A new AI tool to decode DNA, a medical marvel and a rebel lipstick vine

单集文稿 ...

• 00:09

  For Scientific American Science Quickly, I'm Kendra Pure Lewis in for Rachel Feldman.

• 00:14

  You're listening to our Weekly Science News Roundup.

• 00:21

  First up, a new AI model could help expand our understanding of genetics.

• 00:26

  To get more insight into this research, I spoke with Tanya Lewis,

• 00:29

  Senior Health and Medicine Desk Editor here at Siam.

• 00:32

  Here's that conversation.

• 00:34

  Thanks for joining us today.

• 00:35

  Of course, anytime.

• 00:36

  So a massive study came out on Wednesday in the journal Nature from Google researchers who have said that using their AI model,

• 00:43

  which they call Alpha Genome, that they can predict the function of certain chunks of DNA.

• 00:47

  And I know most people at this point know that it's like the building blocks of life.

• 00:52

  But what does that really mean?

• 00:53

  And what are some of the gaps in our knowledge of DNA?

• 00:56

  Right.

• 00:57

  So DNA, as you said, it is kind of like the blueprint for life.

• 01:00

  Every cell in our bodies has this long genetic code that consists of basically four letters,

• 01:07

  so ATG and C, the nucleotides.

• 01:09

  And then these nucleotides or letters bind together in what are called base pairs.

• 01:14

  And it's the order of those base pairs that really determines the code for every single protein in our bodies.

• 01:21

  And these are the proteins that perform all the vital functions of our cells and also things that go wrong when we have disease.

• 全部文稿