Lab-Grown human embryo lives for 14 days

                Scientists reported on 4 may that they had grown human embryos in the lab for nearly two weeks, an unprecedented feat that promises advances in assisted reproduction, stem-cell therapies and the basic understanding of how human being form. Besides opening a window onto the first steps in the creation of an individual, the findings in parallel studies may help explain early miscarriages and why in vitro fertilization has such a high failure rate. The research also showed for the first time that newly-forming human embryos can mature beyond a few days outside a mother’s womb, something that was previously thought to be impossible.

                But the widely hailed results also set science on a collision course with national laws and ethical guidelines, experts cautioned. Up to now, a so-called “14-day rule” –o which says that human embryos cannot be cultured in the lab for more than two weeks – has never been seriously challenged simply because no one had succeeded in keeping them alive that long. In this case, the scientists destroyed the embryos to avoid breaching that limit.

                Next to nothing is known about how the small, hollow bundle of cells called a blastocyst – emerging from a fertilized egg – attach to the uterus, allowing an embryo to begin to take shape. This portion of human development – called implantation – was a completer black box. Building on previous work with mice, researchers concocted a chemical soup and scaffolding to duplicate this process “in vitro”, or in a petri dish. “We were able to create a system that properly recapitulates what happens during human implantation,” said researchers.

UAE to build 'Mountain' to increase rainfall

                The United Arab Emirates is planning to build a man-made mountain to increase rainfall. The desert nation is hoping the major project will recreate the effect of mountain ranges and force air to rise, creating clouds that will allow cloud-seeding. Cloud-seeding is a type of weather modification which aims to alter the amount and type of precipitation produced by clouds. Scientists from National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) run by the US-based University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) are currently in “detailed modeling study” phase. They are deciding on the most effective locations in the Emirates states to built it, while also pondering how wide and tall it should be. The UAE already has a permanent weather modification department which spent $385,400 on cloud-seeding last year alone.

Test your lung function over a call

                Scientists, including those of Indian origin, have developed a new health sensing tool that can accurately measure lung function over a simple call made using any phone. Most people in the developing world who have asthma, cystic fibrosis or other chronic lung diseases have no way to measure how well their lungs are functioning. With SpiroCall, you can call a 1-800 number, blow into the phone and use the telephone network to test your lung function. SpiroCall transmits the collected audio using a standard phone channel – as opposed to a sound file that is transferred by a smartphone app over the Internet. The team combined multiple regression algorithms to provide reliable lung function estimates despite degraded audio quality. The team also developed a 3D printed whistle that can be used in conjunction with SpiroCall that changes pitch when the patient exhales.

New Era of Organ Transplant dawns

                In a first-of-its-kind procedure, doctors in the United States have successfully transplanted a “composite” skull and scalp flap, along with kidney and pancreas – all from the same donor – in a 55 year old patient. The patient was suffering from a non-healing scalp defect and declining organ kidney and pancreas function. Hopefully, this case and others like it will help to widen the narrow indications for this fascinating new field of reconstructive surgery.

                The experience may open the way to further procedures combining “vascularised composite allotransplantation” (VCA) with organ transplants, in patients who have already accepted the need for lifelong immunosuppressive therapy. VCA refers to transplant procedures combining different type of tissues, such as skin, muscle, blood vessels, nerves and bone.

                However, they have a major drawback – the need for immunosuppressive drugs to prevent the recipient’s immune system from rejecting the transplant. Two decade earlier, the 55 year old patient had undergone kidney transplantation for diabetic kidney disease, but that kidney was now failing.

                He also had a large, unstable wound of the scalp and skull – a complication of surgery and radiation therapy for a scalp tumour. Since the patient was already receiving immunosuppressive therapy and would need another organ transplant in any case, doctors suggested a procedure in which a VCA of scalp and skull would be performed at the same time as a kidney/pancreas transplant, all coming from the same door.

World's first 3D-printed aircraft THOR

                On 1^st June 2016, Airbus displayed the world’s first 3D-printed aircraft THOR at the International Aerospace Exhibition in Schoenefe. The drone THOR is short for Test of High-tech Objectives in Reality and it resembles a large, white model airplane.

Key Features:

•          Is the world’s first 3D-printed aircraft with just 3 parts.
•          It is windowless, weighs 21 kilograms (46 pounds) and less than four metres (13 feet) long. It is Lighter, faster and cheaper.
•          Except the electrical elements, all other parts are printed (3D) from a substance called polyamide.
•          Thor’s inaugural flight was conducted in November 2015 near the northern German city of Hamburg.
•          Airbus and Boeing are already using 3D printing, notably to make parts for their huge passenger jets the A350 and B787 Dreamliner.

Space probe finds building blocks of life on comet

                ESA’s (European Space Agency) Rosetta comet-hunting spacecraft has attained a major breakthrough by discovering that comet 67/P Churyumov-Gerasimenko contains ingredients regarded as crucial for the origin of life, the space agency said on 27 May.

                According to ESA, the ingredients include amino acid glycine which is commonly found in protein, a key component of DNA and cell membranes. “This is the first unambiguous detection of glycine at a comet,” said Kathrin Alwegg, principal investigator of the ROSINA instrument on Rosetta which made the measurements and lead author of the paper published in ‘Science Advances’. Rosina was designed and developed at the University of Bern in Switzerland.

                Hints of the simplest amino acid Glycine were found in samples returned to earth in 2006 from Comet Wild-2 by Nasa’s Stardust mission. However, possible terrestrial contamination of the dust samples made the analysis extremely difficult, says ESA. “Now, Rosetta has made direct repeated detections of glycine in the fuzzy atmosphere or ‘coma’ of its comet,” according to the announcement.

Bug-Zapping lasers to kill flying insects

                Scientists have developed a novel laser system which can effectively identify, track and kill flying insects, including malaria causing mosquitoes, without harming other organisms, animals or humans. Originally invented for controlling certain types of mosquitoes that carry malaria, the system called Photonic Fence, has been adapted for more general applications in pest control for agriculture. The Photonic Fence is an electro-optical system that employs lasers, detectors and sophisticated computer software to search, detect, identify and shoot down insects in flight in real-time.