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It’s the biggest single-dish radio telescope in the world, spanning the length of 30 soccer fields.


Super Sensitive

The telescope has also detected hundreds of fast radio bursts from a single known source, many of which were too faint to pick up by other telescopes, according to Nature. It could even spot distant exoplanets by their radio emissions alone — something that has yet to be successfully done.

The remaining big challenge will be to store the incredibly vast amounts of data the telescope will be collecting over the coming years.

The scientists suggest that bacteriophages are part of a tripartite interaction of host organism, bacteria and bacteriophages, where they provide mechanisms for maintaining symbiotic co-existence.


While viruses are typically known for their pathogenic properties, new research findings now also demonstrate a positive influence of bacteriophages on the interaction of host organisms with bacteria. A new study sheds new light on the symbiosis between multicellular organisms and their microbial communities, which may be regulated by bacteriophages in a tripartite relationship.

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Cells that become senescent irrevocably stop dividing under stress, spewing out a mix of inflammatory proteins that lead to chronic inflammation as more and more of the cells accumulate over time. Publishing in the September 24 edition of Cell Reports, researchers at the Buck Institute identified 44 specific senescence-associated proteins that are involved in blood clotting, marking the first time that cellular senescence has been associated with age-related blood clots.

“The incidence of venous thrombosis, which includes deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism is extremely low until the age of 45, when it begins to rise rapidly. Over time it becomes a major risk factor for death. By 80, the condition affects five to six people per thousand individuals,” said Judith Campisi, PhD, Buck professor and senior co-author of the study. “Blood clots are also a serious side effect of chemotherapy, which sets off a cascade of senescence in those undergoing treatment. That’s why blood thinners, which carry their own risks, are often included in treatment protocols.”

Scientists in the Campisi lab and other labs around the world are working to develop senolytics, drugs which would clear senescent cells from the body, potentially providing treatment options for many age-related diseases that are either caused or linked to senescence. They include Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis, macular degeneration, age-related cancers and sarcopenia, among others.

It’s hard living in a relativistic Universe, where even the nearest stars are so far away and the speed of light is absolute. It is little wonder then why science fiction franchises routinely employ FTL (Faster-than-Light) as a plot device.

Push a button, press a petal, and that fancy drive system – whose workings no one can explain – will send us to another location in space-time.

However, in recent years, the scientific community has become understandably excited and skeptical about claims that a particular concept – the Alcubierre Warp Drive – might actually be feasible.

Thanks to solar-powered propulsion and household (meaning no generators are required to run the lights, air conditioning, etc.), and with electric propulsion when needed, the 56-foot catamaran has unlimited range, no noise or fumes, minimal vibration and is virtually maintenance-free. It’s smooth and serene cruising at its best where both the environment and owner’s enjoyment come first. And operation costs are kept to a minimum, too.