In this week’s edition of The Prototype, we look at how to defend against conspiracy theories, drug manufacturing in space, what’s next for a Nobel Prize winner and more. You can sign up to receive Prototype in your inbox here.
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YYESTERDAYmy colleague Emily Baker-White reported that Facebook is running hundreds of fake election news ads. It is not the only social media platform that spreads misinformation. CNN reported that election officials in battleground states are being overwhelmed by lies being spread on Twitter/X, and last week NBC reported that fake election claims promoted by the site’s owner Elon Musk are seen about 200 times more often than the tweets they control. those.
Social media platforms are drowning in misinformation, and not just about the election. AI generation platforms make things worse as they hallucinate wrong answers, are taught to make deep fakes, and speed up the production of AI slop (which Wires reports now account for about half of new posts on the Medium blogging platform).
A new article in Science this week offers a possible solution to the misinformation problem: vaccination. Psychology researchers have been working on tools that can serve to “vaccinate” people against misinformation and conspiracy theories. The two-part approach combines first highlighting the possibility of misinformation and then exposing them to less convincing versions of false stories. The idea is to build a layer of skeptical immunity that makes people less susceptible to the manipulative tools that misinformation also uses.
A number of studies provide encouraging results that vaccination – and other emerging psychological tools – can prevent people from falling for fake news. There is no foolproof method yet, but researchers are cautiously optimistic about what has worked so far and hope to develop educational tools that easily provide protection against misinformation.
Stay tuned.
This startup is finding a better way to deliver drugs — in space
Commander Peggy Whitson (L) and Saudi astronaut Rayyanah Barnawi (R) working with the Eascra experiment on the ISS.
Rayyanah Barnawi/ Saudi Space Agency
Nnext mondayNASA and SpaceX are scheduled to launch a spacecraft loaded with cargo to the International Space Station. On board is a research experiment from Boston-based startup Eascra Biotech that aims to make better drug delivery systems in zero gravity.
The company was spun off from co-founder Yupeng Chen’s research into what are called Janus-based nanomaterials (JBNs). These microscopic particles have the potential to precisely deliver drugs to hard-to-reach places in the body with fewer side effects. JBNs are formed through a liquid crystallization process (like a rock candy). But gravity complicates this process because it causes sedimentation, producing uneven crystals.
But in space, “there’s no sedimentation,” co-founder and CEO Mari Anne Snow told me. “So we have more uniformity, we have more homogeneity, which leads to better structural strength and better loading capabilities.”
Last year, the company successfully produced JBN in space. The mission launching next week is taking things a step further: not just making JBNs, but loading them with medicine. One is a treatment for osteoarthritis, the other a treatment for breast cancer. Success in being able to upload them moves the company closer to commercializing its technology, Snow said.
“We are currently talking to pharmaceutical companies that need precise delivery,” she added.
DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK: THE HUMAN SPLICEOSOMA HAS BEEN MAPPED
After a decade-long effort, researchers have designed “spliceosome”— molecular machines in your cells that edit the messages embedded in your DNA to instruct your body what proteins to make. This discovery shows that its components are much more complex and specialized than previously thought. Armed with this new knowledge, scientists may be able to find new drug targets for cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. The findings were published this week in Science.
THE FINAL FRONTIER: NASA RECONNECTS WITH VOYAGER 1
of NASA Voyager 1 the probe left Earth a couple of years before I was born and left the solar system 12 years ago, but it’s still going. Earlier this month, NASA BRIEFS lost contact probe, but she was able to successfully reconnect with it a few days ago. This was not easy as troubleshooting takes time: it takes almost 23 hours for a command to be sent to Voyager, and the same amount of time to receive a response.
WHAT ELSE DO I WRITE THIS WEEK
I wrote about a new startup called Ataraxiawhich is developing AI models that can help evaluate cancers in order to help doctors make treatment decisions. In one study, his breast cancer test was up to 30% more accurate in assessing whether a patient was at high risk or low risk than the current state of the art.
In my next newsletter, InnovationRxI took a look at a new report from JP Morgan in relation to venture investments in both biopharma and medtech sectors last quarter. The report suggests that total investment for 2024 is on track to be higher than 2023 in these sectors, reversing a two-year slide.
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL TIDBITS
Researchers behind Gray Swan AI started the company after finding a major vulnerability in models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Meta. Now, they build products that help protect them.
My colleague Richad Nieva spoke with Google scientist Deepmind John Jumper in relation to his last Nobel Prize win and what the future holds for AI.
NASA and IBM are releasing an open-source weather forecasting foundation model that can be customized for various AI-powered weather and climate forecasting applications.
Researchers at MIT have developed a microparticle that can deliver two different types of cancer therapy immediately, which has the potential to expand treatment options.
The researchers built a network of connections quantum processors in a fiber optic cable spanning over 15 miles. This proof of concept could help pave the way for quantum networkingwhich potentially offers more privacy and security than current technologies.
WHAT’S ENTERTAINING ME THIS WEEK
Asylum of the soulnew album by Slow But Shirleywas released last month, 40 years after the band’s first studio album. But they still got it. Elsewhere, energetic and soulful, the songs retain the band’s core alternative rock sound while still feeling fresh. Best Songs: “High Road,” “Freak Accident,” and “You Don’t Know Me.”
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