SCIENCE – Page 10

From marmots to mole-rats to marmosets – studying many genes in many animals is key to understanding how humans can live longer

1Jul

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE

From marmots to mole-rats to marmosets – studying many genes in many animals is key to understanding how humans can live longer

Much of longevity and aging research focuses on studying extremely long-lived species, including bats, naked mole-rats and bowhead whales, to find genetic changes that contribute to long life. However, such work has yielded highly species-specific genetic changes that are not generalizable to other species, including humans. As a graduate student, I have studied growing evidence, including recent work from my advisers’ labs (Maria Chikina and Nathan Clark), that supports the hypothesis that lifespan is a complex and highly context-dependent trait that calls for a shift in how biologists think about aging. Old age: The human problem Aging is the process by which the likelihood of death increases the longer an organism is alive. In mammals, aging is hallmarked by several molecular changes, ...

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY

What is the slowest thing on Earth?

In the words of the infamous villain, Dr. Evil: “Lasers.” Lasers focus a narrow, directed beam of light on a specific spot, making them a great tool for cutting, burning, welding – or in the case of Dr. Evil, shooting enemies from atop a shark. These activities all produce or require heat. Laser beams travel at the speed of light, more than 670 million miles per hour, making them the fastest thing in the universe. So how does a laser produce the slowest thing on Earth? First, it’s important to understand the relationship between an object’s temperature and its speed. The hotter something is, the more energy it has and the faster it moves. Even things that appear to be perfectly still – say, a pen or your notebook – are not. On a microscopic level, the particles they’re made of are movin...

Self-driving taxis could be a setback for those with different needs – unless companies embrace accessible design now

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY

Self-driving taxis could be a setback for those with different needs – unless companies embrace accessible design now

Autonomous vehicles (AVs), like self-driving taxis, continue to garner media attention as industry and political stakeholders claim that they will improve safety and access to transportation for everyone. But for people who have different mobility needs and rely on human drivers for work beyond the task of driving, the prospect of driverless taxis may not sound like progress. Unless accommodations are built in to autonomous vehicle designs, companies risk undermining transportation access for the very communities this technology is promising to include. The promise A January 2020 joint report issued by the National Science and Technology Council and U.S. Department of Transportation paints a bright picture of an autonomous-enabled future. They predict autonomous vehicles will provide “impr...

What is the ‘zero gravity’ that people experience in the vomit comet or space flight?

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY

What is the ‘zero gravity’ that people experience in the vomit comet or space flight?

In the zero-gravity airplanes or vomit comet, why does stuff behave like there is no gravity when it is just falling? – Austin B., 11, Scranton, Pennsylvania People in a special airplane flight get to float like there is no gravity – just like astronauts. Steven Collicott I have flown many times in zero-gravity airplane flights. Each time I still enjoy the feeling of floating free, the ability to fly across the cabin from just one gentle push on the wall, just like astronauts in the International Space Station, and the novelty of rotating your body in whatever direction you choose. The feeling is like the brief sensation on some roller coasters or off of a diving board, but for close to half a minute and without the air rushing past you – it’s fun! People feeling weightlessness without b...

Meteorites from Mars contain clues about the red planet’s geology

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY

Meteorites from Mars contain clues about the red planet’s geology

Despite the pandemic, NASA is on track to launch its Mars rover, Perseverance, this July from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Its central mission will be to search for evidence of previous life on Mars. An exciting component of the rover will be a specialized drill that will collect rock and soil samples to be cached on the surface of Mars. If all goes according to plan, the cache will be retrieved by a future mission in 2031 and, for the first time, material from Mars will be brought back to Earth for analysis. As someone who studies Martian geology, I’m definitely looking forward to 2031 but am grateful I don’t have to wait 11 years to study rocks from Mars. Martian rock samples are already here on Earth in the form of meteorites. How rocks from Mars end up on Earth All Martian meteorites wer...

How ‘vaccine nationalism’ could block vulnerable populations’ access to COVID-19 vaccines

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY

How ‘vaccine nationalism’ could block vulnerable populations’ access to COVID-19 vaccines

Hundreds of COVID-19 vaccine candidates are currently being developed. The way emerging vaccines will be distributed to those who need them is not yet clear. The United States has now twice indicated that it would like to secure priority access to doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Other countries, including India and Russia, have taken similar stances. This prioritization of domestic markets has become known as vaccine nationalism. As a researcher at Saint Louis University’s Center for Health Law Studies, I have been following the COVID-19 vaccine race. Vaccine nationalism is harmful for equitable access to vaccines – and, paradoxically, I’ve concluded it is detrimental even for the U.S. itself. Vaccine nationalism during COVID-19 Vaccine nationalism occurs when a country manages to secure doses...

What is a derecho? An atmospheric scientist explains these rare but dangerous storm systems

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE, VIDEO REELS

What is a derecho? An atmospheric scientist explains these rare but dangerous storm systems

Thunderstorms are common across North America, especially in warm weather months. About 10% of them become severe, meaning they produce hail 1 inch or greater in diameter, winds gusting in excess of 50 knots (57.5 miles per hour), or a tornado. The U.S. recently has experienced two rarer events: organized lines of thunderstorms with widespread damaging winds, known as derechos. Derechos occur fairly regularly over large parts of the U.S. each year, most commonly from April through August. Dennis Cain/NOAA Derechos occur mainly across the central and eastern U.S., where many locations are affected one to two times per year on average. They can produce significant damage to structures and sometimes cause “blowdowns” of millions of trees. Pennsylvania and New Jersey received the brunt of a d...

First space tourists will face big risks, as private companies gear up for paid suborbital flights

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY

First space tourists will face big risks, as private companies gear up for paid suborbital flights

On May 30, 2020, millions of Americans watched the inaugural SpaceX Crew Dragon launch NASA astronauts to the International Space Station. This mission marked two significant events: First, the return of launch to orbit capability for human spaceflight from the United States. Secondly, it successfully demonstrated private sector capability to build and operate a launch vehicle for human spaceflight. While SpaceX may be the first private space company to accomplish this, it is not alone. Boeing’s Starliner and Lockheed’s Orion capsule are also being developed for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, and training has begun for safety operations on the spacecraft. As an aerospace lawyer working and teaching on human spaceflight law and policy for over a decade, I have a professional and personal...

Physicists hunt for room-temperature superconductors that could revolutionize the world’s energy system

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE, VIDEO REELS

Physicists hunt for room-temperature superconductors that could revolutionize the world’s energy system

Waste heat is all around you. On a small scale, if your phone or laptop feels warm, that’s because some of the energy powering the device is being transformed into unwanted heat. On a larger scale, electric grids, such as high power lines, lose over 5% of their energy in the process of transmission. In an electric power industry that generated more than US$400 billion in 2018, that’s a tremendous amount of wasted money. Globally, the computer systems of Google, Microsoft, Facebook and others require enormous amounts of energy to power massive cloud servers and data centers. Even more energy, to power water and air cooling systems, is required to offset the heat generated by these computers. Where does this wasted heat come from? Electrons. These elementary particles of an atom move arou...

Genetically modified mosquitoes could be released in Florida and Texas beginning this summer – silver bullet or jumping the gun?

3Jun

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS, SCIENCE

Genetically modified mosquitoes could be released in Florida and Texas beginning this summer – silver bullet or jumping the gun?

This summer, for the first time, genetically modified mosquitoes could be released in the U.S. On May 1, 2020, the company Oxitec received an experimental use permit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to release millions of GM mosquitoes (labeled by Oxitec as OX5034) every week over the next two years in Florida and Texas. Females of this mosquito species, Aedes aegypti, transmit dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika viruses. When these lab-bred GM males are released and mate with wild females, their female offspring die. Continual, large-scale releases of these OX5034 GM males should eventually cause the temporary collapse of a wild population. However, as vector biologists, geneticists, policy experts and bioethicists, we are concerned that current government oversight ...