Scientists use seismic noise to image first hundred meters of Mars | Ars Technica (01:44)

• NASA’s InSight lander installed a seismograph on Mars, and the marsquakes it detected have helped us map the planet’s interior.
  • Big picture of Mars’ internals—how big the core is, whether anything is molten, and so on
• This week, researchers described how they’ve managed to find quiet periods on Mars that lets them image closer to the surface.
  • Revealing that InSight is likely above two large lava flows
• Geologists have used seismic noise to reconstruct features on Earth by comparing the horizontal and vertical components of the noise.
  • Most of the seismic noise on Earth is generated by either human activities or the oceans, while that is very different from Mars.
  • Most of the seismic noise on Mars is generated by weak winds interacting with nearby geology 
• What is underneath? (Researchers caution that the data on the uppermost 20 meters of material is uncertain)
  • 1.5 meters – dust and rock fragments produced by impacts
  • 3 meters – layer of volcanic rock, formed by major eruptions in Mars’ distant past
  • ~ 30 meters to 80 meters –  layer of material where seismic signals move slowly (sedimentary rock)
  • Below that are further volcanic deposits.
• The researchers conclude that the deepest volcanic deposits date back to the Hesperian, a period of widespread volcanic activity that ended over 3 billion years ago.
• All of this is consistent with what can be observed in nearby craters.
  • Impressive how much information the researchers were able to extract from just a bit of noise.
• Comments from the article I enjoyed:
  • Magog14: “Now here is some data mining I can get behind.”
  • BeowulfSchaeffer: “It’s simply amazing to me that we’ve come so far in exploration. With luck, we will see many more discoveries in the years to follow. I find it a bit sad though, that so little is actually spent on science, including space science, compared to our military expenditure.”

Ultrashort laser pulses shred superbugs without harming human cells | New Atlas (08:47)

• Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis has shown that ultrashort pulses of laser light can kill bacteria and viruses, without harming human cells.
  • Could this be a 21st century discovery on the same level as antibiotics were in the 20th?
• The reason researchers are looking at alternatives to antibiotics is because the effectiveness is plummeting as bacteria develop resistance to them.
  • Some strains of bacteria are now resistant to every antibiotic in use.
  • New antibiotics are always in development, but that’s just kicking the problem down the road.
• The Washington researchers had previously been exploring how ultrashort pulses of laser light could kill off viruses and regular bacteria.
  • The new study is targeting how well they might destroy antibiotic-resistant bacteria, as well as hard-to-kill bacterial spores.
• The team turned its focus on two specific superbug species: multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and ESBL-producing E. coli.
  • Also targeted Bacillus cereus spores, which are food-borne pathogens that can survive being boiled or cooked.
• Good news! The laser pulses wiped out more than 99.9% of each microbe.
  • The technique works because the lasers excite protein structures inside viruses and bacteria, causing some of their molecular bonds to break.
    • Protein function shuts down inside the microbe, killing them.
• Importantly, the laser pulses don’t harm human cells – the team says they would need to be several orders of magnitude more powerful before they posed a threat to us.
• Shaw-Wei Tsen, first author of the study, gives an idea of how this technique could be used in the future:
  • “Imagine if, prior to closing a surgical wound, we could scan a laser beam across the site and further reduce the chances of infection. I can see this technology being used soon to disinfect biological products in vitro, and even to treat bloodstream infections in the future by putting patients on dialysis and passing the blood through a laser treatment device.”

The World’s First 3D-Printed Prosthetic Eye Will Be Received by a British Patient | Interesting Engineering (16:48)

• A hospital patient from Hackney, east London in the U.K. will be the first person to ever be fitted with a 3D-printed prosthetic eye, according to a press statement.
• The prosthetic eye was designed to look more realistic than traditional acrylic prosthetic eyes.
• Additionally, the 3D printing process drastically reduces the waiting time for a new prosthetic from six weeks to between two and three weeks.
• Traditionally, a prosthetic patient will have to undergo a two-hour procedure to mold their eye socket before their prosthetic eye is fitted and then painted.
• With the new 3D printing method, the time for the procedure is cut to only 30 minutes, according to Moorfields Eye Hospital.
  • Specialists scan the patient’s eye socket, allowing software to map out a 3D model for the printer.
  • Data is sent to the 3D printer in Germany, where it is printed in only 2.5 hours
• The new printed eye is a true ‘biomimic’ (meaning it is based on nature), and more realistic than alternatives, with clearer definition and real depth to the pupil.
• This 3D-printed eye is not to be confused with bionic eye technology which aims to help people see using implantable electronic devices.
• However, as Professor Mandeep Sagoo, a consultant ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital explained, he and his staff are “excited” at the possibility that the 3D-printed prosthetic eye technology they are using can, in the future, allow for a fully digital prosthetic eye. 

White Matter Brain Lesions on MRI Linked to Years of Playing Football | SciTechDaily (23:30)

• You probably have heard of gray brain matter, but white matter is not mentioned a lot. So here is a good analogy I found:
  • The gray matter (nerve cells) of our brain is the computer and the white matter is the cables that connect everything together and transmit signals.
• A new study finds that brain scans taken during the lifetimes of athletes in contact sports, compared to changes in their brains at autopsy, showed that white matter hyperintensities were associated with neuropathological changes.
  • More common in athletes who played contact sports longer or had more head impacts,
• Study author Michael Alosco, provides a statement as to why this is exciting research:
  • “Our results are exciting because they show that white matter hyperintensities might capture long-term harm to the brain in people who have a history of repetitive head impacts … White matter hyperintensities on MRI may indeed be an effective tool to study the effects of repetitive head impacts on the brain’s white matter while the athlete is still alive.”
• Researchers found that for every unit difference in white matter hyperintensity volume, there was about twice the odds of having more severe small vessel disease and other indicators of white matter damage. 
  • As well as three times the odds of having more severe tau accumulation in the frontal lobe of the brain. 
    • Biomarker for brain diseases like Alzheimer’s disease and CTE
• There were some limitations to the study:
  • Use of MRIs obtained for clinical, not research purposes, and that participants were mostly older, symptomatic, male, former American football players
• But this is a good step in the right direction to improve knowledge behind what are the effects to the brain in high impact sports.

Morning exposure to deep red light improves declining eyesight | MedicalXPress (30:29)

• A new study by UCL researchers finds that just three minutes of exposure to deep red light once a week, when delivered in the morning, can significantly improve declining eyesight.
  • 670 nanometre (long wavelength) deep red light
• Builds on top of the researchers’ previous work showing that red light ‘switched on’ energy producing mitochondria cells in the human retina, helping boost naturally declining vision.
• Researchers found there was, on average, a 17% improvement in participants’ color contrast vision when exposed to three minutes of deep red light in the morning.
  • Effects lasted for at least a week
  • However, when the same test was conducted in the afternoon, no improvement was seen.
• Lead author, Professor Glen Jeffery explains that:
  • “Using a simple LED device once a week, recharges the energy system that has declined in the retina cells, rather like recharging a battery … And morning exposure is absolutely key to achieving improvements in declining vision: as we have previously seen in flies, mitochondria have shifting work patterns and do not respond in the same way to light in the afternoon—this study confirms this.”
• This marks a breakthrough for eye health and could lead to affordable home-based eye therapies, helping the millions of people globally with naturally declining vision.
• Professor Jeffery has been working for no commercial gain with Planet Lighting UK, a small company in Wales and others, with the aim of producing 670nm infra-red eye wear at an affordable cost.
• Professor Jeffery has confidence in this device:
  • “Given its simplicity, I am confident an easy-to-use device can be made available at an affordable cost to the general public … In the near future, a once a week three-minute exposure to deep red light could be done while making a coffee, or on the commute listening to a podcast, and such a simple addition could transform eye care and vision around the world.”