dna
Why AI Isn't Ready to Tackle Our Convoluted Genomes
Like scientists, AI models don't yet have the data to properly decode it. Researchers have only scratched the surface of the messy, three dimensional knots that influence how our genomes function.Courtesy of Quanta The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. Since its molecular structure was deduced in the 1950s, DNA has been hailed by many biologists as the secret of life. They've read and studied the information stored in the DNA found in the cells of living organisms, known as their genomes, and claimed that this genetic database must be some kind of blueprint, code script, or computer. But if DNA really does harbor some greater secret about how life works, biologists have yet to find it. In fact, the human genome is less a script than a puzzle that gets harder the closer they look. Knowing the entire sequence--the order of all 3 billion or so of our DNA's chemical building blocks, nearly fully deduced by the international Human Genome Project between 1990 and 2003--hasn't helped much. That investigation showed that barely 2 percent of the human genome consists of actual genes, the information-coding sequences of DNA.
Lab-made DNA can store memory like a flash drive
The new device combines synthetic DNA and a semiconductor to create an efficient memory resistor, or'memristor.' More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. The researchers engineered synthetic DNA and integrated it with a semiconducting material to increase the storage capacity of advanced materials. Here, the internal two-dimensional structures of the synthetic DNA is visible via optical microscopy. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week.
Oldest traces of plague discovered in prehistoric teens buried in Russia
The remains of 42 hunter-gatherers show that the Black Death was already lethal 5,500 years ago. More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. Ust'Ida I Burial #33; this shared grave contained a boy (aged 12-15 years old) and a girl (aged 13-16 years old) who were found to not be closely related, and plague DNA was obtained from their remains. That they were very close in age but not biologically related, and buried in the same grave, hints at the relationship they might have had when alive. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week.
Multi-modal Transfer Learning between Biological Foundation Models
Modeling these sequences is key to understand disease mechanisms and is an active research area in computational biology. Recently, Large Language Models have shown great promise in solving certain biological tasks but current approaches are limited to a single sequence modality (DNA, RNA, or protein). Key problems in genomics intrinsically involve multiple modalities, but it remains unclear how to adapt general-purpose sequence models to those cases. In this work we propose a multi-modal model that connects DNA, RNA, and proteins by leveraging information from different pre-trained modality-specific encoders. We demonstrate its capabilities by applying it to the largely unsolved problem of predicting how multiple \rna transcript isoforms originate from the same gene (i.e.
AI model from Google's DeepMind could transform understanding of DNA
AI model from Google's DeepMind reads recipe for life in DNA An AI model developed by Google's DeepMind could transform our understanding of DNA - the complete recipe for building and running the human body - and its impact on disease and medicine discovery, according to researchers. Called AlphaGenome, the model could help scientists discover why subtle differences in our DNA put us at risk of conditions such as high blood pressure, dementia and obesity. It could also dramatically accelerate our understanding of genetic diseases and cancer. The developers of the model acknowledge it's not perfect, but experts have described it as an incredible feat and a major milestone. We see AlphaGenome as a tool for understanding what the functional elements in the genome do, which we hope will accelerate our fundamental understanding of the code of life, says Natasha Latysheva, research engineer at DeepMind.
Science sleuths think they found Leonardo da Vinci's DNA
Science sleuths think they found Leonardo da Vinci's DNA Advances in genetics might help us see what set the Renaissance man apart. The painting hangs in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Scientists are one step closer to pinpointing fragments of Leonardo da Vinci's elusive DNA . A team of researchers from the Leonardo da Vinci DNA Project analyzed samples swabbed from a red chalk drawing possibly attributed to the famed polymath, as well as letters written by one of his known cousins.