So, Let’s delve into the new scientific research that happened in the past month or so and explore the latest technologies that are being created and breakthroughs that were achieved in this field.
In the current blog, you will read about the following science events of the month:
- China launches new satellite to support future moon missions
- A new satellite that will detect methane emissions from the space launched
- Comprehensive study on the impact of fasting on our body carried out
- Scientists grow small organoids from the cells from womb
- Scientists looking at newer sources of Protein: The Snake Steaks
- In two isolated developments, pig kidney and liver transplanted into humans
- Colossal Bioscience very close to clone the woolly Mammoth
- This year’s Abel prize goes to the wizard of Randomness: Michel Talagrand
- Heartfelt Documentary on loneliness of Astronauts released
- Fractional charge of electrons in stacked graphene baffles Scientists
- Battle to designate “Anthropocene” as a new epoch ends
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| Current Science Report: March 2024, Mufawad |
China launches new satellite to support future moon missions
China has launched its Queqiao-2 relay satellite, a 1,200-kilogram satellite, to support upcoming lunar far side and south polar missions. Launched on March 19, the Long March 8 rocket lifted off from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center.
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The spacecraft is said to be in its predetermined orbit with a perigee of 200 kilometers and an apogee of 420,000 kilometers. It carries a 4.2-meter parabolic antenna and is part of China's plans for future lunar exploration and a stepping stone towards building a lunar base in the 2030s.
Upon reaching the moon, Queqiao-2 shall enter a highly elliptical lunar orbit inclined by 55 degrees. This orbit is designed to support China's Chang’e-6 lunar far side sample return mission, which has due launch in May.
The spacecraft will have line of sight to both Chang’e-6 and Earth for a large portion of its orbital period. Later, the spacecraft will alter its orbital period to better support what China plans “Chang’e-7 and Chang’e-8 missions to the lunar south pole” later in the decade.
Queqiao-2, translated as “Magpie Bridge-2”, is said to be more capable follow-up to Queqiao, which was launched in 2018 and facilitated the Chang’e-4 mission, the first-ever lunar far side landing. The aging Queqiao relay satellite remains operational in a halo orbit around the Earth-moon Lagrange point L2, roughly 70,000 kilometers beyond the moon.
The current spacecraft could also support other countries' lunar efforts, providing relay communication services for other lunar landing exploration missions at the lunar south pole or lunar far side in the future. Additionally, it carries payloads as part of the science objectives of the 2026 Chang’e-7 mission, including an extreme ultraviolet camera, array neutral atom imager, and very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) experiment.
Courtesy: Spacenews.com
A new satellite that will detect methane emissions from the space launched
The global crackdown on methane emissions is set to be boosted by a watchdog satellite namely MethaneSAT, designed by scientists from the nonprofit Environmental Defence Fund (EDF) and Harvard University. Launched on March 4 on a SpaceX rocket, the satellite will begin transmitting data later this year, and is supposed to cover areas that supply 80 percent of the world's natural gas.
Unlike other methane-tracking satellites, it will cover a vast territory while also gathering enough data that to help precisely spot the sources of emissions.
.png "A new satellite that will detect methane emissions from the space launched") |
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Methane, a potent greenhouse gas released from farms, landfills, and leaky fossil fuel equipment, accounts for nearly a third of global warming. Cutting methane emissions is one of the fastest ways to slow climate change, as it traps 80 times as much heat in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, dissipates after about 12 years.
Most of the world's oil and gas companies agreed to slash their methane emissions by more than 80 percent by 2030 at last year's COP28 climate conference, and policymakers are working to hold them to that promise. U.S. regulators proposed steep fines on methane emissions in January and struck a deal with regulators in Europe, Japan, South Korea, and Australia last year to monitor fossil fuel companies' methane emissions.
However, so far, it has been hard to track companies' progress. There are thousands of oil and gas facilities around the world with countless pieces of equipment that can leak or malfunction and release methane, which is odorless and invisible to the naked eye. Companies and regulators can measure some emissions by installing methane detectors or using planes or drones to fly sensors over a facility, but the data is incomplete and hard to compare between companies.
A new generation of satellites, led by MethaneSAT, promises to give a more complete picture of the oil and gas industry's global methane emissions. This data can inform government efforts, such as the Environmental Protection Agency’s Super Emitter Program, which allows third parties to report big methane plumes to federal regulators. Once the government has vetted the data for accuracy, companies must investigate the causes of reported leaks, share their findings with federal regulators, and fix the problem if it violates the Clean Air Act.
The data can also play a role in the natural gas market, where customers are under pressure from regulators, shareholders, or their own climate pledges to cut emissions and may choose to buy gas from companies or regions with better track records on plugging methane leaks.
While satellite tracking tools are an important start to tackling methane emissions, they are not the entire solution as the progress also depends on companies doing something with the data.
Courtesy: Washington Post
Comprehensive study on the impact of fasting on our body carried out
Researchers have analyzed the systemic changes that occur across multiple organs during long periods without food, revealing both positive and negative impacts on health. The study involved 12 healthy volunteers who participated in a seven-day fast, where they were allowed to drink water but could not consume any food. Participants were closely monitored throughout this period, measuring changes in around 3,000 different blood proteins on a daily basis.
The researchers found that participants' bodies switched their energy sources within the first few days of the fast, burning stored fat rather than glucose. As a result, participants lost an average of 5.7 kilograms (12.6 pounds) across the week, and kept this weight off even after they began eating food again. However, no major alterations in blood protein levels were noted for the first few days of the fast.
By cross-referencing their findings with genetic studies linking these proteins to different diseases, the study authors estimated the health consequences for 212 plasma compounds that changed during fasting. They found that abstaining from food for more than three days led to a decrease in plasma levels of switch-associated protein 70 (SWAP70), which has been linked with a reduced risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Additionally, levels of hypoxia up-regulated 1 (HYOU1), associated with coronary artery disease, dropped over the course of the fast, suggesting that sustained periods without food may have a beneficial impact on heart health.
However, the researchers identified several negative health outcomes associated with long fasting where a person refrains from eating for several days on trot, which included an increase in coagulation factor XI, potentially heightening the risk of thrombosis events.
Courtesy: IFLScience.com
Scientists grow small organoids from the cells from womb
Researchers have grown mini-organs from cells shed by foetuses in the womb, creating 3D organoids from lung, kidney, and intestinal cells recovered from the amniotic fluid that bathes and protects the foetus in the uterus. This is the first time such organoids have been made from untreated cells in the fluid, paving the way for unprecedented insights into the cause and progression of malformations, which affect 3-6% of babies globally.
.png "Scientists grow small organoids from the cells from womb") |
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Foetal organoids, which are less than a millimetre wide, would allow scientists to study how foetuses develop in the womb "in both health and disease," a feat that has so far not been possible. Because the organoids can be created months before a baby is born, scientists believe they could drive more personalized interventions by helping doctors diagnose any defects and work out how best to treat them.
Organoids are tiny clumps of cells that mimic the features and functions of larger tissues and organs. Scientists use them to study how organs grow and age, how diseases progress, and whether drugs can reverse any damage that arises. Most organoids are made from adult tissue, but researchers have recently made them from cells obtained from foetuses.
This approach could also help investigate congenital conditions such as cystic fibrosis, which causes mucus to build up in the lungs, and malformations in the kidneys and gut. Drugs that help alleviate congenital disorders could be tested on the organoids before giving them to the babies.
Courtesy: The Guardian
Scientists looking at newer sources of Protein: The Snake Steaks
Snake scientists are exploring the potential of eating python curries and satay skewers to lessen the environmental impact of our food choices. With eight billion people worldwide requiring protein for their health, finding new sources of protein without a significant environmental footprint is crucial.
Cattle products, such as beef, mutton, produce nearly 10% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, and growing food for them leads to deforestation. Pork brings water pollution from pig waste, while the chicken industry faces similar issues.
.png "Scientists looking at newer sources of Protein: The Snake Steaks") |
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Dan Natusch, a herpetologist at Macquarie University in Australia, discovered that farmed pythons have impressive physiologies due to their cold-blooded nature. This lifestyle makes snakes prone to sunbathing but also allows them to efficiently convert food into body mass. They studied reticulated pythons (Malayopython reticulatus) and Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) on farms, analyzing their diet and growth rates. The researchers were struck by the pythons' resilience during long fasts, which could be valuable during major disruptions to the food system, such as during the early days of the COVID pandemic.
Farming pythons could be a solution for areas suffering from severe protein deficiency, such as Africa, as we expect even greater global economic and climatic volatility in the future. Farming pythons could be a big part of the solution for a part of the world already suffering from severe protein deficiency. However, Monika Zurek, a food systems scientist at the University of Oxford, believes it is too early to bet on snakes revolutionizing our food systems. She sees a need for more studies about pythons, including detailed analyses of the environmental impact of farming them and their nutritional content, including both proteins and micronutrients.
The success of eating python depends on whether people will take to it. Natusch claims that a billion people in Southeast and East Asia, as well as parts of Latin America and Africa, consider snake meat a culturally acceptable food. However, Western cultures have not been exposed to it, making it a potential alternative to traditional Western food options.
Courtesy: Scientific American
In two isolated developments, pig kidney and liver transplanted into humans
The successful transplant of a pig kidney into a living person, a 62-year-old man with end-stage renal failure, has raised hopes for larger clinical trials involving pig organs. The kidney was taken from a miniature pig carrying 69 genomic edits to prevent rejection and reduce the risk of a virus infecting the recipient. The case demonstrates the safety and function of these organs in the short term. The company is in discussions with the US FDA about planning clinical trials for pig kidney and paediatric heart transplants, as well as pig livers.
.png "In two isolated developments, pig kidney and liver transplanted into humans") |
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Last year, the success of a pig-heart transplant into a living person bought the xenotransplant community closer to a solution to the shortage of life-saving human organs. In the United States alone, there are nearly 90,000 people waiting for a kidney transplant, and more than 3,000 people die every year while waiting.
The surgery took four hours, and the pig's latest kidney came from a pig that had undergone CRISPR–Cas9 genome editing by eGenesis’s scientists to modify 69 of the animal’s genes. The edits included the removal of three genes that contribute to the production of three sugars on the surface of pig cells, seven human genes added because they produce proteins that help to prevent organ rejection, and another 59 genetic changes made to inactivate lytic virus DNA embedded in the pig genome.
It is pertinent to mention that the first genetically modified pig heart to be successfully transplanted into a living person was later found to be infested with a latent virus, which might have contributed to the organ’s eventual failure. A major concern for the FDA ahead of approving the kidney transplant was the risk that pig pathogens could infect the recipient. No viruses, bacteria, or fungi were detected in the pig that provided kidney, but it is possible such pathogens could be present even in apparently pathogen-free donor animals and multiply in an immunocompromised person.
In an different interesting development, A 50-year-old clinically dead man in China also become the first person to receive a liver from a pig, marking a milestone for the transplantation of animal organs into people. Researchers stitched the organ from a genetically engineered miniature pig to the man's blood vessels, where it remained for ten days before being surgically removed.
The procedure was intended to test whether genetically modified pig organs could one day be used to supply hospitals for transplants. In China alone, hundreds of thousands of people experience liver failure every year, but only around 6,000 received a liver transplant in 2022.
The Chinese study will offer important insights into whether pig-liver transplants can keep people alive, even just for a few days. The researchers plan to repeat the procedure in another clinically dead person later this year, and next time they will remove the person's existing liver. However, the usefulness of xenotransplantation in living people is limited, as once a person's brain ceases activity, they undergo hormonal changes. It is not yet clear how long someone with no cognitive function can be maintained on a ventilator and with a donated pig organ.
Courtesy: The Nature
Colossal Bioscience very close to clone the woolly Mammoth
Dallas-based Colossal Biosciences has achieved a technical success in engineering elephants with woolly mammoth traits. The company's scientists have successfully put elephant skin cells into an embryonic state, setting a world record for the hardest iPS (Induced Pleuropotent) -cell establishment.
.png "Colossal Bioscience very close to clone the woolly Mammoth") |
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The woolly mammoth, a species of elephant that lived from about 2.6 million years ago until it went extinct a few thousand years ago, is part of Colossal's "de-extinction" mission. Researchers first demonstrated that mouse skin cells can be reprogrammed to act like embryonic cells about 18 years ago, known as "induced pluripotent stem cells." These pluripotent cells could hold the key to creating Asian elephants with characteristics of woolly mammoths, such as shaggy hair, extra fat, and massive tusks.
However, Colossal is still far from its goal of creating herds of woolly mammoths that can roam in the wild again. The company now needs to use gene editing and other techniques to manipulate cells to create elephants similar to mammoths. The objective is not to bring back the woolly mammoth perfectly, but to create new animals with traits that mammoths did have when they roamed the Earth.
Colossal Biosciences faces criticism for potential ethical conflicts, such as the possibility of animals marching off to their own deaths due to climate change. Additionally, some argue that the company's technology could prove dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands. Colossal co-founder Ben Lamm stated that transparency will allow people to hold the company accountable for negative consequences or bad actors having access to the tech.
Courtesy: Indian Express
This year’s Abel prize goes to the wizard of Randomness: Michel Talagrand
Michel Talagrand, a mathematician who developed formulas to make random processes more predictable and helped solve an iconic model of complex phenomena, has won the 2024 Abel Prize. The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters announced the prize on 20 March.
.png "This year’s Abel prize goes to the wizard of Randomness: Michel Talagrand") |
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Talagrand's work is considered one of the most coveted awards in probability theory and functional analysis, with outstanding applications in mathematics, physics and statistics. His most famous achievement was his inequalities, a set of formulas that pose limits to the swings in stochastic processes. His formulas express how the contributions of many factors often cancel each other out, making the overall result less variable, not more.
Talagrand's techniques have made many seemingly complicated and random problems more predictable, such as optimizing the route of a delivery truck. His estimates are extremely powerful, ensuring that the result is close to optimal. He also completed the solution to a problem posed by theoretical physicist Giorgio Parisi, who earned Nobel Prize in Physics in 2021.
In 1979, Parisi proposed a complete solution for the structure of a spin glass, an abstracted model of a material in which the magnetization of each atom tends to flip up or down depending on those of its neighbours.
Talagrand's journey to becoming a top researcher was unconventional. Born in Beziers, France, in 1952, he lost vision in his right eye at age five due to a genetic predisposition to detachment of the retina. If that was not enough. At age 15 he received emergency treatment for another retinal detachment, this time in his left eye.
The terrifying experience of nearly losing his sight and his father's efforts to keep his mind busy while his eyes were bandaged gave Talagrand a renewed focus. He became a highly motivated student after his recovery and began excelling in national maths competitions.
Talagrand did not follow the typical path of gifted French students, which includes two years of preparatory school followed by a national admission competition for highly selective “Grandes ecoles”.
Instead, he studied at the University of Lyon, France, and then worked as a full-time researcher at the national research agency CNRS, first in Lyon and later in Paris. He loves to challenge other mathematicians to solve problems he has come up with, offering cash to those who do. Some of his problems have been solved, leading to publications in major maths journals.
The prizes come with some conditions: "I will award the prizes below as long as I am not too senile to understand the proofs I receive. If I can't understand them, I will not pay."
Courtesy: The Nature
Heartfelt Documentary on loneliness of Astronauts released
“Space: The Longest Goodbye” is a documentary that explores the psychological impacts of spaceflight on astronauts, particularly those who have spent up to three years on the International Space Station (ISS). The film shares first-hand accounts of how leaving family behind can wreak havoc on an astronaut's well-being.
.png "Heartfelt Documentary on loneliness of Astronauts released") |
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Whereas NASA and the Chinese space agency are currently developing their plans to send humans to the Moon and Mars. In this regard, director Ido Mizrahy highlights the importance of taking the problem of astronaut isolation seriously. For example, any crewed trip to Mars will involve up to three years of spaceflight, a sea change in what humans have experienced so far.
Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov holds the record for the longest-duration spaceflight with 437 consecutive days aboard the Mir space station from January 1994 to March 1995. He and other cosmonauts pioneered the study of how the human body responds to microgravity over time, from bone deterioration to muscle loss and vision changes.
Al Holland, an operational psychologist at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, drives much of the narrative for “The Longest Goodbye”. He and his colleagues studied NASA astronauts who flew on Mir and used the lessons to try to improve astronauts’ mental health and well-being on board the ISS during the 1990s. For example, carrying mechanical spare parts on board, which weren’t always stowed on Mir, reduced stress levels because astronauts knew they had backups in case of an emergency.
Holland’s team developed ways to lessen the psychological strain of separation, such as providing twice-weekly audio- or videoconferences between astronauts aboard the ISS and their families, and phone calls home whenever needed. The film explores these long-distance conversations poignantly through video recordings shared by Cady Coleman, a NASA astronaut who spent 159 days aboard the ISS in 2010-11.
The film illuminates this while following the story of Kayla Barron, a NASA astronaut who flew aboard the ISS from November 2021 to May 2022. She notes that going to space is very different from just getting to orbit in the first place, as it involves putting yourself atop a flaming rocket and inviting all of your family and friends to come watch it.
The film also recaps the rescue of 33 Chilean miners in 2010, who had been trapped during a mine collapse and spent 69 days underground. Holland and other NASA employees advised the Chilean government on how to sustain the miners’ physical and psychological well-being during their extended isolation.
Courtesy: The Nature
Fractional charge of electrons in stacked graphene baffles Scientists
In May 2023, a team led by physicists at the University of Washington observed that electrons behaved in concert when an electrical current was run across two atom-thin sheets of molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe2). The electrons behaved similar to particles with charges of –2/3 or –3/5, for instance.
This was truly odd because the electrons did this entirely because of the innate properties of the material, without any external magnetic field coaxing them. The researchers published the results a few months later, in August 2023.
The same month, A phenomenon, known as the fractional quantum anomalous Hall effect (FQAHE), was also observed in a completely different material. Researchers led by Long Ju, a condensed-matter physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), saw the effect when they sandwiched five layers of graphene between sheets of boron nitride. They published their results in February this year, and physicists are still buzzing about it.
The FQAHE might have practical applications down the line as it is believed that fractionally charged particles will be a key requirement for a certain type of quantum computer, but the findings are capturing physicists’ imagination because they are fundamentally new discoveries about how electrons behave.
Courtesy: The Nature
Battle to designate “Anthropocene” as a new epoch ends
The International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) has upheld a decision made earlier this month by a group of geoscientists to reject a proposal that would have established the current era, in which humans are altering the planet, as a formal epoch in Earth's geological timetable.
This decision effectively terminates a dramatic challenge to the earlier vote, which the chair and a vice-chair of an organization named Sub-commission on Quaternary Stratigraphy (SQS) claimed was illegitimate. They claimed that 11 of the 16 SQS members who voted on the Anthropocene proposal were ineligible because they had been members of the sub-commission for too long.
.png "Battle to designate “Anthropocene” as a new epoch ends") |
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The IUGS called the 4 March vote and subsequent appeal "a difficult process" that was conducted "fully in accordance with the statutory requirements."
Stanley Finney, a stratigrapher at California State University, Long Beach, who is the IUGS secretary-general, told Nature that it was long-standing practice among such subcommissions to allow members who had overextended their terms to vote anyway.
The controversy underscores the long-running quest to bring the Anthropocene proposal to a vote and has a tangle of international geological organizations involved.
In 2009, the SQS set up an Anthropocene working group to assess whether the current era of human-induced change should be codified as a new 'stratigraphic unit' in the geological time scale. After 14 years of discussion and exploration, the working group submitted its proposal last October, arguing that a new epoch should be established.
In this regard, the voting began in early February and ended on 4 March, with four SQS members voting in favor of establishing an Anthropocene epoch and 12 voting against it. Three people abstained and three did not vote.
The IUGS will be enforcing stricter compliance on term limits from now on. Regardless of there being no formal Anthropocene epoch, the term will continue to be used in broad popular and scientific usage as the era of human-induced change.
Courtesy: The Nature
