Hard Science

This Molecule Could Be the Key to Regenerating Human Tissue

FUTU

In Brief

• Researchers have discovered that IL6, a molecule produced by tissue damage, plays a critical role in reverting cells back to their embryonic state during cellular reprogramming.
• Scientists can now explore ways to use IL6 to enhance the efficiency of cellular reprogramming and harness our bodies' regenerative power to fight disease and aging.

An Important Molecule

Back in 2006, stem cell researcher Shinya Yamanaka figured out how to use a series of four genes (OCT4, SOX2, KLF4, and MYC, or OSKM) to reprogram adult cells into pluripotent cells. These “master” stem cells are the precursor to all types of cells and give the body the ability to heal itself using its own cells. Figuring out how to induce them in adult cells opened up innumerable new doors for the field of regenerative medicine.
However, Yamanaka’s reprogramming process came with several limitations. Not only did it have a low efficiency rate, some trials even showed the emergence of teratoma tumors, making the process unreliable for clinical use. Now, a new study published in Science takes this research one step further, providing new insight into how the reprogramming mechanism works and ways we could potentially harness it for practical usage.
Researchers at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) have demonstrated that damage in the cells plays a critical role in reverting the cells back to their embryonic state. Study author Manuel Serrano and his colleagues noted that exposure to the OSKM genes causes damage to the cells. That damage causes the cells to secrete a molecule called interleukin-6 (IL6), and it’s this molecule that promotes the reprogramming into pluripotent cells.

Credit: Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO)

The Power of Self-Healing

Cell reprogramming literally takes old cells and makes them new again, so figuring out how to take advantage of this ability of the body to heal itself could be the key to curing many diseases, including degenerative conditions related to aging. By furthering our understanding of how this process works, the researchers open doors for scientists to target ways to manipulate IL6 to enhance the efficiency of cellular reprogramming.
This promising field of medicine has spurred several other studies. The successful reprogramming of connective tissue into cardiac tissue could lead to a cure for heart failure. Fibroblast scar cells have been manipulated to become lining in blood vessels, and doctors have been able to restore a patient’s vision using skin cells that were converted into pluripotent cells and then into eye cells.
There’s a long way to go before we fully understand the wonders of cell reprogramming, but continued studies may soon give us the ability to fully harness the regenerative power of our own bodies.

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 Ilmu kerasMolekul ini Bisa Jadi Kunci Regenerasi Jaringan Manusiafutu
Secara singkat

    Para peneliti telah menemukan bahwa IL6, molekul yang diproduksi oleh kerusakan jaringan, memainkan peran penting dalam mengembalikan sel-sel kembali ke keadaan embrio mereka selama pemrograman ulang sel.
    Para ilmuwan sekarang dapat mengeksplorasi cara untuk menggunakan IL6 untuk meningkatkan efisiensi pemrograman ulang sel dan memanfaatkan kekuatan regeneratif tubuh kita untuk melawan penyakit dan penuaan.
Sebuah Molekul Penting
Kembali pada tahun 2006, batang peneliti sel Shinya Yamanaka menemukan cara untuk menggunakan serangkaian empat gen (OCT4, Sox2, KLF4, dan MYC, atau OSKM) untuk memprogram ulang sel-sel dewasa menjadi sel pluripoten. Ini "master" sel induk adalah pendahulu untuk semua jenis sel dan memberikan tubuh kemampuan untuk menyembuhkan dirinya sendiri menggunakan sel sendiri. Mencari tahu bagaimana untuk mendorong mereka di sel dewasa membuka pintu baru yang tak terhitung untuk bidang kedokteran regeneratif.
Namun, proses pemrograman ulang Yamanaka datang dengan beberapa keterbatasan. Tidak hanya itu memiliki tingkat efisiensi yang rendah, beberapa percobaan bahkan menunjukkan munculnya tumor teratoma, membuat proses tidak dapat diandalkan untuk penggunaan klinis. Sekarang, sebuah studi baru yang diterbitkan di Science mengambil penelitian ini satu langkah lebih jauh, memberikan wawasan baru bagaimana mekanisme pemrograman ulang bekerja dan cara kita berpotensi memanfaatkan itu untuk penggunaan praktis.
Para peneliti di National Research Centre Kanker Spanyol (CNIO) telah menunjukkan bahwa kerusakan pada sel-sel memainkan peran penting dalam mengembalikan sel-sel kembali ke keadaan embrio mereka. penulis studi Manuel Serrano dan rekan-rekannya mencatat bahwa paparan gen OSKM menyebabkan kerusakan pada sel-sel. kerusakan yang menyebabkan sel untuk mengeluarkan molekul yang disebut interleukin-6 (IL6), dan itu molekul ini yang mempromosikan pemrograman ulang ke dalam sel pluripoten.
Kredit: Spanyol National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO)Kredit: Spanyol National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO)
The Power of Self-Healing
Sel pemrograman ulang harfiah mengambil sel-sel lama dan membuat mereka baru lagi, jadi mencari tahu bagaimana untuk mengambil keuntungan dari kemampuan ini tubuh untuk menyembuhkan dirinya sendiri bisa menjadi kunci untuk menyembuhkan berbagai penyakit, termasuk kondisi degeneratif yang berhubungan dengan penuaan. Dengan memajukan pemahaman kita tentang bagaimana proses ini bekerja, para peneliti pintu terbuka bagi para ilmuwan untuk menargetkan cara untuk memanipulasi IL6 untuk meningkatkan efisiensi pemrograman ulang sel.
bidang ini menjanjikan pengobatan telah mendorong beberapa penelitian lainnya. Pemrograman ulang sukses dari jaringan ikat dalam jaringan jantung dapat menyebabkan obat untuk gagal jantung. sel fibroblast bekas luka telah dimanipulasi menjadi lapisan dalam pembuluh darah, dan dokter telah mampu mengembalikan visi pasien menggunakan sel-sel kulit yang diubah menjadi sel pluripoten dan kemudian menjadi sel mata.
Ada jalan panjang untuk pergi sebelum kita memahami keajaiban pemrograman ulang sel, namun studi lanjut akan segera memberikan kita kemampuan untuk sepenuhnya memanfaatkan kekuatan regeneratif dari tubuh kita sendiri.
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Hard Science

Failing Antibiotics Could Kill 300 Million by 2050. Now, We May Have a Way to Fight Back

Jun MT/Shutterstock

In Brief

• A team of Australian researchers have proposed a new method for tracking antibiotic resistance, focusing on the resistance genes that give the pathogens their deadly boost.
• While this new method of tracking is more complicated, it would provide doctors with valuable insights that could result in more effective treatment options.

Tracking the Source

The problem of antibiotic resistance has been slowly but steadily moving into the limelight. World leaders have talked about it at the United Nations General Assembly, and the UN has even declared it a “crisis,” but the resources and methods currently used to combat it are proving inadequate. However, a newly proposed tracking protocol may offer hope for battling this growing threat.
Scientists from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and La Trobe University have proposed taking a wholly difference approach to how we define and track antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Instead of tracking antibiotic resistance by counting the number of pathogens that have developed said resistance like we currently do, these scientists propose we start tracking the resistance genes that give the pathogens their deadly boost.
Shifting from tracking resistant pathogens to resistant genes doesn’t sound so hard, but it’s actually fairly complicated. Microbes are capable of something called horizontal gene transfer, which allows them to transfer their genes between different species of microbes, including those that don’t affect us. This means that the new system of tracking would require us to not just count the number of infections with resistant pathogens, but also test our sewage, hospitals, and general environment to figure out what kinds of resistant genes they host.

Knowledge is power

Once we do that, scientists will have a better understanding of which resistances thrive in particular locales, which will give doctors a lot of valuable information about their enemy. If they know which resistances are present in their area, they know which antibiotics to prescribe and which ones to “rest” until a later date.
Not only would this new system of tracking for antibiotic resistance allow doctors to provide their patients with the most effective treatment, it would also ensure they don’t blindly give out stronger antibiotics than necessary. Limiting the microbes’ exposure to these drugs means they will have less of a chance to develop stronger resistances.
If we don’t take action, antibiotic resistance is expected to cause an estimated 300 million preventable deaths and a cumulative loss of $100 trillion USD by 2050. We need to start taking this threat seriously as the devastation it could cause is on par with climate change, and like climate change, better tracking and defining of the problem will give us a better shot at stopping it.

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Off World

Cassini Is Preparing for Its Dramatic Death-Dive Into Saturn

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

In Brief

• Twelve years after reaching Saturn, NASA's Cassini mission will begin its final phase this week, exploring the planet's outer rings before crashing to its surface in April.
• The mission has taught us so much about our neighboring planets, identifying the first off-Earth lakes and hurricanes and making the first landing in our outer Solar System.

Going In For A Kiss

On November 30, after dancing with Saturn for 12 years, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft is swooping in for a kiss, plunging very close to the planet’s unexplored F ring to collect samples of ring particles and faint gas molecules while maintaining a distance safe enough from the debris — over 4,850 miles (7,800 kilometers).
A gravitational nudge from one of Saturn’s moons, Titan, will propel Cassini along as it enters the first phase of what NASA is calling “the mission’s dramatic endgame.” From tomorrow through April 22, the craft will plunge through the unexplored area in the planet’s outer rings every seven days for a total of 20 times.

The Sun produces a glowing spot as it is positioned behind Saturn’s B ring. NASA/JPL.

“We’re calling this phase of the mission Cassini’s Ring-Grazing Orbits, because we’ll be skimming past the outer edge of the rings,” said Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. “In addition, we have two instruments that can sample particles and gases as we cross the ringplane, so in a sense Cassini is also ‘grazing’ on the rings.”

An Epic Finale

Launched in 1997, the Cassini spacecraft’s mission was to probe and image Saturn, its moons, and its rings, beginning with its arrival in 2004 until its expected end in 2008. Since then, however, the mission has been extended twice, and it has been responsible for some of the biggest breakthroughs in space exploration: its landing on Titan was the first ever successfully completed in the outer solar system, it captured the first off-Earth hurricane, and it identified the first lakes anywhere beyond Earth.
This new phase of Cassini’s mission will provide in-depth, high-quality, high-resolution views of Saturn’s moons, main rings, and the small moonlets mixed in with them. It might also be able to capture images of dust clouds as positions become favorable, such as when the Sun backlights the planet in Cassini’s view in March.

Cassini’s final phase. NASA/JPL-Caltech.

No doubt Cassini’s ring-grazing phase will be phenomenal, but so will the way the spacecraft intends to take its final bow. To make sure it doesn’t collide with Saturn’s moons and potentially infect them with Earth microbes when it runs out of fuel, Cassini will instead repeatedly dive through the narrow gap between Saturn and its rings, over and over as it slowly runs out of fuel and eventually falls down into Saturn’s embrace.
With Cassini’s mission complete and the craft making its final resting place on the planet it has studied for a dozen years, NASA will focus on its next generation of spacecrafts, including Orion, which will send astronauts on missions beyond the Moon. We’ve learned a lot from Cassini, and now it’s time to look to the future of space exploration.

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Future Society

HP’s Successful Test Heralds A New Computing System That’s 8,000 Times Faster

Richard Lewington/Hewlett-Packard

In Brief

• Hewlett Packard Enterprise's successfully tested Memory-Driven Computer relies on photonic/optical communication links and is faster than traditional computers by leaps and bounds.
• While this was just a proof-of-concept, we can start to see real progress with innovations in memory coming in the next few years.

Memory Over Processing Power

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) successfully tested an ambitious new model that challenges how computing is done today. In a press release, HPE announced that it successfully tested a proof-of-concept computing architecture that’s memory-driven. As HPE explains, it is  “a concept that puts memory, not processing, at the center of the computing platform to realize performance and efficiency gains not possible today.”
The prototype was developed as part of The Machine, HP’s computer of the future, leading the company’s efforts to revolutionize the fundamental architecture by which all computers have been built in the past 60 years.
The proof-of-concept prototype was able demonstrate how computer nodes sharing a pool of Fabric-Attached Memory, speedy photonics/optical-based communication data links, and a customized software can make it all work. Simulations suggested that a memory-driven computing (MDC) system can be “multiple orders of magnitude” faster than conventional PCs — faster by 8,000 times, in some cases.

The Future of Computing

“With this prototype, we have demonstrated the potential of Memory-Driven Computing and also opened the door to immediate innovation,” said Antonio Neri, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Enterprise Group at HPE. And the potential is indeed huge. The technology can greatly enhance the performance of servers and other higher-end computers, as HPE intends to use it. But it can also trickle down into versions that can even improve Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
Improving the IoT has been one of the objectives of developing The Machine. However, as exciting as it is,  the tech still needs to be made practical. Non-volatile memory, which is crucial for an MDC system, is still to expected to come sometime in 2018 or 2019.
Still, the proof-of-concept works, and that is what’s important. Everything else, at this stage, will simply be a matter of making it real. Soon, when we consider buying computers, we may be looking at the memory specs of devices more than their processing power.

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Hard Science

Free Science: A New Company is Making Peer Review Science Free For Everyone

Ben Broomfield / The Guardian

In Brief

• ScienceMatters is a new journal seeking to democratize scientific knowledge by taking away some of the pretense associated with the most prestigious journals.
• Greater access by more thinkers to more knowledge is a wonderful ingredient to boost scientific discovery.

The Science World’s Culture of Prestige

Access to knowledge is the best tool we have to solve all of the world’s greatest and most mysterious questions. In the scientific academe, everyone covets a publication in prominent journals like Cell, Nature, or Science. However, prestige is hard to come by—these journals typically accept only 5 to 10 percent of submitted work.
ScienceMatters is a science publishing company that aims to change the perspective on scientific research by providing a more democratized platform.
The founders criticize top journals for only taking more alluring work. Lawrence Rajendran, founder and CEO of ScienceMatters, said that this criteria for acceptance makes “competition for space is extremely high so there needs to be that wow factor.” Many scientists craft their work specifically to please journal editors, in order to attain the most citations. Stacking of citations is often the basis of hiring and promoting researchers, which developers consider to be unjust.

Science for Everybody

The journal’s acceptance criteria is more general. As long as the topic has a solid foundation in science and concrete evidence, their anonymous panel of editors take in the work. The developers behind the publication desire to drive scientific research back to a joy of curiosity and discovery, instead of the mere glorification of big names and citations.
“[The] publish or perish culture instills a hostile scientific environment, pressuring young researchers to outperform their peers, which can lead to data fraud,” Rajendran explained.
Other open-access peer review platforms also aim to deviate from a culture of prestige in the science world, including eLife and Frontiers. These open-access platforms are arms reaching out encouraging more minds to keep learning and innovating. There’s always something new to discover, always another problem to solve, all we have to do is reach for the right tools.

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Hard Science

Unlocking the Physics of Our Universe: Unusual Numbers Found in Particle Collisions

CERN

In Brief

• Values computed from particle physics experiments seem to correspond with periods, a specific set of unusual values found in a branch of mathematics.
• If physicists are able to understand this connection, they could use it to simplify their prediction process and gain insight into the messy world of quantum mechanics.

Finding Patterns

Mathematicians and physicists have noticed a strange coincidence occurring between their respective fields: the values computed from particle physics experiments seem to correspond with a specific set of values found in a branch of mathematics called algebraic geometry.
Particle physicists conduct some of their most advanced experiments at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva, and many of those experiments generate gigabytes of data. To make sense of that information, the physicists use Feynman diagrams, simple representations of the particles and outputs connected to their collisions.  Lines and squiggly lines in the diagrams represent the particles and their interactions from the collision. When details like mass, momentum, and direction are added to the diagram, the physicists can calculate the Feynman probability, the likelihood that a collision will occur according to their diagram.
While making these calculations, they noticed that the numbers emerging from their diagrams were the same as a class of numbers from pure math: periods. These values describe motives, which are basically the building blocks of polynomial functions. When you get two polynomials with the same period, you know that the motives will be the same. One example of a period is pi. Because that period appears in both the integral defining the function of a sphere and the one defining the function of a circle, a mathematician can know that the motives for a sphere and circle are the same.

Quanta Magazine

Order in Chaos

To get the probability that a specific outcome will arise from a collision, physicists need to take the associated integral of each possible Feynman diagram scenario and add it to all the other integrals to find the amplitude. Squaring the magnitude of that number will give them the probability. The problem comes when working with complicated collisions that cause loops (particles emitting and reabsorbing other particles in the middle of the collision process). Calculating amplitude is far harder with more loops, but adding in more increases the potential accuracy of the diagram.
If there is a connection between periods and Feynman diagrams, understanding it would help physicists be more accurate with their predictions. They could simply look at the structure of a Feynman diagram to get an idea of its amplitude, skipping over the potentially thousands of calculations that would otherwise be necessary. This would make creating and running particle physics experiments far less complicated and offer key insights into the quantum world, which, in turn, could lead to the quantum computers that would revolutionize the fields of engineering, gene processing, machine learning, and much more.

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 Ilmu kerasMembuka Fisika Universe kami: Bilangan biasa Ditemukan di Partikel TabrakanCERN
Secara singkat

    Nilai dihitung dari percobaan fisika partikel tampaknya sesuai dengan periode, satu set nilai-nilai tertentu yang tidak biasa ditemukan di cabang matematika.
    Jika fisikawan mampu memahami hubungan ini, mereka bisa menggunakannya untuk menyederhanakan proses prediksi mereka dan mendapatkan wawasan ke dalam dunia berantakan mekanika kuantum.
menemukan Pola
Matematikawan dan fisikawan telah melihat sebuah kebetulan yang aneh terjadi antara bidang masing-masing: nilai dihitung dari percobaan fisika partikel tampaknya sesuai dengan seperangkat nilai-nilai tertentu yang ditemukan dalam cabang matematika disebut aljabar geometri.
fisikawan partikel melakukan beberapa eksperimen yang paling canggih mereka di Large Hadron Collider di Jenewa, dan banyak dari mereka percobaan menghasilkan gigabyte data. Untuk memahami informasi itu, fisikawan menggunakan diagram Feynman, representasi sederhana dari partikel dan output terhubung ke tabrakan mereka. Garis dan berlekuk-lekuk garis di diagram mewakili partikel dan interaksi mereka dari tabrakan. Ketika rincian seperti massa, momentum, dan arah ditambahkan ke diagram, fisikawan dapat menghitung probabilitas Feynman, kemungkinan bahwa tabrakan akan terjadi sesuai dengan diagram mereka.
Sementara membuat perhitungan ini, mereka melihat bahwa angka yang muncul dari diagram mereka sama sebagai kelas nomor dari matematika murni: periode. Nilai-nilai ini menggambarkan motif, yang pada dasarnya adalah blok bangunan dari fungsi polinomial. Ketika Anda mendapatkan dua polinomial dengan periode yang sama, Anda tahu bahwa motif akan sama. Salah satu contoh dari periode adalah pi. Karena periode yang muncul di kedua integral mendefinisikan fungsi bola dan yang mendefinisikan fungsi lingkaran, matematikawan dapat mengetahui bahwa motif bola dan lingkaran adalah sama.
Majalah QuantaMajalah Quanta
Urutan Chaos
Untuk mendapatkan probabilitas bahwa suatu hasil tertentu akan muncul dari tabrakan, fisikawan perlu mengambil integral terkait setiap skenario yang mungkin diagram Feynman dan menambahkannya ke semua integral lainnya untuk menemukan amplitudo. Mengkuadratkan besarnya jumlah itu akan memberi mereka probabilitas. Masalahnya muncul ketika bekerja dengan tabrakan rumit yang menyebabkan loop (partikel memancarkan dan reabsorbing partikel lain di tengah-tengah proses tabrakan). Menghitung amplitudo jauh lebih sulit dengan lebih loop, tetapi menambahkan lebih meningkatkan akurasi potensi diagram.
Jika ada hubungan antara periode dan diagram Feynman, pemahaman itu akan membantu fisikawan lebih akurat dengan prediksi mereka. Mereka hanya bisa melihat struktur diagram Feynman untuk mendapatkan ide dari amplitudonya, melompati berpotensi ribuan perhitungan yang seharusnya diperlukan. Hal ini akan membuat menciptakan dan menjalankan eksperimen fisika partikel jauh lebih rumit dan menawarkan wawasan kunci ke dalam dunia kuantum, yang, pada gilirannya, dapat menyebabkan komputer kuantum yang akan merevolusi bidang teknik, pengolahan gen, pembelajaran mesin, dan banyak lagi.
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Earth & Energy

India Just Unveiled the World’s Largest Solar Plant

Keith Harkins / Andrew Choi

In Brief

• With 2.5 million individual solar panels across more than 10.36 square kilometers, India's new plant is capable of powering 150,000 homes.
• The facility puts India on track to be the world's third-biggest solar market by next year, joining several other countries on the path to creating a fossil-fuel free future.

Solar as far as the eye can see

Images of India’s Kamuthi Solar Power Project have just been unveiled, giving people across the globe a look at the planet’s largest solar plant. The facility is equipped with 2.5 million individual solar panels across more than 10.36 square kilometers (4 square miles) in Kamuthi in Tamil Nadu, and construction on it was completed in just 8 months.
The plant adds 648 megawatts to the country’s current energy capacity and is capable of powering 150,000 homes. It is a huge step forward in India’s plans to make solar power accessible to more of its citizens. By 2022, the country hopes to produce solar power for 60 million homes — a goal aligned with the government’s vision to generate 40 percent of India’s power from non-fossil fuel sources by 2030.
With this new plant and its continued dedication to sustainable energy, India is expected to become the world’s third-biggest solar market by next year, trailing after China and the United States.

The End of Fossil Fuels

India’s is one of many nationwide initiatives to minimize, if not completely eliminate, the use of fossil fuels.
Chile’s efforts to produce renewable energy have already led to the country creating far more energy than its northern grid needs, driving the country’s energy cost down to nothing. In the same vein, the UK has made a commitment to completely eliminate use of coal by 2025, and in the past six months, they’ve managed to produce more electricity from solar energy than through their traditional coal plants. Meanwhile, Spain is hoping to become a leading country for sustainable energy by setting a goal to generate 100 percent of its power from renewable sources — it’s already able to produce enough energy from wind to power 29 million homes on a daily basis.
These pioneering nations are demonstrating the promise and viability of green energy options. As those options become even more accessible and economically viable, we’re sure to see other countries follow their good example.

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Off World

A New Chinese Satellite May Have Just Paved the Way for Deep Space Missions

NASA

In Brief

• The next space race may be upon us in the form of x-ray navigation satellites that can be used to pinpoint spacecraft positioning within 5 km (3.1 miles).
• The future of deep space travel is about to start taking its first steps. Being able to map the cosmos is a far cry from traveling them, but an essential first step.

Navigating Deep Space

Man is gearing up to traverse the stars deep than every before. To that end, China launched the Long March 11 rocket this past November 10th, carrying with it a number of satellites. The most notable of these is one that could very well define deep space navigation for the future of space exploration.
China’s X-ray Pulsar Navigation 1 (XPNAV 1) satellite is the world’s first x-ray navigation system. Prior to the XPNAV 1, the only way for spacecraft to keep track of their location is through the earth-based NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) and ESA’s European Space Tracking (ESTRACK). Even with all their capabilities, these don’t really allow for spacecraft to “boldly go where no one has gone before” — a feat more possible using x-rays.
“In a nutshell, it is the cosmic equivalent of GPS,” said John Pye, the manager at the University of Leicester’s Space Research Center. The XPNAV 1 satellite, equipped with two power-generating solar arrays and two detectors, weighs about 240 kg (529 lbs). The satellite will run tests and gather data to build the pulsar x-ray database.

Credits: chinaspaceflight.com

X-Ray Marks the Spot

X-ray navigation (XNAV) relies on x-ray pulsars, usually found in systems with two stars. X-ray hotspots are generated when a denser neutron star pulls in gas from the other star via its magnetic field. As the pulsar rotates on its axis, it produces x-ray pulses at short intervals, which can then be used like a GPS system (with pulses instead of satellites). The time differential of the pulses from multiple pulsars can be measured and used by a spacecraft to determine its own location in the solar system within 5 kilometers (3.1 miles). The key is to find pulsars with more consistent pulses.
If the XPNAV 1 successfully conducts its mission, spotting x-ray pulses and mapping them to build a database, space exploration will forever be changed. “Having at least a semi-autonomous system makes things easier in terms of navigation as you get to the outer solar system, the outer planets like Jupiter, Saturn and beyond,” Pye said.
China isn’t the only one exploring the technology, NASA is currently developing SEXTANT (Station Explorer for X-ray Timing and Navigation Technology), which will be installed on the International Space Station in 2017.

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Off World

The Missing Universe: CERN Has Started Searching for “Dark Photons”

Getty Images

In Brief

• Dark matter seems to outweigh visible matter roughly six to one, making up about 27% of the universe.
• Physicists from CERN now believe there's a fifth universal force that rules the behavior of dark matter, and is transmitted by a particle called the dark photon.

The Fifth Force

The universe is shrouded in mystery—a shroud so dark, in fact, that 27 percent of the matter in it is “dark.” Dark matter does not interact with photons and electromagnetic waves, so it’s invisible to our eyes and to every kind of telescope. Basically, it’s the darkness that surrounds every celestial body, and we only know that it’s there because astronomers observe its gravitational pull on everything else.
A working theory is that – in addition to the four fundamental forces that drive the universe: gravity, electromagnetism, and strong and weak nuclear forces – there’s a fifth force that rules the behavior of dark matter. Physicists from CERN now believe that this force is transmitted by a particle called the dark photon.
“To use a metaphor, an otherwise impossible dialogue between two people not speaking the same language (visible and dark matter) can be enabled by a mediator (the dark photon), who understands one language and speaks the other one,” explained Sergei Gninenko of CERN.
The research facility is now launching the NA64 experiment to search for this particle. The equipment focuses a beam of electrons with a known value of initial energy at a detector. Interactions between the electrons and atoms in the detector produce visible photons. If dark photons exist, they will escape the detector and subtract from the initial electron energy, as by the law of conservation of energy.

The Complex Universe

There’s a lot of work to be done by physicists in order to prove that dark photons exist. Results of the experiment must be replicable and, if the scientists find it, another round of research will be pursued to prove its relation to dark matter.
CERN is an organization of physicists and engineers that probe the universe in pursuit of understanding its fundamental structure. Discoveries from these studies could validate or totally destroy everything we currently know.
While dark matter may seem very far away from us and our daily lives, understanding all these mysteries is another step toward understanding ourselves and this complex universe we live in.

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Hard Science

Get Involved in the World’s Biggest Quantum Physics Experiment Happening Right Now

In Brief

• The world's largest quantum physics experiment, run by 12 different labs around the world, will test Albert Einstein's idea of local realism - one of the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics.
• The experiment aims to use a huge amount of random, user-generated data to test Bell's inequality.

What could be the world’s largest quantum physics experiment is happening today, 30 November 2016, and researchers need people from all over the world to get involved by helping them test the laws of quantum mechanics.
The experiment, run by 12 different labs around the world, will test Albert Einstein’s idea of local realism – one of the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics. All you have to do to help out is play a bunch of online games for science.
So, what will all your gaming efforts achieve? Basically, local realism is an attempt to overcome what Einstein referred to as “spooky action at a distance.”
In quantum mechanics, there are two things to keep in mind. First, particles don’t have a distinct value until they’re measured. And secondly, when two particles are entangled, one of them will immediately affect its entangled partner, no matter how physically far apart they are.
Einstein didn’t like that, because, in theory, it seems to violate the speed of light – hence the “spooky action” quote.
So he came up with the idea of local realism, which assumes that a particle must objectively have a pre-existing value for any possible measurement – and that way, information doesn’t actually travel between two entangled particles faster than the speed of light.
Since then, researchers have come up with a test to measure whether or not information is actually travelling between entangled particles, known as the Bell inequality test.
And if it’s violated in actual experiments, it implies that quantum mechanics violates either locality or realism, and the idea of local realism (and Einstein’s hypothesis) therefore cannot be correct.
Several experiments over the past few years have reportedly violated Bell’s inequality – last year, the first Bell’s inequality experiment was completed without loopholes, but there’s still dispute over whether or not local realism actually holds up.
The new worldwide experiment aims to settle the matter once and for all, by using a huge amount of random, user-generated data to test Bell’s inequality.
Basically, the researchers are holding what’s called the ‘BIG Bell Test: worldwide quantum experiments powered by human randomness‘, and they aim to conduct a range of Bell’s inequality tests around the world, controlled by human decisions made by volunteers (which they call Bellsters).
The experiment needs at least 30,000 volunteers from all over the world, and of all ages, to take part in order to generate enough random data to properly test out Bell’s inequality.
You do this by playing a game where you have to introduce the most random sequences of 0s and 1s as possible. These sequences you generate in your game will determine the order of measurement of quantum entangled particles in each lab around the world.
The loophole-free Bell’s test last year was similar, but it used a physical random number generator to come up with this data, whereas the new experiment will try to generate even more randomness using the brains trust of the internet.
The games are accessible to people of all ages, and all you need is an internet connection.
If you pass all the levels, you’ll have generated enough random sequences of information to help the scientists complete their Bell’s inequality test.source

Hard Science

Thanks to a Novel Protein, We Could Bring an End to Obesity

Getty Images

In Brief

• Obesity affects more than 600 million adults and around 41 million children under the age of 5 according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
• Researchers may have found a way to halt the development of both type 2 diabetes and obesity in humans using a recently discovered protein.

Deadly combo

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), obesity is one of the most common health conditions in the world. It affects more than 600 million adults and around 41 million children under the age of 5. Of these, more than 29 million are in the United States, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The consequences of obesity can be as serious as heart disease, stroke, some types of cancer, and type 2 diabetes, which the CDC reports around 29 million Americans have. Now, researchers from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium may have found a way to halt the development of both type 2 diabetes and obesity in humans, using a recently discovered protein.
For 10 years now, scientists Patrice Cani, a WELBIO researcher at the Louvain Drug Research Institute, and Willem de Vos of the University of Wageningen in the Netherlands, have been studying a bacterium called Akkermansia muciniphila, and have realized that this bacteria is found in smaller levels in obese mice. Treating mice with A. muciniphila seemed to reverse several metabolic disorders that led to obesity.

Credits: Microbiology Society

An unexpected discovery

In a study published in the journal Nature Medicine, Cani and de Vos discovered something more. Since December 2015, Akkermansia-based treatment trials for humans have been ongoing. While the effects are yet to be conclusive, it’s clear that the treatment isn’t harmful to humans — after all, A. muciniphila is one of the more common gut bacteria.
Then something came up. They discovered that pasteurization had very positive effects on the bacterium. “Unexpectedly, we discovered that pasteurization of A. muciniphila enhanced its capacity to reduce fat mass development, insulin resistance and dyslipidemia in mice,” says the study.
Pasteurization, it would seem, makes the bacterium effective because it kills off everything else in A. muciniphila except for a protein — the genetically engineered version of it is called Amuc_1100. When tested on mice, this protein appeared to be good for the immune system, blocking toxins from reaching the bloodstream, and strengthening intestinal immunity.
Amuc_1100 is the key to how A. muciniphila can combat obesity in mice. In the near future, it’s expected to be able to do the same thing in humans.

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Hard Science

Scientists Just Created a Key Component For a Quantum Internet

UW, Grzegorz Krzysewski

In Brief

• This new system for modifying photons has an efficiency nearly 200 times better than current methods, is small enough for use in an optical fiber system, and produces little noise.
• Being able to effectively manipulate photons will allow us to create a network that can link different types of quantum systems, a key hurdle to creating a quantum internet.

A Better Photon Converter

Creating usable quantum computers is one of the greater technical challenges facing the world today. While a quantum system would allow us to create machines with greater processing capabilities, scientists not only have to straighten out the complex quantum physics that will power the computers, they have to create the tools needed to exploit that power as well. Now, one of the bigger engineering hurdles on the path to quantum computers may have just been passed as new research published in Nature Photonics out of the University of Warsaw and the University of Oxford details a device that can modify the existing properties of individual photons to be used in quantum computers.
The current way of manipulating single photons involves making those photons interact with a very strong optical pump beam. Unfortunately, that process can contaminate the stream of photons in the light beam, and it doesn’t always modify the photon that is being targeted.
The new method uses the electro-optic effect occurring in some crystals. By changing the intensity of an external magnetic field being applied to the crystal, the researchers can change the index of refraction for light in it, which eliminates the need to add any new photons into the mix. “It is quite astounding that in order to modify the quantum properties of individual photons, we can successfully apply techniques very similar to those used in standard fiber-optic telecommunications,” one of the study’s authors, Dr. Michal Karpinski, told Phys.org.
This method and the device the researchers made to carry it out offer several advantages over existing systems. It has an efficiency of 30 percent (nearly 200 times better than current methods), the device can be contained in a 10 cm (4 in) box (ideal for use in an optical fiber system), and it produces little noise.

Bridging Differences

One of the main challenges of developing a quantum internet is creating networks that can work with many different kinds of quantum computers. Existing quantum systems utilize different mediums and light properties. This converter would allow those systems to work with one another.
Quantum computers will eventually be faster and more powerful than the computers we currently have. They will allow us to work with even bigger data sets, like those used in studying DNA and the human genome. They may also end up powering the AI-based systems of tomorrow.
However, to get there we have to pass many scientific and technical hurdles. We are still learning about the complexities of the quantum world, so creating devices that effectively exploit and manipulate that world will take some time.
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cide soon whether it will be a leader or a follower in advancing the tech.

• 
  
• While gene editing technology could be used in nefarious ways, it could also cure diseases and improve millions of lives, but we won't know how effective it is until we begin human trials.

While the middle part of the 20th century saw the world’s superpowers racing to explore space, the first global competition of this century is being set in a much smaller arena: our DNA.
This month, Chinese scientists announced that they have tested the CRISPR gene-editing technique on a human for the first time, and the race is on to hone the new technology. “I think this is going to trigger ‘Sputnik 2.0’, a biomedical duel on progress between China and the United States,” Carl June, immunotherapy specialist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, told Nature.
But while anyone with a view of the night sky could tell you what the Moon was when Neil Armstrong took his one small step on it back in 1969, not everyone has heard of CRISPR, and even fewer people understand how it works or why it’s so important.

A Brief History of Genetic Engineering

Even if it’s been a while since your last biology class, you likely know that most living organisms possess DNA. These little strands of molecules contain all of our genetic information. They determine what we look like, how our bodies function, and everything else that makes a living thing what it is.
Since the 1970s, scientists have been exploring ways to manipulate DNA. They’ve learned how to cut bits out, put chunks of code in, and generally rework these molecules to suit our needs. In 1974, they created genetically modified mice, improving researchers’ ability to conduct medical tests. In 1982, bacteria modified to produced insulin hit the market, eliminating the need for it to be sourced from animals. And ever since 1994, grocery stores have been carrying genetically modified crops, giving us access to longer-lasting, nutritionally superior foods.
As revolutionary as all this has been, genetic engineering has traditionally been expensive, complicated, and remarkably time-consuming. Then along came CRISPR.

CRISPR Uncovered

In the late-1980s, scientists noticed little repeating segments of DNA sequences that were palindromes (the same front to back). Their existence was unusual, and they named them “clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats” (CRISPR). In 2005, a microbiologist figured out that these sequences essentially did for the bacteria what our immune systems do for us: protect against pathogens.
Using CRISPR, the bacteria can snip out a little piece of the pathogen that has invaded its system and store it for future reference. The next time the bacteria encountered that pathogen, it would already be prepared to defend itself. Upon further study, scientists figured out more about how the CRISPR system worked: a protein called CAS9 would make the cut in the targeted DNA after being guided directly to it by a strand of RNA.
Scientists have since found CRISPR in 40 percent of sequenced bacterial genomes and 90 percent of sequenced archaea. It wasn’t until a few years ago, however, that biochemist Jennifer Doudna and microbiologist Emmanuelle Charpentier figured out that they could use this naturally occurring system as a programmable machine to modify DNA. They published their findings in 2012, and by 2013, papers were being published showing how CRISPR could be used in labs to edit genes in humans and mice.

Futurism / M.S.

Faster, Cheaper Gene Editing

This new gene editing system was 99 percent cheaper than the existing methods of genetic modification and also much faster — an experiment that would have previously taken a year could be completed in just a week — so once scientists realized how CRISPR worked, they began finding beneficial ways of manipulating the system.
They figured out how to guide the CAS9 protein to the right spot in the DNA to block a gene without cutting it, and they learned how to attach a different protein to the system to activate dormant genes. Some even figured out how to get the CAS9 protein to turn a gene on or off in response to stimuli, such as certain chemicals or light.
The new system was particularly useful for researchers using live mice in their experiments. No longer would they need to spend up to two years modifying and breeding generations of mice until they arrived at those with the perfect DNA to test new medicines or treatment options. Now, they could have their perfect mouse in as little as six months. As Rudolf Jaenisch at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) told Science, “You don’t need [skills] anymore. Any idiot can do it.”

From Mice To Men

The scientists who’ve since used CRISPR to test their theories on live animals are far from idiots, though. They’ve been smart enough to figure out how to repair the defect that causes sickle cell anemia, cut out the gene that causes HIV, and treat muscular dystrophy in live animals, all using CRISPR.
While animal testing is great for the early stages of research, though, we can never know how a human is going to react to a medication or treatment until we actually test it on humans. An estimated 80 percent of potential treatments fail in people even after they yield promising results in animals. Advances in computer processing and machine learning are improving the ability of researchers to perform in silico clinical trials, but even those can’t yet compete with the real thing.
However, the path from animal to human CRISPR testing has been fraught with controversy. While proponents are quick to point out all the good the system can do in helping us treat and even cure diseases, others are concerned about the possible implications, both moral and practical. A Pew research study this summer revealed that Americans are almost equally divided on whether “[gene editing] is meddling with nature and crosses a line we should not cross,” while only 36 percent thought the societal benefits of gene editing would outnumber the downsides.

Futurism / M.A.

Regulations Mount Up

Most of the world’s major governments are erring on the side of caution, enacting series of rules, regulations, and even bans on how CRISPR is used. The United States government currently prohibits funding for gene-editing research in human embryos, so CRISPR researchers won’t be using any government grants for their studies (though some are receiving funds from private donors). Earlier this year, a team in the UK was granted permission to use CRISPR on human embryos, but that’s just one team, it’s only in the pursuit of fertility treatments, and the embryos had to be destroyed after testing.
Even the scientific community is divided on the subject.
Some scientists have called for a halt to any CRISPR testing on humans until we better understand the technology, and others warn of the dangers if it falls into the wrong hands. In fact, just this month, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), a group of 18 scientists and scientific policy experts from a variety of disciplines, wrote a letter urging the U.S. government to prepare now for potential future bioterrorist attacks made possible by CRISPR technology.
Others scientists have argued that regulations will leave the U.S. behind countries like Sweden and China in the race to tap the potential of CRISPR, and right now, that latter group is being proven right. With one small trial on a patient suffering from an aggressive form of lung cancer, China has already made the giant leap to human CRISPR test subjects.
Now, the question isn’t so much if the U.S. can win this new global race, but whether or not the country is going to let extreme caution prevent it from even entering in time to compete.
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Off World

Space Leaves Astronauts Partially Blind, and We May Finally Know Why

jawshoewhah

In Brief

• Almost 2/3 of astronauts have reported problems with their sight after spending months on the International Space Station.
• New research shows that astronauts who had were in flight for long durations had abnormally high cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the brain, which could be the culprit.

Effects of Outer Space

Astronauts undergo a rigorous training and selection process. They must be at the peak of their health and physical capability in order to face the grueling environment outside our Earth. So it was a huge problem when two-thirds of astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) developed eye problems.
NASA suspected that the impairment, visual impairment intercranial pressure syndrome (VIIP), was caused by changes in the fluids in the eye and spinal cord in response to microgravity.
Researchers from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine carried out further studies on VIIP, and presented them at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. Physical tests were conducted on astronauts: seven who spent multiple months on the ISS, and nine who made short trips up and back to Earth aboard the now-retired US space shuttle.
The researchers observed severe structural changes to the eyes of the astronauts, some of which were permanent. The eye problems include inflamed optic nerves and flattening at the back of the eyeballs. Astronauts who had were in flight for long durations also had abnormally high cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the brain.

NASA

“The [spinal fluid] system is confused by the lack of the posture-related pressure changes,” said Noam Alperin, lead researcher and professor of radiology and biomedical engineering.

Seeing Into Upcoming Space Missions

“The research provides, for the first time, quantitative evidence obtained from short- and long-duration astronauts pointing to the primary and direct role of the CSF in the globe deformations seen in astronauts with visual impairment syndrome,” says Alperin.
A solution might come from retired NASA astronaut Clayton Anderson, who did not experience vision problems after five months on the ISS. “It appears—from additional NASA studies performed at Johnson Space Center in Houston—that I have a special protein sailing through my body, that does not allow this phenomenon to occur,” Anderson said in an online forum.
With the ambitious Mars missions coming soon, it’s imperative that this issue be solved to ensure the safety of space travel.
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Robots & Machines

New Gun Can Jam Signals and Take Down Drones From More Than a Mile Away

DroneShield

In Brief

• This portable anti-drone technology can turn off a drone's video transmission, jam its GPS, and more from as far as 1.2 miles away and without destroying the drone.
• Technological terrorism is a reality of modern society, and counter-technologies such as this DroneGun are one of our best measures to keep ourselves safe.

Counter-Drone Tech

The increasing availability of drones and their customizability make them a useful tool within many industries. Unfortunately, they’re also being used for criminal purposes, such as to penetrate high-security areas like the White House and the Japanese Prime Minister’s office, so as drone technology thrives, counter-drone technology has cropped up as well.
Sydney- and Virginia-based security company DroneShield has revealed one such device: the DroneGun. This portable system can counter-control a wide range of drone models without destroying the intruding drone — it just forces it to land or return to its pilot. The DroneGun can also shut off a drone’s video transmission ability and disable its signals, including those from positioning systems like GPS and GLONASS.
What’s perhaps most impressive about the system is its ability to jam drone signals from distances as far as 1.9 kilometers (1.2 miles) away under many environmental conditions. Most rival jammers need to be much closer, which could be dangerous to users if the drone is carrying an explosive device. Use of the DroneGun has yet to be authorized by the US government.

Drone Danger

Around 2.5 million drones were sold this year, and according to the Federal Aviation Administration, this number could almost triple to 7 million drones in 2020. While the tech could benefit such industries as agriculture, transportation, and even healthcare, its increasing usage presents a number of opportunities for crime.
It’s truly dangerous to think what can happen when offenders don’t need to be in the vicinity to harm people. Drone intrusion reports in the UK surged by 352 percent in just one year, most alleging that the tech was being used to spy on civilians, record PIN numbers, and serve as burglar lookouts. In warfare, drones are being used to rain down explosives.
Those with criminal intent will almost always be able to find nefarious ways to use the technology we create to benefit our work and personal lives. Cybercrime and technological terrorism are very present realities that we must actively prepare for, and counter-technologies such as this DroneGun are one of our best measures to keep ourselves safe.
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Hard Science

New Gene Therapy Could Eradicate Harmful Mutations Being Passed From Mother to Child

Shutterstock

In Brief

• A new gene therapy technique offers treatment for the inheritance of mutations of the mitochondria using replacement therapy.
• This could have a huge impact, as the prevalence of mitochondrial disorders worldwide is at an estimate of 11.5 to every 100 thousand individuals.

Inheriting Mitochondrial Mutations

At birth, a child can inherit mutations of the mitochondria from his or her mother.  Some women are genetically predisposed to pass on these mutations, giving rise to potentially fatal disorders that affect organs with high energy demand, like the heart and brain.
A new gene therapy technique offers treatment for this problematic inheritance using mitochondrial replacement therapy. The technique, approved for clinical trials in the UK, was pioneered by Oregon Health and Science University’s Shoukhrat Mitalipov. During the procedure, the mother’s egg cell nucleus is transplanted into a donor egg cell where healthy mitochondria are embedded.
However, the smallest amount of mutant mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) can still be inherited by embryos during pregnancy. In a study published in Nature, researchers from OHSU suggest that, to successfully conduct mitochondrial replacement therapy, the egg cell donor’s mtDNA must be compatible with the mother’s own mitochondria.
Studies were conducted on families with children with mitochondria-linked disorders, and donor egg cells free from mitochondrial mutations. After the transplant of maternal cell nuclei into the donor cells, cultured embryonic cells turned back into the mutant versions.
The researchers attributed this malfunction to a portion of the mtDNA known as the displacement loop, which initiates replication of the entire genetic sequence. They propose this can be avoided by closely matching the maternal cells with the donor cells using a criteria based on the genetic structure of the mitochondria.

Protection from Disease

Mitochondrial mutations give rise to many dangerous disorders, usually seen from childhood, including the neurological disorder Leigh Syndrome, and the debilitating condition MELAS. The prevalence of mitochondrial disorders worldwide is at an estimate of 11.5 to every 100 thousand individuals.
Preventing disease using mitochondrial replacement therapy has caused some controversy over the prospect of babies with three genetic parents. While several studies on these techniques are still ongoing, scientists are limited by the technology available to peer into the sublevel of our genetic makeup. What’s sure is that scientists are continually discovering new ways to protect us from disease.
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Hard Science

Breakthrough: Scientists See the Evolution of a New Species Occur in a Flask

Justin Meyer, UC San Diego

In Brief

• Researchers have been able to observe speciation for the first time in a tiny lab flask, watching a virus evolve into two completely new species over the course of just one month.
• The study proves the reality of this evolutionary process proposed by Charles Darwin and provides a system to test many previously untestable ideas about it.

An Experiment in Evolution

Biologists from the University of California San Diego and Michigan State University were ready to wait a while for results when they began an experiment to study speciation, an evolutionary process proposed by Charles Darwin in which one species splits into two distinct species. Imagine their surprise when they witnessed the process happening after just one month.
In a study published in Science, researcher Justin Meyer, an assistant professor of biology at UC San Diego, and colleagues explain that they first cultured a virus known as bacteriophage lambda, which can infect E.coli bacteria using two receptors (molecules viruses attach to outside a cell’s wall). Then the researchers gave the virus two types of cells to infect, each with its own type of receptor, and watched as it evolved into two completely new species, each specializing in one receptor type.
“The virus we started the experiment with, the one with the nondiscriminatory appetite, went extinct. During the process of speciation, it was replaced by its more evolved descendants with a more refined palette,” Meyer explained to Phys.org.

Darwin Got It Right

“[S]peciation has been notoriously difficult to thoroughly investigate because it happens too slowly to directly observe,” said Meyer. “Without direct evidence for speciation, some people have doubted the importance of evolution and Darwin’s theory of natural selection.”
No need to be skeptical now. “With these experiments, no one can doubt whether speciation occurs,” he continued. “More importantly, we now have an experimental system to test many previously untestable ideas about the process.”
This research is quite impressive, and future experiments will no doubt teach us even more about the processes of speciation and evolution. Combined with our advancing knowledge of genetics, this new information could help us understand how to live longer, treat diseases, or maybe even weed them out altogether.
Charles Darwin got it right. The fittest survive, and we could use this knowledge about speciation to ensure that our species is as fit as it can be.
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