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Summary: Autism-linked SHANK3 gene mutations disrupt not only neurons but also oligodendrocytes, essential for producing myelin, which insulates nerve fibers. This damage reduces brain signal efficiency and impairs behavior.

Using gene therapy, researchers successfully repaired these cells in a mouse model, restoring their function and myelin production. They validated their findings with human-derived stem cells, confirming similar impairments and repair mechanisms.

This discovery highlights a significant role for oligodendrocytes in autism and opens the door for innovative treatments targeting myelin dysfunction. The study underscores both the biological complexity of autism and the promise of genetic therapies for intervention.

In 2024, the Kavli Institute of Brain and Mind will reach its 20th anniversary. To celebrate this milestone, we hosted a special symposium on Monday, October 28, 2024 at Salk Institute-The Generative Mind: Biological and Artificial Intelligence. Please enjoy the presentation \.

AlphaQubit: an AI-based system that can more accurately identify errors inside quantum computers.

AlphaQubit is a neural-network based decoder drawing on Transformers, a deep learning architecture developed at Google that underpins many of today’s large language models. Using the consistency checks as an input, its task is to correctly predict whether the logical qubit — when measured at the end of the experiment — has flipped from how it was prepared.

We began by training our model to decode the data from a set of 49 qubits inside a Sycamore quantum processor, the central computational unit of the quantum computer. To teach AlphaQubit the general decoding problem, we used a quantum simulator to generate hundreds of millions of examples across a variety of settings and error levels. Then we finetuned AlphaQubit for a specific decoding task by giving it thousands of experimental samples from a particular Sycamore processor.

Continue reading “AlphaQubit tackles one of quantum computing’s biggest challenges” »

The latest AI News. Learn about LLMs, Gen AI and get ready for the rollout of AGI. Wes Roth covers the latest happenings in the world of OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, NVIDIA and Open Source AI.

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Continue reading “Sam Altman ‘Level 4 Innovator is MUCH closer’ | PLUS ‘Unsupervised Sentiment Neuron’ breakthrough” »

We converted the calculations in Morgan Levine and Steve Horvath’s famous research paper on phenotypic age into a free biological age calculator.

It’s a great (cheap) alternative to $400 epigenetic age tests and means you can test more frequently to see if longevity interventions are actually…

This free biological age calculator is based on a pioneering paper by longevity experts Dr. Morgan Levine and Dr. Steve Horvath.

Continue reading “Free Biological Age Calculator” »

Can therapy rewire the brain? For individuals struggling with both depression and obesity, a new Stanford Medicine study says yes—when the therapy is the right fit. Researchers found that cognitive behavioral therapy focused on problem-solving reduced depression symptoms in a third of participants and altered their brain activity in ways that could predict longer-term benefits. The findings have been published in Science Translational Medicine.

Depression affects millions of people worldwide and becomes particularly challenging to treat when paired with obesity, a condition that complicates recovery and worsens outcomes. Previous research has suggested that brain regions associated with cognitive control—areas responsible for regulating emotions and behaviors—might influence how individuals respond to therapy.

This study aimed to determine whether a therapy specifically designed to engage these brain circuits could lead to sustained improvements in depression symptoms, particularly in individuals with comorbid depression and obesity. The researchers also investigated whether early changes in brain activity could predict long-term therapeutic success, paving the way for more personalized treatment strategies.

Collaboration with Google and Qualcomm brings Samsung’s smart glasses to market.

TSMC is set to mass-produce its cutting-edge 2nm process by 2025, as the Taiwan giant is seeing massive interest from companies such as Apple and NVIDIA.

TSMC’s 2nm Node Is Said To Replace All Others When It Comes To Revenue Generation, Amid Gigantic Demand From The Markets

TSMC’s upcoming 2nm node is said to be a revolution for the tech markets, given that it has pledged to bring in significant performance uplifts, one that will aid in speeding up the computational capabilities of devices across the industry.

A team of researchers from Jilin University, NYU Abu Dhabi’s Smart Materials Lab, and the Center for Smart Engineering Materials, led by Professor of Chemistry Pance Naumov, has developed a new crystalline material that can harvest water from fog without any energy input.

The design of the novel type of smart crystals, which the researchers named Janus crystals, is inspired by desert plants and animals, which can survive in arid conditions. Desert beetles and lizards, for example, have evolved to develop surface structures that have both hydrophilic and hydrophobic areas and effectively capture moisture from the air. Water is attracted to the hydrophilic areas and droplets are accumulated and transported through the hydrophobic areas.

The findings are presented in the paper titled “Efficient Aerial Water Harvesting with Self-Sensing Dynamic Janus Crystals,” recently published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.