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May 12, 2020

These lava tubes could be the safest place for explorers to live on Mars

Posted by in category: space

The Martian surface is a radiation hot zone. But ancient lava tubes might offer explorers safety from the cosmic bombardment.

May 12, 2020

Scientists show MRI predicts the efficacy of a stem cell therapy for brain injury

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension, neuroscience

Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and Loma Linda University Health have demonstrated the promise of applying magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to predict the efficacy of using human neural stem cells to treat a brain injury—a first-ever “biomarker” for regenerative medicine that could help personalize stem cell treatments for neurological disorders and improve efficacy. The researchers expect to test the findings in a clinical trial evaluating the stem cell therapy in newborns who experience a brain injury during birth called perinatal hypoxic-ischemic brain injury (HII). The study was published in Cell Reports.

“In order for stem cell therapies to benefit patients, we need to be thoughtful and scientific about who receives these treatments,” says Evan Y. Snyder, M.D., Ph.D., professor and director of the Center for Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine at Sanford Burnham Prebys, and corresponding study author. “I am hopeful that MRI, which is already used during the course of care for these newborns, will help ensure that infants who experience HII get the best, most appropriate treatment possible. In the future, MRI could help guide the use of stem cells to treat—or in some instances, not treat—additional disorders such as spinal cord injury and stroke.”

Scientists now understand that, in many instances, human neural stem cells are therapeutic because they can protect living cells—in contrast to “re-animating” or replacing nerve cells that are already dead. As a result, understanding the health of brain tissue prior to a is critical to the treatment’s potential success. Tools that help predict the efficacy of neural stem cell therapy could increase the success of clinical trials, which are ongoing in people with Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injury and additional neurological conditions, while also sparing people who will not respond to treatment from an invasive procedure that offers false hope.

May 12, 2020

China fires underwater nuclear missile into spotlight with science prize

Posted by in categories: military, science

The JL-3, which could reach the United States if launched from the Chinese coast, is expected to be used to arm Type 096 submarines.

May 12, 2020

Scientists spot ‘one in a million’ super-Earth

Posted by in category: space

Wish we could go for a visit.

May 12, 2020

Soft robotic exosuit makes stroke survivors walk faster and farther

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, cyborgs, engineering, robotics/AI, wearables

Stroke is the leading cause of serious long-term disability in the US with approximately 17 million individuals experiencing it each year. About 8 out of 10 stroke survivors suffer from “hemiparesis”, a paralysis that typically impacts the limbs and facial muscles on one side of their bodies, and often causes severe difficulties walking, a loss of balance with an increased risk of falling, as well as muscle fatigue that quickly sets in during exertions. Oftentimes, these impairments also make it impossible for them to perform basic everyday activities.

To allow to recover, many rehabilitation centers have looked to robotic exoskeletons. But although there are now a range of exciting devices that are enabling people to walk again who initially were utterly unable to do so, there remains significant active research trying to understand how to best apply wearable robotics for rehabilitation after stroke. Despite the promise, recent clinical practice guidelines now even recommend against the use of robotic therapies when the goal is to improve walking speed or distance.

In 2017, a multidisciplinary team of mechanical and electrical engineers, apparel designers, and neurorehabilitation experts at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), and Boston University’s (BU) College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College showed that an ankle-assisting soft robotic exosuit, tethered to an external battery and motor, was able to significantly improve biomechanical gait functions in stroke patients when worn while walking on a treadmill. The cross-institutional and cross-disciplinary team effort was led by Wyss faculty members Conor Walsh, Ph.D. and Lou Awad, P.T., D.P.T., Ph.D, together with Terry Ellis, Ph.D., P.T., N.C.S. from BU.

May 12, 2020

Three Million Light-Year Long Bridge Between Two Galaxy Clusters Warped

Posted by in category: cosmology

A new study, based on data from ESA’s XMM-Newton and NASAs Chandra X-ray observatories, sheds new light on a three million light-year long bridge of hot gas linking two galaxy clusters, whose shape is being bent by the mighty activity of a nearby supermassive black hole.

Galaxy clusters are the largest objects in the Universe held together by gravity. They contain hundreds or thousands of galaxies, vast amounts of multi-million-degree gas that shines brightly in X-rays, and enormous reservoirs of unseen dark matter.

May 12, 2020

Cutting-Edge Brain Implant Lets Paralyzed Man Move and Feel Again

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, neuroscience, wearables

The team saw some early successes regarding movement — the initial goal of the BCI — allowing Burkhart to press buttons along the neck of a “Guitar Hero” controller.

But returning touch to his hand was a much more daunting task. By using a simple vibration device or “wearable haptic system,” Burkhart was able to tell if he was touching an object or not without seeing it.

“It’s definitely strange,” Burkhart told Wired. “It’s still not normal, but it’s definitely much better than not having any sensory information going back to my body.”

May 12, 2020

SpaceX Seeks $656,000 From California in Midst of Musk’s Battle

Posted by in categories: Elon Musk, employment, space travel, sustainability

(Bloomberg) — Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is seeking almost $656,000 in new funding from California in the midst of the billionaire’s battle over whether Tesla Inc. should be reopening its plant in the state.

SpaceX’s request for funds to train existing workers and hire new ones will go before the state’s Employment Training Panel on May 15, one week after the county that’s home to Tesla’s factory sought to block the facility from resuming operations. The company sued the next day, and its chief executive officer threatened to move Tesla’s headquarters, future programs and potentially its manufacturing out of the state.

Musk, 48, appears to be prevailing in the stand-off. He tweeted Monday that Tesla was restarting production in spite of Alameda County’s order and said that if anyone is arrested, he wanted to be the only one.

May 12, 2020

Scientists create first roadmap of human skeletal muscle development

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, life extension

An interdisciplinary team of researchers at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA has developed a first-of-its-kind roadmap of how human skeletal muscle develops, including the formation of muscle stem cells.

The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Cell Stem Cell, identified various cell types present in skeletal muscle tissues, from all the way to adulthood. Focusing on muscle progenitor cells, which contribute to muscle formation before birth, and muscle stem cells, which contribute to muscle formation after birth and to regeneration from injury throughout life, the group mapped out how the cells’ gene networks—which genes are active and inactive—change as the cells mature.

The roadmap is critical for researchers who aim to develop muscle stem cells in the lab that can be used in regenerative cell therapies for devastating muscle diseases, including muscular dystrophies, and sarcopenia, the age-related loss of muscle mass and strength.

May 12, 2020

How covid-19 could change the financial world order | The Economist

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, economics, finance

Overview global economy.


America has dominated global finance for decades. But could covid-19 tip the balance of financial power in China’s favour?

Continue reading “How covid-19 could change the financial world order | The Economist” »