Forty-five mice, eight gerbils, fifteen newts, twenty snails, fifteen lizards and some microorganisms have just been put into orbit aboard the Russian space capsule Bion-M, launched by a Soyuz rocket from the base of Baikonur (Kazakhstan). During the mission, which will last 30 days and in which NASA and the Russian Institute for Myomedical Problems in Moscow collaborate, the animals will be subjected to various space biomedical studies. Experts have indicated that all the chosen species bear immunological, biological or structural similarities to humans.
The expression of the Gadd45g gene is essential in the determination of sex, fertility and development of testicles, as shown by an investigation led by the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC). The work, published in the journal PLOS ONE, reveals that blocking this gene prevents the development of testes and causes the growth of female sexual organs, regardless of the presence of the Y chromosome.
Clearing space of debris and launching satellites that do not generate new fragments of space debris is an urgent need, experts at the largest space debris conference ever held in Europe have warned.
Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde has created an innovative garment that becomes completely transparent when the wearer is lying. The invention, which is part of the project, Intimacy 2.0, uses leather with electronic foils that change its opacity depending on the rhythm of the heartbeat. This intelligent fabric thus responds to social interaction by modifying the electric current and light to alternate between an opaque and a transparent state.
Not even the imaginative Jules Verne could guess that the temperature near the center of the Earth would be close to 6000 degrees Celsius, that is, 1000 degrees warmer than was estimated in a previous experiment carried out 20 years ago. The new measurement, released today in the prestigious journal Science, confirms geophysical models that indicate that the temperature difference between the solid core of the Earth and the mantle that surrounds it must be at least 1,500 ° C to explain why our planet has a magnetic field.
A work published in the journal Cell Reports describes with great precision the map of genomic regulation and offers new keys to understand the differences between animal species and even the development of some diseases. The study, led by researchers from the Carlos III National Center for Cardiovascular Research (Madrid), describes the interaction of five proteins of the Hox system, essential for the development of the embryo.
"A frenetic pace". This is how astronomers from the European Space Agency (ESA) describe the activity of a recently discovered very distant galaxy that manufactured stars at a rate 2,000 times that of the Milky Way when the Universe was less than a billion years old. The simple fact of its existence, discovered thanks to the Herschel space observatory, challenges current theories about the evolution of galaxies.
Danni Büchner is invited to Sam Dylan's Halloween party. But the "Goodbye Germany" emigrant has no desire for many other party guests. And find clear words.
