Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The UK\u2019s agency for \u201chigh impact science\u201d is setting its sights on fighting emerging biological threats and extending people\u2019s healthy lifespans among its latest targets for research.The two-year-old Advanced Research and Invention Agency has appointed eight more programme directors to widen its targets as it prepares to allocate the second half of its initial \u00a3800mn five-year funding.Aria was created by the previous Conservative government but has become a crucial part of the Labour administration\u2019s search for high-value innovation to boost sluggish economic growth.\u00a0The agency is publicly funded but its researchers have unusual freedom to shape their work, inspired by the frontier science work done at US government organisations such as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.Aria\u2019s announcement is \u201cessentially a recognition that we\u2019ve grown confident enough that we\u2019re able to unlock these new areas and communities of researchers\u201d, chief executive Ilan Gur told the Financial Times.\u201cThey are people coming from the coalface with the goal of looking across the research landscape at the big opportunities\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.[that are missing and]\u2009that the system probably won\u2019t otherwise fund right now,\u201d he added.Life sciences loom large in Aria\u2019s expanded priorities, reflecting in part big advances over the past few years in synthetic biology and understanding of how cells function. Nathan Wolfe, one of the new programme directors, plans to investigate whether energy flows in living systems could be manipulated to prevent debilitating chronic diseases.Wolfe will examine mitochondria, the structures that generate energy in animal cells. His work will build on research suggesting mitochondrial malfunctions are linked to conditions including type two diabetes and Alzheimer\u2019s disease.\u201cIncreasingly, I think these may be thought of as diseases of energy,\u201d Wolfe, a US virologist, epidemiologist and entrepreneur. \u201cIt\u2019s a huge luxury to take these kinds of shots on goal \u2014 to be able to do big things.\u201dA second strand of Aria\u2019s investigations is early detection and prevention of emerging biological threats. Technological advances can help predict novel risks including potentially pandemic-causing pathogens, said Nicole Wheeler, a new programme director with expertise in artificial intelligence and biosecurity.\u201cWe\u2019re at the point, with the amount of genomic data we have and the advances in AI in biology, where we can start thinking seriously about \u2018how do we find the thing that we\u2019re not looking for?\u2019\u201d said Wheeler, who proposes using AI to trawl millions of published scientific papers to identify possible warnings.Aria\u2019s new priorities also include exploiting atmospheric energy sources such as wind shear and thermal air currents to power long duration, and even limitless, flight. Another project will investigate adaptive synthetic materials that mimic natural structures to make food, goods and medicines sustainably and on demand.Labour has offered Aria strong backing since it took power in July. Existing agency projects, such as to cut the cost of computing for artificial intelligence more than a thousand-fold, dovetail with government industrial priorities. The agency\u2019s \u00a369mn precision neurotechnologies programme is collaborating with the NHS, US start-up Forest Neurotech, and the University of Plymouth to find treatments for conditions such as Alzheimer\u2019s, epilepsy and depression.Aria should play a \u201cgreat role\u201d in helping the UK to \u201cinnovate our way out of the challenges that we have\u201d, said Peter Kyle, science, innovation and technology secretary.\u201cAria has a risk profile that no other funding body has,\u201d Kyle said, noting that \u201cby definition\u201d its work would sound unusual and sometimes even eccentric. \u201cBut if it doesn\u2019t sound those things, then other countries would have done it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The UK\u2019s agency for \u201chigh impact science\u201d is setting its sights on fighting emerging biological threats and extending people\u2019s healthy lifespans among its latest targets for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-266380","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-tech"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266380\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globetimeline.com\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}