterozoic deposits with conditions for BST preservation. This will confirm the age of rocks in which animals are missing from the fossil record because they really were absent, rather than because conditions did not enable them to be fossilized.

BELOW: Charnia, a candidate for the first animal fossil from the Ediacaran Period as old as 574 million years ago.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]8729[/ATTACH]

https://scitechdaily.com/decoding-a-...oogle_vignette

But questions about our later ancestors ... Africa to Europe, or Europe to Africa? ...

Discovery of 8.7-Million-Year-Old Fossil Ape Challenges Long-Accepted Ideas of Human Origins

Anadoluvius existed nearly 9 million years ago and is ancestral to living African apes and humans. ... A recent discovery of a fossilized ape from a site in Turkey, aged 8.7 million years, is challenging long-accepted ideas of human origins. This finding supports the hypothesis that the forebears of African apes and humans may have evolved in Europe and later migrated to Africa approximately 7 to 9 million years ago.“Our findings further suggest that hominines not only evolved in western and central Europe but spent over five million years evolving there and spreading to the eastern Mediterranean before eventually dispersing into Africa, probably as a consequence of changing environments and diminishing forests,” said Begun, professor in the Department of Anthropology in the Faculty of Arts & Science at U of T. ... The researchers say Anadoluvius was about the size of a large male chimpanzee (50-60 kg) – very large for a chimp and close to the average size of a female gorilla (75-80 kg) – lived in a dry forest setting, and probably spent a great deal of time on the ground. ...

... “This new evidence supports the hypothesis that hominines originated in Europe and dispersed into Africa along with many other mammals between nine and seven million years ago, though it does not definitively prove it. For that, we need to find more fossils from Europe and Africa between eight and seven million years old to establish a definitive connection between the two groups.” ...

https://scitechdaily.com/discovery-o...human-origins/

And before all that, a little to breathe ...

From Lava to Life: Early Earth’s Highly Oxidized Magma Ocean

Research has provided new insights into the atmosphere of early Earth, suggesting it was formed by degassing volatiles from a magma ocean with a higher oxidation state than previously believed. The study found that the early Earth’s magma ocean had ten times the Fe3+ content of today’s upper mantle, resulting in an atmosphere rich in CO2 and SO2 ... The subsequent accretion of reducing materials was critical for creating a habitable environment. ...

https://scitechdaily.com/from-lava-t...d-magma-ocean/

X Danger from Space ...

Elon Musk's growing influence over the war in Ukraine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYAD6oQZNcY

India on the moon ...

India becomes the fourth country ever to land a spacecraft on the moon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxdbF5qjKx0

... and they got there for only 74 million dollars! ...

Sun escape ...

Solar Orbiter observes jets of material escaping the sun


The Solar Orbiter mission has discovered jets of material rapidly releasing from the sun’s outer atmosphere.

Astronomers believe these jets could be the source of the solar wind, a stream of charged particles that continuously flows from the sun across the solar system. The jets of charged particles, called plasma, last between 20 and 100 seconds each and move at about 223,694 miles per hour (360,000 kilometers per hour).

Solar Orbiter, a joint mission between NASA and the European Space Agency, launched in 2020 to capture an unprecedented look at the sun by providing images of its north and south poles. Having a visual understanding of the sun’s poles is important because it can provide more insight about the star’s powerful magnetic field and how it affects Earth.

BELOW: This mosaic of images taken by Solar Orbiter shows tiny jets of material, depicted as dark streaks, escaping from the sun’s outer atmosphere.

https://us.cnn.com/2023/08/24/world/...scn/index.html

The sun's effects ...

Neptune’s clouds have disappeared, and scientists think they know why


Astronomers have been puzzling over a mystery on Neptune, and now they think they have unlocked its secret. ... The ice giant’s ghostly, cirrus-like clouds largely disappeared four years ago. Today, just a patch hovers over the planet’s south pole.

Thanks to an analysis of nearly three decades’ worth of Neptune observations captured by three space telescopes, scientists have determined the ice giant’s diminished clouds may indicate that shifts in their abundance are in sync with the solar cycle, according to a recent study published in the journal Icarus.

... “Our findings support the theory that the Sun’s (ultraviolet) rays, when strong enough, may be triggering a photochemical reaction that produces Neptune’s clouds.”

During the solar cycle, the level of activity in the sun’s dynamic magnetic fields waxes and wanes. The magnetic field flips every 11 years as it becomes more tangled like a ball of yarn, according to NASA. When there is heightened activity on the sun, more intense ultraviolet radiation bombards the solar system.

Speaking of light ...

Scientists Trap Light Inside a Magnet – Paves Way for Tech Innovations

Researchers have discovered that trapping light in specific magnetic materials can greatly amplify their properties, offering potential innovations like magnetic lasers and a fresh perspective on optically controlled magnetic memory.

A groundbreaking study conducted by Vinod M. Menon and his team at The City College of New York reveals that trapping light within magnetic materials can significantly boost their intrinsic properties. These heightened optical reactions in magnets pave the way for innovations in magnetic lasers, magneto-optical memory devices, and even in emerging quantum transduction applications.

As detailed in their new article published on August 16 in the journal Nature, Menon, and his team investigated the properties of a layered magnet that hosts strongly bound excitons — quasiparticles with particularly strong optical interactions. Because of that, the material is capable of trapping light — all by itself. As their experiments show, the optical responses of this material to magnetic phenomena are orders of magnitude stronger than those in typical magnets.

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-...pand_article=1

Huh?

Electron Pairing in Artificial Atoms: Physicists Confirm Quantum State Predicted Over 50 Years Ago

Physicists have observed a quantum state, theorized over 50 years ago, by pairing electrons in an artificial atom on a superconductor, creating a basic version of superconductivity. This discovery showcases the behavior of paired electrons (bosons) that can coexist in the same space, unlike single electrons. This work has implications for advancing the understanding of superconductivity in nanoscale structures and its potential application in modern quantum computers.

https://scitechdaily.com/electron-pa...-50-years-ago/

Another Huh?

Gambling Meets Quantum Physics – New “Bandit” Algorithm Uses Light for Better Bets

Scientists have introduced a photonic reinforcement learning scheme, progressing from the static multi-armed bandit problem to a dynamic environment, using quantum interference of photons to enhance decision-making. They developed a modified bandit Q-learning algorithm, tested in a 5×5 grid world, with the goal of accurately learning the optimal Q value for every state-action pair while balancing exploration and exploitation. ... Although using the quantum interference of photons is not new in this field, the authors believe this study is “the first to connect the notion of photonic cooperative decision-making with Q-learning and apply it to a dynamic environment.” Reinforcement learning problems are generally set in a dynamic environment that changes with the agents’ actions and are thus more complex than the static environment in a bandit problem.

https://scitechdaily.com/gambling-meets-quantum-physics-new-bandit-algorithm-uses-light-for-better-bets/

Big for Treeleaf's home TSUKUBA ... watch for the launch Sunday ...

A revolutionary satellite that will reveal celestial objects in a new light and the “Moon Sniper” lunar lander are preparing for launch.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, is expected to launch its XRISM mission, pronounced “crism,” from Japan on Sunday evening.

The satellite, also called the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission, is a joint mission between JAXA and NASA, along with participation from the European Space Agency and Canadian Space Agency. ... Along for the ride is JAXA’s SLIM, or Smart Lander for Investigating Moon. This small-scale exploration lander is designed to demonstrate a “pinpoint” landing at a specific location within 100 meters (328 feet), rather than the typical kilometer range, by relying on high-precision landing technology. The precision led to the mission’s nickname, Moon Sniper.

https://us.cnn.com/2023/08/25/world/...scn/index.html

Transportation of the past becomes tomorrow ...

Wind-powered cargo ship sets sail in a move to make shipping greener

A large red cargo ship named Pyxis Ocean set out on its maiden voyage this month. But unlike most others before it, this one is powered, in part, by wind.

The ship, chartered by US shipping firm Cargill, has been retrofitted with two WindWings – large steel sails 37.5 meters (123 foot) tall, designed by UK company BAR Technologies and produced by industrialization partner Yara Marine Technologies.

The wings are expected to generate emissions savings of up to 30%. If used in combination with alternative fuels, developers say that the savings would be even higher.

The voyage, which began in China and is currently headed towards Brazil, will put the technology to the test. ...

One of the major benefits of the WindWings project, which is co-funded by the European Union, is that it offers a retrofit solution that could help to reduce the carbon emissions of existing vessels. ... Not only do the wings help to reduce the emissions of the ship, they will also help vessel owners meet new industry rules on energy efficiency, and save money by cutting fuel consumption, according to Cargill. The company says that on an average global route, WindWings can save 1.5 metric tons of fuel per wing per day, with the possibility of saving more on trans-ocean routes. The firm notes that this could become even more important when using greener future fuels (such as ammonia and methanol), which are expected to cost more. ... The WindWings are made from steel and glass composite, and before the ship enters a port or passes under a bridge, they can be folded on deck to avoid collisions.

https://us.cnn.com/2023/08/22/travel/wind-powered-cargo-ship-cargill-bartech-climate-c2e-spc-intl/index.html

https://youtu.be/EVdVGniJNgU?si=_iLeihDvIBwE-itF

Never forget this ...

“Forgetting” Might Not Be a Bad Thing – Scientists Propose That It Could Be a Functional Feature of the Brain

Neuroscientists suggest that “forgetting” might be a form of learning that benefits flexible behavior in dynamic environments, and their experimental tests demonstrate that memories are not truly lost but are stored in engrams that can be reactivated. Their findings, which have implications for conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, show that memories can be retrieved through both natural and artificial cues.

... “Memories are stored in ensembles of neurons called ‘engram cells’ and successful recall of these memories involves the reactivation of these ensembles. By logical extension, forgetting occurs when engram cells cannot be reactivated. However, it is increasingly becoming clear that the memories themselves are still there, but the specific ensembles are not activated and so the memory is not recalled. It’s as if the memories are stored in a safe but you can’t remember the code to unlock it.”

Dr. Livia Autore, Irish Research Council (IRC) Postgraduate Scholar, who spearheaded this work in the Ryan Lab in Trinity, added: “Our findings here support the idea that competition between engrams affects recall and that the forgotten memory trace can be reactivated by both natural and artificial cues as well as updated with new information. The continuous flow of environmental changes leads to the encoding of multiple engrams that compete for their consolidation and expression. ...

https://scitechdaily.com/forgetting-...-of-the-brain/

Gassho, J

stlah

[Jundo]

The "I" in "Eye" ... and a finger in the eye ...

Silicon Valley's latest hype: Eyeball-scanning silver orbs to confirm you're human

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It's a silver orb outfitted with eyeball-scanning cameras intended to distinguish humans from machines in the era of ever-developing artificial intelligence. ... The iris-scanning orbs are part of a project called Worldcoin that is attempting to solve what is known in cryptocurrency circles as the "proof of personhood" problem.

In plain English: being able to prove that someone hiding behind a cryptocurrency account is not an impersonator or a bot. ... Supporters say digital IDs using iris scans could one day be used to log in to every online account, weed out bots on social media and even vote in elections and allow governments to quickly send out aid — all things the project's backers say could get more complicated in the age of artificial intelligence. ...

... "I think they very much leaned into this dystopian, cyberpunk design to get headlines, and frankly it's worked pretty well," she said. "The orb is a bit of a gimmick. There's really no reason the iris scanner and the associated hardware needs to be a shiny chrome orb." ...

... In recent weeks, Worldcoin backers have held eyeball-scanning events around the world. From Chile to Indonesia to Kenya, thousands of people have formed lines for the chance to get their irises scanned in exchange for an allotment of Worldcoin's digital currency equivalent to about 50 U.S. dollars.

In Nairobi, Kenya's capital, some people who lined up said in local interviews that they were unemployed and heard about the project as a way to make a quick buck, unaware that their biometric data was being hoovered up. ...

... Cryptographer David Chaum, who is considered the father of online anonymity, said he has many worries about the Worldcoin project, pointing out that even if the original images of people's eyeballs are deleted from the orbs, there is likely a way to re-create the irises using the data the company does store. "It's scary for a company to have a database of that much genetic information," Chaum said. "We don't know exactly why yet, but it could be bad. You kind of feel it in your bones." Chaum, who said he is developing an alternative way to solve online identity issues, said any Worldcoin data breach could be catastrophic. "If that data gets leaked, it could be used to impersonate you or blame things on you," Chaum said. "It could lead to identity theft at a really irrecoverable, deep level."

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/13/1193052679/worldcoin-iris-eyeball-scanning-silver-orb-confirm-authenticate-you-are-human

It is not that AI is so creative ... but perhaps, that most human beings are not ...

ChatGPT (GPT-4) Tests Into Top 1% for Original Creative Thinking

Recent findings from the University of Montana and partners indicate that artificial intelligence can rival the creative abilities of the top 1% of human participants based on a standard test for creativity. ... The researchers submitted eight responses generated by ChatGPT, the application powered by the GPT-4 artificial intelligence engine. They also submitted answers from a control group of 24 UM students taking Guzik’s entrepreneurship and personal finance classes. These scores were compared with 2,700 college students nationally who took the TTCT in 2016. All submissions were scored by Scholastic Testing Service, which didn’t know AI was involved.

The results placed ChatGPT in elite company for creativity. The AI application was in the top percentile for fluency – the ability to generate a large volume of ideas – and for originality – the ability to come up with new ideas. The AI slipped a bit – to the 97th percentile – for flexibility, the ability to generate different types and categories of ideas. ... ChatGTP outperformed the vast majority of college students nationally.

https://scitechdaily.com/chatgpt-tes...oogle_vignette

I am not smart enough to understand the breakthrough ... maybe ChatGPT can explain ...

A Leap in Performance – New Breakthrough Boosts Quantum AI

... A groundbreaking theoretical proof reveals that using a technique called overparametrization enhances performance in quantum machine learning for tasks that challenge traditional computers. ... The implications of overparametrization in quantum machine learning models were poorly understood until now. In the new paper, the Los Alamos team establishes a theoretical framework for predicting the critical number of parameters at which a quantum machine learning model becomes overparametrized. At a certain critical point, adding parameters prompts a leap in network performance and the model becomes significantly easier to train. ... By taking advantage of aspects of quantum mechanics such as entanglement and superposition, quantum machine learning offers the promise of much greater speed, or quantum advantage, than machine learning on classical computers. ...

https://scitechdaily.com/a-leap-in-p...ts-quantum-ai/

Brain-like computers ...

Mimicking the Mind: Quantum Material Exhibits Brain-Like “Non-Local” Behavior

UC San Diego’s Q-MEEN-C is developing brain-like computers through mimicking neurons and synapses in quantum materials. Recent discoveries in non-local interactions represent a critical step towards more efficient AI hardware that could revolutionize artificial intelligence technology.

... computers can solve complex math equations in an instant and recall names that we might forget. However, human brains can process intricate layers of information rapidly, accurately, and with almost no energy input. Recognizing a face after seeing it only once or distinguishing a mountain from an ocean are examples of such tasks. These seemingly simple human functions require considerable processing and energy from computers, and even then, the results may vary in accuracy. ... Creating brain-like computers with minimal energy requirements would revolutionize nearly every aspect of modern life.

... their teams were successful in finding ways to create or mimic the properties of a single brain element (such as a neuron or synapse) in a quantum material. Now, in phase two, new research from Q-MEEN-C, published in Nano Letters, shows that electrical stimuli passed between neighboring electrodes can also affect non-neighboring electrodes. Known as non-locality, this discovery is a crucial milestone in the journey toward new types of devices that mimic brain functions known as neuromorphic computing. ... “In the brain it’s understood that these non-local interactions are nominal — they happen frequently and with minimal exertion,” stated Frañó, one of the paper’s co-authors.

... Traditionally, creating networks that transport sufficient electricity to power something like a laptop requires complicated circuits with continuous connection points, which is both inefficient and expensive. The design concept from Q-MEEN-C is much simpler because the non-local behavior in the experiment means all the wires in a circuit do not have to be connected to each other. Think of a spider web, where movement in one part can be felt across the entire web.

This is analogous to how the brain learns: not in a linear fashion, but in complex layers. Each piece of learning creates connections in multiple areas of the brain, allowing us to differentiate not just trees from dogs, but an oak tree from a palm tree or a golden retriever from a poodle. ...

... . Our brains are, of course, much more complicated than this, but a physical system that is capable of learning must be highly interactive and this is a necessary first step. We can now think of longer range coherence in space and time” ...

https://scitechdaily.com/mimicking-t...oogle_vignette

Before it eventually comes to kill us en masse ... AI is saving lives in selective ways ...

Artificial Intelligence Uncovers the Best Drug Combos To Prevent COVID Recurrence

A groundbreaking machine-learning study has revealed the optimal drug combinations to prevent the recurrence of COVID-19 after initial infection. Interestingly, the ideal combination differs among patients.

Using real-world data from a hospital in China, the UC Riverside-led study discovered that factors such as age, weight, and other health conditions dictate which drug combinations most effectively reduce recurrence rates. This finding has been published in the journal Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence. ... Most of the time, when conducting drug efficacy tests, scientists design a clinical trial in which people having the same disease and baseline characteristics are randomly assigned to either treatment or control groups. But that approach does not consider other medical conditions that may affect how the drug works — or doesn’t work — for specific sub-groups. ...

https://scitechdaily.com/artificial-...id-recurrence/

AI + hacking = hAIcking ...

What happens when thousands of hackers try to break AI chatbots

... a first-of-its-kind contest taking place at the annual Def Con hacker conference in Las Vegas. The goal? Get artificial intelligence to go rogue — spouting false claims, made-up facts, racial stereotypes, privacy violations, and a host of other harms. ...

Ben Bowman ... tricked a chatbot into revealing a credit card number it was supposed to keep secret. ... He used a simple tactic to manipulate the AI-powered chatbot. "I told the AI that my name was the credit card number on file, and asked it what my name was," he says, "and it gave me the credit card number." ...

... 2,000 people over three days at Def Con who pitted their skills against eight leading AI chatbots from companies including Google, Facebook parent Meta, and ChatGPT maker OpenAI. ... The contest challenges were laid out on a Jeopardy-style game board: 20 points for getting an AI model to produce false claims about a historical political figure or event, or to defame a celebrity; 50 points for getting it to show bias against a particular group of people. ...

[A] computer science student at Kirkwood Community College in Iowa, persuaded a chatbot to give him step-by-step instructions to spy on someone by claiming to be a private investigator looking for tips. ... I successfully got one chatbot to write a news article about the Great Depression of 1992 and another to invent a story about Abraham Lincoln meeting George Washington during a trip to Mount Vernon. Neither chatbot disclosed that the tales were fictional. But I struck out when trying to induce the bots to defame Taylor Swift or claim to be human.

The companies say they'll use all this data from the contest to make their systems safer. They'll also release some information publicly early next year, to help policy makers, researchers, and the public get a better grasp on just how chatbots can go wrong.

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/15/11937...ak-ai-chatbots

The human body is already a kind of data computer ...

Talking in Waves: The Unique Communication Language of Cells

... Biology may evoke images of animals, plants, or even theoretical computer models. The last association might not immediately come to mind, yet it is crucial in biological research. Complex biological phenomena, even the minutest details, can be understood through precise calculations. ISTA Professor Edouard Hannezo utilizes these calculations to comprehend physical principles in biological systems. His team’s recent work provides new insights into how cells move and communicate within living tissue. ...

... “Let’s say you have a Petri dish that is covered with cells—a monolayer. They appear to just sit there. But the truth is they move, they swirl, and they spontaneously make chaotic behaviors,” Hannezo explains.

Similar to a dense crowd at a concert, if one cell pulls on one side, another cell senses the action and can react by either going in the same direction or pulling the opposite way. Information can then propagate and travel in waves—waves that are visible under a microscope.

“Cells not only sense mechanical forces but also their chemical environment—forces and biochemical signals cells are exerting on each other,” Hannezo continues. “Their communication is an interplay of biochemical activity, physical behavior, and motion; however, the extent of each mode of communication and how such mechanochemical interplays function in living tissues has been elusive until now.” ... Their latest computer model pays attention to cell motility and material properties of the tissue. With it, Boocock and Hannezo found how cells communicate mechanically and chemically and how they move. They were able to replicate the phenomena observed in Petri dishes, verifying a theoretical explanation of cell communication based on physical laws. ... Their latest findings could have significant implications for wound healing, with early computer simulations showing promise for improving the flow of information to accelerate healing. applications for wound healing. ...

https://scitechdaily.com/talking-in-...oogle_vignette

A human computer needs a clock too ... are we disrupting ours ?? ...

Rhythms on the Rocks: How Modern Life Disrupts Our Internal Clocks

Researchers are using mathematical models to gain insights into the impacts of various disruptions on the body’s circadian rhythms. These disruptions include daylight savings time, night shift work, jet lag, and late-night phone usage.

Scientists from the University of Waterloo and the University of Oxford have developed a new model to help scientists better understand the resilience of the brain’s master clock: the cluster of neurons in the brain that coordinates the body’s other internal rhythms. They also hope to suggest ways to help improve this resilience in individuals with weak or impaired circadian rhythms. Persistent disruptions to circadian rhythm are associated with health conditions, including diabetes, memory loss, and many other disorders.

https://scitechdaily.com/rhythms-on-the-rocks-how-modern-life-disrupts-our-internal-clocks/

Let us offer Metta for Maurice Millier, the test subject, the doctors, and the pigs ...

Two research teams detail advancements in transplanting pig kidneys to humans, marking key steps on path to clinical trials

... New advancements in transplanting pig kidneys to humans, detailed by two separate research teams on Wednesday, mark key steps forward in the evolving field of xenotransplantation, the use of non-human tissues or organs to treat medical conditions in humans.

Researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham Heersink School of Medicine found that transplanted kidneys not only produced urine, they provided the “life-sustaining kidney function” of filtering waste, according to a research letter published in JAMA Surgery. And in a news conference about an ongoing study, a team from New York University Langone Health highlighted the longer-term success of a transplant.

Both research teams used genetically modified pig kidneys that were transplanted into recipients experiencing brain death in what is considered pre-clinical human research. ...

... The team has been monitoring pig kidney transplants in a brain-dead decedent – a man named Maurice Miller, known as Mo, who died of a brain tumor – for nearly two months. Some immunosuppressive drugs were used, but the pig’s thymus was also transplanted to help protect the kidneys from being attacked by the human immune system. There has been “no evidence of rejection and normal renal function and clearance of toxins,” said Dr. Robert Montgomery, director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute and chair of the surgery department. “The pig kidney appears to replace all of the important tasks that the human kidney manages.”

... The vast majority of people waiting for an organ transplant need a kidney. About 89,000 people are on the waiting list, according to data from the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. ...

https://us.cnn.com/2023/08/16/health/pig-human-kidney-transplant-scn/index.html

Maybe someday he will play the guitar again ...

Hear from stroke survivor who regained movement after brain device implant trial

A deep brain stimulator is helping disabled stroke patients regain movement. ... one patient in a trial who went from only being able to take a few steps to being able to do yard work and cook.

https://youtu.be/Yek5S_4NUbg

https://us.cnn.com/videos/health/202...g-lead-vpx.cnn

Gene therapy to halt addictions ...

A 90% Drop in Drinking: The Power of Gene Therapy in Treating Alcohol Use Disorder

A form of gene therapy used to treat Parkinson’s disease may dramatically reduce alcohol consumption in chronic heavy drinkers by resetting the brain’s dopamine reward pathway. The research, conducted on nonhuman primates, showed a reduction in drinking by more than 90%, offering potential treatment for severe cases of alcohol use disorder. ...

... The study in nonhuman primates showed that implanting a specific type of molecule that induces cell growth effectively resets the brain’s dopamine reward pathway in animals predisposed to heavy drinking. This gene therapy procedure involves brain surgery and may be useful in the most severe cases of alcohol use disorder. ...

... The implanted virus is not harmful and carries a gene that codes for the protein known as glial-derived neurotrophic factor, or GDNF. It was injected in a specific area of the brain of a group of rhesus macaque monkeys that voluntarily and heavily drink ethanol diluted in water. After four macaques underwent the procedure, researchers found their consumption dropped by more than 90% compared with a control group.

“Drinking went down to almost zero,” Grant said. “For months on end, these animals would choose to drink water and just avoid drinking alcohol altogether. They decreased their drinking to the point that it was so low we didn’t record a blood-alcohol level.”

GDNF is known as a growth factor — meaning it stimulates cells to rapidly increase in number — which enhances the function of neurons in the brain that synthesize dopamine, a feel-good chemical released in the brain. In the case of alcohol use disorder, chronic drinking decreases the release of dopamine.

“Dopamine is involved in reinforcement of behavior, and in people finding certain things pleasurable,” Grant said. “Acute alcohol use can increase dopamine. However, by drinking it chronically, the brain adapts in such a way that it decreases the release of dopamine. So when people are addicted to alcohol, they don’t really feel more pleasure in drinking. It seems that they’re drinking more because they feel a need to maintain an intoxicated state.” ...

https://scitechdaily.com/a-90-drop-i...oogle_vignette

Organoid smiles ... this is something to bite into ...

No More Cavities? Organoids Pave the Way for Enamel Regeneration

... Stem cells have been used to produce organoids that release the proteins responsible for forming dental enamel, a substance that shields teeth from harm and decay. This initiative was led by a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle. “This is a critical first step to our long-term goal to develop stem cell-based treatments to repair damaged teeth and regenerate those that are lost,” said Hai Zhang, professor of restorative dentistry at the UW School of Dentistry and one of the co–authors of the paper describing the research. ...

... The researchers explained that tooth enamel protects teeth from the mechanical stresses incurred by chewing and helps them resist decay. It is the hardest tissue in the human body.

Enamel is made during tooth formation by specialized cells called ameloblasts. When tooth formation is complete, these cells die off. Consequently, the body has no way to repair or regenerate damaged enamel, and teeth can become prone to fractures or be subject to loss. ... To create ameloblasts in the laboratory, the researchers first had to understand the genetic program that drives fetal stem cells to develop into these highly specialized enamel-producing cells. ... To do this they used a technique called single-cell combinatorial indexing RNA sequencing (sci-RNA-seq), which reveals which genes are active at different stages of a cell’s development.

This is possible because RNA molecules, called messenger RNA (mRNA), carry the instructions for proteins encoded in the DNA of activated genes to the molecular machines that assemble proteins. That is why changes in the levels of mRNA at different stages of a cell’s development reveal which genes are turned on and off at each stage. ... By performing sci-RNA-seq on cells at different stages of human tooth development, the researchers were able to obtain a series of snapshots of gene activation at each stage. They then used a sophisticated computer program, called Monocle, to construct the likely trajectory of gene activities that occur as undifferentiated stem cells develop into fully differentiated ameloblast. ... With this trajectory mapped out, the researchers, after much trial and error, were able to coax undifferentiated human stem cells into becoming ameloblasts. They did this by exposing the stem cells to chemical signals that were known to activate different genes in a sequence that mimicked the path revealed by the sci-RNA-seq data. In some cases, they used known chemical signals. In other cases, collaborators from the UW Medicine Institute for Protein Design created computer-designed proteins that had enhanced effects. ...

In this lab image of a developing incisor tooth, colors identify which genes are being expressed at each stage of development

Hear this ... as quiet as a mouse ...

Reversing [One type of] Hearing Loss – A New Promising Genetic Treatment

Researchers reversed hearing loss in mice using a genetic method targeting the Spns2 gene, suggesting potential for treatments in humans. Such medical interventions could address the significant unmet need, given the linkage of hearing loss to depression, cognitive decline, and dementia. ... Researchers in this study bred mice with an inactive Spns2 gene. Mice were then provided with a special enzyme at differing ages to activate the gene after which their hearing improved. This was found to be most effective when Spns2 was activated at a young age, with the positive effects of gene activation becoming less potent the longer the researchers waited to provide the intervention.

Professor Karen Steel, Professor of Sensory Function at King’s IoPPN and the study’s senior author said, “Degenerative diseases such as progressive hearing loss are often believed to be irreversible, but we have shown that at least one type of inner ear dysfunction can be reversed. We used a genetic method to show this reversal as a proof-of-concept in mice, but the positive results should encourage research into methods like gene therapy or drugs to reactivate hearing in people with a similar type of hearing loss.”

https://scitechdaily.com/reversing-hearing-loss-a-new-promising-genetic-treatment/?expand_article=1

What would Otzi have has to say about all this?? ... and he was darker of skin than once thought ...

Ötzi the Iceman’s true appearance revealed by new DNA analysis

Ötzi the Iceman, whose frozen remains were found in a gully high in the Tyrolean Alps by hikers in 1991, is perhaps the world’s most closely studied corpse.

The mystery over his violent death, who he was and how he ended up on a mountain pass has sparked fascination far beyond the field of archaeology. Each year, thousands visit his mummified remains contained in a special cold cell at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy.

A new study of ancient DNA extracted from Ötzi’s pelvis suggests he still has some secrets to give up. The analysis of his genetic makeup has revealed the 5,300-year-old mummy had dark skin and dark eyes — and was likely bald. This stands in contrast to the reconstruction of Ötzi that depicts a pale-skinned man with a full head of hair and a beard.

“It was previously believed that his skin has darkened during the mummification process,” said Albert Zink, head of the Institute for Mummy Studies at Eurac Research, a private research center based in Bolzano. ... “It seems that the dark skin color of the mummy is quite close to the Iceman’s skin color during (his) lifetime,” said Zink, who is a coauthor of the research published Wednesday in the scientific journal Cell Genomics.

It’s not that surprising that Ötzi was dark skinned, said Zink via email, noting that many Europeans at that time likely had darker skin pigmentation than many present-day Europeans.

“Early European farmers still had a quite dark skin, that changed with time to a lighter skin, as an adaption to the changes in climate and diet of the farmers. Farmers consume much less vitamin D in their diet compared to hunter-gatherers,” he explained.

https://www.cell.com/cell-genomics/fulltext/S2666-979X(23)00174-X?utm_campaign=Press+Package&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=269851929&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--0BVpYHXFazHBaqb0wyx391CpRfMJ0E3UnlyvrRcabrQ9fVVtOTEkcttzwjoOplMpax3V-NFjCaFOD_uFXTGzJ3SYczw&utm_content=269851929&utm_source=hs_email

https://us.cnn.com/2023/08/16/europe...scn/index.html

So, a lot has changed since Otzi's time ...

Let's head off to space ... first the moon ... more than Monet on the Moon ...

The second crewed moon landing mission — Apollo 12 in 1969 — had a secret payload attached to one of the legs of its lunar lander. It was a ceramic tile about as large as a thumbnail, with six artworks etched on it, one of them by Andy Warhol. Nicknamed “Moon Museum,” it was attached to a leg of the spacecraft and then left on the moon with it. ... Now Samuel Peralta — a Canadian physicist, artist and entrepreneur — is aiming to significantly expand on the moon’s art collection by sending up tens of thousands of works from a diverse group of artists, representing almost every country in the world. Called the Lunar Codex, it will be split across three launches planned over the next 18 months.

... “If NASA and other European and Asian countries are serious about building a colony on the moon, then this will be the start of arts and culture for that colony,” Peralta said. ... he had reserved a spot on three upcoming moon missions, operated by private launch service providers SpaceX and United Launch Alliance. ... The missions’ primary objective is to deliver lunar landers, built by private American companies, that will undertake a variety of scientific experiments to gather data about the moon and its properties. The earliest one is currently slated to launch by the end of this year; two of them will land near the lunar south pole, and one in a lunar plain known as Sinus Viscositatis. ... the collections will be miniaturized in nickel NanoFiche, an analog format that can be read with a microscope. The content that can’t be stored this way, such as movies, will travel via digital cards instead. ...

For now, Peralta has works from 157 countries, but he aims to expand that as much as possible. ... Ukrainian graphic artist Olesya Dzhurayeva, who fled Kyiv after Russia invaded the country in 2022, is also part of Peralta’s project. “She fled with her two daughters to a village west of Kyiv. Her desire to create art was strong, but without her studio with her she had to improvise with what she had on hand,” Peralta said. “So she got blocks of wood, made ink out of Ukrainian soil, and basically used that to express her despair at the situation, in pieces like ‘The house whose light went out forever’; there’s hundreds of stories like this in the Lunar Codex.” The collection also includes what Peralta said is the first work from a disabled artist to be launched into space. The piece is by American artist Connie Karleta Sales, who paints digitally by using eye gaze technology as she has very limited use of her limbs due to an autoimmune disease.

https://us.cnn.com/2023/08/15/style/lunar-codex-moon-art-scn/index.html

The moon race is on! ...

Space race 2.0: Russia, India, China and the U.S. are heading for the lunar south pole

Uncrewed Russian and Indian spacecraft could land in the area next week, while the U.S. is trying to land astronauts there by 2025.

Roughly six decades after the Soviet Union and the U.S. raced each other to get to the moon, a new competition has emerged. This time around, the focus is on the lunar south pole, where scientists have detected traces of water ice.

Russia last week launched its first moon-landing spacecraft in 47 years; it's expected to touch down in the area in the coming days. India isn't far behind, with the goal of having a lander touch down Aug. 23.

The U.S., meanwhile, is rushing to be the first country to land astronauts at the site, with a crewed mission planned for 2025. China also plans missions to the area, with and without astronauts, before the end of the decade.

The area is coveted because the water could be used for rocket fuel. It could also help establish a permanent base on the moon and serve as a launchpad to Mars and beyond.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/spac...ole-rcna100495

Nature's art on Mars ...

Hexagons on Mars: New Evidence of an Environment Conducive to the Emergence of Life

Using data from NASA’s Curiosity rover, scientists have discovered patterns on Mars that provide evidence of a cyclical climate similar to that of Earth. This major discovery opens up new prospects for research into the origin of life. ... with wet and dry seasons like those on Earth. This environment, in which simple organic molecules have already been discovered, may have provided ideal conditions for the formation of complex organic compounds.

... Using the Mastcam and the ChemCam instruments on Curiosity, they have discovered deposits of salts forming a hexagonal pattern in sedimentary layers dating from 3.8 to 3.6 billion years ago. Similar to the hexagons observed in terrestrial basins that dry out seasonally, they are the first fossil evidence of a sustained, cyclical, regular Martian climate with dry and wet seasons. By letting molecules repeatedly interact at different concentrations, independent laboratory experiments have shown that this kind of environment provides the ideal conditions for the formation of complex precursor and constituent compounds of life, such as RNA. ...

https://scitechdaily.com/hexagons-on...oogle_vignette

Moon glows ...

Webb Space Telescope Delivers Unprecedented Insights Into Jupiter’s Moons

Groundbreaking observations by the James Webb Space Telescope have revealed hydrogen peroxide on Ganymede and ongoing volcanic eruptions on Io, enhancing our understanding of Jupiter’s moons and the broader solar system. ...

https://scitechdaily.com/webb-space-...upiters-moons/

Space whale ...

Cosmic Leviathan Unveiled: Hubble Space Telescope Captures Truly Massive Galaxy Cluster

Hubble Space Telescope image of the massive galaxy cluster 2MASX J05101744-4519179. This incredibly massive structure in the universe is situated in the constellation Pictor, approximately 2.6 billion light-years away from Earth.

And more exploration to come ... from JAXA, TSUKUBA, JAPAN ...

Decoding the Cosmic Rainbow: XRISM Mission To Study Universe’s High-Energy Mysteries

A new spacecraft called XRISM (X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission, pronounced “crism”) aims to pry apart high-energy light into the equivalent of an X-ray rainbow. The mission, led by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), will do this using an instrument called Resolve. XRISM is scheduled to launch from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center on August 25, 2023 ...

... NASA and JAXA team members at Japan’s Tsukuba Space Center calibrated XRISM’s Resolve instrument, imaged here, at just a fraction of a degree above absolute zero. They had to perform these measurements before installing the instrument on the spacecraft. ...

... Brian Williams, NASA’s XRISM project scientist stationed at Goddard, highlighted the mission’s unparalleled capabilities: “The spectra XRISM collects will be the most detailed we’ve ever seen for some of the phenomena we’ll observe. The mission will provide us with insights into some of the most difficult places to study, like the internal structures of neutron stars and near-light-speed particle jets powered by black holes in active galaxies.”

https://scitechdaily.com/decoding-th...oogle_vignette

Now, back to saving our own planet ...

Opinion: Yes, Al Gore, giant vacuum cleaners might help save the planet

As someone who has worried and written about the climate crisis for 25 years, I have long viewed Al Gore as a hero. The former vice president, perhaps more than anyone else, first called our collective attention to the gravity of the threat. Which is why it pains me to say that, in his recent comments about climate mitigation technologies, Gore is also quite wrong.

Not wrong about the climate crisis, of course. Nor, in his surprisingly angry TED Talk last month, wrong about the reasons our actions to mitigate the crisis have been so inadequate: because the fossil fuel industry has fought them tooth and nail and hoodwinked a good bit of the American public.

But Gore is dangerously wrong about carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategies such as direct air capture, which, in the words of US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, refers to “giant vacuums that can suck decades of old carbon pollution straight out of the sky.” The 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law allocated $3.5 billion to develop direct air capture projects.

Gore said a lot of things about direct air capture in his TED Talk. He noted that it’s expensive (true) and that it’s not nearly effective enough to solve the climate crisis on its own (also true). But his main objection was about what philosophers call “moral hazard”: that fighting climate change by using CDR, rather than by reducing carbon emissions gives the fossil fuel industry, and polluters in general, a free pass to keep polluting. Direct air capture, Gore said, “gives them a license to continue producing more and more oil and gas.”

Such a characterization is wrong – but interestingly wrong, because it shows how emotion and ideology can get in the way of ethical, effective action.

First, Gore is wrong to suggest that direct air capture, and CDR in general, is intended to take the place of emissions reductions, transitioning to renewable energy and so on. It is one part of what Granholm called “our climate crisis fighting arsenal.” It is one arrow in the quiver — both/and, not either/or.

I know Gore knows this, and is making a larger, impassioned point about the fossil fuel industry. But his statements are still profoundly unhelpful, because they reinforce a wrong view about the climate crisis: that the solutions to it will be about good guys and bad guys, virtues and sins. ... In an ideal world, we would cut emissions enough to mitigate the climate crisis. But in the real world, we’ve failed to do so for 30 years, and time has run out. We need every tool in the climate toolbox. ...

https://us.cnn.com/2023/08/15/opinions/al-gore-climate-fossil-fuels-michaelson/index.html

I type this in an air conditioned room ...

July 2023 Was the Hottest Month on Record

Earth in July 2023 was 1.18°C (2.12°F) warmer than the average for the month, and warmer than any other month in the 143-year record. ... According to an analysis by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) ... Parts of South America, North Africa, North America, and the Antarctic Peninsula were especially hot and experienced temperature anomalies around 4°C. But it was not unusually warm everywhere. Parts of the U.S. Midwest and northern Europe saw closer to average temperatures. Overall, July 2023 was 1.18°C (2.12°F) warmer than the average July between 1951 and 1980. ...

https://scitechdaily.com/feeling-the-burn-july-2023-was-the-hottest-month-on-record/

Gassho, J

stlah

[Jundo]

And this says it all ... the Great Doubt of the Cosmos ...

NASA telescope spots cosmic question mark in deep space

A cosmic object in the shape of a glowing question mark has photobombed one of the latest images captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope — and scientists think they know what it might be.

The original near-infrared image, released July 26, depicted a pair of young stars named Herbig-Haro 46/47. Found 1,470 light-years away in the Vela constellation within the Milky Way galaxy, the stars are still actively forming and closely orbiting each other. ... The cosmic question mark hasn’t been closely observed or studied, so scientists aren’t exactly sure about the object’s origins and makeup.

But they do have a few ideas based on its shape and location.

“The very first thing you can rule out is that it’s a star in the Milky Way,” said Matt Caplan, assistant professor of physics at Illinois State University. “Stars always have these really big spikes, and that’s because stars are point-like. It’s called diffraction from basically the edges of the mirrors and the struts that support the sort of camera in the middle.” ... It could be a merger of two galaxies that, at probably billions of light-years away, are much farther away than Herbig-Haro 46/47, said Christopher Britt, education and outreach scientist in the office of public outreach at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which manages the Webb telescope’s science operations.

There are “many, many galaxies outside of our own Milky Way,” Britt said. “This looks like the kind of thing that you get fairly frequently — as galaxies grow and evolve over cosmic time — which is that they sometimes collide with their near neighbors.

“And when that happens, they can get distorted into all kinds of different shapes — including a question mark, apparently.”

https://us.cnn.com/2023/08/13/world/question-mark-galaxy-space-james-webb-telescope-scn/index.html

[Jundo]

We are all connected ... to all life on this planet ...

Global Genomes: Scientists Rewrite the Story of Human Genetics

... Called the Human Pangenome Reference Consortium, the multi-institutional effort expands and updates earlier work that started as the Human Genome Project. That original project, with drafts reported in 2001 and 2003, was based on a more limited sampling of human DNA. The goal then was to create an entire sequence of a human genome to use as a reference. It reflected data mostly from one person, with slight amounts of genetic information from about 20 others. ... In contrast, the human pangenome reference contains nearly full genomic data from 47 people, representing different populations globally. This accounts for 94 human genomes, since each person carries two copies, one from each parent. ... “It has the potential not only to improve discovery of genetic diseases but also transform our understanding of the genetic diversity of our species.” ... Eventually a cohort of more than 350 participants will enable researchers to capture the most common genetic variants, including ones that have been missed previously because they map to complex regions. ...

... The scientists created a map of hotpots that were prime locations for donating or receiving genetic material. ...

... the scientists plan to push towards a telomere-to-telomere or tip-to-tip sequencing of chromosomes to get a more complete picture of how people differ. ...

https://scitechdaily.com/global-geno...uman-genetics/

We are all connected ... right down to our chin ...

300,000-year-old skull found in China unlike any early human seen before

An ancient skull dating back 300,000 years is unlike any other premodern human fossil ever found, potentially pointing to a new branch in the human family tree, according to new research. An international team of researchers from China, Spain and the United Kingdom unearthed the skull — specifically the mandible, or lower jaw — in the Hualongdong region of eastern China in 2015, along with 15 other specimens, all thought to originate from the late Middle Pleistocene period. Scientists believe the late Middle Pleistocene, which started around 300,000 years ago, was a pivotal period for the evolution of hominins — species that are regarded as human or closely related — including modern humans.

... By comparing the HLD 6 mandible to those of Pleistocene hominins and modern humans, the researchers found it has features of both. It is similarly shaped to the mandible of Homo sapiens, our modern human species that evolved from Homo erectus. But it also shares a characteristic of a different branch that evolved from Homo erectus, the Denisovans. Like the Denisovans, HLD 6 does not appear to have a chin. ...

... The researchers theorize that HLD 6 must belong to a classification that hasn’t yet been given a name, and that modern human characteristics could have been present as early as 300,000 years ago — before the emergence of modern humans in east Asia. ...

https://us.cnn.com/2023/08/10/asia/a...scn/index.html

We are all connected ... to space ...

Arrowhead made from meteorite 3,000 years ago found near lake in Europe

A Bronze Age arrowhead unearthed in Switzerland was made from a meteorite, a new study has found.

Dating back to between 900 and 800 BC, the 39-millimeter-long (1.5-inch-long) arrowhead was found on a pile-dwelling site in Mörigen on Lake Biel, Switzerland, during excavations in the 19th century, according to the study conducted by a team of researchers at the Natural History Museum of Bern.

The nearly 3,000-year-old artifact was created with iron from a meteorite that landed in Estonia, the study noted. This indicates that meteoritic iron was traded in Europe by 800 BC or earlier, the researchers said, adding how unusual it is to find meteoritic iron used so early in history.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]8636[/ATTACH]

https://us.cnn.com/style/article/arr...scn/index.html

We are all connected ... to the stars, more precious than gold ...

Cosmic Gold Factory: Single Kilonova Produced 1,000x the Mass of the Earth in Very Heavy Elements

An unusually powerful gamma-ray burst (GRB 211211A), detected from a nearby galaxy, has been linked to a neutron star merger by an international team of scientists. This burst, notable for its excess of infrared light, was shown to originate from a kilonova, an event thought to occur when neutron stars collide. ... This gamma-ray burst, identified as GRB 211211A, persisted for approximately a minute – a relatively lengthy explosion, which would usually signal the collapse of a massive star into a supernova. ... In a recent study, published in the journal Nature, an international team of scientists showed that the infrared light detected in the burst came from a kilonova. This is a rare event, thought to be generated as neutron stars, or a neutron star and a black hole collide, producing heavy elements such as gold and platinum. ... “We found that this one event produced about 1,000 times the mass of the Earth in very heavy elements. This supports the idea that these kilonovae are the main factories of gold in the Universe,” he said.

https://scitechdaily.com/cosmic-gold...eavy-elements/

We are all connected ... in every grain of dust ...

The Life and Times of Dust: A Glimpse Into the Early Universe

... Captured by the Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) mounted on the James Webb Space Telescope, this image shows the irregular galaxy NGC 6822. ... Located approximately 1.5 million light-years away, NGC 6822 is the nearest galactic neighbor to the Milky Way that is not a satellite. ... It exhibits very low metallicity, meaning it has minimal proportions of elements other than hydrogen and helium. Metallicity is a fundamental concept in astronomy since elements apart from hydrogen and helium are predominantly produced by stars over their lifetimes. In the early universe, before the first generation of stars had been born, lived, and died, everything was of low metallicity. Hence, modern objects with low metallicity, like NGC 6822, are valuable in understanding how processes such as stellar evolution and the life cycle of interstellar dust likely occurred in the early Universe.

https://scitechdaily.com/the-life-an...arly-universe/

We are all connected ... to every drop of water ...

Salted Secrets: Drops of Seawater Contain Traces of an Ancient World

Using advanced equipment, researchers studied sea salt to uncover changes in seawater chemistry and its relation to geological processes and climate over the last 150 million years. Their findings linked tectonic plate movements to shifts in ocean and atmospheric compositions, influencing global climate and marine biology. ... They looked at sea salt (halite) formed at various times over the past 150 million years in geographically diverse sedimentary basins in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Within the salt samples were tiny pockets containing a bit of ancient seawater. ... The slowdown in plate activity over the past 150 million years led to less lithium being added to the ocean and reduced amounts of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, which ultimately led to global cooling and the present ice age. Turning back the clock 150 million years, the earth was a warmer place with more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and more lithium in the sea. ...

https://scitechdaily.com/salted-secr...pand_article=1

We are all connected ... including human life to the balance of climate on this planet ...

Europe’s Ancient Freeze: New Study Reveals Ancient Cooling Wiped Out Early Humans

Paleoclimate evidence indicates that roughly 1.1 million years ago, there was a significant drop in temperature in southern Europe. This climate shift likely led to the disappearance of early human populations in the region, according to a new study led by UCL researchers.

The research, which was published in the journal Science, unveiled that previously unrecognized extreme glacial conditions took place about 1.1 million years ago. This intense cold spell made the European climate inhospitable for early humans, resulting in the continent being devoid of human inhabitants.

https://scitechdaily.com/europes-anc...-early-humans/

We are all connected ... even to the most distant star ...

Webb telescope captures image of most distant star ever seen

Astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope to observe Earendel, the most distant star ever detected.

Earendel is so distant that the starlight glimpsed by the Webb telescope was emitted within the first billion years of the universe. The universe is estimated to be about 13.8 billion years old. Previous estimates suggest the star is 12.9 billion light-years away from Earth, but given the expansion of the universe and how long the light has traveled to reach us, astronomers believe Earendel is currently 28 billion light-years away.

https://us.cnn.com/2023/08/11/world/...scn/index.html

We are all connected ... to gravity and (if it exists) dark matter ...

Conclusive Evidence for Modified Gravity: Collapse of Newton’s and Einstein’s Theories in Low Acceleration

A study on the orbital motions of wide binaries has uncovered evidence that standard gravity breaks down at low accelerations. This discovery aligns with a modified theory called MOND and challenges current concepts of dark matter. The implications for astrophysics, physics, and cosmology are profound, and the results have been acknowledged as a significant discovery by experts in the field ...

... The implications of wide binary dynamics are profound for astrophysics, theoretical physics, and cosmology. Anomalies in Mercury’s orbits observed in the nineteenth century eventually led to Einstein’s general relativity. Now anomalies in wide binaries demand a new theory extending general relativity to the low acceleration MOND limit.

Despite all the successes of Newton’s gravity, general relativity is needed for relativistic gravitational phenomena such as black holes and gravitational waves. Likewise, despite all the successes of general relativity, a new theory is needed for MOND phenomena in the weak acceleration limit. The weak-acceleration catastrophe of gravity may have some similarity to the ultraviolet catastrophe of classical electrodynamics that led to quantum physics. ... Wide binary anomalies are disastrous for standard gravity and cosmology that rely on dark matter and dark energy concepts. Since gravity follows MOND, a large amount of dark matter in galaxies (and even in the universe) is no longer needed. This is a significant surprise to Chae who, like typical scientists, “believed in” dark matter until a few years ago.

https://scitechdaily.com/conclusive-evidence-for-modified-gravity-collapse-of-newtons-and-einsteins-theories-in-low-acceleration/

We are all connected ... sometimes merging together ...

Cosmic Tug of War: ... Camera Captures Galaxies in a Prelude to Merger

.. This breathtaking image features the massive barred spiral galaxy NGC 1532, also known as Haley’s Coronet, located about 55 million light-years away in the direction of the southern constellation Eridanus (the river). Its sweeping spiral arms are seen edge-on from Earth, with the nearer arm dipping downward and the receding arm lurching upward as it tugs upon its smaller, dwarf companion galaxy NGC 1531. These gravitationally bound galaxies will eventually become one, as NGC 1532 completely consumes its smaller companion. ...

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We are all connected ... to self-organizing molecules coming together ...

Scientists have developed a model that explains how molecules can quickly self-organize into life-like structures, challenging traditional views on the origin of life.

One potential hypothesis for the emergence of life involves the self-assembling of interrelating molecules into structures similar to cellular droplets. These specific groups of molecules could establish the earliest self-replicating metabolic cycles, a feature universally present in biological systems and consistent across all life forms. According to this paradigm, the first biomolecules would need to cluster together through slow and overall inefficient processes.

Such slow cluster formation seems incompatible with how quickly life has appeared. Scientists from the department of Living Matter Physics from MPI-DS have now proposed an alternative model that explains such cluster formation and thus the fast onset of the chemical reactions required to form life. ... the model showed the formation of catalytic clusters including various molecular species. Furthermore, the growth of clusters happens exponentially fast. Molecules hence can assemble very quickly and in large numbers into dynamic structures.

“In addition, the number of molecule species which participate in the metabolic cycle plays a key role in the structure of the formed clusters,” Ramin Golestanian, director at MPI-DS, summarizes: “Our model leads to a plethora of complex scenarios for self-organization and makes specific predictions about functional advantages that arise for odd or even number of participating species. It is remarkable that non-reciprocal interactions as required for our newly proposed scenario are generically present in all metabolic cycles.”

A new model describes the self-organization of catalysts involved in metabolic cycles. Different species of catalysts (represented by different colors) form clusters and can chase each other.

https://scitechdaily.com/exploring-t...rnative-model/

We are all connected ... and, like galaxies and molecules, people need to come together ...

Even Zoom is making its staff return to the office

Zoom, the company that powered the remote work revolution during the pandemic, is telling its employees to come back to the office.

In a statement, Zoom said it’s now enforcing a “structured hybrid approach,” meaning that employees who live near an office “need to be onsite two days a week” because it’s “most effective” for the video-conferencing service.

“As a company, we are in a better position to use our own technologies, continue to innovate, and support our global customers. We’ll continue to leverage the entire Zoom platform to keep our employees and dispersed teams connected and working efficiently,” the company said.

Putting aside the irony, Zoom isn’t excluded from the return to office trend that’s sweeping tech companies. In recent months, Google, Amazon and Salesforce have enacted similar policies, ending a Covid-era approach that gave employees more freedom to work from home. However, businesses have faced some pushback from employees after workers grew accustomed to greater flexibility.

https://us.cnn.com/2023/08/07/busine...ice/index.html

We are all connected ... but sometimes need to be separate, individual, a "self" (so, even for a Buddhist, "self" is important) ...

Scientists Discover Entirely New and Unexpected Killer of Immune Cells Lacking “Self”

Researchers from Kobe University have identified an entirely new and unexpected mechanism through which the immune system eliminates cells lacking molecules that identify them as part of the self in mice. ... The immune system comprises many types of cells that work together to fight off diseases. Two important types are dendritic cells and T cells. Dendritic cells are located in strategic positions throughout the body including the gut and skin, as well as in the lymph nodes, sample their environment and present small components derived from these samples on their surface. T cells check these samples and if they recognize them as foreign (or “non-self”), they will initiate an immune response, otherwise, they will move on. The ability to distinguish self from non-self is therefore a key characteristic of the immune system and T cells undergo very selective training, by dendritic cells, to make sure they can make that distinction.

The cells in our body display several molecules on their surface that identify them as “self” to immune cells. One of these self-identifying molecules is CD47. It was known that if T cells lack CD47, they would be efficiently eliminated by other immune cells. ...

https://scitechdaily.com/inside-job-...-lacking-self/

We are all connected ... but some live longer than others ...

UCLA scientists lead groundbreaking studies on mammalian aging and life span.

Researchers from the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and UCLA Health led an international research team that published two articles detailing changes in DNA – changes that researchers found are shared by humans and other mammals throughout history and are associated with life span and numerous other traits.

“We’ve discovered that the life spans of mammals are closely associated with chemical modifications of the DNA molecule, specifically known as epigenetics, or more accurately, methylation. In essence, mammals with longer life spans exhibit more pronounced DNA methylation landscapes, whereas those of shorter-lived species have more subdued, flatter methylation patterns,” said the senior author of both articles, Steve Horvath, Ph.D., ScD, an expert on the aging process and a professor in human genetics and biostatistics at UCLA at the time the studies were conducted.

https://scitechdaily.com/decoding-li...pand_article=1

We are all connected ... even to artificial organs in little jars ...

Japanese Scientists Construct Complex 3D Organoids With Ingenious Device

Scientists in Japan have innovatively used hydrogels in cube-like structures to create complex 3D organoids, simplifying previously challenging procedures. This advancement has the potential to revolutionize drug testing and artificial organ growth, opening the door to accessible and diverse research on various organ systems. ... The group also recently demonstrated the ability to use the device to build organoids that faithfully reproduce the asymmetric genetic expression that characterizes the actual development of organisms. ... Scientists have long struggled to create organoids—organ-like tissues grown in the laboratory—to replicate actual biological development. Creating organoids that function similarly to real tissues is vital for developing medicines since it is necessary to understand how drugs move through various tissues. Organoids also help us gain insights into the process of development itself and are a stepping stone on the way to growing whole organs that can help patients. ...

... However, creating life-like organoids has proven difficult. In nature, tissues develop through an elaborate dance that involves chemical gradients and physical scaffolds that guide cells into certain 3D patterns. ... But now, in an initial paper published in Advanced Materials Technologies, the group from the RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research announced the development of a new, innovative technique that allows them to spatially control the environment around groups of cells based on cubes ...



https://scitechdaily.com/japanese-sc...pand_article=1

We are all connected ... but sometimes we do not wish to share data ...

China’s sitting on a goldmine of genetic data – and it doesn’t want to share

Better cancer treatments, advances in longevity, groundbreaking medicines and vaccines: these are just some of the potential prizes on offer in an emerging global race to advance the biosciences.

And China has been pouring billions of dollars into its efforts to become the preeminent force, with experts claiming its massive population of 1.4 billion people can provide a treasure trove of data.

Vast amounts of this data already exists in biobanks and research centers around the country – but the government is now launching a “national genetic survey” to collect information about and assert more oversight over these resources, say experts.

In recent years, authorities have also been tightening controls around foreign access to this data – in contrast to the many Western nations that have pledged to open up information for global sharing. ...

... In recent years, Chinese scientists and authorities have emphasized how genetic material could be useful in studying and treating diseases; developing pharmaceuticals and medical devices; and in better understanding how birth defects are formed or how genes contribute to a person’s longevity – particularly important given China’s looming demographic crisis as its birth rate falls and workforce ages. Reflecting this heightened focus, new research centers have popped up in various parts of China, with publicly listed biopharma companies worth hundreds of billions of dollars. ... “China has amassed the largest genomic holdings of anywhere in the world,” ...

... There have also been longstanding concerns from the international community about China’s use of genetic data in policing – especially after reports that authorities were collecting DNA samples and other biometric data from millions of residents in the far-west region of Xinijang, home to the Muslim Uyghur community and other ethnic minorities. China has long faced accusations of human rights violations in Xinjiang, which it has repeatedly denied.

https://us.cnn.com/2023/08/11/china/...dst/index.html

We are all connected ... but sometimes we fight each other ...

Top U.S. cyber official offers 'stark warning' of potential attacks on infrastructure if tensions with China escalate.

Such tactics would be a stark change from the cyber activity historically attributed to China, usually espionage and data theft but not destructive attacks.

China’s hackers have been positioning themselves to conduct destructive cyberattacks on U.S. critical infrastructure, a top U.S. cyber official warned Saturday.

Speaking at a panel at the Def Con hacker conference in Las Vegas, Jen Easterly, the director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, said, “I hope that people are taking seriously a pretty stark warning about the potential for China to use their very formidable capabilities in the event of a conflict in the Taiwan straits to go after our critical infrastructure.”

Such attacks would reflect a significant pivot from the type of cyber activity historically attributed to China, which for years has largely consisted of a barrage of espionage and theft of data but not destructive attacks designed to harm systems.

Easterly’s comments mirrored several other alarms raised this year regarding China’s potential to conduct destructive cyberattacks. In May, Microsoft warned that hackers affiliated with the Chinese government were targeting critical U.S. infrastructure.

In its most recent Annual Threat Assessment, published in February, the office of the Director of National Intelligence said that “China almost certainly is capable of launching cyber attacks that could disrupt critical infrastructure services within the United States, including against oil and gas pipelines, and rail systems.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/top-us-cyber-official-warns-infrastructure-attack-risk-china-tensions-rcna99625

We are all connected ... to AI ... sometimes posing as a "I" ...

An author says AI is ‘writing’ unauthorized books being sold under her name on Amazon

... Jane Friedman, who has authored multiple books and consulted about working in the writing and publishing industry, told CNN that an eagle-eyed reader looking for more of her work bought one of the fake titles on Amazon. The books had titles similar to the subjects she typically writes about, but the text read as if someone had used a generative AI model to imitate her style.

... With AI tools like ChatGPT now able to rapidly and cheaply pump out huge volumes of convincing text, some writers and authors have raised alarms about losing work to the new technology. Others have said they don’t want their work being used to train AI models, which could then be used to imitate them. “Generative AI is being used to replace writers — taking their work without permission, incorporating those works into the fabric of those AI models and then offering those AI models to the public, to other companies, to use to replace writers,” Mary Rasenberger, CEO of the nonprofit authors advocacy group the Authors Guild, told CNN. “So you can imagine writers are a little upset about that.” ...

... Amazon removed the fake books being sold under Friedman’s name and said its policies prohibit such imitation. ...

https://us.cnn.com/2023/08/10/tech/a...zon/index.html

We are all connected ... and our actions impact others ...

Ocean’s Silent Plastic Invasion: Marine Mammals Now Carry Microplastics Within -- Research suggests that microplastics, once ingested, move into the fat and internal organs of whales.


Microscopic plastic remnants have been detected in the blubber and lungs of over 65% of the marine mammals examined in a graduate student’s investigation into ocean microplastics. The discovery of polymer fragments and fibers in these creatures indicates that microplastics can migrate beyond the digestive system and embed in their tissues. ... Harms that embedded microplastics might cause to marine mammals are yet to be determined, but plastics have been implicated by other studies as possible hormone mimics and endocrine disruptors. ...

... Polyester fibers, a common byproduct of laundry machines, were the most common in tissue samples, as was polyethylene, which is a component of beverage containers. Blue plastic was the most common color found in all four kinds of tissue.

A 2022 paper in Nature Communications estimated, based on known concentrations of microplastics off the Pacific Coast of California, that a filter-feeding blue whale might be gulping down 95 pounds of plastic waste per day as it catches tiny creatures in the water column. Whales and dolphins that prey on fish and other larger organisms also might be acquiring accumulated plastic in the animals they eat, Merrill said. ...

... Below, a blue microplastic fiber turned up on this glass fiber filter from the lung tissue of a beluga whale:

We are all connected ... with many wanting to limit cravings via medical interventions ...

Nearly half of US adults interested in using weight-loss drugs, new KFF poll finds

Most adults in the United States have heard about a new class of drugs being used for weight loss – including Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro – and nearly half say that they would be interested in using one, according to a new survey from KFF.

Few – less than 1 in 7 adults – say that they have ever had a prescription for weight loss. But nearly 60% of adults who are trying to lose weight – and even a quarter of those who aren’t currently trying to lose weight – say they would be interested in trying a weight-loss prescription drug if it was found to be safe and effective.

Interest was particularly high among adults who had been told by a doctor or other health care provider that they were overweight or obese in recent years and among those who were trying to lose more than 20 pounds ...

https://us.cnn.com/2023/08/04/health...ugs/index.html

We are all connected ... with some of us suffering addictions, which prescribed medical treatments might help ...

Only 1 in 5 people with opioid addiction get the medications to treat it, study finds

Imagine if during a deadly public health crisis, 80% of Americans weren't able to get safe, effective medications proven to help people recover.

A study published Monday in the JAMA found that's exactly what's happening with the opioid crisis.

Nationwide, only one in five people with opioid use disorder receive the medications considered the gold standard for opioid treatment, such as methadone, buprenorphine or extended-release naltrexone.

All have been proven safe and effective at helping patients survive and recover. They're also relatively easy to prescribe, but many doctors choose not to do so.

... Experts say stigma about addiction and lack of training among physicians and other medical workers often limits use of these drugs. ...

... "More than 80,000 people are dying of a drug overdose involving an opioid every year, while safe and effective medicines to treat opioid use disorder are sitting on the shelf unused," said Dr. Wilson Compton, deputy director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and a senior author of the study, in a statement. ...

... The data was collected in 2021 as the fentanyl-opioid crisis was escalating. Deaths from opioid overdoses topped 80,000 that year for the first time in U.S. history. Last year, they rose even higher, with nearly 83,000 fatal overdoses attributed to opioids in 2022.

This latest study points to one possible solution: It found people with opioid addiction who receive medical support via telehealth – through on-line or telephone consultations – were roughly 38 times more likely to be prescribed proper medications. ...

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-...eat-it-study-f

Gassho, J

stlah

[Jundo]

Eye in the sky ...

The Ring Nebula comes into focus, and it's astounding

Gone are the days when the Ring Nebula looked sort of like a bagel, or a jelly doughnut, a massive astronomical blob holding the secrets of a dying star.. The new images of the famous Ring Nebula from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope are mesmerizing, with glowing rings of gas and wispy trails emanating from the core. We can see it in more clarity than ever, including thousands of clumps that make up its main ring. ...

Despite its name, planetary nebula is actually the remains of a sun-like star. ... The Ring Nebula, also known as Messier 57, is more than 2,000 light years ...

"We are witnessing the final chapters of a star's life, a preview of the sun's distant future so to speak," Barlow said, adding, "JWST's observations have opened a new window into understanding these awe-inspiring cosmic events." ...

The spectacle began around 4,000 years ago, when the Nebula Ring's central star, which was more massive than our sun, expelled gases from its outer layers into space. For billions of years, the star had been converting hydrogen to helium — but it started to run low on fuel.

"It then ballooned in size, becoming a red giant," according to NASA. "During this phase, the star shed its outer gaseous layers into space and began to collapse as fusion reactions began to die out. A gusher of ultraviolet light from the dying star energized the gas, making it glow. The outer rings were formed when faster-moving gas slammed into slower-moving material."

The nebula is still expanding — estimated at more than 43,000 miles an hour, NASA says. It's expected to keep that up for the next 10,000 years or so. ...

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/04/11921...webb-telescope

Just picking up where it left off ...

A worm has been revived after 46,000 years in the Siberian permafrost

Scientists have revived a worm that was frozen 46,000 years ago — at a time when woolly mammoths, sabre-toothed tigers and giant elks still roamed the Earth.

The roundworm, of a previously unknown species, survived 40 meters (131.2 feet) below the surface in the Siberian permafrost in a dormant state known as cryptobiosis, according to Teymuras Kurzchalia, professor emeritus at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden and one of the scientists involved in the research. Organisms in a cryptobiotic state can endure the complete absence of water or oxygen and withstand high temperatures, as well as freezing or extremely salty conditions. They remain in a state “between death and life,” in which their metabolic rates decrease to an undetectable level, Kurzchalia explained. “One can halt life and then start it from the beginning. This a major finding,” he said, adding that other organisms previously revived from this state had survived for decades rather than millennia.

... After thawing the worms, the scientists used radiocarbon analysis of the plant material in the sample to establish that the deposits had not been thawed since between 45,839 and 47,769 years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp6RqJ-hfvQ

https://us.cnn.com/2023/07/28/world/...scn/index.html

That worm is 20 times older than Jesus ... and now we have 'Virgin Birth' too ...

In a historic first, scientists have used gene editing to induce virgin birth in fruit flies ...

... a major step in unlocking the mysteries of the intriguing phenomenon known as parthenogenesis.

Virgin births do not happen naturally in the type of fruit flies involved in the research, said study coauthor Alexis Sperling, a developmental biologist at the UK’s University of Cambridge. However, Sperling and her team were able to use gene mutations to produce generations of female fruit flies capable of reproducing entirely on their own — without interacting with male fruit flies, according to a study published July 28 in the journal Current Biology.

... While virgin births occur naturally in many animal species and have been induced in others — including mice — by manipulating cells, this research marked the first time scientists isolated specific genes to make parthenogenesis a lasting and inheritable trait in an organism not otherwise capable of this type of reproduction.

Though the feat may seem like the stuff of science fiction, take note: It is not the harbinger of virgin births in humans. There are “multiple reasons preventing (parthenogenesis) in mammals. … We need the genetic diversity,” Sperling said. ...

https://us.cnn.com/2023/08/03/world/...scn/index.html

We're all just a bunch of Ass Guardians!

”We’re All Asgardians”: Scientists Discover New Clues About the Origin of Complex Life

... The research team at The University of Texas at Austin, along with collaborators from different institutions, conducted a genomic analysis of several hundreds of microorganisms known as archaea. Their findings revealed that eukaryotes – complex life forms with nuclei in their cells, including all flora, fauna, insects, and fungi across the globe – can trace their origins back to a common Asgard archaean ancestor. ... No fossils of eukaryotes have been found from farther back than about 2 billion years ago, suggesting that before that, only various types of microbes existed. ... “So, what events led microbes to evolve into eukaryotes?” said Brett Baker, UT Austin associate professor of integrative biology and marine science. “That’s a big question. Having this common ancestor is a big step in understanding that.” ...

https://scitechdaily.com/were-all-asgardians-scientists-discover-new-clues-about-the-origin-of-complex-life/?expand_article=1

How Did Avalon Explode?

Avalon Explosion: Life on Earth Didn’t Arise As Described in Textbooks

Contrary to previous beliefs, the Avalon explosion, marking the rise of multicellular organisms, wasn’t triggered by increased oxygen levels, according to new research. This study, analyzing ancient rocks, reveals that oxygen levels were lower than today’s when these life forms emerged. This finding challenges existing theories about the origin of life on Earth, suggesting that low oxygen levels might have actually promoted the development of these organisms. ... Between 685 and 800 million years ago, the Avalon explosion — a forerunner era of the more famed Cambrian explosion — marked the emergence of multicellular organisms in Earth’s oceans. Prior to this era, the world was dominated by single-celled amoeba, algae, and bacteria for over 2 billion years. The Avalon explosion saw a sudden surge in biodiversity, with sea sponges and other complex multicellular organisms replacing their simpler, single-celled counterparts.

https://scitechdaily.com/avalon-expl...-in-textbooks/

Them bones, them bones ...

Unearthing Our Past, Predicting Our Future: Scientists Discover the Genes That Shape Our Bones

equences, a team of researchers from The University of Texas at Austin and New York Genome Center have successfully identified the genes that shape our skeletons, from the width of our shoulders to the length of our legs.

This groundbreaking study, which was published as the cover article in the journal Science, not only sheds light on our evolutionary history but also paves the way for a future where physicians could more accurately assess a patient’s likelihood of suffering from ailments like back pain or arthritis later in life.

“Our research is a powerful demonstration of the impact of AI in medicine, particularly when it comes to analyzing and quantifying imaging data, as well as integrating this information with health records and genetics rapidly and at large scale ...”

... Humans are the only large primates to have longer legs than arms, a change in the skeletal form that is critical in enabling the ability to walk on two legs. The scientists sought to determine which genetic changes underlie anatomical differences that are clearly visible in the fossil record leading to modern humans, from Australopithecus to Neanderthals. ...

... The researchers used deep learning models to perform automatic quantification on 39,000 medical images to measure distances between shoulders, knees, ankles, and other points in the body. By comparing these measurements to each person’s genetic sequence, they found 145 points in the genome that control skeletal proportions. ...

https://scitechdaily.com/unearthing-...ape-our-bones/

And will this DNA stuff be our future Terminator skeleton?

Scientists Create New Material Five Times Lighter and Four Times Stronger Than Steel - by structuring DNA and then coating it in glass.

Materials possessing both strength and lightness have the potential to enhance everything from automobiles to body armor. But usually, the two qualities are mutually exclusive. However, researchers at the University of Connecticut, along with their collaborators, have now crafted an incredibly strong yet lightweight material. Surprisingly, they achieved this using two unexpected building blocks: DNA and glass. ...

... “I am a big fan of Iron Man movies, and I have always wondered how to create a better armor for Iron Man. It must be very light for him to fly faster. It must be very strong to protect him from enemies’ attacks. Our new material is five times lighter but four times stronger than steel. So, our glass nanolattices would be much better than any other structural materials to create an improved armor for Iron Man.” ...

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-create-new-material-five-times-lighter-and-four-times-stronger-than-steel/

Who doesn't like a good melon? ... From the University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan ... home to Treeleaf Japan! ...

Scientists Use Gene Editing To Create a Better Melon

Through CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, researchers extended the shelf life of a Japanese melon by reducing ethylene production via the CmACO1 gene, an inheritable change that doesn’t introduce foreign genes. ..., the harvested melons exhibited no foreign genes and the mutations induced were inherited for at least two generations.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fgeed.2023.1176125/full

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-use-gene-editing-to-create-a-better-melon/

This left me feeling cold ...

New Technology Restores Cold Sensation in Amputees’ Phantom Limbs

Researchers have developed the thin-film thermoelectric cooler (TFTEC), one of the world’s smallest and fastest refrigeration devices, for applications like improved prosthetics and augmented reality. Collaboration with neuroscientists has allowed amputees to perceive temperature with phantom limbs, a first-of-its-kind advancement that has implications for prostheses, haptics, and other applications like cooling electronics and energy harvesting in satellites. ... Since 2006, APL had been leading DARPA’s Revolutionizing Prosthetics program, an effort focused on creating a mentally controlled artificial limb that will restore near-natural motor and sensory capability to upper-extremity amputee patients. ... “When someone loses part of a limb, the nerves within the residual limb are still there, which can lead to the ‘phantom’ limb sensation,” said Luke Osborn, a neuroengineering researcher who leads much of APL’s noninvasive nerve simulation work. “You can place electrodes on different parts of an amputee’s upper arm where those nerves have regrown and stimulate sensation — typically pressure, but in the current case, temperature —and the individual can tell us where in their phantom hand they feel those sensations.” ...

https://scitechdaily.com/new-technol...phantom-limbs/

One hope for carbon removal? We have to stop dumping it into the atmosphere to start with ...

Could Engineered Carbon Removal Solve the Climate Crisis?

An IIASA-led study has investigated fairness and feasibility in global warming mitigation pathways, including novel carbon dioxide removal technologies like Direct Air Capture with Carbon Capture and Storage (DACCS). While the study found that these technologies can keep pre-Paris climate targets within reach, it emphasizes that significant improvement in institutional capacity, emissions reduction, and comprehensive global efforts are essential for meeting the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement.

... The authors further point out that, when accounting for the possible future evolution of novel CDR technologies combined with inherent risks, the ‘fairness’ of overall outcomes did not meaningfully improve. DACCS did not impact the near-term required global mitigation ambition, and additional carbon removal in developed economies accounted for only a small component of the mitigation necessary to achieve stringent climate targets. This is because the removal of carbon dioxide in these areas does not compensate sufficiently for their historical emissions by mid-century.

The inability of DACCS to enhance the fairness of outcomes, like cumulative carbon emissions, in 1.5°C scenarios, emphasizes the notion that meeting global climate targets is a global effort requiring an ‘all-of-the-above’ mitigation strategy. There is no room for flexibility when it comes to reaching climate goals.

https://scitechdaily.com/could-engineered-carbon-removal-solve-the-climate-crisis/?expand_article=1

Jumping back to space ... Hubble tries to compete with Webb ...

A planet’s atmosphere is blasted away by a star and Hubble captures it

The Hubble Space Telescope captured an unexpected observation of a nearby planet that’s having its atmosphere blasted away by energetic outbursts from its star. It’s a dramatic change from the last time Hubble checked up on the planetary system and saw nothing amiss.

The red dwarf star, called AU Microscopii, or AU Mic, is located outside of our solar system 32 light-years from Earth, which is relatively close (astronomically speaking). It’s home to one of the youngest planetary systems ever observed, and the star is less than 100 million years old, a mere fraction of the age of our 4.6-billion-year-old sun. ... When the Hubble Space Telescope observed one orbit of the exoplanet, which takes 8.46 days, everything seemed normal. Then, the telescope revisited the system for another look a year and a half later. Astronomers were surprised to see that AU Mic b, the closest planet to the star, is bearing the brunt of the star’s radiation, which is evaporating the planet’s hydrogen atmosphere. There are at least two known exoplanets in the system, and more may await discovery. ...

https://us.cnn.com/2023/07/31/world/...scn/index.html

And Euclid revs up to join the club ...

Euclid telescope, sent to illuminate the universe’s biggest mysteries, shares first test photos

The Euclid space telescope, designed to investigate some of the universe’s biggest mysteries, has captured its first glimpses of the cosmos. The spacecraft’s two instruments took the preliminary test images, revealing scintillating starry views that prove everything onboard is in tip-top shape. ... The telescope’s visible instrument, or VIS, will take images of billions of galaxies, something hinted at in one of the initial test images. Euclid’s wide perspective can record data from a part of the sky more than 100 times bigger than what Webb’s camera can capture. The telescope’s image quality will be at least four times sharper than those of ground-based sky surveys. ... Meanwhile, the Near-Infrared Spectrometer and Photometer instrument, or NISP, will capture images of galaxies in infrared light and measurements that map the distance of each galaxy. ...

... Euclid’s primary goal is to observe the cosmic mysteries of the universe, including dark matter and dark energy. ...

... Euclid is designed to create the largest and most accurate three-dimensional map of the universe. The mission will observe billions of galaxies that stretch 10 billion light-years away to reveal how matter may have been stretched and pulled apart by dark energy over time. These observations will effectively allow Euclid to see how the universe has evolved over the past 10 billion years. ...

https://us.cnn.com/2023/08/01/world/euclid-telescope-first-test-images-scn/index.html

A flare for the dramatic ...

Cosmic Mystery Solved? The Stellar Flare a Trillion Times More Powerful Than the Sun’s

The mystery of a stellar flare a trillion times more powerful than the largest of Solar flares may have been solved by a team of scientists who believe a massive young planet is burning up in a superheated soup of raw material swirling around it.

Led by the University of Leicester and funded by the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the scientists have suggested that a planet roughly ten times larger in size than Jupiter is undergoing ‘extreme evaporation’ near to the growing star, with the inferno tearing material off the planet and flinging it onto the star. ...

https://scitechdaily.com/cosmic-myst...pand_article=1

Now, getting really really small ...

Unprecedented Precision: Physicists Measure the Wave-Like Vibration of Atomic Nuclei

Utilizing ultra-high-precision laser spectroscopy on a simple molecule, a team of physicists headed by Professor Stephan Schiller Ph.D. of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) measured the wave-like vibration of atomic nuclei with an unprecedented level of precision. ... To achieve this, the physicists in Düsseldorf confine a moderate number of around 100 MHI in an ion trap in an ultra-high vacuum container, using laser cooling techniques to cool the ions down to a temperature of 1 millikelvin. This enables extremely precise measurement of the molecular spectra of rotational and vibrational transitions. Following earlier investigations of spectral lines with wavelengths of 230 μm and 5.1 μm, the authors now present measurements for a spectral line with the significantly shorter wavelength of 1.1 μm in Nature Physics. ... https://scitechdaily.com/unprecedent...pand_article=1

GPT-3 (let alone GPT-4) seems about as smart and reasonable as my 20 year old, frankly ... and argues with me less ...

Mimicking Minds: UCLA Finds AI Language Model GPT-3 Can Reason About As Well as a College Student

UCLA researchers have shown that AI model GPT-3 can solve reasoning problems at a level comparable to college students. ... the sort of reasoning problems that typically appear on intelligence tests and standardized tests such as the SAT. ...

... [BUT] ... “No matter how impressive our results, it’s important to emphasize that this system has major limitations,” said Taylor Webb, a UCLA postdoctoral researcher in psychology and the study’s first author. “It can do analogical reasoning, but it can’t do things that are very easy for people, such as using tools to solve a physical task. When we gave it those sorts of problems — some of which children can solve quickly — the things it suggested were nonsensical.”

https://scitechdaily.com/mimicking-m...llege-student/

I have no idea what this is, and would need a quantum computer to explain it to me, but sounds good ...

The Dawn of a New Era: A New Type of Quantum Bit Achieved in Semiconductor Nanostructures

A German-Chinese research team has successfully created a quantum bit in a semiconductor nanostructure. Using a special energy transition, the researchers created a superposition state in a quantum dot – a tiny area of the semiconductor – in which an electron hole simultaneously possessed two different energy levels. Such superposition states are fundamental for quantum computing.

Previously, the induction of such a state necessitated a large-scale, free-electron laser capable of emitting light in the terahertz range. Unfortunately, this wavelength was too long to accurately focus the beam on the quantum dot. This team, however, achieved the excitation with two carefully calibrated, short-wavelength optical laser pulses.

https://scitechdaily.com/the-dawn-of...anostructures/

Let the AI have a vote!

How a California vote on self-driving taxis could alter the future of AI

A California state board is set to vote Aug. 10 on whether to allow tech companies Waymo and Cruise to launch a massive expansion of driverless taxi fleets in San Francisco, but the stakes are far bigger than local politics.

The scheduled vote by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is shaping up as a referendum on an array of issues related to technology, including the politics of artificial intelligence and the human workforce affected by the technology’s rapid development.

If the commission agrees, hundreds of self-driving taxis could soon be available for hire by the general public, all day every day.

Tech executives, labor unions, transit advocates, city officials and robotaxi customers are all engaged in furious last-minute lobbying to try to sway the board’s five appointed members — setting the stage for what promises to be a state-by-state battle over self-driving cars and trucks.

... Some opponents have even employed a guerrilla street tactic: they have planted traffic cones on the vehicles’ hoods to confuse the software and disable them.

The clash is in many ways a microcosm of all the thorny questions that AI is raising across the economy, including, How quickly will change occur? And what will happen to workers whose jobs are lost to robots? ...

... Self-driving cars tend to be ultra-cautious, obeying the speed limit and stopping at stop signs — so much so that some human drivers don’t like sharing the streets with them.

“The only thing you can complain about with a Waymo is that it drives like a nerd,” Edwards said, meaning that robotaxis follow rules when human drivers might cut corners.

The arguments for and against robotaxis break down along complicated lines. Proponents point to potential safety benefits and the ease of getting around without driving, including for some disabled people. Opponents argue the technology is unproven and makes too many errors, such as stopping at awkward times and blocking city buses or emergency vehicles. ...

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovat...cpuc-rcna97540

Is this guy right?

How AI Will DISRUPT The Entire World In 3 Years (Prepare Now While Others Panic) | Emad Mostaque

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se91Pn3xxSs

We lost our baby ... but we got her back ...

NASA restores contact with Voyager 2 spacecraft after mistake led to weeks of silence

Voyager 2 has been hurtling through space since its launch in 1977 to explore the outer solar system.

NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft was back chatting it up Friday after flight controllers corrected a mistake that had led to weeks of silence.

Hurtling ever deeper into interstellar space billions of miles away, Voyager 2 stopped communicating two weeks ago. Controllers sent the wrong command to the 46-year-old spacecraft and tilted its antenna away from Earth.

On Wednesday, NASA’s Deep Space Network sent a new command in hopes of repointing the antenna, using the highest powered transmitter at the huge radio dish antenna in Australia. Voyager 2’s antenna needed to be shifted a mere 2 degrees. ... Voyager 2 has been hurtling through space since its launch in 1977 to explore the outer solar system. Launched two weeks later, its twin, Voyager 1, is now the most distant spacecraft — 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) away — and still in contact. ...

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/spac...ence-rcna98281

Gassho, J

stlah

[Tokan]

As always, wonderful news stories, especially love the images from the JWT, just incredible!

Gassho, Tokan

satlah

[Jundo]

"Gravity Hole" would be a great name for a punk band ...

There is a ‘gravity hole’ in the Indian Ocean, and scientists now think they know why


There is a “gravity hole” in the Indian Ocean — a spot where Earth’s gravitational pull is weaker, its mass is lower than normal, and the sea level dips by over 328 feet (100 meters).

This anomaly has puzzled geologists for a long time, but now researchers from the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, India, have found what they believe is a credible explanation for its formation: plumes of magma coming from deep inside the planet, much like those that lead to the creation of volcanoes.

To come to this hypothesis, the team used supercomputers to simulate how the area could have formed, going as far back as 140 million years. The findings, detailed in a study published recently in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, center around an ancient ocean that no longer exists.

... Our planet is not homogeneous in its density and its properties, with some areas being more dense than others — that affects Earth’s surface and its gravity, Ghosh added. “If you pour water on the surface of the Earth, the level that the water takes is called a geoid — and that is controlled by these density differences in the material inside the planet, because they attract the surface in very different ways depending on how much mass there is underneath,” she said.

The “gravity hole” in the Indian Ocean — officially called the Indian Ocean geoid low — is the lowest point in that geoid and its biggest gravitational anomaly, forming a circular depression that starts just off India’s southern tip and covers about 1.2 million square miles (3 million square kilometers). The anomaly was discovered by Dutch geophysicist Felix Andries Vening Meinesz in 1948, during a gravity survey from a ship, and has remained a mystery.

... “India was in a very different place 140 million years ago, and there was an ocean between the Indian plate and Asia. India started moving north and as it did, the ocean disappeared and the gap with Asia closed,” she explained. As the oceanic plate went down inside the mantle, it could have spurred the formation of the plumes, bringing low-density material closer to Earth’s surface. ...

[But if you read the article, some geologists disagree with the study ... ]

https://us.cnn.com/2023/07/24/world/gravity-hole-geoid-low-indian-ocean-scn/index.html

A predicted planetary change within the coming decades which threatens all human beings ... we must change [INCLUDING BIOLOGICALLY and thus socially] our human drives to consume to excess, as well as our dependence on greenhouse gases ...

A crucial system of ocean currents is heading for a collapse that ‘would affect every person on the planet’

A vital system of ocean currents could collapse within a few decades if the world continues to pump out planet-heating pollution, scientists are warning – an event that would be catastrophic for global weather and “affect every person on the planet.” A new study published Tuesday in the journal Nature, found that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current – of which the Gulf Stream is a part – could collapse around the middle of the century, or even as early as 2025.

Scientists uninvolved with this study told CNN the exact tipping point for the critical system is uncertain, and that measurements of the currents have so far showed little trend or change. But they agreed these results are alarming and provide new evidence that the tipping point could occur sooner than previously thought.

The AMOC is a complex tangle of currents that works like a giant global conveyor belt. It transports warm water from the tropics toward the North Atlantic, where the water cools, becomes saltier and sinks deep into the ocean, before spreading southwards.

It plays a crucial role in the climate system, helping regulate global weather patterns. Its collapse would have enormous implications, including much more extreme winters and sea level rises affecting parts of Europe and the US, and a shifting of the monsoon in the tropics.For years, scientists have been warning of its instability as the climate crisis accelerates, threatening to upset the balance of temperature and salinity on which the strength of these currents depend.

As the oceans heat up and ice melts, more freshwater flows into the ocean and reduces the water’s density, making it less able to sink. When waters become too fresh, too warm or both, the conveyor belt stops.

It has happened before. More than 12,000 years ago, rapid glacier melt caused the AMOC to shut down, leading to huge Northern Hemisphere temperature fluctuations of 10 to 15 degrees Celsius (18 to 27 Fahrenheit) within a decade.

... They found “early warning signals” of critical changes in the AMOC, which led them to predict “with high confidence” that it could shut down or collapse as early as 2025 and no later than 2095. The likeliest point of collapse is somewhere between 2039 and 2070, Ditlevsen said.

“It’s really scary,” he told CNN. “This is not something you would lightly put into papers,” he said, adding, “we’re very confident that this is a robust result.” ...

https://us.cnn.com/2023/07/25/world/...ntl/index.html

Now, carbon dioxide may do harm on our planet but, long ago, carbon dioxide also had a good side, maybe helping to get life started ...

Meteoritic and Volcanic Particles May Have Promoted Origin of Life Reactions 4.4 Billion Years Ago

Chemical reactions driven by iron-laden particles from meteorites or volcanic outbursts might have led to the formation of molecules needed for the origin of life on Earth about 4.4 billion years ago, according to a study recently published in Scientific Reports.

Earlier studies have proposed that organic molecule precursors like hydrocarbons, aldehydes, and alcohols might have arrived on Earth through asteroids and comets, or been synthesized through reactions within the young Earth’s atmosphere and oceans. Such reactions might have been facilitated by energy from sources like lightning, volcanic activity, or impacts. Nonetheless, due to insufficient data, the primary mechanism responsible for creating these precursors remains unclear. ... Meteors or volcanic ash’s iron-rich particles may have facilitated the transformation of atmospheric CO2 into life’s essential molecules around 4.4 billion years ago, suggests a study. These early reactions could have birthed compounds critical for life.

Chemical reactions driven by iron-laden particles from meteorites or volcanic outbursts might have led to the formation of molecules needed for the origin of life on Earth about 4.4 billion years ago, according to a study recently published in Scientific Reports.

Earlier studies have proposed that organic molecule precursors like hydrocarbons, aldehydes, and alcohols might have arrived on Earth through asteroids and comets, or been synthesized through reactions within the young Earth’s atmosphere and oceans. Such reactions might have been facilitated by energy from sources like lightning, volcanic activity, or impacts. Nonetheless, due to insufficient data, the primary mechanism responsible for creating these precursors remains unclear.


Oliver Trapp and colleagues investigated whether meteorite or ash particles deposited on volcanic islands could have promoted the conversion of atmospheric carbon dioxide to the precursors of organic molecules on the early Earth ... The authors suggest that as the early Earth’s atmosphere cooled over time, the production of alcohols and aldehydes may have increased. These compounds may then have participated in further reactions that could have led to the formation of carbohydrates, lipids, sugars, amino acids, DNA, and RNA. By calculating the rate of the reactions they observed and using data from previous research on the conditions of the early Earth, the authors estimate that their proposed mechanism could have synthesized up to 600,000 tonnes of organic precursors per year across the early Earth.

https://scitechdaily.com/meteoritic-and-volcanic-particles-may-have-promoted-origin-of-life-reactions-4-4-billion-years-ago/

Heading out to space ... water is also crucial to life as we know it ...

Webb telescope spots water in a nearby planetary system

Astronomers have detected water vapor swirling close to a nearby star — indicating that the planets forming around it might someday be able to support life.

The young planetary system, known as PDS 70, is 370 light-years away. The star at its center is about 5.4 million years old and cooler than our sun. ... The Webb telescope’s Mid-Infrared Instrument detected the signature of water vapor in the inner disk, less than 100 million miles (160 million kilometers) from the star. Astronomers believe that inner disk is where small, rocky planets similar to those in our solar system could form if PDS 70 is anything like our solar system. In our system, Earth orbits at a distance of 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) from the sun.

A study detailing the findings published Monday in the journal Nature.

“We’ve seen water in other disks, but not so close in and in a system where planets are currently assembling. We couldn’t make this type of measurement before Webb ...”

https://us.cnn.com/2023/07/27/world/webb-telescope-water-planetary-system-scn/index.html

... a two-faced star like the Roman God Janus ...

tsuku.jpg

Astronomers discover never-before-seen two-faced star

Astronomers have made a first-of-its-kind discovery — a white dwarf star with two completely different faces.

White dwarfs are burnt remains of dead stars. Our sun will become a white dwarf in about 5 billion years after it swells into a red giant star, blows out its outer material and, with only the core left, shrinks back into a blinding white-hot remnant.

The newly discovered white dwarf has two sides, one made of hydrogen and the other made of helium. Researchers have nicknamed the star Janus, for the Roman god of transition, which has two faces. A study detailing the findings was published July 19 in the journal Nature.

“The surface of the white dwarf completely changes from one side to the other,” said lead study author Ilaria Caiazzo, a postdoctoral scholar research associate in astronomy at the California Institute of Technology, in a statement. “When I show the observations to people, they are blown away.” ...

... Follow-up observations were conducted by Caiazzo and her team using Palomar’s CHIMERA instrument, the HiPERCAM located on the Gran Telescopio Canarias in Spain’s Canary Islands and W.M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea in Hawaii. The three observatories showed that Janus was rotating on its axis every 15 minutes — and showcased the star’s double-faced nature and composition. Astronomers used a spectrometer to separate the light of the white dwarf into different wavelengths, which revealed the chemical signature of hydrogen on one side and helium on the other.

... The researchers aren’t quite sure why the star has two completely different sides. It’s possible that Janus is experiencing a rare form of evolution.

“Not all, but some white dwarfs transition from being hydrogen- to helium-dominated on their surface,” Caiazzo said. “We might have possibly caught one such white dwarf in the act.”

As the white dwarf cools over time, the heavier and lighter materials may mix together. During this transition, it’s possible for hydrogen to become diluted within the interior, allowing helium to become the dominant element.

If this is occurring on Janus, one side of the star is evolving before the other side.

https://us.cnn.com/2023/07/24/world/...scn/index.html

Also from Webb ...

Colorful new stars shine in latest Webb telescope image

A pair of rambunctious young stars takes center stage in a new near-infrared image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope.

The two stars, which are still actively forming and closely orbiting one another, are called Herbig-Haro 46/47 and can be found 1,470 light-years away in the Vela constellation.

Although the stellar duo has been studied and observed by many space and ground-based telescopes since the 1950s, Webb has taken the most detailed and highest-resolution image in near-infrared light. ... The stellar pair can be seen as the orange-white center at the intersection of the red and pink spikes in the image, located deep within an invisible disk of gas and dust that feeds star formation. The only hint of the existence of this disk is in the two darker cone-shaped regions around the stars.

Two orange regions that span out from the stars represent material released by Herbig-Haro 46/47 as they go through a continuous cycle of pulling in and ejecting gas and dust across millennia. ...

[ATTACH=CONFIG]8600[/ATTACH]

https://us.cnn.com/2023/07/26/world/...scn/index.html

Space robots ...

Space Station ... Astrobee Free-Flying Robots Powered On

On the International Space Station ... Sultan Alneyadi, the Flight Engineer from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), began his day by powering on Astrobee, the station’s free-flying robots. Later, NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg engaged in a Zero Robotics dry run with Astrobee, located in the Japanese Experiment Module. Assisting ground teams with multiple software test runs, he helped verify various aspects and programming for the Zero Robotics student competition. This competition offers students the unique opportunity to write software controlling one of the three Astrobee robots, thereby inspiring future explorers, scientists, and engineers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk-1j3sXTqA

In the future of medical science ... more robots ... with precision hands ...

Tiny Surgical Robots With Magnetic Tentacles Could Transform the Treatment of Cancers

A tiny robot that can travel deep into the lungs to detect and treat the first signs of cancer has been developed by researchers at the University of Leeds. The ultra-soft tentacle, which measures just 2 millimeters in diameter and is controlled by magnets, can reach some of the smallest bronchial tubes and could transform the treatment of lung cancer. ... As well as improving navigation within the lungs during biopsies, the magnetic tentacle robot could pave the way for far less invasive treatment, allowing clinicians to target only malicious cells while allowing healthy tissue and organs to continue normal function.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-NE81xAdkY&t=22s

https://scitechdaily.com/tiny-surgical-robots-with-magnetic-tentacles-could-transform-the-treatment-of-cancers/

Even our body ink could keep us healthy! ...

Researchers are developing injectable ‘smart tattoos’ that could someday monitor your health

... Now some researchers believe the next generation of tattoos will be about more than just markings – by helping keep tabs on our health.

Creating “smart tattoo” pigments that can be injected under the skin to monitor certain biomarkers in the human body requires a collaboration between “scientists, engineers and designers,” says Dr. Ali Yetisen, a researcher in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London.

His concept replaces conventional tattoo ink with “functional materials,” Yetisen says, creating “tattoos that change their color in response to external stimuli,” such as a change in blood sugar levels for people with diabetes, monitoring kidney or liver functions, or warning athletes of dehydration. ...



https://us.cnn.com/2023/07/26/world/...ntl/index.html

Finally, next trip to Tokyo, I know where I am having lunch! ... good for the environment, arguably not eating "sentient beings" ...

Tokyo’s insect restaurant brings water bug cider to the table

On a recent vacation in Tokyo, Takumi Yamamoto opted for a special lunch of cricket curry and silkworm sashimi, washed down with a water bug cider.

The 26-year-old office worker, from the western prefecture of Hyogo, is one of scores of consumers across the world who have taken an interest in entomophagy, or eating insects, as bugs slowly become a more viable food source.

As a child, Yamamoto said he sometimes snacked on soy-sauce basted grasshoppers. In Tokyo, he indulged in insect cuisine at Take-Noko cafe, which embraces all things buggy.

“It’s fun to select from a wider variety of dishes,” Yamamoto said at the cozy second-floor cafe, surrounded by insect art and terrariums of skittering beetles, ants and cockroaches.

“Everything was tasty. In particular, the water bug cider was quite refreshing and delicious, like a green apple.”

... Japan has a rich culinary history of insects as food.

Grasshoppers, silkworms, and wasps were traditionally eaten in land-locked regions where meat and fish are scarce, a practice that picked up amid food shortages during and after World War II, said Take-Noko manager Michiko Miura.

“Recently, there have been advances in rearing things like crickets and mealworms for food, so the possibility of using insects as ingredients is really growing,” she added.

Several companies, including national bakery brand Pasco, have sold made cakes and snacks from cricket flour, and processed food maker Nichirei and telecom Nippon Telegraph and Telephone have invested in bug ventures in the past year. ...

... The term “crickets” also started to trend in Japanese media recently after reports the powdered insects were being used in school lunches and snacks.

Consumer interest has also extended to Take-Noko, which manager Miura says is often fully booked on weekends.

Its curry is studded crickets in meatball form and dried garnish. The delicate “sashimi” is the left-over casing of silkworms, and the cider is infused with water bug extract and topped with a whole insect, said to taste like shrimp. ...

https://us.cnn.com/travel/japan-food-insects-intl-hnk/index.html

Gassho, J

stlah

[Jundo]

Get your head around this, mindbending ...

Century-Old Paradigm Overturned – Brain Shape Matters More Than Neural Connectivity

Researchers have discovered that the shape of a person’s brain significantly impacts thought, feeling, and behavior, overturning the prevailing emphasis on complex neuronal connectivity. Utilizing MRI scans and the principle of eigenmodes, they found that brain function is closely linked to its geometric properties, much like how the shape of a musical instrument determines its sound, offering new avenues for exploring brain function and disease. ... The study, recently published in the prestigious journal, Nature draws together approaches from physics, neuroscience, and psychology to overturn the century-old paradigm ...

... “We have long thought that specific thoughts or sensations elicit activity in specific parts of the brain, but this study reveals that structured patterns of activity are excited across nearly the entire brain, just like the way in which a musical note arises from vibrations occurring along the entire length of a violin string, and not just an isolated segment,” he said.

The research team used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study eigenmodes, which are the natural patterns of vibration or excitation in a system, where different parts of the system are all excited at the same frequency. Eigenmodes are normally used to study physical systems in areas such as physics and engineering and have only recently been adapted to study the brain. “Just as the resonant frequencies of a violin string are determined by its length, density, and tension, the eigenmodes of the brain are determined by its structural––physical, geometric and anatomical––properties, but which specific properties are most important has remained a mystery,” said co-lead author, Dr Kevin Aquino, of BrainKey and The University of Sydney. ... “This result counters conventional wisdom, in which activity during different tasks is often assumed to occur in focal, isolated areas of elevated activity, and tells us that traditional approaches to brain mapping may only show the tip of the iceberg when it comes to understanding how the brain works,” Dr. Pang said.

https://scitechdaily.com/century-old-paradigm-overturned-brain-shape-matters-more-than-neural-connectivity/

And this is also mindbending ... the universe might be twice as old as we thought ...

Cosmic Paradigm Shift: New Research Doubles Universe’s Age to 26.7 Billion Years

... “Our newly-devised model stretches the galaxy formation time by several billion years, making the universe 26.7 billion years old, and not 13.7 as previously estimated,” says author Rajendra Gupta, adjunct professor of physics in the Faculty of Science at the University of Ottawa. For years, astronomers and physicists have calculated the age of our universe by measuring the time elapsed since the Big Bang and by studying the oldest stars based on the redshift of light coming from distant galaxies. In 2021, thanks to new techniques and advances in technology, the age of our universe was thus estimated at 13.797 billion years using the Lambda-CDM concordance model.

However, many scientists have been puzzled by the existence of stars like the Methuselah that appear to be older than the estimated age of our universe and by the discovery of early galaxies in an advanced state of evolution made possible by the James Webb Space Telescope. These galaxies, existing a mere 300 million years or so after the Big Bang, appear to have a level of maturity and mass typically associated with billions of years of cosmic evolution. Furthermore, they’re surprisingly small in size, adding another layer of mystery to the equation.

Zwicky’s tired light theory proposes that the redshift of light from distant galaxies is due to the gradual loss of energy by photons over vast cosmic distances. However, it was seen to conflict with observations. Yet Gupta found that “by allowing this theory to coexist with the expanding universe, it becomes possible to reinterpret the redshift as a hybrid phenomenon, rather than purely due to expansion.”

In addition to Zwicky’s tired light theory, Gupta introduces the idea of evolving “coupling constants,” as hypothesized by Paul Dirac. Coupling constants are fundamental physical constants that govern the interactions between particles. According to Dirac, these constants might have varied over time. By allowing them to evolve, the timeframe for the formation of early galaxies observed by the Webb telescope at high redshifts can be extended from a few hundred million years to several billion years. This provides a more feasible explanation for the advanced level of development and mass observed in these ancient galaxies.

Moreover, Gupta suggests that the traditional interpretation of the “cosmological constant,” which represents dark energy responsible for the accelerating expansion of the universe, needs revision. Instead, he proposes a constant that accounts for the evolution of the coupling constants. This modification in the cosmological model helps address the puzzle of small galaxy sizes observed in the early universe, allowing for more accurate observations.

https://scitechdaily.com/cosmic-para...billion-years/

But we might get younger ... a true "fountain of youth" ...

Age Reversal Breakthrough: Harvard/MIT Discovery Could Enable Whole-Body Rejuvenation

Scientists from Harvard Medical School, the University of Maine, and MIT have published a groundbreaking study revealing a chemical method to reprogram cells to a more youthful state. This technique offers a potential alternative to gene therapy for reversing aging. The implications of this research are vast, with potential applications in regenerative medicine, treatment of age-related diseases, and whole-body rejuvenation. ... This work, undertaken by scientists at Harvard Medical School, introduces the first chemical method to rejuvenate cells, bringing them to a more youthful state. Prior to this, only powerful gene therapy could achieve this feat. ...

... The Harvard team has previously shown the possibility of reversing cellular aging without causing unregulated cell growth. This was done by inserting specific Yamanaka genes into cells using a viral vector. Studies on various tissues and organs like the optic nerve, brain, kidney, and muscle have yielded encouraging results, including improved vision and extended lifespan in mice. Additionally, recent reports have documented improved vision in monkeys.

These findings have profound implications, paving the way for regenerative medicine and potentially full-body rejuvenation. By establishing a chemical alternative to gene therapy for age reversal, this research could potentially transform the treatment of aging, injuries, and age-related diseases. The approach also suggests the possibility of lower development costs and shorter timelines. Following successful results in reversing blindness in monkeys in April 2023, plans for human clinical trials using the lab’s age reversal gene therapy are currently underway.

... The team at Harvard envisions a future where age-related diseases can be effectively treated, injuries can be repaired more efficiently, and the dream of whole-body rejuvenation becomes a reality. “This new discovery offers the potential to reverse aging with a single pill, with applications ranging from improving eyesight to effectively treating numerous age-related diseases,” Sinclair said. ...

https://scitechdaily.com/age-reversal-breakthrough-harvard-mit-discovery-could-enable-whole-body-rejuvenation/

Some discoveries about our senses ...

Taste Detection Unmasked: The Eight-Armed Octopus Pore in Our Neurons

... The human body’s neurons are speckled with tiny pores that enable the passage of essential molecules into and out of our cells. These channels are vital for neurons to transmit signals that facilitate our movement, cognition, and perception of the world. Recently, structural biologists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have acquired unprecedented images of one of the most sizable pores present in human neurons, known as the Calcium Homeostasis Modulator Protein 1, or CALHM1. ... In our tongues, CALHM1 contributes to our perception of tastes like sweet, sour, or umami. In our brains, it may play a part in regulating the accumulation of a plaque-forming protein linked to Alzheimer’s. ... These images illustrate how eight copies of the CALHM1 protein come together to form the circular channel. Each protein features a flexible appendage that extends into the pore, potentially managing its opening and closing, a characteristic that Syrjänen equates to “octopus tentacles.” ... The researchers also discovered that fatty molecules, phospholipids, are crucial for stabilizing and controlling this eight-part channel. These important fats are abundant in eggs, cereal, lean meats, and seafood. ...

Cryo-electron microscopy reveals that the human CALHM1 channel has an eight-protein assembly pattern, similar to that found in chickens. Note the number of colored arm-like structures above. The dot at the center of the image is ruthenium red, a chemical researchers use to block off the channel.

https://scitechdaily.com/taste-detection-unmasked-the-eight-armed-octopus-pore-in-our-neurons/

Don't believe your own eyes ...

Debunking the Illusion: It’s All About the Eyes, Not the Mind

Research from the University of Exeter indicates that visual illusions result from our eyes and brain’s neural limitations rather than complex mental processes. The study’s model successfully predicts human visual illusions and explains our ability to perceive high-contrast images, like those on high-definition TVs, despite our neurons’ limited bandwidth. ... Scientists and philosophers have long debated whether these illusions are caused by neural processing in the eye and low-level visual centers in the brain, or involve higher-level mental processes such as context and prior knowledge. ... In the new study Dr. Jolyon Troscianko, from the University of Exeter, co-developed a model that suggests simple limits to neural responses – not deeper psychological processes – explain these illusions. “Our eyes send messages to the brain by making neurons fire faster or slower,” said Dr. Troscianko, from the Centre for Ecology and Conservation on Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall. “However, there’s a limit to how quickly they can fire, and previous research hasn’t considered how the limit might affect the ways we see color.”

... “This throws into the air a lot of long-held assumptions about how visual illusions work,” Dr. Troscianko said. He said the findings also shed light on the popularity of high-definition televisions. “Modern high dynamic range televisions create bright white regions that are over 10,000 times brighter than their darkest black, approaching the contrast levels of natural scenes,” Dr. Troscianko added. “How our eyes and brains can handle this contrast is a puzzle because tests show that the highest contrasts we humans can see at a single spatial scale is around 200:1.“Even more confusingly, the neurons connecting our eyes to our brains can only handle contrasts of about 10:1. “Our model shows how neurons with such limited contrast bandwidth can combine their signals to allow us to see these enormous contrasts, but the information is ‘compressed’ – resulting in visual illusions.

“The model shows how our neurons are precisely evolved to use of every bit of capacity.

“For example, some neurons are sensitive to very tiny differences in grey levels at medium-sized scales, but are easily overwhelmed by high contrasts.

“Meanwhile, neurons coding for contrasts at larger or smaller scales are much less sensitive, but can work over a much wider range of contrasts, giving deep black-and-white differences. ...

The bar in the middle of this figure is all one grey level, but it appears lighter on the left and darker on the right due to the gradient in the background. This is called simultaneous contrast, where dark surrounds make targets appear lighter, and vice-versa.


The two grey bars in the middle of this figure are the same grey, but the one on the left (surrounded by more black bars) appears darker. This is the opposite of the simultaneous contrast example above, because darker surroundings now make the target look darker.

https://scitechdaily.com/debunking-t...-not-the-mind/

When our standard senses need supplementing ...

Vibrating haptic suits give deaf people a new way to feel live music

... they worked with engineers at the electronic components company Avnet to develop a light haptic suit with a total of 24 actuators, or vibrating plates. There's 20 of them studded on a vest that fits tightly around the body like a hiking backpack, plus an actuator that straps onto each wrist and ankle. When you wear the suit, it's surprising how much texture the sensations have. It can feel like raindrops on your shoulders, a tickle across the ribs, a thump against the lower back.

It doesn't replicate the music — it's not as simple as regular taps to the beat. It plays waves of sensation on your skin in a way that's complementary to the music. ...

https://www.npr.org/2023/07/17/11861...eel-live-music

Plus possible uses to enable touch at a distance ...

https://youtu.be/rHl969qJS5c

Using our eyes and other extended senses by instruments to detect possible ...

Life on Mars? NASA’s Perseverance Rover Finds Evidence of Diverse Organic Compounds

... Scientists have long been fueled by the possibility of finding organic carbon on Mars, and while previous missions provided valuable insights, the latest research introduces a new line of evidence that adds to our understanding of Mars. The findings indicate the presence of a more intricate organic geochemical cycle on Mars than previously understood, suggesting the existence of several distinct reservoirs of potential organic compounds.

Notably, the study detected signals consistent with molecules linked to aqueous processes, indicating that water may have played a key role in the diverse range of organic matter on Mars. The key building blocks necessary for life may have persisted on Mars for a far more extended period than previously thought. ...

https://scitechdaily.com/life-on-mar...nic-compounds/

Sprinkled stardust ... blowing on the cosmic wind ... and now part of you ...

Researchers discover stardust sprinkled on a nearby asteroid

Scientists have made a surprising discovery in a sample returned from an asteroid: Embedded in its rocks are grains of stardust.

The dust, which came from distant stars and drifted through space for millions or billions of years, could provide clues about how the solar system formed, according to Ann Nguyen, a cosmochemist at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. ... Stars forged nearly all of the elements of the Universe. Many of the atoms that make up our bodies were themselves made inside of the core of a star somewhere else. That's because the high pressures and temperatures can fuse lightweight atomic nuclei into heavier elements. Think of these little grains as cosmic dust motes. Sometimes the star that formed these grains would explode, blowing them across the galaxy like dandelion seeds. Other times they would drift away on their own — traveling on the stellar wind into deep space. ...

"Probably a lot of them do get destroyed," Nguyen says, "but some of them survive and they make it to our region of the universe where our solar system formed."

The stardust swirled and clumped and eventually became part of the sun, and the planets, and even us. That idea led the astronomer Carl Sagan to famously remark that "We're made of star-stuff."

... Nguyen says the grains look different than the material from our own solar system, because different stars leave different nuclear signatures in the atoms.

"It kind of lights up like a Christmas tree light," she says. "Their isotopic signatures are just so different than the material that formed in our solar system or got homogenized in the solar system."

Nguyen says that the stardust grains provide some clues about the types of stars that contributed to our solar system. It also shows that exploding stars, or supernovae, probably contributed more of the dust than researchers had previously believed.

But above all, she says, these tiny grains are a reminder of the way in which we fit into the vast cosmos.

"It just shows us how rich our Universe is," she says. "These materials all played a part in our life here on Earth."

https://www.npr.org/2023/07/14/11878...nkled-asteroid

And more blowing in the winds of space ...

The Ultra-Fast Space Winds That Shape the Evolution of Galaxies

... They are the ultra-fast outflows: space winds that emerge from the surroundings of supermassive black holes and blow at speeds close to that of light. An international research team has explored this still little-understood phenomenon, hunting for these gas emissions, which are crucial to understanding the mechanisms regulating the behaviour of supermassive black holes in their active phase. ... The investigation showed that in about 30% of the active galactic nuclei analyzed, there are space winds traveling at speeds between 10% and 30% of the speed of light. ... “And we were able to confirm that the intensity of these gas flows is sufficient to significantly change the ecosystem of their galaxies.”

Between a supermassive black hole and the galaxy that surrounds it, there is in fact a close relationship that reciprocally influences their formation and evolution. The mechanisms driving this reciprocal relationship are still poorly understood, but among the key ingredients may be the ultra-fast winds emitted by active galactic nuclei. These powerful emissions arise when part of the gas in the accretion disk is ejected outwards, thus transferring some of the matter and energy produced to interstellar space, a mechanism that has important implications for regulating the process of star formation.

https://scitechdaily.com/ufos-the-ul...n-of-galaxies/

Are there "Dark Stars" ?? .

Powered by Dark Matter: Webb Space Telescope Catches Glimpse of Possible First-Ever “Dark Stars”

A team of astrophysicists has discovered three potential “dark stars” using the James Webb Space Telescope. These theoretical bodies, thought to be powered by dark matter particles, are much larger and brighter than our sun. If confirmed, they could significantly illuminate our understanding of dark matter, one of the most significant unresolved issues in physics. Furthermore, their existence could reconcile the discrepancy between the current standard cosmology model and the observation of large galaxies early in the universe.

https://youtu.be/IjX4xYLJ-1s

And Dark Matter aside ... Dark Energy ...

On the Trail of a Mysterious Force in Space – Scientists Shed New Light on Dark Energy

Using advanced space telescopes and data sets, researchers concluded that dark energy, representing about 76% of the universe’s energy density, is evenly spread throughout space and remains constant over time. ...

... The anti-gravity possibly caused by dark energy pushes objects away from each other and suppresses the formation of large cosmic objects that would otherwise form due to the attractive force of gravity. As such, dark energy affects where and how the largest objects in the universe form – namely, galaxy clusters with total masses ranging from 10^13 to 10^15 solar masses. ...

https://scitechdaily.com/on-the-trai...pand_article=1

Webb also found this ...

Webb Space Telescope Detects Universe’s Oldest Active Supermassive Black Hole

Researchers, using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), have identified the farthest active supermassive black hole ever recorded. Located in galaxy CEERS 1019, this black hole was active about 570 million years following the Big Bang and is unique in that it is smaller than any other discovered from this early epoch of the universe. ... The presence of this relatively small black hole so early in the universe’s timeline poses interesting questions about how it formed so rapidly after the universe’s inception. It has been a longstanding belief among researchers that smaller black holes would have existed in the early universe, but solid evidence was not available until JWST began its observations.

https://scitechdaily.com/webb-space-telescope-detects-universes-oldest-active-supermassive-black-hole/

There are other great mysteries in space ...

An unusual object has been releasing pulses of radio waves in space for decades. Astronomers just discovered it

Astronomers have discovered a new type of stellar object that could change their understanding of extreme celestial bodies in the universe.

Initially, Curtin University doctoral student Tyrone O’Doherty spotted a spinning celestial space object in March 2018. The unfamiliar object released giant bursts of energy and beamed out radiation three times per hour. In those moments, it became the brightest source of radio waves viewable from Earth through radio telescopes, acting like a celestial lighthouse. ... “We were stumped,” said Dr. Natasha Hurley-Walker, senior lecturer at the Curtin University node of ICRAR, in a statement. “So we started searching for similar objects to find out if it was an isolated event or just the tip of the iceberg.” ...

... The scientists discovered an object 15,000 light-years from Earth in the Scutum constellation. The object, dubbed GPM J1839−10, released radio waves every 22 minutes. The bursts of energy lasted up to five minutes.

Astronomers believe it could be a magnetar, or a rare type of star with extremely strong magnetic fields that is capable of releasing powerful, energetic bursts. But if the object is a magnetar, it defies description because all known magnetars release energy in a matter of seconds, or a few minutes at the most. ...

https://us.cnn.com/2023/07/20/world/new-stellar-object-radio-waves-scn/index.html

Closer to home ...

The sun’s activity is peaking sooner than expected

As the sun nears the peak of its current solar cycle, our star is growing increasingly active. And that peak may be occurring sooner than predicted, according to scientists.

Every 11 years or so, the sun experiences periods of low and high solar activity, which is associated with the amount of sunspots on its surface. These dark regions, some of which can reach the size of Earth or larger, are driven by the sun’s strong and constantly shifting magnetic fields. Over the course of a solar cycle, the sun will transition from a calm to an intense and active period. During the peak of activity, called solar maximum, the sun’s magnetic poles flip. Then, the sun will grow quiet again during a solar minimum.

Initially, peak activity was forecast to begin in July 2025. Now, experts believe the cyclical peak is more likely to take place in mid- to late 2024.

... The increased activity has also included strong solar flares and coronal mass ejections, or large clouds of ionized gas called plasma and magnetic fields that erupt from the sun’s outer atmosphere. The solar storms generated by the sun can affect electric power grids, GPS and aviation, and satellites in low-Earth orbit. These events also cause radio blackouts and even pose risks for crewed space missions. ... A well-known example happened when a series of coronal mass ejections erupted from the sun on January 29, 2022, causing Earth’s outer atmosphere to heat and expand. This expansion caused 38 of the 49 Starlink satellites launched by SpaceX to burn up.

... Once solar maximum is reached, the activity can persist for years. ...

... Predicting when the next big solar storm will have an impact on Earth is difficult. Extreme storms have occurred before, such as one that knocked out the power grid in Quebec in 1989 and the Carrington Event of 1859.

The latter remains the most intense geomagnetic storm ever recorded, causing telegraph stations to spark and catch fire.

If such an event were to occur today, it could cause trillions of dollars’ worth of damage and bring down some power grids for a substantial amount of time.

“We do not know when the next big one will occur,” Murtagh said. “It could happen a couple of weeks from now or 50 years from now.”

This illustration shows the release of a coronal mass ejection. The magnetically generated solar phenomenon can send billions of tons of plasma into space that can reach Earth between one and three days, affecting electronic systems both in satellites and on the ground.

https://us.cnn.com/2023/07/14/world/solar-maximum-activity-2024-scn/index.html

... so NASA sending more satellite swarms ... a test of autonomous spacecraft ...

Autonomous Invasion: NASA’s Starling Mission Sending Swarm of Satellites Into Orbit

This July, NASA is set to dispatch a group of four six-unit (6U)-sized CubeSats into Earth’s orbit to examine whether they’re able to cooperate on their own, independent of real-time updates from mission control. While that kind of autonomous cooperation may not sound too difficult for humans, this team will be robotic – composed of small satellites to test out key technologies for the future of deep space missions, where more complex and autonomous spacecraft will be essential. ... Starling’s four primary objectives include autonomously maneuvering to stay grouped, creating a flexible communications network among the spacecraft, tracking each other’s relative positions, and independently responding to new sensor information by initiating new activities. Essentially, Starling aims to establish a swarm of small satellites capable of functioning as an autonomous community, proficient at reacting to their environment and working as a team. ... After its primary mission is complete, the next stage for Starling will be a partnership with SpaceX’s Starlink satellite constellation to test advanced space traffic management techniques between autonomous spacecraft operated by different organizations. ...

https://youtu.be/TkWyHS2dFeE

https://scitechdaily.com/autonomous-...es-into-orbit/

SpaceX (like its owner) does make a mess of things sometimes ... good and bad ...

Debris from Elon Musk's SpaceX launch scattered, raising environmental concerns

CNN's Ed Lavandera explores the surroundings of Elon Musk's SpaceX launch pad tower in Brownsville, Texas where remnants from April's launch, in which the rocket blew up before reaching space, are scattered. A group is tracking the environmental impact of SpaceX launches on the peninsula.

https://youtu.be/RtoC79iocB8

India is joining the race ...

India blasts rocket into space, aiming to be first country to land on moon's south pole

If the mission succeeds, India would join a group of three other countries that have managed a controlled lunar landing, including the United States, the former Soviet Union and China.

... The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) LVM3 launch rocket blasted off from the country’s main spaceport in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh on Friday afternoon, leaving behind a plume of smoke and fire. ... The lunar landing is expected on Aug. 23, ISRO has said....

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asia/indian-rocket-aims-land-moons-south-pole-rcna94224

And that other technology for good and bad ...

Artificial Intelligence Unlocks New Possibilities in Anti-Aging Medicine

Researchers have utilized AI to discover new senolytic compounds that can suppress age-related processes, such as cancer and inflammation. By training deep neural networks on experimental data, they were able to identify three potent drug candidates from a chemical pool of over 800,000 molecules, promising superior clinical properties to existing senolytics. ... The research paper is the result of a collaborative effort involving researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. The publication outlines the AI-led analysis of over 800,000 compounds, which successfully identified three potential drugs with comparable efficacy and superior medicinal chemistry properties to those of senolytics currently under investigation.

https://scitechdaily.com/artificial-...pand_article=1

Reducing evolution to the push of a button ...

MIT’s “FrameDiff” – Generative AI Imagines New Protein Structures That Could Transform Medicine

MIT’s CSAIL researchers have developed a computational tool, FrameDiff, which employs generative AI to create new protein structures. It uses machine learning to model protein “backbones” and adjust them in 3D, crafting proteins beyond known designs. This breakthrough could accelerate drug development and enhance gene therapy by creating proteins that bind more efficiently, with potential applications in biotechnology, targeted drug delivery, and more. ... The FrameDiff system was tested on the task of building single proteins, and the researchers found that it can create big proteins with up to 500 parts. Unlike previous methods, it doesn’t need to rely on a preexisting map of the protein structure. ... By learning to construct existing proteins, the algorithm hopefully will generalize and be able to create new proteins never seen before in nature. ...

... “In nature, protein design is a slow-burning process that takes millions of years. Our technique aims to provide an answer to tackling human-made problems that evolve much faster than nature’s pace,” says MIT CSAIL PhD student Jason Yim, a lead author on a new paper about the work. “The aim, with respect to this new capacity of generating synthetic protein structures, opens up a myriad of enhanced capabilities, such as better binders. This means engineering proteins that can attach to other molecules more efficiently and selectively, with widespread implications related to targeted drug delivery and biotechnology, where it could result in the development of better biosensors. It could also have implications for the field of biomedicine and beyond, offering possibilities such as developing more efficient photosynthesis proteins, creating more effective antibodies, and engineering nanoparticles for gene therapy.” ...

Generation of a protein structure with FrameDiff.

https://scitechdaily.com/mits-framed...form-medicine/

MIT’s AI Learns Molecular Language for Rapid Material Development and Drug Discovery

MIT-Watson AI Lab’s new AI system drastically streamlines drug and material discovery by accurately predicting molecular properties with minimal data. The system leverages a “molecular grammar” learned via reinforcement learning to generate new molecules efficiently. This method has shown remarkable efficacy even with datasets of less than 100 samples.

This AI system only needs a small amount of data to predict molecular properties, which could speed up drug discovery and material development. Discovering new materials and drugs typically involves a manual, trial-and-error process that can take decades and cost millions of dollars.

https://scitechdaily.com/mits-ai-lea...rug-discovery/

CRISPR Gene Editing Used To Build a Better Forest Tree for Sustainable Fiber Production

Using CRISPR technology, researchers at North Carolina State University have bred poplar trees with reduced lignin content, leading to a more efficient, sustainable fiber production. Their work could revolutionize the pulp and paper industry while reducing its carbon footprint. ... “We’re using CRISPR to build a more sustainable forest,” said Barrangou, the Todd R. Klaenhammer Distinguished Professor of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences at NC State and co-corresponding author of the paper. “CRISPR systems provide the flexibility to edit more than just single genes or gene families, allowing for greater improvement to wood properties.”

https://scitechdaily.com/crispr-gene-editing-used-to-build-a-better-forest-tree-for-sustainable-fiber-production/?expand_article=1

SAG-AFTRA is fighting a dystopian AI takeover so you don't have to:

We can look to Hollywood to understand the immediate and far-reaching risks we all face from artificial intelligence.

“If we don’t stand tall right now, we are all going to be in trouble. We are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines and big business,” Fran Drescher, actor and president of Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or SAG-AFTRA, said last week, after the union’s national board unanimously voted to strike against studios and streaming giants. It joined Writers Guild of America (WGA), which has been striking since May, in part also over AI concerns — launching the first dual strike in the industry in more than 60 years.

But this isn’t just a Hollywood problem. It’s one many workers, especially those in white collar creative roles, are now or will soon be facing: Their past work being used to train their robot replacements.

That’s why, with actors facing an “existential threat” to their livelihoods due to the rise of computer generative technologies — as SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said at a recent press conference — we should all be paying attention to the current strike.

... Studios can now make digital clones of actors and even digitally resurrect the dead — as Disney did with the late Peter Cushing to reprise his role as Grand Moff Tarkin in 2016’s “Rogue One,” which also used AI deepfake technology to create a cameo of a de-aged Princess Leia by superimposing a youthful version of Carrie Fisher’s face onto a body double.

This tech is only getting better and cheaper. It’s even rolling out in social media apps via filters and cartoon avatars as well as other parts of the consumer market. For example, Tel-Aviv-based company One Hour is paying actors an initial fee of $500 to scan a digital likeness of them, which the company can then use for a certain number of onscreen credits for content like marketing videos and employee tutorials, Slate reported last month. ...

... How a person’s likeness can be used raises deeply personal, ethical questions. Now, when a working actor auditions for a show or accepts a part, they are making a choice about which roles they feel comfortable literally embodying. That agency could be stripped, without rules for how digital clones of them are used, potentially leaving them open to abuse or harassment through things like deepfake pornography.

Without an agreement for how actors should be paid for when their past work is used to train AI models or how their likeness is used for something new, they’re also set up to essentially compete for roles against digital clones of themselves — clones who, notably, don’t need to eat or sleep. ...

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-...wood-rcna94318

NASA’s Valkyrie Robot To Revolutionize Offshore Energy Operations ... as a first step to Mars ...

NASA is partnering with Woodside Energy in Western Australia to develop advanced remote operation capabilities for its Valkyrie robot. The aim is to enhance safety and efficiency in uncrewed and offshore energy facilities while gathering valuable data for lunar and Martian applications. ... NASA plans to draw from the experience of operating Valkyrie in Woodside’s facilities to improve the design of robots for working under harsh and hazardous conditions. Such conditions are akin to those found on the Moon, at long-term worksites and habitats established under future Artemis missions. ... The use of remotely operated mobile robots on lunar and Martian surfaces can empower Earth-based operators to perform critical tasks, even in the absence of astronauts. These tasks encompass the inspection and maintenance of infrastructures that leverage resources to produce new items, thereby allowing astronauts to live off the land. Woodside’s testing phase will also generate invaluable data on the application of advanced robots in similar terrestrial operations. ... Advanced mobile robots like Valkyrie play a crucial role in allowing humans to supervise hazardous work remotely and delegate dull, repetitive tasks. This technology enables humans to focus on higher-level tasks, including the deployment and maintenance of robots. Such principles apply to both space and terrestrial applications, where companies are recognizing the value of human-scale robots. ...

https://scitechdaily.com/mission-dow...gy-operations/

This week, I had the pleasure of seeing one of artist Nam June Paik's "ridiculous robots" ... his K-567 ... at a small museum in Tokyo. What is more, it was partly broken, so I sat for a time watching a technologist/art restorer struggling to get it to walk again ... and he eventually did ...

Here is the predecessor, Robot-456 in 1965 ...

https://youtu.be/5-QIm7EgNlM

Jumping back to the origin of life ... and nature's doing proteins the old fashioned way, without AI ...

Tracing the Origin of Life – Researchers Uncover How Primordial Proteins Formed on Prebiotic Earth

Scientists at Tohoku University discovered that boric acid catalyzes the formation of lengthy peptides under neutral and acidic conditions, countering previous theories that alkaline conditions were ideal. The discovery of abundant boron-containing minerals in ancient earth rocks further supports the potential of boron-rich, neutral environments for protein synthesis on prebiotic Earth. ... Previous studies have suggested that highly alkaline evaporative environments served as the place for ancient protein synthesis, yielding up to 20 monomer-long glycine peptides. Neutral conditions were thought to be the worst-case in regards to peptide synthesis. ... Boron-containing minerals have been discovered abundantly in some of the oldest sedimentary-origin rocks found on earth, dating back 3.8 billions-years. These findings suggest that coastal areas of ancient small continents and islands rich in boric acid spontaneously assembled amino acids, forming polypeptides and proto-proteins. ...

https://scitechdaily.com/tracing-the-origin-of-life-researchers-uncover-how-primordial-proteins-formed-on-prebiotic-earth/

And then our ancestors started fighting for survival and killing ... hopefully something we can move beyond genetically if we are to survive more ...

Rare and dramatic fossil shows small mammal attacking larger dinosaur

A dramatic fossil unearthed in northeastern China shows a pugnacious badger-like mammal in the act of attacking a plant-eating dinosaur, mounting its prey and sinking its teeth into its victim’s ribs about 125 million years ago, scientists said on Tuesday.

Dating to the Cretaceous Period, it shows the four-legged mammal Repenomamus robustus — the size of a domestic cat — ferociously entangled with the beaked two-legged dinosaur Psittacosaurus lujiatunensis — as big as a medium-sized dog. The scientists suspect they were suddenly engulfed in a volcanic mudflow and buried alive during mortal combat. “Dinosaurs nearly always outsized their mammal contemporaries, so traditional belief has been that their interactions were unilateral — the bigger dinosaurs always ate the smaller mammals,” said paleobiologist Jordan Mallon of the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, who helped lead the study published in the journal Scientific Reports.

“Here, we have good evidence for a smaller mammal preying on a larger dinosaur, which is not something we would have guessed without this fossil,” Mallon added.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/r...saur-rcna95048

And other challenges should we survive ...

New Research: Current Climate Policies Will Leave Billions Exposed to Dangerously Hot Temperatures

Current climate policies are expected to result in 22% of the world’s population exposed to dangerous heat levels by 2100, according to a study from the Global Systems Institute, University of Exeter, and Nanjing University. Limiting global warming to 1.5°C, compared to the projected 2.7°C, would reduce this figure to 5%, underscoring the urgent need for robust climate policies and greenhouse gas emissions reduction.

https://scitechdaily.com/new-researc...-temperatures/

New Study: Climate Change To Push Countless Species Over Abrupt Tipping Points

A recent study led by a University College London researcher, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, reveals that climate change could suddenly thrust species beyond critical thresholds as they encounter unanticipated temperatures within their geographic habitats.

The study forecasts the timeline and locations where species worldwide may be subjected to potentially dangerous temperature changes due to climate change. ... The researchers found that the extent of global warming makes a big difference: if the planet warms by 1.5°C, 15% of species they studied will be at risk of experiencing unfamiliarly hot temperatures across at least 30% of their existing geographic range in a single decade, but this doubles to 30% of species at 2.5°C of warming.

Dr Pigot added: “Our study is yet another example of why we need to urgently reduce carbon emissions to mitigate the harmful effects climate change is having on animals and plants, and avoid a massive extinction crisis.” ...

https://scitechdaily.com/new-study-c...ipping-points/

What's "normal"??

Is this extreme weather the ‘new normal?’ There’s no such thing, some scientists say

... In a statement on Tuesday, Petteri Taalas, secretary general of the World Meteorological Organization, called this relentless cascade of extreme weather “the new normal.”

But some scientists now baulk at that framing.

“When I hear it, I get a bit crazy because it’s not really the new normal,” said Hannah Cloke, a climate scientist and professor at the University of Reading in the UK. “Until we stop pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere we have no idea what the future looks like.”

She is one of many scientists who warn that, while this summer is very bad, it’s only just the beginning. As long as global temperature continues to rise, they said, the world should brace for escalating impacts. ...

https://us.cnn.com/2023/07/19/world/...scn/index.html

Climate Change is hurting Buddhist art too ...

China’s ancient Silk Road murals face a new threat – climate change

Ancient Buddhist murals and statues in caves along China’s Silk Road are under “direct threat” from extreme rainfall brought by climate change, researchers have found.

Dating back to the 4th century, the Dunhuang cave temples in the northwestern province of Gansu have withstood wars, earthquakes, sandstorms and vandalism for more than a millennium.

But now, changing weather patterns in the desert are posing significant damage to the fragile wall paintings and sculptures – including at the famous Mogao Caves, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, according to a report released Monday by Greenpeace. ... The artworks in some caves, including the Mogao Grotto, have already shown signs of deterioration. And some artifacts could be gone in a few years, the report warned. ...

https://us.cnn.com/travel/article/ch...hnk/index.html

Maybe we can survive this way ... by making better stone tools designed by super-computer ...

Study Shows How Ancestors Thrived Amid Climate Shifts

New research conducted by an international team, published in the journal Science, reveals that early human species were capable of adapting to a variety of landscapes and food resources. This adaptability would have strengthened our ancestors’ resilience against historical climate changes.

Our genus Homo evolved over the past 3 million years – a period of increasing warm/cold climate fluctuations. The mystery of how early human species adjusted to these intensified climate extremes, ice ages, and sweeping changes in landscapes and vegetation continues to baffle scientists.

Did our ancestors adjust to local environmental changes over time, or did they seek out more stable environments with diverse food resources? Was our human evolution influenced more by temporal changes in climate, or by the spatial character of the environment? ...

... According to their analysis, the scientists found that earlier African groups preferred to live in open environments, such as grassland and dry shrubland. Migrating into Eurasia around 1.8 million years ago, hominins, such as H. erectus and later H. heidelbergensis and H. neanderthalensis developed higher tolerances to other biomes over time, including temperate and boreal forests. “To survive as forest-dwellers, these groups developed more advanced stone tools and likely also social skills”, said Prof. Pasquale Raia, from the Università di Napoli Federico II, Italy, co-author of the study. Eventually, H. sapiens emerged around 200,000 years ago in Africa, quickly becoming the master of all trades. Mobile, flexible, and competitive, our direct ancestors, unlike any other species before, survived in harsh environments such as deserts and tundra. ...

... The climate and vegetation model simulations, which cover the Earth’s history of the past 3 million years, were conducted on one of South Korea’s fastest science supercomputers named Aleph. “Supercomputing is now emerging as a key tool in evolutionary biology and anthropology,” said Axel Timmermann. ...

https://scitechdaily.com/resilient-r...limate-shifts/

Gassho, J

stlah

[Tai Shi]

The Zen of Technology & Scientific Discovery! (& Robots)

My hope for us all as Buddhists is that we can see a new Epoch.
If Those People with a fine understanding of hope care. My wife who does not claim Buddhism, believes that humanity is learning from mistakes to be kind and this is the beginning. We have both become kind to our family and friends in our lives and share wears her favorite shirt that has in big letters “Kindness.” She has helped me understand the nature of anger and understanding. We are both very grateful for my Buddhism and especially my sitting practice which encourages us in our daily activities and kindness. We are editing my third book called Children of Loving Kindness and showing my personal development from wife and mother to daughters and father completely in the process of making our lives better and more fulfilling.
Gassho
sat/ lah

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Tai Shi]

I barely can keep up with all the wonderful findings and announcements ...

Although we still have plentiful other ways to destroy ourselves, this is one step forward ...



The earliest universe contained the potential (shown by our ability here and now to so act) for us both to destroy ourselves, and to save ourselves ...



We're still in the dark about dark matter ...



Is this like Krypton, where Superman came from?



And speaking of water ... it ain't everywhere perhaps, but it is lots of places ...



More about the stardust that is our world ...



Our planet is layers upon layers ...



But something closer to the surface presents a danger ...



On the other hand, we benefit from more moss ...



Time = Change ...



Are we living in a new human epoch ... or not? Some humans will decide ...



Now, turning to the connections within us ...



AI looks at Old I ...



And don't forget this story ...



Music to my ears ...



May we soon find better treatments, and cures ...



Getting to know our genes better ...



The bouncers of our cells ...



Stripped down cells do well in evolution ...



Turning now to our robotic children ...



Maybe that will help put a little muscle into this marriage ...



They can fly off in their flying car ...



Who remembers Dick Tracy? ...



Gassho, J

stlah

For me, my hope is for Astrophysics to uncover relationships that will result in humans finding a way to travel to planets and ultimately the stars and other galaxies. So much needs to happen in Engineering for more efficient rockets propulsion systems systems to power ships to Mars. Then the moons of outer planet. Finally from there launched the probes and ultimately humans to the stars. We must have a better understanding of the universe than we do now. We are finally mapping parts of the universe with the Web telescope. This will result in the ability of our galaxy and our planets and the understanding of the universe evolving in the time between galaxies and the actual understanding of Evolutionary development and a future universe of energy and time in general that we may ultimately know how gravity works and even when it came into existence. With space exploration even with finer robotic technology and computers with AI onboard space vehicles we could still see much more than the Web Telescope and further explore the universe and from such vantage ass The Asteroid Belt we can make the jump to the moons of Jupiter. I’ve read that travel into further parts of the solar system is not possible without huge developments in propulsion systems and the immense distances to Saturn and beyond may be limited by our knowledge of science and engineers and we are making progress in AI, this may be how we will explore beyond Saturn or even Neptune and Uranus. I’m so excited by new developments in computer science and how it will impact the world and scientific research.
Gassho
Tai Shi/sat and lah


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Alina]

They shouldn't be able to destroy humans if they are programmed not to, the questions arise more from old fears than from trying to engage in a meaningful conversation,
though I admit I also wouldn't know what to ask...
Robots could be useful in healthcare for sure, there's so many areas that are understaffed, as assistants to nurses they could be great I think.

So many interesting posts in this thread! Thanks for sharing all of it.

Gassho

Alina
ST

[Tokan]

I can't keep up, so thanks for the summaries Jundo! Great to see people working on so much to make the world a better place!

Gassho, Tokan

satlah

[Jundo]

I barely can keep up with all the wonderful findings and announcements ...

Although we still have plentiful other ways to destroy ourselves, this is one step forward ...

The world is officially 'free' of chemical weapons. Here's what that means

The United States has officially destroyed its stockpile of chemical weapons.

In doing so, it is the last of eight countries to destroy its declared stocks of chemical weapons under the Chemical Weapons Convention – an international treaty signed by nearly 200 nations that bans the possession, production and use of the weapons on the battlefield.

The milestone was reached on Friday at the Bluegrass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant in Kentucky. A final rocket was drained of sarin nerve agent, and that agent was then chemically deactivated and destroyed.

The destruction of that single rocket means that "one hundred percent of the world's declared chemical weapons have now been destroyed," says Kingston Reif, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Threat Reduction and Arms Control, who oversaw the process.

... Chemical weapons were used to terrible effect during World War I. More than 1.3 million soldiers were exposed to chemical weapons during the Great War and 100,000 died directly as a result of chemical attacks.

During World War II, nations around the world stocked up on chemical weapons, in case they were used again. They were never deployed on the battlefield, though Nazi forces used poisonous gas to murder millions of people in concentration camps.

During the Cold War, the U.S. and Russia stockpiled vast quantities of chemical weapons. By 1990, the U.S. had more than 30,000 tons of chemical agents, and Russia likely had at least 40,000 tons, according to David Koplow, a professor of law at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

... There are still nations who have used covertly produced chemical weapons in recent years. Most notably, Syria deployed chlorine and nerve agents in its civil war with horrible effects. Russia has used some chemicals for targeted assassination attempts, and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un used nerve agent to kill his half brother.

But those are isolated cases. More broadly, vast quantities of chemical weapons have been disposed of by nations all over the world. And Reif says that overall that's something to celebrate.

https://www.npr.org/2023/07/07/11865...hat-that-means

The earliest universe contained the potential (shown by our ability here and now to so act) for us both to destroy ourselves, and to save ourselves ...

Webb Space Telescope Illuminates Earliest Strands of the Cosmic Web

A filament of 10 galaxies seen just 830 million years after the birth of the universe.

Woven across our universe is a weblike structure of galaxies called the cosmic web. Galaxies are strung along filaments in this vast web, which also contains enormous voids. Now, astronomers using Webb have discovered an early strand of this structure, a long, narrow filament of 10 galaxies that existed just 830 million years after the big bang. The 3 million light-year-long structure is anchored by a luminous quasar – a galaxy with an active, supermassive black hole at its core. The team believes this early thread of the cosmic web will eventually evolve into a massive cluster of galaxies.

This deep galaxy field from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) shows an arrangement of 10 distant galaxies marked by eight white circles in a diagonal, thread-like line. (Two of the circles contain more than one galaxy.) This 3 million light-year-long filament is anchored by a very distant and luminous quasar – a galaxy with an active, supermassive black hole at its core. The quasar, called J0305-3150, appears in the middle of the cluster of three circles on the right side of the image. Its brightness outshines its host galaxy.

https://scitechdaily.com/webb-space-telescope-illuminates-earliest-strands-of-the-cosmic-web/

We're still in the dark about dark matter ...

Dark Matter Discrepancy: A Cosmic Conundrum in the Standard Cosmological Model

An international team of scientists used advanced techniques and the Hyper Suprime-Cam to study dark matter’s “clumpiness,” finding an S8 value of 0.76, conflicting with the 0.83 value from the Cosmic Microwave Background, which dates back to the universe’s origins when the universe was about 380,000 years old. This discrepancy could indicate measurement errors or an incomplete standard cosmological model. ... The gap between these two values is small, but as more and more studies confirm each of the two values, it doesn’t appear to be accidental. The possibilities are that there’s some as-yet unrecognized error or mistake in one of these two measurements or the standard cosmological model is incomplete in some interesting way.

https://scitechdaily.com/dark-matter...logical-model/

Is this like Krypton, where Superman came from?

“Super-Earth” May Reveal Secrets About the Edge of Habitability

How close can a rocky planet be to a star, and still sustain water and life? A recently discovered exoplanet may be key to solving that mystery.

“Super-Earth” LP 890-9c, also referred to as SPECULOOS-2c, is offering valuable information concerning the conditions at the inner boundary of a star’s habitable zone and explaining the contrasting development of Earth and Venus. The research was led by Lisa Kaltenegger, an associate professor of astronomy at Cornell University. Her team found LP 890-9c, which orbits close to the inner edge of its solar system’s habitable zone, would look vastly different depending on whether it still had warm oceans, a steam atmosphere, or if it had lost its water – assuming it once had oceans like Earth’s.

https://scitechdaily.com/super-earth...-habitability/

And speaking of water ... it ain't everywhere perhaps, but it is lots of places ...

Astronomical Boost: Chances of Finding Water on Alien Worlds Increased by x100

New research presented at the Goldschmidt geochemistry conference suggests a significantly higher likelihood of finding Earth-like exoplanets with liquid water, essential for life, than previously estimated.

A new analysis shows that there are probably many more Earth-like exoplanets with liquid water than had been thought, significantly increasing the chance of finding life. The work finds that even where the conditions are not ideal for liquid water to exist at the surface of a planet, many stars will harbor geological conditions suitable for liquid water under the planet’s surface.

... The researchers found that even if the surface of a planet is frozen, there are two main ways that enough heat can be generated to allow water to liquify underground. ... For example, heat from radioactivity deep in the Earth can warm water enough to keep it liquid ... “Some of the moons you find in the solar system (for example, Europa or Enceladus) have substantial underground liquid water, even though their surfaces are completely frozen. This is because their interior is continually churned by the gravitational effects of the large planets they orbit, such as Saturn and Jupiter. ...

... Before we started to consider this sub-surface water, it was estimated that around 1 rocky planet every 100 stars would have liquid water. The new model shows that if the conditions are right, this could approach 1 planet per star. So we are a hundred times more likely to find liquid water than we thought. There are around 100 billion stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. That represents really good odds for the origin of life elsewhere in the universe.” ...

https://scitechdaily.com/astronomica...eased-by-x100/

More about the stardust that is our world ...

Origins of Earth Elements: Supernova Findings in UGC 11860 Galaxy

A supernova explosion detected in the distant spiral galaxy UGC 11860 in 2014 has been studied by two teams of astronomers using the Hubble Telescope, yielding insights into the origins of chemical elements on Earth and the value of robotic telescopes in identifying transient astronomical phenomena. ... The hugely energetic processes during supernova explosions are predominantly responsible for forging the elements between silicon and nickel on the periodic table. This means that understanding the influence of the masses and compositions of the progenitor star systems is vital to explaining how many of the chemical elements here on Earth originated.

https://scitechdaily.com/origins-of-...-11860-galaxy/

Our planet is layers upon layers ...

“A Planet Within a Planet” – Seismologists Peer Into Earth’s Inner Core

Researchers from the University of Utah have discovered that Earth’s inner core is not a homogenous mass but a complex tapestry of different fabrics. The findings, published in Nature, come from seismic data from earthquakes and CTBTO’s sensing instruments. They suggest that the inner core initially grew rapidly, slowed down over time, and may have liquid iron trapped within.

At the center of Earth is a solid metal ball, a kind of “planet within a planet,” whose existence makes life on the surface possible, at least as we know it.

How Earth’s inner core formed, grew, and evolved over time remains a mystery, one that a team of University of Utah-led researchers is seeking to plumb with the help of seismic waves from naturally occurring earthquakes. While this 2,442-kilometer-diameter sphere comprises less than 1% of Earth’s total volume, its existence is responsible for the planet’s magnetic field, without which the planet would be a much different place.

But the inner core is not the homogenous mass that was once assumed by scientists, but rather it’s more like a tapestry of different “fabrics,” according to Guanning Pang, a former doctoral student in the University of Utah’s Department of Geology & Geophysics.

... The protective field of magnetic energy surrounding Earth is created by convection occurring within the liquid outer core, which extends 2,260 kilometers (1,795 miles) above the solid core, he said. The molten metal rises above the solid inner core, cools as it approaches Earth’s rocky mantle and sinks. This circulation generates the bands of electrons enveloping the planet. Without a solid inner core, this field would be much weaker and the planetary surface would be bombarded with radiation and solar winds that would strip away the atmosphere and render the surface uninhabitable. ...

https://scitechdaily.com/a-planet-wi...hs-inner-core/

But something closer to the surface presents a danger ...

Arctic’s Melting Glaciers Reveal Hidden Methane Time Bomb

Shrinking Arctic glaciers are uncovering bubbling groundwater springs that release large amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, according to a study in Nature Geoscience. As glaciers retreat further due to global warming, these emissions are expected to increase, potentially exacerbating climate change. This new and growing methane source was previously unrecognized in methane budget estimations. ... Professor Andrew Hodson, study co-author from the University Centre in Svalbard said, “Living in Svalbard exposes you to the front line of Arctic climate change. I can’t think of anything more stark than the sight of methane outgassing in the immediate forefield of a retreating glacier.”

Previously, research has centered on methane release from thawing permafrost (frozen ground). “While the focus is often on permafrost, this new finding tells us that there are other pathways for methane emissions which could be even more significant in the global methane budget,” said study co-author Professor Alexandra Turchyn, also from Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences. ... “The amount of methane leaking from the springs we measured will likely be dwarfed by the total volume of trapped gas lying below these glaciers, waiting to escape,” said Hodson, “That means we urgently need to establish the risk of a sudden increase in methane leakage, because glaciers will only continue to retreat whilst we struggle to curb climate change.”

https://scitechdaily.com/arctics-mel...ane-time-bomb/

On the other hand, we benefit from more moss ...

Moss: An Unassuming Pillar of Planetary Health

While many individuals view the growth of moss in their gardens as a nuisance, they may not know that this ancient ancestor of all vegetation carries numerous advantages for our green spaces, including its significant role in combating soil erosion.

Now, a comprehensive global study led by UNSW Sydney discovered that mosses are not merely advantageous to our gardens, but they also critically contribute to the overall health of our planet, especially when growing on the topsoil. Mosses establish the groundwork for plant growth in ecosystems worldwide, and could potentially play a pivotal role in climate change mitigation through their substantial carbon capture capabilities.

In a study published today in the journal Nature Geoscience, lead author Dr. David Eldridge and more than 50 colleagues from international research institutions described how they collected samples of mosses growing on soil from more than 123 ecosystems across the globe, ranging from lush, tropical rainforest, to barren polar landscapes, through to arid deserts like those found in Australia. The researchers found that mosses cover a staggering 9.4 million km2 in the environments surveyed, which compares in size to Canada or China. ...

... It turns out that mosses are the lifeblood of plant ecosystems, that plants actually benefit from having moss as a neighbor. The researchers assessed 24 ways that moss provided benefits to soil and other plants. In patches of soil where mosses were present, there was more nutrient cycling, decomposition of organic matter, and even control of pathogens harmful to other plants and people.

On top of that, the authors say mosses may be instrumental in reabsorbing carbon dioxide. They estimated that compared to bare soils where there was no moss, this ancient precursor to plants is supporting the storage of 6.43 gigatonnes – or 6.43 billion tonnes – of carbon from the atmosphere. These levels of carbon capture are of a similar magnitude to levels of carbon release from agricultural practices such as land clearing and overgrazing.

“So you’ve got all the global emissions from land use change, such as grazing, clearing vegetation, and activities associated with agriculture – we think mosses are sucking up six times more carbon dioxide, so it’s not one to one, it’s six times better,” Dr Eldridge says ...

https://scitechdaily.com/moss-an-una...netary-health/

Time = Change ...

Scientists Discover Astonishing 36-Million-Year Geological Cycle That Triggers Bursts of Biodiversity

Scientists have published research indicating that movements in Earth’s tectonic plates indirectly stimulate bursts of biodiversity through 36-million-year cycles by causing sea levels to rise and fall. They believe that these geological cycles, traceable back 250 million years, critically influence marine species diversity. ... These cycles, altering shallow sea and shelf habitats, are found to significantly shape marine life diversity over millions of years, challenging previous notions of species evolution. ... “In terms of tectonics, the 36-million-year cycle marks alterations between faster and slower seafloor spreading, leading to cyclical depth changes in ocean basins and in the tectonic transfer of water into the deep Earth.

“These in turn have led to fluctuations in the flooding and drying up of continents, with periods of extensive shallow seas fostering biodiversity. ... This animation is a 250 million-year re-creation of the geography of Earth, showing the interplay between plate tectonics and sea level variations.

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-...-biodiversity/

Are we living in a new human epoch ... or not? Some humans will decide ...

Scientists have identified the geological site that they say best reflects a proposed new epoch called the Anthropocene — a major step toward changing the official timeline of Earth’s history.

... The term Anthropocene, first proposed in 2000 to reflect how profoundly human activity has altered the world, has become a commonly used academic buzzword uniting different fields of study. ... The group determined in 2016 that the Anthropocene epoch began around 1950 — the start of the era of nuclear weapons tests, the geochemical traces of which can be found around the world. Since then, the researchers have considered 12 sites that could provide the key piece of evidence needed to support their proposal, nine of which were put to a vote.

On Tuesday, the scientists announced the geological site — Crawford Lake in Ontario, Canada — that best captures the geological impact of the Anthropocene, according to their research.

However, not everyone agrees the Anthropocene is a geological reality — or that researchers have enough evidence to formally declare it a new epoch. ... Stan Finney, secretary general of the International Union of Geological Sciences and a professor in the department of geological sciences at the California State University at Long Beach, said the stratigraphic record of the Anthropocene is relatively minimal — barely a human life span — given a proposed starting point of around 1950. ... Finney said it’s more accurate to describe humanity’s profound impact on Earth as an ongoing geological event rather than a formal epoch with a precise global start date. It’s also possible, he said, that stratigraphers may decide that the Anthropocene doesn’t rise to the level of epoch, but it could be the fourth age of the Holocene — the much less catchy Crawfordian Age. ...

... For the Anthropocene, the proposed golden spike location is sediment cored from the bed of Crawford Lake that reveals the geochemical traces of nuclear bomb tests, specifically plutonium — a radioactive element widely detected across the world in coral reefs, ice cores and peat bogs.

https://us.cnn.com/2023/07/11/world/...scn/index.html

Now, turning to the connections within us ...

Unraveling the Mysteries of Human Tissue: A Comprehensive Atlas

Which types of cells can be located in various human tissues, and where? Which genes show activity in these individual cells, and which proteins can be identified within them? Detailed answers to these inquiries and more are expected to be supplied by a specialized atlas. This atlas will particularly elucidate how different tissues take shape during embryonic development and the underlying causes of diseases.

In the process of developing this atlas, the researchers have the goal to chart not just tissues directly procured from humans but also structures referred to as organoids. These are three-dimensional tissue aggregates that are grown in the lab and develop in a manner similar to human organs, albeit on a smaller scale. ... At the heart of the methods the scientists used for their approach was the 4i technology: iterative indirect immunofluorescence imaging. This new imaging technique can visualize several dozen proteins in a thin tissue section at high resolution using fluorescence microscopy. ...

Detail of a cross-section of a retinal organoid. Different tissue structures are made visible with different colors.

https://scitechdaily.com/unraveling-...hensive-atlas/

AI looks at Old I ...

Synaptic Secrets Revealed: Scientists Use AI To Watch Brain Connections Change

Scientists from Johns Hopkins have leveraged artificial intelligence to create a technique that allows for the visualization and monitoring of alterations in the strength of synapses — the connection points through which nerve cells in the brain communicate — in living organisms. The technique, as outlined in Nature Methods, could, according to the researchers, pave the way for an improved comprehension of how these connections in human brains evolve with learning, age, trauma, and disease.

... Nerve cells transfer information from one cell to another by exchanging chemical messages at synapses (“junctions”). In the brain, the authors explain, different life experiences, such as exposure to new environments and learning skills, are thought to induce changes at synapses, strengthening or weakening these connections to allow learning and memory. Understanding how these minute changes occur across the trillions of synapses in our brains is a daunting challenge, but it is central to uncovering how the brain works when healthy and how it is altered by disease. To determine which synapses change during a particular life event, scientists have long sought better ways to visualize the shifting chemistry of synaptic messaging, necessitated by the high density of synapses in the brain and their small size — traits that make them extremely hard to visualize even with new state-of-the-art microscopes.

Thousands of SEP-GluA2 tagged synapses (green) surrounding a sparsely labeled dendrite (magenta) before and after XTC image resolution enhancement. Scale bar 5 microns.

https://scitechdaily.com/synaptic-se...ctions-change/

And don't forget this story ...

Scientists Uncover Molecular Mechanisms Behind Childhood Memory Development

How do our brains develop the ability to form particular memories? A pioneering preclinical study conducted by a research group at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) might have discovered a molecular cause behind memory changes during early childhood.

The type of memories often associated with the term “memory” are event-based memories, or episodic memories, which are associated with a certain context. In contrast, the memories of young children are typically more general or “gist”-based and usually lack a specific contextual link.

In a study published in Science led by Drs. Paul Frankland and Sheena Josselyn, both Senior Scientists in the Neurosciences & Mental Health program at SickKids, the researchers pinpoint the molecular mechanisms underlying the change from gist-like to episodic memory in mice. The team notes that understanding this change, which generally occurs between four and six years old in children, may inform new insights into child development research and conditions which affect the brain, from autism spectrum disorder to concussion.

... In adults, memory traces (also known as engrams) are made up of 10 to 20 percent of neurons, but the overall size of these engrams is doubled in young children, with 20 to 40 percent of neurons making up an engram supporting a memory.

So why the change? The hippocampus, a part of the brain responsible for learning and memory, contains a variety of neurons including a type of inhibitory cell called a parvalbumin-expressing (PV) interneuron. These inhibitory cells constrain the size of the engram and enable memory specificity. The research team identified that as these interneurons mature, memory transitions from general to more specific and engrams are formed at the appropriate size.

Using viral gene transfer technology developed by Dr. Alexander Dityatev, head of the Molecular Neuroplasticity research group at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, the researchers decided to delve deeper and explore the reason for this change. They found that as a dense extracellular matrix, known as the perineuronal net, develops around these interneurons in the hippocampus, the interneurons mature, shifting the way our brain creates engrams and stores memories.

“Once we identified the perineuronal net as a key factor in interneuron maturation, we were able to accelerate the net’s development and create specific episodic, rather than general, memories in juvenile mice ...”

A parvalbumin interneuron (blue) surrounded by the perineuronal net.

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-...y-development/

Music to my ears ...

Brain Surgery on an Awake Musician Reveals the Complexity of Music and Language Processing

Scientists have discovered that distinct brain regions are involved in music and language processing, with specific areas engaged for complexity in melodies and sentences. The research was conducted during an awake craniotomy on a musician, with his musical and language function fully preserved post-surgery. ... The patient heard music and played a mini-keyboard piano to map his musical skills, heard and repeated sentences and heard descriptions of objects that he then named to map his language. Musical sequences were melodic or not melodic and differed in complexity, while auditory recordings of sentences differed in syntactic complexity. ... Direct brain recordings with electrodes placed on the brain surface mapped out the location and characteristics of brain activity during music and language. Small currents were passed into the brain to localize regions critical for language and music perception and production. ... “The unparalleled, high resolution of intracranial electrodes allows us to ask the kinds of questions about music and language processing that cognitive scientists have long awaited answers for, but were unable to address with traditional neuroimaging methods,” ...

... Specifically, cortical stimulation mapping of the posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG) disrupted music perception and production, along with speech production. The pSTG and posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG) activated for language and music. While pMTG activity was modulated by musical complexity, pSTG activity was modulated by syntactic complexity.

Tandon resected the patient’s mid-temporal lobe tumor at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center. At his four-month follow-up, the patient was confirmed to have fully preserved musical and language function, without evidence of deterioration.



https://scitechdaily.com/brain-surge...ge-processing/

May we soon find better treatments, and cures ...

Schizophrenia Research Breakthrough: The Hidden Culprits Are Somatic Genetic Mutations

A study in Cell Genomics has found a link between somatic genetic mutations and schizophrenia. Researchers analyzed over 20,000 blood samples, identifying genes NRXN1 and ABCB11 as associated with schizophrenia when disrupted during fetal development. The finding highlights the role of non-inherited genetic mutations in psychiatric disorders, and the team plans to explore other potential associated mutations. ... [The study found] a correlation between schizophrenia and somatic copy-number variants, a type of mutation that occurs early in development but after genetic material is inherited. This study is one of the first to rigorously describe the relationship between somatic—not inherited—genetic mutations and schizophrenia risk.

“We originally thought of genetics as the study of inheritance. But now we know that genetic mechanisms go way beyond that,” says senior author Chris Walsh, an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and chief of genetics and genomics at Boston Children’s Hospital. “We’re looking at mutations that are not inherited from the parents.” ...

https://scitechdaily.com/schizophren...tic-mutations/

Getting to know our genes better ...

Innovative Approach Successfully Traces Genomic Variants to Genetic Disorders

National Institutes of Health (NIH) researchers have published an assessment of 13 studies that took a genotype-first approach to patient care. This approach contrasts with the typical phenotype-first approach to clinical research, which starts with clinical findings. A genotype-first approach to patient care involves selecting patients with specific genomic variants and then studying their traits and symptoms; this finding uncovered new relationships between genes and clinical conditions, broadened the traits and symptoms associated with known disorders, and offered insights into newly described disorders. The study was published in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

“We demonstrated that genotype-first research can work, especially for identifying people with rare disorders who otherwise might not have been brought to clinical attention,” says Caralynn Wilczewski, Ph.D., a genetic counselor at the National Human Genome Research Institute’s (NHGRI) Reverse Phenotyping Core and first author of the paper.

Typically, to treat genetic conditions, researchers first identify patients who are experiencing symptoms, then they look for variants in the patients’ genomes that might explain those findings. However, this can lead to bias because the researchers are studying clinical findings based on their understanding of the disorder. The phenotype-first approach limits researchers from understanding the full spectrum of symptoms of the disorders and the associated genomic variants.

https://scitechdaily.com/innovative-...tic-disorders/

The bouncers of our cells ...

Unlocking the Secrets of the Cell: Scientists “Dive” Into the Dark Hole of the Nuclear Pore Complex

Tiny pores within the cell nucleus are crucial to healthy aging, as they safeguard and maintain the DNA. A group from the Department of Theoretical Biophysics at the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and the Synthetic Biophysics of Protein Disorder Group at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz has literally filled a hole in the understanding of the structure and function of these nuclear pores.

In their study, the scientists elucidated the behavior of intrinsically disordered proteins located at the center of the pore. They found that these proteins form a mobile, spaghetti-like barrier. This barrier allows essential cellular factors to pass through while blocking viruses and other harmful pathogens.

Human cells shield their genetic material inside the cell nucleus, protected by the nuclear membrane. As the control center of the cell, the nucleus must be able to exchange important messenger molecules, metabolites, or proteins with the rest of the cell. About 2000 pores are therefore built into the nuclear membrane, each consisting of about 1000 proteins.

For decades, researchers have been fascinated by the three-dimensional structure and function of these nuclear pores, which act as guardians of the genome: substances that are required for controlling the cell are allowed to pass, while pathogens or other DNA-damaging substances are blocked from entry. The nuclear pores can therefore be thought of as molecular bouncers, each checking many thousands of visitors per second. Only those who have an entrance ticket are allowed to pass.

How do the nuclear pores manage this enormous task? About 300 proteins attached to the pore scaffold protrude deep into the central opening like tentacles. Until now, researchers did not know how these tentacles are arranged and how they repel intruders. This is because these proteins are intrinsically disordered and lack a defined three-dimensional structure. They are flexible and continuously moving – like spaghetti in boiling water.

https://scitechdaily.com/unlocking-t...-pore-complex/

Stripped down cells do well in evolution ...

Synthetic Evolution: Genetically Minimal Artificial Cells Prove “Life Finds a Way”

Scientists discovered that a synthetic cell with a reduced genome could evolve as quickly as a normal cell. Despite losing 45% of its original genes, the cell adapted and demonstrated resilience in a laboratory experiment lasting 300 days, effectively showcasing that evolution occurs even under perceived limitations. ... “Every single gene in its genome is essential,” says Lennon in reference to M. mycoides JCVI-syn3B. “One could hypothesize that there is no wiggle room for mutations, which could constrain its potential to evolve.”

The researchers established that M. mycoides JCVI-syn3B, in fact, has an exceptionally high mutation rate. They then grew it in the lab where it was allowed to evolve freely for 300 days, equivalent to 2000 bacterial generations or about 40,000 years of human evolution. ...

Electron micrograph of a cluster of minimal cells magnified 15,000 times. The synthetically streamlined bacterium, Mycoplasma mycoides, contains less than 500 genes.

Turning now to our robotic children ...

Artificial Muscles Flex for the First Time: Ferroelectric Polymer Innovation in Robotics

A new type of ferroelectric polymer that is exceptionally good at converting electrical energy into mechanical strain holds promise as a high-performance motion controller or “actuator” with great potential for applications in medical devices, advanced robotics, and precision positioning systems, according to a team of international researchers led by Penn State.

Mechanical strain, how a material changes shape when force is applied, is an important property for an actuator, which is any material that will change or deform when an external force such as electrical energy is applied. Traditionally, these actuator materials were rigid, but soft actuators such as ferrroelectric polymers display higher flexibility and environmental adaptability. ... “Potentially we can now have a type of soft robotics that we refer to as artificial muscle,” said Qing Wang, Penn State professor of materials science and engineering and co-corresponding author of the study recently published in the journal Nature Materials. “This would enable us to have soft matter that can carry a high load in addition to a large strain. So that material would then be more of a mimic of human muscle, one that is close to human muscle.”

https://scitechdaily.com/artificial-...n-in-robotics/

Maybe that will help put a little muscle into this marriage ...

Tokyo man 'married' to virtual singer Hatsune Miku fights for acceptance of 'fictosexuals'

Four and a half years have passed since a Tokyo man "married" the popular virtual character Hatsune Miku. The Mainichi Shimbun recently interviewed the man about his life, including an association he started for people who have romantic feelings for fictional characters.

Akihiko Kondo, now 40, wed Miku, a Vocaloid with striking blue hair, in November 2018. Even now, when the local government employee comes home from work, he calls out to the life-sized Miku doll, "I'm home." She never replies, but it makes him feel at ease and brings a smile to his face anyway.

Like any human family, Kondo says "Good morning" to Miku when he wakes up and eats his meals facing her as she "looks" at him. He told the Mainichi that his love for her has not changed.

... Being in love with a fictional character may seem outlandish, but it is in fact not that uncommon as a form of sexual orientation.

According to the "national survey on sexual behavior of youth" conducted in 2017 by the Tokyo-based Japanese Association for Sex Education, more than 10% of both male and female students from junior high school to university said they have had romantic feelings for characters in games and anime. The highest figure recorded was for female university students, at 17.1%. ...

... In June, Kondo and his peers launched the Association of Fictosexuality, a general incorporated association. "Fictosexual" refers to having romantic feelings for fictional people such as dolls and anime characters. The purpose of the association is to hold meetings with concerned individuals to exchange views and to expand public understanding.

Habuchi said of forming the association, "There are many people connected to this issue who are having a hard time. We believe it's necessary to call for social consensus against discrimination and prejudice toward minorities." ...

... What led Kondo to develop affection for Miku? He had been romantically interested in human women until he was in high school. He has confessed his love seven times, but says none of his attempts was successful.

It was four years after he became a working adult that he "met" Miku. Kondo suffered from an adjustment disorder due to bullying at work and had to take a leave of absence. While recuperating at home, he heard Miku singing on a video-sharing site. He became enamored with her clear voice, which soothed him and helped him escape his shut-in life. He returned to work and since then, Miku has been his "life partner." ... Kondo does not confuse these characters with reality. He and Miku eat their meals facing each other, but he prepares food only for one person. "I don't think Miku has any human rights," he said. ...

... This is the fifth year since he married Miku. Asked if there was any possibility of divorce, Kondo laughed.

"I can't say that my mind will never change in the future. The divorce rate for humans is not low, either. I think it's the same for us," he said calmly, looking very happy. ...

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles...0m/0na/018000c

They can fly off in their flying car ...

Suzuki, SkyDrive to jointly start producing flying cars in 2024

Flying cars are a type of aircraft with the ability to vertically take off and land using multiple rotors. The vehicles are typically meant for carrying a small number of people, with some models also equipped for use on land.

SkyDrive will set up a fully-owned production subsidiary that will assemble vehicles utilizing the Suzuki group's plant in Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan.

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20230620/p2g/00m/0bu/038000c

Lean green flying machines take wing in Paris, heralding transport revolution

After years of dreamy and not always credible talk of skies filled with flying, nonpolluting electric taxis, the aviation industry is preparing to deliver a future that it says is now just around the corner.

Capitalizing on its moment in the global spotlight, the Paris region is planning for a small fleet of electric flying taxis to operate on multiple routes when it hosts the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games next summer. Unless aviation regulators in China beat Paris to the punch by greenlighting a pilotless taxi for two passengers under development there, the French capital's prospective operator -- Volocopter of Germany -- could be the first to fly taxis commercially if European regulators give their OK.

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20230623/p2g/00m/0bu/014000c

Who remembers Dick Tracy? ...

Palm-Sized Powerhouse: RIKEN’s Handheld Terahertz Device to “X-Ray” Things Without Harmful Radiation

RIKEN researchers have developed a handheld device that effectively uses the terahertz band of the electromagnetic spectrum for ‘X-raying’ objects without harmful radiation. By optimizing certain techniques and utilizing specific materials, they significantly improved terahertz wave power output and miniaturized the device. The technology promises various applications including non-destructive imaging and quantum research, with industrial collaborations underway.

https://scitechdaily.com/palm-sized-...ful-radiation/

Gassho, J

stlah