Tag: technology

CELLULAR REJUVENATION THERAPY SAFELY REVERSES SIGNS OF AGING IN MICE

Age may be just a number, but it’s a number that often carries unwanted side effects, from brittle bones and weaker muscles to increased risks of cardiovascular disease and cancer. Now, scientists at the Salk Institute, in collaboration with Genentech, a member of the Roche group, have shown that they can safely and effectively reverse the aging process in middle-aged and elderly mice by partially resetting their cells to more youthful states.

“We are elated that we can use this approach across the life span to slow down aging in normal animals. The technique is both safe and effective in mice,” says co-corresponding author Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, professor in Salk’s Gene Expression Laboratory and holder of the Roger Guillemin Chair. “In addition to tackling age-related diseases, this approach may provide the biomedical community with a new tool to restore tissue and organismal health by improving cell function and resilience in different disease situations, such as neurodegenerative diseases.”

As organisms age, it is not just their outward appearances and health that change; every cell in their bodies carries a molecular clock that records the passage of time. Cells isolated from older people or animals have different patterns of chemicals along their DNA—called epigenetic markers—compared to younger people or animals. Scientists know that adding a mixture of four reprogramming molecules—Oct4, Sox2, Klf4 and cMyc, also known as “Yamanaka factors”—to cells can reset these epigenetic marks to their original patterns. This approach is how researchers can dial back adult cells, developmentally speaking, into stem cells.

In 2016, Izpisua Belmonte’s lab reported for the first time that they could use the Yamanaka factors to counter the signs of aging and increase life span in mice with a premature aging disease. More recently, the team found that, even in young mice, the Yamanaka factors can accelerate muscle regeneration. Following these initial observations, other scientists have used the same approach to improve the function of other tissues like the heart, brain and optic nerve, which is involved in vision.

In the new study, Izpisua Belmonte and his colleagues tested variations of the cellular rejuvenation approach in healthy animals as they aged. One group of mice received regular doses of the Yamanaka factors from the time they were 15 months old until 22 months, approximately equivalent to age 50 through 70 in humans. Another group was treated from 12 through 22 months, approximately age 35 to 70 in humans. And a third group was treated for just one month at age 25 months, similar to age 80 in humans.

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Nightmare Voyeurism: Google Tech Can Read Your Body Language – Without Cameras

Wired reports that Google’s latest privacy-invading technology can read your body language without using cameras. One Google designer ominously commented, “We’re really just pushing the bounds of what we perceive to be possible for human-computer interaction.”

Wired reports that Google’s newest tech uses radar to detect users’ body language and then performs actions based on its analysis. Google’s Advanced Technology and Product division (ATAP) has reportedly spent over a year exploring how radar could be implemented in computers to understand humans based on their movements and to react to them.

Google has experimented with radar in its technology in the past. In 2015 the company released Soli, a sensor that can use radar’s electromagnetic waves to analyze gestures and movements. This was first utilized in the Google Pixel 4 smartphone which could detect user hand gestures to turn off alarms or pause music without actually touching the device.

Now, this Soli sensor is being used in further research. Google’s ATAP is reportedly investigating if radar sensor input can be used to directly control a computer. Leonardo Giusti, head of design at ATAP, commented: “We believe as technology becomes more present in our life, it’s fair to start asking technology itself to take a few more cues from us.”

A large part of the technology is based on proxemics, which is the study of how people utilize the space around them to mediate social interactions. For instance, getting closer to another person shows an increase in engagement and intimacy.

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New AI Detects Mental Disorders Based On Web Posts

Dartmouth researchers have built an artificial intelligence model for detecting mental disorders using conversations on Reddit, part of an emerging wave of screening tools that use computers to analyze social media posts and gain an insight into people’s mental states.

What sets the new model apart is a focus on the emotions rather than the specific content of the social media texts being analyzed. In a paper presented at the 20th International Conference on Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent Technology, the researchers show that this approach performs better over time, irrespective of the topics discussed in the posts.

There are many reasons why people don’t seek help for mental health disorders—stigma, high costs, and lack of access to services are some common barriers. There is also a tendency to minimize signs of mental disorders or conflate them with stress, says Xiaobo Guo, Guarini ’24, a co-author of the paper. It’s possible that they will seek help with some prompting, he says, and that’s where digital screening tools can make a difference.

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The creeping authoritarianism of facial recognition

In an effort to lower crime rates, American law enforcement is pushing to combine facial recognition with expanded video surveillance. Politicians worried about their re-election chances due to a perceived crime wave see the expansion as necessary. It’s a sharp swing from 2019 and 2020, when cities like San Francisco and New Orleans were banning or at least enacting limits on facial recognition technology due to privacy concerns.

Now, New Orleans plans to roll back its facial recognition prohibition. The Virginia State Senate gave law enforcement a late Valentine’s Day gift by passing a facial recognition expansion bill on February 15 — the Democrats who unanimously approved a ban on facial recognition last year suddenly changed their minds, as did five Republicans. New York City wants to expand its facial recognition program to fight gun violence.

Law enforcement has a long history of pining for any tool that might give it some sort of edge, citizen due process be damned. Supporters avow that the technology will help investigators find violent crime suspects, including those involved in the January 6 storming of the US Capitol. OneZero reported in 2020 that Wolfcom promoted its real-time face tracking software as perfect for police organizations looking to quickly identify suspects with outstanding warrants.

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Bill Gates-Linked Lab Developing Vaccine That Spreads Like a Virus To Vaccinate Anti-Vaxxers

A team of Bill-Gates linked research scientists have announced they are developing a needle-less vaccine that spreads itself like a virus, meaning people will “catch” the vaccine like they would a cold or flu, without the need for needles and injections.

The research is being subsidised by high-profile funding organisations, including the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), which has longstanding financial ties to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

An international team of researchers are working on an experimental self-spreading vaccine that could stop the virus leaping from rats to humans — a phenomenon scientists call zoonotic spillover.

The drive to develope self-spreading vaccines is not without controversy. The DHSC paper notes: ‘Self-spreading vaccines are less lethal but not non-lethal: they can still kill.

‘Some people will die who would otherwise have lived, though fewer people die overall.

‘The other issue is there is no consent (for vaccination) from the majority of patients.’

But some ethics experts say there are parallels for ‘treating’ mass populations for public health issues without first getting individual consent.

For example, the fluoridation of mains drinking water to prevent tooth decay already happens in some parts of the UK and the Government is considering extending it to all of England.

‘Nobody is asked whether they give consent, even those who disagree with it,’ says Professor Dominic Wilkinson, a medical ethics specialist at Oxford University. ‘Instead, we entrust elected officials to examine the likely health benefits and make decisions based on the evidence.

‘I don’t think that there is anything intrinsically different when it comes to the idea of self-spreading vaccines.’

However, some scientists have serious misgivings about the risk that weakened viruses could mutate into a more potent form once they are free to spread in the population.

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DeepMind Has Trained an AI to Control Nuclear Fusion

THE INSIDE OF a tokamak—the doughnut-shaped vessel designed to contain a nuclear fusion reaction—presents a special kind of chaos. Hydrogen atoms are smashed together at unfathomably high temperatures, creating a whirling, roiling plasma that’s hotter than the surface of the sun. Finding smart ways to control and confine that plasma will be key to unlocking the potential of nuclear fusion, which has been mooted as the clean energy source of the future for decades. At this point, the science underlying fusion seems sound, so what remains is an engineering challenge. “We need to be able to heat this matter up and hold it together for long enough for us to take energy out of it,” says Ambrogio Fasoli, director of the Swiss Plasma Center at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland.

That’s where DeepMind comes in. The artificial intelligence firm, backed by Google parent company Alphabet, has previously turned its hand to video games and protein folding, and has been working on a joint research project with the Swiss Plasma Center to develop an AI for controlling a nuclear fusion reaction.

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U.S. Cops To Become Brain Scanning Marijuana Detectors

If Mass General Hospital (MGH) has its way, law enforcement officers in the United States will soon be using portable functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) scanners on motorists.

A recent Boston Globearticle describes fNIRS as a “breakthrough” in detecting marijuana impairment.

“Boston researchers say they’ve developed a new, noninvasive technique for detecting marijuana highs that can reliably tell the difference between people who are truly impaired by the drug and those who merely used it recently.”

What has happened to so-called Drug Recognition Experts (DRE)? Have the courts finally realized that police officers using pupil dilation charts to determine which type of drugs a motorist is under is junk science?

Nope, because soon, DRE police officers across the country will be using pupil dilation charts and portable fNIRS brain scanners to determine if someone is under the influence of drugs.

“For so long, our model has been alcohol, so there’s been a lot of focus on breath and blood levels,” Dr. Jodi Gilman, who led the research, said. “Our thought was, ‘What about looking directly at the brain?’ “

The MGH study claims that fNIRS scanners are accurate 76 percent of the time.

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Quantum leap: Has next-gen computing moved from hype to hope?

Australian scientists believe they have taken a key step towards building a silicon quantum computer – a device that could take quantum computing from hype to mainstream.

Silicon quantum computers marry quantum technology with the same element – silicon – used in existing computer chips, so can hopefully be easily mass-produced. Australia leads the world in the technology, which competes with at least eight other types of quantum computer.

But despite a decade of hype and billions of dollars in investment, quantum computing in general remains a long way off fulfilling its full promise, experts admit. At this stage, there are few uses for such a computer and scientists remain a long way from building a device that could calculate serious equations.

The Australian-led study, published on the front cover of leading journal Nature in January, shows silicon quantum computers can now be operated with better than 99 per cent accuracy.

“This has long been understood as the next big step you needed to take,” says Professor Andrea Morello of the University of NSW, who led the work.

Being 99 per cent-plus accurate seems a small achievement for a computer, but it’s a big deal in quantum because it is considered the threshold at which you could scale quantum processors into an actual computer, he says.

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Biden admin names Mike Bloomberg to lead military board

On Wednesday the Pentagon announced billionaire former Republican New York City Mayor and 2020 Democrat Presidential Candidate Mike Bloomberg will lead the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Board.

In a press briefing, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby announced Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had nominated Bloomberg to serve as the chair of the Defense Innovation Board.

“Mr. Bloomberg, as you all know, an entrepreneur and a leader who served three terms as the mayor of New York City, will bring a wealth of experience in technology, innovation, business and government to the Defense Innovation Board,” Kirby said.

“His leadership will be critical to ensuring the department has access to the best and brightest minds in science, technology and innovation through the team of diverse experts that he will lead as chair of that board,” Kirby added.

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New DARPA Black Hawk A.I. War Machines Set to Take to the Skies

Anyone who has been following Activist Post for any length of time knows that we continue to sound the alarm about how the military has been working on A.I. systems that will increasingly become fully autonomous — it’s part of the Internet of Battlefield Things. The only area seemingly left up for debate is whether these machines will be unleashed without any human input whatsoever in the decision-making process.

Now that we are seeing the rollout of robo-dogs on the border and tests of putting them on American streets, any advancement in A.I. war capabilities should be assumed to eventually trickle down from foreign lands into the United States. Remember, it used to be a conspiracy theory back in the early 2000s that standard drones would ever fly over America.

Now Defense One is reporting that A.I.-infused Black Hawk helicopters have made an advancement to the extent where they can autonomously carry out a directive set by a commanding officer. This also raises the question of how many of these can be commanded by one human. We recently saw a demo of a drone swarm consisting of 130 separate drones being managed by a single human operator utilizing virtual reality.

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