Precisely making a single DNA spelling change in the liver of a human being.
“Scientific milestone: VERVE-101 provides first proof-of-concept for in vivo DNA base editing in humans” ~ learn more
The archive
Improving deep sleep may prevent dementia.
“As little as 1 per cent reduction in deep sleep per year for people over 60 years of age translates into a 27 per cent increased risk of dementia…” These sorts of studies tend to struggle with limited data and small sample sizes. In this case, the researchers…
AI system self-organizes to develop features of brains of complex organisms.
Researchers mapped each “neuron” of their AI system to a physical location, creating a constraint found in physical brains. “When the system was asked to perform the task under these constraints, it used some of the same tricks used by real human brains to solve the task. For…
Evaporative cooling makes a come back for sustainable food storage.
“German industrial designer Lea Lorenz has created a new clay cooler based on the age-old principle of evaporative cooling. Dubbed TONY, this simple design offers a modern reinterpretation of the traditional clay jug cooler, providing an eco-friendly solution to keep food fresh without the need for electricity.” ~ learn more
The Chimp-Pig hypothesis.
I was unaware of this hypothesis and I think “wow” is in order. “If someone pointed out a few random features of humans, and then pointed out that some other random animal shares those cherry-picked features, you shouldn't be very impressed – in fact this is comically easy…
The secret life of Jimmy Zhong, who stole – and lost – more than $3 billion.
“In 2012, someone stole 50,000 bitcoin from the Silk Road, an illegal dark web marketplace. Over time, the value of the stolen bitcoin skyrocketed to more than $3 billion dollars and for years it remained one of the biggest mysteries in the world of cryptocurrency.” ~ learn more
What would your street look like if it were Dutch?
Enter your address and it’ll spit out a version of your street fit for a cycling lifestyle. Don’t expect perfection, though. It’s just AI! ~ learn more
Rubberducking.
“The name is a reference to a story in the book The Pragmatic Programmer in which a programmer would carry around a rubber duck and debug their code by forcing themselves to explain it, line by line, to the duck.” ~ learn more
Hearing bad grammar results in physical signs of stress.
“The new study reveals a statistically significant reduction in HRV in response to grammatical violations. This reduction reflects the extent of the grammatical violations, suggesting that the more errors a person hears, the more regular their heartbeat becomes—a sign of stress.” ~ learn more
5 of the most famous typos in history.
One is the Wicked Bible: “In a reprint of the King James Bible by royal printers Robert Barker and Martin Lucas, the word “not” was egregiously left out of the Seventh Commandment, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” which was mistakenly printed as “Thou shalt commit adultery.” ~ learn more