BLOGS

(a) Schematics of the word INFORMATION is written on a material in binary code using magnetic recording. Red denotes magnetization pointing out of the plane and blue is magnetization pointing into the plane. (b)–(d) Time evolution of the digital magnetic recording information states simulated using micromagnetic Monte Carlo. (b) Initial random state. (c) INFORMATION is written (t = 0 s). (d) Iteration 930 (t = 1395 s) showing the degradation of information states. Reproduced with permission from M. M. Vopson and S. Lepadatu, AIP Adv. 12, 075310 (2022). Copyright 2022 AIP Publishing.

Topics: Chemistry, DNA, General Relativity, Genetics, Nucleotides, Thermodynamics

Reference: Electronic Orbitals, Chem Libre Text dot org

As Morpheus describes, “You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill; you stay in Wonderland. And I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.” Neo takes the red pill and wakes up in the real world. Source: Britannica Online: Red Pill and Blue Pill Symbolism

The simulation hypothesis is a philosophical theory in which the entire universe and our objective reality are just simulated constructs. Despite the lack of evidence, this idea is gaining traction in scientific circles as well as in the entertainment industry. Recent scientific developments in the field of information physics, such as the publication of the mass-energy-information equivalence principle, appear to support this possibility. In particular, the 2022 discovery of the second law of information dynamics (infodynamics) facilitates new and interesting research tools at the intersection between physics and information. In this article, we re-examine the second law of infodynamics and its applicability to digital information, genetic information, atomic physics, mathematical symmetries, and cosmology, and we provide scientific evidence that appears to underpin the simulated universe hypothesis.

Introduction

In 2022, a new fundamental law of physics has been proposed and demonstrated, called the second law of information dynamics or simply the second law of infodynamics.¹ Its name is an analogy to the second law of thermodynamics, which describes the time evolution of the physical entropy of an isolated system, which requires the entropy to remain constant or to increase over time. In contrast to the second law of thermodynamics, the second law of infodynamics states that the information entropy of systems containing information states must remain constant or decrease over time, reaching a certain minimum value at equilibrium. This surprising observation has massive implications for all branches of science and technology. With the ever-increasing importance of information systems such as digital information storage or biological information stored in DNA/RNA genetic sequences, this new powerful physics law offers an additional tool for examining these systems and their time evolution.² 

The second law of infodynamics and its implications for the simulated universe hypothesis, Melvin M. Vopson, AIP Advances

a, Manhattan plot of a genome-wide association study of 3,199 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 and 897,488 population controls. The dashed line indicates genome-wide significance (P = 5 × 10⁻⁸). Data were modified from the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative² (https://www.covid19hg.org/). b, Linkage disequilibrium between the index risk variant (rs35044562) and genetic variants in the 1000 Genomes Project. Red circles indicate genetic variants for which the alleles are correlated to the risk variant (r² > 0.1) and the risk alleles match the Vindija 33.19 Neanderthal genome. The core Neanderthal haplotype (r² > 0.98) is indicated by a black bar. Some individuals carry longer Neanderthal-like haplotypes. The location of the genes in the region is indicated below using standard gene symbols. The x-axis shows hg19 coordinates.

Topics: Biology, COVID-19, Genetics, Research

Abstract

A recent genetic association study¹ identified a gene cluster on chromosome 3 as a risk locus for respiratory failure after infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). A separate study (COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative)² comprising 3,199 hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and control individuals showed that this cluster is the major genetic risk factor for severe symptoms after SARS-CoV-2 infection and hospitalization. Here we show that the risk is conferred by a genomic segment of around 50 kilobases in size that is inherited from Neanderthals and is carried by around 50% of people in South Asia and around 16% of people in Europe.

Main

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused considerable morbidity and mortality and has resulted in the death of over a million people to date³. The clinical manifestations of the disease caused by the virus, SARS-CoV-2, vary widely in severity, ranging from no or mild symptoms to rapid progression to respiratory failure⁴. Early in the pandemic, it became clear that advanced age is a major risk factor, as well as being male and some co-morbidities⁵. These risk factors, however, do not fully explain why some people have no or mild symptoms whereas others have severe symptoms. Thus, genetic risk factors may have a role in disease progression. A previous study¹ identified two genomic regions that are associated with severe COVID-19: one region on chromosome 3, which contains six genes, and one region on chromosome 9 that determines ABO blood groups. Recently, a dataset was released by the COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative in which the region on chromosome 3 is the only region that is significantly associated with severe COVID-19 at the genome-wide level (Fig. 1a). The risk variant in this region confers an odds ratio for requiring hospitalization of 1.6 (95% confidence interval, 1.42–1.79) (Extended Data Fig. 1).

The genetic variants that are most associated with severe COVID-19 on chromosome 3 (45,859,651–45,909,024 (hg19)) are all in high linkage disequilibrium (LD)—that is, they are all strongly associated with each other in the population (r² > 0.98)—and span 49.4 thousand bases (kb) (Fig. 1b). This ‘core’ haplotype is furthermore in weaker linkage disequilibrium with longer haplotypes of up to 333.8 kb (r² > 0.32) (Extended Data Fig. 2). Some such long haplotypes have entered the human population by gene flow from Neanderthals or Denisovans, extinct hominins that contributed genetic variants to the ancestors of present-day humans around 40,000–60,000 years ago^6,7. We, therefore, investigated whether the haplotype may have come from Neanderthals or Denisovans.

The major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19 is inherited from Neanderthals, Hugo Zeberg, & Svante Pääbo, Nature

Image Source: Link below

Topics: Biology, DNA, Genetics

"Like Horoscope Readings!": The Scammy World of DNA Startups, Dan Robitzki, Futurism

Retired astronaut Mark Kelly (left) cracks a slight smile while posing with his identical twin brother, astronaut Scott Kelly (right). As part of NASA's Twins Study, Scott took a long trip to space, while Mark remained on Earth. Researchers then monitored how their bodies reacted to their differing environments. NASA

Topics: Astronaut, Astrophysics, Genetics, NASA, Spaceflight

NASA's Twins Study: Spaceflight changes the human body, but only temporarily
Jake Parks, Astronomy

MS. TECH; EVOLUTION: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Topics: Biology, Ethics, Genetics, Science Fiction

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Chinese scientists have put human brain genes in monkeys—and yes, they may be smarter
Antonio Regalado, MIT Technology Review