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.
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.
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
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.
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. source
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. source
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. source
