21 Jul LEAPER a major leap? Chinese Scientists Say They’ve Found a Safer Alternative to CRISPR

Researchers from China’s Peking University have developed a new gene-editing technology —  and they think it shows promise as a CRISPR alternative for fighting human diseases.

According to a paper published on Monday in the journal Nature Biotechnology, this new technology, LEAPER, which stands for “leveraging endogenous ADAR for programmable editing of RNA,” works similarly to CRISPR-Cas13, targeting RNA molecules as opposed to DNA like the well-known CRISPR-Cas9.

But while CRISPR-Cas13 relies on both a guide RNA and the Cas13 enzyme to make its edits to RNA, the LEAPER system needs just one component known as an arRNA. This makes the system “more easily deliverable and less likely to result in unwanted cellular immune responses,” the researchers told China-based media outlet Caixin.

As for the potential uses of their CRISPR alternative, Peking researcher Zhou Zhuo told Caixin that “there are clear prospects for using this technology in disease treatment.” In fact, in tests of cells taken from people with the debilitating genetic disorder Hurler syndrome, LEAPER was able to correct “sufficient amounts” of the cells’ mutated RNA, University of Queensland geneticist Ernst Wolvetang, who wasn’t involved in the research, told Caixin.

However, the research is still in the early stages and is only now moving into tests on animals — meaning we won’t know for some time if LEAPER will dethrone CRISPR as the preeminent gene-editing technology.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: futurism.com

21 Jul Artificial Intelligence Explained: What Are Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs)?

The principle behind the GAN was first proposed in 2014, and at its most basic level, it describes a system that pits two AI systems (neural networks) against each other to improve the quality of their results.

To understand how they work, imagine a blind forger trying to create copies of paintings by great masters. To start with, he has no idea what a painting should look like – but he happens to have a friend who has a photographic memory of every masterpiece that’s ever been painted.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: bernardmarr.com

16 Jul More than half of new drugs have not been shown to add any benefit, study shows

On 1 January 2011, Germany introduced early benefit assessment (Frühe Nutzenbewertung) of new drugs through the reform of the market for medicinal products act (AMNOG). Its aim is to determine whether a new drug has any added benefit over standard care. The Federal Joint Committee (G-BA), the main decision making body within the German statutory health insurance system, is responsible for the assessment procedure and ultimately decides on the added benefit.

The G-BA specifies the standard care based on criteria laid down in the law. According to these criteria, standard care is an approved and reimbursed intervention that is established in clinical practice and for which a benefit has been proved according to the standards of evidence based medicine (predominantly based on studies with patient relevant outcomes). If appropriate, standard care might also be watchful waiting or best supportive care.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.bmj.com

16 Jul AI Trained on Reading Scientific Papers Makes Discoveries Humans Missed

Using just the language in millions of old scientific papers, a machine learning algorithm was able to make completely new scientific discoveries.

In a study published in Nature on July 3, 2019, researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory used an algorithm called Word2Vec sift through scientific papers for connections humans had missed. Their algorithm then spit out predictions for possible thermoelectric materials, which convert heat to energy and are used in many heating and cooling applications.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.vice.com

16 Jul French Village Hits 114.6 Degrees Due to Global Warming, Setting New National Record

In July 2019, the village of Gallargues-le-Montueux located in southern France outside of Montpellier topped 114.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the highest temperature ever recorded in continental France.

That sweltering heat broke the previous record of 113.2 degrees, which was set just hours before in the village of Villevieille. And those weren’t the only hot spots. Brian Kahn at Earther reports that at least 12 weather stations in France detected temperatures above 111.4 degrees Fahrenheit, the previous hottest temperature set in 2003.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.smithsonianmag.com

09 Jul Human Handedness and Scalp Hair-Whorl Direction Develop From a Common Genetic Mechanism

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.genetics.org

09 Jul A third CRISPR baby may have already been born in China

Another genetically edited baby is due, but the world may never learn of its birth if the Chinese government decides to keep it a secret.

The Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing, held in Hong Kong last November, was meant to debate the pros and cons of genetically engineering humans. Instead, the proceedings were turned upside down by the revelation that He Jiankui, a Chinese biophysicist, had already done it. He’d gone ahead and edited the DNA of twin girls with the powerful gene modification tool called CRISPR.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.technologyreview.com

09 Jul When Choosing a Mate, Female Parrots Prefer Brains Over Beauty or Brawn

When it comes to affairs of the heart, there are a variety of factors at play: mutual attraction, shared interests, an intangible spark that eventually leads to love. But in Darwinian terms, the recipe for reproduction is far more clinical, with animals seeking mates based on the potential evolutionary advantage—often superior cognition skills—offered by a match.

Now, a new study published in the journal Science suggests that female budgerigars, a species of small Australian parrots better known as budgies, employ this selective brand of logic when playing the mating game. As Nick Carne writes for Cosmos, a team of Chinese and Dutch researchers found that female budgies preferred brains over beauty and brawn. The birds would even change their selection if the previously overlooked mate learned a new trick.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.smithsonianmag.com