Amazing Universe - Random Knowledge

A team of researchers from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, China, used what's called a base editor technique to change a single G back to an A in the DNA code of an embryonic cell's HBB gene. The change might have been tiny, but in its mutated form HBB can't produce the protein beta-globin needed to build the oxygen-carrying haemoglobin for our red blood cells. A shortage of haemoglobin means a shortage of oxygen, impeding growth and development and leading to a lifetime of blood transfusions to treat anaemia – if the embryo survives at all. Beta-thalassaemia is usually a recessive condition, meaning both parents need to contribute a copy of the mutated gene for anaemia to develop in their child. Correcting the mutations in this gene could help parents carry an embryo to term, or remove the trait from family lines.   About 400 different kinds of code-corruptions can affect HBB.In this case, the researchers focussed on a single point-mutation that targ...

" Interstellar ice is believed to be a cradle of complex organic compounds, commonly found within icy comets and interstellar clouds, in association with ultraviolet (UV) irradiation and subsequent warming. We found that UV-irradiated amorphous ices composed of H 2 O, CH 3 OH, and NH 3 and of pure H 2 O behave like liquids over the temperature ranges of 65 to 150 kelvin and 50 to 140 kelvin, respectively. This low-viscosity liquid-like ice may enhance the formation of organic compounds including prebiotic molecules and the accretion of icy dust to form icy planetesimals under certain interstellar conditions. " According to the researchers from Hokkaido University in Japan, when the deep space conditions are right, this particular type of ice can attract and hold dust and debris, starting off a chain reaction that ends up with something like Jupiter . "The liquid-like ice may help dust accrete to planets because liquid may act as a glue," says lea...