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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,053

Researchers Use AI to Generate Images Based on People’s Brain Activity

What if an AI could interpret your imagination, turning images in your mind’s eye into reality? While that sounds like a detail in a cyberpunk novel, researchers have now accomplished exactly this, according to a recently-published paper.

Researchers found that they could reconstruct high-resolution and highly accurate images from brain activity by using the popular Stable Diffusion image generation model, as outlined in a paper published in December. The authors wrote that unlike previous studies, they didn’t need to train or fine-tune the AI models to create these images.

The researchers—from the Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences at Osaka University—said that they first predicted a latent representation, which is a model of the image’s data, from fMRI signals. Then, the model was processed and noise was added to it through the diffusion process. Finally, the researchers decoded text representations from fMRI signals within the higher visual cortex and used them as input to produce a final constructed image.

Scientists Say They’ve Devised a Way to 3D Print Inside the Human Body

A team of engineers at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, has developed a tiny, flexible robotic arm that’s designed to 3D print material directly on the surface of organs inside a living person’s body.

The futuristic device acts just like an endoscope and can snake its way into a specific location inside the patient’s body to deliver layers of special biomaterial to reconstruct tissue, clean up wounds, and even make precise incisions — an amazing jack-of-all-trades they say could revolutionize certain types of surgery.

Influenza B: Have Covid-like symptoms — Fever, Cough, Fatigue? Know all about the virus

Influenza B is a type of virus that causes the flu. It is one of three types of influenza viruses, along with influenza A and C. Influenza B typically causes milder symptoms than influenza A, but it can still lead to serious illness and complications in certain populations, such as young children, elderly adults, and people with weakened immune systems.

New e-skin could allow robots to sense touch and their surroundings

It’s a revolutionary step forward for soft robotics.

A team of scientists from Edinburgh has engineered smart electronic skin that could pave the way for soft, flexible robotic devices with a sense of touch, according to a press release by the institution published last week.

The technology could aid in breakthroughs in soft robotics introducing a range of applications, such as surgical tools, prosthetics, and devices to explore hazardous environments.

University of Edinburgh.

Researchers say, “their stretchable e-skin gives robots for the first time a level of physical self-awareness similar to that of people and animals.”

By 2035, over 50% of the global population will be overweight or obese

That’s if no ‘significant actions’ are taken.

According to a recent report, if no significant actions are taken, half the world’s population will be obese or overweight by 2035. Globally, 38 percent of the Earth’s population— almost 2.6 billion people —are overweight or obese. If situations do not alter in the future, the rate is expected to rise to 51 percent in just twelve years’ time, as per new reports published by World Obesity Federation.

Furthermore, the obesity rate is particularly rising among children and countries with low-income rates.

Ahmet Yarali/iStock.

Globally, 38 percent of the Earth’s population— almost 2.6 billion people —are overweight or obese. If situations do not alter in the future, the rate is expected to rise to 51 percent in just twelve years’ time, as per new reports published by World Obesity Federation.

How to Generate New Neurons in the Brain

Summary: After discovering the importance of cell metabolism in neurogenesis, researchers were able to increase the number of neurons in the brains of adult and elderly mice.

Source: University of Geneva.

Some areas of the adult brain contain quiescent, or dormant, neural stem cells that can potentially be reactivated to form new neurons. However, the transition from quiescence to proliferation is still poorly understood.

SpaceX capsule delivers latest four-member crew to International Space Station

Once aboard, the four-member team faces a busy workload of more than 200 experiments and technology demonstrations, ranging from studies of human cell growth in space to controlling combustible materials in microgravity.

Some of the research will help pave the way for future long-duration human expeditions to the Moon and beyond under NASA’s Artemis program, its successor to Apollo, the U.S. space agency said.

The ISS crew also is responsible for performing maintenance and repairs aboard the station, and to prepare for the arrival and departure of other astronauts and cargo payloads.

Reversed With a Single Drug — “Incurable” Liver Disease May Be Curable

A new study from Sanford Burnham Prebys has discovered a drug that can spur liver regeneration in patients with Alagille syndrome.

For the first time, research conducted by Associate Professor Duc Dong, Ph.D. has revealed that the detrimental effects of Alagille syndrome, a genetic disorder that has no cure, can be reversed using a single drug. The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, have the potential to revolutionize the treatment approach for this rare condition, and could also shed light on more widespread diseases.

“Alagille syndrome is widely considered an incurable disease, but we believe we’re on the way to changing that,” says Dong, who is also the associate dean of admissions for Sanford Burnham Prebys’ graduate school. “We aim to advance this drug into clinical trials, and our results demonstrate its effectiveness for the first time.”

Long-Puzzling Biologists: Cornell Study Reveals How Cells Prevent Harmful Extra DNA Copies

According to a recent study by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine, a protein that prepares DNA

DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is a molecule composed of two long strands of nucleotides that coil around each other to form a double helix. It is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms that carries genetic instructions for development, functioning, growth, and reproduction. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (where it is called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA).