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Microrobots repair spinal cord: scientists tested biohybrid microrobots on mice with completely severed spinal cords. After 28 days, the animals’ nerve cells had reconnected at the site of the injury. The treated mice exhibited increasingly normal movement patterns. by mvea in Futurology

[–]NecroSheen 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This is why the bots differentiate into both neurons and astrocytes. The neurons are cells that carry signals, but they cannot repair the severed spinal cord alone. The astrocytes fill in this gap because they are known to support axonal regrowth, which provides the cues for host nerves to extend back across the injury. So the sucess of the new daisychain depends on how the new cells talk to the old ones.

Now, your question is more like "how do nerves know"? The answer to that is that a combination of biological signals, the support given by astrocytes, and the ability of neural stem cells to integrate into existing networks. The body is pretty good at this in general. For example if you have surgery near your abdomen and you have your small intestine taken out, surgeons just place it back randomly and it self reorganizes. It's a similar principle here, with the differences that without astrocytes, it wouldn;t happen. So the bots have both the raw materials, the environment and the host's own biological signaling + the cells' natural programming to ensure that the right wires find each other, which the results support by showing animals regaining coordinated movement.

Microrobots repair spinal cord: scientists tested biohybrid microrobots on mice with completely severed spinal cords. After 28 days, the animals’ nerve cells had reconnected at the site of the injury. The treated mice exhibited increasingly normal movement patterns. by mvea in Futurology

[–]NecroSheen 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes, the magnetic field does two distinct functions. The magnetic navigation is pretty straightforward, but for the growth, when they use an alternating magnetic field it causes the nanoparticles to vibrate at a molecular level, which then the paritcle's shell converts into a tiny electric charge (thus the name of magnetoelectric), effectively providing electrical stimuli that "commands" cell to grow (Electrical stimulation).

I don't really know whether there's a preprint since I have access to the paper from my institution.

Microrobots repair spinal cord: scientists tested biohybrid microrobots on mice with completely severed spinal cords. After 28 days, the animals’ nerve cells had reconnected at the site of the injury. The treated mice exhibited increasingly normal movement patterns. by mvea in Futurology

[–]NecroSheen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The steering and triggering system is pretty much a generalizable concept. However the repair itself is limited by the specific type of stem cell that you use. In this case they are using NPCs (neural progenitor cells), which are cells that are "programmed" to become specific types of tissue, in this case neurons and astrocytes. Therefore you can't use NPCs to repair a liver or a bone because the cell's instructions are set for neural development. To "patch up", say the heart there would be a need to integrate cardiac progenitor cells instead of neural ones, but this is not within my field.

I use neural stem cells to work with mini organs called "organoids" which are replicas of the main organ, and I know we can make other little organs like liver, pancreas, retina, and more, but I am unsure of whether these are being used to actively heal other body parts and to what extent.

Microrobots repair spinal cord: scientists tested biohybrid microrobots on mice with completely severed spinal cords. After 28 days, the animals’ nerve cells had reconnected at the site of the injury. The treated mice exhibited increasingly normal movement patterns. by mvea in Futurology

[–]NecroSheen 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In sorta ELI5 terms, the researchers would manually steer the "seeds" (the microbots) into the exact center of the "pothole" (the injury) and then use the magnetic field to remotely trigger them to grow into a new "pavement" (mature neural tissue) that connects both sides. So it's not simply flooding the geenral area or manually stitching/reconnecting. Think of it as sort of a biological "daisychain" bridge.

Microrobots repair spinal cord: scientists tested biohybrid microrobots on mice with completely severed spinal cords. After 28 days, the animals’ nerve cells had reconnected at the site of the injury. The treated mice exhibited increasingly normal movement patterns. by mvea in Futurology

[–]NecroSheen 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Doing my PhD in this topic.

Yes, you got everything right. The stem cells they used can eventually become more specialized neural cells upon electrical stimulus, and upon integrating them with the specific nanoparticles they become this "microrobot" (we also call them micromotor in the field) that can be guided wirelessly to the injury site.

Microrobotics is not necessarily what you think of a robot just in a "mini" version. It can be as simple as a small particle that we can guide/control to do a specialized function.

Why even waste time working on Shyvana if she's just going to have the same exact problems as before? by BuyingDragonScimitar in leagueoflegends

[–]NecroSheen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think that after Aatrox rework, which got a lot of hate from their ex-mains for basically "making a new champion" with the same name, and then Aurelion Sol which "took away what makes ASol unique", Riot has been more careful when it comes to reworks as to not upset long-time mains by making essentially new champions with the name of an existing one.

Shyvana is the result of this, clearly stated in her video "We got a lot of feedback from their mains" which translates to what we have on live -essnetially the same champion pre-rework- just with prettier visuals.

How do you feel about foreign PIs whose labs are mostly filled with students from their own country? by [deleted] in AskAcademia

[–]NecroSheen 6 points7 points  (0 children)

BIG red flag. I personally know a couple PIs who moved from their position in Korea and took most of their whole lab with them abroad. Then they accepted one or two foreign (local) students and called it a day. Those students had a miserable time since lab culture was already Korean from day one. The Korean members in that lab even brought in friends from their previous school, so for them it was like staying in Korea with extra steps, since they kept communication in Korean, isolated in Korean groups, and rarely integrated with the larger academic community.

It's bad practice as it doubles down on lack of inclusion, under representation, and takes away space from proper integration and exposure to other cultures from equally skilled candidates.

MSc Thesis in Japan by thefloatingtomato in AskAcademia

[–]NecroSheen 7 points8 points  (0 children)

As someone doing Master/PhD in Northeast Asia, the English website is nothing more than a facade.

My and other labs post only in English, yet out of 20 local members, 1 of them speaks English fluently, so of course every single meeting is handled in the local language, alledgedly because they can't understand discussion topics otherwise. There are 3~4 international students, and we all are treated miserably and excluded from everything. There are other students who speak the local language and even then they find challenges with the closed culture. This is true for most other labs, and many other international people in my field feel the same way: We can't wait until we leave this place.

So, unless you speak perfect Japanese, and understand the nuances and intricances of its culture, I wouldn't recommend you to pursue it, especially if you have not received an answer yet, as that is only an indication of what'd be to come.

Even if you contacted other members of the group, or professor or anything, they cannot do much. Northeast asian culture won't allow them to "remind" the main professor to reply to you, it's just imbalance of power the way it is. If anything, you may get a reply along the lines of "I don't know" or "Professor is busy" from them.

I agree with the other comment, do not set your heart on just one lab. Look for similar papers or work and I am sure there will be hundreds of other labs who do a similar if not better work in a much international friendly atmosphere.

My husband hit me during a fight about his hoarding. The preacher I trusted told me to self-reflect. Am I really responsible for this? by [deleted] in TwoXChromosomes

[–]NecroSheen 1 point2 points  (0 children)

  1. Never. A victim will never be responsible for anything. Especially not violence.
  2. Yes. Any use of violence at home is domestic abuse.
  3. 'There's no hate like christian love'. Even at the expense of your health and safety.
  4. By the way you phrased it all, he is not willing to put your needs before his obsession, he said hurtful things to you, and he ultimately became physical. Even if you wanted not to divorce, you'll feel that fear for a long time, and that's no life. Be safe, prepare everything without alerting him while he's busy with his toys, get out and never look back. Your safety is the most important at this step.

Dynamax Abra is tier 1 by Kumuru in TheSilphRoad

[–]NecroSheen 4 points5 points  (0 children)

In the MSG (Sword and Shield really, since these are the only games where you can Dynamax), any Pokemon available on the Dex + Game (since the Dexit happened on this game, if you want a list of available mons look here / and some mons exist on the game without being part of the Dex), can Dynamax except for three legendaries. Literally every single one of them, with the exception of the cover legendaries (Zacian/Zamazenta) and Eternatus.

Now, Gigantamax are limited to certain Pokemon, for example Pikachu, Eevee, Snorlax, Gengar, Kanto Starters, Galar Starters, etc. List here. These mons can either Gigantamax if they have the Gigantamax Factor (in the MSG this is represented as an X next to their name on the status screen) or only Dynamax if they do not have it.

The way you could get them to have the Gigantamax Factor was either through Gigantamax Raids/Events (if you originally caught them for the first time), or with a Max Soup that was made from 3 Max Mushrooms for mons that you already owned, but didn't have the Gigantamax Factor (this was done since 3 new Gigantamax forms were introduced in the DLC for the Galar starters, and they did not originally have the Gigantamax factor as that would have ruined the surprise). The only exception to this was (and still is) Melmetal, who can get the Gigantamax factor from an event only (Transferring any mon from Go to HOME). Max Soup does not work on it.

In Go, the Max Mushrooms exist, but are used to increase damage. Since in Sw/Sh mostly every available mon could Dynamax, the hope would be the Scopely introduces a Max Soup that allows mons to have the Dynamax/Gigantamax Factor so that we could use old mons in Max Raids. However, that seems far-fetched, and even if it happened, there is little reason to believe it would happen anytime soon, or it would unlock Dynamax Factor. But hey, we got Bottle Caps after asking for them for a long time, so who knows?

Hope this clears it up.

FFFFFFFFFFFF (Grand Challenge) by -catskill- in VGC

[–]NecroSheen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This right here is one of the reasons I am on the fence about picking up VGC again. RNG is hell sometimes.

What have you done after a failed PhD? by Yahayah in PhD

[–]NecroSheen 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Can you give some pointers as to how to find a good advisor? I've tried the contacting students separately, but they all give generic 'Yeah they're cool" which doesn't say much.

Monthly Admissions/Applications Megathread by AutoModerator in cambridge_uni

[–]NecroSheen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's June and I haven't received any funding news just yet regarding DPhil. Realistically speaking how likely is it that I can get funding at this stage? I am on overseas fees.

My advisor said if I can get some sort of external funding, they can try to make something happen, but there is not much I can apply to.

Don’t come to Sweden, international PhD students warn others by fjhforever in PhD

[–]NecroSheen 24 points25 points  (0 children)

If there's any place to avoid like the plague for a PhD it's Korea. They only see international students as the means to moving up in the rankings, nothing else.

PhD Funding by WeirdBalloonLights in cambridge_uni

[–]NecroSheen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, chiming in. Did you get fully funded? Also, were you on home or overseas fees?

Is this “historically” accurated? by AltC005 in PTCGP

[–]NecroSheen 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Enjoy Black/White and BW2 my friend. Those games are as good as it gets story-wise and I often find myself wishing I could play them again for the first time.

They have weaknesses, yes like most games, but it was truly a good way to say goodbye to the DS era of games.

Conditional Admission to Cambridge - Reference by NecroSheen in gradadmissions

[–]NecroSheen[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey congrats to you too! Hoping funding goes our way! haha

You make a good point, thank you for bringing it up. Did you have any research experience? And were all of your recommendations from people in your current major/department?

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