The team modified the DNA of fruit flies and zebrafish by inserting variants of genes from bacteria to make two enzymes that together can convert methylmercury to elemental mercury which evaporates from the animals as a gas. Credit: CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT/AFP via Getty ImagesShareScientists from Australia have successfully bioengineered genetically modified fruit flies and zebrafish capable of absorbing toxic mercury and releasing it back into the environment in a less harmful form. The breakthrough, made possible by exposing the flies and fish to a pair of detoxifying enzymes found in microbes, meant the modified flies and fish were able to ingest mercury and safely convert it at far greater rates than their non-modified cousins. The findings were published this week in the journal Nature Communication.But the findings could also have wider implications beyond flies and fish. Zooming out from the test animals, the experiment proves its possible to degrade environmentally harmful mercury early before it manages to wind its way up food supplies and, eventually, human bodies. These are just the latest examples of researchers using modern science to slightly modify the genes of organisms with the ultimate goal of sending them out into the wild to reduce environmental toxins and combat diseases. Actually deploying these science experiments at a scale that can make a meaningful difference however requires navigating through legal, ethical, and regulatory barriers that are sometimes trickier to solve than the underlying science powering the discoveries.Mercury exposure is dangerous and its getting worseMercury is a natural but toxic element that is released into the Earths atmosphere. Methylmercury, a particularly poisonous form of the element, is of particular concern to humans because it gets biomagnified as it works its way through the oceans food web. Humans who eat fish that have eaten smaller aquatic life with methylmercury in their bodies can potentially be exposed to dangerous levels of methylmercury that acts like a neurotoxin. Once ingested by a human, methylmercury isnt easily excreted and can quickly cross the digestive tract, the blood-brain barrier, and the placenta. And while mercury is naturally occurring, recent research shows industrial activities like gold and coal mining are making mercury pollution much worse.The researchers from Macquarie University and the ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology in Australia wanted to see if it would be possible to engineer organisms that could interfere with that bioaccumulation process early on in the food cycles, a concept broadly called bioremediation. They settled on two different test subjects: the common fruit fly (an invertebrate) and a zebrafish (a vertebrate). They then injected the embryos of these creatures with a pair of enzymes, MerB (organomercurial lyase) and MerA (mercuric reductase), found in many microbes. These enzymes were chosen for their natural detoxifying properties. When exposed to methylmercury, the enzymes catalyze the protonolysis of methylmercury and naturally transform it into the less toxic elemental mercury (Hg0). Get the Popular Science newsletter By signing up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.Both modified and non-modified versions of the flies and fish were exposed to mercury. The results were impressive. After three days, the genetically modified fruit fly larvae had 83% less methylmercury present than the control group. Similarly, the engineered zebrafish also showed 64% lower levels of harmful mercury than their non-modified counterparts after six days. In both cases, the modified animals had successfully converted the toxic methylmercury into a far less poisonous elemental mercury or Hg0.When we tested the modified animals, we found that not only did they have less than half as much mercury in their bodies, but the majority of the mercury was in a much less bioavailable form than methylmercury, Macquarie University biologist Kate Tepper said in a statement.It still seems like magic to me that we can use synthetic biology to convert the most environmentally harmful form of mercury and evaporate it out of an animal, Tepper addedReleasing modified animals in the wild can create unintended consequencesThis isnt the first time scientists have tried to use genetically altered animals to reshape their broader environments. For years, researchers have been introducing modified mosquitoes with self-limiting genes to mate with other disease-carrying mosquitoes to cut down their population sizes. Researchers and startups are hopeful new bacteria genetically engineered to munch on plastics could one day cut down on ocean pollution and possibly play a role in reducing microplastics that make their way into human bodies. Recent advances in CRISPR-Cas9, which lets scientists make alterations to DNA sequences with far more precision than previously possible, make once improbable-sounding genetic modification now comfortable within reach.But being technically or scientifically possible isnt the same thing as being possible. Any large-scale efforts to release genetically modified animals into natural environments at scale also run the risk of diverting from their intended goals. Theres a long history of humans introducing non-native species into environments with one stated goal only to have them unintentionally decimate other populations. Those concerns around possible invasive species may get amplified further when the creature being introduced has been gene edited in a lab.The researchers behind mercury munching flies and fish seemed to agree, for now at least. Though they say they took some safety precautions to ensure their organisms could not spread uncontrollable in nature, they noted the research is still early and needs more testing before anyone thinks about wide-scale deployment. Still, the findings show the potential, at least in theory, to use gene editing to help solve currently existing environment dilemmas.

Researchers used a combination of nontoxic water, sodium acetate, sodium iodide, and hypophosphorous acid to recycle a solar cell. Credit: Thor BalkhedShareSolar energy has made major strides in recent years. Panel prices have dropped precipitously and the overall global solar market has reportedly grown by around 24% annually over the past decade. And despite vocal opposition from the recent Trump Administration, its not done growing yet. By 2028, the Solar Energy Industries Association estimates the global solar market will triple in size. At least part of the expected growth will be thanks to the expanded development of a newer generation of solar cells made out of the material perovskite, which are more energy efficient than its silicon-based predecessors. But theres a problem. These coveted, perovskite cells are also especially difficult to recycle. That inherent lack of reusability risks creating additional environmental challenges since solar cells require large quantities of difficult-to-source critical minerals from all around the world.Researchers from Linkping University in Sweden believe they may have found a solution that could let solar manufacturers have their cake and eat it too. Using a newly designed recycling technique, the researchers were able to fully break down a perovskite solar cell at the end of its life cycle using only a water solvent. When they used that recycled material to create an entirely new solar cell, they found it maintained the same overall efficiency as the first non-recycled iteration. In theory, this process could be scaled up to help create fully recyclable, energy-efficient solar cells that dont require environmentally harmful chemicals to break down. More uses of the same solar cells could also help bring down solar energy prices further long term.We can recycle everythingcovering glasses, electrodes, perovskite layers, and also the charge transport layer, Linkping University postdoc student and paper co-author Xun Xiao said in a statement. The researchers published thier findings this week in the journal Nature.Researchers replaced a toxic chemical process with waterPerovskite solar panels are derived from a family of elements that are valued for their high energy retention and low production costs. (These types of cells are able to convert 25% solar energy into electricity compared to 15-20% for most traditional silicon-based cells). The standard approach for dismantling perovskite solar panels for recycling requires soaking them in dimethylformamide, a chemical most commonly found in paint solvents. This approach, the researchers note, isnt ideal because it leads to potentially hazardous chemicals leaching into the environment.We need to take recycling into consideration when developing emerging solar cell technologies, Linkping University professor and paper coauthor Feng Gao said in a statement. If we dont know how to recycle them, maybe we shouldnt put them on the market at all.The researchers took a different approach and opted instead to create a nontoxic, water-based solvent that included sodium acetate, sodium iodide, and hypophosphorous acid additives. Sodium acetate was introduced to help break down the solar cells individual materials. Sodium iodide, by contrast, was added to help reform the separated perovskite crystals so that they could be used again later to create a new solar cell. The hypophosphorous acid was included to help keep the solution stable over time. Researchers heated the water to 80 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes before submerging the cell to further aid in the dismantling process. The newly recycled perovskite crystals and remaining liquid were then separated by running them through a centrifuge spinning at 5,000 rpm for three minutes.With that process complete, the researchers were then able to use that recycled material to create a new solar cell. Crucially, the new cell was just as energy-efficient as the one prior to recycling. The researchers were able to repeat this process several more times without the newer cells losing their energy output. Those findings suggest the researchers eco-friendly water solution approach could extend the life of next-generation perovskite-based solar panels by several multiples. The researchers estimate their approach reduced overall resource depletion by 96.6% compared to fresh solar panels tossed in a landfill after one life cycle.While its still not completely clear how this water-based recycling approach will fire when ramped up to a large industrial scale, the water method offers a possible avenue to make future renewable energy infrastructure more sustainable. The findings come at a crucial moment. Soaring international electricity demands jolted forward by massive, power-hungry AI data centers means the world will need to find a way to quickly generate new energy. Though much of that demand will likely be met by fossil fuels, highly recyclable solar cells could help drive down solar prices which in turn may make it more financially attractive.

Nature, Published online: 12 February 2025; doi:10.1038/s41586-024-08533-3We show that gain-of-function cancer mutations in the KBTBD4 E3 ligase promote neodegradation of substrates via a shape-complementarity-based mechanism, which converges with the mechanism of action of the UM171 molecular glue degrader and can be blocked by HDAC1/2 inhibitors.

Nature, Published online: 12 February 2025; doi:10.1038/d41586-025-00088-1Defining a cells type by the RNA transcripts it expresses is popular in biological research, but evidence from zebrafish neurons suggests that transcriptionally similar cells can be functionally diverse.

NASA will send astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams home from the International Space Station early on a previously used SpaceX Dragon space capsule, not on a brand-new one, the agency announced.

2nd blender post down. Many more to come submitted by /u/fallensoap1 [link] [comments]

der8auerJust like the issues seen with NVIDIAs RTX 4090 two years ago, the first report from an owner of the new RTX 5090 Founders Edition has emerged, describing melted power connectors and damage to their power supply. A Reddit user ivan6953, who upgraded from an RTX 4090 to an RTX 5090 FE, noticed a burning smell while playing Battlefield 5. After shutting down their PC, they discovered damage to the power connector, with burnt plastic visible at both the PSU end and the connection to the GPU.Heres what it looked like:ivan6953ivan6953ivan6953NVIDIA first introduced the 12VHPWR power connector with its RTX 40-series GPUs to handle higher power demands, and, following initial reports of RTX 4090 connectors melting, the connector was updated to the 12V-26 version, which features shorter sensing pins and longer conductor terminals for improved reliability. However, its not a completely new cable. Although its obvious to blame a third-party connector in ivan6953s case, the cable manufacturer MODDIY responded to the thread, ruling out the possibility of a defective cable or a manufacturing error. Following this incident, YouTuber der8auer obtained the damaged graphics card, power cable, and PSU for investigation. Upon closer inspection, he observed clear signs of overheating, with plastic around the pins breaking off when the cable was removed.der8auerder8auerUsing his own RTX 5090 Founders Edition with a higher-spec 12V-26 cable, der8auer found concerning results that pointed to a serious issue with the power delivery system. After just four minutes, two of the 12V cables reached over 100 degrees Celsius, which was clearly too high, and one of the cables was carrying much more current than the others.der8auerHowever, der8auer believes that user error on the part of both himself and ivan6953 is not to blame, as the cable was properly connected. Instead, he suspects the problem may lie with the current distribution of RTX 5090 Founders Edition models.NVIDIA has yet to provide an official response to this, so stay tuned and join our80 Level Talent platformand ournew Discord server, follow us on Instagram,Twitter,LinkedIn,Telegram,TikTok, andThreads,where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.Source link The post NVIDIAs RTX 5090 FE Power Connectors Are Reportedly Melting appeared first on CG SHARES.

Niantic has announced a multi-year partnership between Pokemon Go and the MLB that will include special Pokemon Go events at select baseball parks across North America. The first phase of Pokemon Go's MLB partnership begins on opening day of the 2025 baseball season--March 27, 2025."Were delighted to partner with MLB to help make playing Pokemon Go even more fun and engaging at ballparks across the country," Sarah Gilarsky, Niantic's head of business development for Pokemon Go, said in a statement. "This unique integration of digital Pokemon Go gameplay and the physical experience of enjoying a game together at an MLB ballpark is a wonderful way for friends and families to connect and share their passions for Pokemon and baseball.Niantic said that starting on opening day, MLB-themed PokeStops will appear at each ballpark, along with special gym locations and official Pokemon Go routes connecting important locations in the park venue. Several MLB clubs will host Pokemon Go nights during the season as well--events that feature special timed research tasks, in-game cosmetics, and tradeable ballpark backgrounds for Pikachu. Niantic said Pikachu will turn up at scheduled points during the evening's game.Continue Reading at GameSpot

HBO's hit TV drama based on the video game is coming backhere's what we know.HBO's popular post-apocalyptic TV series The Last of Us was a ratings juggernaut, and it's coming back for a second season. The first season traced the events of Naughty Dog's 2013 video game from beginning to end, culminating in a heartbreaking and violent finale.Season 2 will follow at least some of the events of 2020's The Last of Us Part II, which means viewers are in for another round of violence, heartbreak, drama, and battles with human and infected enemies alike.Here's everything we know about HBO's The Last of Us Season 2. This gallery contains spoilers for The Last of Us franchise, spanning the games and the TV series. When It's Coming?The Last of Us Season 2 is set for release in April 2025, so it's only a few months away at this point. Fans have theorized that Season 2 may arrive on Sunday, April 13, but this is not confirmed as of yet. Ellie Won't Be RecastActress Bella Ramsey, who plays Ellie, is back to play the character once again in Season 2. There is a five-year time jump from Season 1 to Season 2, but this actually brings Ramsey more in line with Ellie. Ramsey is now 21 years old in real life, which is almost the same age as Ellie in The Last of Us Part II (19). New Characters And Castmembers For Season 2With Season 2 covering at least some of the events of The Last of Us Part II, viewers can expect to see a group of new characters join the cast. One of the most notable new characters is Abby Anderson. She is the daughter of Jerry Anderson, the doctor who was murdered by Joel at the end of Season 1.Abby is out for vengeance, and this is what drives a good amount of the plot in the game. Kaitlyn Dever (Booksmart) has been cast as Abby for Season 2.Other new cast members include:Isabela Merced -- DinaYoung Mazino -- JesseDanny Ramirez -- MannyAriela Barer -- MelTati Gabrielle -- NoraSpencer Lord -- OwenCatherine O'Hara -- Unspecified role Radically Different ChangesSeason 1 followed the events of 2013's Last of Us, but it made some key deviations as well like devoting an entire episode to the love story between Frank and Bill. In the Season finale, meanwhile, we saw Ellie's mom on screen for the first time and got a clue for how Ellie is immune to the cordyceps fungus.Season 2 seems like it'll follow a similar formula. Mazin told The Hollywood Reporter that, "[Season 2] will be different just as [Season 1] was different." But just how different and how much divergence will there be from the source material? Mazin said, "Sometimes it will be different radically. It won't be exactly like the game. It will be the show that Neil and I want to make."One difference we know about is that Abby will not be as buff as she is in the game.Druckmann told Entertainment Weekly that part of it came down simply to casting. "We would've struggled to find someone as good as Kaitlyn to play this role," he said. He also pointed out how the game and the TV show were never aiming to offer the same kind of experience.In the game, you play as both Ellie and Abby, and for a video game, it was important that they play differently, Druckmann said. "We needed Ellie to feel smaller and kind of maneuver around, and Abby was meant to play more like Joel in that she's almost like a brute in the way she can physically manhandle certain things," he said. In the TV show, though, the team is doing something else."That doesn't play as big of a role in this version of the story because there's not as much violent action moment to moment. It's more about the drama. I'm not saying there's no action here. It's just, again, different priorities and how you approach it," he said.For his part, Mazin said he was excited by the opportunity to present Abby as someone who is "physically more vulnerable" than she was in the game, "but whose spirit is stronger."Druckmann went on to assure fans that Dever was the right choice for the role of Abby. "Kaitlyn has the spirit of the game in her," Druckmann said. "When you look at Kaitlyn, there's just something in her eyes where, even no matter what she's experiencing, you connect. It was important that we found somebody that we could connect to the way we connect to Bella."Beyond that, the timeline in The Last of Us Season 2 won't be the same as the game, but it's not clear how just yet.Whatever the case, Mazin has said he expects fans to revolt against HBO and The Last of Us over changes planned for Season 2.Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Craig Mazin said of Season 2, "Will there be furor? Yeah, probably. I mean, there usually is, starting even with casting."This is nothing new. Mazin said people had a lot of negative things to say about Bella Ramsey being cast as Ellie in The Last of Us, as an example. "We knew they were the exact right person to cast and they had to go through quite a few months of people being awful on social media until they saw what we saw," he said.For Season 2 of The Last of Us, Mazin said there will be plot points that "shock people." And similar to Season 1, there will be storylines in the show that were not in the game."I'm never gonna say there are things that are gonna happen in the show that happened in the game. You never know what we're gonna do," Mazin said. "But I will say that it is the adventure, the journey is the point. There are things that will shock people, things that were in the game, things that were not in the game, and that's okay. As long as they're purposeful, they're not there to just simply shock. We are not interested in creating social media fear. We just want to tell the story the way we think it should be told."Regarding fan feedback in general, Mazin said he is only trying to do what is right for the story, even if people don't like it."We don't operate to either make people happy on social media or avoid making them upset. We just do what we think is right, and we hope that people come along for the ride and enjoy it," he said. The Creative Team Is Back For Season 2 Viewers may be happy to know that Mazin and Druckmann, the key creative minds behind Season 1, are coming back for Season 2. In a press release, Druckmann said, "Now we have the absolute pleasure of being able to do it again with Season 2." For his part, Mazin thanked fans for giving them the chance to come back for a second season. "As a fan of the characters and world Neil and Naughty Dog created, I couldn't be more ready to dive back in." Will There Be A Season 3?We might be getting ahead of ourselves here, but many are wondering--just how many seasons will The Last of Us have? That remains to be seen. But, intriguingly, Mazin and Druckmann recently talked about how the events of The Last of Us Part II are not going to fit into one season. If the intention is to tell the whole story of the second game, this implies a third season. If The Last of Us gets a third season, we wouldn't expect the show to go much further beyond that, but the creative leads have said it could be up to five seasons. Mazin has said he doesn't want The Last of Us to go on forever. He's intent on making sure The Last of Us doesn't overstay its welcome. "I don't have any interest in a spinning-plates-go-on-forever show," Mazin said. "When it becomes a perpetual motion machine, it just can't help but get kind of stupid. Endings mean everything to me." For his part, Druckmann said there are no plans to tell any stories beyond adapting the games. Right now, there is only The Last of Us and The Last of Us Part II. Naughty Dog has not announced plans to make a third Last of Us game, so if the series will only adapt events of the games, it seems it will wrap up after telling the story of The Last of Us Part II.Game director Neil Druckmann made things even more clear, plainly referencing Season 3 in a recent interview with Kinda Funny when discussing the future of the show. Ratings The Last of Us is a juggernaut of a TV series for HBO. The Season 1 finale reached 8.2 million viewers in the US on its first night, setting a record for the series. For episodes 1-6, the series is averaging 30.4 million viewers, which is more than the 29 million that HBO's House of the Dragon had on average for its first season. Where Will Season 2 Air?Like Season 1, the sophomore season of The Last of Us will air on Max and HBO. What's Going On With The Last Of Us Games?Naughty Dog released the original The Last of Us in 2013 and followed it up with a sequel, The Last of Us Part II, in 2020. Naughty Dog's next game was expected to be The Last of Us Online, but the studio canceled that game in 2023. At the time, Naughty Dog said it had at least two ambitious single-player games in the works, and many believe one of them is The Last of Us: Part III.Druckmann said he understands people want Naughty Dog to make a third mainline Last of Us game, but that might not happen. Just as Naughty Dog stopped making Uncharted games, despite their huge popularity and sales, Naughty Dog could do the same with The Last of Us."I know the fans really want The Last Of Us Part III, I hear about it all the time," he continued. "All I can say is that we're already into our next project, the decision has already been made. I can't say what it is, but that is the process we went through."More recently, though, it seems Druckmann could have had a change of heart. He said in a documentary that aired in February 2024 that he might have found an exciting idea for a third entry in the series."I've been thinking--is there a concept there [for The Last of Us 3]? For, now years, I haven't been able to find that concept. But recently that's changed. I don't have a story. But I do have that concept that is, to me, as exciting as 1, as exciting as 2," he said. "As its own thing, and yet has this throughline for all three. So it does feel like there's probably one more chapter to this story."

While the genre-defining Sims series has been consistently updated with new installments and spin-offs since its release at the dawn of the new millennium, there remain many reasons to return to it after more than 25 years of sequels and reimaginings. With The Sims' re-release as part of Electronic Arts' Sims Legacy Collection package, unique aspects of the first Sims title are being highlighted by modern players and have seemingly stood the test of time.