(Thursday, February 6, 2014; Kyoto University)

Sora Akiyama leaned lazily back in his chair, with a clean desk in front of him, without the slightest paper document on the table. His real-life body was processing the mail, and the soul clone in the spiritual network had received a message from Xu Mingshan.

"Anaconda mutation caused by CRISPR-Cas9 off-target? Yes, quite interesting. ”

After reading the short article sent to him by Xu Mingshan, Akiyama replied: "I can't help anything else, but I can deal with the python - isn't the cyborg insect unit jointly developed by MIT and the military very popular recently? I think this is a good opportunity for experimentation, and then it depends on how the state government negotiates." After all, it takes time and effort to eradicate these invasive species by humans alone. ”

The project is based on miniature navigation chips, optogenetic brain-computer interfaces, and miniature solar cell technology. MIT engineers have created miniaturized, multifunctional flexible polymer fiber probes and implanted them into the nervous systems of pre-gene-edited insects. Neurons carrying opsin genes are light-sensitive, allowing humans to manipulate insect behavior by using light to give commands to the insect's nervous system through a chip.

Akiyama didn't know exactly how the military did it, but with his idea, he only needed to design the corresponding pathway through synthetic biology, so that the insect troops could lock on to the python's pheromones, and then it would not be a big problem to carry the toxin or use a virus infection to kill the python. As for the attitude of the military, under the multi-year peace policy of the Galaxy Federation, this will not be an obstacle either.

With this done, he connected to the database of his soul clones in the virtual world and began to read the latest literature, while the ontology in the real world continued his research as usual.

"Deep Learning Decodes Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) of the Visual Cortex?"

Sora Akiyama read through the full text with great interest. The core thesis of the study, from the Center for Brain-like Intelligence at the Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, is that deep learning technology can be used to process fMRI data to more simply and accurately reproduce what the subjects see, and the quality of the images generated is better than that of previous methods. The mathematical and algorithmic innovation lies in the design of a new variational Bayesian method to infer potential variables and model parameters, thereby further improving the accuracy of the reconstructed image.

If this study by the Chinese Academy of Sciences is a major development in non-invasive brain-computer interfaces, then another similar study from the California Institute of Technology is the invasive brain-computer interface version of "brain reading". Compared to non-invasive brain-computer interfaces, invasive brain-computer interfaces can collect more information through various devices that are surgically implanted in the brain, so as to reconstruct more complex images in computers. Of course, due to medical ethics and traditional beliefs, this technology is currently limited to experiments on animals.

"The competition and cooperation in the field of brain-computer interface is quite fierce......" Akiyama couldn't help but sigh.

Although he is now engaged in more basic brain science research, he has previously done this kind of work, also conducting various experiments on non-human primates. Basic science and applied science complement each other, and he does not look down on his peers who are biased towards application because of his current basic research.

"Well, that guy Akihiko Kayaba, if he hadn't sent an email to discuss it early......" Thinking of this, a faint smile appeared on his face, "I really can't see that he has such a middle second mind under his serious appearance." ”

"Maybe in a few years, he will really be able to realize his childhood dream in the real world. ”

……

(Friday, February 14, 2014 in the morning; Ekton Lab, California)

Sora Akiyama and Tomoyin Nanamiya followed Xu Mingshan side by side, through the long, unadorned pale silver corridor, and finally came to a heavy metal door. They are in the virtual world, with Sora Akiyama and Tomoon Shichinomiya's main body having dinner at home, while Xu Mingshan's main body is in school class.

The metal door is obviously equipped with an intelligent security system, but Akiyama Sora and his party have chosen to show their powers, and they have used their own skills to flash into the interior, without accident The safety rules on the side wall.

Inside the metal door is a horizontal passageway, and the left and right doors lead to two rooms, one for the laboratory and the other for the vivarium. Akiyama Sora released his divine thoughts to scan the surroundings, and the space inside the room was very spacious. The laboratory has a variety of biochemical and molecular biology equipment, and there is another passage to the outside in the vivarium, which seems to be used to transport food in and waste out.

"The gene-edited fertilized eggs are waiting to hatch. Xu Mingshan took them to the breeding room and pointed to one of the hatcheries.

This is the Ekton laboratory under a subsidiary of Baiyao Technology Group, focusing on industrial research and development in the field of bioengineering. The elders of Du Mu's family seem to have considered the activities of their juniors early on, and it is said that this research room has already been vacated for them to use, and its wealth in education can be seen.

The Galactic Federation has not carried out drastic reforms to the human social system, so even if the "Other Shore" project has broken the old social classes that tend to solidify in many aspects, these families that have accumulated for many years still maintain strong capital, rather than being violently eliminated by the Galactic Federation with crushing black technology.

"Oh...... It's amazing!"

Nanamiya Tomoyin leaned down, approached the hatchery to take a closer look, and suddenly asked, "By the way, since the existing gene editing technology has off-target problems, how do you ensure that your editing does not have accidents?"

Hearing her question, Xu Mingshan casually summoned the information interaction interface out of thin air, explaining: "This off-target incident is not as serious as imagined. First, the original computer algorithm for predicting off-target sites needs to be improved, and the second is to sound the alarm for researchers doing animal modeling, and the necessary whole genome sequencing cannot be omitted. ”

Although they possess non-human mental organs in the virtual world, human habits still have a profound impact on them, such as the way they receive information. But even if it's the same "seeing", here they don't have the so-called visual crowding benefit or the limits of visual processing - limited by the human brain's function, they tend to compress a large amount of redundant information when processing visual information, and they also allocate attention to accurately process important information and ignore secondary information.

"Yes. I read the relevant literature, and there is a pattern behind this off-target, which is not completely random, and I think it should be calculated with the corresponding module in this world. Akiyama looked at the data on the screen and added with a smile, "There are many research groups that are studying ways to mitigate the off-target effect, and it cannot be ruled out that there is a promotion from the Galaxy Federation behind it, and there will be corresponding improvement technologies soon." ”

Nanamiya Tomoyin nodded in understanding, and soon ran to the side of the breeding barn and lay down to observe.

"Do you want to wait until they're fully grown?"

"No, my plan is to build a mathematical model of their growth and development and compare it with other pythons. Xu Mingshan shook his head, "Of course, they will still be raised in captivity until they reach adulthood for follow-up research." ”

Xu Mingshan's research has come to an end here. Just as Sora Akiyama was about to leave, Nanamiya Tomoin suddenly exclaimed:

"Oh, there's a rabbit here!"

"Oh, that is Du Mu and Lu Qingyi's experiment some time ago, using rabbits as objects to study the principle of Xingyi Fist's 'Thunder Yin Training'. ”

"Hmm, Lei Yin Lian Marrow, what is that?" asked Akiyama Sora curiously.

"There is a tiger and leopard Lei Yin in the inner boxing, and it is believed that the sound of the feline body can exercise the bone marrow, so their bones are particularly strong. This statement has been confirmed by relevant studies in the Chinese Journal of Surgery and the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. After obtaining the permission of the spiritual network, Du Mu took the lead in practicing the kung fu of 'Tiger and Leopard Thunder Sound', and then came up with the idea of conducting experiments on animals. ”

Xu Mingshan waved his hand at the air, and the content of the information interaction interface suddenly changed, and new experimental data appeared in front of them.

Because rabbits don't know how to sound like tigers and leopards, Du Mu's idea was to follow the experiments of his predecessors, stimulate them with different vibrational frequencies, and check the changes in the strength of their bones. It's a bit like kinematics of 'excess recovery', known in biology as 'stress', where thunder sounds seem to promote the body's osteogenic effect, resulting in an increase in bone density and strength. Specific physiological processes are still being studied. ”

"That's a good idea! ”

Sora Akiyama has no hobby of spying on trade secrets, so he doesn't linger anymore and leaves the Ikton lab with Nanamiya Tomoon.

……

(Friday, February 14, 2014 night; apartment 4th floor, Sora Akiyama)

Sora Akiyama leaned back on the recliner and gently hugged the girl in his arms, feeling the soft touch brought by the other party's constant twisting of his body.

"Boring, boring, boring!"

Nanamiya Zhiyin muttered in his mouth, his hands suddenly wrapped around his neck, and a pair of green eyes stared straight at him:

"Shouldn't there be some accident? It's like a python invading the sewers in Miami or something. ”

Looking at the loveliness of the lover in front of him, he couldn't help but feel hot in his heart, and the hand holding the other party's waist was slightly forced, and he lowered his head and kissed it, and it took a long time to separate.

"Nanamiya's appearance is so cute!" Akiyama smiled and rubbed her long silky hair, "There is no resistance at all!"

Nanamiya Zhiyin simply untied the rubber band, and scattered the long hair that was messed up, but pretended to be arrogant and said: "Hmph! I don't want to be toyed with by Akiyama like this! I always feel like a cat raised at home...... Hmmm......"

It's a humanoid cat!

Sora Akiyama played with her for a while, then quieted down and lay side by side on the sofa. The girl next to him leaned quietly on his shoulder, and suddenly tugged at his sleeve. He turned his head slightly, but found that the other party was blushing with shame, and his voice was as thin as a mosquito:

"Hmm...... Suddenly I realized that we seemed to call each other by last names all the time. ”

It stands to reason that this is not the case between intimate lovers, but since the way they call each other evokes corresponding mental activity, it seems unnecessary to dwell on secular etiquette.

"It's just a habit. Do you want me to call me by name?"

When Nanamiya Zhiyin heard this, he unconsciously lowered his head, and his voice became quieter:

"Stupid...... I want to marry ...... in the future."

Akiyama finally understood the girl's thoughts, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but raise slightly. He turned around, gently wrapped his arms around the other's back, leaned into her ear and whispered:

"Ji-in, I love you!"

Nanamiya Zhiyin's body stiffened suddenly, and then he relaxed again, blushing and burying his head in his arms.

"Stupid...... Sora, I like you the most!"

……