Impact Lab – Page 357 – A Laboratory of the Future Human Experience

A New CRISPR Tool Flips Genes On and Off Like a Light Switch

May 6, 2021

CRISPR is revolutionary. It’s also a total brute.

The classic version of the gene editing wunderkind literally slices a gene to bits just to turn it off. It’s effective, yes. But it’s like putting an electrical wire through a paper shredder to turn off a misbehaving light bulb. Once the wires are cut, there’s no going back.

Why not add a light switch instead?

This month, a team from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) reimagined CRISPR to do just that. Rather than directly acting on genes—irrevocably dicing away or swapping genetic letters—the new CRISPR variant targets the biological machinery that naturally turns genes on or off.

Translation? CRISPR can now “flip a light switch” to control genes—without ever touching them directly. It gets better. The new tool, CRISPRoff, can cause a gene to stay silent for hundreds of generations, even when its host cells morph from stem cells into more mature cells, such as neurons. Once the “sleeping beauty” genes are ready to wake up, a complementary tool, CRISPRon, flips the light switch back on.

This new technology “changes the game so now you’re basically writing a change [into genes] that is passed down,” said author Dr. Luke Gilbert. “In some ways we can learn to create a version 2.0 of CRISPR-Cas9 that is safer and just as effective.”

Science & Technology News, Tesla

Tesla wants to make every home a distributed power plant

May 6, 2021

Aria Alamalhodaei

Tesla CEO Elon Musk wants to turn every home into a distributed power plant that would generate, store and even deliver energy back into the electricity grid, all using the company’s products.

While the company has been selling solar and energy storage products for years, a new company policy to only sell solar coupled with the energy storage products, along with Musk’s comments Monday, reveal a strategy that aims to scale these businesses by appealing to utilities.

“This is a prosperous future both for Tesla and for the utilities,” he said. “If this is not done, the utilities will fail to serve their customers. They won’t be able to do it,” Musk said during an investor call, noting the rolling blackouts in California last summer and the more recent grid failure in Texas as evidence that grid reliability has become a bigger concern.

Last week, the company changed its website to prevent customers from only buying solar or its Powerwall energy storage product and instead required purchasing a system. Musk later announced the move in a tweet, stating “solar power will feed exclusively to Powerwall” and that “Powerwall will interface only between utility meter and house main breaker panel, enabling super simple install and seamless whole house backup during utility dropouts.”

3D Printer, Science & Technology News

How 3D printing and robots improve knee replacement surgery

May 6, 2021

Stryker’s Triathlon implant has four components (from top): femur, patella (attached to the femur), liner, and tibia. Images: Stryker

By Don Nelson

Stryker uses additive manufacturing and robotics to promote bone/implant bonding and shorten post-surgery recovery times.

Total knee replacement surgery has intrigued me since 1979, when my grandfather had the procedure performed on both knees. The prostheses of that era were designed to anatomically mimic the motion of a knee joint, making them superior to their hinge-action predecessors of the ’60s.

But as I’ve discovered since undergoing my own knee replacement surgery last November, today’s prostheses, surgical techniques, and patient outcomes have vastly improved since Gramps was rolled into the operating room. Advancements in what’s medically known as total knee arthroplasty (TKA) include materials developed specifically for implants and their 3D-printed components, as well as the use of surgical-assist robots.

Artificial Intelligence, Science & Technology News

Alphabet’s X moonshot division wants to bring AI to the electric grid

May 5, 2021

By Chris Davies

Google parent Alphabet has been working on “a moonshot” for the electric grid, with a secret project in its X R&D division aiming to figure out how to make power use more stable, and more green, than it is today. The research, revealed at the White House Leaders Summit on Climate, has been underway for the past three years.

The team at X – which began as Google X, and then was spun out into a separate division when Google created Alphabet as its overarching parent – isn’t planning to put up power lines and install solar panels and wind turbines itself. Instead, it’s looking at whether a more holistic understanding of the grid would help in the transition to environmentally stable sources.

“Right now our work is more questions than answers,” Astro Teller, Captain of Moonshots at X, says, “but the central hypothesis we’ve been exploring is whether creating a single virtualized view of the grid – which doesn’t exist today – could make the grid easier to visualize, plan, build and operate with all kinds of clean energy.”

Teller’s use of “moonshot” is a reference to the original NASA plan to put astronauts on the Moon, a project which was generally acknowledged as being ambitious and ground-breaking, not to mention with no immediate path to making a profit. While Teller leads the division, Alphabet brought in Audrey Zibelman – former CEO of Australian energy operator AEMO, and an expert in decarbonization of the electrical system – to lead this particular moonshot.

Augmented Reality, Science & Technology News

Apple Glasses could turn any surface into a touch screen thanks to augmented reality

May 5, 2021

By Jacinto Araque

Despite the launch of the Google Glass project a few years ago, smart glasses are still a world to be explored, and with the advent of virtual reality and augmented reality, this type of product may take on a totally different dimension than imagined a few years ago.

Apple has already had several winks referring to possible smart glasses, the Apple Glasses, of which there are not many certainties, but that point to become a reality at some point in the near future, and that are still an unknown in some ways.

Artificial Intelligence, Science & Technology News

Advancing AI With a Supercomputer: A Blueprint for an Optoelectronic ‘Brain’

May 5, 2021

By Edd Gent

Building a computer that can support artificial intelligence at the scale and complexity of the human brain will be a colossal engineering effort. Now researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have outlined how they think we’ll get there.

How, when, and whether we’ll ever create machines that can match our cognitive capabilities is a topic of heated debate among both computer scientists and philosophers. One of the most contentious questions is the extent to which the solution needs to mirror our best example of intelligence so far: the human brain.

Rapid advances in AI powered by deep neural networks—which despite their name operate very differently than thebrain—have convinced many that we may be able to achieve “artificial general intelligence” without mimicking the brain’s hardware or software.

Employment, Science & Technology News

1 in 4 workers is considering quitting their job after the pandemic—here’s why

May 3, 2021

Compassionate Eye Foundation/Gary Burchell

By Jennifer Liu

In 2019, workers were quitting their jobs at record rates, with labor experts saying workers did so in order to secure the pay raises and promotions they weren’t getting from within.

Then, beginning in March 2020, the labor market shed 20.5 million jobs in the first few weeks of the coronavirus pandemic. Now, a year later, there are still nearly 7.9 million fewer Americans counted as employed than in February 2020, while the labor force is down 3.9 million.

But with signs pointing toward recoveryin many economic sectors, workers are feeling the itch to job-hop yet again. By some estimates, 1 in 4 workers is planning to look for opportunities with a new employer once the threat of the pandemic has subsided, according to Prudential Financial’s Pulse of the American Worker survey. The data, collected by Morning Consult on behalf of Prudential in March 2021, includes a sample of 2,000 employed adults, including a statistically significant sample of workers that are or have been working remotely during the pandemic.

Here’s a look at who’s planning to leave, and what employers should be thinking about as they retain — or recruit — in a post-pandemic environment.

Science & Technology News, Space Flight

NASA Extracts Breathable Oxygen on Mars In Historic First

May 3, 2021

NASA achieved another first this week thanks to a small box attached to its Mars Perseverance rover.

By Chris Young

NASA added to its ever-growing list of “firsts” this week by converting carbon dioxide extracted from Mars’ atmosphere into pure, breathable oxygen, the US space agency said in a statement on Wednesday, April 22.

The achievement comes days after NASA conducted the first controlled flight on Mars, and constitutes another step in the agency’s plans for future human exploration of the red planet in the 2030s.

The extraction of oxygen from Mars’ carbon-rich atmosphere was carried out by a small experimental instrument, called MOXIE — the first device to ever extract oxygen from the Martian atmosphere.

Food, Science & Technology News

LAB-GROWN MEAT IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR DELIVERY FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER

May 3, 2021

by ANNA STAROSTINETSKAYA

SINGAPOREANS CAN NOW ORDER KATSU CHICKEN CURRY, CHICKEN & RICE, AND CHICKEN CAESAR SALAD MADE WITH EAT JUST’S INNOVATIVE CELL-BASED CHICKEN THROUGH DELIVERY APP FOODPANDA.

Today, cell-based (also known as “lab-grown” and “cultured”) meat became available for home delivery for the first time in history thanks to a partnership between California-based startup Eat Just and delivery platform Foodpanda. Customers can now order three dishes made with GOOD Meat chicken (a brand under which Eat Just is innovating its cell-based meats) from Singapore-based restaurant 1880: Chicken & Rice with coconut rice, pak choi, sweet chili, chrysanthemums, and microgreens; Katsu Chicken Curry with jasmine rice, heritage carrots, micro shiso, and edible flowers; and Chicken Caesar Salad with kale, romaine, edible flowers, shaved radish, and plant-based Caesar dressing.

To further promote the eco-friendly nature of growing meat from cells rather than slaughtering animals for meat en masse, each order—delivered by electric bicycles in 1880’s delivery zone—will come packed in sustainable packaging made with bamboo fiber and resin. Each order will also include a Google Cardboard headset that plays a film about GOOD Meat’s connection to the importance of preserving the planet.

“Food is at the core of our business, and ensuring that we have a sustainable food ecosystem is an important agenda for us. Foodpanda is thrilled to be the first platform in the world to deliver cultured meat dishes so that customers in Singapore can be the world’s first diners to enjoy them from the comforts of their home,” Jakob Angele, CEO of Foodpanda APAC, said. “Together with Eat Just, we hope to bring this to more markets—not just in Asia but also in every country in the world where Delivery Hero [its parent company and an Eat Just investor] brands operate.”

Cancer, Science & Technology News

DNA-BASED CANCER VACCINE TRIGGERS IMMUNE ATTACK ON TUMORS

May 3, 2021

BY JIM GOODWIN-WUSTL

“We think this is the first report of the use of a neoantigen DNA vaccine in a human, and our monitoring confirms the vaccine was successful in prompting an immune response that targeted specific neoantigens in the patient’s tumor,” William Gillanders says.

Researchers have shown that personalized cancer vaccines made using DNA can program the immune system to attack malignant tumors, including breast and pancreatic cancers.

The researchers conducted the study in mice with breast cancer and one patient with late-stage pancreatic cancer.

The COVID-19 vaccines—designed using bits of genetic information that prime our immune systems to recognize and fight off viral infections—have become lifesavers in the global fight to end the pandemic.

Now, the new research has shown that a similar vaccine approach can be used to create personalized vaccines that program the immune system to attack malignant tumors, including breast and pancreatic cancers.

The tailor-made vaccines are designed to target mutated proteins called neoantigens that are unique to a patient’s tumors. Unlike the COVID-19 vaccines made by Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech that rely on genetic material called mRNA, the personalized cancer vaccines are made using DNA.

Science & Technology News, Space Flight

Russia wants to launch its own space station by 2025

May 3, 2021

By Shane McGlaun

Russian space agency Roscosmos has announced this week that it hopes to launch its own orbiting space station by 2025. The agency is considering withdrawing from the ISS program and operating its own space station. Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin says that work has already begun on the first module for the space station.

Officials also warned that they are considering removing themselves from the international space station, one of the few successful cooperation attempts that Russia has made with the US. The first module for the space station is being built by the Russian Energia space Corporation with the goal of having it ready to launch in 2025.

Russia has been a participant in the ISS program since the space station launched in 1998. The ISS was a project involving Russia, the US, Canada, Japan, and the ESA. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said recently that Russia was considering removing itself from the ISS in 2025 due to the space station’s age. Russia has made statements that it would work with China on an orbiting space station near the moon and potentially on a lunar base.

Robots, Science & Technology News

Robots to fan out across world’s oceans to monitor their health

May 3, 2021

The top of a robotic near-shore ocean float is seen floating in a test tank at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Moss Landing

By Nathan Frandino

MOSS LANDING, California (Reuters) – After years studying the icy waters of the Southern Ocean with floating robotic monitors, a consortium of oceanographers and other researchers is deploying them across the planet, from the north Pacific to the Indian Ocean.

The project known as the Global Ocean Biogeochemistry Array, or GO-BGC, started in March with the launch of the first of 500 new floating robotic monitors containing computers, hydraulics, batteries and an array of sensors scientists say will relay a more comprehensive picture of the ocean and its health.

“The ocean is extremely important to the climate, to the sustainability of the earth, its supply of food, protein to enormous numbers of people. We don’t monitor it very well,” said Ken Johnson, GO-BGC’s project director and a senior scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) in Moss Landing, California.