biology Archives

Meta’s protein-folding AI reminds us it’s not just a metaverse firm

Meta has unveiled a new protein-folding AI that could be revolutionary for science and the development of new medicines.

Facebook, as the company was known before changing its name, has always been seen as a leader in AI. The popular open-source framework PyTorch was Facebook’s creation and earlier this year Meta became a founding member of a foundation aiming to drive the adoption of AI.

In its pursuit to become a leader in the metaverse, changing its very company...

2 November 2022 | Applications

DeepMind releases AlphaFold database of nearly all human protein structures

British artificial intelligence giant DeepMind has released a database of nearly all human protein structures that it amassed as part of its AlphaFold program.

Last year, the organisers of the biennial Critical Assessment of protein Structure Prediction (CASP) recognised AlphaFold as a solution to the grand challenge of figuring out what shapes proteins fold into.

Professor John Moult, Co-founder and Chair of CASP, University of Maryland, said:

“We have been...

23 July 2021 | Healthcare

Transhumanism: AI could figure out how to make humans live forever

During a panel discussion on transhumanism at this year’s MWC, one expert predicted AI could figure out how to make a human live forever.

‘If You're Under 50, You'll Live Forever: Hello Transhumanism’ was the name of the session and featured Alex Rodriguez Vitello of the World Economic Forum and Stephen Dunne of Telefonica-owned innovation facility Alpha.

Transhumanism is the idea that humans can evolve beyond their current physical and mental limitations using...

28 February 2019 | Healthcare

Virtually Brainy: AI wires itself to navigate like mammals

Researchers have built an AI with virtual brain cells that wires itself to navigate an environment much like mammals do in nature. Fully understanding the ‘internal GPS’ used by humans and other mammals to navigate from point A to B has eluded neuroscientists for decades. By analysing a new AI, which developed ‘grid cells’ similar to our brains, researchers believe we could be closer than ever. The new AI was designed by a team from Google DeepMind and University College London to...