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When young donor myeloid cells are transplanted into aging mouse brains, they quickly adopt aging phenotypes. In contrast, old myeloid cells transplanted in young brains take on a more youthful aspect. These findings, which establish the brain’s local environment as the primary driver of microglial aging, are reported in a new preprint published on bioRxiv earlier this week. The work was done by a team of scientists from Calico Life Sciences, Stanford University, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and other collaborators. 

The study focused on microglia, the immune cells of the central nervous system and one of the most affected cell types in aging brains. In the preprint, which is titled “Heterochromic myeloid cell replacement reveals the local brain environment as key driver of microglia aging,” the scientists describe “a scalable, genetically modifiable system for in vivo heterochromic myeloid cell replacement” that they used to “establish the local environment, rather than cell-autonomous programming, as a primary driver of microglia aging phenotypes.” 

Full details of the methods that the scientists used are provided in the paper but essentially the team performed single-cell transcriptomics and mapping of immune cell proteins from the cortex and cerebellum of young and aged mice. This data let the team identify microglia, macrophages, granulocytes, T-cells, and natural killer cells as well as “differential gene expression patterns between cerebellar and cortical microglia at young baseline.” The team also designed a protocol for replacing the brain cells in young and aged mice that relied on bone marrow conditioning and treatment with a CSF1R inhibitor. The mice used in the study were aged three- and 18-months. 

Analysis of the cells that were isolated from the cortex and the cerebellum of mice following microglia replacement showed that “reconstituted myeloid cells adopt region-specific transcriptional, morphological, and tiling profiles characteristic of resident microglia,” they wrote. According to one set of results reported in the paper, young cells transplanted into the cortical region of older mice brains showed changes in gene expression and underwent “significant” morphological changes seen with aged cortical WT microglia including reduced surface area, shorter branches, and decreased branches. These same changes were not present in microglia in the cerebellum suggesting that “local cues within the CNS drive region-specific, aging-line changes in both gene expression and morphology.”  

Other findings reported in the paper include the identification of “STAT1-mediated signaling as one axis controlling microglia aging.” Both wild-type and transplanted microglia in aged brains showed “strongly induced interferon response” including increased upregulation of STAT1. Tests revealed blocking this protein’s signaling “prevented aging trajectories in reconstituted cells.” 

Lastly, their experiments pointed to natural killer cells as “necessary drivers of interferon signaling in aged microglia.” This is significant because the build up of this immune cell type is linked to impaired cognition in aging humans and mice. And further, its depletion in models of Alzheimer’s disease improves cognition and reduces neuroinflammation. 

Additional studies are needed to flesh out the findings reported in the current preprint. In fact, the scientists note some outstanding questions that they have related to the research. For example, the study does not explore the effects of natural cell depletion on other cell types in the brain such as oligodendrocytes. Or how myeloid cells in other brain niches respond to signals in their local environments. 

However, their work could be the basis for a new crop of studies focused on “modulators of microglial aging” as well as potential targets for developing novel age-related therapeutics.

What’s popping in science and tech?

Science just pulled a Rick Sanchez — 3D-printed skin that heals like the real thing

“Aw jeez, Rick, they’ve gone and printed skin now!”

No joke — Swedish researchers have 3D-printed artificial skin that can actually grow its own blood vessels. Think less lab coats, more Rick’s garage vibes.

Here’s how it works: they cooked up a “bio-ink” where skin cells kick back on gelatin beanbags, spitting out collagen like it’s space goo. Then they 3D-printed hydrogel strands that dissolve into tiny tunnels — basically blood-flow portals waiting to be activated.

Why it matters: regular skin grafts are like patching up a spaceship with duct tape — they hold, they work, but they’re not the perfect fix. This new tech could mean grafts that heal faster, scar less, and behave more like the real thing.

Still only in mice for now, but if science keeps leveling up like this, we’re not too far from “interdimensional wound healing.”

Martian Mud Might Be Alive: NASA’s Latest Discovery Stirs Debate

NASA’s Perseverance rover just turned over a rock—well, a whole mudstone—that could rewrite cosmic history.

Before you celebrate: no, NASA hasn’t found alien microbes waving hello. What they have found are redox reactions—the same kind of chemical energy trades that, here on Earth, microbes use to stay alive.

Joel Hurowitz, PhD—geosciences professor at Stony Brook University and lead author of the new paper—explains that these reactions could be plain chemistry. But here’s the kicker: their observations in Mars’ Bright Angel formation don’t line up neatly with a purely non-biological explanation. The iron, sulfur, and phosphorus-bearing nodules, plus those reaction fronts, might be a biosignature—a potential fingerprint of ancient life.

This discovery doesn’t close the case for life on Mars—but it sure makes the Red Planet look less dead and a lot more interesting.

Guiding drivers though the chaos (by blinding them in one eye)

I’m getting ever closer to getting Vegeta’s ‘scouter’ from Dragon Ball Z (DBZ).

Augmented Reality (AR) glasses have been a thing for a while, but Amazon is reportedly rolling out AR glasses for 100 ‘000 delivery drivers. While we’re still at least a year away from Amazon releasing these glasses — codenamed JayHawk — to the public, these glasses are supposed to have microphones, speakers, and a camera, and most importantly, a full-color display in one eye.

Now don’t get me wrong, this is pretty cool, but I’m a bit skeptical on how they’re going to implement this in an unobtrusive way for driving. We wouldn’t want driver’s half blind running into people’s mailboxes while making deliveries.

Personally, I can’t wait to LARP as a DBZ character when these do come out. Hoping Bezos comes out with a monocle version.

Another app bites the dust

A terrible day for Android users: Microsoft’s pulling the plug on Outlook Lite on October 6th, ending the app’s short 3 year lifespan.

They’ve been chopping services like this for a while now, with the slated demise of the Lens scanner app in 5 days and the removal of the Editor add-on for Edge and Chrome on October 31st (though that one is going to be built into the browsers themselves).

Microsoft want people to transition to Outlook Mobile instead, as they’re pouring all their investments into that now. I can’t say I care too much about any of this, I have an Android and I don’t think I’ve used Outlook in more than a month. If this affects you, I’m sorry, I’ll play a small violin for you.

AI think, therefore I A.M.

It seems that humanity’s learned absolutely nothing from the Terminator or Matrix movies: Chinese scientists have designed an AI that thinks like a human, mimicking the way neurons fire when humans read sentences and put together their meaning.

And it doesn’t stop there, because apparently, this method of AI reasoning is faster, doesn’t require Nvidia GPUs, takes much less energy, and can be a 100 times faster than current AI models.

Read: Australia to spend $1.1b on ‘ghost sharks’ – autonomous undersea striker vehicles

So either this revolutionizes the industry and we get fast-tracked to living under the Allied Mastercomputer (A.M, for short), or this fails and we end up paying through our teeth for increased energy bills (no, i’m not biased in my AI coverage, why would you think that?).

Smart home hacking

For all you living in your new-age smart homes, AI prompts can be used to bypass antivirus programs and give connected AI orders with you being none the wiser.

All somebody has to do is slip a prompt in an everyday message that an AI would pick up, and they can make it do things like open a ‘smart’ window, turn on appliances, even reveal your location from your phone, and there isn’t a firewall out there that can stop it.

Not all is lost, however. By making sure you’re up to date on the latest software, monitoring what messages the AI reads, or simply disabling it in places where you don’t absolutely need it, you can prevent this problem from occurring.

Or, you know, just do things manually. That would help too.

Endless? Not quite. Google defines limits on Gemini

Only very recently, we learned what usage limits were actually placed on Gemini at the various tiers. No more guesswork with vague “limited access” disclaimers and the like.

Google has at last updated its Help Center article detailing “Gemini Apps limits & upgrades for Google AI subscribers.” But hold on to your wallets.

That means, up to 100 images per day and 5 prompts per day for free, compared to the 1000 images per day and the 500 prompts per day with ‘Google AI Ultra’. (Screenshot attached above & reviews below).

“Dad, why does the frog have six legs?”

The people over at OpenAI have decided to do away with animators and rely on their AI models to make a full-length animated film: Critterz.

Why deal with those pesky humans with their ‘work-life balance’ and their ‘basic needs’ when you can (almost) remove them from the equation?

Read more: OpenAI to invest $10bn in developing its own AI chips

I say almost because Chad Nelson, the man behind the project, has stated that the animals will be based on sketches that will be provided by people to the AI, and the script and voiceovers will also be done by humans.

So, unfortunately for the OpenAI folks, they will have to deal with people for a little while longer, until they come out with fully functioning androids (so not too long).

Look Mom, I’m on Mars!

Whatsapp now lets you generate any custom AI background you could want for your video calls. This is not a new feature, Zoom, and Google Meet, have this feature. But it adds some quality of life to the most used messaging service in the world.

Before you could only use a few basic, boring preset backgrounds, but with this update, you can add a purple dog eating chicken tikka in the background if you want.

Or have your next family call from the surface of the moon.

Also read: Chinese tech giants pursue Nvidia AI chips despite Beijing’s warning

Of course, this is beneficial to people who are worried about their privacy, or the presentation of their environment. You can use simple gradients, solid colors, or even blur your background entirely.

But we used the feature to tell our editor that we’re at the beach today. Whatever you think about it, at least it’s free (looking at you, Snapchat).

Is Google Photos + Veo a good match?

Google’s ‘best’ video-generation model, Veo 3 is on Google Photos now. But the question is: does this even matter to the average user?

The new model, available on the mobile app’s Create tab, will allow users in the US to turn their still images into short video clips. Google Photos already offers video generation through its recently added “Photo to video” feature, but Google claims Veo 3 enhances that functionality with higher-quality videos.

But how significant is the difference? And what about all the Google Photos users outside of the US?

“Hey Lens: Imagine… Dragons”

So Snapchat’s unveiled their newest cash grab feature: the Imagine Lens. With this, you can create AI images with text prompts, letting you dream up whatever wacky, zany scenario you want to put yourself in. Make you a cowboy? Done. Riding a dragon? You got it.

But as with any good or even halfway mediocre thing these days, it’s paywalled behind either a Snapchat + platinum or Lens+ subscription, meaning you have to cough up $9USD a month if you want to spice up your streaks.

Only time can tell if people will use this feature regularly, or if they’ll remember it exists while swiping through the options.