Tag: technology

Startup aims to make lab-grown human eggs, transforming options for creating families

On a cloudy day on a gritty side street near the shore of San Francisco Bay, a young man answers the door at a low concrete building.

“I’m Matt Krisiloff. Nice to meet you,” says one of the founders of Conception, a biotech startup that is trying to do something audacious: revolutionize the way humans reproduce. “So let me find them real quick,” says Krisiloff as he turns to look for his co-founders, Pablo Hurtado and Bianka Seres, so they can explain Conception’s mission.

“I personally think what we’re doing will probably change many aspects of society as we know it,” says Hurtado, the company’s chief scientific officer. “It’s really exciting to be working on a technology that can change the lives of millions of humans.”

Conception is trying to accelerate, and eventually commercialize, a field of biomedical research known as in vitro gametogenesis (IVG). “Basically, we’re trying to turn a type of stem cell called an induced pluripotent stem cell into a human egg,” Krisiloff says. “[This] really opens the door, if you can create eggs, to be able to help people have children that otherwise don’t have options right now.”

The experimental technology could help women who have lost their eggs to cancer treatment, women who have never been able to produce healthy eggs and women whose eggs are no longer viable because of their age.

IVG would enable these women to have their own genetically related babies at any age. That’s because induced pluripotent stem cells can be made from just a single cell from anyone’s skin or blood. So these lab-grown eggs would have that person’s DNA.

But the possibilities are even broader.

“My personal biggest interest in it is it could allow same-sex couples to be able to have biological children together as well,” Krisiloff says. “Yeah, I’m gay, and it’s something that got me so personally interested in this in the first place.”

Same goes for Hurtado. “There is something intrinsic about sharing a life that is half me and half my husband. I don’t have that capacity right now.” He adds, “I am devoting my life to trying to change that.”

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Scientists Inserted Neanderthal And Denisovan Genes Into Mice – Here’s What Happened

A gene that was carried by both Neanderthals and Denisovans causes mice to develop larger heads, twisted ribs, and shortened spines, according to the results of a yet-to-be-published study. Researchers used CRISPR gene editing technology to insert the ancient genetic code into rodents in order to understand how it might have contributed to the body shape of our extinct relatives.

The gene in question is known as GLI3 and plays a vital role in embryonic development in modern humans. Mutations within this gene are associated with physical malformations such as polydactyly – which refers to the growth of extra fingers or toes – and the deformation of the skull.

Neanderthals and Denisovans both carried a slightly altered version of the GLI3 gene, in which an amino acid at one end of the coding region is substituted. However, neither of these ancient species had an abnormal number of digits or life-threatening cranial defects.

As the study authors point out, though, these extinct hominid species displayed several morphological characteristics that differed from those of modern humans, “including elongated and low crania, larger brow ridges, and broader rib cages.”

To determine how the ancient form of the GLI3 gene might have affected the development of our extinct cousins, the researchers first engineered mice to carry a faulty version of the gene. This caused the rodents to develop severe skull and brain deformities as well as polydactyly, illustrating how a functioning version of the gene is essential for healthy embryonic growth.

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The US Military Is Taking Generative AI Out for a Spin

Matthew Strohmeyer is sounding a little giddy. The US Air Force colonel has been running data-based exercises inside the US Defense Department for years. But for the first time, he tried a large-language model to perform a military task.

“It was highly successful. It was very fast,” he tells me a couple of hours after giving the first prompts to the model. “We are learning that this is possible for us to do.”

Large-language models, LLMs for short, are trained on huge swaths of internet data to help artificial intelligence predict and generate human-like responses to user prompts. They are what power generative AI tools such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard.

Five of these are being put through the paces as part of a broader series of Defense Department experiments that are focused on developing data integration and digital platforms across the military. The exercises are run by the Pentagon’s digital and AI office and military top brass, with participation from US allies. The Pentagon won’t say which LLMs are in testing, though Scale AI, a San Francisco-based startup, says its new Donovan product is among the LLM platforms being tested.

The use of LLMs would represent a major shift for the military, where so little is digitized or connected. Currently, making a request for information to a specific part of the military can take several staffers hours or even days to complete, as they jump on phones or rush to make slide decks, Strohmeyer says.

In one test, one of the AI tools completed a request in 10 minutes.

“That doesn’t mean it’s ready for primetime right now. But we just did it live. We did it with secret-level data,” he says of the experiment, adding it could be deployed by the military in the very near term. 

Strohmeyer says they have fed the models with classified operational information to inform sensitive questions. The long-term aim of such exercises is to update the US warhorse so it can use AI-enabled data in decision-making, sensors and ultimately firepower.

Dozens of companies, including Palantir Technologies Inc., co-founded by Peter Thiel, and Anduril Industries Inc. are developing AI-based decision platforms for the Pentagon.

Microsoft Corp. recently announced users of the Azure Government cloud computer service could access AI models from OpenAI. The Defense Department is among Azure Government’s customers.

The military exercise, which runs until July 26, will also serve as a test of whether military officials can use LLMs to generate entirely new options they’ve never considered. 

For now, the US military team will experiment by asking LLMs for help planning the military’s response to an escalating global crisis that starts small and then shifts into the Indo-Pacific region.

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Early Humans Were Weaving Baskets in the Philippines 40,000 Years Ago!

Recent examination of ancient stone tools reveals that as early as 40,000 years ago, the early inhabitants of the Philippines were crafting ropes and baskets from plant fibers. This discovery pushes back the timeline for plant-based artifacts in the region by an astounding 31,000 years, as previously the oldest such artifacts were fragments of mats from southern China, estimated to be about 8,000 years old.

Mastering Fibre Technology

According to the study, which was published in the journal PLOS One , researchers analyzed stone tools found in Tabon Caves , situated in the Palawan Province of the western Philippines. Dubbed as the country’s “cradle of civilization”, Tabon Caves is a site of archaeological importance due to the number of prehistoric human remains found there.

The tools showed microscopic evidence of wear and tear associated with using plant fibers for purposes such as for rope-making and basket weaving. These signs included a brush stroke-type pattern of striations, micro-polish and micro-scars on the surface of the tools, according to a report by Cosmos Magazine .

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Lab Administers A.I.-Designed Drug to First Patient

Hong Kong- and New York-based Insilico Medicine on Tuesday announced a drug for treating idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) designed by generative artificial intelligence (A.I.) has advanced to Phase 2 clinical trials, which means the drug has been administered to its first human patient.

IPF is a chronic lung disease that makes it more difficult to breathe, starving the body of much-needed oxygen. IPF is currently regarded as incurable, but treatable. 

“Generative A.I.” is the level of artificial intelligence that can accept fairly broad commands from a human user and create a complex finished product. Such A.I. systems grow more powerful and useful as they “learn” by accumulating information. DALL-E, the computer art program that can fulfill instructions like “Show me what the Peanuts characters would look like if Picasso drew them” is a popular example.

Creating a new medicine is a daunting task. The design stage includes a great deal of labor-intensive research that could hopefully be completed more quickly by A.I.

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This Anti-Tracking Tool Checks If You’re Being Followed

MATT EDMONDSON, A federal agent with the Department of Homeland Security for the last 21 years, got a call for help last year. A friend working in another part of government—he won’t say which one—was worried that someone might have been tailing them when they were meeting a confidential informant who had links to a terrorist organization. If they were being followed, their source’s cover may have been blown. “It was literally a matter of life and death,” Edmondson says.

“If you’re trying to tell whether you’re being followed, there are surveillance detection routes,” Edmondson says. If you’re driving, you can change lanes on a freeway, perform a U-turn, or change your route. Each can help determine whether a car is following you. But it didn’t feel like enough, Edmondson says. “He had those skills, but he was just looking for an electronic supplement,” Edmondson explains. “He was worried about the safety of the confidential informant.”

After not finding any existing tools that could help, Edmondson, a hacker and digital forensics expert, decided to build his own anti-tracking tool. The Raspberry Pi-powered system, which can be carried around or sit in a car, scans for nearby devices and alerts you if the same phone is detected multiple times within the past 20 minutes. In theory it can alert you if a car is tailing you. Edmondson built the system using parts that cost around $200 in total, and will present the research project at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas this week. He’s also open-sourced its underlying code.

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‘Thermonator’ Robot Dog Shoots Flames As ‘Skynet Moment’ Nears

Remember those ‘cute’ dancing robo-dogs from (Japanese-owned) Boston Dynamics doing all sorts of tricks, like decorating a Christmas tree and opening doors? 

Even though Boston Dynamics has pledged not to weaponize robo-dogs, other companies have. 

China has made their version of ‘spot’ – except they strapped a gun onto it.

Another Chinese defense contractor showed off a drone deploying an armed robo-dog into a mock warzone. 

…which leaves us with yet another robo-dog that a US company called “Throwflame” has developed into “the first-ever flamethrower-wielding robot dog,” according to its website.

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Neanderthal adhesives were made through a complex synthesis process

As Homo sapiens, we often consider ourselves to be the most intelligent hominins. But that doesn’t mean our species was the first to discover everything; it appears that Neanderthals found a way to manufacture synthetics long before we ever did.

Neanderthal tools might look relatively simple, but new research shows that Homo neanderthalensis devised a method of generating a glue derived from birch tar to hold them together about  200,000 years ago—and it was tough. This ancient superglue made bone and stone adhere to wood, was waterproof, and didn’t decompose. The tar was also used a hundred thousand years before modern humans came up with anything synthetic.

A transformation

After studying ancient tools that carry residue from this glue, a team of researchers from the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen and other institutions in Germany found evidence that this glue wasn’t just the original tar; it had been transformed in some way. This raises the question of what was involved in that transformation.

To see how Neanderthals could have converted birch tar into glue, the research team tried several different processing methods. Any suspicion that the tar came directly from birch trees didn’t hold up because birch trees do not secrete anything that worked as an adhesive. So what kind of processing was needed?

Each technique that was tested used only materials that Neanderthals would have been able to access. Condensation methods, which involve burning birch bark on cobblestones so the tar can condense on the stones, were the simplest techniques used—allowing bark to burn above ground doesn’t really involve much thought beyond lighting a fire.

The other methods involved a recipe where the bark was not actually burned but heated after being placed underground. Two of these methods involved burying rolls of bark in embers that would heat them and produce tar. The third method would distill the tar. Because there were no ceramics during the Stone Age, sediment was shaped into upper and lower structures to hold the bark, which was then heated by fire. Distilled tar would slowly drip from the upper structure into the lower one.

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Coming to a Rooftop Near You: A UFO-Spotting Spycam

An ex-spook made an incredible claim about aliens last week. David Charles Grusch, a former official with the U.S. National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office, told The Debrief that the feds possess what the publication described as “intact and partially intact craft of non-human origin.”

But there’s a catch: There’s no actual evidence to back up Grusch’s claim. No evidence that the government is sitting on a bunch of derelict alien spacecraft. And no evidence aliens even exist, for that matter. Worse for Fox Mulder-style true believers, no one’s even looking for extraterrestrials near Earth—at least not with any real scientific rigor.

That last caveat is about to change. Harvard physicist Avi Loeb and his alien-hunting startup, the Galileo Project, is building what they hope will be a global network of skyward-pointing sensors whose purpose is to scan, look, and listen for UFOs—or, to borrow the in-vogue and official U.S. government term, Unexplained Aerial Phenomena (UAP).

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US approves chicken made from cultivated cells, the nation’s first ‘lab-grown’ meat

For the first time, U.S. regulators on Wednesday approved the sale of chicken made from animal cells, allowing two California companies to offer “lab-grown” meat to the nation’s restaurant tables and eventually, supermarket shelves.

The Agriculture Department gave the green light to Upside Foods and Good Meat, firms that had been racing to be the first in the U.S. to sell meat that doesn’t come from slaughtered animals — what’s now being referred to as “cell-cultivated” or “cultured” meat as it emerges from the laboratory and arrives on dinner plates.

The move launches a new era of meat production aimed at eliminating harm to animals and drastically reducing the environmental impacts of grazing, growing feed for animals and animal waste.

“Instead of all of that land and all of that water that’s used to feed all of these animals that are slaughtered, we can do it in a different way,” said Josh Tetrick, co-founder and chief executive of Eat Just, which operates Good Meat.

The companies received approvals for federal inspections required to sell meat and poultry in the U.S. The action came months after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration deemed that products from both companies are safe to eat. A manufacturing company called Joinn Biologics, which works with Good Meat, was also cleared to make the products.

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