January 2022 – Page 8

Medical Breakthrough, Science & Technology News

Engineering Artificial Lungs With Help From Lizards

January 4, 2022

The lizard lung forms quickly by a leveraging simple mechanical process the researchers likened to a mesh stress ball, the common toy. As fluid fills the developing lung, the inner membrane pushes out against smooth muscle tissue. The muscle separates into a honeycomb-shaped mesh and the membrane bulges out through the gaps, creating the surface area needed for gas exchange. Credit: Image courtesy Celeste Nelson and Michael PalmerRead time: 5 minutesGet PDF Version

When it comes to studying lungs, humans take up all the air, but it turns out scientists have a lot to learn from lizards.

A new study from Princeton University shows how the brown anole lizard solves one of nature’s most complex problems — breathing — with ultimate simplicity. Whereas human lungs develop over months and years into baroque tree-like structures, the anole lung develops in just a few days into crude lobes covered with bulbous protuberances. These gourd-like structures, while far less refined, allow the lizard to exchange oxygen for waste gases just as human lungs do. And because they grow quickly by leveraging simple mechanical processes, anole lungs provide new inspiration for engineers designing advanced biotechnologies.

DNA

Researchers use genetics to develop model for personalized diets

January 4, 2022

By Andria Kades

23 Dec 2021 — Researchers at the University of Copenhagen are developing a personalized dietary profile that can tell individuals what is good and bad for them to eat, depending on their health status.

The researchers at the Food Science department expect their project to be applicable for people suffering from asthma, as well as a range of inflammatory diseases such as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. If successful, the method could be used in the health care system.

“Instead of treating diseases, we will be able to move toward the treatment of individuals by changing the largest environmental factor, namely the diet,” lead researcher on the project, associated professor Morten Arendt Rasmussen, tells NutritionInsight.

Automobiles

In-car biometrics recognize drivers, monitor vitals, detect left-behind children

January 4, 2022

By Frank Hersey

Developments in automotive biometrics from automakers and specialist systems providers continue to bring new functions to car journeys. While many improve driving safety, automotive systems can now detect whether a driver is from a car’s approved list based on facial recognition and can detect children left behind in a vehicle, even if wrapped in a blanket out of sight. Cerence is rolling out new technologies for driver convenience and personalization.

Driverless cars

Japan to create legal framework for level 4 self-driving cars

January 4, 2022

Authorities eye rural areas, plan to submit bill to Diet session next spring.

by Nikkei Asia

Japan’s National Police Agency is set to create a permitting system for the use of level 4 self-driving cars for transportation services in rural areas, Nikkei has learned.

Level 4 self-driving vehicles operate completely autonomously in certain conditions. A bill amending the road traffic law will be submitted to the ordinary Diet session next spring. If approved, the road to practical use of level 4 self-driving cars will be open for the first time in Japan.

Authorities are considering applying the permitting system for buses operating on designated routes in depopulated areas. Under the plan, prefectural public safety commissions will examine operators’ plans and grant permission for them to offer automated transportation services.

The government aims to put level 4 automated driving systems to practical use in areas, aimed mainly at elderly passengers, by the end of the fiscal year ending in March 2023, expanding them to more than 40 locations nationwide by around 2025.

Medical Breakthrough

Lab-Grown Embryo Research Is Poised to Transform Medicine

January 4, 2022

New advances in stem cell science could alleviate devastating early-life conditions. But this comes with a moral conundrum.

ACCORDING TO MULTIPLE studies, one in three pregnancies results in miscarriage, and one in 33 babies that are born will have a birth defect, due to the embryo forming incorrectly in the womb. Studying how the embryo develops can help us find ways to bring these numbers down. In 2022, we will see advances in this research thanks to stem-cell-based, embryo-like structures that can be grown in the lab.

Stem cells offer a powerful way to study the early development of the embryo. They can be grown in the lab in vast numbers and can be pushed toward making a huge assortment of cell types, including brain, blood, bone, and muscle.

Recently, several researchers have found ways to join stem cells together into small 3D balls of cells, which facilitate the creation of tiny embryo-like structures. These are currently rudimentary—the structures can be variable, they are inefficient to create and are unable to develop much further. Next year, we are likely to see improvements, with more advanced embryo-like structures made from stem cells. And we are also likely to see scientists using these models to investigate specific problems, such as how the embryo implants into the uterus, how organs start to develop or how the embryo ensures that cells are in the right positions.

Robots

Autonomous delivery robots: ‘In the next 2-3 years you’re going to see them in every major city in the country,’ Serve Robotics CEO

January 4, 2022

CEO of Serve Robotics, Ali Kashani, joins Yahoo Finance to talk about the goal of replacing 5% of food delivery with robots.

– So one thing we’ve learned during the pandemic is that not only have traditional businesses had to adapt, but the whole concept of delivery, whether it be food, retail delivery, it is adapting, and technology is leading the way. We want to bring back into the stream, Ali Kashani, Serve Robotics CEO and former head of Postmates X at Uber, it’s good to have you back. In fact, the last time we talked about this issue, the goal was to replace I think it was 5% of food delivery with the robots. And let’s just face the facts, your robots are so darn cute, those little bots that you’re testing. When is this really going to take place? Because many of us in New York City are tired of dodging the bicyclists who are going to run us over when they run the red lights.

– Thanks for having me. Yes, I think next year is going to be a big year for this effort. We are going to see our economy commercialized for the first time. With these robots rolling out in a few major cities, I think in the next two or three years you are going to see them in every major city in the country, actually.

Robots

Moving toward the first flying humanoid robot

January 2, 2022

The iRonCub robot. Credit: Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia.

by Ingrid Fadelli

Researchers at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) have recently been exploring a fascinating idea, that of creating humanoid robots that can fly. To efficiently control the movements of flying robots, objects or vehicles, however, researchers require systems that can reliably estimate the intensity of the thrust produced by propellers, which allow them to move through the air.

As thrust forces are difficult to measure directly, they are usually estimated based on data collected by onboard sensors. The team at IIT recently introduced a new framework that can estimate thrust intensities of flying multibody systems that are not equipped with thrust-measuring sensors. This framework, presented in a paper published in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, could ultimately help them to realize their envisioned flying humanoid robot.

“Our early ideas of making a flying humanoid robot came up around 2016,” Daniele Pucci, head of the Artificial and Mechanical Intelligence lab that carried out the study, told TechXplore. “The main purpose was to conceive robots that could operate in disaster-like scenarios, where there are survivors to rescue inside partially destroyed buildings, and these buildings are difficult to reach because of potential floods and fire around them.”

The key objective of the recent work by Pucci and his colleagues was to devise a robot that can manipulate objects, walk on the ground and fly. As many humanoid robots can both manipulate objects and move on the ground, the team decided to extend the capabilities of a humanoid robot to include flight; rather than developing an entirely new robotic structure.

“Once provided with flight abilities, humanoid robots could fly from one building to another avoiding debris, fire and floods,” Pucci said. “After landing, they could manipulate objects to open doors and close gas valves, or walk inside buildings for indoor inspection, for instance looking for survivors of a fire or natural disaster.”

Driverless cars

MOBILEYE LAUNCHES PILOT FOR AUTONOMOUS, ON-DEMAND CAR SERVICE IN PARIS

January 2, 2022

Mobileye launches a pilot for the testing of its autonomous vehicles in Paris. Courtesy.

By Simona Shemer

Israel’s Mobileye, a developer of driver assistance technologies acquired by Intel Corporation for $15.3 billion in 2017, announced on Thursday it is launching a pilot for on-demand, autonomous car rides in Paris with French public transport company, RATP Group, the world’s third-largest public transportation operator.

The Jerusalem-based firm will add Paris to the list of cities where it is conducting ongoing pilots for its self-driving technology. Those cities include New York City, Detroit, Tokyo, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv, and Munich, where Mobileye will launch autonomous “robotaxis” next year.

Mobileye has received an AV testing permit to allow the company to drive its autonomous robotaxis on the streets of Paris.

Nanotechnology

Pro-Longevity Molecules in ‘Young Blood’ Rejuvenate Aged Mouse Muscle

January 2, 2022

Researchers identify a crucial mediator of youthfulness for mouse muscle in membranous nanoparticles circulating the bloodstream, a discovery that could advance muscle regeneration therapies for older people.

By Jonathan D. Grinstein, Ph.D.

Highlights
·   Blood from young mice rejuvenates aged muscle through membrane-bound packages in the blood called extracellular vesicles (EVs).
·    Aging affects the cargo carried by EVs, reducing mRNA levels that encode a pro-longevity protein called Klotho.
·    Injection of EVs containing Klotho mRNA improved muscle regeneration, copying the effects of blood from young mice on aged muscle.

From some freaky Frankenstein-like studies where researchers sowed together the blood vessels of young and old mice, allowing blood to exchange between the two rodents, researchers showed that circulating factors play a critical role in regeneration and rejuvenation. Beyond carrying oxygen, nutrients, and hormones to cells while removing waste products, like carbon dioxide, blood carries factors that affect the aging and function of stem cells and tissues, including muscle. While many of these factors have been identified as freely circulating proteins, studies have shown that there are membranous nanoparticles secreted from cells called extracellular vesicles (EVs), which traffic between anatomically remote sites and serve as biomolecule couriers.