Shelly Fan

2 weeks ago | singularityhub.com | Shelly Fan

At the age of 45, Casey Harrell lost his voice to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Also called Lou Gehrig’s disease, the disorder eats away at muscle-controlling nerves in the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms begin with weakening muscles, uncontrollable twitching, and difficulty swallowing. Eventually patients lose control of muscles in the tongue, throat, and lips, robbing them of their ability to speak.

2 weeks ago | singularityhub.com | Shelly Fan

A majestic bobcat sauntered through the Florida coastal forests. Nearby, diamondback rattlesnakes slithered across muddy terrain, alligator “swamp puppies” patrolled the waters, and venomous spiders waited for prey. Meanwhile, trekkers explored the grand oaks, slapped away mosquitos, and looked for bats and ospreys. This may sound like an episode of Planet Earth—but there were no cameras. Instead, scientists collected microscopic snippets of airborne DNA with a vacuum.

3 weeks ago | singularityhub.com | Shelly Fan

We constantly make decisions. Some seem simple: I booked dinner at a new restaurant, but I’m hungry now. Should I grab a snack and risk losing my appetite or wait until later for a satisfying meal—in other words, what choice is likely more rewarding? Dopamine neurons inside the brain track these decisions and their outcomes. If you regret a choice, you’ll likely make a different one next time. This is called reinforcement learning, and it helps the brain continuously adjust to change.

3 weeks ago | singularityhub.com | Shelly Fan

“Your cancer has spread” is terrifying news to hear. But it’s unfortunately common for people with colorectal cancer. The cancer is the third most common tumor globally and accounted for 930,000 deaths in 2020. One estimate suggests the disease could take up to 1.6 million lives in 2040. Patients often die after colorectal cancer spreads to the liver, which makes removal extremely difficult. After the cancer metastasizes, treatment options are limited.

4 weeks ago | singularityhub.com | Shelly Fan

It’s now possible to treat inherited blood diseases, such as sickle cell disease, with gene editing. Blood stem cells are extracted from the patient, modified, and infused back into their bone marrow—often requiring a step that kills off existing damaged cells to make space. While effective, these kinds of therapies are expensive, intense, and tedious, requiring the collection of sufficient numbers of blood stem cells. An alternative is to directly edit these cells in the body.