AI-controlled robots could automate simple tasks, but scientists say lab work still needs a human touch. Plus, a glass tile that can store terabytes of data and how service-dog trainers are using science to boost graduation rates.
Hello Nature readers, would you like to get this Briefing in your inbox free every day? Sign up here.
Chatbot-driven lab robots are automating methods such as protein synthesis.Credit: Du Yu/Xinhua via Alamy
Small trials of autonomous laboratory systems made up of artificial-intelligence-controlled robot ‘scientists’ have sparked debate among researchers over the extent to which such technology could replace humans. These systems, which can automate simple tasks such as liquid transfer, are “going to be the future of biology”, says protein engineer Philip Romero. But the technology currently struggles with tasks that require more dexterity, and might not be useful for experiments without a clear-cut measure of progress, say others.
Nature | 6 min read
Reference: bioRxiv preprint (not peer reviewed)
Scientists have identified a giant virus that can hijack a host cell’s protein-making machinery to churn out copies of itself — the first experimental evidence that viruses can co-opt this particular system, which is typically associated with cellular life. To take control, the virus attaches a three-protein complex to the host’s ribosomes — part of the apparatus cells use to make proteins — which gives viral RNA preferential access. Researchers suggest that the virus makes this protein complex using genes that it ‘stole’ from hosts early in its evolutionary history.
Nature | 4 min read
Reference: Cell paper
Venous sinuses, large veins in the outermost layer of the brain’s protective covering, actively constrict and stretch to drain blood and cerebrospinal fluid from the brain. Researchers also found that these vessels are able to rearrange their borders to accommodate patrolling immune cells, a strange behaviour the team called ruffling. “Having studied vessels now for over 20 years, I’ve never seen a vessel do that before,” says neuroimmunologist and study co-author Dorian McGavern. “The endothelial cells are pliable in a way that is very, very unique.”
... continue reading