Wednesday 20 December 2017

Powerful new tool for looking for life beyond Earth

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NASA has developed an innovative new spectroscopy instrument to aid the search for extraterrestrial life. The new instrument is designed to detect compounds and minerals associated with biological activity more quickly and with greater sensitivity than previous instruments.
via Science Daily
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Radio observations point to likely explanation for neutron-star merger phenomena

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Data from the Very Large Array and other radio telescopes have allowed astronomers to identify the most likely scenario for the aftermath of the merger of two neutron stars.
via Science Daily
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Giant bubbles on red giant star's surface

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Astronomershave for the first time directly observed granulation patterns on the surface of a star outside the Solar System -- the ageing red giant ?1 Gruis. This remarkable new image reveals the convective cells that make up the surface of this huge star, which has 350 times the diameter of the Sun. Each cell covers more than a quarter of the star's diameter and measures about 120 million kilometers across.
via Science Daily
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Mars: Not as dry as it seems

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Two new articles have shed light on why there is, presumably, no life on Mars. Although today's Martian surface is barren, frozen and inhabitable, a trail of evidence points to a once warmer, wetter planet, where water flowed freely -- and life may have thrived. The conundrum of what happened to this water is long standing and unsolved. However, new research suggests that this water is now locked in the Martian rocks.
via Science Daily
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Trilobites: Give Thanks for the Winter Solstice. You Might Not Be Here Without It.

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The scientific start of winter offers a moment to reflect on how we might not be here to witness the changing seasons without Earth’s particular tilt toward the sun.
via New York Times

The Halloween asteroid prepares to return in 2018

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There is one year to go until asteroid 2015 TB-145 approaches Earth once again, just as it did in 2015 around the night of Halloween, an occasion which astronomers did not pass up to study its characteristics. This dark object measures between 625 and 700 meters, its rotation period is around three hours and, in certain lighting conditions, it resembles a human skull.
via Science Daily
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CMS releases more than one petabyte of open data

Making graphene oxide hemocompatible

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Graphene holds potential for numerous applications including biomedical. The most interesting property of graphene for biomedical use has been its large surface-to-volume ratio and the ability to functionalize the material, for example with pharmaceuticals for intravenous drug delivery.

Graphene itself is hydrophobic, making it unstable in aqueous solutions, hence incompatible with intravenous use. Graphene oxide (GO), on the other hand, is stable in solution and has been the material of choice for graphene-based biomedical applications. Although intravenous use of GO puts it in direct contact with red blood cells (RBCs), the hemocompatibility of GO has just recently become a topic of research. Now a group of researchers from several centers in Spain has performed systematic tests of hemocompatibility of GO, showing that although GO does interact strongly with RBCs, causing hemolysis, hemolysis is decreased when GO is previously coated with lipid membranes.

Image: Tomogram of graphene oxide sheet incubated with lipids

The research paper, recently published in Langmuir, first highlights that GO interacts with lipid membranes, like those that coat the outer side of all cells in living organisms. GO binds to the membranes with an efficacy that can be controlled with the salinity of the solution. It was further shown that GO ruptures vesicles that have a lipid membrane and aqueous contents, which represents a model living cell. The same is demonstrated for interaction with real RBCs. Thus the scientists show that GO reacts with blood cells in such a way as to rupture them. However, when GO is mixed with lipid membranes prior to interaction with RBCs, the damaging action of GO is almost totally suppressed.

The discovery prompts the conclusion that GO can be used in biomedical applications, if it is coated with a protective layer of lipids. This finding is in agreement with previous work that showed a reduction in hemolytic activity of GO when it is coated with chitosan, bovine serum albumin or heparin coatings.


via Graphenea

NASA Is Picking Finalists for a Space Mission. Here Are Its Options.

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NASA will choose on Wednesday from a dozen proposals in its New Frontiers program, including spacecraft to study the moon, Venus, Saturn and comets.
via New York Times