It lasted only 20 minutes and took place 1.2 billion light years away, but NASA managed to catch it on camera: a star exploding.
The brilliant flash of an exploding star’s shockwave — or “shock breakout” — has been captured for the first time in visible light by the Kepler space telescope.
This could have some truly profound implications for the treatment of all viruses, including HIV!
Researchers from Temple University have used the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing tool to clear out the entire HIV-1 genome from a patient’s infected immune cells. It’s a remarkable achievement that could have profound implications for the treatment of AIDS and other retroviruses.
When we think about CRISPR/Cas9 we tend to think of it as a tool to eliminate heritable genetic diseases, or as a way to introduce new genes altogether. But as this new research shows, it also holds great promise as a means to eliminate viruses that have planted their nefarious genetic codes within host cells. This latest achievement now appears in Nature Scientific Reports.
Retroviruses, unlike regular run-of-the-mill viruses, insert copies of their genomes into host cells in order to replicate. Antiretroviral drugs have proven effective at controlling HIV after infection, but patients who stop taking these drugs suffer a quick relapse. Once treatment stops, the HIV reasserts itself, weakening the immune system, thus triggering the onset of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS.
Posted in neuroscience
Peacefully nestled in the Viluppuram district near Puduchery, Tamil Nadu, is a township like none other. Transcending money, politics and religion, welcome to Auroville, the City of Dawn.
“Auroville is meant to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all creed, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realize human unity.”
It was founded on 28th February, 1968, by Mirra Alfassa (known as “The Mother”) as a project of the Sri Aurobindo Society. Mirra Alfassa was the spiritual collaborator of Sri Aurobindo, who held the notion that “man is a transitional being”. It was designed by Roger Anger.
Clarius Mobile Health, a firm based outside of Vancouver, Canada, is unveiling a wireless ultrasound transducer that uses your Android or Apple iPhone as the display and control system. There aren’t many details provided by Clarius about the product, but the company expects these ultrasounds to be used for procedures such as nerve blocks and for helping to deliver needle injections. The device has yet to receive clearance from the world’s regulatory bodies.
Check out the preview video for the Clarius mobile ultrasound:
