🤖 Too Human to Be a Robot? Meet the Lifelike Clone Alpha

Welcome AI & Healthcare enthusiasts!

This week, the line between humans and machines gets even blurrier. Clone Robotics unveiled Clone Alpha, a humanoid robot with artificial muscles that move like real ones and it’s both impressive and a bit unsettling.

Meanwhile, OpenAI doubled down on premium AI services with ChatGPT Pro, priced at $200/month, while researchers at Imperial College London developed an AI tool capable of predicting type 2 diabetes ten years before symptoms appear.

But the biggest surprise? Your heart has its own “little brain” that helps control its rhythm, a discovery that could redefine how we treat heart disorders.

Let’s dive in!

Victor

TODAY’S MENU

• Clone Robotics Introduces Realistic Humanoid With Artificial Organs

• OpenAI Drops ChatGPT Pro and Upgrades Its Core AI Models

• AI Tool Predicts Type 2 Diabetes 10 Years Before Symptoms

• Your Heart Has Its Own ‘Little Brain’ That Controls Its Rhythm

• Research Reveals How Fructose in Your Diet Fuels Tumor Growth

• Everything Else You Should Know this Week

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  Read time: under 6 minutes

ROBOTICS

Clone Robotics Introduces Realistic Humanoid With Artificial Organs

Clone Robotics has officially introduced Clone Alpha, a humanoid robot featuring synthetic organs and water-powered muscles, now available for preorder with the first 279 units expected in 2025.

Key Details:

• Clone Alpha uses water-pressured “Myofiber” muscles instead of traditional motors, allowing lifelike movement with synthetic bones and articulated joints.

• The company is accepting preorders for its first production run, though a fully functional unit has yet to be publicly demonstrated.

• Alpha is built to handle household chores like making drinks, doing laundry, and vacuuming. It can even learn new tasks through its ‘Telekinesis’ training platform.

• Powered by Clone’s “Cybernet” visuomotor model, Alpha comes with four depth cameras for real-time environmental awareness.

Why it matters: Clone Alpha’s human-inspired design feels straight out of Westworld, promising lifelike dexterity and fluid movement. While no public demonstrations of a fully functional unit have been shown yet, the available videos are undeniably impressive and might even trigger the uncanny valley effect (you’ve been warned).

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OPENAI

OpenAI Drops ChatGPT Pro and Upgrades Its Core AI Models

Big moves from OpenAI this week: they’ve officially released their o1 model and launched ChatGPT Pro, a $200/month subscription aimed at serious power users.

Key Details:

• The o1 model (code-named “Strawberry”) is finally out of preview. It’s faster, better at coding, math, and reasoning with images. OpenAI also claims it’s more concise — no more rambling answers (hopefully).

• ChatGPT Pro comes with unlimited access to o1, GPT-4o, and Advanced Voice mode. There’s also an exclusive “o1 Pro mode” that uses extra compute to handle really tough problems

• The $20/month ChatGPT Plus plan isn’t going anywhere. It still offers early access to features and all core models — just not the souped-up o1 version.

• OpenAI also launched a grant program, giving free ChatGPT Pro subscriptions to top medical researchers, with plans to expand into other fields soon.

Why It Matters: OpenAI clearly wants to separate casual users from pros with ChatGPT Pro. At $200/month, it’s not for everyone, but if you need top-tier performance for work or research, it could be worth the price. Let’s see if that “o1 Pro mode” lives up to the hype.

AI DIAGNOSIS

AI Tool Predicts Type 2 Diabetes 10 Years Before Symptoms

Could a simple ECG predict type 2 diabetes up to ten years before it develops? Researchers at Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust believe so. Their AI tool identifies subtle heart signals during routine ECG exams, enabling early intervention before blood sugar levels rise.

How it Works

• The AI tool trained on over 1.2 million ECGs was able to detect hidden markers linked to future diabetes risk.

• Validated using UK Biobank data, it accurately predicted who would develop diabetes around 70% of the time.

• This model can improve predictions by incorporating factors like age, blood pressure, and genetic data.

• This tool could be easily integrated into standard ECG exams, making early diabetes risk detection more accessible.

Why it Matters: With millions unknowingly living with type 2 diabetes, early detection could help prevent complications such as heart disease, vision loss, and nerve damage. The researchers aim to pilot the AI tool within a year, with hopes for NHS-wide adoption soon after.

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RESEARCH

Your Heart Has Its Own ‘Little Brain’ That Controls Its Rhythm

For years, scientists believed that the heart was controlled solely by the autonomic nervous system — receiving signals from the brain like a simple relay station. But new research published in Nature Communications has overturned this view, revealing that the heart has its own intricate neural network with independent control over its rhythm.

What They Found:

• Researchers from Karolinska Institutet discovered specialized neurons in the heart that regulate its beating, including a group with built-in pacemaker-like properties.

• Using zebrafish as a model due to their heart’s similarity to humans, they mapped the heart’s neural system through advanced RNA sequencing, anatomical studies, and electrophysiological methods.

• The findings suggest that the heart’s “little brain” works similarly to the brain’s regulation of rhythmic functions like breathing and walking.

Why It Matters: This discovery could reshape how we understand heart function and treat conditions like arrhythmias. Researchers are now studying how the heart’s neural network interacts with the brain under stress, exercise, and disease, opening potential paths for new heart disorder therapies.

PREVENTIVE HEALTH

Research Reveals How Fructose May Fuel Tumor Growth

New findings from Washington University in St. Louis reveal a startling mechanism behind fructose’s link to cancer. Unlike glucose, fructose doesn’t feed tumors directly. Instead, the liver transforms fructose into fat-like molecules called lipids, which cancer cells use to grow and multiply faster.

The Science Behind It:

• In animal models, tumors grew up to twice as fast when subjects consumed a high-fructose diet — even without weight gain or changes in insulin levels.

• Using advanced metabolomics, researchers found that the liver converts fructose into specific lipids (like lysophosphatidylcholines) that cancer cells absorb to build their membranes.

• This process was observed across several cancer types, including melanoma, breast, and cervical cancers.

What You Can Do:

✅ Check Labels: High-fructose corn syrup is in many everyday foods — from sodas to sauces. Reducing your intake is a simple preventive step.

🥗 Choose Whole Foods: Prioritize fruits, veggies, and whole grains with naturally balanced sugars.

🍵 Limit Sugary Drinks: Try swapping sodas and energy drinks for sparkling water or herbal teas.

Hungry for more? Explore these great newsletters from our friends:

Must-Read AI Healthcare News This Week

A new AI-powered Death Clock app predicts individual death dates using data from longevity studies with 53M participants, using information about a user’s diet, exercise, and stress levels.

AI can predict neuroscience study results better than human experts, study finds. By scoring 86% accuracy in neuroscience research forecasts outperforming scientists by 20%. It could redefine how future experiments might be designed.

Mayo Clinic’s AI-powered ECG tool cuts heart failure detection costs by 94% in outpatient care while enabling earlier, life-saving treatments.

Cleerly raises $106M to expand its AI scan tech that spots heart disease early after winning Medicare approval.

FDA introduces new guidelines for AI-powered medical devices: Nearly 1,000 approved so far, with new rules allowing updates without repeated submissions.

Stanford HAI lookback: Best-read blog posts of 2024.

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