New Dengue Vaccine Could Worsen Disease in Some People, Company Stands to Lose $118 Million

LONDON (AP) — Drugmaker Sanofi says that its dengue vaccine, the world's first, should only be given to people who have previously been sickened by the virus, according to new long-term data.

In a statement, Sanofi said it had recently examined six years of patient data. Scientists concluded that while the vaccine protects people against further infection if they've already been infected with dengue, that's not the case for people who haven't previously been sickened by the disease.

"For those not previously infected by dengue virus...the analysis found that in the longer term, more cases of severe disease could occur following vaccination," Sanofi said. "These findings highlight the complex nature of dengue infection."

People who catch dengue more than once can be at risk of a hemorrhagic version of the disease. The mosquito-spread disease is found in tropical and sub-tropical climates worldwide. It causes a flu-like disease that can cause joint pain, nausea, vomiting and a rash. In severe cases, dengue can cause breathing problems, hemorrhaging and organ failure.

The World Health Organization says that about half the world's population is at risk of dengue and estimates that about 96 million people are sickened by the viral infection every year.

Sanofi is proposing that national authorities update their prescribing information. It also said doctors should assess the likelihood of prior dengue infection in people before choosing whether they should get the vaccine.

"For individuals who have not been previously infected by dengue virus, vaccination should not be recommended," Sanofi said. The vaccine is currently recommended in most dengue-endemic countries for people over age nine.

The company expects to take a 100 million euro ($118 million) loss based on the news.

There is no specific treatment for dengue and there are no other licensed vaccines on the market.

US approves monthly injection for opioid addiction

By MATTHEW PERRONE, AP Health Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health officials on Thursday approved the first injectable form of the leading medication to treat patients recovering from addiction to heroin, prescription painkillers and other opioids.

The Food and Drug Administration approved once-a-month Sublocade for adults with opioid use disorder who are already stabilized on addiction medication.

The monthly injection has the potential to reduce dangerous relapses that occur when patients stop taking the currently available daily medication. But that benefit has not yet been shown in studies and the new drug comes with a hefty price: $1,580 per monthly dose. The older version of the drug, Suboxone, costs $100 a month

The approval comes amid the deadliest drug epidemic in U.S. history and a longstanding gap in medication-based treatment for patients recovering from addiction to opioids, including painkillers like OxyContin and illegal narcotics like heroin and fentanyl. More than 64,000 Americans died from drug overdoses last year, most involving opioids.

Drugmaker Indivior already sells the injection's key ingredient, buprenorphine, in medicated strips that dissolve under the tongue. Patients take the daily medication to control withdrawal symptoms like nausea, muscle aches and pain. When dosed appropriately the drug also reduces the euphoric effects of other opioids, discouraging abuse.

The new injection has potential to reduce abuse and diversion of buprenorphine, which is itself an opioid sometimes sold on the black market. The FDA is requiring Indivior to conduct follow-up studies on the drug.

Roughly 2.4 million Americans are currently addicted to the opioids, according to federal figures, and about 1.1 million are receiving drug therapy to treat the condition. Indivior's Suboxone is the most widely used drug, though access has long been limited by gaps in insurance coverage, caps on prescriptions and training requirements for would-be prescribers.

The FDA last year approved an implantable pellet version of buprenorphine that releases the drug over six months. Other opioid abuse medications include methadone and naltrexone, an injection approved to treat opioid and alcohol addiction.

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb has pledged to promote all available forms of medication-based addiction treatments. He has stressed that some patients may need to take the medications for life.

While studies show patients on medications like buprenorphine cut their risk of death by half, some recovery groups favor abstinence-only approaches to treatment.
 

FDA Approves First-of-a-Kind Test for Cancer Gene Profiling

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Chief Medical Writer

U.S. regulators have approved a first-of-a-kind test that looks for mutations in hundreds of cancer genes at once using a single tumor sample. This gives a more complete picture of what's driving a patient's tumor and aids efforts to match treatments to those flaws.

The Food and Drug Administration approved Foundation Medicine's test for patients with advanced or widely spread cancers, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services proposed covering it.

The dual decisions announced late Thursday will quickly make tumor gene profiling available to far more cancer patients than the few who get it now, and lead more insurers to cover it.It also will help more patients find and enroll in studies testing new drugs that target specific genes.

New EU Satellite Reveals Air Pollution Levels Around the Globe

BERLIN (AP) — Images taken by a new European satellite show the levels and distribution of air pollutants around the world, including ash spewing from a volcano in Indonesia.

The European Space Agency released images Friday made by its Sentinel-5P satellite that show high concentrations of nitrogen dioxide in parts of Europe on Nov. 22.

Nitrogen dioxide is mainly caused by vehicle emissions and in industrial processes.

Another image shows high levels of carbon monoxide, commonly produce by fires, in Asia, Africa and South America.

A series of images also show sulfur dioxide, ash and smoke from the Mount Agung volcano in Bali last month.

Sentinel-5P, launched Oct. 13, can map levels of nitrogen dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide and other pollutants that can be hazardous to human health or contribute to global warming.

UAE is Preparing to Colonize Mars, See their "Mars 2117" City 360 Virtual Tour

• The United Arab Emirates' Mars 2117 project's target is a Mars City in 100 years
• Best futuristic colony model with 3D VR experience
• 7-minute flythrough tour outside and inside with lively residents

 

Mars 2117 Strategy

The United Arab Emirates government released an immersive 360° 3D 8K virtual reality experience of their vision of a colony on Mars. It's complete with flying vehicles, A.I. robots, and glass domed cities. 

Their goal is to build the first Mars colony by the year 2047 and this vision is a look at what life could be like after 70 years of development. 

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United Government of Mars?

An interesting thing to note is their view of Mars having its own planetary government called the "United Government of Mars." We can suppose this would be independent of any of Earth's governments and we can speculate how different it might actually be considering all the new opportunities and unique circumstances. 

But would this Mars Government be friendly to all Earth nations? Many concerns and questions immediately spring to mind. Perhaps an international war may break out here on Earth as nations compete to be the first to stake a claim in the New New World. 

"City of Wisdom" 3D Virtual Tour

Buckle-up for a tour through the Mars City of Wisdom!

There are 600,000 people living here fed with indoor gardens. The UAE team seems to have thought through civic engineering by providing housing, schools, laboratories, gathering areas, and even a mining operation outodoors. It seems there's some sort of artificial intelligent management systems interconnecting the spacesuits, vehicles, robots, and access points. 

“The landing of people on other planets has been a longtime dream for humans. Our aim is that the UAE will spearhead international efforts to make this dream a reality.”

— Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai

History of Missions to Mars

Since 1965, only four entities have successfully made it to Mars:

1. NASA
2. Soviet Union
3. European Space Agency
4. Indian Space Research Organization

There are some who believe the United States has advanced technology with the capability to instantly transport to Mars using "jump rooms," according to Andrew D. Basiago. Supposedly, there was a "Project Pegasus" that sent humans to Mars with a very interesting story of what they found over there. 

Anyway, officially, NASA has done better than everyone else getting to Mars with a 70% chance of success. 15/21 since the 1960's. Averaging all international organizations, Earth has a 50% success rate of landing on Mars. China and Japan failed but India made it.

So the 2020 United Arab Emirates' planned mission would be the first one by a Muslim country. They plan to orbit an unmanned probe around Mars by the year 2021 to mark their country's 50th anniversary. It will scan the planet for sources of water where it would be the best place to support human life.

Such plans for UAE's Martian city were first announced at the World Government Summit to 138 governments.

Mars City Beta on Earth

Meanwhile, the UAE is developing an Earth-based Mars colony beta test to work out the bugs before building their actual city up there later. Dubai announced in September the construction of a $135 million "Mars Science City" spanning 1.9 million square feet. This will be the largest space simulation city ever built. 

The first inhabitants are researchers on a one-year mission to test out the sustainability of all the life support systems. They invest a lot of time in growing food, water recycling, and off-grid energy generation and storage. 

“The UAE is a great country with vision and understanding of the challenges we face and the rapid changes our world is experiencing.

We believe in the potential of space exploration, and in collaborating with global partners and leaders in order to harness the findings of this research and movement that seeks to meet people’s needs and improve quality of life on Earth.”

— Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai

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Sources:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5131955/Incredible-360-VR-footage-UAE-Martian-colony.html

https://futurism.com/4-mars-2117-project-the-uae-joins-the-race-for-the-red-planet/

X-Ray Scans Reveal Secrets of Ancient Egypt's Child Mummy After 1,900 Years

• Found in Hawara, Egypt in 1911
• One of 100 "portrait mummies"
• Combined X-ray and CT scans
• From upper-class and died of disease

This astonishing small 3-foot mummy was originally found in 1911 by archaeologists in Hawara, Egypt and named the Garret Mummy. There's a detailed portrait covering the face and the linen wrappings were intricately woven in a  geometric pattern of overlapping rhomboids that framed the portrait. It's an image of a little girl with a serene look on her face, dark hair tied back, wearing a dark red tunic and gold jewelry. Entombed besides her in the same underground chamber were four other mummies.

Modern Tech Solves an Ancient Mystery

After 106 years of patiently waiting for some method to examine the mummy without damaging it, scientists from Northwestern University are using an innovative X-ray scanning technique to see through her mystery. These scans revealed how her body was prepared 1,900 years ago, what items she was buried with, and even what killed her. 

This is the first time x-ray scattering technique has been used on a human mummy as it uses extremely brilliant high-energy x-rays combined with CT scans to probe the materials and objects inside the mummy, while leaving the mummy and her wrappings intact. 

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This recreated a 3D map of the mummy's entire structure allowing researchers to confirm she was a 5-year-old girl. 

The study's leader, Professor Stuart Stock, said:

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"This is a unique experiment, a 3D puzzle. We have some preliminary findings about the various materials, but it will take days before we tighten down the precise answers to our questions. We have confirmed that the shards in the brain cavity are likely solidified pitch, not a crystalline material. We also are investigating a scarab-shaped object, her teeth, and what look like wires near the mummy's head and feet."

 

Portrait Mummies

Other than the Garrett mummy, there are about 100 other mummies with lifelike portraits placed over their faces. Researchers believe Romans influenced the Egyptians to create paintings for the deceased instead of sculptures. 

The Garrett Mummy's portrait looks different than the others, like using a unique style from another artisan or workshop. Analysis shows the painting was made with beeswax and pigments. These clues lead researchers to believe this mummified girl belonged to an upper-class household who had the wealth and culture to preserve their child in such a way. 

Such an exotic find among an already rare mummy caused great excitement for Professor Marc Walton, a researcher of the study, who said:

"Intact portrait mummies are exceedingly rare, and to have one here on campus was revelatory for the class and exhibition. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our undergraduate students - and for me - to work at understanding the whole object that is this girl mummy. Today's powerful analytical tools allow us to nondestructively do the archaeology scientists couldn't do 100 years ago."

The scans suggested the girl died of tuberculosis, smallpox, or malaria, says Dr. Taco Terpstra.

Since there were no obvious signs of physical damage, it's more likely she died from a disease. 

“We’re basically able to go back to an excavation that happened more than 100 years ago and reconstruct it with our contemporary analysis techniques. All the information we find will help us enrich the entire historical context of this young girl mummy and the Roman period in Egypt.”

— Professor Walden

Future Possibilities

With this Garrett Mummy study as an example of how technology can help archaeologists and historians extract more information from hard to investigate artifacts, especially such old and delicate ones wrapped beneath layers of culturally significant materials, there may be a new wave of data when scientists restudy such ancient items with new scanners.

The mysterious void found in the Great Pyramid of Giza is one more example of this, and I can't wait until they try scanning those crystal skulls! 

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Sources:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5132131/Unravelling-mystery-Garrett-mummy.html

http://www.cetusnews.com/tech/Unravelling-the-mystery-of-the-Garrett-mummy.SkaLO5pgG.html

China's Dark Matter 'Monkey King' Satellite Detects Evidence of Dark Matter Particles

The Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) satellite China launched 310 miles in space in 2015 to collect cosmic ray data just picked up something extraordinary. 

While hunting for traces of dark matter in the universe, the satellite nicknamed "Wukong" or "Monkey King," detected a huge spike of unknown matter. 

Fan Yizhong, deputy chief designer of DAMPE's scientific application system, added that the spike was highly unusual. “The signals might have originated from either dark matter or pulsars,” he said.

Chinese Academy of Sciences' scientists have been recording the DAMPE satellite's findings for two years now and have measured over 3,500,000,000 high energy particles. This is the first anomaly in their electron and positron data spectrum. They are very excited but careful to not overreact to their discovery, waiting for higher probability scores from further analysis to confirm their expectations.

Why is this Important?

Basically, out of the 100% of the matter in the universe, we can only actually see ~5% of it. Then ~27% is "dark matter" that we cannot see but know exists because we can measure its gravitational influence. The last ~68% is the mysterious "dark energy" supposedly expanding everything in the universe. 

A main dark matter theory is that whatever it is can decay into some matter we can see: electrons, positrons, photos, etc. So this is what China's "Monkey King" DAMPE satellite has been scanning for. 

Since scientists have painstakingly searched for hard proof of dark matter for decades with only failure after failure, you can see why this long-awaited little "blip" in the data is actually a huge deal.

The latest findings were published in Nature and show the spectral break at 0.9 TeV (tera-electron-volts) and a potential spike at 1.4 TeV. This discovery helps fine-tune the parameters for future models of cosmic phenomena like pulsars, supernovas, and dark matter. 

In other words, they found visible particles of an invisible needle in the universal haystack and using those to help find evidence of more invisible needles. 

 "Together with data from the cosmic microwave background experiments, high energy gamma-ray measurements, and other astronomical telescopes, the DAMPE data may help to ultimately clarify the connection between the positron anomaly and the annihilation or decay of particle dark matter," Fan Yizhong, said in a statement.

"DAMPE has opened a new window for observing the high-energy universe, unveiling new physical phenomena beyond our current understanding," Chang Jin, chief scientist of DAMPE, told Xinhua. "Our data may inspire some new ideas in particle physics and astrophysics. We never expected such signals.”

So this could propel scientists beyond the bounds of previous limitations. They could have the means to find and interact with the invisible matter of our universe. The potential implications and opportunities are indeed intriguing. 

Chang continued: “The spike might indicate that there exists a kind of unknown particle with a mass of about 1.4 TeV. All the 61 elementary particles predicted by the standard model of particle physics have been found. Dark matter particles are beyond the list. So if we find a new elementary particle, it will be a breakthrough in physics. Even if they were from pulsars, it would be quite a strange astrophysical phenomenon that nobody had known before.”

But for now, the team will just keep logging cosmic ray data to increase their accuracy.

“So far, we are 99.99 percent sure this spike is real, but we need to collect more data. If the statistical probability exceeds 99.99994 percent, it will be a groundbreaking discovery in particle physics and astrophysics,” Chang said.

Even if this new data doesn't solve the dark matter question, astrophysicist at Princeton University David Spergel says, "These measurements will inform our understanding of cosmic ray acceleration [and] will tell us about the physical processes in shocks around supernova and the physics of pulsars."

And then what? I can't wait for someone will invent a device that can see dark matter and reflect that onto a human's brain so we can "see" the rest of the universe. Well, until then keep exploring outside the box.

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Sources:

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/china-detects-weird-space-signals-135544032.html

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/11/china-s-dark-matter-space-probe-detects-tantalizing-signal

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-11/30/c_136788775.htm

New Silver Nanowire Makes Printed Electronics 4,000x Better

Silver nanowires conduct electricity 4,000x better than nanoparticles and don't require heat. 

To get good electrical signal conductivity, engineers use to heat nanoparticles until they melted together, which would burn up thinner materials like paper, fabric, etc. This meant only thicker, heat resistant, and more expensive materials could be made into electronics. 

Thanks to researchers from Duke University, now flexible electronics can be made much cheaper, more effective, and on almost anything. Ironically, the solution turns out to be rather simple. Simply changing the shape of the nanoparticles in the ink eliminated the need for heat.

They tested silver nanosphere, short and long nanowire, and microflake exposed to different temperatures to create the best conductive films from the ink compounds. Tests on the different films them showed that electrons flowed easier through films made of silver nanowires than those made of nanospheres or microflakes. 

The "Aha!" moment wasn't the finding the best form but in learning how much more conductive nanowires were to nanoparticles: 4,000 times greater! 

They’re currently studying whether silver-coated copper nanowires, a cheaper alternative to pure silver nanowires, will deliver the same effect as a part of that effort, and they’re also experimenting with aerosol jets as a method of printing silver nanowire inks in usable circuits.

Silver + Graphene = WOW

Even better than silver plating copper, is balancing the weaknesses of silver with the strengths of graphene. Other researchers have been experimenting with combinations of super conductive silver nanowires and super thin yet extremely durable graphene. 

It is the strongest material ever tested, efficiently conducts heat and electricity, and is nearly transparent. However, it is also very expensive to make, so a hybrid combo seems to be a great solution.

"The addition of graphene to the silver nanowire network also increases its ability to conduct electricity by around a factor of ten thousand," says Alan Dalton, head of the team behind this new material. "This means we can use a fraction of the amount of silver to get the same, or better, performance. As a result screens will be more responsive and use less power."

"One of the issues with using silver is that it tarnishes in air," says Matthew Large, lead researcher on the project. "What we've found is that the graphene layer prevents this from happening by stopping contaminants in the air from attacking the silver. What we've also seen is that when we bend the hybrid films repeatedly the electrical properties don't change, whereas you see a drift in the films without graphene that people have developed previously. This paves the way towards one day developing completely flexible devices."

Endless Silver Nanowire Possibilities

Duke University researchers are excited to develop technologies with these super conductive silver nanowires. They expect these to improve photovoltaic solar cells, touch-screens, pressure sensitive devices, LEDs, batteries, and even bio-electric devices. They will be exploring aerosol jet 3D printing of such metal foams for uniquely customizable and versatile applications. 

Using nanowires as building blocks, the silver aerogels don't have traditional rigid limitations. They even have tunable densities, controlled pore structures, improved electrical conductivity and mechanical properties, making them uber practical for any application.

"The high porosity and excellent mechanical/electrical properties of these silver nanowire aerogels may lead to enhanced device performance and open up new possibilities in fuel cells, energy storage, medical devices, catalysis and sensors," said Fang Qian
 

Sources:

https://phys.org/news/2017-10-ultralight-silver-nanowire-aerogel-boon.html#jCp

https://newatlas.com/graphene-silver-tougher-smartphone-screen/51923/

VANTABLACK: The Darkest Material in the World Makes Things Disappear

 

This latest advanced material can make anything vanish into a black hole.

Thanks to Surrey Nano Systems, you can now spray paint any object and it will disappear into what looks like a flat black hole. They've achieved the impossible using a unique material made of carbon nanotubes called Vantablack. It is so unimaginably black that the human eye actually has trouble processing what it is seeing. 

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VANTA stands for Vertically Aligned NanoTube Array and is made by “growing” carbon nanotubes on a metal surface. One nanotube is a billionth of a meter thick, or the width of three gold atoms. Light is trapped between the tubes, bouncing around until it’s absorbed (up to 99.96%) instead of reflecting back to our eye. So the only thing we can see is, literally, nothing. Visually, this can make 3D objects appear a flat black... blacker than black.

The possibilities of this new material have excited British architect Asif Khan who has decided to create an unmatched display in the upcoming 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, plunging spectators into a "schism of space."

Khan wants visitors to fully experience Vantablack’s unique properties and is creating a building for this in the Olympic Park with four curved walls. With tiny lights as stars, the effect will feel like floating in deep space.

“It will be like you’re looking into the depths of space itself. As you approach the building that star field will grow to fill your entire field of view, and then you’ll enter as though you’re being absorbed into a cloud of blackness.”

Blacker than Black Ops

Since it's development over 3 years ago, Vanta Black has been attracting aerospace engineers, architects, artists, electrical engineers, and more. The possibilities for new stealth drones, microchips, touch screens, ultra-light wiring, heat absorption, etc. are endless. This kind of new material gives innovators the kind of resource they've only been able to dream of before.

One of Surrey Nano Systems' founders and the chief technology officer, Ben Jensen, of Surrey NanoSystems said, 

"It’s almost like an alien material from “Star Trek.” Imagine a drinking straw, closed at one end, with a wall one-atom thick. This straw is one-ten-thousandth the diameter of a human hair, but it is 10 times stronger than steel, and 10 times better at conducting heat than copper. It’s been known to exhibit what is called 'ballistic transport;' electrons travel through it with almost no resistance. Vantablack packs billions of these straws together."

I'd love to have a Vanta Black ninja suit but Ben says...

"When I read about making black ninja suits and black aircraft, I just laugh. It’s not a reasonable application."

Okay, I'll settle for a unicorn head trophy.

An object coated in Vantablack appears 2-dimensional and is difficult to perceive. Image Credit: Surrey NanoSystems

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Sources:

www.surreynanosystems.com

https://www.livescience.com/58561-spray-on-vantablack-coating-is-blackest-material.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/06/garden/what-you-can-do-with-vantablack-the-darkest-material-ever-made.html

Theorist Suggests Seeding Life on Exoplanet 12,000 Years Away

With the concept of colonizing Mars and the Moon are becoming more popular, some scientists are even considering a type of Hail Mary play: seeding life on planets way, way out there. 

Doomsday Hedge vs Panspermia

To hedge against A.I. taking over the Earth, a backup colony on the Moon or Mars may still be close enough and vulnerable to attack. So, successfully starting something far away may have higher chances of survival albeit at a higher risk of failure getting there. 

German theoretical physicist, Claudius Gros, from Goethe University believes seeding life is more important than building colonies and that we have the technology to do it.

Well, why not try both? The closest viable exoplanet would take us about 12,000 years to get there, so we could have colonized our entire solar system by then right? 

Gros proposes using laser propulsion technology, like Stephen Hawkins' Breakthrough Starshot probe, which can travel up to 100 MILLION miles per hour, but instead using a much heavier 1.5-ton spacecraft traveling much slower. With this payload capacity, we could orbit an exoplanet by dropping "mini-labs" to grow genes and cells to kickstart human life. Gros' target is TRAPPIST-1 but the recently discovered Ross 128b is also an option.

Hypothetical Problems

Riding a laser beam with a light sail to get there fast is fine but what about stopping? To actually slow the spacecraft down enough to fall into planetary orbit, Gros proposes a magnetic drag sail. Acting like a parachute in space catching just photons of light. 

“The reason for the magnetic sail is to create a magnetic field without loss of energy. You don’t want to expend energy, so you generate the field once, and then with a superconducting loop, the current stays forever, and the magnetic field stays forever.” Claudius Gros, German theoretical physicist

The above depicts an ionized proton (blue) undergoing deflection via magnetic field (magenta). Image credit: Journal of Physics Communications

The sail would need to be 31 miles in diameter to stop the 1.5-ton ship but it would require the entire journey to take 12,000 years! 

After the 12,000-year trip, "any life would take many billions of years to mature," Gros said. 

I don't know about you guys, but that's a deal-breaker for me. Why don't we reverse engineer UFO technology and travel through time-space dimensions instead? Blink 182 band member, Tom DeLonge, just announced he's partnering with key former members of our "secret" space program to build such a craft from scratch in 8 years. (ToTheStarsAcademy.com)

Investing in advancing transportation technologies may be a much more viable and practical solution as it can make the impossible possible. Such energy technologies could be very clean and efficient, thereby replacing dirty inefficient technologies. This could lead to a total paradigm shift, or rather require completely stepping outside the box of our preconceived notions limiting our exploration towards higher-level sciences. 

Onward and upwards.

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Sources:

https://futurism.com/scientist-plan-send-building-blocks-life-distant-exoplanets/