Mambbot Project


Molecular biologist Майкл Левин proposes using a series of AI-driven experiments to search for the desired form of living tissue. On 21 августа, he released a lecture on "free lunches," where he describes Mambbot, a collaborative project that uses AI to suggest light, vibration, temperature, or chemical signals to apply to cells to search for a biobot with a specific form and function.


The concept of a "free lunch" refers to the gap between what a system provides and the effort explicitly invested in it through design, selection, or training. According to Levin, this gap defines the next experiment: what property of the system produced the result, and how can it be induced again. This idea grows out of his laboratory's long-standing work at Университете Тафтса on morphogenesis, or how cellular collectives assemble, repair, and change body shape.


In a 2021 article, the authors described ksenobots, mobile constructs made from frog embryo cells. These clusters assembled free cells into new clusters, and an algorithm selected forms that reproduced better. In work on anthrobots, adult human airway cells self-organized into mobile constructs, and in neural cultures, they accelerated the closure of damaged areas. These results provided researchers with a material in which to observe the form and function of cellular collectives after changing conditions.

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Gene Regulator Found


Researchers have discovered that the NHR-49 gene regulator in worms prevents egg cells from maturing without sperm and preserves the organism's reserve. On August 22, the journal Nature Communications published an article on how nutrition is linked to the decision to expend resources on reproduction in the roundworm C. elegans.


When the nhr-49 gene was disrupted, egg cells matured and were released without sperm, causing the organism to lose its yolk and fat reserves, and its lifespan was reduced. In C. elegans, sperm serve as a signal to initiate reproduction, and without this signal, egg cells remain in the oviduct.


A 2025 study by the same group found that sperm-free lines at 25 °C accumulated more fat and lived longer. The current article seeks to identify the molecular mechanism that maintains this waiting state, which was found to be NHR-49, a protein that regulates genes related to nutrition and fat metabolism.

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AI Research Evaluation


Authors propose evaluating AI researchers based on a trail of research decisions. On August 18, nine authors posted a framework for assessing scientific AI agents on ChemRxiv, a preprint repository. The framework's unit is the "discovery episode": a preserved sequence of hypotheses, actions, data, and revisions.


The authors suggest evaluating the entire sequence, including episodes of discovery, which record what was known before the next step, the action chosen by the agent, what was observed, and how the plan changed afterwards. For each step, the episode records the code version, instrument settings, human involvement, and safety rules.


The framework breaks down research work into three connected parts: hypothesis, execution, and interpretation. The authors advise starting with limited tasks, which have a clear goal, can be automatically evaluated, and fit within acceptable time and cost. The separate stages can then be connected into episodes and tested through independent repetition, allowing the evaluator to trace the path from decision to data and the next question, as published in ChemRxiv.

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Brain Immunity Hub

Researchers have discovered structures in the skull's bone marrow where the immune system recognizes antigens, molecular markers from the brain. On August 19, a study in Nature revealed that in mice, these immune cell clusters responded to antigens from the brain. In a glioma brain tumor model, suppressing these clusters weakened the anti-tumor immune response and reduced animal survival.


The brain is surrounded by cerebrospinal fluid, which bathes the brain and spinal cord. Channels between the brain's hard shell and the skull's bone marrow allow this fluid and its dissolved substances to reach neighboring tissue. A 2022 study traced this path and its effect on innate immune cells. The current article's authors investigated whether immune cells in the skull's bone marrow can recognize antigens from the brain.


In the back of the skull's bone marrow, the authors found clusters of B cells, which produce antibodies, T helper cells, and cells that show antigens to T cells. The B cells showed signs of germinal centers, where they are selected and mature to produce antibodies. Comparison with bone marrow from the breastbone and thigh bone, microscopy, and single-cell analysis revealed that such clusters are characteristic of the back of the skull's bone marrow.


In another experiment, mouse neurons were engineered to produce a model protein antigen to track its path. It was detected in the cerebrospinal fluid, brain membranes, and skull bone marrow; immune T and B cells recognizing this protein were activated there. The authors also injected glioma cells with the same antigen either into the brain or under the skin on the mouse's side. When the tumor was inside the brain, the reaction occurred in the skull's bone marrow, while a tumor on the side triggered a response in the inguinal lymph nodes.

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Mouse Lung Repair


Researchers found that disabling genes that transmit tension to the nucleus of connective tissue cells in mice improved lung recovery after injury. On August 18, authors published a preprint on bioRxiv about damaged mouse lungs. When they genetically disabled two genes in fibroblasts, by day 28, this group had less scarring and severely damaged tissue.


Alveoli, the air sacs where blood receives oxygen, are restored by AT2 cells after injury. Nearby alveolar fibroblasts send signals to the epithelium needed for repair. After severe damage, tissue stretching can alter their function for an extended period. To separate the action of stretching from toxic damage, authors partially removed the lung, causing the remaining tissue to stretch more.


In another experiment, they tied off a bronchus of one lobe, reducing stretching in that area. With increased stretching, fibroblasts temporarily lost signs of their normal alveolar state, while reduced stretching preserved them. The researchers had previously shown in a 2024 study that the connection between fibroblasts and epithelium after injury could lead to pathological tissue remodeling; now they checked how physical signals maintained this change. The LINC complex, including Sun1 and Sun2, transmits nuclear tension from intracellular fibers.

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Longevity Support


Aleksey Strigin called on participants in the longevity movement to regularly support strong texts from colleagues. On August 22, the author of the "Economy of Life Extension" channel asked people to spend 10-20 seconds liking or reposting when colleagues ask for help spreading their work, and to ask for such support themselves.

Strigin suggests making mutual recommendations a common practice, so that texts about aging can reach people beyond the usual circle of readers. A strong text can remain in a small channel, where it will be seen mainly by already interested subscribers. A repost shows the text to a different audience: readers trust the person sharing the link and decide whether to read further.

In Facebook, likes, comments, and reposts become signals for the feed that the service selects for each user. The Meta company, which owns Facebook, explains that one of its predictions estimates the likelihood of a repost; this prediction participates in selecting the order of posts. Strigin formulates his stake as: Attention. It is more important than money. It attracts money, talent, and other resources.

A repost associates a person's name with someone else's text. Strigin recalls that he used to be shy about making such requests. The entire community receives a new audience, and each distributor decides whether they are ready to recommend specific material. Mutual support is based on selection. A person first reads the text, then shares what they are willing to be responsible for in front of their subscribers. Repeated recommendations give strong material new audiences, if people continue to choose what they are willing to support with their name.

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Muscle Strength Boost


Researchers found that disabling the P311 gene helped damaged muscles in old mice develop 19% more strength. On August 22, in an article in npj Aging, authors described an experiment on 24-month-old mice: they disabled the P311 gene throughout the body and chemically damaged the tibialis anterior muscle.


Through 28 days after injury, this muscle developed 19% more strength than in similar old mice with P311 enabled. As muscles age, damaged areas often heal with excess collagen, forming scar tissue that hinders fiber function. The authors chose P311 because previous work linked the protein it codes to TGF-β production, a signaling molecule that promotes such tissue formation.


After injury, P311 and TGF-β levels in old muscle increased more than in young muscle. The authors first checked the tissue part of this chain: 14 days after injury, mice without P311 in muscle had less collagen and lower fibrosis-related gene activity. By 28 days, the average cross-sectional area of recovering fibers was 25% larger, and the same tibialis anterior muscle developed 19% more strength.

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Longevity Research Funding


Biogerontologist Matt Kieberlain wrote that exaggerated claims about life extension may undermine trust in data and complicate funding for aging research. Investor Carl Pfleger suggested testing this connection using historical examples. In a detailed post, Kieberlain links gerontology - the study of aging biology - to two conditions: funding for work and data that colleagues are willing to trust.


To move faster, both resources and quality science are needed, he writes. This year, Kieberlain visited the US Congress offices four times, and in three cases, his interlocutors, who had already heard about aging science, associated it with hype and "snake oil". Before discussing new research, he had to return the conversation to the question of whether the data could be trusted.


Kieberlain sees the historical cause of this concern in Sirtris, a biomedicine company that GSK announced it would acquire in 2008 for $720 million. According to Kieberlain, exaggerated expectations around Sirtris long complicated the flow of resources to aging research. Carl Pfleger, an investor in rejuvenation startups, suggests testing this connection using historical examples, citing the 1970s cancer research as a comparable case.

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Epigenetic Clocks

Мартин Йенсен proposed checking epigenetic clocks against health outcomes before measuring therapy effects. He responded to TranslAGE, a new database on epigenetic clock responses to interventions, on August 22. The database, introduced in Nature Medicine on August 21, contains 3,128 samples from 51 longitudinal studies.


The authors calculated 16 epigenetic clocks for each dataset, which estimate age-related changes or mortality risk based on DNA chemical marks. The study allows comparison of how different clocks change after medications, diets, and other interventions. Йенсен suggests comparing these shifts with patient-important outcomes, such as organ function, disease, or mortality.


He uses the COSMOS study as an example, where daily multivitamins did not significantly reduce overall cardiovascular or mortality outcomes over a median of 3.6 years in 21,442 elderly participants. Йенсен proposes an independent test to validate the clocks, where developers make predictions for a set of interventions without knowing the outcomes, and then compare the predictions with the actual data.

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Oliver Barton Releases mTOR Atlas


The mTOR Atlas is a navigator for 322 works on the cellular system affected by rapamycin. Version 1.0.0 was released on August 22 and contains 45 topics, each with a model, intervention, and measured outcome to relate the publication to the question it answers.


The mTOR protein and signaling system, named after it, influences cell growth, protein synthesis, and autophagy through nutrient availability. Experiences in cell culture clarify the mechanism, experiences in animals test it in an organism, and human studies measure the outcome in humans. The Atlas index for each work preserves a link to the original publication, model, intervention, and outcome.


Two markings perform different functions: the pyramid shows how close the data stands to the outcome measured in humans, and levels A–D distinguish types of evidence. In the open upload, 29 level B works were conducted on humans, 84 level C works were conducted on animals, and 205 level D entries comprise mechanistic works and reviews. Such marking helps match the result with the conditions of the experience, as seen in fly experiments where the same dose of rapamycin on different diets changed the sign of the effect on lifespan.


One of the ten pages with open questions is dedicated to mTORC1 and mTORC2, two protein complexes of this system, and separates known results from a "justified hypothesis" about the rapamycin regimen that suppresses mTORC1 and spares mTORC2. To verify this, the Atlas suggests an experiment on mice: comparing lifespan, insulin sensitivity, and mTORC2 activity under different rapamycin regimens, as described in Nature Aging, July 2026.

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Liver Age Tool Released


The authors have released LivAge, an open tool for assessing the age of mouse livers based on gene activity. On August 21, an article about LivAge was published in Aging Cell. The tool receives RNA-seq results and provides an estimate of the mouse liver age in months. The authors have also made the calculation code available.


In aging experiments, it can be difficult to determine whether a diet, medication, or genetic modification affects tissue condition, as the passport age of the control and experimental groups may be the same, and differences in lifespan may take a long time to become apparent. LivAge reduces a large table of gene activity to a single indicator that can be used to compare groups.


The authors trained the model on 432 liver samples from healthy C57BL/6 mice from 23 studies. The age of the animals ranged from one to 30 months, and only control groups without genetic modifications or interventions were included. The algorithm selected 268 genes whose joint activity determines the liver age estimate. The final test was conducted on 134 samples from four other studies that were not used for training and model tuning.

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Brain Reads Thoughts


Researchers have made a breakthrough in non-invasive EEG-neurointerfaces, discovering that they can read specific words, including rare ones, from an open dictionary. A massive dataset was collected, consisting of around 240,000 words read by one person over 49 hours in 393 separate sessions. The study utilized a 19-channel dry EEG, eliminating the need for gel, surgery, or invasive sensors.

The words were displayed in a rapid sequential presentation, with the font changing each time to prevent the brain from "guessing" the answer based on visual form. The model consisted of two parts: a convolutional EEG encoder and a causal transformer, trained using a contrastive scheme similar to CLIP. The system learned to associate brain activity with semantic and lexical features of words, as described in Nature Aging, July 2026.

The accuracy was measured as the top-10 hit rate and was consistently above the random level, including words with medium and low frequency. The quality improved log-linearly with the amount of data and did not reach saturation, meaning that the more data, the better the decoding. Removing occipital and parietal electrodes reduced accuracy by about a third but did not affect the model's ability to track text context. Control experiments showed that the model actually recognizes words, rather than just guessing based on position or context.

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Cell Aging Error Found


Researchers may have mistakenly identified antibodies to a bacterial protein instead of a mammalian protein in dozens of studies on cellular aging. On August 21, Nature reported on an investigation by independent molecular biologist Sholto David, which found that at least 54 articles claim to detect mammalian β-galactosidase, but actually point to antibodies to the bacterial version of the enzyme found in E. coli.



The Cell editorial team is reviewing one case, while Springer Nature has announced that it will evaluate the claims. Cellular aging, or senescence, is a state in which a cell stops dividing but remains alive, often detected by β-galactosidase activity. The dye X-Gal gives a blue signal after reacting with both mammalian and bacterial β-galactosidase. However, antibodies are specific to a particular protein, and the catalog number of a reagent can be used to verify which protein an antibody is supposed to recognize.



In David's analysis, he compared reagent numbers from methods to manufacturer catalogs and found 54 cases of potential errors. One of the cases is a 2016 article in Cell on partial reprogramming of mice with a model of premature aging, which lists Millipore AB986 as one of the reagents. The Cell editorial team is reviewing this particular case, and biophysicist Eled Edwards notes that if articles use incorrect antibodies, such predictions may go down a false path, potentially affecting AI models that read articles and propose protein targets for treatment.

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Max Hodak on Identity


Max Hodak, head of Science Corporation, proposed a criterion for digital continuation of a human: nepretrivnost' of experienced experience, in an interview with No Priors on 20 августа 2026 года. He suggests imagining a brain scanned without destruction and a software replica launched on a computer. The original person can talk to the replica and then die, while the replica continues their work.


Hodak asks in the full transcript of the conversation: "If your brain is scanned and a software simulation of you appears on a computer, will this simulation be you?" The question concerns the fate of the original person: what remains their experience when the copy continues their usual activities. Hodak calls the necessary property fenomenal'naya nepretrivnost' - one continuous experience in which a person perceives themselves and the world.


In a scenario of gradual transfer of brain functions to a computational system, the biological brain and the computational system work together for a long time. Hodak's criterion raises a specific question about this transition: is one stream of experience preserved as the carrier of functions changes? As the head of Science Corporation, which develops medical neurotechnologies, Hodak discusses this topic, including the company's research program creating a biogibridnyi neyrointerfeys, as reported in No Priors, August 2026.

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Vitrification Damage

The spindle distributing chromosomes in human egg cells can lose shape when thawed after rapid freezing. On August 22, a preprint was released about experiments with 234 human egg cells that matured in a lab from immature cells. The authors tracked at which stage of rapid freezing and thawing the structure distributing chromosomes changes. Vitrification is rapid freezing that turns water in the cell into a glass-like state.


Before cooling, the egg cell is placed in solutions with cryoprotectors - substances that partially replace water inside the cell. When thawing, the cryoprotectors are gradually removed, and water re-enters the cell. The authors monitored the same cells in a polarization microscope: the ordered protein threads of the spindle give a light signal there. When loading cryoprotectors, the signal was preserved; when thawing, it disappeared as the solutions were diluted.


Staining of the cells confirmed: the protein threads were preserved, but lost their stable spindle shape with two poles. Researchers checked if such a failure could be caused by the influx of water alone. In fresh lab-matured egg cells, they halved the osmolality of the medium - the concentration of dissolved substances. Water quickly entered the cells. Within eight minutes, the width of the spindle poles grew to approximately 160-180% of the original at n = 5; in the first minutes, the chromosomes remained aligned.

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Yoda1 Restores Bone Response


Researchers published an article in Aging Cell on August 21 about experiments on 19-month-old mice. The substance Yoda1, combined with a two-week cyclic compression of the tibia, initiated the formation of new tissue in its outer layer. When researchers blocked two links in the signal transmission within bone cells, the effect disappeared.


The bone responds to regular stress by adding to its cortical layer, its dense outer shell. Osteocytes, cells within this tissue, first detect deformation. In 16-week-old mice, two-week cyclic compression of the tibia enhanced cortical bone formation. In 19-month-old animals, the same regimen no longer changed its basic parameters.


The authors chose Piezo1, an ion channel in the osteocyte membrane sensitive to deformation, and Yoda1, which reduces the deformation threshold at which this channel opens. In the new experiment, Yoda1 was administered to 19-month-old males an hour before compression. The combination of the drug and stress reduced the bone marrow cavity and increased the area and thickness of the cortical layer.

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Enveda Reports Phase I Data


Enveda has reported the first data from phase I of ENV-308, a tablet that mimics Lac-Phe, a compound whose levels increase after exercise. By the time of release on August 18, 88 healthy adults had been enrolled in the study. The next phase is expected to test whether the candidate can help maintain weight loss after discontinuing GLP-1 receptor agonists and appetite suppressants.


The path to ENV-308 began with Lac-Phe, a compound whose levels increase after physical exercise. In a 2022 study published in Nature, researchers observed this increase in mice, horses, and humans. In obese mice, pharmacological elevation of Lac-Phe reduced food intake, fat mass, and body weight. In animals with impaired Lac-Phe synthesis, exercise was less effective at preventing weight gain. These results linked one of the signals of physical exercise to the regulation of food behavior.


Enveda reports that Lac-Phe is rapidly cleared from the body, so the company is developing ENV-308 as a daily tablet that should replicate its action. According to Enveda, the company found the candidate using PRISM, an artificial intelligence model trained on 1.2 billion mass spectra of small molecules. In phase I, the safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics of the drug are tested. According to Enveda, the study found no serious adverse events, discontinuations, or dose interruptions. The company also measured leptin, a hormone that informs the brain about energy stores, and reported a decrease in its blood levels. Phase II is planned for people who have stopped or plan to stop GLP-1 therapy, and Enveda intends to test whether ENV-308 can maintain weight loss and other metabolic parameters.

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US Neurotech Strategy

The US strategy has included neurointerfaces in future computing technologies. On August 17, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy published the US strategy for science and technology for national security. In Appendix A, neurointerfaces are directly related to future computing technologies. A neurointerface reads brain signals, converts them into a command for a device, or transmits a signal back to the brain. Such systems allow for control of a cursor, speech synthesizer, or prosthesis.


The neurointerfaces are listed alongside other new types of computing systems in the strategy's appendix. In the 2024 federal list of critical and emerging technologies, neurotechnologies were included in the broader category of "human-machine interfaces" along with augmented and virtual reality. The document defined this list as a reference resource for agencies to use in developing technological and defense initiatives. The new strategy ties this classification to agency actions.


The relevant agencies are to separately consider the listed areas in their own research and development and orient their application towards national security tasks. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, together with the National Security Council, will coordinate more detailed strategies or plans for these areas. Future plans are to clarify the strategy's goals for each technology and consider competitor actions. This separate mention of neurointerfaces among future computing technologies is thus connected to the work of agencies and subsequent plans, as outlined in the US Science and Technology Strategy.

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