News Feeds

Two more people in the US have tested positive for a bird flu virus called H5N1, highlighting the need for expanded influenza surveillance to prevent a potential pandemic

The European Space Agency’s Hera spacecraft is on its way to do follow-up observations of Dimorphos, two years after an earlier probe knocked the mini-asteroid into a different orbital path around a bigger space rock.

Scientists say the close-up observations that Hera is due to make millions of miles from Earth, starting in 2026, will help them defend our planet from future threats posed by killer asteroids.

“Hera’s ability to closely study its asteroid target will be just what is needed for operational planetary defense,” Richard Moissl, who heads ESA’s Planetary Defense Office, said today in a news release. “You can imagine a scenario where a reconnaissance mission is dispatched rapidly, to assess if any follow-up deflection action is needed.”

The car-sized probe lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 10:52 a.m. ET (14:52 UTC) today, just as Hurricane Milton was approaching from the Gulf of Mexico. The day before the launch, forecasters put the chances of acceptable weather at just 15 percent. Nevertheless, SpaceX persisted.

Due to the mission’s requirements, the first-stage booster couldn’t be recovered this time, as has become the norm for Falcon 9 missions. This was the booster’s 23rd and final mission. A little more than an hour after liftoff, the rocket’s second stage put Hera on its interplanetary trajectory.

During the spacecraft’s two-year cruise to Dimorphos, it’s due to execute a series of course-changing maneuvers, including a swing past Mars that will provide an opportunity for observations of Deimos, one of the Red Planet’s moons.

View from Falcon 9's second stage during the Hera mission pic.twitter.com/a4Qrgg6Pp6

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 7, 2024

Hera is returning to the scene of a cosmic crash in 2022 between Dimorphos — which is about 530 feet across, or the size of the Great Pyramid in Egypt — and NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft, or DART.

DART was intentionally sent to a collision with Dimorphos to gauge the impact’s effect on the asteroid’s orbit around a larger asteroid known as Didymos. After the crash, scientists determined that Dimorphos’ orbital period had been shortened by 33 minutes, which represented a reduction of roughly 5%. They also identified a plume of debris that extended thousands of miles into space.

Hera is designed to conduct a more detailed “crash scene investigation,” providing data about Dimorphos’ shape and composition as well as the characteristics of the crater left behind by the smash-up.

The spacecraft will deploy two nanosatellites to aid in the investigation: One of the CubeSats, known as Milani, will survey the makeup of Dimorphos and the dust that surrounds it. Meanwhile, the Juventas mini-satellite will perform the first-ever subsurface radar probe of an asteroid. In the later phases of its six-month survey, Hera will test out an experimental self-driving mode as it navigates around Didymos and Dimorphos autonomously.

Data about the aftereffects of DART’s crash will be factored into the plans for deflecting the orbital paths of asteroids, if those paths are ever found to pose a substantial threat of a collision with Earth. Such strategies might require taking action years in advance of an encounter.

“By the end of Hera’s mission, the Didymos pair should become the best-studied asteroids in history, helping to secure Earth from the threat of incoming asteroids,” said Hera mission scientist Michael Kueppers.

What is ESA's #HeraMission? We currently know of more than 35 000 asteroids that come close enough to Earth for us to keep an eye on. Hera is part of the international effort to answer the question: could we do anything if we spotted one on a collision course? pic.twitter.com/MwgQmv7bZK

— ESA's Hera mission (@ESA_Hera) October 7, 2024

The post Hera Probe Heads Off to See Aftermath of DART’s Asteroid Impact appeared first on Universe Today.

SMU have created SmartCADD. This open-source virtual tool combines artificial intelligence, quantum mechanics and Computer Assisted Drug Design (CADD) techniques to speed up the screening of chemical compounds, significantly reducing drug discovery timelines.

SMU have created SmartCADD. This open-source virtual tool combines artificial intelligence, quantum mechanics and Computer Assisted Drug Design (CADD) techniques to speed up the screening of chemical compounds, significantly reducing drug discovery timelines.

Two Americans, Gary Ruvkun of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University, and Victor Ambrose of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, have split this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of microRNAs (miRNAs), single-stranded bits of RNA that do not code for proteins but act to regulate other genes.  The Nobel organization’s press release explains the significance of the discovery, but you can read the whole thing, which is much longer than this:

This year’s Nobel Prize honors two scientists for their discovery of a fundamental principle governing how gene activity is regulated.

The information stored within our chromosomes can be likened to an instruction manual for all cells in our body. Every cell contains the same chromosomes, so every cell contains exactly the same set of genes and exactly the same set of instructions. Yet, different cell types, such as muscle and nerve cells, have very distinct characteristics. How do these differences arise? The answer lies in gene regulation, which allows each cell to select only the relevant instructions. This ensures that only the correct set of genes is active in each cell type.

Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun were interested in how different cell types develop. They discovered microRNA, a new class of tiny RNA molecules that play a crucial role in gene regulation. Their groundbreaking discovery revealed a completely new principle of gene regulation that turned out to be essential for multicellular organisms, including humans. It is now known that the human genome codes for over one thousand microRNAs. Their surprising discovery revealed an entirely new dimension to gene regulation. MicroRNAs are proving to be fundamentally important for how organisms develop and function.

And here’s how it started: as so often, with a seemingly minor observation that blew up big time, leading to generalizations about control of gene expression in all organisms—even viruses (but not bacteria).

In the late 1980s, Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun were postdoctoral fellows in the laboratory of Robert Horvitz, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2002, alongside Sydney Brenner and John Sulston. In Horvitz’s laboratory, they studied a relatively unassuming 1 mm long roundworm, C. elegans. Despite its small size, C. elegans possesses many specialized cell types such as nerve and muscle cells also found in larger, more complex animals, making it a useful model for investigating how tissues develop and mature in multicellular organisms. Ambros and Ruvkun were interested in genes that control the timing of activation of different genetic programs, ensuring that various cell types develop at the right time. They studied two mutant strains of worms, lin-4 and lin-14, that displayed defects in the timing of activation of genetic programs during development. The laureates wanted to identify the mutated genes and understand their function. Ambros had previously shown that the lin-4 gene appeared to be a negative regulator of the lin-14 gene. However, how the lin-14 activity was blocked was unknown. Ambros and Ruvkun were intrigued by these mutants and their potential relationship and set out to resolve these mysteries.

After his postdoctoral research, Victor Ambros analyzed the lin-4 mutant in his newly established laboratory at Harvard University. Methodical mapping allowed the cloning of the gene and led to an unexpected finding. The lin-4 gene produced an unusually short RNA molecule that lacked a code for protein production. These surprising results suggested that this small RNA from lin-4 was responsible for inhibiting lin-14. How might this work?

Here’s the announcement, which I always find exciting:

AND THE TWO CONTESTS:

1.) Guess who will win the other two Nobel Prizes in science: Physics and Chemistry.  One guess per discipline, and the first person who guesses both winners gets one of my trade books, autographed per their choice (including cat drawings).

2.) Alternatively you can choose the other contest: Guess who will win these two prizes: Literature and Peace.  Same rules as above, and same prize.

You can guess in only one of these two competitions.

In previous years, people have failed miserably in these contests, but someday someone will win. . . .

While the 20th century saw rapid rises in average life expectancy at birth, more recent years have seen a slowdown, suggesting we may be reaching the limit of human lifespan

A pair of ctenophores, or comb jellies, can fuse their bodies together, merging their digestive and nervous systems, without any issues with immune rejection

Daniele Oriti’s pursuit of a theory of quantum gravity has led him to the startling conclusion that the laws of nature don’t exist independently of us – a perspective shift that could yield fresh breakthroughs

Some environmental phenols are known to have cardiac toxicities. Now, a new study is revealing their adverse impact on the heart's electrical properties.

Planet-forming disks, maelstroms of gas and dust swirling around young stars, are nurseries that give rise to planetary systems, including our solar system. Astronomers have discovered new details of gas flows that sculpt those disks and shape them over time.

New experimental results suggest that sprinkling boron into a tokamak could shield the wall of the fusion vessel and prevent atoms from the wall from getting into the plasma. A new computer modeling framework shows the boron powder may only need to be sprinkled from one location.

New experimental results suggest that sprinkling boron into a tokamak could shield the wall of the fusion vessel and prevent atoms from the wall from getting into the plasma. A new computer modeling framework shows the boron powder may only need to be sprinkled from one location.

Researchers conducted innovative simulations of spinning black holes grounded in general relativity, which clarified that the ultraluminous accretion disk (i.e., gaseous spiral surrounding a black hole) exhibits a precessional motion driven by the black hole's spin. This finding underscores the potential of this spin to be the primary driver of the periodic fluctuations in luminosity observed within these ultraluminous accretion disks.

Researchers have developed a novel method using facet-selective, ultrafine cocatalysts to efficiently split water to create hydrogen -- a clean source of fuel.

Researchers have created a high-performance polymer that can be chemically recycled without compromising its heat and chemical resistance. The revolutionary design includes a directing group that allows links in the polymer to be broken easily with a catalyst and the original polymer to be reformed in few steps. The directing group could be included in many polymers, potentially providing a new generation of high-performance plastics that can be recycled indefinitely.

Researchers have discovered the most distant Milky-Way-like galaxy yet observed. Dubbed REBELS-25, this disc galaxy seems as orderly as present-day galaxies, but we see it as it was when the Universe was only 700 million years old. This is surprising since, according to our current understanding of galaxy formation, such early galaxies are expected to appear more chaotic.

Global warming could increase the threat posed to whale sharks from large ships, according to a new study.

Motion sensors in smartphones can be turned into makeshift microphones to eavesdrop on conversations, outsmarting security features designed to stop such attacks

Scientists have just published in Nature that they have completed the entire connectome of a fruit fly: Network statistics of the whole-brain connectome of Drosophila. The map includes 140,000 neurons and more than 50 million connections. This is an incredible achievement that marks a milestone in neuroscience and is likely to advance our research.

A “connectome” is a complete map of all the neurons and all the connections in a brain. The ultimate goal is to map the entire human brain, which has 86 billion neurons and about 100 trillion connections – that’s more than six orders of magnitude greater than the drosophila. The human genome project was started in 2009 through the NIH, and today there are several efforts contributing to this goal.

Right now we have what is called a mesoscale connectome of the human brain. This is more detailed than a macroscopic map of human brain anatomy, but not as detailed as a microscopic map at the neuronal and synapse level. It’s in between, so mesoscale. Essentially we have built a mesoscale map of the human brain from functional MRI and similar data, showing brain regions and types of neurons at the millimeter scale and their connections. We also have mesoscale connectomes of other mammalian brains. These are highly useful, but the more detail we have obviously the better for research.

We can mark progress on developing connectomes in a number of ways – how is the technology improving, how much detail do we have on the human brain, and how complex is the most complex brain we have fully mapped. That last one just got its first entry – the fruit fly or drosophila brain.

The Nature paper doesn’t just say – here’s the Drosophila brain. It does some interesting statistics on the connectome, showing the utility of having one. The ultimate goal is to fully understand how brains process information. Learning such principles (which we already have a pretty good idea of) can be applied to other brains, including humans. For example, the study finds that the Drosophila brain has hubs and networks, which vary in terms of their robustness. It also reflects what is known as rich-hub organization.

Rich-hub organization means that there are hubs of neurons that have lots of connections, and these hubs have lots of connections to other hubs. This structure allows brains to efficiently integrate and disseminate information. This follows the same principle as with any distribution system. Even Amazon follows a similar model, with distribution centers serving as hubs. Further, the researchers identified specific subsets of the hubs that serve as integrators of information and other subsets that serve as broadcasters.

The connectome also includes synapse and neurotransmitter level data, which is critical to asking any questions about function. A connectome is not just a map of wiring. Different neurons use different neurotransmitters, which have different functions. Some neurotransmitters, for example, are excitatory, which means they increase the firing rate of the neuron in which they synapse. Some neurotransmitters are inhibitory, which means they decrease firing rate. So at the very least we need to know if a connection is increasing or decreasing the activity of the neurons it connects to.

Now that the model is complete, they are just getting started examining the model. This is the kind of research that is primarily meant to facilitate other research, so expects lot of papers using the Drosophila connectome as its subject.

Meanwhile scientists are working on completing the connectome of the mouse, which will likely be the first mammalian brain connectome. We already have mesoscale connectomes, and detailed connectomes of small sections of mouse brain. A completed mouse brain connectome is likely 10-15 years off (but of course, could be longer). That would be a huge milestone, as all mammalian brains share a lot of anatomy in common. With the Drosophila brain we can learn a lot about network principles, but the anatomy evolved completely independently from mammals (beyond the very rudimentary brain of our common ancestor).

One type of research that I would love to see is not just mapping a connectome, but emulating it in a computer. This information may be out there somewhere, but I have not found it so far – do we have a computer powerful enough to emulate the functioning of a Drosophila brain in real time? That would be a good test of the completeness and accuracy of our connectome – does it behave like an actual fruit  fly?

Creating this would likely require more than just the connectome itself. We need, as I referenced above, some biological data as well. We need to know how the neurons are behaving biologically, not just as wires. We need to know how the neurotransmitters are behaving chemically. And we need to know how other cells in the brain, other than neurons, are affecting neuronal function. Then we need to give this virtual brain some input simulating a body and an environment, and simulate the environment’s response to the virtual fruit fly. That sounds like a lot of computing power, and I wonder how it compares to our current supercomputers. Likely we will be able to do this before we can do it in real time, meaning that a second of the life of our virtual Drosophila may take a day to compute (that is just a representative figure, I have no idea what the real current answer is). Then over time, our virtual Drosophila will go faster and faster until it catches up to real time.

Eventually the same will be true for a human. At some point we will have a full human connectome. Then we will be able to emulate in a computer, but very slowly. Eventually it will catch up to real time, but why would it stop there? We may eventually have a computer that can simulate a human’s thought processes 1000 times faster than a human.

There is another wrinkle to this whole story – the role of our current and likely short term future AI. We are already using AI as a tool to help us make sense of the mesoscale connectomes we have. Our predictions of how long it will take to have complete connectomes may be way off. What if someone figures out a way to use AI to predict neuron level connectomes from our current mesoscale connectomes? We are already seeing, in many contexts, AI being used to do literally years of research in days or weeks, or months of research in hours. This is especially true for information-heavy research questions involving highly complex systems – exactly like the connectome. It would therefore not surprise me at all if AI-boosted connectome research suddenly progresses orders of magnitude faster than previous predictions.

Another potential area of advance is using AI to figure out ways to emulate a mammalian or even human brain more efficiently. We don’t necessarily need to emulate every function of an entire brain. We can probably cheat our way to make simple approximations of the functions we are not interested in for any particular emulation or research project. Then dedicate the computing power to what we are interested in, such as higher level decision-making.

And of course I have to mention the ethical considerations of all of this? Would a high fidelity emulation of a human brain be a human? I think the answer is either yes, or very close to yes. This means we have to consider the rights of the emulated human. For this reason it actually may be more useful to emulate a mouse brain. We already have worked out ethical considerations for doing mouse research, and this would be an extension of that. I can imagine a future where we do lots of behavioral research on virtual mice in simulated environments. We could run millions of trials in a few minutes, without having to care for living creatures. We can then work our way evolutionarily toward humans. How far will we go? Would virtual primate research be OK? Can we guarantee our virtual models don’t “suffer”. Does it matter that they “exist” for just a fraction of a second? We’ll have to sort all this out eventually.

The post Fruit Fly Connectome Completed first appeared on NeuroLogica Blog.

The 2024 Nobel prize in physiology or medicine has gone to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their discovery that tiny pieces of RNA called microRNAs play a key role in controlling genes