IEEE Pulse最新文献

CRISPR-Cas9, the tool for editing genes by precisely cutting DNA and letting the body's natural DNA repair processes take over, deservedly led to Nobel prizes in 2020 for its pioneers, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna. Since their breakthroughs in 2012, the technology has moved forward in leaps and bounds, and techniques to manipulate genes that were once the realm of science fiction are becoming very much science "fact."

When the Voyager 1 spacecraft was hurtling past Neptune to points beyond, its camera swung back to snap an image of Earth, a tiny spot of light in the vast, dark expanse. That 1990 image offered a stark reminder of just how vulnerable our planet is. The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) remains focused on space exploration today, but is also providing an Earth-side role, notably in understanding climate change and how it affects human health, and in inspiring new research and products to help people cope with varying weather patterns and the threats they bring.

For over a century, scientists have known that the brain contains multiple cell types, dating back to Santiago Ramón y Cajal's earliest observations of brain tissue under a microscope. But until recently, we lacked the tools to study those cells with enough resolution to truly understand their roles.

Focused ultrasound is an early stage, noninvasive therapy with the potential to treat a range of medical conditions. Like diagnostic ultrasound, it uses sound waves above the range of human hearing. But its purpose is to interact with tissues in the body, rather than just produce images of them. In focused ultrasound, multiple, intersecting beams of high frequency sound are aimed to converge on specific targets deep within the body. There, the ultrasound energy can act in multiple ways to either modify or destroy tissue.

In The U.K., a heated debate is raging in the genetics community about a not-so-new technology and its role in public health. Cheap genetic tests to discover our ancestry have become familiar consumer products, and our genes can tell us a lot about our ancestry, so it is an appealing idea that they can tell us about our susceptibility to serious diseases. Polygenic risk scores (PRS)-generated by sequencing multiple parts of a person's DNA-are said by some to hold the key to helping people avoid everything from type 1 diabetes to cardiovascular disease and cancer. This could herald a new era of preventive medicine, and the U.K. is investing heavily, but ultimately, whether or not this a good investment is still being determined.

Until relatively recently, basic biomedical research was almost exclusively conducted with male human, animal, and cell models. It was widely assumed that the research findings and medical treatments developed from these studies could be generalized to the whole population. However, there are sex differences in key biological pathways and processes that can influence a person's disease risk, experience of symptoms, and response to treatment. The lack of female representation in preclinical biomedical research has resulted in gaps in our medical knowledge, with important consequences for women's health. In the past decade, efforts to remedy this historic exclusion have increased, but opportunities remain to make basic biomedical research more equitable, reproducible, and applicable to all people.

Emergent technologies are frequently demonized due to the fear of the unknown. The doubts and alarms are more often than not sparked by their own developers, in a secret wish to become the masters of such fears, and thereby increase their control and influence upon laymen. The story is as old as the use of fire by the sorcerers guiding most ancient rituals. Now it seems to be the turn of artificial intelligence (AI), which is being continuously tainted with quasi-apocalyptic shadows, despite its remarkable potentials for supporting highly desirable societal transformations.