GAVNet Collaborative Curation

Over the past few decades, researchers have gathered evidence suggesting that tensegrity is a key design principle in nature, as it applies to a number of biological systems, including bodies, organs, cells and molecules. Tensegrity structures could thus also prove valuable for the development of bio-inspired robots, as it may enable the creation of systems that closely resemble those observed in living organisms.

We need to take a hard look at what parts of the world are critical to the security of the West and rethink how to make its alliances work again. The following geopolitical reality is still true today: The United States has to ensure that no power hostile to its interests can assert exclusive control over Eurasia, including the European rimland. Today preventing China's domination of Eurasia should be our overarching strategic objective, and to achieve this we need to focus on three fundamentals: 1) Prioritize Eurasia and stop draining our military resources in secondary theaters; 2) invest in allies who see their interests directly aligned with ours and are willing to assume the attendant risk; and 3) decouple U.S. strategic industries from China's and redefine the rules of international trade to ensure equitable competition.

In hierarchical relationships-between employer and employee, parent and child, or teacher and student-social rank is understood and bolstered by social norms. In contrast, symmetric relations-between friends, neighbors, classmates, or coworkers- are equitable. One party can't claim dominance over the other. But when ambiguity persists about who holds the upper hand, the likelihood of conflict increases. Animal research yields parallel findings, suggesting that when two animals of the same species are similarly sized, conflict is more likely than when there is a size disparity.

Globally, the USA has recorded the highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths,1 and still needs to simultaneously respond to another looming potential pandemic. The rise in multidrug-resistant bacterial infections that are undetected, undiagnosed, and increasingly untreatable threatens the health of people in the USA and globally. In 2020 and beyond, we cannot afford to ignore antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

The article describes this dynamic, in which the rise of China plays a central role, and argues that the dynamic between state geoeconomic measures and corporate statecraft will define how far the global economy will depart from the current market orientation and how much it will be subject to national strategic choices.

"What is Skin in the Game? The phrase is often mistaken for one-sided incentives: the promise of a bonus will make someone work harder for you. For the central attribute is symmetry: the balancing of incentives and disincentives, people should also penalized if something for which they are responsible goes wrong and hurts others: he or she who wants a share of the benefits needs to also share some of the risks."

The phenomenon where a mutation overrides another genetic defect is known as genetic suppression and it is not unique to yeasts. Genome sequencing studies have revealed individuals who remain healthy despite carrying catastrophic inborn errors whose usual harmful effects are somehow masked by other unknown changes in their genomes.

Yet another government agency has asked me how to get people to trust AI. No one should trust AI. AI is not a peer that we need to allow to make mistakes sometimes but tolerate anyway. AI is a corporate product. If corporations make understandable mistakes they can be let off the hook, but if they whether with negligence or intent produce faulty products that do harm they must be held to account.

The COVID-19 syndemic is entering its most dangerous phase. There is a mounting breakdown of trust. Not only between politicians and the public. But also among politicians and publics with science and scientists. This breach of faith with science is far more threatening. For the public is slowly turning against those who have sought to guide the political response to COVID-19. As countries face a resurgence of coronavirus transmission, scientific advisers are recommending further restrictions to our liberties. There is now a palpable public reaction against these mandates. Whereas in March people were ready to stay at home to protect their health and health systems, the growing economic emergency that has followed national lockdowns is leading politicians to resist similar measures being applied once again. And it is scientists who are targets for public opprobrium. "Britain is in the grip of mad science", wrote one commentator last week. A UK Government minister was quoted as saying that "[Boris] Johnson has been totally captured by [Chris] Whitty and [Patrick] Vallance". "Boris is now a prisoner of the scientists", ran a newspaper headline. Robert Dingwall, a professor of sociology, wrote "we have found ourselves in the han

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has underscored the critical need to better understand the human immune system and how to unleash its power to develop vaccines and therapeutics. Much of our knowledge of the immune system has accrued from studies in mice, yet vaccines and drugs that work effectively in mice do not always translate into humans. Pulendran and Davis review recent technological advances that have facilitated the study of the immune system in humans. They discuss new insights and how these can affect the development of drugs and vaccines in the modern era.

The coronavirus pandemic, climate change and space exploration are among the issues that Biden will influence if he wins the upcoming US election.