Rusted iron pipes can react with residual disinfectants in drinking water distribution systems to produce carcinogenic hexavalent chromium in drinking water, reports a study by engineers at UC Riverside.
Chromium is a metal that occurs naturally in the soil and groundwater. Trace amounts of trivalent chromium eventually appear in the drinkingwater and food supply and are thought to have neutral effects on health. Chromium is often added to iron to make it more resistant to corrosion.
Certain chemical reactions can change chromium atoms into a hexavalent form that creates cancer-causing genetic mutations in cells. This carcinogenic form of chromium was at the heart of a lawsuit in California’s Central Valley by Erin Brockovich, which became the subject of an Oscar-winning movie.
Summary: Combining machine learning with MRI brain scans helps researchers provide a more accurate map of the brain.
Source: OIST
Scientists in Japan’s brain science project have used machine intelligence to improve the accuracy and reliability of a powerful brain-mapping technique, a new study reports.
A new study has found that a novel T cell genetically engineered by University of Arizona Health Sciences researchers is able to target and attack pathogenic T cells that cause Type 1 diabetes, which could lead to new immunotherapy treatments.
The immune system fights bacteria, viruses and other pathogens by utilizing several types of T cells, all of which have receptors that are specific to particular antigens. On killer T cells, the receptor works in concert with three signaling modules and a coreceptor to destroy the infected cell. Michael Kuhns, Ph.D., an associate professor in the UArizona College of Medicine—Tucson Department of Immunobiology, copied the evolutionary design to engineer a five-module chimeric antigen receptor, or 5MCAR, T cell.
“The 5MCAR was an attempt to figure out if we could build something by biomimicry, using some of evolution’s natural pieces, and redirect T cells to do what we want them to do. We engineered a 5MCAR that would direct killer T cells to target autoimmune T cells that mediate Type 1 diabetes,” said Dr. Kuhns, who is member of the UArizona Cancer Center, BIO5 Institute and Arizona Center on Aging. “So now, a killer T cell will actually recognize another T cell. We flipped T cell-mediated immunity on its head.”
Researchers at Lancaster University have developed a new material that can store energy for months, and potentially years, at a time. The material can be activated by light, and then release the pent-up energy on demand in the form of heat.
The team started with a metal-organic framework (MOF), materials that are famous for being very porous and as such, having an extremely high surface area. That in turn allows them to hold onto large amounts of molecules, making them great for desalinating or filtering water, capturing carbon dioxide out of the air, or delivering drugs in the body.
For the new study, the Lancaster researchers tested out how well a MOF might be able to store energy. They started with a version of the material called a DMOF1, and loaded its pores with azobenzene molecules. This compound is excellent at absorbing light, which causes its molecules to physically change shape.
Here the video of the first discussion panel out of two, during the celebration of the Healthy Masters Conference 2020, which took place on November 29, 2020. Nuno Martins, organizer and moderator of the event, asked all panelists to comment on the following theme: What can we do to improve our health and longevity. Given the essence of the event, the question was surrounded by the objective of achieving radical life extension or super longevity. My intervention starts at minute 20:13 and in the description of the video there are all the time marks that direct to the begining of each talk.
First discussion panel out of two, during the celebration of the Healthy Masters Conference 2020 which took place on November 29, 2020. Nuno Martins, PhD, organizer and moderator of the event, asked all panelists to comment on the following theme: What can we do to improve our health and longevity? Given the essence of the event, the question was surrounded by the objective of achieving radical life extension or super longevity.
Panelists in order of appereance: * Naveen Jain: Founder and CEO of Moon Express Viome (00:21) * Nichola Conlon, PhD: CEO & Founder of Nuchido (03:28) * Kelsey Moody, PhD: Process Oriented Drug Developer and Executive (05:18) * Peter Fedichev, PhD: Head of the Laboratory of Biological Systems (08:38) * James Hughes, PhD: Executive Director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (12:12) * María Entraigues Abramson: Global Outreach Coordinator for the SENS Research Foundation (15:14) * Yael Sorek-Benvesti, PhD: CEO of Mediterranean Towers Venture (18:24) * Andrés Grases, MBA: Owner and Editor of Transhumanplus.com (20:13) * Ines O´Donovan: Founder of the Jeunessima Lifestyle Company (23:52) * Reason, CEO of Repair Biotecnologies (27:39) * Odette Tonnae: Founder of YOAKE, the Healthy Lifestyle Expertise. Simulation at MIPT (31:53)
Fable Studio has announced two new conversational AI virtual beings, or artificial people. Their names are Charlie and Beck, and they will be able to hold conversations as if they were real people.
The new characters are a blend of storytelling and artificial intelligence, a marriage that Fable is pioneering in the belief that virtual beings will become a huge market as people seek companionship and entertainment during the tough climate of the pandemic.
CEO Edward Saatchi believes that virtual beings are the start of something big. He organizes the Virtual Beings Summit, and this summer he noted that virtual beings companies — from Genies to AI Foundation — have raised more than $320 million.
Just as engineers once compressed some of the power of room-sized mainframes into desktop PCs, so too have Stanford researchers shown how to pack some of the punch delivered by today’s ginormous particle accelerators onto a tiny silicon chip.
Denmark culled 17 million minks in November in response to Covid-19 outbreaks at more than 200 mink farms. Now the country plans to dig up the dead animals after they started to rise out of their shallow graves.
The journey to see future technology starts in 2022, when Elon Musk and SpaceX send the first Starship to Mars — beginning the preparations for the arrival of the first human explorers.
We see the evolution of space exploration, from NASA’s Artemis mission, humans landing on Mars, and the interplanetary internet system going online. To the launch of the Starshot Alpha Centauri program, and quantum computers designing plants that can survive on Mars.
On Earth, tech evolves with quantum computers and Neaulink chips. People begin living with bio-printed organs. Humans record every part of lives from birth. And inner speech recording becomes possible.
And what about predictions further out into the future, when humans become level 2 and level 3 civilizations. When NASA’s warp drive goes live, and Mars declares independence from Earth. Will there be Dyson structures built around stars to capture their energy. Will they help power computers that can take human consciousness and download it into a quantum computer core. Allowing humanity to travel further out into space.
Quotes about the future from: Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein, and Elon Musk.
