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- Diving into the discovery sea: tardigrade squirrels for cancer patients and the race for space resources
Diving into the discovery sea: tardigrade squirrels for cancer patients and the race for space resources
Scientists from the USA have developed a strategy to protect patients from DNA damage during radiation therapy using the protein of tardigrades, "water bears", microorganisms resistant to extreme radiation. Researchers from Tomsk Polytechnic University have created and tested a prototype thermal power plant that will help develop the resources of the underground "hot ocean". And ITMO specialists have developed a unique local navigation system for drones. Read about this, as well as about the new space race for resources and why scientists need a database of immune cells, in the Izvestia Science news of the week rating.
Hydrothermal power plant for the "underground ocean"
Researchers from Tomsk Polytechnic University have created and tested a prototype thermal power plant that will help develop the resources of the underground "hot ocean" — waters contained in the bowels of the earth, heated by the internal heat of the planet. This includes underground reservoirs located in Western Siberia.
The proposed development is based on binary—type thermal power plants. In such systems, an intermediate coolant with a low boiling point is used as a transition link. This makes it possible to use relatively non-hot energy sources.
— We have proposed ozone-safe R245fa gas from the freon group as a working fluid in the system. This substance can boil at 47 degrees. Its application will allow to use sources with a temperature of about 60-70 degrees. This is enough to use our proposed scheme to obtain electricity of the required parameters," said Stanislav Yankovsky, Associate Professor of the I.N. Butakov Scientific and Educational Center at TPU, project manager.
Database of immune cell aging
Specialists from the Center for Mathematical Modeling in Drug Development at Sechenov University, together with researchers from the Institute of Computational Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Sciences and foreign colleagues analyzed more than 120 clinical studies aimed at studying the homeostasis (normal state) of T-lymphocytes people of different ages, and quantified the dynamics of aging of immune cells. The resulting unique database is planned to be used to build mathematical models of infectious diseases, in particular HIV. They will help drug developers significantly accelerate the creation of new drugs.
The resulting database contains measurements of the concentration of immune cells not only in the blood, but also in other organs and tissues.
— Each clinical trial that we analyzed has a limited set of data both in terms of the number of participants and their age," said Victoria Kulesh, the author of the work, a junior researcher at the Center for Mathematical Modeling in Drug Development at Sechenov University. — By applying a systematic approach to collecting and analyzing all available information, we were able to cover not only a huge number of dimensions, but also an unprecedented age range — from newborns to centenarians. The oldest person in our database is 111 years old.
Ultra-precise local navigation system for drones
ITMO specialists have developed a local navigation system for drones, which has been named Vostok. The development determines the speed and location of the aircraft with very high accuracy, which exceeds the capabilities of GPS by an order of magnitude.
— Our method is based on the classical principles of radio navigation and direction finding and is similar to talking to two people who are standing in one place and talking through megaphones. If you want to hear one, stand in front of his megaphone, stand in front of the other, and if you want to hear both, stand in the middle," said Timofey Melnikov, the project leader and a first—year graduate student at ITMO's Faculty of Information Technology Security.
The development can be applied where classical satellite navigation systems do not work. For example, in dense urban areas, tunnels, or enclosed spaces. Also, accurate determination of coordinates will allow the UAV to perform complex tasks, such as, for example, landing on a moving object in thick fog.
Tardigrade protein will help cancer patients
Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Iowa have developed a strategy to protect patients from DNA damage during radiation therapy using the protein of tardigrades, "water bears", microorganisms resistant to extreme radiation. The protein binds to DNA and reduces radiation damage.
Researchers delivered mRNA encoding this protein to mice, which resulted in a 50% reduction in DNA breaks. The new approach can reduce the side effects of treatment, such as ulcers, pain and bleeding, and make therapy more effective.
In the future, the method can be used for protection during chemotherapy and radiation in space.
Race for rare metals in space
The launch of the Falcon-9 launch vehicle took place from the Kennedy Space Center (USA, Florida). She successfully launched the Nova-C landing module called Athena ("Athena") on a flight path to the Moon, developed by Intuitive Machines.
The Odin spacecraft was also placed on the Falcon-9 as an additional payload. The purpose of the mission is to explore the asteroid 2022 OB5. Such celestial bodies consist mainly of iron and can include up to 9%, and sometimes more, of nickel. They may also contain an increased content of platinoids and other rare metals and rare earth elements.
Technologies for the development of space resources are also being designed in our country. In particular, asteroids rich in noble and rare earth metals are of interest. Such projects involve the delivery of small asteroids into low-Earth orbit, where they are much easier to develop. These measures can be carried out with the help of existing domestic technology, Nathan Eismont, a leading researcher at the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told Izvestia.
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