Why a NASA Spacecraft Plans to Chase an Asteroid

                For the next two years, NASA’s latest robotic spacecraft will be chasing down an asteroid near Earth in the hopes of scooping up come of the most primordial bits of the solar system. The mission for the spacecraft, Osiris-Rex, is simple: Fly to an asteroid m grab some of the rock and bring it back to Earth, where scientists will study some of the pristine ingredients that went into the making of the solar system, including possible the building blocks of life. What was that beginning organic material like?

                Once off the ground, Osiris-Rex will be aiming to get close to the asteroid Bennu. It’s 500 meter size, about the height of the Empire State Building. Scientists believe that it is a conglomeration of leftovers, largely unchanged over the last 4.5 billion years. It’s time capsule from the earliest stages of solar system formation. Osiris-Rex will survey Bennu for more than a year to select the site where it well grabs the sample. The goal is to collect at least a couple of ounces of material. After departing Bennu in 2021, Osiris-Rex will pass by Earth in September 2023, dropping off a capsule with the samples.

                A Japanese mission, Hayabusa 2, will similarly collect sample from another carbon rich asteroid, but the Osiris-Rex scientists view the missions as complementary, not redundant. Researcher is particularly interested in gleaning information about organic molecules like amino acids, the building clocks of proteins that are known to float in outer space. Scientists hope that waterlogged minerals in the sample could tell whether the water in Earth’s oceans came from asteroids

Pollution is Bad For Brain, Triggers Alzheimer's

                Minute magnetic particles produced by car engines and brakes can travel into the human brain and may trigger Alzheimer’s disease. The tiny particles of iron oxide, known as magnetite, are toxic and it has been suggested they could play a role in causing or hastening the onset of Alzheimer’s Researchers, discovered microscopic spheres of the mineral magnetite in the brains of 37 people in Manchester and Mexico who had suffered neurodegenerative disease. This strongly magnetic mineral is toxic and has been implicated in the production of active oxygen species (free radicals) in the human brain, which are associated with neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease.

                Researchers used spectroscopic analysis to identify the particles as magnetite. Unlike angular magnetite particles that are believed to form naturally within the brain, most of the observed particles were spherical, with diameters up to 150 nanometers (nm), some with fused surfaces, pointing to high temperature formation – such as from vehicle engines or open fires. The spherical particles are often accompanied by nanoparticles containing other metals, such as platinum, nickel and cobalt. The particles they found are strikingly similar to the magnetite nano-spheres that are abundant in the airborne pollution found in urban settings, especially next to busy roads, and which are formed by combustion or frictional heating from vehicle engines or brakes.

                Other sources of magnetite nanoparticles include open fires and poorly sealed stoves within homes. Particles smaller than 200 nm are small enough to enter the brain directly through the olfactory nerve after breathing air pollution through the nose. Researcher’s results indicate that magnetite nanoparticles in the atmosphere can enter the human brain, where they might pose a risk to human health, including conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. This finding open up a whole new avenue for research into a possible environmental risk factor for a range of different brain diseases.

Juno Shows Jupiter Like Never Before

                NASA spacecraft has captured the best view of Jupiter yet, revealing turbulent storms in the North Pole. Jupiter’s northern polar region is stormier than expected and appears bluer than the rest of the plane. NASA on 2 September released a batch of close-up pictures taken by the Juno spacecraft when it flew within 2,500 miles of Jupiter’s dense cloud tops. During the rendezvous that took Juno from pole to pole, the solar powered spacecraft turned on its camera and instruments to collect data. The detailed pictures look “like nothing we have seen or imagined before”. Juno also sent back views of Jupiter’s southern lights considered the most powerful in the solar system. The flyby was the first of three dozen planned close passes during the mission.

Unlike Earth and Mars, Jupiter is a gas giant that is likely to have formed first, shortly after the Sun. studying the big planer holds clues to understanding how Earth and the rest of the planets formed. After a five year journey, Juno slipped into orbit around Jupiter in July to map its poles, atmosphere and interior. It’s the first spacecraft to carry a titanium vault designed to shield its computer and electronics from intense radiation. Juno is the second mission to orbit Jupiter. When it completes its job in 2018, it will crash into Jupiter’s atmosphere and disintegrate. NASA planned the finale so that Juno won’t accidentally smack into Jupiter’s moon, particularly the icy moon Europa, a target of future exploration.

Blind Moms Can Now 'See' Their Unborn

                Expectant parents with sight issues are being given the chance to ‘see’ their unborn baby scans thanks to an innovation which prints 3D models of the fetus in the womb. The groundbreaking innovation means that even mums and dads with visual impairments can have an experience of ‘seeing’ their unborn baby as it appears on an ultrasound scan. A bas-relief of 3D print of an unborn child can be created – all they need is a file with a 3D ultrasound examination.

                The models are printed in ecru colored non-toxic bioplastic material. The bas-relief is a true three dimensional representation of baby and environment in the mother’s womb. They maintain all proportions, spatial relations and actual dimensions of the unborn child. The project, which is intended for blind mothers to have a unique chance to see their unborn babies, is soon to be offered to pregnant women outside of Poland.

New Fabric Keeps Body 2.7°C Cooler Than Cotton, 2.1°C Chillier Than Synthetics

                Engineers have created clothing for a warming world – a fabric that allows your body heat to escape far better than other materials do. It hasn’t been worn or tested by humans, so outside experts caution this is far from a sure thing, but a team engineered a fabric using nano technology that not only allows moisture to leave the body better, but helps infrared radiation escape better. As a result, the body should feel around 2.7° Celsius cooler than cotton and 2.1° Celsius chilli

er than commercially available synthetics. This is designed for a warmer world – not just because climate change is making temperatures hotter, but because it takes a lot of energy to heat and cool people’s offices and homes.

                Existing fabrics already do a good job of taking moisture away from the body, but the issue is more. How do you control the infrared radiation coming out of the human body? Material does a good job of trapping that heat energy to warm you, but letting it go is another matter. That’s where clear clingy plastic kitchen wrap comes in. plastic wrap – polyethylene – does a good job of allowing infrared radiation to escape the body. The trouble is it also allows visible light to escape. That means, you can see through it, which isn’t exactly what most people want from clothing.

                So the engineering team worked at changing the pore size of the material and added other chemicals, allowing the heat and moisture out, but not visible light. And it is cheaper than cotton. But that material felt too flat, so the next step was to weave it, to feel like regular fabric. You touch, it feels very soft. They’ve used devices to mimic human skin and monitor skin temperatures, but strict scientific testing rules have prevented them from testing clothing on actual humans. That’s the next step and outside scientists said there are all sort of potential pitfalls. And after that, another three years would pass before mass production could proceed so people could buy and wear it.

Implanted Device May Help Treat Sleep Apnea

                An implanted device can significantly improve symptoms in people with central sleep apnea – a condition in which the brain fails to control breathing during sleep. Central sleep apnea is a serious concern because it affects about a third of people with heart failure and it is known to make the condition worse. Currently, we don’t have good treatment available. Positive airway pressure devices have been used, but many patients don’t tolerate them well and a recent study showed them to be harmful. The researchers tested the safety and effectiveness of a transvenous phrenic nerve stimulator in 31 hospitals in US, Germany and Poland. Much like a pacemaker; it sends a regular signal telling the diaphragm to breathe during sleep.

Your Immune Cell Can Treat, Prevent Alzheimer's

                In a breakthrough, an antibody that can almost clear the visible signs of Alzheimer’s disease from the brain has been discovered. Researchers scanned the brains of people with the degenerative condition as they were given doses of the drug, which is based on an immune cell taken from the blood of elderly people aged up to 100 who showed no signs of disease. After a year, all the toxic “amyloid plaques” that build up in patients disappeared from the brains of those given the highest doses of the antibody. The findings suggest the plaques are part of the cause of the disease – not simply a byproduct.

                One of the researchers, described what they found when they scanned the brain of patients given either a placebo or three different doses of the antibody, called aducanumab. One year later, the images of the placebo group were unchanged. In the antibody group, where patients were given 10mg of dose, reduction in amyloid plaques was visible – the higher the dose, the larger the degree of reduction. Compared to other studies, the effect sixe of this drug is unprecedented. Confirmation that an antiamyloid plaque treatment slows cognitive decline would be a game changer for how we treat and prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

                The research showed the antibody robustly reduced amyloid pathology in a small group of people in very early stages of testing then go on to fall in larger trials. No existing treatments for Alzheimer’s directly interfere with the disease process – and so a drug that slows the progress of the disease by clearing amyloid would be a significant step.