MI weekly selection #507

Quantum hair: The solution to the Hawking paradox?

Researchers claim to have solved the Hawking paradox, or the conflict between quantum mechanics and the idea that black holes destroy all information about the stars that served as their creators. They suggest the radiation around black holes, also known as quantum hair, can hold onto information about the stars.

Full Story: Live Science

Ice shards from Saturn’s rings are warming the planet

Scientists say Saturn’s rings heat the planet by shedding shards of ice that collide with hydrogen in its atmosphere, causing it to heat up. The researchers based their findings on data gathered by the two Voyager space probes, which were then verified with observations taken from the Hubble Space Telescope.

Full Story: Interesting Engineering

Glass made from peptides, amino acids

Scientists developed 3D-printable biomolecular glass using a modified version of supercooling to solidify the material into a glass without forming a crystalline structure. The glass made from peptides and amino acids is also biodegradable and provides materials researchers with new options for developing microscale, flexible devices.

Full Story: Nature

Bioinformatics reveals novel cancer targets

Transposable or “jumping” gene elements can be translated into tumour-specific antigens that mark cancerous cells as immunotherapy targets. Researchers used bioinformatics to analyse data on 33 tumour types held in the Cancer Genome Atlas and mapped chimeric transcripts to the data, then used cancer cell line data from Genentech’s databank to find chimeric transcripts in cancer cell lines.

Full Story: The Scientist

Genomic study supports retinal scans as measure of ageing

Retinal imaging can reveal clues to a person’s biological age, and a genome-wide association study established a genetic basis for the eyeAge clock. “The results suggest that potentially, in less than one year we should be able to determine the trajectory of ageing with 71% accuracy by noting discernable changes in the eyes of those being treated, providing an actionable evaluation of gero-protective therapeutics,” said researcher Pankaj Kapahi.

Full Story: StudyFinds