Makin, Simon. “Electric Bandages Heal Wounds That Won’t Close, Animal Study Shows.” Scientific American, 27 June 2023, www.scientificamerican.com/article/electric-bandages-heal-wounds-that-wont-close-animal-study-shows/.

Certain wounds persist after long periods of time. Either surgeries aren’t available, too expensive, go wrong, or antibiotics are overused and lead to resistance from bacteria. However, a “smart band aid” has been developed that adapts over time to the needs of the wound it’s covering. Still in testing, the band aid currently measures things such as temperature, pH, and glucose levels of the area it’s covering. This allows it to self-monitor the needs of the wound it’s protecting and healing, and eliminates the possibility of human error.

Another excellent new invention. This is very exciting, especially for victims of serious injuries, such as burns or infections. It seems like the testing is still far from being over, but we could see this revolutionary technology becoming available to the public in the next few years. This would simplify many cases of small bruises or infections, on animals or humans.

Denworth, Lydia. “Hearing Aids May Lower Risk of Cognitive Decline and Dementia.” Scientific American, 29 Nov. 2023, www.scientificamerican.com/article/hearing-aids-may-lower-risk-of-cognitive-decline-and-dementia/.

Hearing loss is prevalent in America; over 50% of people 50 or older have it in some form. However, for people to ask for or be offered hearing tests is rather rare. This study shows that hearing damage changes the chemistry of the brain. Some of the effects include loss of grey matter, harder working memory areas, and more depleted cognitive reserves. Hearing loss has also been tied to higher health costs and social consequences such as isolation or loneliness.

This article is interesting because it covers an area where biotech could greatly expand and  be improved upon. Hearing aids do exist, but at wildly varying prices and qualities, which determine their ability and effectiveness. Many of them are also not yet wireless; technology that is common at this point in history. There is great space to invest and develop better hearing aids for many different needs of different people.

Gruber, Karl, et al. “How Gene-Edited Insects Are Providing Food, Fuel and Waste Disposal.” Scientific American, 25 Aug. 2023, www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-gene-edited-insects-are-providing-food-fuel-and-waste-disposal/.

Companies around the world are utilising gene-editing technology to modify insects to have genes that make them suitable replacements for other things. Livestock are being replaced with large amounts of insects who have had their genes modified to be more protein-rich. In Israel, black soldier flies, rich in lipids, are being investigated as a possible replacement for agricultural oils.

Incredibly interesting advancements. One of the long-standing issues we have faced is the dilemma of finding more sustainable food sources without needing to give up meat, since they’re tasty and protein-rich. Seems like breeding insects and using them to recreate meat-like substances is as ingenious as it is practical.

Denworth, Lydia. “A-Fib–a Rapid, Irregular Heartbeat–Can Kill You, but New Tech Can Spot It.” Scientific American, 25 Jan. 2024, www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-fib-a-rapid-irregular-heartbeat-can-kill-you-but-new-tech-can-spot-it/.

A-fib is a heart condition that is often lethal. Surveys show that a quarter of cases can go undiagnosed over the course of 2 years; a long time someone can be at risk without even realising. However, research shows that certain health-related devices can help detect this disease before it strikes. Fit-bits and Apple Watches can be used to detect spikes in heart activity and lead to a diagnosis.

This is a perfect example of a perfect use of technology. Preventing people from suffering or even dying, something people from 100 or even 75 years ago wouldn’t have imagined to be possible. The risk with this tech is that such features could be locked behind paywalls if the companies that manufacture those products choose to gatekeep the detection features in the name of profits.

Guarino, Ben. “Elon Musk’s Neuralink Has Implanted Its First Chip in a Human Brain. What’s Next?” Scientific American, 31 Jan. 2024, www.scientificamerican.com/article/elon-musks-neuralink-has-implanted-its-first-chip-in-a-human-brain-whats-next/.

The first subject of testing Elon Musk’s “Neuralink” project has been implanted with a chip in his brain. The aim of the project is to enable humans to control electronic devices with their minds. They would be able to command computers and other equipment to do things without actually having physical control over a device. This is a huge leap in biotechnology and how humans interact with and use technology.

This leap is very significant to the history of biotech, but in a good or a bad way, we’ve yet to see. I think the possibilities are great, but also terrifying; the latter of which my opinion leans towards. I think connecting the brain directly to a net that they are not in control of could lead to manipulation of behaviour or even remotely assassinating someone. I see how it could be useful, especially for people who’ve lost limbs and could regain control with replacement limbs, but I also see the possibility for a lot of harm to be done.

Allessandra DiCorato  |  Broad Institute. “Search Algorithm Reveals Nearly 200 New Kinds of CRISPR Systems.” MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology, news.mit.edu/2023/search-algorithm-reveals-nearly-200-new-kinds-crispr-systems-1123. Accessed 28 Jan. 2024. 

The article “Search Algorithm Reveals Nearly 200 New Kinds of CRISPR Systems.”, is about a group of scientists at MIT at the National Institutes of Health that have developed a new search algorithm named Fast Locality Sensitive Hashing based clustering. Basically, the algorithm has already successfully identified 188 new rare CRISPR systems in bacterial genomes. This can overall lead to more studies and information on genomic data in diverse bacteria, coal mines, breweries, Antarctic lakes, and dog saliva. Overall researchers may believe that there are definitely more rare systems yet to be possibly discovered with the algorithm in many other databases as they continue. 

This study could benefit APES in many ways, such as biodiversity and agriculture. Biodiversity and agriculture could benefit from the algorithm to find new ways of making crops and farming lifestyles more sustainable for the consumer and producer, which could lead to the creation of special traits for different types of crops to have better growth rates. Microbial could benefit from the study as it tends to be in various biodiverse areas such as coal mines, Antarctica lakes, and breweries while contributing to biodiversity. 

Rabin, Roni Caryn. “Second Maryland Man to Receive an Altered Pig’s Heart Has Died.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 31 Oct. 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/10/31/health/pig-heart-transplant-faucette.html. 

The article “Second Maryland Man to Receive an Altered Pig’s Heart Has Died.” by Roni Caryn sheds light on a 58-year-old man from Maryland who received a heart transplant from a genetically modified pig. The man died about six weeks later and is the second man ever to get the transplant. The first patient passed away after two months. The transplant took part at the University of Maryland Medical Center, involving genetically modified pigs to make their organs more suitable for humans. It seems to be a solution for the lack of human donors, but it has little success and still needs to be worked on.

 Based on the information from the article, it shows negative factors to APES towards pigs and biodiversity. If or when the treatment is successful, it could kill even more pigs, leading to dramatic decreases in biodiversity due to not as many pigs being there to support ecosystems. The treatment is sustainable in the future if it is successful as it will lead to less need from human donors and having pig organs to rely on as a main source of hearts for humans. 

Anthes, Emily. “Scientists Use CRISPR to Make Chickens More Resistant to Bird Flu.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 10 Oct. 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/10/10/science/bird-flu-chickens-crispr.html. 

The article “Scientists Use CRISPR to Make Chickens More Resistant to Bird Flu” by Emily Anthes talks about CRISPR gene editing technology used on chickens to increase resistance to avian influenza. Scientists and studies in the article suggest that genetic Engineering could be an excellent tool for combating the impacts of the bird flu. The tool targets a chicken gene associated with a protein utilized with the flu virus. After the procedure, resistance of infections to lower doses of viruses but has trouble combating high doses. Overall, the potential benefits of editing these chicken genes could help put an end to the fast adapting viruses. 

The study uses APES biodiversity and disease targeting to address the avian influenza virus that could lead to the wildlife of birds, but taking out one could lead to death in many other parts of ecosystems. Genetic engineering is explored using tools to help genetically modify the chickens to increase the chicken population, provide for human consumption, and boost ecosystems. It is creating sustainable agriculture and food security for Americans. 

Kolata, Gina. “Gene Therapy Allows an 11-Year-Old Boy to Hear for the First Time.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Jan. 2024, www.nytimes.com/2024/01/23/health/deaf-gene-therapy.html. 

The article “Gene Therapy Allows an 11-Year-Old Boy to Hear for the First Time” by Kolata Gina sheds groundbreaking information about a new therapy treatment targeting a rare form of congenital deafness by replacing the gene with a functional one. The boy, 11-year-old Aissam Dam, was the first person in the U.S. to perform this special treatment for his deafness caused by a mutation in the otoferlin gene. The treatment was a success overall at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Still, the treatment did not realize the factors that would limit his whole language development due to the learning window for speech after a certain age. Today, his hearing is expected after two months of the treatment. 

The article connects with the biodiversity and genetic diversity of APES. The article does not directly mention anything about it. However, genetic diversity is a critical factor of biodiversity, and it could lead to helping or killing even more different types of cancer cells. Advancing engineering technologies that may treat or prevent more advanced diseases later on. Ethics might raise considerations for even more societal benefits, reducing potential risks. 

Jewett, Christina. “F.D.A. Issues Warning of Cancer Risk Linked to CAR-T Therapies.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Jan. 2024, www.nytimes.com/2024/01/23/health/fda-cancer-car-t-warning.html.

This article, “F.D.A. Issues Warning of Cancer Risk Linked to CAR-T Therapies.” by Christina Jewett, sheds light on exciting information on newly past warnings from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA ruled over companies that produce CAR-T, which is chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapies, helping specialized cancer treatments. The companies will have to place a warning on the box acknowledging that the treatment could lead to potential risks of secondary cancers.  The box is intended to kill cancer cells rather than cause more or spread throughout the body. Studies have shown that the box has generated roughly 25 cases of secondary cancers in CAR-T therapies. 

Based on the studies in the article, it would relate to APES because CAR-T therapies could lead to better biotechnology advancements for the therapies to make a better design that will not cause or reduce the chances of getting secondary cancers from the product. It could also lead to negative factors such as risk to public health, causing an increase in cancers for the consumer. Finally, another negative factor is medical waste due to increased medical waste when disposing of improper waste management.