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Could synthetic DNA be the future of data storage?

Jay Greene
Wall Street Journal
Tue, 25 Oct 2016 15:48 UTC
dna data storage computers
© Getty Images
In an age of gargantuan, power-sucking data centers, the space-saving potential of data stored in DNA is staggering.
How a synthetic version of our genetic code could become the world's most efficient hard drive

A quick riddle: What do 100 works of classic literature, a seed database from the nonprofit Crop Trust and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have in common? All of them were recently converted from bits of digital data to strands of synthetic DNA. In addition to these weighty files, researchers at Microsoft and the University of Washington converted a high-definition music video of "This Too Shall Pass" by the alternative rock band OK Go. The video is an homage to Rube Goldberg-like contraptions, which bear more than a passing resemblance to the labyrinthine process of transforming data into the genetic instructions that shape all living things.

This recent data-to-DNA conversion, completed in July, totaled 200 megabytes—which would barely register on a 16-gigabyte iPhone. It's not a huge amount of information, but it bested the previous DNA storage record, set by scientists at Harvard University, by a factor of about 10. To achieve this, researchers concocted a convoluted process to encode the data, store it in synthetic DNA and then use DNA sequencing machines to retrieve and, finally, decode the data. The result? The exact same files they began with.

Which raises the question: Why bother?
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Microscope 1

Scientists discover bizarre two-headed shark embryo


RT
Wed, 26 Oct 2016 14:16 UTC
two headed shark
© onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Scientists have discovered what they believe could be the first two-headed embryo among egg-laying shark species. The embryo, which is growing in a Spanish lab, also has multiple hearts, stomachs, and livers.

While there have been previous instances when sharks have given birth to two-headed pups, researchers believe this may be the first two-headed shark embryo from the Galeus atlanticus family.

Scientists suspect the deformation is a result of genetics, but are hopeful the discovery will provide insight into the rare condition known as dicephaly - a term which refers to two-headed animals.

The Spanish scientists published their findings in the Journal of Fish Biology, and detailed the catshark's fascinating body, which included two heads - each with its own mouth - a set of eyes, a brain, gill openings, two hearts, and two sets of stomachs and livers. Despite the duplicate organs, the catshark had just one intestine.
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R2-D2

Most of our history is 'the history of stupidity': Stephen Hawking lectures about artificial intelligence

Fiona MacDonald
Science Alert
Fri, 21 Oct 2016 09:07 UTC
stephen hawking
© Martin Hoscik/Shutterstock
Stephen Hawking
In a lecture at the University of Cambridge this week, Stephen Hawking made the bold claim that the creation of artificial intelligence will be "either the best, or the worst thing, ever to happen to humanity".

The talk was celebrating the opening of the new Leverhulme Centre of the Future of Intelligence, where some of the best minds in science will try to answer questions about the future of robots and artificial intelligence - something Hawking says we need to do a lot more of.

"We spend a great deal of time studying history," Hawking told the lecture, "which, let's face it, is mostly the history of stupidity."

But despite all our time spent looking back at past errors, we seem to make the same mistakes over and over again.

"So it's a welcome change that people are studying instead the future of intelligence," he explained.

Comment: Video on Hawking's remarks:



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Cassiopaea

Bright new nova discovered in Sagittarius

Bob King
Sky & Telescope
Mon, 24 Oct 2016 19:49 UTC
A nova in Sagittarius, discovered a few nights ago by a Japanese amateur, has become bright enough to see in binoculars.
New Nova
© Stellarium
This map shows the sky facing southwest in late twilight for observers across the central U.S. and southern Europe. The 8th-magnitude nova (exaggerated here!) lies just above the spout of the Sagittarius Teapot, at right ascension 18h 10m 28s, declination –27° 29′ 59″. It has been temporarily dubbed TCP J18102829-2729590 accordingly.
Just in the nick for time — at least for northern observers — a bright nova has been discovered in Sagittarius. I say "nick of time" because the constellation is sinking in the southwestern sky right after dusk, affording only a short viewing window from mid-northern latitudes. But a window it is, and there's still time to snatch a view of this amazing stellar explosion. Just make sure to look right after the end of twilight. That means about an hour and a half after your local sunset time.
Spout stars
© Stellarium
I've labeled the two bright 'spout stars' in this more detailed map, which shows stars to about magnitude 9.5. This will get you very close. To continue to the nova, use the more detailed chart below.
Well-known nova hunter Koichi Itagaki of Japan nabbed the "new star" on October 20th, using a 180-mm telephoto lens to take sky-patrol photos. At the time it was only about 11th magnitude. But within two days, the star shot up an additional three magnitudes and now shines brighter than 8.0. That puts it within range of 50-mm binoculars and any telescope you might have.
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Rocket

Russia unveils first image of prospective super-heavy ICBM set to replace 'Satan' missile


RT
Tue, 25 Oct 2016 15:04 UTC
Russian RS-20 Voyevoda (SS-18 Satan) missile
© Vladimir Fedorenko / Sputnik
Russia has unveiled the very first image of a new super-heavy thermonuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missile, the RS-28 Sarmat. The Sarmat, designed to be fitted with a hypersonic glider warhead, is expected to go into production as early as 2018.

The Sarmat is undergoing development at the Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau in the city of Miass. The first image of the new prospective missile was declassified by the bureau on Sunday.

A short statement signed by chief designer V. Degtar and leading designer Y. Kaverin accompanies the illustration.

"In accordance with the Decree of the Russian Government 'On the State Defense Order for 2010 and the planning period 2012-2013,' the Makeyev Rocket Design Bureau was instructed to start design and development work on the Sarmat. In June 2011, the Bureau and the Russian Ministry of Defense signed a state contract for the Sarmat's development," reads the note on the bureau's website.
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Microscope 1

Newly discovered millipede boasts 200 poison glands and 414 legs


RT
Mon, 24 Oct 2016 10:24 UTC
illacme tobini millipede
© Illacme tobini SciNews / YouTube
Explorers in California have discovered a new species of creepy crawly boasting 200 poison glands, four penises and 414 legs.

The 'illacme tobini' is a type of millipede and was found living in marble caves in Sequoia National Park high in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Despite what the name suggests, millipedes do not possess 1,000 legs - in fact the world's leggiest creature, illacme plenipes, has just the 750. First seen in 1928, it can be found under sandstone boulders near Silicon Valley.

"I never would have expected that a second species of the leggiest animal on the planet would be discovered in a cave 150 miles away," said Assistant Professor in the Entomology Department at Virginia Tech Paul Marek, an expert in all things millipedes.
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Blue Planet

Redrawing the tree of life: Scientists discover new bacteria groups, stunning microbial diversity underground


Phys.org
Mon, 24 Oct 2016 00:00 UTC
circular tree of life

All the known major bacterial groups are represented by wedges in this circular 'tree of life.' The bigger wedges are more diverse groups. Green wedges are groups that have not been genomically sampled at the Rifle site --everything else has. Black wedges are previously identified bacteria groups that have also been found at Rifle. Purple wedges are groups discovered at Rifle and announced last year. Red wedges are new groups discovered in this study. Colored dots represent important metabolic processes the new groups help mediate.
One of the most detailed genomic studies of any ecosystem to date has revealed an underground world of stunning microbial diversity, and added dozens of new branches to the tree of life.

The bacterial bonanza comes from scientists who reconstructed the genomes of more than 2,500 microbes from sediment and groundwater samples collected at an aquifer in Colorado. The effort was led by researchers from the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and UC Berkeley. DNA sequencing was performed at the Joint Genome Institute, a DOE Office of Science User Facility.

As reported online October 24 in the journal Nature Communications, the scientists netted genomes from 80 percent of all known bacterial phyla, a remarkable degree of biological diversity at one location. They also discovered 47 new phylum-level bacterial groups, naming many of them after influential microbiologists and other scientists. And they learned new insights about how microbial communities work together to drive processes that are critical to the planet's climate and life everywhere, such as the carbon and nitrogen cycles.

These findings shed light on one of Earth's most important and least understood realms of life. The subterranean world hosts up to one-fifth of all biomass, but it remains a mystery.

Comment: Scientists excited by discovery of 'Underground Galapagos'

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Mars

Elon Musk's dreams for human habitats on Mars

Samantha Masunaga
Los Angeles Times
Sun, 23 Oct 2016 15:07 UTC
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk
© Refugio Ruiz / Associated Press
SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk answered questions about his plans to send humans to Mars in a Reddit Ask Me Anything session Sunday afternoon that prompted thousands of reader comments.

The question-and-answer session was intended as a follow-up to Musk's speech at the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico, last month, in which he described plans to send up to 1 million people to Mars and turn humans into a multiplanetary species within 40 to 100 years.

His vision involves massive, reusable rocket boosters launching spaceships into a "parking orbit" where they are later refueled by propellant tankers. Eventually 1,000 spaceships carrying 100 people each would embark en masse for the Red Planet.

But there are fewer details on what they would do once they arrive. Musk has said a refueling station would be established on Mars to harvest methane fuel for the rocket so settlers could come back to Earth.
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Eye 1

Big Brother: Google Has Quietly Dropped Ban on Personally Identifiable Web Tracking

Julia Angwin
Pro Publica
Fri, 21 Oct 2016 08:00 UTC
Google logo
When Google bought the advertising network DoubleClick in 2007, Google founder Sergey Brin said that privacy would be the company's "number one priority when we contemplate new kinds of advertising products."

And, for nearly a decade, Google did in fact keep DoubleClick's massive database of web-browsing records separate by default from the names and other personally identifiable information Google has collected from Gmail and its other login accounts.

But this summer, Google quietly erased that last privacy line in the sand - literally crossing out the lines in its privacy policy that promised to keep the two pots of data separate by default. In its place, Google substituted new language that says browsing habits "may be" combined with what the company learns from the use Gmail and other tools.

The change is enabled by default for new Google accounts. Existing users were prompted to opt-in to the change this summer.

Comment: Google continues to drive to collect information about all your online activities, at the moment so it can sell the data or target advertising to you. But it is data that is always available if the government comes calling, and it is a very complete picture. Yes, you can adjust your privacy settings, but many people do not know to do this and ultimately you are relying on the honesty of the company to not track your data if you so ask.

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Info

New research shows the universe may not be expanding at an accelerating pace


Eurasia Review
Mon, 24 Oct 2016 03:24 UTC
Earth and Stars
© Eurasia Review
Five years ago, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three astronomers for their discovery, in the late 1990s, that the universe is expanding at an accelerating pace.

Their conclusions were based on analysis of Type Ia supernovae - the spectacular thermonuclear explosion of dying stars - picked up by the Hubble space telescope and large ground-based telescopes. It led to the widespread acceptance of the idea that the universe is dominated by a mysterious substance named 'dark energy' that drives this accelerating expansion.

Now, a team of scientists led by Professor Subir Sarkar of Oxford University's Department of Physics has cast doubt on this standard cosmological concept. Making use of a vastly increased data set - a catalogue of 740 Type Ia supernovae, more than ten times the original sample size - the researchers have found that the evidence for acceleration may be flimsier than previously thought, with the data being consistent with a constant rate of expansion.

The study is published in the Nature journal Scientific Reports.

Professor Sarkar, who also holds a position at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, said, "The discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe won the Nobel Prize, the Gruber Cosmology Prize, and the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. It led to the widespread acceptance of the idea that the universe is dominated by "dark energy" that behaves like a cosmological constant - this is now the "standard model" of cosmology."
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