Good news!

Scientists Can Turn CO2 Into Ethanol—And They Figured It Out By Accident | @curiositydotcom https://curiosity.com/topics/scientists-can-turn-co2-into-ethanoland-they-figured-it-out-by-accident-curiosity?utm_source=androidapp

Salt Battery Demo!

     The middle school that I'm observing for one of my classes is reviewing energy transformation this coming week and I decided to create a homemade battery to help the students see how the chemical energy of the cell is converted to electrical energy. After looking around the internet for some good ideas, I decided to try this one out. It's a pretty simple setup composed of items you can generally find in your home, although you will probably have to purchase some zinc strips. The electrolyte is a mixture of 2 parts water to 1 part hydrogen peroxide. Each cell contributes approximately 0.8V and when wired in series, should push close to 5V with 6 cells. I'm hoping that there is enough amperage to light a small bulb and run a small 1.5V buzzer, showing electrical to light and electrical to sound conversions. Once the demo is completed, I'll try to post a reflection about how it went and what can be improved. Here's to hands-on science!

Development of Possible Vaccine for the Zika Virus

     An Indian biotech firm has developed 2 vaccines to help combat the Zika virus which has been causing quite a panic throughout the Americas this year. Bharat Biotech International filed for a patent for the vaccine 9 months ago and hope to have a tested and ready vaccine in as little as 4 months. Check out the article from Russia Today here.

Francis Crick Institute Gets Go Ahead for CRISPR-Cas9 Embryological Gene Editing

     For the first time, a national regulatory authority has approved the use of gene editing research in human embryos. The Human Fertility and Embryology Authority (HFEA) approved the research at the Francis Crick Institute in London and it will be headed by Dr. Kathy Niakan. The research could provide ground breaking insight into human development and help create a better understanding of the genes responsible, enabling scientist to combat developmental disorders and increase viability for those struggling with fertility. To learn more about this interesting development, check out this article in Nature.

Hack the Planet: Eco-Makers offer open source solutions to save the world

    

     Makers went wild at an innovation camp held in France last October. There's a growing online presence of makers, or resourceful and ingenious people who just love to tinker and come up with interesting solutions and improvements to everyday experiences. What happens when you put 100 capable makers in a 16th century French chateau and tell them to save the world? You get POC21. 

     This article by Michael Floyd is going to be a great asset for inspiring kids to get interested in science. Many of the projects posted on POC21's website can be done in a classroom or lab setting and will give students the opportunity to work with science, creating solutions for problems they see around them. These online maker communities, magazines, and websites can be very valuable tools for science educators and I highly recommend following several if you're not already doing so!

Quantum Dots: New Tool in Fighting Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

     Antibiotic-resistant bacteria has been in the news a lot lately. You may have heard that scientists have discovered a new strain of E. coli dubbed "pan-resistant E. coli" which is resistant to some of our strongest antibiotics. The resent emergence of these highly resistant bacteria coincides with a decline in novel antibiotic production, exacerbating the issue further. The CDC tells us that "Each year in the United States, at least 2 million people become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics and at least 23,000 people die each year as a result of these infections."

    Well, lucky for us, there may be relief in sight as scientists in Colorado have created what may turn out to be a great tool in fighting these infections: quantum dots. These nanoparticles (really tiny things, like 20,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair!) are light activated and have been shown to destroy 92% of the resistant bacterial cells while leaving other cells unscathed. This is great news because many antibiotic treatments can harm the normal microbiota (symbiotic bacteria) in the body.

   You can read more about quantum dots in the articles provided by The Huffington Post and Science Alert.

Discovery of a 9th planet in our solar system?

A recent article posted on Sciencemag.org tells us that two astronomers may have proven that a 9th planet exists past Neptune! Watch the video or read the article here.

"Human gene-editing research, even on embryos, is needed and should go ahead"

Scientists from around the world convened a global summit earlier this week about the ethics and use of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system. What is CRISPR you say? Well, check out this Youtube video if you'd like to learn more about the method.

At the summit, scientists essentially gave the "green light" to the use of the CRISPR-Cas9 system, but said that "moral, ethical and safety concerns would make it 'irresponsible' to proceed with clinical studies in germline cells — eggs, sperm, embryos and other cells that transmit DNA to future generations..." The summit also decided that "researchers who edit embryos or other germ cells in labs would not be doing germline editing if the resulting embryos are not implanted in the uterus for reproductive purposes...". This means that a new and effecient technique for gene editing is on the way to help scientists understand and fight genetic disease. I can't wait to see what new doors this opens for science! Read the article from ScienceNews to get the full story.

Saving lives or euginics?

          "Alternating the promise of cures for intractable diseases with anxiety about designer babies and eugenics, hundreds of scientists and ethicists from around the world began debating the boundaries of a revolutionary technology to edit the human genetic code." Read the rest of the article here.

Happy Birthday Carl Sagan!

Carl Sagan would have been 81 today and it's a shame that he's no longer with us. Few have inspired more curiosity in science than Dr. Sagan. His 1980 television series, Cosmos: A Personal Journey, is the most widely viewed American public access show in history and spawned a successful sister series staring Neil deGrasse Tyson, entitled Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. To learn a bit more about this amazing scientist, check out this article from HowStuffWorks Science.

Tractor Beams!!

Scientific American article on new tractor beams

The joy of Microbes!

Scientific American tells us a little about Microbes!

Editing the Human Genome: Where do you stand?

According to many recent articles, scientists in the UK applying for permission to alter human embryos in order to increase their viability for in vitro fertilization. This certainly isn't the first time that genetic engineering has shown up in the news, but the debate over its ethics continues. Sure these proposed enhancements could potentially give infertile parents a higher chance of successfully conceiving a child, but at what cost? The enhanced embryonic cells are duplicated exponentially, passing on any genetic tampering to future cells and in some cases, future progeny. This is one of my and many others' concerns with genetic engineering: what are the long-term ramifications of this type of experimentation? There is a lot of grey area in this type of discussion and I would love to hear how you feel about the idea. If you have an opinion, leave a message in the comments below!