News: A volunteer in New Zealand has become the first to perform DNA editing to lower blood cholesterol, a step that could herald the widespread use of the technology to prevent heart attacks.
How did they do that?: The experiment involved injecting a version of the gene editing tool CRISPR to modify a DNA character in a patient’s liver cells. According to the company, that small edit is enough to permanently lower a person’s level of “bad” LDL cholesterol, the fat molecule that clogs arteries and hardens over time.
Why is it important?: While the patient has a genetic risk for extremely high cholesterol and already has heart disease, the company believes the same technique could eventually be used to prevent cardiovascular disease. In the 10 years since scientists developed CRISPR, it’s only been tested on people with rare diseases and as part of a exploratory trial. If successful, it could signal broader use of gene editing to prevent common conditions. Read full story.
—Antonio Regalado
This is the first “poetic” image of the James Webb Space Telescope of the universe
The first stunning image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been released, depicting thousands of galaxies, some dating back more than 13 billion years.
The image released by President Biden last night shows a small portion of the sky — about the size of a grain of sand the length of an arm’s length — significantly enhanced by the remarkable light-gathering power of JWST. The more distant galaxies date to shortly after the birth of the universe, and have been magnified into the view of a giant galaxy in the foreground. Read full story.
More images to come later today — make sure to come backechnologyreview.com to see them.
—Jonathan O’Callaghan
Inside a radical new project to democratize AI
Inside France’s National Center for Scientific Research, on the outskirts of Paris, a supercomputer spent 117 days creating a new large language model (LLM) named BLOOM that its creators hope. represents a radical difference from the way AI is normally developed.
Unlike other well-known large language models, BLOOM is designed to be as transparent as possible, with researchers sharing details about the data it was trained on in hopes of making lasting changes. in the AI development culture — and help democratize access to cutting-edge AI technology for researchers around the world. Read full story.
—Melissa Heikkilä
Things to read
I scoured the internet to find you today’s most interesting/important/scary/fascinating stories about tech.
