Lifeboat Foundation

A 64-year-old named Mark has spent the last year learning how to control devices like his laptop and phone using a brain implant. And thanks to OpenAI, it’s gotten a whole lot easier to do.

The neurotech startup Synchron said Thursday it’s using OpenAI’s latest artificial intelligence models to build a new generative chat feature for patients with its brain-computer interface, or BCI.

A BCI system decodes brain signals and translates them into commands for external technologies. Synchron’s model is designed to help people with paralysis communicate and maintain some independence by controlling smartphones, computers and other devices with their thoughts.

The path toward a cancer diagnosis is anything but fun. Among the least enjoyable aspects of the journey are the invasive and often excruciating biopsies that are needed to collect information about the genetic mutations or chromosomal abnormalities of the cells in a growing tumor. This information is critical for an accurate diagnosis of a patient’s cancer, as well as for prognosis predictions and treatment selections. At the recent Acoustical Society of America meeting in Ottawa, Canada, Roger Zemp of the University of Alberta reported on an alternative method that he and his colleagues have developed for extracting this genetic information that uses sound waves rather than tissue removal. “Traditional biopsies with their big needles are scary and painful,” says Joy Wang, a master’s student who works with Zemp. “Our method is pain free and can provide clearer information about a cancer’s genetics.”

Biopsy needles are akin to hole punches for the flesh. These long, hollow needles can be over 2 mm in diameter and typically punch out a core of flesh between 1 and 2 mm in diameter. For comparison, the average blood-draw needle is half a millimeter in diameter. The large holes made by the biopsy needles significantly increase the likelihood of pain, swelling, bruising, or infection at the biopsy site, both during the biopsy collection and for days afterward.

The prospect of being left black and blue can cause patients significant anxiety. The worry can become so high that it can stop a person from getting a questionable lump or bump checked out. Therefore, researchers have been searching for less invasive, less frightening methods to retrieve the information that biopsies provide. Alternative techniques could also allow for earlier detection of some cancers, Zemp says.

Johns Hopkins engineers have created a new optical tool that could improve cancer imaging. Their approach, called SPECTRA, uses tiny nanoprobes that light up when they attach to aggressive cancer cells, helping clinicians distinguish between localized cancers and those that are metastatic and have the potential to spread throughout the body.

It takes an incredible amount of energy to both train and operate artificial intelligence software, as we explored last week in The Bleeding Edge – AI’s Thirst for Power.

OpenAI’s GPT-4 generative AI, which powers its ChatGPT, required about 10 megawatts (MW) of electricity to train. That’s roughly equivalent to the power requirements of 10,000 average homes.

It’s also about 833,000 times the electricity required to power the human brain.

Conversely, stimulated Raman spectroscopy represents a modern analytical method used to study molecular vibrational properties and interactions, offering valuable insights into molecular fine structure. Its applications span various domains, including chemical analysis, biomedical research, materials science, and environmental monitoring.

By combining these two techniques, an exceptionally powerful analytical tool for studying complex molecular materials emerges.

In a new paper published in Light: Science & Applications, a team of scientists, led by Professor Zhedong Zhang and Professor Zhe-Yu Ou from Department of Physics, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China, developed a microscopic theory for the ultrafast stimulated Raman spectroscopy with quantum-light fields.

“Bridge recombination can universally modify genetic material through sequence-specific insertion, excision, inversion, and more, enabling a word processor for the living genome beyond CRISPR,” said Berkeley’s Patrick Hsu, a senior author of one of the studies and Arc Institute core investigator, in a press release.

CRISPR Coup

Continue reading “Beyond CRISPR: Scientists Say New Gene Editing Tool Is Like a ‘Word Processor’ for DNA” »

A neuroimaging study of young people who exhibit a persistent pattern of disruptive, aggressive, and antisocial behavior, known as conduct disorder, has revealed extensive changes in brain structure.

NIH-funded study of conduct disorder identifies new brain areas associated with the disorder, offering future directions for research efforts and clinical practice.

Promising.

A drug that inhibits inflammation helped mice live longer and reduced the animals’ incidence of cancer and age-related health problems.

By Grace Wade

Continue reading “Anti-inflammatory drug extended the lifespan of mice by 20 per cent” »

Our bone marrow—the fatty, jelly-like substance inside our bones—is an unseen powerhouse quietly producing 500 billion new blood cells every day. That process is driven by hematopoietic stem cells that generate all of the various types of blood cells in our bodies and regenerating themselves to keep the entire assembly line of blood production operating smoothly.

As with any complex system, hematopoietic stem cells lose functionality as they age—and, in the process, contribute to the risk of serious diseases, including blood cancers. We know that the risk of developing aging-associated diseases is different among different individuals. Surprisingly, however, little is known about whether hematopoietic stem cells age differently between individuals.

“If you take a room full of 50-year-olds, some will be completely gray-haired, others will be salt-and-pepper, and a few will not have any gray hairs at all,” said Jennifer Trowbridge, Dattels Family Endowed Chair and professor at the Jackson Laboratory. “Logically, you’d expect to see the same kind of variation in the function of hematopoietic stem cells—but until now, nobody has studied that directly.”