Chinese scientists become first ever to successfully grow part-human kidneys in pigs

Ryan General
Wed, September 13, 2023

Chinese scientists have successfully grown humanized kidneys inside pig embryos, marking a significant milestone for organ transplantation.

Breakthrough in xenotransplantation: Detailed in a study published in journal Cell Stem Cell on Sept. 7, the remarkable achievement represents the first time a solid humanized organ has been cultivated within another species, offering a potential solution to the critical shortage of donor organs for transplantation.

The researchers, led by Liangxue Lai from the Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health in China, reportedly took five years to overcome the challenges of interspecies organ generation.

Why it’s important: The breakthrough represents a beacon of hope for over a quarter of the global kidney patients who have no access to healthy organs for transplantation. In the U.S. alone, over 88,000 people are currently in dire need of kidneys.

Creating human-pig chimeric embryos: The scientists utilized CRISPR gene editing to deactivate two genes crucial for kidney development in pig embryos, effectively establishing a specialized "niche." They then introduced human pluripotent stem cells into this niche, nurturing their growth in a controlled environment.

Of the 1,820 embryos transferred into 13 surrogate sows, five were analyzed after 25 to 28 days. These embryos exhibited functionally normal kidneys, with human cells constituting an impressive 50-60% of the organ's composition. The high percentage of human cells within the pig's kidneys sets a remarkable precedent, potentially paving the way for further refinement of the technique.

Ethical challenges: While experts have acknowledged that the breakthrough is undeniably promising, they also point out the ethical and biological hurdles that lie ahead. To address concerns about the presence of human cells in the pig embryos' brains, the research team said it plans to remove genes responsible for human cell differentiation into neurons and reproductive cells, mitigating the risk of uncontrolled human-pig hybridization.

Biological challenges: It is worth noting that the composition of these organs still contains pig-derived vascular cells, which could lead to rejection if transplanted into humans. The researchers acknowledged that to achieve fully functional human organs in pigs, they must continue to refine their methods.

 

Researchers grow embryonic humanized kidneys inside pigs for 28 days

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CELL PRESS

 

IMAGE: THIS FIGURE SHOWS HUMANIZED KIDNEY CELLS (RED FLUORESCENCE) INSIDE THE EMBRYO COMPARED TO A "WILDTYPE" PIG EMBRYO. view more 

CREDIT: WANG, XIE, LI, LI, AND ZHANG ET AL./CELL STEM CELL

Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health researchers have successfully created chimeric embryos containing a combination of human and pig cells. When transferred into surrogate pig mothers, the developing humanized kidneys had normal structure and tubule formation after 28 days. This is the first time that scientists have been able to grow a solid humanized organ inside another species, though previous studies have used similar methods to generate human tissues such as blood or skeletal muscle in pigs. The work appears September 7 in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

The researchers focused on kidneys because they are one of the first organs to develop, and they’re also the most commonly transplanted organ in human medicine.

“Rat organs have been produced in mice, and mouse organs have been produced in rats, but previous attempts to grow human organs in pigs have not succeeded,” says senior author Liangxue of the Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Wuyi University. “Our approach improves the integration of human cells into recipient tissues and allows us to grow human organs in pigs.”  

Integrating human stem cells into pig embryos has been a challenge because pig cells outcompete human cells and pig and human cells have different physiological needs. “We have been working on mechanisms to overcome the extremely low efficiency in interspecies chimera,” says senior author Guangjin Pan of the Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health. “We identified a couple of critical factors that enhance the formation of interspecies chimera by facilitating cell competition.”

The team’s technique depends on three key components:

• First, they created a niche within the pig embryo so that the human cells would not have to compete with pig cells by using CRISPR to genetically engineer a single-cell pig embryo so that it was missing two genes that are needed for kidney development.
• Second, the researchers engineered human pluripotent stem cells—cells that have the potential to develop into any cell type—to make them more amenable to integration and less likely to self-destruct by temporarily shutting down apoptosis. Then, they converted these cells into “naïve” cells resembling early human embryonic cells by culturing them in a special medium.
• Third, before implanting the developing embryos in surrogate sows, the researchers grew the chimeras in conditions that were optimized to provide unique nutrients and signals to both the human and pig cells, since these cells usually have disparate needs.

Altogether, the researchers transferred 1,820 embryos to 13 surrogate mothers. After either 25 or 28 days, they terminated gestation and extracted the embryos to assess whether the chimeras had successfully produced humanized kidneys.

The researchers collected five chimeric embryos for analysis (two at 25 days and three at 28 days post-implantation) and found that they had structurally normal kidneys for their stage of development and were composed of 50-60% human cells. At 25–28 days, the kidneys were in the mesonephros stage (the second stage of kidney development); they had formed tubules and buds of cells that would eventually become ureters connecting the kidney to the bladder.

The team also investigated whether human cells were contributing to other tissues throughout the embryos, which could have ethical implications, especially if abundant human cells were found in neural or germline tissues and the pigs were brought to term. They showed that human cells were mostly localized to the kidneys, whereas the remainder of the embryo was composed of pig cells.

“We found that if you create a niche in the pig embryo, then the human cells naturally go into these spaces,” says senior author Zhen Dai of Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health. “We saw only very few human neural cells in the brain and spinal cord and no human cells in the genital ridge, indicating that the human pluripotent stem cells did not differentiate into germ cells.” This may be further prevented by knocking out further genes in the human pluripotent stem cells, which can be tested in future studies, the researchers say.

Now that they have optimized conditions for growing humanized kidneys in human-pig chimeras, the team wants to allow the kidneys to develop for a longer duration. They’re also working to generate other human organs in pigs, including the heart and pancreas.

The long-term goal is to optimize this technology for human organ transplantation, but the researchers acknowledge the work will be complex and could take many years. Growing a fully functional humanized organ in a pig would require some additional steps because organs are composed of multiple types of cells and tissues. In this study, the researchers created a niche for only one subset of cells, which meant that the kidneys had pig-derived vascular cells, and this could cause organ rejection if they were used in a transplant scenario.

“Because organs are not composed of just one cell lineage, in order to have an organ where everything comes from the human, we would probably need to engineer the pigs in a much more complex way and that also brings some additional challenges,” says senior author Miguel A. Esteban of Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health.

In the meantime, this technology could be used to study the development of human organs and developmental diseases.

“Before we get to that late state of making organs that can be on the shelf for clinical practice, this method provides a window for studying human development,” says Esteban. “You can trace the human cells you’re injecting and manipulate them so that you can study diseases and how cell lineages are formed.”

This figure shows a close up of humanized kidney cells (red fluorescence) inside the embryo compared to a "wildtype" pig embryo.

CREDIT

Wang, Xie, Li, Li, and Zhang et al/Cell Stem Cell

This research was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Key Research and Development Program of China, the Basic Research Project of Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation, Hainan Provincial Key Research and Development Program, the Major Science and Technology Project of Hainan Province, the 2020 Research Program of Sanya Yazhou Bay Science and Technology City, the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province, and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

Cell Stem Cell, Wang, Xie, Li, Li, and Zhang et al. ‘Generation of a Humanized Mesonephros in Pigs from Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells via Embryo Complementation’ https://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fulltext/S1934-5909(23)00286-2 

Cell Stem Cell (@CellStemCell), published by Cell Press, is a monthly journal that publishes research reports describing novel results of unusual significance in all areas of stem cell research. Each issue also contains a wide variety of review and analysis articles covering topics relevant to stem cell research ranging from basic biological advances to ethical, policy, and funding issues. Visit: http://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell. To receive Cell Press media alerts, contact press@cell.com.

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JOURNAL

Cell Stem Cell

DOI

10.1016/j.stem.2023.08.003 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Generation of a Humanized Mesonephros in Pigs from Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells via Embryo Complementation’

KOREAN PROXY WAR 

Inside the S. Korean factory that could be key for Ukraine

Kang Jin-kyu
Fri, September 15, 2023 

South Korea is ramping up arms exports while traditional behemoths struggle with production shortages (Jung Yeon-je)

At a sprawling South Korean arms factory, a high-tech production line of robots and super-skilled workers were rapidly churning out weapons Friday that could, eventually, play a role in Ukraine.

Since the Russian invasion last year, the Hanwha Aerospace factory in the southern city of Changwon has expanded production capacity three times, workers told AFP, as South Korea ramps up arms exports while traditional behemoths like the United States struggle with production shortages.

Longstanding domestic policy bars Seoul from selling weapons into active conflicts, but even so it signed deals worth $17.3 billion last year, including a $12.7 billion agreement with NATO member and key Kyiv ally Poland, for K9 Howitzers, K2 tanks, and more.

And with North Korea's Kim Jong Un in Russia touring space centres and weapons factories, experts say the South may be forced to review its careful balancing act on the Ukraine war -- which Seoul has condemned, even as it resists calls to supply weapons directly to Kyiv.

On the assembly line Friday were rows of Warsaw-bound Howitzers, an artillery weapon a bit like a super-mobile cannon.

Hanwha Aerospace, South Korea's largest defence contractor, is racing to meet delivery targets for the 14-wheeled, 47-tonne K9 Howitzers, which have a firing a range of 40 kilometres (25 miles) -- much longer than a tank, although the K9 needs to be stationary to shoot.

Poland ordered 212 K9s last year and Seoul has already delivered 48 of them -- a pace "no one else can achieve," Lee Kyoung-hun, Hanwha's production leader told AFP.

"We are capable of delivering products in the shortest time frame possible," said Lee, adding that it took between three and four months to build one Howitzer from scratch.

- 'Ready for war' -

Seoul has long harboured ambitions to join the ranks of the world's top arms exporters -- aiming to be the fourth largest, behind the US, Russia and France -- something that is now possible, industry research indicates.

It has already sold artillery shells to Washington -- but with a "final user" agreement in place meaning the United States would be the military that uses the munitions.

Experts have said this allows the United States to then provide their own shells to Kyiv.

South Korea's arms industry has one key advantage over others globally: it's always been "ready for war," said Choi Dong-bin, Hanwha Aerospace's senior vice president.

Hostilities in the 1950 to 1953 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, and Seoul remains technically at war with nuclear-armed Pyongyang.

This gives the country an advantage globally in weapons production, Choi said, as Seoul has the capacity to mass-produce quickly and easily whenever it gets an order.

"The fact that we're maintaining production line is another boon. At this moment we're receiving many orders from overseas and we are able to respond quickly to their demands and deliver products in a short period of time," he said.

Seoul's weapons are also well-tested: "These are deployed on the ground," on one of the world's most heavily fortified borders, Choi said.

"Because they are deployed (in South Korea), it has the capacity to perform in any part of the world," he added.

Heavily-sanctioned North Korea lacks Seoul's high-tech weaponry -- but it does have stockpiles of outdated Soviet-era munitions.

Kim met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, and experts have warned the internationally-isolated pair might have agreed a deal involving Pyongyang supplying artillery shells and anti-tank missiles in exchange for satellite technology from Moscow.

- Change the game -

Any such deal could change Seoul's calculations, experts say, as although South Korea has condemned Russia's invasions of Ukraine, it has resisted calls to step up support to Kyiv, in part as it has long called on Moscow to help manage Kim Jong Un.

But if Moscow starts buying weapons from Pyongyang -- something that would violate rafts of UN sanctions -- it could both change the course of the Ukraine war and force Seoul's hand, said Choi Gi-il, professor of military studies at Sangji University.

"If that were to happen, I think it will be more than 50-50 probability that South Korea-manufactured weapons exported to Poland would be deployed to help Ukraine fend off the Russians," he said.

The export of South Korean weaponry, especially the K9 howitzers, would be "of great value to Kyiv," he said.

"It's always better to have more howitzers in war and both Russia and Ukraine don't have enough of them," he said, adding that Ukraine was mostly using Soviet-era outdated weapons.

"But K9s stand out as among the most recent, overwhelming conventional weapons. It will mean so much for Kiev to have them on the frontlines."

kjk/ceb/dhw

Kim Jong Un-Putin talks: What do the optics tell us?

Frances Mao - BBC News
Fri, September 15, 2023 

President Putin (left) and Kim Jong Un met on Wednesday in their first face-to-face in four years

They strolled side by side through the gleaming space centre - stopping to peer into the pit from where rockets blast into space.

At their lavish banquet, they drank Russian wines and toasted the embrace of their two pariah states.

And before leaving, they swapped guns as gifts - model rifles from each others' munitions lines.

The optics of Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin's date in eastern Russia clearly underscore a relationship that is being strengthened in wartime.

It isn't over yet, with the North Korean leader spending several days touring shipyards, aircraft factories and other military sites before he returns home.

There had been great anticipation in the lead-up - with global media rapt as Kim trundled for hours in his armoured train over the border.

He kept the West guessing for nearly 40 hours before reaching the Vostochny Cosmodrome - a space base in a far-flung eastern corner of Russia. Even then, it was unclear what exactly the pair would be meeting to talk about - with White House warnings last week that the North could sell arms to Russia sparking alarm.

Putin had sent ahead a welcome party to greet Kim as his train rolled onto the space base's tracks. A red-carpeted, balustrade staircase was also erected mid-air, waiting for the train to pull in and for the North Korean leader to step out.

Kim - who rarely flies because of security concerns - travelled nearly 40 hours on his luxury train

Putin was waiting in front of the centre when Kim drew up in his limousine. There, before flashing cameras, the two leaders shook hands - the pictures beamed out immediately by state media.

Both leaders know the power of showmanship, but the Supreme Leader of North Korea, as Kim is known, is particularly a fan of ceremony. He is third in a dynasty of supreme leaders "who have generations of mythology constructed around them", says Sarah Son, a North Korea expert at the University of Sheffield.

"It wouldn't do to be seen as a run-of-the-mill, limited term state leader by domestic audiences, who will be seeing this journey and parts of the meetings on television and in the newspaper.

"It's very important for Kim to have one-to-one meetings with leaders of other countries so that all eyes are on him, making North Korea appear as a more significant global player than it actually is.

"Sanctions of course remain extremely tight and Russia's need for arms presents an opportunity to achieve two complementary aims: income for the North Korean state and evidence that Kim is worthy of the attention of the leader of a major global power."

About an hour before the two leaders met, Pyongyang had also fired off two ballistic missiles - the first launched without the leader at home.

"The summit defiantly linked pariah state behaviour in Europe and Asia," says Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

Putin waiting for Kim outside the space centre - one of his projects before the war

But beyond the spectacle and bombast, observers question whether the meeting achieved any concrete deals. Little was revealed publicly.

"As of now, it appears that there have been no substantial developments in the public domain," says Fyodor Tertitskiy, a North Korean military researcher at Kookmin University in Seoul.

"We observed a two-fold event - a grand spectacle primarily designed for foreign audiences and undisclosed agreements behind closed doors, the significance of which remains uncertain."

Putin and Kim: Friends in need (of ammunition)


The US wants to talk to North Korea but doesn't know how


Inside Kim Jong Un's luxury bulletproof train

No detail was revealed of the feared arms deal the West is concerned could boost Russia's fight in Ukraine.

And no word was mentioned either of certain gains for North Korea - of food aid, economic help or military and technology sharing, the things that Kim would have wanted say analysts.

Instead the only known advance appears to be Putin hinting he could potentially help with Kim's space and satellite goals.

That's where the choice of venue was noticeable analysts say. Both leaders travelled long distances to get to the space port on the other side of the country from Moscow.

The leaders toured the space facility before sitting down for talks

Examining a rocket launchpad

But meeting at the site provided significant optics for Putin, analysts say.

First, his offer of space assistance could be argued as being within the acceptable limits of what Russia can give North Korea.

Pyongyang has failed twice this year to get a spy satellite into space - their technology is still decades behind Russia's.

And for Moscow, helping put a satellite in space so the North can watch its enemies is vastly different to the Kremlin aiding a nuclear and missiles programme banned by the UN Security Council.

But the problem remains that we don't know what was actually promised to the North.

Pyongyang has nuclear warhead-topped intercontinental ballistic missiles which in theory could reach the US. They currently don't- because the North in part hasn't worked out how to keep them from frying as they fly through space.

Russia and the US however know how to protect their missiles- from the same technology they use to protect their satellites. If Moscow has shared this technology with Pyongyang, the US could potentially be in striking distance.

As such, the meeting this week at the spaceport is "equivalent to Putin thumbing his nose at UN Security Council Resolutions", says Prof Easley.

"This should be a wake-up call to all other UN member states about the need to redouble efforts at enforcing sanctions on Pyongyang," he said.

People at a train station in South Korea watch a news report of the meeting

But there remains significant doubt over whether Russia would share any of its space jewels, or even sees the North's arms as anything more than a back-up supply.

"Even with regards to the satellite technology, Putin's statements were cautious, not an explicit commitment to provide assistance but rather a strong implication that it may be considered," says Mr Tertitskiy.

He also points out the near non-existent money flows between the two - despite the rhetoric surrounding weapons, trade remains near zero according to South Korean estimates. North Korea remains reliant on China for over 95% of its trade income.

"This leaves us uncertain whether this summit will yield any more concrete results than the fruitless 2019 meeting did," he says, referring to the last time the two leaders met.

The sumptuous dinner where Kim delivered a toast hailing Russia's 'sacred fight' against the West

It has been four years since that huddle, and for Kim this rare trip shouldn't be underplayed, analysts say. This was his first foray abroad in four years, as his reclusive state also begins to re-open to the world post pandemic.

Putin made sure that he would be treated handsomely, observers say.

The meeting could have just been held in Vladivostok, on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum, Putin's signature Asia-facing platform which has previously been attended by Chinese and South Korean leaders.

Instead, he chose to give Kim centre stage, at a different venue altogether - bringing out the red carpet, the banquet, the brass marching band - and then also making the trip to meet him there.

"It is a sign of respect for Kim. This could be seen as a gesture to ensure Kim feels valued," says Mr Tertitskiy.

But equally, he says, it's also about the message being sent to the West - elevating the perception of their relationship even when the details are scant.

But in this relationship, it's crucial to focus on what the two sides actually do, he says.

"Both Kim and Putin are adept at employing deception. Once again, it's imperative to scrutinise their concrete actions rather than their words."

We Just Found a Molecule on Another World...and Only Living Organisms Can Produce It

Jackie Appel
Fri, September 15, 2023 

NASA Might Have Spotted A Sign of Alien Life

MirageC - Getty Images

NASA recently announced the detection of a potential signature of extraterrestrial life in the atmosphere of a planet located 120 light years away.

Observations with the James Webb Space Telescope produced a potential detection of the molecule dimethyl sulfide, which is only produced by living organisms on Earth.

Researchers are still calling this a tentative detection, and are preaching caution before declaring “it’s aliens.” Follow-up confirmation observations will occur in the next year.

We’ve had a lot of extraterrestrial-adjacent news this week. From there’s-no-way-these-are-real “aliens” in Mexico to a NASA conference on UFOs (or UAP, as they’re now being called), it’s been a week full of speculation about life on other worlds.

But this particular piece of news is a bit different than the rest in a potentially very exciting way. Researchers just announced—via a new paper that has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal—that they picked up a very interesting chemical signature in the atmosphere of a far-away exoplanet called K2-18 b using the James Webb Space Telescope.

The molecule is called dimethyl sulfide, or DMS. On Earth, it’s only produced by living organisms.

Now, before we get ahead of ourselves, it’s a tentative detection. While JWST is an incredibly powerful telescope, and it was able to detect very clear signatures of molecules like carbon dioxide and methane, the detection of DMS is still being labeled as “possible.” It will require a follow-up data collection to verify that the molecule is for-sure present in the atmosphere.

We saw a similar “hold-the-phone” moment a few years ago, when researchers reported seeing phosphene in the atmosphere of Venus. The Venus potential-life-signature ended up being dismissed, but it was certainly worth a double-check.

Illustration: NASA, CSA, ESA, R. Crawford (STScI), J. Olmsted (STScI), Science: N. Madhusudhan (Cambridge University)

As is this detection of DMS—especially considering that, if we were to find signs of life on other worlds, K2-18 b is exactly the kind of world we’d expect to find it on.

Researchers first took an interest in K2-18 b—a sub-Neptune planet about 8.6 time the mass of Earth—after detecting water vapor in its atmosphere. We cannot see K2-18 b clearly enough to take a picture of the planet directly, so researchers characterize it by things like mass estimates and chemical signatures.

Our current working theory of what K2-18 b is like has it categorized as a Hycean world—a type of planet entirely covered by a temperate ocean and insulated by a hydrogen-rich atmosphere. It orbits around a fairly cool star, and is nicely situated in its system’s habitable zone. All pretty stellar check marks in the “helpful” column for fostering life.

It’s a promising planet with an exciting potential detection, but even the researchers involved in this project are preaching caution right now. The thing about the universe is that it’s big and it’s varied. When we’re looking for alien life, all other possible explanations have to be ruled out before you can shout eureka. “Aliens” is not an answer researchers jump to—it’s arguably the most exciting to the most people, but it is a last resort.

And even if it’s not alien life, it’s an incredible demonstration of the observational power of JWST.

“This result was only possible because of the extended wavelength range and unprecedented sensitivity of Webb, which enabled robust detection of spectral features with just two transits,” Nikku Madhusudhan, lead author of the paper, said in a NASA press release.

“Transits” here refers to the passing of a planet in front of a star. When a planet sits between us and a star, some of the light put out by the star gets filtered through the atmosphere of a planet on its way to us. Looking at the way that starlight changes is how we observe the chemical composition of exoplanets.

“For comparison,” Madhusudhan continued, “one transit observation with Webb provided comparable precision to eight observations with Hubble conducted over a few years and in a relatively narrow wavelength range.”

Extraterrestrial organisms or not, we are getting good enough at seeing into the atmospheres of exoplanets that we are getting flags. A lot of those flags are probably going to be false, but having the observational capacity to see flags at all was completely out of our reach just a short time ago.

“Our ultimate goal is the identification of life on a habitable exoplanet, which would transform our understanding of our place in the universe,” Madhusudhan said in a news release. “Our findings are a promising step towards a deeper understanding of Hycean worlds in this quest.”

And who knows? Maybe the quest is over, and this isn’t a false flag after all. We’ll just have to wait a year for that follow-up observation and see for ourselves.

SPACE RACE 2.0

Artemis III: Everything we know about NASA’s return to the Moon

Joshua Hawkins

BGR
Fri, September 15, 2023 


This next decade will be a big one for space exploration, especially as we await the arrival of asteroid samples aboard NASA spacecraft and prepare for the first manned mission back to the Moon since the Apollo missions in 1972. One of the most exciting missions is Artemis III, which will see humanity once more step foot on the surface of our mysterious lunar satellite.

Despite still being a few years away, NASA is working tirelessly to remain transparent about the current state of the mission and keep the scientific community as up-to-date as possible. If you want to keep up to date with everything we know about the Artemis III mission, visit this page often, as we’ll keep it updated anytime NASA reveals new information about the exciting mission.

Utilizing Starship: While the launches of Artemis I and even 2024’s Artemis II will rely solely on NASA’s SLS rocket, the space agency plans to transition to SpaceX’s Starship landing system for the second leg of the journey on Artemis III. Starship’s job will be to put the human boots on the Moon, and then carry them back up to orbit for their return to Earth aboard Orion. Starship recently experienced its first launch test, which ended in a blazing ball of fire, which Elon Musk still deemed a success.

Space X Human Landing System

Landing zones: One of the most notable points about the first Artemis mission to take humanity back to the Moon’s surface is that we aren’t just returning to where other astronauts have already been. Instead, Artemis III will deliver astronauts to the lunar south pole.

The southern pole is one of the most unexplored regions of the Moon. NASA has already shared some possible landing zones for the Artemis missions, which could one day be home to a proper moon base where astronauts live and work.

Next-generation space suits: It’s no secret that NASA astronauts have been utilizing old-school space suits on the International Space Station for the past several years. However, NASA has partnered with Axiom Space to create a next-generation space suit designed to make mobility even better on the Moon.

These new space suits have already been unveiled, and NASA astronauts will use them on future Artemis missions.

artemis III mission map

Mission map: While NASA has yet to reveal any kind of crew for Artemis III, the space agency has given us an idea of what to expect once the mission launches later this decade. The mission map is outlined in an image we’ve embedded above. Unfortunately, this mission timeline is likely to change, especially if SpaceX continues to experience trouble with Starship.

As one of the most anticipated missions of the decade, Artemis III has a lot of hype to live up to, and it will no doubt deliver on all of that hype when those four astronauts find themselves settling down on the Moon’s surface to begin the next era of space exploration in person.

Inclusivity at its core: Another big sticking point of the Artemis III mission is that NASA has promised it will be the first mission to put a woman and a person of color on the Moon’s surface. It’s a huge accomplishment that will hopefully continue breaking down industry barriers for future missions, as well as for other industries around the world.

next-generation moon rover with astronaut on it

A new moon rover: Another thing to look forward to when Artemis III lands on the Moon is the addition of a next-generation moon rover. Lockheed Martin and LunarOutpost are working to create a revolutionary new moon rover, though other companies are involved in creating other options.

Launch window: NASA has yet to share an exact launch window for the third Artemis mission; however, the space agency is currently aiming for a 2025 launch window, though delays with Starship could potentially push that to 2026. The second Artemis mission is slated to launch sometime in 2024, and it is waiting to see how that mission fairs before putting a final date on things.

We could also see the date pushed back even further, depending on how budget-based changes with the space agency play out. For example, NASA’s ongoing Mars Sample Return mission is eating away at the agency’s budget, and if it wants to back all these missions through the next decade, we may see some cuts here and there. There’s no telling how or if those cuts will affect Artemis.

The scope could change: While Artemis III is currently planned to explore the southern part of the Lunar surface, the scope of the mission could be open to change, Jim Free, a NASA associate administrator, admitted at a press briefing in early August 2023. Free says that while the mission is currently slated for December 2025, it could be pushed back and that potential delays due to hardware needs could result in the scope of the mission changing.

“We may end up flying a different mission if that’s the case,” Free explained. “If we have these big slips out, we’ve looked at if we can do other missions.” The scope of Artemis III could also change based on the success and outcome of Artemis II, as well.

We’ve also recently seen India land the first spacecraft ever at the moon’s southern pole, and the data gleaned from the rover it released and the spacecraft itself could help provide new insight and change the overall scope of the mission going forward.

Artemis moon lander engine test

SpaceX’s Raptor engine is promising: NASA will rely heavily on SpaceX to help power the Human Landing System, or HLS, which will carry the astronauts from orbit to the lunar surface. In September of 2023, SpaceX ran multiple tests on the Raptor engine to see how it would handle activating after being exposed to the cold temperatures of space for a long time. The tests proved successful, and the results made the engine look very promising.

What NASA is waiting on: Artemis I might have been successful, but the space agency is still waiting to see how the first crewed Artemis mission goes later this decade. That mission will help determine any other changes that need to be made to Orion before it can carry astronauts to the moon’s surface.

Additionally, NASA must ensure that Axiom’s space suits, or whichever suits it chooses, are ready for the Moon. There is also still work on Starship to complete so that SpaceX is properly prepared to help out where it has been contracted.

NASA also settled with Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin to create a landing system, which could help divert the need to wait for SpaceX to get everything right.

Mystery of 'living fossil' tree frozen in time for 66 million years finally solved

Richard Pallardy
Fri, September 15, 2023

close up of a wollemi pine tree, a species that has survived since the cretaceous period

In 1994, hikers discovered a group of strange trees growing in a canyon in Wollemi National Park, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) west of Sydney, Australia. One hiker notified a park service naturalist, who then showed leaf specimens to a botanist. It was ultimately determined they represented an ancient species that had been essentially frozen in time since dinosaurs roamed Earth.

Called a "living fossil" by some, the Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis) is nearly identical to preserved remains dating to the Cretaceous period (145 million to 66 million years ago). There are now just 60 of these trees in the wild — and these tenacious survivors are threatened by bushfires in the region. It was thought to have gone extinct around 2 million years ago.

Now, scientists from Australia, the United States and Italy have decoded its genome, shedding light on its unique evolution and reproductive habits, as well as aiding conservation efforts. The paper was posted to the preprint database bioRxiv on Aug. 24 and has not been peer reviewed.

The pine has 26 chromosomes — containing a staggering 12.2 billion base pairs. In comparison, humans have only around 3 billion base pairs. Despite the size of their genome, Wollemi pines are extremely low in genetic diversity, suggesting a bottleneck (when the population is reduced dramatically) some 10,000 to 26,000 years ago.


A Wollemi pine - a tree thought extinct until 1994 when hikers came across

Indeed, the plants do not exchange much genetic material. The remaining trees appear to reproduce mostly by cloning themselves through coppicing — in which suckers emerge from the base and become new trees.

Their rarity may be partly due to the high number of transposons, or "jumping genes" — stretches of DNA that can change their position within the genome. These elements also account for the genome's size. "The tiniest plant genome and the largest plant genome have almost the same number of genes. Large differences in size usually come from transposons," Gerald Schoenknecht, program director for the National Science Foundation’s Plant Genome Research Program told Live Science. Schoenknecht was not involved with the research, but the NSF did provide funding.

As transposons leap to new locations, they can change the sequence of "letters" in a DNA molecule, thus causing or reversing mutations in genes. They may carry functional DNA with them or alter DNA at the site of insertion, and thus have a substantial impact on the evolution of an organism.

If the transposons induced harmful mutations, they may have contributed to population decline precipitated by a changing climate and other factors, the researchers said. These stressful conditions may have led the plant to switch to clonal reproduction. Because increases in transposons correlate to sexual reproduction, a change to asexual reproduction may have reduced their potential introduction of damaging mutations. Paradoxically, while the trees were still reliant on sexual reproduction, the transposons may have played a role in increasing genetic diversity and thus at least temporarily made them more resilient to changing conditions.

rock with the fossil of a wollemi pine being held by 2 hands on a black background

"In 99% of all cases, mutations are probably not a good idea," Schoenknecht said. "But over millions of years, the 1% that helps can move the species forward. In this case it may have been a bit of an advantage."

Decoding the genome has also revealed why the Wollemi pine appears to be susceptible to disease — in particular, Phytophthora cinnamomi, a pathogenic water mold that causes dieback. The tree's disease resistant genes are suppressed by a type of its own RNA that is associated with the development of wider leaves. Wollemi pines, unlike most conifers, have wide needles.

So, the evolution of wider leaves may have led to the suppression of disease resistance and opened the species up to pathogenic threats — which may have been inadvertently tracked in by hikers who illegally visited the protected spot. P. cinnamomi is common in cultivated plants.

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While only four small populations remain in the wild, the pines have been extensively propagated by botanic gardens and other institutions in an effort to conserve them and study their unique biology. The species is considered critically endangered by the IUCN.

Thus, the analysis of the Wollemi pine's genome is not simply an academic curiosity — it has serious implications for the species' survival.

PSA

Warnings expand in the Maritimes as Hurricane Lee threatens dangerous impacts

Digital Writers

Fri, September 15, 2023 


Warnings expand in the Maritimes as Hurricane Lee threatens dangerous impacts

Visit The Weather Network's hurricane hub to keep up with the latest on tropical developments in Canada and around the world

Widespread tropical storm warnings and hurricane watches are now in effect across portions of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick expecting hazardous conditions as Hurricane Lee approaches the area beginning late Friday night and peaking through the day Saturday.

SAFETY: Monitor all tropical storm and hurricane watches on Environment Canada and Climate Change's Alerts page

As expected, Lee is expanding in size but has started to weaken as it pushes through cooler waters. While further weakening is expected, Lee is likely to remain a "large and dangerous hurricane into the weekend," says the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC)
.

Baron - Hurricane Lee warnings - Sept15.jpg

The footprint of Hurricane Lee’s tropical storm-force winds extended a whopping 520 km from the centre of the storm by Thursday evening, and its hurricane-force winds reached 165 km from the centre of the storm.

On the forecast track, the centre of Lee will continue to move farther away from Bermuda Friday morning and approach the coast of New England and Atlantic Canada later in the day and Saturday. Lee is then expected to turn toward the north-northeast and northeast and move across Atlantic Canada Saturday night and Sunday.

WATCH: Tropical storm warnings, hurricane watches in effect across Maritimes

Click here to view the video

The hurricane weakened to a Category 1 hurricane on Thursday with maximum sustained winds of 140 km/h. It will continue to lose strength as it tracks north toward Atlantic Canada.

Despite Lee’s maximum winds falling, the storm’s sprawling footprint is important for any communities in its path. Lower maximum winds does not mean a lower overall threat from this storm.


ATLImpacts

A threat for heavy rains, high winds, and coastal flooding will extend hundreds of kilometres from the centre of the storm. The biggest concerns will be dangerous surf and coastal flooding, especially during high tide.

As a result of these potential hazards, the Canadian Hurricane Centre (CHC) issued a tropical storm warning for the following areas in Nova Scotia:

• Annapolis County

• Colchester County - Cobequid Bay

• Cumberland County - Minas Shore

• Halifax Metro and Halifax County West

• Halifax County - east of Porters Lake

• Digby County

• Guysborough County

• Hants County

• Kings County

• Lunenburg County

• Queens County

• Shelburne County

• Yarmouth County

A tropical storm warning is also in effect for the following areas in New Brunswick:

• Fundy National Park

• Grand Manan and coastal Charlotte County

• Moncton and Southeast New Brunswick

• Saint John and County

In addition to the tropical storm warnings, a hurricane watch is in effect for Halifax Metro and Halifax County West, Halifax County - east of Porters Lake, Digby, Queens, Shelburne, and Yarmouth Counties in Nova Scotia, as well as Grand Manan and coastal Charlotte County in New Brunswick, for the potential for near-hurricane conditions during the height of the storm on Saturday.

Click here to stay up-to-date with the latest watches and warnings.

Strongest impacts expected Saturday

The CHC says this will be a Saturday event for the strongest impacts, with lingering impacts expected on Sunday across the Maritimes as the storm weakens and moves away


ATLSaturday

Lee is expected to transform into a post-tropical low while making landfall anywhere from Grand Manan Island New Brunswick to Shelburne County Nova Scotia Saturday evening. It is still expected to be a large and powerful system with impacts extending well away from the storm centre.

RAIN

Lee’s outer rain bands and gusty winds will push into the Maritimes on Saturday morning, with conditions deteriorating through the day as the bulk of the system moves in

.

ATLRain

Between 60-100 mm of rain is possible in the southern Maritimes over the weekend. The risk for flooding has increased over western Nova Scotia and the Annapolis Valley.

"There could be heavy amounts in the vicinity of the track itself with indications of possibly 75 mm directly from Lee," the CHC warns. "This combined with the rain that fell there Thursday increases the vulnerability to further flooding in that area."

WATCH: Hurricane Lee prep is underway for Maritimes residents

Click here to view the video

WIND

At the same time, winds will pick up late Friday and peak on Saturday, with gusts of 70-100 km/h expected.

Communities along the coast can expect the storm’s strongest winds, with wind speeds quickly decreasing inland. Areas under the hurricane watch will likely see the strongest winds, with gusts as high as 120 km/h possible at times. These winds would typically result in some tree damage and power outages. Gusty winds are still possible Sunday even as conditions improve.

STORM SURGE

High waves and elevated water levels will be widespread due to the large size of the storm. Rough waves and storm surge flooding will pose the greatest threat to coastal communities on the Bay of Fundy shores and the southwest coast of Nova Scotia.

A storm surge warning has been issued for Halifax Metro and Halifax County West, Halifax County - East of Porters Lake, Lunenburg County, Queens County, Shelburne County, Guysborough County. People near the coast are being urged to monitor for worsening conditions and be prepared to move to a safer location at a moment's notice.

"For Atlantic coastal Nova Scotia, breaking waves of 4-6 metres (15 to 20 feet) are likely," says the CHC. "Elevated water levels (storm surge) combined with waves could result in coastal flooding during the high tide late morning to noon Saturday in Shelburne County then during the high tide late Saturday evening along the coast from Queens County to eastern Halifax County."


Baron - storm surge warning - Sept15.jpg

Folks across the region are understandably weary about tropical systems after the impacts of Dorian in 2019 and Fiona in 2022.

It’s likely that Hurricane Lee will not be as strong as either of those two systems. However, residents do need to stay on high alert for flooding, power outages, tree damage and coastal flooding.

Stay prepared

We’re now in the climatological peak of hurricane season across the Atlantic basin. Anyone along or near the East Coast should prepare for hazards like power outages and flooding regardless of this one storm’s progress.

Ensure you’ve got non-perishable food, water, personal hygiene supplies, flashlights, and batteries to last for several days without electricity or water. Prepare an emergency plan in case of flooding or evacuations.

STAY SAFE: What you need in your hurricane preparedness kit

Anxiety is normal when there’s a big storm out there, and even more so when the storm’s future is uncertain. Preparing for a storm long before one arrives ensures you’ll be ready to go if anything looms on the horizon in the weeks and months ahead.

Stay with The Weather Network for the duration of this storm as we closely monitor this hurricane and its developments.

WATCH: Why having a ham radio during hurricanes and storms could be crucial

Click here to view the video

Millions under storm watches and warnings as Hurricane Lee bears down on New England and Canada

DAVID SHARP, ROBERT F. BUTAKY and PATRICK WHITTLE

Fri, September 15, 2023 

BAR HARBOR, Maine (AP) — Millions of people were under storm watches and warnings Saturday as Hurricane Lee churned toward shore, bearing down on New England and eastern Canada with heavy winds, high seas and rain.

Cruise ships found refuge at berths in Portland, Maine, while lobstermen in Bar Harbor and elsewhere pulled their costly traps from the water and hauled their boats inland, leaving some harbors looking like ghost towns.

Utility workers from as far away as Tennessee took up positions to repair damage from Lee, which by late Friday night remained a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 80 mph (128 kph).

The storm was forecast to brush the New England coast before making landfall later Saturday in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, which along with New Brunswick will see the brunt of it. But Lee's effects were expected to be felt over an immense area. The National Hurricane Center predicted hurricane-force winds extending more than 100 miles (161 kilometers) from Lee’s center with lesser but still dangerous tropical storm-force gusts up to 345 miles (555 kilometers) miles outward.

States of emergency were declared for Massachusetts and Maine, the nation's most heavily forested state, where the ground was saturated and trees were weakened by heavy summer rains.

Lee already lashed the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Bahamas and Bermuda before turning northward and heavy swells were likely to cause “life-threatening surf and rip current conditions” in the U.S. and Canada, according to the hurricane center.

Parts of coastal Maine could see waves up to 15 feet (4.5 meters) high crashing down, causing erosion and damage, and the strong gusts will cause power outages, said Louise Fode, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Maine. As much as 5 inches (12 centimeters) of rain was forecast for eastern Maine, where a flash flood watch was in effect.

But even as they hunkered down and prepared, New Englanders seemed unconcerned by the possibility of violent weather.

In Maine, where people are accustomed to damaging winter nor’easters, some brushed aside the coming Lee as something akin to those storms only without the snow.

“There’s going to be huge white rollers coming in on top of 50- to 60-mph winds. It’ll be quite entertaining,” Bar Harbor lobsterman Bruce Young said Friday. Still, he had his boat moved to the local airport, saying it’s better to be safe than sorry.

On Long Island, commercial lobsterman Steve Train finished hauling 200 traps out of the water on Friday. Train, who is also a firefighter, was going to wait out the storm on the island in Casco Bay.

He was not concerned about staying there in the storm. “Not one bit,” he said.

In Canada, Ian Hubbard, a meteorologist for Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Canadian Hurricane Centre, said Lee won’t be anywhere near the severity of the remnants of Hurricane Fiona, which washed houses into the ocean, knocked out power to most of two provinces and swept a woman into the sea a year ago.

But it was still a dangerous storm. Kyle Leavitt, director of the New Brunswick Emergency Management Organization, urged residents to stay home, saying, “Nothing good can come from checking out the big waves and how strong the wind truly is.”

Destructive hurricanes are relatively rare this far to the north. The Great New England Hurricane of 1938 brought gusts as high as 186 mph (300 kph) and sustained winds of 121 mph (195 kph) at Massachusetts’ Blue Hill Observatory. But there have been no storms that powerful in recent years.

The region learned the hard way with Hurricane Irene in 2011 that damage isn’t always confined to the coast. Downgraded to a tropical storm, Irene still caused more than $800 million in damage in Vermont.

___

Sharp and Whittle reported from Portland. Associated Press writer Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed

Many boat owners have opted to put their vessels in storage earlier than usual to avoid risking damage from this weekend's storm. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)