In the end, NASA’s Europa Clipper mission is on its manner. It launched on October 14 and is now en path to its goal: Jupiter’s ice-covered moon Europa, whose frozen shell nearly actually conceals a heat saltwater ocean. When the spacecraft will get there, it’ll conduct dozens of shut flybys in an effort to decide what that ocean is like and, crucially, the place it is likely to be hospitable to life.
Europa Clipper remains to be years away from its vacation spot—it’s not slated to achieve the Jupiter system till 2030. However that hasn’t stopped engineers and scientists from engaged on what would come subsequent if the outcomes are promising: a mission able to find proof of life itself. Learn the total story.
— Robin George Andrews
GMOs might reboot chestnut timber
Residing so long as a thousand years, the American chestnut tree as soon as dominated components of the Jap forest cover, with many Native American nations counting on them for meals. However by 1950, the tree had largely succumbed to a fungal blight in all probability launched by Japanese chestnuts.
As lately as final 12 months, it appeared the 35-year effort to revive the American chestnut would possibly grind to a halt. Now, American Castanea, a brand new biotech startup, has created greater than 2,500 transgenic chestnut seedlings— probably the primary genetically modified timber to be thought of for federal regulatory approval as a software for ecological restoration. Learn the total story.
—Anya Kamenetz
This piece is from the newest print problem of MIT Know-how Evaluation, which is all in regards to the strange world of meals. Should you don’t already, subscribe to obtain future copies as soon as they land.
