Universities made the trendy world — now they need to survive it

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A small trial of a one-time gene remedy for Huntington’s illness has proven that the remedy can markedly sluggish the inherited mind dysfunction’s development. Of 29 individuals within the early phases of Huntington’s, those that obtained a excessive dose of the remedy instantly into their brains noticed the illness sluggish by 75% over three years, in contrast with these in a management group. The unpublished trial outcomes look promising, however ought to be considered as preliminary in such a small group of members, says neurologist Sandra Kostyk.

Nature | 5 min learn

Reference: uniQure press release

A contemporary provide of immune cells referred to as microglia within the mind might at some point deal with circumstances from ultra-rare genetic problems to Alzheimer’s. These cells filter dangerous substances and overseas invaders, and prune unneeded neuronal connections throughout improvement. Malfunctioning microglia have been implicated in illness. As such, changing them with wholesome cells would possibly make an efficient remedy. Some trials in mice have proven that the swap can work, however doing so is difficult — most microglia reside within the inaccessible central nervous system, and the defective cells should be cleared out to make manner for wholesome cells.

Nature | 6 min learn

The future of upper training

Universities are dealing with basic questions on what training is for, the way it ought to be delivered and the way it ought to be funded. This week, in a particular challenge, Nature probes the challenges confronted by increased training — drawing on examples from the world over to evaluate how the sector can adapt to outlive. (Nature | Full assortment)

Features & opinion

As the final survivors of the Holocaust strategy the tip of their lives, a rising variety of museums try to take care of the urgency of survivors’ testimony utilizing artificial-intelligence (AI) programs that give guests the possibility to converse with digital approximations of actual individuals. AI researcher Benjamin Charles Germain Lee explores how such systems resonate with his own memories of his grandmother, who survived the Birkenau focus camp, and whether or not they can do justice to the complicated narratives of individuals’s lives.

Longreads | 19 min read

An AI chatbot shakes issues up at a analysis institute in A press launch from simply earlier than the singularity.

Nature | 6 min learn

Tick-borne encephalitis virus can infect the nervous system and trigger life-threatening sickness — but it surely wasn’t identified how the virus enters the mind. Now, researchers have discovered that it attaches to a receptor referred to as LRP8, which is widespread on the floor of mind cells. Binding to this receptor causes the cell to absorb the protein, and with it, the virus. In mice, blocking this receptor prevented an infection, which the workforce say might result in a viable drug for the at present untreatable illness.

Nature Podcast | 33 min pay attention

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US President Donald Trump and well being secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr have claimed that autism is an “epidemic” and is linked to moms taking Tylenol (paracetamol) whereas pregnant. Nature reporter Helen Pearson spoke to researchers, autism teams and autistic individuals who say Trump and his workforce’s statements ignore what’s already identified in regards to the situation. She explains the nuanced actuality behind the well-documented rise in autism diagnoses and the causes of the situation.

Nature | 4 min watch

Today Leif Penguinson is having a go at white-water rafting in a gorge on the River Kaveri in Mekedatu, India. Can you find the penguin?

The reply shall be in Monday’s e-mail, all because of Briefing photograph editor and penguin wrangler Tom Houghton.

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