Two Bidens.

A single vaccine.

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1. Chinese scientists have developed a robot with a lab-grown artificial brain that can be taught to perform various tasks. The brain-on-chip technology developed by researchers at Tianjin University and the Southern University of Science and Technology combines a brain organoid – a tissue derived from human stem cells – with a neural interface chip to power the robot and teach it to avoid obstacles and grip objects. The technology is an emerging branch of brain-computer interfaces (BCI), which aims to combine the brain’s electrical signals with external computing power and which China has made a priority. It is “the world’s first open-source brain-on-chip intelligent complex information interaction system” and could lead to the development of brain-like computing, according to Tianjin University. (Source: scmp.com)

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2. Prion diseases lead to rapid neuro-degeneration and death and are caused by misshapen versions of the prion protein in the brain. There are currently no treatments, but researchers from the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have developed an approach that could one day be used to turn off the gene encoding this protein throughout the brain to treat or even prevent prion disease. In a paper published in yesterday’s Science, the team describes their technology: a set of molecular tools that are delivered to the brain and adds a chemical tag to the gene for the prion protein to prevent the protein from being produced by cells. Unlike gene editing, this “epigenetic” editing does not modify the underlying DNA sequence, but it should switch the gene off permanently, which means that this could be a one-time treatment. Research in animals suggests that the prion protein isn’t necessary in a healthy adult, so epigenetic editing that silences the gene for this protein could be an effective approach for treating prion diseases. (Sources: broadinstitute.org, science.org)

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3. A single vaccine has been shown to protect people from both SARS-CoV-2 and influenza viruses — and with a higher effectiveness than vaccines that target one or the other, the pharmaceutical company Moderna has announced. Moderna, which is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said earlier this month that it had successfully completed phase-III clinical trials for the drug, which — like the company’s pioneering COVID-19 vaccines — is based on mRNA. In a statement to its investors, Moderna said that the vaccine was more effective at providing immunity to adults over the age of 50 than competing flu and COVID-19 shots. Moderna is now planning to seek approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to bring the vaccine to market. (Source: nature.com)

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4. Amy Howe:

In a major ruling, the Supreme Court on Friday cut back sharply on the power of federal agencies to interpret the laws they administer and ruled that courts should rely on their own interpretation of ambiguous laws. The decision will likely have far-reaching effects across the country, from environmental regulation to healthcare costs.

By a vote of 6-3, the justices overruled their landmark 1984 decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, which gave rise to the doctrine known as the Chevron doctrine. Under that doctrine, if Congress has not directly addressed the question at the center of a dispute, a court was required to uphold the agency’s interpretation of the statute as long as it was reasonable. But in a 35-page ruling by Chief Justice John Roberts, the justices rejected that doctrine, calling it “fundamentally misguided.”