Singularity Hub
Articles written for the GLP list the source as Genetic Literacy Project. All other articles were written for the sources noted with excerpts provided by the GLP.
Lab-grown patch could be the solution for repairing damaged heart tissue
Restoring damaged heart tissue has proved difficult if not impossible, but a research team from Imperial College London has a ...
Million dollar question: Is the microbiome the key to diagnosing, fighting chronic disease?
What if the solution to our health problems is already inside our bodies? The human body is replete with billions ...
Redefining artificial intelligence: It could work more like a ‘search engine’ than a human brain
With respect to AI, [engineer Eric] Drexler believes our view of an artificial intelligence as a single “agent” that acts ...
Why the US military and Elon Musk have jumped on the ‘cyborg hypetrain’
When Elon Musk and DARPA both hop aboard the cyborg hypetrain, you know brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) are about to achieve ...
Brain simulations could reveal how ‘self’ emerges from ‘seemingly random chattering among millions of neurons’
“Do we have a chance of ever understanding brain function without brain simulations?” So asked the Human Brain Project (HBP), the brainchild ...
‘Safe Genes’ and the search for a CRISPR undo button
Just half a decade after CRISPR’s discovery, DARPA initiated the Safe Genes program: a collaboration between seven of the world’s leading gene ...
Using AI to understand biological vision is another step toward engineering artificial brains
[Recently,] two studies independently tapped into the power of [artificial neural networks] to solve a 70-year-old neuroscience mystery: how does ...
3D printed organs: We’re closer to solving the problem of how to supply them with blood
We’re tantalizingly close to growing organs in the lab, but the biggest remaining challenge has been creating the fine networks ...
Can AI take everything we’ve learned about medicine and become ‘a single doctor’?
The question isn’t if AI is coming to medicine. It’s how. At its best, machine learning can tap into the collective experience of ...
With a simple tweak, CRISPR’s genetic scissors get an accuracy boost
Without ensuring high levels of accuracy, any proposed CRISPR gene therapy becomes a genetic crapshoot. Now, a team from Duke ...
‘Massive step forward’: Lab-grown mini-brain twitches a muscle
Floating inside a petri dish in a lab at Cambridge University, a single disjointed muscle twitched. Normally that’s not news ...
Can ‘golden child’ anti-aging drugs rescue Alzheimer’s memories?
Alzheimer’s disease defeated another promising near-market drug that tried to prevent or remove amyloid deposits, adding to the disease’s therapeutic “graveyard of ...
3 promising CRISPR therapies, including one targeting Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
With dozens of efforts in the making, from premature aging to obesity and developmental brain disorders, here are the frontrunners ...
Using synthetics to design cells with new abilities ‘such as pumping out life-saving drugs’
A German team headed by Dr. Edward Lemke at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory described an entirely synthetic organelle inside living cells ...
Why Microsoft wants to design a system that stores data in DNA
DNA is emerging as an ultra-compact way of storing it all, and now researchers supported by Microsoft have created the first ...
Are we on the verge of extending human life with ‘regenerative superpowers’?
The excessive demand for donated organs will only intensify as technologies like self-driving cars make the world safer, given that ...
Can traumatic memories be ‘erased’ with anesthesia medications?
Erasing memories has always been the stuff of science fiction and wishful thinking. After all, what happened, happened—your experiences are solidified in your ...
Alzheimer’s disease targeted with gene therapy trial
There’s a test for Alzheimer’s risk that genetic counselors don’t like to talk about. It’s not that they’re hiding the ...
Purposeful evolution: Can humanity create its own ‘prosperous’ future?
[H]ow, exactly, do we create a “good” future? What does such a future look like to begin with? In Future Consciousness: ...
3 ways artificial intelligence could enhance medical care and help us live longer
When it comes to the future of healthcare, perhaps the only technology more powerful than CRISPR is artificial intelligence. ...
Gene drives reach their next frontier: Mammals
Tiny snippets of engineered DNA, gene drives are nuclear-grade powerhouses that utterly destroy the rules of inheritance. Rather than the classic ...
How AI ‘learned’ to predict a person’s age by analyzing gut bacteria
The plethora of bacteria and other tiny organisms that live in your gut, often referred to as the gut microbiome, don’t ...
‘Not just eye candy’: New mapping technique could help unlock brain’s mysteries
[In mid January], 18 institutions teamed up and devised a method to image entire brains 1,000 times faster than anything ...
New DNA sequencing technique offers ‘unprecedented’ look at molecular changes in GMO plants
Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are one of the most contentious topics in science today. But a study from the Salk Institute, ...
Improving CRISPR gene editing of human cells with an ‘off switch’
For all its gene-editing prowess, mechanistically CRISPR is a bit like a power tool with a broken “off” switch. Hear ...
After dodging a ban, what’s in store for gene drives in 2019?
With gene drive techniques, we could—perhaps rapidly and inexpensively—wipe out malaria’s hosts for good, and consign it to the list ...
How new technologies are ‘disrupting’ human reproduction
[On December 4], news of CRISPR-engineered babies launched a firestorm of debate on the future of human reproduction. … But even as ...
Augmented memory: This researcher wants to record every minute of his life
If we are nothing more than the sum of our memories and our experiences, how much of ourselves do we ...
