Bionic Eyes Can Be Grown by Fractal Neurons

Bionic Eyes Can Be Grown by Fractal Neurons

Freedomist Curator April 12, 2022

Researchers from the University of Oregon have taken rodent retinal neurons and gorwn them on an electrode that is fractal-patterened. The result of the experiment, according to the researchers, brings them closer the dream of being able to produce a bio-inspired bionic eye. One day, the blind might see thanks to grown bionic eyes, or maybe sighted people will exchange their old eyes for new better eyes. The future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades over my new bionic rodent eyes.

Fractal neuron growth could lead to bionic eyes

From www.futurity.org
2022-04-11 14:03:03
U. Oregon
Excerpt:

Researchers have grown rodent retinal neurons on a fractal-patterned electrode, one that mimics the repeating branching pattern in which neurons naturally grow.

It’s a step closer to making a bio-inspired bionic eye, a longstanding goal for University of Oregon physicist Richard Taylor.

Taylor hopes the tiny electrodes could someday be implanted into the eye to restore sight in people with macular degeneration or other vision disorders.

The new work provides experimental evidence supporting a hunch his team has been pursuing for years, that neurons, which themselves are fractals, will connect better to a fractal-patterned electrode than they do to more traditionally shaped electrodes, allowing better signal transmission between the implant and the brain.

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Philippine President Aligning with Xi in South China Sea

Mark Clouse April 12, 2022

The Philippines is making more overtures to China, making many nations, including the United States, very nervous. The President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, met with China’s Chairman Xi to discuss security issues in the South China Sea. The meeting was characterized as friendly, with Duterte emphasizing his desire to work more closely with China on South China sea issues.

Duterte, Xi Talk South China Sea in Virtual Summit – The Diplomat

From thediplomat.com
2022-04-11 12:49:50

Excerpt:

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and China’s supreme leader Xi Jinping have agreed to “broaden the space for positive engagements” in dealing with disputes over the South China Sea.

During an hour-long telephone meeting on Friday that Duterte’s office described as “open, warm, and positive,” the two leaders stressed the need to exercise restraint to maintain peace in the vital waterway, where China’s expansive claims run up against the competing (and frankly more legally defensible) claims of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei.

According to a statement from the president’s office, the two leaders also discussed the fallout from the Russia-Ukraine war and efforts to recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The leaders stressed the need to exert all efforts to maintain peace, security, and stability in the South China Sea by exercising restraint, dissipating tensions, and working on a mutually agreeable framework for functional…

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AI Could Save You from Future Heart Attack

Parker Davis April 12, 2022

Artificial Intelligence might one day be able to prompt you that a heart attack might be looming. It might even give you instructions (recommendations if you don’t want to be controlled) on what to do to nip that looming heart attack in the bud. The findings come out of Johns Hopkins University from a team of biomedical engineers led by Natalia Trayanova.

AI predicts if and when you might have a fatal heart attack

From www.futurity.org
2022-04-11 13:57:24
Jill Rosen-Johns Hopkins
Excerpt:

A new artificial intelligence-based approach can predict if and when a patient could die of a heart attack.

The technology, built on raw images of patient’s diseased hearts and patient backgrounds, significantly improves on doctor’s predictions and stands to revolutionize clinical decision making and increase survival from sudden and lethal cardiac arrhythmias, one of medicine’s deadliest and most puzzling conditions.

“Sudden cardiac death caused by arrhythmia accounts for as many as 20% of all deaths worldwide and we know little about why it’s happening or how to tell who’s at risk,” says senior author Natalia Trayanova, a professor of biomedical engineering and medicine at Johns Hopkins University.

“There are patients who may be at low risk of sudden cardiac death getting defibrillators that they might not need and then there are high-risk patients that aren’t getting the treatment they need and could die in the prime of their life. What our algorithm can do is determine who is at risk for cardiac death and when it will occur, allowing doctors to decide exactly what needs to be done.”

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Google Complies with U.S. Data Search Warrants While Fighting Foreign Ones

Parker Davis April 7, 2022

It appears Google likes to fight for the rights of Brazilians, but not for the rights of Americans. The mega-corp is busy fighting search term data warrants in Brazil, the same kind of which it seems to comply regularly with when American law enforcement makes the requests.

Google Fights Dragnet Warrant for Users’ Search Histories Overseas While Continuing to Give Data to Police in the U.S.

From www.eff.org
2022-04-05 22:26:48

Excerpt:

Google is fighting back against a Brazilian court order to turn over data on all users who searched for specific terms, including the name of a well-known elected official and a busy downtown thoroughfare. (Brief in Portuguese / English*) While we applaud Google for challenging this digital dragnet search in Brazil, it must also stand up for the rights of its users against similar searches in the U.S. and elsewhere….

The Brazilian case arises out of the assassination of Rio de Janeiro City Councilor Marielle Franco. Franco was murdered, along with her driver, Anderson Gomes, near Rio de Janeiro in 2018. It was a terrible crime that stirred up public outcry.

As part of the investigation into the assassination, police ordered Google to trawl through its users’ search histories, scanning for searches of certain terms—including the name of a heavily trafficked street…

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Fruit Fly Gene Does it No Good, but it Might Cure Parkinson’s Disease

Parker Davis April 5, 2022

A fruit fly gene called “Clueless” could become the best current hope for a cure for Parkinson’s disease.

‘Clueless’ Gene in Fruit Flies May Lead to New Parkinson’s Treatments

From parkinsonsnewstoday.com
2022-04-04 13:35:47

Excerpt:

Over-expressing a fly gene called clueless (clu) can lessen mitochondrial defects in fruit fly models of Parkinson’s disease, a new study reveals.

The results also showed that CLUH, the human equivalent of the fly clueless gene, has a similar function, which may pave the way toward new treatment approaches for Parkinson’s.

“When we modified [clu] in flies, symptoms analogous to Parkinson’s disease improved substantially,” Ming Guo, MD, PhD, a professor at UCLA and co-author of the study, said in a press release.

The study, “Clueless/CLUH regulates mitochondrial fission by promoting recruitment of Drp1 to mitochondria,” was published in Nature Communications.

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Law Students Riot After Professor Disagrees with Them

Freedomist Curator March 3, 2022

America’s future lawyers believe any position on affirmative action that does not affirm it is racist and deserves to be immediately shot down by any means necessary. When Ilya Shapiro, a constitutional law professor at Georgetown, dared question affirmative action, his students rioted in his class, stomping on desks and shouting “black lawyers matter.” His students were overwhelmingly white. Shaprio is on administrative leave right now because of a ‘racist tweet.’

WATCH: Hostile law students shout down constitutional law scholar who criticized affirmative action

From www.thecollegefix.com
2022-03-03 05:07:19
Margaret Kelly – Assistant Editor
Excerpt:

University of California law students bang on desks, use vulgarities, chant ‘black lawyers matter’

Ilya Shapiro, the constitutional law scholar put on administrative leave at Georgetown University following a tweet widely decried as racist, was prevented from participating in a discussion Tuesday at UC Hastings College of the Law about the recent Supreme Court vacancy.

Protesters pounded on desks and shouted “Black lawyers matter,” videos show. Some students held signs that read “Support Black Women,” “I Am Not Lesser,” and “Ketanji Brown Jackson,” a reference to President Joe Biden’s recent Supreme Court nominee.

Georgetown Law suspended Shapiro, an incoming administrator, in February following a tweet in which he criticized President Biden’s pledge to nominate only black women to fill the vacancy to be left by Justice Stephen Breyer.

National Review, which reviewed a 45-minute video of the encounter, reports that the…

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DNC Media Spead Fake News About DeSantis Kids Mask “Confrontation”

Freedomist Curator March 3, 2022

In a video that showed current Florida Governor Ron DeSantis we can see the governor telling the kids behind him that they no longer need to wear a mask, that masks don’t really offer much protections, but if you feel better wearing the mask you should feel free to do so. A couple of kids took their masks off and smiled with relief, and a few more didn’t. From that exchange, the DNC media is claiming DeSantis was bullying kids to try to force them to take their masks off.

CBS, NBC Lie About Ron DeSantis ‘Admonishing’ Kids to Take Off Masks

From www.newsbusters.org
2022-03-02 23:39:00
Kevin Tober
Excerpt:

On Wednesday, CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News both took issue with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis letting a group of High School students know that it is ok for them to take their masks off while they were standing behind him during a public event at the University of Florida.

CBS Evening News was the first to whine about DeSantis’s comments, with correspondent Mola Lenghi claiming the Governor “admonished” the students. Despite that claim, CBS then played Governor DeSantis’s comments which only proved it wasn’t “admonishing”:

You do not have to wear those masks. I mean, please take them off. Honestly, it’s not doing anything, and we got to stop with this COVID theater. So if you want to wear it, fine, but this is ridiculous.

Meanwhile, NBC expressed much of the same tone with correspondent Miguel Almaguer announced that the road back to the “new normal” after the COVID pandemic “may be bumpy with the country still divided.”

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US States Looking at TikTok’s Mental Health Threat to Kids

Mark Clouse March 3, 2022

States Attorneys Generals are looking at TikTok as a potential source of mental health threat to our children and are sending messages to TikTok that it is being investigated to discern whether or not TikTok is a mental health risk to our youth.

TikTok is under investigation by a group of state attorneys general

From mashable.com
2022-03-02 21:35:02

Excerpt:

It’s been almost 6 months since Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen made headlines sharing internal company documents showing that its company Instagram was having a negative impact on young people’s mental health.

Now, a group of state attorneys general want to turn their attention to TikTok.

In a statement shared on Wednesday, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced the launch of a “nationwide investigation” into TikTok in order to find out if the mobile video sharing company is “designing, operating, and promoting its social media platform to children, teens, and young adults in a manner that causes or exacerbates physical and mental health harms.”

SEE ALSO:

What social media platforms are doing to stop misinformation about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

As part of the investigation, state attorneys general around the country will look into whether TikTok violated consumer protections laws and “put the public at risk.” They will also investigate whether the company knew about any potential harms its platform was causing to young people.

TikTok provided Mashable with a response to the investigation announcement.

“We care deeply about building an experience that helps to protect and support the well-being of our community, and appreciate that the state attorneys general are focusing on the safety of younger users,” said a TikTok spokesperson. “We look forward to providing information on the many safety and privacy protections we have for teens.”

According to AG Healey’s press release, the investigation will focus on TikTok’s strategies and methods to boost engagement among its young user base. This includes techniques used to increase engagement and the amount of time users spend on the app.

When Facebook whistleblower Haugen went public last year, documents showed that the company, now known as Meta, knew about the mental health harm its platform could cause young people. Meta even scrapped plans of making a specific Instagram platform for kids as…

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Ford Electric and Ford Gas are in the Works

Parker Davis March 3, 2022

Ford is looking to create two nearly separate ‘businesses’ under one Ford label that would each focus on one type of automobile propulsion, gas turbine or electric. The biggest friction in the move could come from dealers, who might find their lives more complicated dealing with two separate ‘businesses,’ and might find themselves choosing between Ford Electric and Ford Gas.

Ford’s ‘radical’ move to split the company won’t come easy

From www.theverge.com
2022-03-02 21:17:01
Andrew J. Hawkins
Excerpt:

Ford’s decision to divide its business into two separate entities — one focused on electric vehicles and the other on gas-powered ones — may complicate the automaker’s efforts to recruit top-tier talent and could risk upsetting dealers already chafing under the shift to electrification, auto analysts and experts said Wednesday.

Ford also isn’t going so far as to spin off its EV divisions entirely as a separate business, as some major Wall Street banks advised. The automaker’s share price could suffer as a result. By keeping both divisions within the same company, Ford is entwining their fates. Ford Model E won’t succeed without the profits and efficiencies created under Ford Blue.

On Wednesday, Ford announced the creation of two separate entities: Ford Model E, focused on electric vehicles and advanced software projects; and Ford Blue, dedicated to the automaker’s much larger and profitable internal combustion engine vehicles. It’s a bold move — one analyst…

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Bill Barr Says Epstein Did It

Ivo Fysic March 3, 2022

Donald J Trump’s alleged right-hand man in the Justice Department, former Attorney General Bill Barr, has come out and claimed he saw the now-missing Epstein tapes and there is no evidence of any foul play. He didn’t quite say “Epstein did it,” but he seemed to want to shut the door on asking the question at all.

Bill Barr Says He’s Seen The Video And That There Was No Evidence Of Foul Play In Epstein’s Death

From dailycaller.com
2022-03-03 15:43:15
Gretchen Clayson
Excerpt:

Former Attorney General Bill Barr stated there was no evidence of foul play in the death of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, despite a “perfect storm of failures” that led many people to suspect otherwise.

“The New York City medical examiner had conducted an autopsy and ruled that Epstein killed himself by hanging,” Barr wrote in his new book, “One Damn Thing After Another,” according to a Fox News piece published Wednesday. “Other evidence also pointed to suicide, but it was the video evidence that confirmed the medical examiner’s finding.”

“I personally reviewed that video footage. It shows conclusively that between the time Epstein was locked in his cell at 7:49 p.m. on the night of August 9 and the time he was discovered the next morning at 6:30 a.m., no one entered his tier,” Barr added.

Disturbing evidence in Jeffrey Epstein’s autopsy points to his murder: pathologist https://t.co/WDgxS8A8O8 pic.twitter.com/IZEKYd5zkE

— New York Post (@nypost) <a…