126. Open Letter Against Weaponized Robots, Before Birth Stem Cell Treatment, New Blood Group

Summary: Show Notes: Scientists Have Discovered a New Set of Blood Groups | Wired (00:52) After performing an emergency C-section for a pregnant woman, researchers were curious why there were these strange antibodies in the blood. They made a startling discovery:  The woman’s blood was of an ultra rare type, which may have made her baby’s blood incompatible with her own.  Prompting her immune system to produce antibodies against her baby’s blood Scientists were able to unpick exactly what made her blood different, and in the process confirmed a new set of blood grouping—the “Er” system, the 44th to be described. A, B, O, and AB isn’t the only classification system There are many ways of grouping red blood cells based on differences in the sugars or proteins that coat their surface, known as antigens.  Differences in antigens results in the following situation: Someone receives incompatible blood from a donor, for example, the recipient’s immune system may detect those antigens as foreign and react against them.  One new blood classification system has been described by researchers each year during the past decade.  tend to involve blood types that are extremely rare “Discovering a new blood group system is like discovering a new planet. It enlarges the landscape of our reality,” says Daniela Hermelin at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study. Due to those genetic differences, a small number of people have alternative amino acids, or building blocks, in their Piezo1 protein. Causing the different ER blood type There are five Er antigens in total—five possible variations of Piezo1 on the surface of red blood cells that can lead to incompatibility.  Benefit of this finding:  It adds to our knowledge of how blood incompatibility can affect pregnant mothers and their babies Boston Dynamics, Agility and others pen letter condemning weaponized ‘general purpose’ robots | TechCrunch (05:38) A group of prominent robotics firms (Boston Dynamics, Agility, ANYbotics, Clearpath Robotics and Open Robotics) issued an open letter condemning the weaponization of “general purpose” robots. The piece comes amid mounting concern around the proliferation of advanced robotics systems. With fictional depictions and real-world efforts like the Ghost Robotics dog that has been outfitted with a sniper rifle, raising significant red flags for many. Part of the letter states: “We believe that adding weapons to robots that are remotely or autonomously operated, widely available to the public, and capable of navigating to previously inaccessible locations where people live and work, raises new risks of harm and serious ethical issues. Weaponized applications of these newly-capable robots will also harm public trust in the technology in ways that damage the tremendous benefits they will bring to society.” Ghost Robotics, which has its own take on the topic, told TechCrunch at the time: “We don’t make the payloads. Are we going to promote and advertise any of these weapon systems? Probably not. That’s a tough one to answer. Because we’re selling to the military, we don’t know what they do with them. We’re not going to dictate to our government customers how they use the robots.” Today’s open letter finds the signees pledging not to weaponize their systems, while calling on lawmakers to do more to prohibit this use for robotics. They end off their letter saying: “We also call on every organization, developer, researcher, and user in the robotics community to make similar pledges not to build, authorize, support, or enable the attachment of weaponry to such robots. We are convinced that the benefits for humanity of these technologies strongly outweigh the risk of misuse, and we are excited about a bright future in which humans and robots work side by side to tackle some of the world’s challenges.” World-first stem cell therapy trial treats spina bifida before birth