Science & Technology

The brave new world of gene-edited farm animals

Pat Thomas
Organic Consumers Association
Wed, 08 Jan 2020 13:30 UTC

For decades, the biotech industry has spun a narrative around genetically engineered crops that could be summed up very simply as "jam tomorrow, instead of bread and butter today."

Sustained — and financed — largely on the promise of spectacular success at some unidentified point in the future, the research and development of new types of GMO foods, made with a whole host of new genetic engineering technologies, has gathered pace in recent years.

These days, without most people being aware of it, genetic engineering is spreading from the crops in the field to the animals in the barn.

Using new genome editing (sometimes referred to as "gene editing") techniques like CRISPR, biotech breeders are proposing to breed a brave new world of farm animals that don't get sick, don't feel pain and produce more meat, milk and eggs at a lower cost than ever before.

Comment: Gene-edited farm animals are coming...will you eat them?

Study: Stem cells can rejuvenate brain function in old mice

EurekALERT!
Thu, 09 Jan 2020 07:48 UTC

© CRTD
Image of neural stem cells and newborn neurons (green) artificially generated in the hippocampus and contacting mature cells (red) of the mouse brain.

We all will experience it at some point, unfortunately: The older we get the more our brains will find it difficult to learn and remember new things. What the reasons underlying these impairments are is yet unclear but scientists at the Center for Regenerative Therapies of TU Dresden (CRTD) wanted to investigate if increasing the number of stem cells in the brain would help in recovering cognitive functions, such as learning and memory, that are lost during ageing.

To investigate this, the research group led by Prof. Federico Calegari used a method developed in his lab to stimulate the small pool of neural stem cells that reside in the brain in order to increase their number and, as a result, to also increase the number of neurons generated by those stem cells. Surprisingly, additional neurons could survive and form new contacts with neighbouring cells in the brain of old mice. Next, the scientists examined a key cognitive ability that is lost, similarly in mice and in humans, during ageing: navigation.

It is well known that individuals learn to navigate in a new environment in a different way depending on whether they are young or old. When young, the brain can build and remember a cognitive map of the environment but this ability fades away in older brains. As an alternative solution to the problem, older brains without a cognitive map of the environment need to learn the fixed series of turns and twists that are needed to reach a certain destination. While the two strategies may superficially appear similar, only a cognitive map can allow individuals to navigate efficiently when starting from a new location or when in need of reaching a new destination.

Comment: See also:

Astronomers spot distant galaxy group driving ancient cosmic makeover

Francis Reddy
NASA
Mon, 06 Jan 2020 07:34 UTC

© NASA, ESA and V. Tilvi (ASU)
This composite of archival Hubble Space Telescope visible and near-infrared images shows a part of the Extended Groth Strip, a well-studied area located between the constellations Ursa Major and Boötes. The three galaxies of the EGS77 galaxy group, shown in the green circles, lie at a redshift of 7.7, which means we’re seeing the galaxies as they were when the universe was just 680 million years old. The image is 3.2 arcminutes across.

An international team of astronomers funded in part by NASA has found the farthest galaxy group identified to date. Called EGS77, the trio of galaxies dates to a time when the universe was only 680 million years old, or less than 5% of its current age of 13.8 billion years.

More significantly, observations show the galaxies are participants in a sweeping cosmic makeover called reionization. The era began when light from the first stars changed the nature of hydrogen throughout the universe in a manner akin to a frozen lake melting in the spring. This transformed the dark, light-quenching early cosmos into the one we see around us today.

^{This animation shows EGS77's place in cosmic history, flies to the galaxies, and illustrates how ultraviolet light from their stars create bubbles of ionized hydrogen around them. Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center}

"The young universe was filled with hydrogen atoms, which so attenuate ultraviolet light that they block our view of early galaxies," said James Rhoads at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who presented the findings on Jan. 5 at the 235th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Honolulu. "EGS77 is the first galaxy group caught in the act of clearing out this cosmic fog."

Comment: See also:

Scientists identify pathways that extend lifespan by 500 percent

MDI Biological Laboratory
Wed, 08 Jan 2020 20:38 UTC

Bar Harbor, Maine — Scientists at the MDI Biological Laboratory, in collaboration with scientists from the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato, Calif., and Nanjing University in China, have identified synergistic cellular pathways for longevity that amplify lifespan fivefold in C. elegans, a nematode worm used as a model in aging research.

The increase in lifespan would be the equivalent of a human living for 400 or 500 years, according to one of the scientists.

The research draws on the discovery of two major pathways governing aging in C. elegans, which is a popular model in aging research because it shares many of its genes with humans and because its short lifespan of only three to four weeks allows scientists to quickly assess the effects of genetic and environmental interventions to extend healthy lifespan.

Because these pathways are "conserved," meaning that they have been passed down to humans through evolution, they have been the subject of intensive research. A number of drugs that extend healthy lifespan by altering these pathways are now under development. The discovery of the synergistic effect opens the door to even more effective anti-aging therapies.

The new research uses a double mutant in which the insulin signaling (IIS) and TOR pathways have been genetically altered. Because alteration of the IIS pathways yields a 100 percent increase in lifespan and alteration of the TOR pathway yields a 30 percent increase, the double mutant would be expected to live 130 percent longer. But instead, its lifespan was amplified by 500 percent.

"Despite the discovery in C. elegans of cellular pathways that govern aging, it hasn't been clear how these pathways interact," said Hermann Haller, M.D., president of the MDI Biological Laboratory. "By helping to characterize these interactions, our scientists are paving the way for much-needed therapies to increase healthy lifespan for a rapidly aging population."

Scientists find evidence that Venus has active volcanoes

Suraiya Farukhi, Universities Space Research Association
Phys.org
Fri, 03 Jan 2020 06:42 UTC

© NASA
This figure shows the volcanic peak Idunn Mons (at 46 degrees south latitude, 214.5 degrees east longitude) in the Imdr Regio area of Venus. The colored overlay shows the heat patterns derived from surface brightness data collected by the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS), aboard the European Space Agency's Venus Express spacecraft.

New research led by Universities Space Research Association (USRA) and published today in Science Advances shows that lava flows on Venus may be only a few years old, suggesting that Venus could be volcanically active today — making it the only planet in our solar system, other than Earth, with recent eruptions.

"If Venus is indeed active today, it would make a great place to visit to better understand the interiors of planets," says Dr. Justin Filiberto, the study's lead author and a Universities Space Research Association (USRA) staff scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI). "For example, we could study how planets cool and why the Earth and Venus have active volcanism, but Mars does not. Future missions should be able to see these flows and changes in the surface and provide concrete evidence of its activity."

Radiation treatment for cancer could soon be done in one second instead of in weeks of daily doses

Daily Mail
Thu, 09 Jan 2020 21:38 UTC

© Shutterstock/Mark _Kostich
Radiation therapy for cancer is typically delivered in daily 10 minute sessions for five to eight weeks, but the new method uses protons to give a full course of treatment's worth of radiation in a single second, according to the new study

Cancer patients could soon have their entire course of treatment in less than a second, according to new research.

The 'quickfire cure' is on the horizon after scientists identified the theoretical dose that would be needed.

It would end the harrowing and grueling ordeal of regular hospital visits faced by millions around the world - that can go on for months.

The pioneering technique uses charged particles instead of conventional X-rays to deliver radiotherapy.

It allows high-energy protons to be targeted directly at a tumor - causing fewer side-effects. Known as FLASH radiotherapy, it is set to revolutionize oncology.

The groundbreaking study also showed it had the same effect on tumors as traditional radiation - while sparing healthy tissue due to the shorter exposure time.

First full moon of 2020, the 'wolf moon,' to coincide with lunar eclipse - UPDATE: Sun appears as 'devil' in Mid-East

Julia Jacobo
ABC News
Thu, 09 Jan 2020 12:49 UTC

Comment: Here's how the eclipse looked in the Middle East...

What is a super blood wolf moon?

A super blood wolf moon is a type of total lunar eclipse, comprised of three separate phenomena.

Star-gazers will be treated to a double lunar event to start the new decade as the "wolf moon" coincides with a penumbral lunar eclipse.

The first full moon of January, which is nicknamed the "wolf moon," will appear opposite the sun on Friday at 2:21 p.m. and will appear full until Sunday morning, according to NASA.

Then, as the moon passes opposite the sun, it will pass through the partial shadow of the Earth on Friday night.

DNA of things: Embedding machines with replication data

Evolution News
Wed, 08 Jan 2020 17:40 UTC

In 1901, divers brought up from an ancient shipwreck the first part of the Antikythera mechanism made by Greek inventors. Modern scientists took over a century trying to figure it out completely and make a working copy by imitation. There were no design specs in the artifact, and few inscriptions to guide them. Who made the original? Why? What was it for? How did it work? And how did they make it?

Some of these questions were eventually answered, but imagine how helpful it would have been if the Greeks had left detailed information and instructions for answering them. It would have required stacks of degradable papyri or skin parchments. Imagine further how clever it would be if the Greeks had invented devices for automatically reading the instructions, building the parts, and assembling them into a working copy.

First new sunspots in 40 days herald coming of Solar Cycle 25

Tom Metcalfe
Livescience
Wed, 08 Jan 2020 15:01 UTC

© NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory
The instruments onboard NASA's orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory captured imagery of the two sunspots from the new sunspot cycle on Dec. 24 — one in the sun's northern hemisphere and one in the southern hemisphere, shown here circled in red.

Two new sunspots have ended a long period of relative quiet on the surface of our blazing host star, heralding the start of a new 11-year cycle of sunspot activity — resulting in sometimes dramatic space weather that could disrupt communications and power grids here on Earth.

The two new sunspots, designated as NOAA 2753 and 2754, were seen on Dec. 24 by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory — a satellite that monitors the exterior and interior of the sun from a geosynchronous orbit more than 22,000 miles (more than 35,000 kilometers) above the Earth's surface.

These are the first significant sunspots seen since November 2019 and indicate the onset of a new sunspot cycle — known as Solar Cycle 25, or SC25 — that is expected to reach a new peak of magnetic activity in about five years.

Visible sunspots are caused by magnetic disturbances in the sun that displace its bright outer layer and reveal the slightly cooler (and darker) interior layers, usually for a few days but sometimes for several weeks. They can vary in size, but are usually vast — often much larger than the entire Earth.

"The sun was spotless from Nov. 14 until Dec. 23," said Jan Janssens, a communications specialist with the Solar-Terrestrial Centre of Excellence in Brussels, Belgium, which coordinates studies of the sun. "This 40-days stretch of spotless days is the longest in more than 20 years," he told Live Science in an email.

Comment: See also:

Bizarre phenomenon of light flashing from human eyes caught on camera for first time

David Nield
Science Alert
Wed, 08 Jan 2020 07:00 UTC

Some radiation therapy patients report seeing flashes of light in front of their eyes during treatment - even when their eyes are closed. Now this long-standing mystery may have been solved, thanks to this weird effect being caught on camera for the first time.

What's happening, according to a new study, is that enough light is being produced inside the eye to cause these visual sensations. It's what's known as Cherenkov emissions or Cherenkov radiation, the same effect that causes nuclear reactors to glow blue when they're underwater.

Models have shown that as the radiation beam passes through the vitreous fluid or the clear gel of the eye, light is generated, and the researchers have provided the direct evidence.

The discovery could help to improve future radiation treatments - and to put patients' minds at ease about those flashing lights.

"Our newest data is exciting because for the first time, light emission from the eye of a patient undergoing radiotherapy was captured," says biomedical engineer Irwin Tendler, from Dartmouth College.

"This data is also the first instance of evidence directly supporting that there is enough light produced inside the eye to cause a visual sensation and that this light resembles Cherenkov emission."

Comment: See also: Confirmed: The Eye Emits Actual Light (Biophotons)

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Science & Technology

The brave new world of gene-edited farm animals

Study: Stem cells can rejuvenate brain function in old mice

Astronomers spot distant galaxy group driving ancient cosmic makeover

Scientists identify pathways that extend lifespan by 500 percent

Scientists find evidence that Venus has active volcanoes

Radiation treatment for cancer could soon be done in one second instead of in weeks of daily doses

First full moon of 2020, the 'wolf moon,' to coincide with lunar eclipse - UPDATE: Sun appears as 'devil' in Mid-East

DNA of things: Embedding machines with replication data

First new sunspots in 40 days herald coming of Solar Cycle 25

Bizarre phenomenon of light flashing from human eyes caught on camera for first time

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