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Undercover evolution: Our individuality is encrypted in our DNA, but it is deeper than expected
Providing a glimpse the hidden workings of evolution, a group of researchers at UC Santa Barbara have discovered that embryos that appear the same can start out with surprisingly different instructions.
“We found that a lot of undercover evolution occurs in early embryos,” said Joel Rothman, a professor in the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, who led the team.
Indeed, although members of the same species are identical across the vast majority of their genomes, including all the genetic instructions used in development, Rothman and his colleagues found that key parts of the assembly instructions used when embryos first start developing can differ dramatically between individuals of the same species.
Japanese Woman Received the World’s First iPS Corneal Transplant
Suffering from a corneal disease where her left eye was turning blind, the woman can now see well, say the Osaka University team who carried out the surgery.
American Chemical Society Photo
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Nation’s first all-digital nuclear reactor dedicated at Purdue
Purdue University will support public and private research partnerships at the nation’s first digitally operated nuclear reactor, the school said in a Tuesday press release. Scientists and engineers will look to answer the question of how reliable and resilient an all-digital nuclear reactor, named Purdue University Reactor Number One (PUR-1), can be.
“As the United States and the world continue to implement digital technology, that introduces both strengths and vulnerabilities that need to be explored and understood because our economy relies on the resiliency of these systems,” Clive Townsend, supervisor for the reactor, said in a statement.
Before PUR-1 was converted to digital technology, all US reactors worked using analog technology like vacuum tubes and hand-soldered wires, Townsend said in the release. Purdue’s facility will be the US’ first cyber-nuclear testbed for researchers and corporate partners. It’s licensed by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which ensures safe use of radioactive materials.
How quantum computing might go mainstream
Dr. Chris Bernhardt, professor of mathematics at Fairfield University, tells Tonya Hall that quantum computing could eventually be useful for everyone through different problem solving processes.