lasting themes from this week’s news
Watch this space The ISS is one of those rare examples of successful international cooperation that still surprises us every time it whizzes through the evening sky. Sadly its days are numbered. This piece from the BBC discusses what may come next
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230512-what-will-replace-the-international-space-station
You were warned Hats off to Canadian scientist Gilbert Plass. In May 1953 he was the first to join the dots and realise the simple fact that carbon dioxide traps heat had the potential to land us with problems indeed. We didn’t realise it was this long ago. Good old Conversation!
We like our mushrooms CRISPR The new CRISPR technique is an old theme of this blog. A more recent one was mushrooms. Which is why itm was nice to see the two brought together in htis piece from the inimitable Nature Briefings CRISPR zeroes in on death cap antidote.
The CRISPR–Cas9 gene-editing tool might have cracked the mystery of how death cap mushrooms (Amanita phalloides) kill — and it led researchers to a potential antidote. Using the gene-editing technology, researchers created a pool of human cells — each with different genetic mutations — and exposed them to the mushrooms’ toxin. The toxin could not enter cells that lacked a functional version of an enzyme called STT3B, and cell survival increased. The researchers then sifted through thousands of chemical compounds to find one that would block the action of STT3B. They uncovered indocyanine green, a dye developed by the photography company Kodak in the 1950s and used in medical imaging. Indocyanine green has not yet been tested as an antidote in humans, but it reduced deaths when given to mice.Nature | 3 min read
Reference: Nature Communications paper
A la parilla Anyone who has enjoyed a delicious grill on a Spanish holiday will warm to this piece from the Guardian. It seems early Iberians were warming their chuletas de cordero 250000 years ago, What a pity there was none of that delicious Rioja to partner the meat!
y aqui:
Back to the Future with Pulp Ah, the far off days of 1995. A competent technocrat leads a shaky Conservative Government while his party is torn by faction. No internet to speak of, but no food banks either. Which is why Jarvis Cocker’s angry denunciation of the whole sorry mess is still relevant. Only more so
#CRISPR #mushrooms #ISS #climate change #global warming #use of fire #uso de fuego #cocinar
Learning, Science and Society 