Lifeboat Foundation

For the function of many biomolecules, their three-dimensional structure is crucial. Researchers are therefore not only interested in the sequence of the individual building blocks of biomolecules, but also in their spatial structure. With the help of artificial intelligence (AI), bioinformaticians can already reliably predict the three-dimensional structure of a protein from its amino acid sequence. For RNA molecules, however, this technology is still in its infancy. Researchers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) describe a way to use AI to reliably predict the structure of certain RNA molecules from their nucleotide sequence in the journal PLOS Computational Biology on July 7, 2022.

For the work, the teams led by Vivian Brandenburg and Professor Franz Narberhaus from the RUB Chair of Biology of Microorganisms cooperated with Professor Axel Mosig from the Bioinformatics Competence Area of the Bochum Center for Protein Diagnostics.

As you’re reading this sentence, the cells in your brain, called neurons, are sending rapid-fire electrical signals between each other, transmitting information. They’re doing so via tiny, specialized junctions between them called synapses.

There are many different types of synapses that form between neurons, including “excitatory” or “inhibitory,” and the exact mechanisms by which these structures are generated remain unclear to scientists. A Colorado State University biochemistry lab has uncovered a major insight into this question by showing that the types of chemicals released from synapses ultimately guide which kinds of synapses form between neurons.

Soham Chanda, assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, led the study published in Nature Communications that demonstrates the possibility of changing the identity of synapses between neurons, both in vitro and in vivo, through enzymatic means. The other senior scientists who contributed to the project were Thomas Südhof of Stanford University and Matthew Xu-Friedman of the University at Buffalo.

A microbial organism pulls electricity from water in the air.

Artificial Intelligence is outgrowing the current pace of Hardware Improvements and requires a new kind of technology to keep up and enable future AI Applications. Scientists seem to have found that creating artificial brains out of nanowire can mimic the human brain and power the biggest and smartest AI models ever made at relatively low energy consumption.

Today’s deep neural networks already mimic one aspect of the brain: its highly interconnected network of neurons. But artificial neurons behave very differently than biological ones, as they only carry out computations. In the brain, neurons are also able to remember their previous activity, which then influences their future behavior. This in-built memory is a crucial aspect of how the brain processes information, and a major strand in neuromorphic engineering focuses on trying to recreate this functionality. This has resulted in a wide range of designs for so-called “memristors”: electrical components whose response depends on the previous signals they have been exposed to.
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Continue reading “The Rise of Artificial Brains — Nanowire Brain Powers Artificial Intelligence” »

Exclusive interview for ageless partners®: augmented fasting; reverse engineering immortality.

I am so happy and intellectually fulfilled to share the following interview I had with Jason C. Mercurio, MFE about Aging and the conclusions I’ve reached after 12 years of intensive research.

Continue reading “Ageless Augmented Fasting: Reverse Engineering Biological Immortality” »

The fundamental rotation of micro and nano-objects is crucial for the functionality of micro and nanorobotics, as well as three-dimensional imaging and lab-on-a-chip systems. These optical rotation methods can function fuel-free and remotely, and are therefore better suited for experiments, while current methods require laser beams with designed intensity profiles or objects with sophisticated shapes. These requirements are challenging for simpler optical setups with light-driven rotation of a variety of objects, including biological cells.

In a new report now published in Science Advances, Hongru Ding and a research team in engineering and materials science at the University of Texas at Austin, U.S., developed a universal approach for the out-of-plane rotation of various objects based on an arbitrary low-power laser beam. The scientists positioned the laser source away from the objects to reduce optical damage from direct illumination and combined the rotation mechanism via optothermal coupling with rigorous experiments, coupled to multiscale simulations. The general applicability and biocompatibility of the universal light-driven rotation platform is instrumental for a range of engineering and scientific applications.

Join Professor Michelle Simmons to find out how scientists are delivering Richard Feynman’s dream of designing materials at the atomic limit for quantum machines. 🔔Subscribe to our channel for exciting science videos and live events, many hosted by Brian Cox, our Professor for Public Engagement: https://bit.ly/3fQIFXB

#Physics #Quantum #RichardFeynman.

Continue reading “Michelle Simmons: quantum machines at the atomic limit | The Royal Society” »

Centimeter-scale objects in liquid can be manipulated using the mutual attraction of two arrays of air bubbles in the presence of sound waves.

Assembling small components into structures is a fiddly business often encountered in manufacturing, robotics, and bioengineering. Some existing approaches use magnetic, electrical, or optical forces to move and position objects without physical contact. Now a team has shown that acoustic waves can create attractive forces between centimeter-scale objects in water, enabling one such object to be accurately positioned above another [1]. The scheme uses arrays of tiny, vibrating air bubbles that provide the attractive force. This acoustic method requires only simple equipment and could provide a cheap, versatile, and gentle alternative technique for object manipulation.

Researchers are developing techniques that use acoustic waves to position objects such as colloidal particles or biological cells. Attractive forces are produced by the scattering of sound waves from the objects being manipulated. One limitation of this approach, however, is that positioning is more accurate with waves of higher frequency (and thus smaller wavelength), but higher frequencies are also more strongly absorbed and attenuated by many materials.

Cortical Labs takes neurons from mice and put them on chips, then teaches them how to play ping pong.

Can you make smarter AI systems by combining biological neurons with silicon chips? In this episode of The AI Show with John Koetsier, we’re going to chat with Hon Weng Chong, CEO and co-founder of Cortical Labs and Andy Kitchen, the company’s CTO, about biological AI: mixing real brain cells with silicon computer chips.