Lifeboat Foundation

The printed solenoids could enable electronics that cost less and are easier to manufacture — on Earth or in space.

Imagine being able to build an entire dialysis machine using nothing more than a 3D printer.

This could not only reduce costs and eliminate manufacturing waste, but since this machine could be produced outside a factory, people with limited resources or those who live in remote areas may be able to access this medical device more easily.

Superconductivity makes physics seem like magic. At cold temperatures, superconducting materials allow electricity to flow indefinitely while expelling outside magnetic fields, causing them to levitate above magnets. MRIs, maglev trains, and high-energy particle accelerators use superconductivity, which also plays a crucial role in quantum computing, quantum sensors, and quantum measurement science. Someday, superconducting electric grids might deliver power with unprecedented efficiency.

Challenges with Superconductors

Yet scientists lack full control over conventional superconductors. These solid materials often comprise multiple kinds of atoms in complicated structures that are difficult to manipulate in the lab. It’s even harder to study what happens when there’s a sudden change, such as a spike in temperature or pressure, that throws the superconductor out of equilibrium.

Roger Guillemin identified the molecules in the brain that control the production of hormones in endocrine glands such as the pituitary and thyroid. His work led to a torrent of advances in neuroendocrinology, with far-reaching effects on studies of metabolism, reproduction and growth. For his discoveries on peptide-hormone production in the brain, Guillemin shared the 1977 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Andrew Schally and Rosalyn Yalow. He has died at the age of 100.

In the autumn of 1969, after analysing millions of sheep brains for more than a decade, Guillemin and his colleagues determined the structure of thyrotropin-releasing factor (TRF). This small peptide is produced in the hypothalamus, a small region at the base of the brain, and is transported to the anterior lobe of the nearby pituitary gland, where it triggers the release of the hormone thyrotropin. Thyrotropin, in turn, stimulates the thyroid gland to produce the hormone thyroxine, which regulates metabolic activity in nearly every tissue of the body. More than two dozen drugs use such hypothalamic hormones to treat endocrine disorders and cancers, and the worldwide market for these drugs is worth several billion dollars.

Guillemin was born in Dijon, France, and came of age at the end of the Second World War. He graduated from medical school in the University of Lyon, France, in 1949 and worked as a country doctor in the small commune of Saint-Seine-l’Abbaye in Burgundy. He found the work satisfying but intellectually limiting, noting that “in those days I could take care of all my patients with three prescriptions, including aspirin”. Fascinated by how the brain and pituitary gland control the body’s response to stress, he attended lectures in Paris by the Hungarian–Canadian endocrinologist Hans Selye, after which Selye accepted Guillemin’s request to spend a year doing research in his laboratory at the University of Montreal, Canada.

China is testing an AI assistant for neurosurgeons at seven hospitals in Beijing and other cities in coming months, one of many initiatives the government is backing to try and harness the technology.

The quantity of dysfunctional monocytes appears to indicate poor cardiovascular prognosis in patients with type 2 diabetes, data suggested.

A diet high in protein sure sounds like a good idea, but it might depend on where the protein comes from. Dr F Perry Wilson explains.

With the continued advancement of human space exploration, how can forensic science—which contributes to the criminal justice system by analyzing evidence through a myriad of methods—be applied to outer space? This is what a soon-to-be-published study in Forensic Science International Reports hopes to address as a team of international researchers led by Staffordshire University investigated how bloodstain patterns behave under microgravity conditions. This study holds the potential to help scientists and astronauts better understand how Earth-based science can be applied to space, specifically long-term spaceflight.

“Studying bloodstain patterns can provide valuable reconstructive information about a crime or accident,” said Zack Kowalske, who is a PhD student at Staffordshire University and a Crime Scene Investigator for the Roswell Police Department in the State of Georgia, and lead author of the study. “However, little is known about how liquid blood behaves in an altered gravity environment. This is an area of study that, while novel, has implications for forensic investigations in space.”

For the study, the researchers conducted blood spatters experiments on parabolic flights onboard a modified Boeing 747 with an emphasis on observing various angles of impact of the blood droplets and comparing their splatter patterns to those obtained under normal gravity conditions. The reason parabolic flights were used was due to their ability to simulate microgravity conditions, as they are designed to rapidly drop in altitude, thus providing passengers with a few moments of weightlessness.

Some cancerous tumors hijack proteins that act as “brakes” on our immune system and use them to form a sort of shield against immune recognition. Immunotherapy treatments have been created that turn off these “brakes” and allow our body to attack foreign-looking cancer cells.

People in the daratumumab group who stayed MRD negative for at least a year were able to stop taking daratumumab as maintenance therapy and remained cancer free. That’s important, Dr. Sonneveld said, because taking fewer drugs long-term for maintenance therapy often translates to a better well-being and quality of life.

Adding daratumumab to the standard treatment resulted in a nearly 60% drop in the risk of cancer progression or death (hazard ratio of 0.42), the researchers determined.

The magnitude of that change is “unprecedented in these kinds of phase 3 trials [for] multiple myeloma,” Dr. Sonneveld said.