A seven-mile “bee corridor” of vibrant wildflowers is being planted to encourage the insect’s population in London. The pathway for bees will be formed of 22 meadows sown through parks and green spaces in the north west of the capital. These will be in place in time for summer according to Brent council, which says it hopes the move will halt the decline in biodiversity in the borough.
Great news for Repair Biotechnologies a new startup company developing solutions to age-related immune system decline and heart disease.
In 2018, Reason and Bill Cherman founded Repair Biotechnologies, which, as its name suggests, is a rejuvenation biotechnology company focused on damage repair approaches to aging. The company has recently completed a seed round of investment funding, with a total of $2.15 million being put into the company’s coffers to bolster research and development. Reason described this seed round as follows:
We are very pleased to have the support of noted investors such as Jim Mellon. They are the people who are presently providing the fuel and publicity for ever faster progress in the longevity biotechnology industry.
We are also very pleased to have the support of important non-profit organizations such as the SENS Research Foundation. Non-profit groups are just as important as the venture community when it comes to accelerating progress in this field: they are the ones who establish the path and point the way for each new class of therapy.
Posted in space
How many licks does it take to get to the center of Phobos?
NASA’s Odyssey orbiter could help us figure out if this mysterious Martian moon is:
☄️ a captured asteroid 🍰 a small piece of the Red Planet 🍬 an Everlasting Gobstopper.
Story here: https://go.nasa.gov/2JtkfVi
The promise of investments in infrastructure and research appeals to many of the economically challenged nations in central and eastern Europe. These countries have battled brain drain, persistent corruption and lack of support for research and development. In this region, Chinese companies are — among other projects — building a bridge to connect two parts of Croatia, although this project stalled in 2012, in part because of funding problems. They are also financing the construction of an energy-efficient ‘smart city’ near the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, which would be the first such development in Europe, according to promoters.
As the Belt and Road Initiative spreads to central and eastern Europe, China’s investments in research and technology are raising concerns in the West.
By Antoaneta Roussi
We’re tantalizingly close to growing organs in the lab, but the biggest remaining challenge has been creating the fine networks of blood vessels required to keep them alive. Now researchers have shown that a common food dye could solve the problem.
In the US there are currently more than 100,000 people on organ transplant waiting lists. Even if you’re lucky enough to receive a replacement, you face a lifetime on immunosuppressant drugs. That’s why scientists have long dreamed of growing new organs from patients’ own cells, which could simultaneously tackle the shortage and the risk of organ rejection.
The field of tissue engineering has seen plenty of progress. Lab-grown skin has been medically available for decades, and more recently stem cells have been used to seed scaffolds—either built form synthetic materials or made by stripping cells from natural support structures—to reproduce more complex biological tissue.
“This vehicle is going to the moon,” Bezos said during an invite-only presentation to media and space industry executives.
“We were given a gift — this nearby body called the moon,” Bezos said. He added that the moon is a good place to begin manufacturing in space due to its lower gravity than the Earth. Getting resources from the moon “takes 24 times less energy to get it off the surface compared to the Earth,” Bezos said, and “that is a huge lever.”
The Blue Moon lander can bring 3.6 metric tons to the lunar surface, according to Bezos.
