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Using Microbes To Make Martian Rocket BioFuel on Mars

A new study outlines a biotechnology process to produce rocket fuel on red planet. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a concept that would make Martian rocket fuel, on Mars, that could be used to launch future astronauts back to Earth. The bioproduction process would use three resources native to the red planet: carbon dioxide, sunlight, and frozen water. It would also include transporting two microbes to Mars. The first would be cyanobacteria (algae), which would take CO2 from the Martian atmosphere and use sunlight to create sugars. An engineered E. coli, which would be shipped from…

Ariane 6 undergoing preparations for its 2022 debut

Lead image: Rendering of Ariane 64 on the launchpad – via ESA ArianeGroup and the European Space Agency are carrying out preparations for the maiden launch of the Ariane 6 rocket next year. Ariane 6 represents the next generation of the Ariane family of rockets, intended to allow its customers lower-cost access to space. The rocket and launch pad still have an extensive test program ahead of them, with a current target launch date in the second half of 2022. Ariane 6 is the sixth member of the Ariane family of rockets, whose development began in the 1970s to allow…

Are We Alone in the Universe? NASA Calls for New Scientific Framework in Search for Extraterrestrial Life

This artist’s concept allows us to imagine what it would be like to stand on the surface of the exoplanet TRAPPIST-1f, located in the TRAPPIST-1 system in the constellation Aquarius. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech How do we understand the significance of new scientific results related to the search for life? When would we be able to say, “yes, extraterrestrial life has been found?” NASA scientists are encouraging the scientific community to establish a new framework that provides context for findings related to the search for life. Writing in the journal Nature, they propose creating a scale for evaluating and combining different lines…

Early Dinosaurs Were Social and Lived in Herds – May Have Been Key to Their Success

Lead Image: Artistic reconstruction of a Mussaurus patagonicus nest. Credit: Jorge Gonzalez New research on a vast fossil site in Patagonia shows that some of the earliest dinosaurs lived in herds and suggests that this behavior may have been one of the keys to the success of dinosaurs. The discovery, at the ESRF, of embryos of the same species inside fossilized eggs contributed to the results. In the past, studies have shown that some dinosaurs that existed in the latest stage of the dinosaur Era (the Cretaceous Period) lived in herds. However, a major pending question was when and how…

RNA Control Switch: Engineers Devise a Way To Selectively Turn On Gene Therapies in Human Cells

A new RNA-based control switch could be used to trigger production of therapeutic proteins to treat cancer or other diseases. Researchers at MIT and Harvard University have designed a way to selectively turn on gene therapies in target cells, including human cells. Their technology can detect specific messenger RNA sequences in cells, and that detection then triggers production of a specific protein from a transgene, or artificial gene. Because transgenes can have negative and even dangerous effects when expressed in the wrong cells, the researchers wanted to find a way to reduce off-target effects from gene therapies. One way of…