Since then, Sophia has spoken to audiences across the globe (in multiple languages), been interviewed on countless TV shows, and even earned a United Nations title (a first for a non-human).
Today, she’s arguably the most famous robot in the world, but she’s isn’t going to be unique for much longer. Her maker, Hanson Robotics, has announced plans to begin mass-producing Sophia the robot this year — so that she can help the world cope with the pandemic.
Exploring The Longevity Secrets Of “Methuselah’s Zoo” For Healthy Human Aging — Dr. Steven Austad, University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Dr. Steven Austad (https://www.stevenaustad.com/) is Distinguished Professor and Protective Life Endowed Chair in Healthy Aging Research, Department of Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), and Scientific Director of the American Federation for Aging Research (https://www.uab.edu/cas/biology/people/faculty/steven-n-austad).
In addition, Dr. Austad directs the NIH-supported UAB Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging, one of only six such Centers in the United States, is the Co-Director of the Nathan Shock Centers Coordinating Center, and serves on the Executive Committee of the National Institute on Aging’s Research Centers Collaborative Network.
Dr. Austad is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Gerontological Society of America and has received multiple prestigious awards for his research work.
Dr. Austad’s current research seeks to understand the underlying causes of aging with a long-term goal of developing medical interventions that slow the age-related decay in human health.
Dr. Austad is the author of more than 200 scientific peer-reviewed publications covering nearly every aspect of aging from cells to societies, is the author of the book “Why We Age: What Science Is Discovering about the Body’s Journey Through Life”, and his new book on the natural history of exceptional longevity, “Methuselah’s Zoo — What Nature Can Teach Us About Living Longer, Healthier Lives”, will be coming out in April of 2022.
Dr. Austad has a B.A. from UCLA in English Literature, a B.S. from California State University, Northridge in Biology, and a Ph.D. from Purdue University, in Biological Sciences.
It’s long been known that exposure to radiation damages DNA, but a new study has found an additional risk for astronauts: DNA replication is more prone to errors in microgravity.
Scientists tested whether enzymes accurately copy DNA in cells during microgravity — the weightlessness produced during the freefall of a jet on a parabolic flight pattern. When the so-called “vomit comet” descends more than 2 miles in 20 seconds, the near-weightlessness replicates conditions in space. Accurate DNA replication in space is crucial for astronauts and the future of space travel.
“So-called DNA polymerases are essential enzymes that copy and repair DNA. Inevitably, they aren’t perfect: even under optimal conditions, they sometimes make mistakes. Here, we show that DNA polymerases derived from the bacterium E. coli are considerably more prone to errors under microgravity, such as occurs in space,” said Aaron Rosenstein of the University of Toronto, corresponding author of the study published in Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology.
The pan-coronavirus one that’s variant-proof.
Science.org/doi/full/10.11… See more.
COVID-19 vaccines go through many tests for safety and effectiveness and are then monitored closely.
A new technology is allowing one company to produce full-spectrum cannabis without growing the plant itself.
Sounds like something out of a science fiction movie, but it’s very real. In what could be a global first, this week, a publicly traded Canadian-Israeli biotech firm company, BioHarvest Sciences, will announce that it has managed to produce at least 10kg of full-spectrum cannabis without the plant itself.
According to information procured exclusively, the biomass in question was created using the company’s proprietary BioFarming technology platform, which allows it to grow natural plant cells in bioreactors. In addition, management assures, the product is not genetically modified, and is “uniquely consistent and clean.” This could provide an interesting solution to two of the cannabis industry’s main pain points: product variability and contamination — the aseptic, controlled environment means the product isn’t affected by fungi, yeast, mold or any other contaminants or pesticides.
Exclusive details on breakthrough plant technology that could revolutionize medicine, food, land conservation and more.
Summary: A newly developed self-assessment test of cognitive function can help detect early signs of dementia sooner than commonly used office-based cognitive tests.
Source: Ohio State University.
Many people experience forgetfulness as they age, but it’s often difficult to tell if these memory issues are a normal part of aging or a sign of something more serious. A new study finds that a simple, self-administered test developed by researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, College of Medicine and College of Public Health can identify the early, subtle signs of dementia sooner than the most commonly used office-based standard cognitive test.
Have your oranges gone bad? No need to throw them in the bin because University of Sydney PhD student Pooria Lesani has developed a cancer detection technique made from the juice of rancid oranges.
In a study, published in Chemical Engineering Journal, Lesani described the orange-based, low-cost probe, which proved to be a useful nanobiosensor for screening cells that may be at risk of cancer.
The nanobiosenser is a tiny probe that “glows” fluorescently in human cells, and signals if those cells become acidic, indicating that cancer is not far off. This shows which cells are at greatest risk of cancer, so preventative measures can be taken.
Nearly 1 in 5 people with hypertension may be unintentionally taking a drug for another condition that causes their blood pressure to climb even higher, a new study suggests.
Left untreated or undertreated, high blood pressure will increase your risk for heart attack, stroke, kidney disease and vision problems by damaging blood vessels. Lifestyle changes such as weight loss, restricting salt intake, and/or medication can help move your blood pressure numbers back into the normal range. But asking your doctor whether any drugs you are taking for other conditions might be pushing those numbers up is worth the effort, the researchers said.
“The risk of [drugs] raising blood pressure may be simply overlooked, particularly for patients using these additional medications for many years,” said study author Dr. Timothy Anderson. He is a clinician investigator and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston.
Their answers have been edited and condensed.
This article is part of a series called Turning Points, in which writers explore what critical moments from this year might mean for the year ahead. You can read more by visiting the Turning Points series page.
During the life-changing Covid-19 pandemic, millions of people were fortunate enough to work from home during lockdowns, while others were called upon to put themselves at physical risk to keep cities and economies from collapsing. As the world re-emerges from Covid, we are seeing renewed attention in the workplace to issues of social injustice, economic inequality, corporate social responsibility, and diversity and inclusion.
Earlier this year, we asked a small group of leaders in various professions: Is the world of work forever changed?
Astronomers using the National Science Foundation’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) have shown that a jet of material propelled from the core of a giant galaxy is channeled by a corkscrew-shaped magnetic field out to nearly 3,300 light-years from the galaxy’s central supermassive black hole. That is much farther than such a magnetic field previously had been detected in a galactic jet.
“By making high-quality VLA images at several different radio wavelengths of the galaxy Messier 87 (M87), we were able to reveal the 3-dimensional structure of the magnetic field in this jet for the first time,” said Alice Pasetto of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, leader of the team. “The material in this jet traces a double helix, similar to the structure of DNA,” she added.
M87 is a giant elliptical galaxy about 55 million light-years from Earth. A supermassive black hole some 6.5 billion times more massive than the Sun lurks at the center of M87. That black hole is the first one ever to be imaged—an achievement done with the world-wide Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration and announced in 2019. Earlier this year, new EHT images traced the magnetic field in the vicinity of the black hole event horizon.
