Science Tech Updates

Explaining the ‘Tiger Stripes’ of Saturn’s moon Enceladus

December 10, 2019, Astronomy/Space

NASA image of Enceladus. — Saturn’s tiny, frozen moon Enceladus is slashed by four straight, parallel fissures or “tiger stripes” from which water erupts. These features are unlike anything else in the solar system. Scientists at UC Davis, the Carnegie Institution and UC Berkeley now have an explanation for them. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute image).

Slashed across the south pole of Saturn’s moon Enceladus are four straight, parallel fissures or ‘tiger stripes’ from which water erupts. These fissures aren’t quite like anything else in the Solar System. Researchers now think they have a model to explain them.

Saturn’s tiny, frozen moon Enceladus is a strange place. Just 300 miles across, the moon is thought to have an outer shell of ice covering a global ocean 20 miles deep, encasing a rocky core...

Storing Data in Everyday Objects

December 9, 2019, Physics, Technology/Electronics, Health/Medical, Chemistry/Nanotechnology, Biology/Biotechnology

A 3D-printed plastic rabbit. The plastic contains DNA molecules in which the printing instructions have been encoded. (Photograph: ETH Zurich / Julian Koch)

Researchers and an Israeli scientist have discovered a new method for turning nearly any object into a data storage unit. This makes it possible to save extensive data in, say, shirt buttons, water bottles or even the lenses of glasses, and then retrieve it years later. The technique also allows users to hide information and store it for later generations. It uses DNA as the storage medium.

Living beings contain their own assembly and operating instructions in the form of DNA. That’s not the case with inanimate objects: anyone wishing to 3D print an object also requires a set of instructions...

First Long-Term Estimates suggest Link between Cholesterol Levels and Risk of Heart Disease and Stroke

December 9, 2019, Health/Medical, Biology/Biotechnology

Figure thumbnail gr4 — Model of long-term cardiovascular disease risk prediction and the benefit of lipid reduction
Individual risk of fatal or non-fatal cardiovascular disease in women (A) and men (B) according to age, non-HDL cholesterol concentration, and the number of additional cardiovascular risk factors (daily smoking, arterial hypertension, diabetes, and obesity; white circle). The red circle represents the probability (%) of cardiovascular disease by the age of 75 years. The hypothetically achievable probability (%) for cardiovascular disease by the age of 75 years after 50% reduction of non-HDL cholesterol is given in the green circle.

The most comprehensive analysis of its kind suggests that there is a strong link between non-HDL cholesterol levels and long-term risk for cardiovascular disease in...