It’s #MarsLanding Day! Today, our NASA InSight spacecraft blazes into the atmosphere of Mars at 12,300 mph and slows to just 5 mph in less than 7 minutes, before gently touching down on the surface. Watch live starting at 2 p.m. EST.
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Scientists have discovered a new chemical process—also known as a biosynthetic pathway—in bacteria which could lead to a new generation of antibiotics being produced and manufactured.
Researchers at The University of Manchester’s School of Chemistry say their new pathway includes an enzyme, called a carboxylase, which adds CO2 to a precursor molecule producing a highly unusual antibiotic called malonomycin.
The team says the biosynthetic process used to produce this antibiotic could now possibly lead to the discovery and development of other drugs, helping in the fight against drug-resistant bugs and illnesses in the future.
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Really?
Ethiopia has announced its intention to launch its first satellite during 2019. According to the Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute (ESSTI) at the Addis Ababa University, the satellite is expected to be launched from China during September 2019.
The initial plans to launch the satellite were announced in 2016 at the same time the Ethiopian Council of Ministers approved the establishment of ESSTI.
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#BehindtheBell: NASA Mars Landing
Posted in space
Not sure if this is real or still vaporware yet. But it IS inevitable. It’s not a matter of “if”, but “when”. And we’re most likely not going to be able to regulate it much, either. If an embryo or fetus is not a human, then parents have the right to do anything they want to it. You might think that this is going to result in eugenics, like erasing melanin genes and starting a race against the fictitious “white genocide”. You’re right. But if you think that’s as bad as it’ll get, think more creatively. What happens when poor parents get paid to implant “willing servility” genes into their unborn children, in order to pay bills. The future is now. Cyborgs will not destroy humanity, but humanity itself might. What kinds of rights can be written into law to prevent this kind of extortion, that won’t also grant fetal personhood and end up derailing abortion rights? It’s going to be a bumpy ride, folks, buckle up!
A Chinese researcher claims he helped make the world’s first genetically edited babies — twin girls born this month, and with DNA he says he altered with a powerful new tool capable of rewriting the very blueprint of life.
If true, it would be a profound leap of science and ethics.
A U.S. scientist said he took part in the work in China, but this kind of gene editing is banned in the United States because the DNA changes can pass to future generations and risks harming other genes.
All brain cells ‘air-kiss’ before they come together to form a final synaptic relationship, new research by University of Kent scientists has revealed.
The breakthrough study reveals that molecular signaling within the brain operates in a very different way to previously thought, with cells now found to use the same pair of molecules for both distant and close contacts.
The research, by a team led by Professor Yuri Ushkaryov of the University’s Medway School of Pharmacy, may lead to a much better understanding of how neurons send messages to distant parts of the brain or other organs in the body, such as muscle cells.
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Today, we want to highlight a study that shows the link between atherosclerosis and the age-related shrinking of the thymus, which is arguably the most important organ of the immune system [1].
The adaptive and innate immune systems and atherosclerosis
The thymus is essentially like an army base where new T cells develop and are trained to become the soldiers of the adaptive immune system. However, as we age, the thymus shrinks, its ability to train new T cells declines, and the immune cell-producing tissue turns to fat and slowly wastes away; this process is known as thymic involution.
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