Category Archives: Transhuman News

After Hunts unusual flight home, Shanidar Z made it safely to the University of Cambridge for digital scanning and will eventually be transferred back to northern Iraq to feature as the centerpiece of a new museum. The skeleton could be up to 90,000 years old, but its DNA will be used to further understanding of modern human historyby analyzing and statistically comparing the ancient DNA against the genomes of modern populations, to demonstrate when different population groups parted company, Hunt says.

Once a population splits into two or more reproductively isolated groups, the genes in each new population will evolve gradually in new directions as a result of random gene mutations as well as exposure to various environmental factors that prevent successful reproductioncoming into contact with new diseases, for instance.

Its through work like this that scientists have been able to chart the migration of different populations of humans and Neanderthal groups around the planet over the last 70,000 years, and also bust some myths about their habits and migration patterns. We now know that humans and Neanderthals interbred quite commonly, and that Neanderthal communities were likely more caring and intelligent than weve previously given them credit for. According to Hunt, evidence of burial rituals at the Shanidar Cave suggests memory, and that they looked after their injured and sick members.

Separately, analysis of ancient DNA against the modern human genome has revealed that we still carry some genetic sequences that were present in people living millennia ago. Such analysis even helped to identify a new subspecies of humans 12 years agothis discovery of Denisovans, believed to have existed across Asia around 400,000 years ago, demonstrates how much is still unknown about our human origins.

At the Francis Crick Institute in London, a major project is underway to create a reliable biobank of ancient human DNA to help build on such discoveries. Population geneticist Pontus Skoglund is leading the 1.7 million ($2.1 million) project, which will sequence 1,000 ancient British genomes by gathering data from skeletal samples from the past 5,000 years, with help from around 100 other UK institutions. From the database he hopes to determine how human genetics have changed over millennia in response to factors such as infectious diseases and changes in climate, diet, and migration.

Part of that is looking for genetic traits that may have been advantageous for past humans during earlier epidemics, he says. There is no doubt we can learn something from this in our understanding of how we manage contemporary disease and other outbreaks.

Skoglunds team sources their samples from archaeological digs around the country or from museums with existing collections. His favorite bones to sequence are the ones found in our inner ear: These are particularly good at preserving DNA, since they are the least susceptible to microbial invasion and other factors that could cause DNA to deteriorate, he explains.

The bones are ground down to be run through a sequencing machine in much the same way as any DNA sample. But the ancient DNA requires specialist protocolsmodern DNA has very long fragments that are basically intact, whereas with ancient DNA we only get on average around 35 percent of the total base pairs.

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What the DNA of Ancient Humans Reveals About Pandemics - WIRED

Do you remember your science lessons from school? Do you remember learning about chromosomes? We were taught that there are two chromosomes X and Y and that each of us has a set of chromosomes. Individuals with XX (or two X chromosomes) are female, while those with XY (or one X and one Y chromosome) are male. A recently published study has now revealed that many men can actually carry an extra chromosome.The study was published in the journal Genetics in Medicine. It included data on more than 207,000 men. It was discovered that of the participants, over 350 had an extra chromosome, either X or Y.Very few of these men knew about this abnormality or had it mentioned in their medical records.

Talking to the Guardian Dr Ken Ong, co-senior author of the study who is a pediatric endocrinologist in the Medical Research Council (MRC) Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge says that they were surprised at how common this abnormality is.

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The National Human Genome Research Institute reported that previous estimations indicated that approximately 100 to 200 men out of every 100,000 are XXY. An estimated 18 to 100 out of every 100,000 were believed to be XYY.

Having an extra chromosome can raise the risk of certain health conditions. Those having Klinefelter syndrome (KS) or an extra X chromosome are linked to reproductive problems like infertility and delayed puberty. According to the National Human Genome Research Institute, XXY men are four times more likely than XY men to have late puberty.

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On the other hand, with an extra Y chromosome or 47,XYY syndrome does not come with reproductive problems but was linked to learning disabilities, including delay in acquiring speech and motor skills. According to the Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center, they also have unusually low muscle tone.

Additionally, both XXY and XYY men have a higher rate of type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis (plaque buildup in the artery walls), pulmonary embolism (blood clots in the veins and lung arteries), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (which obstructs airflow to the lungs).

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In their report, the authors questioned: "why both KS and 47,XYY should show striking similarities in conferring substantially higher risks for many diseases in common." As per them, future research is needed to examine the reasons causing this elevated risk.

(With inputs from agencies)

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For the men out there: Do you fall sick often? This might be why - WION

You might normally associate fiery red hair with people of Irish descent, but the unique trait can also be found throughout a number of diverse ethnic backgrounds.

MORE: The Aboriginal Australians: The First Inhabitants Of Australia Were Black People

Africans and people from the Caribbean have also been known to don bright red hair due to a gene mutation in the melanocortin 1 receptor commonly referred to as MC1R. The special gene regulates melanin in skin pigmentation, the eyes, and hair. However, the distinctive trait only occurs in an individual when both parents carry the unique receptive gene. Scientists believe that the distinct gene mutation is more common in climates where there is little to no harmful sun exposure.

According to the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), about 35% of people in Ireland and Scotland carry the MC1R receptor and roughly 10% have red hair. Globally, only 1 to 2% of the population have red hair, which is why its quite rare to see Black people with the unique feature, but they do exist.

Barry Starr, a geneticist from Stanford University told Vice that Red hair carriers in the Caribbean and Africa are for the most part due to migration or gene flow.

The last evidence I saw, was that there was a strong selection pressure against changes in the MC1R gene that caused it not to work in regions with a lot of sunlightthink Africa, Dr. Star explained. This probably has to do with the pale skin that comes with red hair. This means that even if an MC1R mutation did spontaneously appear previously in African populations, as it did multiple times in Europe, it did not spread and eventually petered out.

The red hair trait may have developed from historical interactions between Europeans and Africans in the Caribbean in the 1600s. Catholic Irish people were sent to the West Indies as indentured servants during that time period.

This might also explain why you occasionally see red hair on a black Caribbean person who has two black parents. By chance alone, it might be that they are both carrying a European mutation which has come together in their child, Dr. George Busby an expert from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, added to the publication.

Additionally, red hair can also occur in Black people as a result of Albinism, a genetic condition that reduces melanin in the skin. The rare trait usually occurs in people who haverufous Albinism, which, in addition to red hair, can cause an individual to have golden or bronze skin as well as blue eyes.

SEE ALSO:

The History Of Black People With Blue Eyes

Irelands Earliest Inhabitants Were Black People With Blue Eyes

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The Origins Of Black People With Red Hair - NewsOne

Globally, the Covid-19 pandemic has led to a profound shift in how organisations develop, invest, and deploy technologies to meet their net-zero climate commitments. Companies must consume less energy and use it more efficiently to reduce carbon emissions. Although this sounds easy, we all know its difficult, especially if there is no correct data. Todays digital technologies, data, and artificial intelligence have the power to accelerate businesses sustainability transformation. Aveva has played a central role in helping companies develop energy-related roadmaps and solutions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions while still meeting the worlds energy demands.

The technology sector presents opportunities because we can deploy at scale and connect different companies and different operations through data, which then opens up new insights that can be used to solve sustainability challenges. For example, to address the current climate crisis, we must implement technology that we already have while also innovating to develop new solutions to help reach the internationally agreed goals, said Lisa Wee, vice president Sustainability at Aveva.

Aveva PI WorldAt the recently held Aveva PI World Amsterdam 2022, the company demonstrated how contextualised data is an essential component to sustainable growth in sectors such as power, manufacturing, and infrastructure. Focusing on primarily creating a space for customers and partners to share how they are transforming their organisations and industries, the four-day event, which took place from May 16-19, 2022, gave an overview of the new developments and solutions. Furthermore, the learning labs offered hands-on technical practice in cloud and data environments.

In the keynote speech, Peter Herweck, chief executive officer of Aveva, discussed how the companys information-led innovation provides a proven and flexible path to industrial growth at a critical time when the business landscape has been reshaped by turbulence and risk. Industries are facing complex challenges in a turbulent market environment. Business leaders face increased sustainability compliance requirements, retiring workforces, and the ever-present demand for efficiency, agility and resilience. Raw data in itself is not immediately useful or even understandable, but when you analyse and contextualise it into insightful information, thats when you can help the industrial world to innovate at scale on the road to a net-zero future.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), industries have committed to dramatically reducing emissions in the next 25 years. With digitalisation driving sustainability, Aveva aims to help accelerate the organisations to reach their goals. We spark industrial ingenuity by connecting people with trusted information and insights and also help drive responsible use of the worlds resources, he added.

Fostering sustainable use of dataThe event also witnessed Amish Sabharwal, executive vice president of Engineering at Aveva and Gregg Le Blanc, senior vice president of Information Management at Aveva, outline the companys integrated portfolio and elaborate on the product roadmap for 2022 and beyond.Le Blanc pointed out that 50 per cent of data was created in the last two years and how this will continue even in 2024. Meanwhile, according to the Seagate Rethink Data Survey, IDC, 2020, while 56 per cent of data is captured through operations, 68 per cent of data goes unleveraged. With half a century of experience and over 20,000 customers, Aveva believes it is uniquely placed to deliver a complete digital thread purpose built for the industry.

Industrial companies struggle to share timely, accurate data across their global ecosystem. And organisations that share data externally with its partners generate 3X more measurable economic benefit than those that do not, said Le Blanc.We launched Aveva Data Hub earlier this year, a software-as-a-service offering that enables businesses to gain operational efficiencies, boost sustainability and drive digital transformation with data sharing capabilities. Data is the accelerator of the connected economy, and our open and agnostic solutions leverage customers existing investments and enable a connected community across the ecosystem.

Driving digital transformationWith digital twins gaining momentum currently, thanks to rapidly evolving simulation and modelling capabilities, better interoperability and IoT sensors, and more available tools and computing infrastructure, Gartner predicts that the digital twin market will cross the chasm in 2026 to reach $183bn in revenue by 2031. For clarity, a digital twin is a virtual presentation of an object or system that serves as the real-time digital counterpart of a physical object or a process.Digital twin recreates a physical asset in digital form by capturing, organising and contextualising data in a quantifiable form. When these models are used to forecast future scenarios, they can predict potential problems, improve asset reliability, reduce costs and resource use, and minimise carbon emissions, commented Sabharwal.

During the event, Aveva announced that its engineering information management solutions, the core of its digital twin, now deliver more significant time and value gains for capital projects and operations. In addition, its customers can now experience a complete digital twin within just 60 days, even in the absence of existing models. Through two new partnerships, Avevas engineering information management solutions are now integrated with Assais integrated document management system, and data is captured by NavVis wearable mobile mapping systems. As a result, laser scans can be delivered much faster than the existing stationary scanners.Digital twins have never been more important. They will play a central role in uncovering opportunities to unlock ingenuity and achieve the efficiency and sustainability gains needed to enable net-zero carbon emissions, added Sabharwal.

Customer success storiesWith over 2500 delegates joining the event in person and online, more than 70 companies in 12 industry verticals shared their experience of the data-led digital transformation. The guest speaker at the event, Dr Catherine Green, associate professor at the Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics at Oxford University, explains how data helped develop the Oxford vaccine. Despite lockdowns and remote working, we were able to develop and bring to market the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine in eight months as compared to eight years before the outbreak of Covid-19, thanks to improved data collection, advanced analytics and distributed trials and manufacturing, she commented.

We are at the transition point where you can bring new tech to old problems. And data is going to change everything that we do here. Its going to change our ability to analyse the problem, deliver the solution, and communicate with the healthcare sector and with the public.Michael Dean, global director of Kelloggs Power, Controls and Information System, explained how the companys platform investment has yielded benefits in terms of scale, consistency, standardisation and collaboration. Kelloggs has 50 manufacturing sites worldwide, and installing Aveva PI System has helped leverage, analyse and manage energy data in its factories, creating a digital ecosystem that benchmarked usage and identified opportunities for savings, observed Dean. As a result, we saved $3.3m in a single year, identified an additional $1.8m in rebates, and optimised abatement measures.

Meanwhile, Jan Broekman, vice president of Global Engineering and Smart Modularisation, at McDermott, offered insight into how digital solutions integrated multiple inputs to build a sustainable capital project, including real-time commodity prices and low-carbon design.

The event also witnessed an intriguing panel discussion on digital agility and resiliency. Sophie Borgne, senior vice president Digital Power Line of Business at Schneider Electric, explained how they have cut carbon emissions by 25 per cent. We have been looking at sustainability for a long time, and earlier, we lacked real-time data and insight on how to improve operational efficiency. Our partnership with Aveva helped deploy the right tools, which increased the visibility and real-time information to help operators make the right decisions. As a result, we reduced electricity use by 25 per cent, and also we cut overall carbon emission by 25 per cent. Meanwhile, Dean stated the explicit goals of Kelloggs for 2030 and 2050. We look at how to manufacture products more sustainably. For instance, we leveraged the Aveva PI System, which significantly reduced our energy consumption.

Jacky Wright, the chief digital officer at Microsoft, talked about how data accelerates sustainability progress. A cloud-based, data-driven approach enabled us to assess, select and build new technologies, and reduce our scope 1, scope 2, and, ultimately, scope 3 emissions across our business. She further explained how data analytics has supported smart buildings, investment in renewable energy to power data centres, and driven strategic decisions to pay for the removal of 1.3 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Whats nextAveva envisions optimising the entire industrial ecosystem, connecting people with industrial intelligent-as-a-service. We apply the advanced, proven technologies to drive our customers success and enable them to achieve more. Going forward, we are building blocks for the Aveva industrial metaverse using Aveva XR to solve many different customers use cases in operations engineering, said Andrew McCloskey, CTO and EVP R&D in the closing note.

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Here's how Aveva is unlocking the value of industrial data - Gulf Business