Why manufacture in space? Well, when you're operating in zero gravity – or at least, in the microgravity environment of orbit – you're altering a very significant physical variable that's pretty much a constant for any Earth-based lab.

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Recreating the musculature of the leg and pelvis, the imagery supports the supposition that this part-time tree-dwelling hominin walked completely erect, like humans, but more than three million years earlier.

Scientists discover salt in asteroid, indicating presence of water on Earth

Scientists have discovered salt in an asteroid, which indicates the presence of water on Earth. The discovery could help explain how water arrived on our planet. According to the researchers, the salt was found in a sample of the Itokawa asteroid, which visited Earth in 2003. The findings suggest that the asteroid could have been a source of water on Earth. This discovery could have significant implications for our understanding of the origins of life on our planet.

eVTOLs and delivery drones promise to bring large numbers of aircraft closer than ever before to urban life. Most people find today's drones annoyingly loud and wouldn't want them whirring overhead on a daily basis, and Whisper has raised some US$40 million and bagged some military grants on the basis that this company is building the quietest electric propulsion systems on the planet.

GPS uses a network of a few dozen satellites in precise orbits around Earth, and receivers in devices like phones are constantly listening out for signals from those satellites. The devices can work out how far they are from any detected GPS satellite, and when they pick up signals from at least four of them, the device can determine its relative position on the ground to within a few meters.
And now Scientists have demonstrated a proof-of-concept for a new navigation system that can work underground and underwater by tracking particles from cosmic rays

Cambridge's new solar reactor can convert carbon dioxide from air and flue gas, as well as plastic waste, into useful chemicals

Working with ArianeGroup, an Airbus–Safran joint venture, Airbus has completed testing a complete system for feeding hydrogen to an aeronautical gas turbine engine.

Implosion….
2 k meters underwater.

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How the Sun illuminates the Earth throughout the year. The video consists of 365 frames, 1 frame for each day of the year. The pictures were taken at the same time. Data from Eumetsat satellite. Credit: Simon Proud

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Synchron's brilliant Stentrode device: a simple, safe, reliable brain-computer interface that doesn't need chunks of skull cut out

Nature recently published two articles simultaneously discussing "synthetic" human embryos, which are created using stem cells and exhibit similar development patterns to real embryos.

The first article, titled "Postimplantation Human Embryo Model Derived from Pluripotent Stem Cells," was authored by researchers at Cambridge. The second article, titled "Self-replication of human stem cells into postimplantation lines," originated from Yale University.

Just two weeks ago, four different research groups released preprints on this subject, indicating that it is a cutting-edge frontier in biotechnology. However, the emergence of synthetic embryos raises ethical concerns, as they are not treated in the same manner as "true" embryos developed from eggs.

The International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) issued a statement two days ago addressing this matter. Here's an excerpt from their statement:

"The ISSCR advises against using the term 'synthetic embryo' to describe these models, as it is both inaccurate and potentially misleading. Integrated embryo models are not truly synthetic nor embryonic. While they can replicate certain aspects of early human embryo development, they cannot and will not progress to the equivalent postnatal human stage. Moreover, the ISSCR Guidelines explicitly prohibit the transfer of any embryo model into a human or animal uterus."

The authors from Cambridge refer to these models as human embryoids. However, this attempt to distance them from the notion of human-like development does not entirely dispel doubts about their potential to develop into something resembling a human. After all, these models possess human DNA. It seems that simply playing with terminology may not be sufficient to resolve this question definitively.


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It’s Friday, and that means it’s time to kick back, relax, and enjoy some science news.
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Basic orbital mechanics on @science

The most commonly used form of glass, which you’ll find in everything from windows to drinking glasses, is technically known as soda lime silicate glass. Manufacturing this common material requires furnaces that get up to 1,500 °C (2,732 °F), which of course consumes a lot of energy and releases a huge amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. On top of that, this glass is made from quartz sand, soda ash and limestone, the latter two of which release CO2 when melted.
Now, Penn State researchers have improved the recipe to make glass that’s more environmentally friendly to produce, while also being much stronger.

🔬 Scientists Unveil Revolutionary Cancer Treatment Inspired by COVID-19 Vaccines

Exciting breakthroughs in the field of cancer research have given rise to a cutting-edge treatment that takes cues from the successful COVID-19 vaccines. A team of dedicated scientists has developed and tested a potential therapy that employs mRNA molecules to combat cancer cells by leveraging a similar mechanism used in the vaccines.

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