Links for 2021-10-06
The world’s first attempt to use the CRISPR gene-editing tool to treat blindness is showing hints of success. Of six people who received the therapy, two can now better sense light, and one of those can now navigate a maze in dim light. https://www.science.org/content/article/crispr-helps-blind-woman-see-doesn-t-help-all-patients
Predicting gene expression with AI https://deepmind.com/blog/article/enformer
Differentiable biology: using deep learning for biophysics-based and data-driven modeling of molecular mechanisms https://rdcu.be/cyMvO [redirects to a paper hosted by nature.com]
Protein complex prediction with AlphaFold-Multimer https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.04.463034v1
AlphaFold Is The Most Important Achievement In AI—Ever https://www.forbes.com/sites/robtoews/2021/10/03/alphafold-is-the-most-important-achievement-in-ai-ever/?sh=6feabd496e0a
This May Be the First Planet Found Orbiting 3 Stars at Once https://web.archive.org/web/20210928153233/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/28/science/triple-sun-planet.html?smid=tw-share
How Artificial Intelligence Completed Beethoven’s Unfinished Tenth Symphony https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/how-artificial-intelligence-completed-beethovens-unfinished-10th-symphony-180978753/
Three-dimensional foldable quantum dot light-emitting diodes https://www.nature.com/articles/s41928-021-00643-4
Haploid selection within a single ejaculate increases offspring fitness https://www.pnas.org/content/114/30/8053
A role for arthropods as vectors of multidrugresistant Enterobacterales in surgical site infections from South Asia https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2021-09-30-new-research-provides-compelling-evidence-connection-between-amr-surgical-site
Extreme poverty in Venezuela rises to 76.6%, up from 67.7% last year. When measured solely by income levels, 94.5% of the population lives in poverty. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/extreme-poverty-venezuela-rises-766-study-2021-09-29/
“Just to be clear, I am still a China bull, at least in the sense that I’m sure its GDP per capita will converge to the levels predicted by its human capital, i.e. Japan/South Korea, giving it by far the world’s largest economy by mid-century. But I am increasingly skeptical about its ability to produce anything that is… really interesting/world-transformational...Several months ago, it made it illegal to create gene-edited babies. If enforced, this effectively takes China out of the biosingularity race. Conversely, the first gene-selected baby in the world was born a few weeks ago in the US...” https://archive.is/hc0hN
Did you know that gunpowder, the compass, anesthesia, well-drilling machines, paper, printing, and much more were invented in China long before their European counterparts? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_inventions