Hasil untuk "Human evolution"

Esteban Real, Sherry Moore, Andrew Selle et al.

Neural networks have proven effective at solving difficult problems but designing their architectures can be challenging, even for image classification problems alone. Our goal is to minimize human participation, so we employ evolutionary algorithms to discover such networks automatically. Despite significant computational requirements, we show that it is now possible to evolve models with accuracies within the range of those published in the last year. Specifically, we employ simple evolutionary techniques at unprecedented scales to discover models for the CIFAR-10 and CIFAR-100 datasets, starting from trivial initial conditions and reaching accuracies of 94.6% (95.6% for ensemble) and 77.0%, respectively. To do this, we use novel and intuitive mutation operators that navigate large search spaces; we stress that no human participation is required once evolution starts and that the output is a fully-trained model. Throughout this work, we place special emphasis on the repeatability of results, the variability in the outcomes and the computational requirements.

Richard Cordaux, M. Batzer

Juan M. Vaquerizas, S. Kummerfeld, S. Teichmann et al.

S. Gangestad, J. Simpson

H. Kaplan, K. Hill, J. Lancaster et al.

R. Trivers

Emily R. Davenport, J. Sanders, Se Jin Song et al.

The trillions of microbes living in the gut—the gut microbiota—play an important role in human biology and disease. While much has been done to explore its diversity, a full understanding of our microbiomes demands an evolutionary perspective. In this review, we compare microbiomes from human populations, placing them in the context of microbes from humanity’s near and distant animal relatives. We discuss potential mechanisms to generate host-specific microbiome configurations and the consequences of disrupting those configurations. Finally, we propose that this broader phylogenetic perspective is useful for understanding the mechanisms underlying human–microbiome interactions.

S. Murata, Y. Takahama, M. Kasahara et al.

Quentin Welniarz, I. Dusart, E. Roze

Samuel Degregori, Melissa B. Manus, Evan B. Qu et al.

ABSTRACT The human facial skin microbiome is remarkably similar across all people sampled to date, dominated by facultative anaerobe Cutibacterium. The origin of this genus is unknown, with no close relatives currently described from samples of primate skin. This apparent human-specific bacterial taxon could reflect the unique nature of human skin, which is significantly more oily than that of our closest primate relatives. However, previous studies have not sampled the facial skin microbiome of our closest primates. Here, we profiled the skin microbiome of zoo-housed chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla), alongside their human care staff, using both 16S and shotgun sequencing. We showed that facial skin microbiomes differ significantly across host species, with humans having the lowest diversity and the most unique community among the three species. We were unable to find a close relative of Cutibacterium on either chimpanzee or gorilla facial skin, consistent with human specificity. Hominid skin microbiome functional profiles were more functionally similar compared to their taxonomic profiles. However, we still found notable functional differences, including lower proportions of fatty acid biosynthesis in humans, consistent with microbes’ reliance on host-derived lipids. Our study highlights the uniqueness of the human facial skin microbiome and supports a horizontal acquisition of its dominant resident from a yet unknown source.IMPORTANCEUnderstanding how and why human skin bacteria differ from our closest animal relatives provides crucial insights into human evolution and health. While we have known that human facial skin hosts distinct bacteria—particularly Cutibacterium acnes—we did not know if these bacteria and their associated genes were also present on the faces of our closest relatives, chimpanzees and gorillas. Our study shows that human facial skin hosts markedly different bacteria than other primates, with C. acnes being uniquely abundant on human faces. This finding suggests that this key bacterial species may have adapted specifically to human skin, which produces more oils than other primates.

Yonggang Dai, Hongya Wang, Wei Wang et al.

Abstract Cell death modalities play crucial roles in cancer evolution and therapeutic responses. Among various mechanisms, necrosis by sodium overload (NECSO) is a newly recognized process initiated by disruptions in Na+ homeostasis, manifesting through osmotic stress, energy depletion, and immunogenic damage. The TRPM4 gene, which encodes a calcium-activated and sodium-selective ion channel, has surfaced as a significant regulator connecting ionic metabolism with oncogenic pathways. Given these insights, our study aims to comprehensively analyze the expression and implications of TRPM4 across diverse cancer types to elucidate its potential as a biomarker and therapeutic target. We conducted a systematic investigation of TRPM4 across 33 cancer types defined by the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), integrating transcriptomic, proteomic, epigenetic, and clinical datasets from TCGA, GTEx, and Human Protein Atlas (HPA). We employed differential expression analyses, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, and survival analyses, alongside mutation and methylation assessments. Furthermore, we explored TRPM4’s immunological aspects through immune infiltration analyses. Our analyses revealed significant TRPM4 overexpression in several tumors, such as bladder (BLCA), cholangiocarcinoma (CHOL), and ovarian cancer (OV), whilst being downregulated in others like kidney clear cell carcinoma (KIRC) and lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). Notably, TRPM4 expression correlated with overall survival, disease-specific survival, and progression-free interval, highlighting its prognostic value. Furthermore, promoter methylation and mutation patterns elucidated the mechanisms underlying TRPM4 dysregulation, and immune infiltration analyses suggested its involvement in tumor immune evasion. This investigation highlights TRPM4’s dual role in mediating sodium-induced cell death and modulating the tumor microenvironment, proposing it as a potential biomarker for cancer diagnosis and prognosis, though its association with demographic and pathological characteristics appears limited and tumor-type specific. Given its import in various malignancies and potential therapeutic implications through ion channel-focused strategies, TRPM4 warrants further exploration as a target for precision oncology.

Danilo Petrassi

The rapid evolution of conversational artificial intelligence (AI) has sparked an ongoing debate regarding its ability to replicate, or even experience, human emotions. While early conversational chatbots such as Joseph Weizenbaum’s ELIZA (1966) relied on simple pattern recognition to create the illusion of understanding, modern AI systems like ChatGPT generate highly sophisticated, contextually appropriate responses that can convincingly mimic emotional engagement. This paper draws upon cinematic reflections, such as Spike Jonze’s Her (2013), to offer a critical examination of the question of whether AI is capable of genuine emotional experience or merely simulating such experiences through advanced language modelling. Utilising a theoretical framework grounded in philosophy, psychology and communication studies, this research critically assesses AI’s capacity for emotional experience, positing that while chatbots may convincingly simulate human emotional expression, they lack the subjective element that is integral to genuine emotional experience. This distinction, nowadays, has profound implications for human-AI interaction, ethics, and our understanding of artificial intelligence’s humanity in contemporary society.

Naru Zhou, Xin Wang, Yi Xia et al.

Abstract Background Oocyte maturation is a critical process responsible for supporting preimplantation embryo development and full development to term. Understanding oocyte gene expression is relevant given the unique molecular mechanism present in this gamete. Comparative transcriptome analysis across species offers a powerful approach to uncover conserved and species-specific genes involved in the molecular regulation of oocyte maturation throughout evolution. Results Transcriptome analysis identified 4,625, 3,824, 4,972 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the germinal vesicle (GV) and metaphase II (MII) stage in human, porcine and mouse oocytes respectively. These DEGs showed dynamic changes associated with oocyte maturation. Functional enrichment analysis revealed that the DEGs in all three species were mainly involved in DNA replication, cell cycle and redox regulation. Comparative transcriptome analysis identified 551 conserved DEGs in the three species with significant enrichment in mitochondria and mitochondrial intima. Conclusions This study provides a systematic comparative analysis of oocyte meiotic maturation in humans, pigs and mice identifying both conserved and species-specific patterns during oocyte meiosis. Our findings also implied that the selection of oocyte expressed genes among these three species could form a basis for further exploring their functional roles in human oocyte maturation.

A. Hendry, K. Gotanda, E. Svensson

Grażyna Liczbińska, Szymon Antosik, Marek Brabec et al.

Abstract This study examines whether exposure to ambient temperature in nineteenth-century urban space affected the ratio of boys to girls at birth. Furthermore, we investigate the details of temperature effects timing upon sex ratio at birth. The research included 66,009 individual births, aggregated in subsequent months of births for the years 1847–1900, i.e. 33,922 boys and 32,087 girls. The statistical modelling of the probability of a girl being born is based on logistic GAM with penalized splines and automatically selected complexity. Our research emphasizes the significant effect of temperature in the year of conception: the higher the temperature was, the smaller probability of a girl being born was observed. There were also several significant temperature lags before conception and during pregnancy. Our findings indicate that in the past, ambient temperature, similar to psychological stress, hunger, malnutrition, and social and economic factors, influenced the viability of a foetus. Research on the effects of climate on the sex ratio in historical populations may allow for a better understanding of the relationship between environmental factors and reproduction, especially concerning historical populations since due to some cultural limitations, they were more prone to stronger environmental stressors than currently.

Li Ning, Susannah C. R. Maidment, Li Daqing et al.

Abstract Stegosaurs are a minor but iconic clade of ornithischian dinosaurs, yet due to a poor fossil record, their early evolution is poorly understood. Here, we describe a new stegosaur, Baiyinosaurus baojiensis, gen. et sp. nov. from the Middle Jurassic Wangjiashan Formation of the Pingchuan District, Baiyin City, Gansu Province, China. The frontal of Baiyinosaurus possesses a unique characteristic among Stegosauria: it is wider than long and contributes to both the medial and anterior margins of the supratemporal fenestra. The character combinations of dorsal vertebrae of Baiyinosaurus are also different to other stegosaurs: its neural arches are not greatly elongated, its parapophyses are well developed, and its neural spines are axially expanded in lateral. The features of the frontal and vertebrae of Baiyinosaurus are reminiscent of basally branching thyreophorans, indicating that Baiyinosaurus is transitional in morphology between early thyreophorans and early-diverging stegosaurs. Systematic analysis shows that Baiyinosaurus is an early-diverging stegosaur.

L. Damiano, P. Dumouchel

Social robotics entertains a particular relationship with anthropomorphism, which it neither sees as a cognitive error, nor as a sign of immaturity. Rather it considers that this common human tendency, which is hypothesized to have evolved because it favored cooperation among early humans, can be used today to facilitate social interactions between humans and a new type of cooperative and interactive agents – social robots. This approach leads social robotics to focus research on the engineering of robots that activate anthropomorphic projections in users. The objective is to give robots “social presence” and “social behaviors” that are sufficiently credible for human users to engage in comfortable and potentially long-lasting relations with these machines. This choice of ‘applied anthropomorphism’ as a research methodology exposes the artifacts produced by social robotics to ethical condemnation: social robots are judged to be a “cheating” technology, as they generate in users the illusion of reciprocal social and affective relations. This article takes position in this debate, not only developing a series of arguments relevant to philosophy of mind, cognitive sciences, and robotic AI, but also asking what social robotics can teach us about anthropomorphism. On this basis, we propose a theoretical perspective that characterizes anthropomorphism as a basic mechanism of interaction, and rebuts the ethical reflections that a priori condemns “anthropomorphism-based” social robots. To address the relevant ethical issues, we promote a critical experimentally based ethical approach to social robotics, “synthetic ethics,” which aims at allowing humans to use social robots for two main goals: self-knowledge and moral growth.

Jiacheng XIE, Ziying ZHENG, Xuewen WANG et al.

The key to promoting intelligent construction is to integrate the digital twin technology form the operation mode of virtual and real integration. And the industrial metaverse based on digital twin is the future development direction of intelligent mining face. The concept of virtual and real integration operation mode of fully-mechanized mining face based on virtual reality-digital twin-cyber physical system-industrial metaverse is proposed. It has six connotation characteristics, such as display and off-line simulation, monitoring and auxiliary operation, online simulation and preview. It is an evolution process from low-level display simulation to high-level deep integration function. Finally, it have four abilities : the ability of reproduction mapping from real to virtual precision, the ability of reasoning and forecasting decision-making in virtual iteration, the ability of reproduction control from virtual to real, the ability of seamless cooperation between virtual and real human-computer, and the ability of lean management. The four capabilities of industrial metaverse and the key technologies to realize industrial metaverse are analyzed.Based on the existing monitoring, decision-making and control capabilities, AR remote assistance technology that can strengthen the cooperation ability between field operators and remote operators, robot cooperation technology that can strengthen the safety of operators, and virtual human technology that can use AI-driven operation in virtual space are integrated to build a hydraulic support adjusting experimental system based on industrial metaveise,and preliminary understanding of the application of industrial metaverse in coal mining.

Qianqiao Liu, Beth M. Stadtmueller

Abstract Immunoglobulin (Ig) A functions as monomeric IgA in the serum and Secretory (S) IgA in mucosal secretions. Host IgA Fc receptors (FcαRs), including human FcαR1/CD89, mediate IgA effector functions; however, human pathogen Streptococcus pyogenes has evolved surface-protein virulence factors, including M4, that also engage the CD89-binding site on IgA. Despite human mucosa serving as a reservoir for pathogens, SIgA interactions with CD89 and M4 remain poorly understood. Here we report cryo-EM structures of M4-SIgA and CD89-SIgA complexes, which unexpectedly reveal different SIgA-binding stoichiometry for M4 and CD89. Structural data, supporting experiments, and modeling indicate that copies of SIgA bound to S. pyogenes M4 will adopt similar orientations on the bacterium surface and leave one host FcαR binding site open. Results suggest unappreciated functional consequences associated with SIgA binding to host and bacterial FcαRs relevant to understanding host-microbe co-evolution, IgA effector functions and improving the outcomes of group A Streptococcus infection.

Andrew H. Moeller, Yingying Li, E. Mpoudi Ngolé et al.