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Working with hundreds of thousands of high-resolution images, researchers from the Allen Institute for Cell Science, a division of the Allen Institute, put numbers on the internal organization of human cells — a biological concept that has proven incredibly difficult to quantify until now.

The scientists also documented the diverse cell shapes of genetically identical cells grown under similar conditions in their work. Their findings were recently published in the journal Nature.

“The way cells are organized tells us something about their behavior and identity,” said Susanne Rafelski, Ph.D., Deputy Director of the Allen Institute for Cell Science, who led the study along with Senior Scientist Matheus Viana, Ph.D. “What’s been missing from the field, as we all try to understand how cells change in health and disease, is a rigorous way to deal with this kind of organization. We haven’t yet tapped into that information.”

Dr. Ben Goertzel.
SingularityNET

The Coming Consciousness Explosion.

Bio: Dr. Ben Goertzel is a cross-disciplinary scientist, entrepreneur and author. Born in Brazil to American parents, in 2020 after a long stretch living in Hong Kong he relocated his primary base of operations to the rural Seattle area. He leads the SingularityNET Foundation, the OpenCog Foundation, and the AGI Society which runs the annual Artificial General Intelligence conference.

Dr. Goertzel also chairs the futurist nonprofit Humanity+, and serves as Chief Scientist of AI firms Singularity Studio, Rejuve, SingularityDAO and Xccelerando Media, all parts of the SingularityNET ecosystem. As Chief Scientist of robotics firm Hanson Robotics, he led the software team behind the Sophia robot; as Chief AI Scientist of Awakening Health he leads the team crafting the mind behind Sophia’s little sister Grace.

Dr. Goertzel’s research work encompasses multiple areas including artificial general intelligence, natural language processing, cognitive science, machine learning, computational finance, bioinformatics, virtual worlds, gaming, parapsychology, theoretical physics and more. He has published 25+ scientific books, ~150 technical papers, and numerous journalistic articles, and given talks at a vast number of events of all sorts around the globe.

Before entering the software industry Dr. Goertzel obtained his PhD in mathematics from Temple University in 1989, and served as a university faculty in several departments of mathematics, computer science and cognitive science, in the US, Australia and New Zealand.

Nerve cells require vast amounts of energy and oxygen which they receive through the bloodstream. This results in nerve tissue being densely intertwined with numerous blood vessels. However, what prevents neurons and vascular cells from interfering with each other during growth? Researchers from the Universities of Heidelberg and Bonn, in collaboration with international partners, have uncovered a mechanism that ensures this coordination. The findings have recently been published in the journal Neuron.

Nerve cells are highly energy-intensive, requiring a large amount of fuel. Approximately 20% of the calories we consume through food are dedicated to our brain, as the generation of voltage pulses (action potentials) and transmission between neurons is incredibly energy-demanding. For this reason, nerve tissue is usually crisscrossed by numerous blood vessels. They ensure a supply of nutrients and oxygen.

During embryonic development, a large number of vessels sprout in the brain and spinal cord, but also in the retina of the eye. Additionally, masses of neurons are formed there, which network with each other and with structures such as muscles and organs. Both processes have to be considerate of each other so as not to get in each other’s way. “We have identified a new mechanism that ensures this,” explains Prof. Dr. Carmen Ruiz de Almodóvar, member of the Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation2 and the Transdisciplinary Research Area Life & Health at the University of Bonn.

The godfather of vaccines discussing the future of vaccinology — dr. stanley plotkin, MD.


Dr. Stanley Plotkin, MD (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Plotkin), is an American physician, scientist, and scholar, who in the 1960s, while working at Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, played a pivotal role in discovery of a vaccine against rubella virus (which is now used worldwide as a key component of the MMR vaccine), and has worked extensively on the development and application of a wide range of other vaccines including those for polio, rabies, varicella, rotavirus and cytomegalovirus (https://www.epiv.eu/).

Dr. Plotkin graduated from New York University in 1952 and obtained a medical degree at Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn. He was a resident in pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and at the Hospital for Sick Children in London.

In 1957, Dr. Plotkin served in the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) of the U.S. Public Health Service for three years and then served as a member of Wistar’s active research faculty from 1960 to 1991.

Today, in addition to his emeritus appointment at Wistar, Dr. Plotkin is emeritus professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania (https://www.med.upenn.edu/apps/faculty/index.php/g275/p1554), and works as a consultant advising vaccine manufacturers, biotechnology firms, non-profits and governments.

Yesterday, the Whitehouse announced that the USA and the EU (European Union) signed an administrative agreement to bring AI experts together to advance AI research as prior outlined in the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) commitment.

This effort will further drive responsible advancements in AI to advance global complex challenges and develop a joint integrated research approach to achieve benefits in key research domains: extreme weather and climate forecasting, emergency response management, health and medicine, electric grid optimization, and agriculture optimization.


This article focuses on the AI leadership with the USA and the European Union in signing a new administrative agreement to do joint AI research in key global challenge areas like: climate change, healthcare, agriculture, etc.

In a recent study published in Scientific Reports, researchers identified serological Hepatitis C virus (HCV) signatures and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) signatures through the secondary utilization of ribonucleic acid sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis data among previous and existing smokers with or without COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).

Viral detection by RNA sequencing analysis has increased the knowledge base of viruses causing human infections. Identifying undiagnosed viral infections by using existing nucleic acid sequencing data could facilitate epidemiological survey-based analysis and aid in the development of diagnostic and therapeutic options for improved population health.

If you enjoy some good toilet technology, then I think “urine” for a treat. Starling Medical is poised to launch its at-home urine diagnostic patient-monitoring platform, dubbed “StarStream,” that doesn’t rely on the traditional catching containers or dipsticks.

Now, if you’re thinking this technology sounds familiar, you would be correct: My colleague Haje Jan Kamps wrote about Withings’ U-Scan, a urinalysis device, earlier this month when the health-focused consumer tech company debuted it at CES. U-Scan also sits in the toilet for at-home monitoring.

However, Alex Arevalos, Starling’s co-founder and CEO, told TechCrunch that this is an underserved market — the global urinalysis market is forecasted to be valued at $4.9 billion by 2026, meaning there is plenty of room for Withings and a scrappy startup.

On Nov. 26, 2022 a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket departed from departed from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to deliver supplies to the International Space Station. Among the 7,700 pounds of cargo on board, it is safe to say that the smallest delivery that day were a bunch of frozen bacteria.

In an interdisciplinary collaboration, a group of scientists from MIT Media Lab, NREL, Seed Health and others, bioengineered a plastic-eating bacteria to be able to upcycle plastics. Mashable met with some of them to find out how the bacteria works, why it was it was sent to space, and how it can help humanity tackle plastic pollution in space as well as on Earth.

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