In this week’s edition of The Prototype, we look at how too much reliance on AI assistants could make it harder to think, a company building bioengineered arteries, the role viruses play in Alzheimer’s and more. You can sign up to get The Prototype in your inbox here.
New AI tools are slowly becoming ubiquitous, being added to the software and hardware we use every day (sometimes whether we like it or not). But if we’re using artificial intelligence to perform tasks, search for information and solve problems, what does that mean for the intelligence we’re born with?
To figure this out, a team of researchers conducted a study involving 666 individuals ages 17 and up, representing a diverse population. It first evaluated the extent to which each of them made use of AI tools, then tested their critical thinking skills. The results of the study, which were published in the journal Societies, found that those who used AI tools a lot showed worse critical thinking abilities than those who didn’t use them often or at all. Whether someone used AI tools was a bigger predictor of a person’s thinking skills than any other factor, including educational attainment.
The reason for this is a phenomenon called “cognitive offloading” – where people’s thinking and problem-solving are essentially delegated. Frequent cognitive offloading reduces a person’s ability to independently think and solve problems. “This relationship underscores the dual-edged nature of AI technology,” the study authors wrote. “While it enhances efficiency and convenience, it inadvertently fosters dependence, which can compromise critical thinking skills over time.”
These findings are consistent with other studies that have shown a similar negative impact from AI tools on critical thinking skills. The authors note, however, that other studies show AI tools can be beneficial when they complement critical thinking, rather than offloading it. “Future research should explore strategies to integrate AI tools in ways that enhance rather than hinder cognitive engagement,” they wrote. “Ensuring that the next generation is equipped with the skills necessary to navigate an increasingly complex digital landscape.”
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Bioengineering Off-The-Shelf Arteries For Trauma Patients
Every year, thousands of Americans receive traumatic injuries that damage the arteries that crucially carry blood to their limbs. When these occur, patients basically have three options, Laura Niklason, CEO of regenerative medicine startup Humacyte, told me: they can have a vein grafted from another part of their body, which takes extra time and causes additional trauma; the surgeon can replace the artery with a synthetic plastic one, which creates a high risk of infection; or the limb can be amputated.
Niklason has a fourth option: her company has developed a bioengineered artery called Symvess which can be surgically implanted in a patient’s body, helping to both preserve the limb and reduce risk of infection. Symvess is derived from human donor cells that are grown in a lab on a degradable scaffold, in batches of 200 at a time. Over time, the cells recreate the physical structure of a blood vessel. Once that’s complete, the living cells are then processed away, leaving the artery structure behind, which can then be implanted in a new patient without risk of rejection. Cells in the patient’s body then occupy the implant, essentially regenerating a new artery.
Last month, Symvess was approved by the FDA for use in patients with traumatic injuries. That approval was based on studies that showed that the product, which has been implanted in over 600 patients so far, is significantly less likely to cause infection or lead to limb amputation compared to conventional synthetic arteries made from plastic.
For its next steps, the company will be working with Medicare and private insurers to ensure that they will pay for transplant procedures using Symvess. It’s also conducting studies to use Symvess with patients who have kidney dialysis and patients who have pulmonary arterial hypertension. It’s also developing a new, smaller version of its product that could potentially be used for heart bypass patients.
“This is truly a first-of-its-kind technology, and the FDA had to see a lot of data before they could get comfortable and say yes,” said Niklason. “So I’m very glad to be here.”
DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK: INACTIVE VIRUSES MAY CAUSE NEURODEGENERATION
It’s long been known that repeated head injuries can lead to neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and CTE. But it wasn’t clear exactly how that happened. New research suggests the answer may be dormant viruses, particularly herpes simplex 1, which is found in the brains of over 80% of the population. These findings were reached by growing small tissue models of the brain, some with the herpes virus and some without, which were then struck repeatedly with a piston to mimic concussion.
The study, which was published in Science Signalling, found that the brain tissues with the virus developed signs of Alzheimer’s disease, while those without did not, and that the damage was markedly increased with repeated blows. The researchers plan to conduct future studies that explore whether exposure to antiviral or anti-inflammatory drugs shortly after an injury could help prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s.
FINAL FRONTIER: WATER-BASED PROPULSION TEST
Japanese startup Pale Blue announced it has signed a deal with Italy-based company D-Orbit to conduct two demonstrations in-orbit of its new ion thruster, which allows satellites both to maneuver and to take themselves out of orbit at the end of their life. Pale Blue’s thruster uses water as a propellant, which potentially offers a cleaner and more sustainable fuel for small satellites.
WHAT ELSE I WROTE THIS WEEK
In my other newsletter, InnovationRx, my colleague Amy Feldman and I covered a number of healthcare stories, including a drug that significantly improves survival for lung cancer patients, the controversy over pulse oximetry technology and a new study that finds that while LLMs are good at answering medical exam questions, they’re much less proficient at making diagnoses from patient conversations.
SCIENCE AND TECH TIDBITS
My colleague Jeremy Bogaisky reports that online retailers like Amazon and Alibaba are selling technology that protects drones from having their signals jammed or being remotely taken over.
Ai startup Anthropic’s new funding round will make all seven of its founders billionaires, write my colleagues Alex Konrad and Phoebe Liu.
Researchers developed a technique for refrigerating quantum computers in a way that reduces errors and could potentially make them more reliable.
Eating grapefruit can interfere with the action of several kinds of medications, including anti-anxiety drugs and statins. But new research suggests it may be possible to grow a variety of the fruit that doesn’t interfere with prescription drugs.
Biologists successfully transplanted chloroplasts–the cells that power photosynthesis– from algae into hamsters, where they successfully functioned for about three days.
Scientists at Northwestern University built a battery that uses triphenylphosphine oxide, a common industrial waste product, to store energy instead of metals.
PRO SCIENCE TIP: ADD WATER TO YOUR COFFEE BEANS
Here’s an easy tip to enhance the flavor of your morning cup of coffee: add a little water to the beans before you grind them. This isn’t a new idea–among coffee professionals this is known as the “Ross Droplet Technique”–but new research gives scientific backing to the idea. When beans are ground, they build up a static electric charge, which causes clumping and inconsistent extraction during the brewing process. In new research published in the journal Matter, scientists found that the Ross Droplet Technique reduced the static charge during grinding, producing a better-tasting coffee.
WHAT’S ENTERTAINING ME THIS WEEK
I’ve been listening to the concept album Epic by Jorge Rivera-Herrans. It’s a musical-style adaptation of The Odyssey, telling the tale of Odysseus from the end of the Trojan War until his return home to Ithaca. The album is divided into nine sagas of a few songs each, serving as chapters in the story. It’s an amazing version of one of humanity’s oldest stories, and it’s appropriate for it to be sung–that is, after all, how it was originally presented in the time of Homer. It’s streaming on most of the major music services.
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