On July 22nd, 2019, India launched Chandrayaa-2, their second mission to the moon. It’s set to arrive in late August and will launch India into rare company as the fourth country to visit.
While the United States’s Apollo missions flew to the moon in a straight shot with large rockets, Chandrayaa-2 will orbit the earth in increasing orbits until the correct distance from Earth is reached.
The mission cost India 140 million and the hope is for their rover to land on the moon’s south pole, where it is believed frozen water could be in the shadowed craters.
India’s first moon mission, Chandrayaa-1, also searched for water but didn’t attempt a moon landing.
The United States also has a plan to return to the moon. The plan is to land astronauts on the moon by 2024.
Twenty-two year old Sam Bencheghib plans to run 20 miles a day, 6 days a week, for six months to raise awareness for ocean plastics pollution. The run will cover approx. 3,100 miles. He will use shoes made with up-cycled plastics.
His passion began as a surfer in Bali, where he would paddle in trash alongside his brother. Together they would go on to found Make a Change World to raise awareness about pollution. One way they got peoples attention was to create a kayak out of plastic bottles and used them on a polluted river in Indonesia, a stunt which generated so much buzz the Indonesian President committed to clean up the river in seven years.
During his trip he plans to raise even more awareness by visiting local college campuses and city halls.
The effects of human’s on the environment is becoming more evident as time goes by and this is just the latest in a long line of young people hoping to change the world for the better before it’s too late.
By modifying cows to burp and fart less, scientists hope to cut the amount of methane emissions from cattle.
Methane, a greenhouse gas, is a large problem in the agricultural industry and the contribution from digesting cattle is a major source.
The rate of methane gas production has been linked to inherited gut microbes and if cattle were bred with these microbes in mind the cows would produce less methane.
Scientist John Wallace told Newsweekover 90 percent of the methane is burped. He went on to say there is the possiblity of cutting methane production by half.
The ashes of 152 deceased were onboard the third ever launch of a Falcon Heavy rocket.
SpaceX doesn’t deal with the family members directly; a company called Celestis Memorial Spaceflights coordinates the launch. It can cost $5,000 for one gram of human ashes and families can choose from between 1-7 grams.
The ashes are loaded into capsules and each capsule can have words etched into the sides, akin to what might be on a tombstone. The 1g capsules look like large watch batteries and the 7g capsules look like a metal tube, or maybe a standardized weight from high school science class. The capsules are loaded into a metal sleeve and, on this flight, are on the same spacecraft as NASA’s atomic clock (the new atomic clock will allow for space navigation without relying on timekeeping from earth).
The five pairs of parents all have mutations in their GJB2 gene which guarantees their child will be born deaf.
Russia’s Denis Rebrikov hopes to be the next scientist, after China’s He Jiankui, to use CRISPR technology to edit an embryo before birth. His plan is to edit one copy of the gene so that the child will be born with the ability to hear.
While He performed his experiment without official Chinese permission, Rebrikov plans to obtain the necessary documentation from Russian authorities.
This issue is loaded with ethical questions such as if it’s even right to edit an embryo without knowledge of long-term effects. Plus, since the DNA edit isn’t necessary for the child’s survival, is it really worth the risk? It seems the next step might be for two short parents to edit their child so they can be tall. These are the questions scientist around the world have to grapple with as the pressure to use this technology increases over the coming years.
The city, named Kemune, was in the center of the Mittani Kingdom. It was exposed when the Mosul Dam reservoir dried up because of a drought.
The Mittani Kingdom flourished between 1500-1300 B.C.
The remains had 22-foot high walls and interior chambers decorated with murals. In ancient times it would have been close to the Tigris River.
Evidence of the ancient city first arrived in 2010, when low water levels exposed the highest parts of the structure. It wasn’t until years later that the water had receded enough to allow for proper study.
Clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform were also found, and when translated could provide further insight into the ancient culture.
The team, comprised of scientists from Temple University and the Nebraska Medical Center, were able to destroy the virus in living mice using CRISPR in addition to .
CRISPR is the new process which allows scientists to edit the DNA of living organisms. It gained publicity when it was used by a Chinese scientist to modify the DNA of three children before birth.
The mice used in the study were injected with human cells to more accurately represent a human immune system. First, the mice were given antiretroviral therapy in order to reduce the growth of HIV then scientists used CRISPR to remove the HIV still present. This method worked for nine of the twenty-one mice it was tested on.
The next step is to move on to primates, with the ultimate goal being to one day use this method in humans who have contracted HIV.
La Ciudad Blanca, or White City, is a legendary city said to exist in the rainforests of eastern Honduras. Also known as the Lost City of the Monkey God, it has been searched for by explorers since the time Hernan Cortes came to the Americas. It’s location was determined (although this is under dispute) using LiDAR, a technique which uses lasers fitted to airplanes or satellites to create maps based on reflected pulses, similar to echolocation. To protect the site it’s location has been kept a secret.
The area where the White City is said to be located in, La Mosquitia, is only accessible by air or water since the rainforest is so dense. La Mosquitia is the largest wilderness area in Central America.
The team of scientist who studied the area rediscovered a bat, a snake, and a beetle, all thought to be extinct. All told, including the species thought to be extinct, scientists discovered “246 species of butterflies and moths, 30 species of bats, and 57 species of amphibians and reptiles.”
The giant squid lives in the deep-ocean and females can grow up to an estimated 43 feet. They’ve been referenced throughout history and are the inspiration for the norse legend the kraken. Like all creatures who inhabit the deepest of the planet’s waters, access to the giant squid is limited and therefore little in known about their way of life.
While this is the first time the giant squid has been captured on video in U.S. waters, it has occurred on two previous occasions; both times were off the coast of Japan. Researchers were able to video the squid in it’s natural habitat in 2012 and in 2015 a squid actually surfaced in a bay north of Tokyo and a local diver swam alongside the creature.
The researchers who got footage of a giant squid in U.S. water was a team from Florida International University. For bait, they used a fake jellyfish armed with LED lights. The footage shows a tentacle, then all it’s tentacles and it’s head (called a mantle). The star of the video is estimated to be around 10-12 feet long.
Video of this rare event can be seen here.
