The Age of AI has also ushered in the Age of Debates About AI. And Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens and Homo Deus, and one of our foremost big-picture thinkers about the grand sweep of humanity, history and the future, is now out with Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI. Harari generally falls into the AI alarmist category, but his thinking pushes the conversation beyond the usual arguments. The book is a look at human history through the lens of how we gather and marshal information. For Harari, this is essential, because how we use--and misuse--information is central to how our history has unfolded and to our future with AI. In what Harari calls the "naïve view of information," humans have assumed that more information will necessarily lead to greater understanding and even wisdom about the world.

What is the true heart of mental healthcare -- innovation or humanity? Can virtual therapy ever replicate the profound human bonds where healing arises? As artificial intelligence and immersive technologies promise expanded access, safeguards must ensure technologies remain supplementary tools guided by providers' wisdom. Implementation requires nuance balancing efficiency and empathy. If conscious of ethical risks, perhaps AI could restore humanity by automating tasks, giving providers more time to listen. Yet no algorithm can replicate the seat of dignity within. We must ask ourselves: What future has people at its core? One where AI thoughtfully plays a collaborative role? Or where pursuit of progress leaves vulnerability behind? This commentary argues for a balanced approach thoughtfully integrating technology while retaining care's irreplaceable human essence, at the heart of this profoundly human profession. Ultimately, by nurturing innovation and humanity together, perhaps we reach new heights of empathy previously unimaginable.

Heart failure is a growing cardiovascular disease epidemic worldwide. Despite improvements in treating patients with heart failure, still many patients develop end-stage heart disease and require hospitalization, treatments with high complication rates and risk a premature death. Heart transplantation is the preferred treatment of end-stage heart failure, but there is a significant shortage of donor hearts. For this reason, researchers have been trying for decades to find an implantable mechanical pump that can take over the function of the human heart; a total artificial heart (TAH).1 Typically, a TAH is a rigid mechanical device that has two blood chambers and is actuated by a moving membrane that pushes out the blood. In 1969, the first TAH implantation in humans was performed by Denton Cooley (Texas Heart Institute, Houston, TX, USA).

Klara, the narrator of the new novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, isn't human, but understanding humans is her mission. In Klara and the Sun, the reader follows her in that mission, in a world that seems like our own in a none too distant future. Ishiguro, who was born in Japan but has lived most of his life in England, has written seven previous novels, including the Booker Prize-winning The Remains of the Day, as well as short fiction, song lyrics and screenplays. Klara and the Sun is his first novel since he received the Nobel Prize for literature in 2017. It underscores how well he deserved that prize, in its beautiful craft and prose and in its tender but unflinching sense of the human heart.

Anyone with a wet finger in the air has by now heard that Google is facing an identity crisis because of its links to the American military. To crudely summarise, Google chose not to renew its "Project Maven" contract to provide artificial intelligence (A.I) capabilities to the U.S. Department of Defense after employee dissent reached a boiling point. This is an issue for Google, as the "Do No Evil" company is currently in an arm-wrestling match with Amazon and Microsoft for some juicy Cloud and A.I government contracts worth around $10B. Rejecting such work would deprive Google of a potentially huge business; in fact, Amazon recently advertised its image recognition software "Rekognition for defense", and Microsoft has touted the fact that its cloud technology is currently used to handle classified information within every branch of the American military. Nevertheless, the nature of the company's culture means that proceeding with big defence contracts could drive A.I experts away from Google.

From faster and cheaper drug trials to fully "conscious" cities, digital replicas are changing the face and pace of innovation. This article is part of an MIT SMR initiative exploring how technology is reshaping the practice of management. Last year the world held its breath as Notre Dame Cathedral stood shrouded in flames. After the fire was extinguished, and it was revealed that the iconic cathedral was not lost, the hard work of restoration began. Until very recently, that process would have begun with a search through dusty archival blueprints to guide the intricate repair works. But in the age of the digital twin, engineers and architects were able to consult a digital model of the French cathedral -- one far more detailed and interactive than any blueprint -- which allowed them to stay true to the original structure while also incorporating new innovations in design and materials.

In vivo diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a promising technique to investigate noninvasively the fiber structures of the in vivo human heart. However, signal loss due to motions remains a persistent problem in in vivo cardiac DTI. We propose a novel motion-compensation method for investigating in vivo myocardium structures in DTI with free-breathing acquisitions. The method is based on an invertible Wavelet Scattering achieved by means of Convolutional Neural Network (WSCNN). It consists of first extracting translation-invariant wavelet scattering features from DW images acquired at different trigger delays and then mapping the fused scattering features into motion-compensated spatial DW images by performing an inverse wavelet scattering transform achieved using CNN. The results on both simulated and acquired in vivo cardiac DW images showed that the proposed WSCNN method effectively compensates for motion-induced signal loss and produces in vivo cardiac DW images with better quality and more coherent fiber structures with respect to existing methods, which makes it an interesting method for measuring correctly the diffusion properties of the in vivo human heart in DTI under free breathing.

Here's a critter that would be a showstopper in your aquarium: By layering rat heart cells over a gold skeleton, scientists have built tiny swimming artificial stingrays that can be driven and guided by light. These little ray-bots, described in the journal Science, may offer insight into building soft robotics, studying the human heart -- and perhaps even building an artificial one from scratch. Senior author Kit Parker, a Harvard bioengineer, first got the idea for these tiny ray-bots when his young daughter tried to pet a stingray at an aquarium and it quickly and gracefully evaded her hand. Parker watched the rippling body, which reminded him of the stringy cord-like trabeculated muscle on the endocardial surface of the heart, and a thought struck him: He could probably build something that moved like that. "It kinda hit me like a thunderbolt," he said.

Kevin Kit Parker wants to build a human heart. His young daughter loves the New England Aquarium in Boston. Now father's and daughter's obsessions have combined in an unlikely creation: a nickel-sized artificial stingray whose swimming is guided by light and powered by rat heart muscle cells. Incorporating advances in engineering, cell culture, genetics, and biomechanics, the "living" robot brings Parker's dream of a humanmade human heart a step closer. The stingray represents a step up from his previous effort, a robotic jellyfish, as the new robot can be maneuvered around obstacle courses with beams of light.

In April last year, the Chinese scientist announced they have successfully used CRISPR/Cas9 technology to change human embryo's genome. It sparked a worldwide discussion on designer babies. A discussion, that is still going on. The crazy and ambitious guys at DARPA are thinking how to increase the neural plasticity of the brain to increase the rate of learning "beyond normal levels", reducing the time it is needed to master foreign languages or other skills. Nowadays, even not having one arm is not a good excuse to not hit the gym.