NASA plans to `lasso' asteroid and turn it into space station

ANI | Dec 24, 2012, 01.49 PM IST
READ MORE National Aeronautics and Space Administration|NASA|California Institute of Technology|Space station
NASA plans to `lasso' asteroid and turn it into space station
LONDON: NASA scientists are planning to capture a 500 ton asteroid, relocate it and turn it into a space station for astronauts to refuel at on their way to Mars.

The 1.6bn-pound plan will be considered by the White House's Office of Science and technology in the coming weeks, as it prepares to set its space exploration agenda for the next decade, the Daily Mail reported.

According to a report prepared by NASA and California Institute of Technology (Caltech) scientists, a, 'asteroid capture capsule' would be attached to an old Atlas V rocket and directed towards the asteroid between the earth and the moon.

Once close, the asteroid capsule would release a 50ft diameter bag that wrap around the spinning rock using drawstrings.

The craft would then turn on its thrusters, using an estimated 300kg of propellant, to stop the asteroid in its tracks and tow it into a gravitationally neutral spot.

From here space explorers would have a stationary base from which to launch trips deeper into space.

Though NASA declined to comment on the project, it is believed that technology would make it possible within 10-12 years.

The technology would also open up the possibility of mining other asteroids for their metals and minerals.

Some are full of iron which could be used for in the making of new space stations, others are made up of water which could be broken down into hydrogen and oxygen to make fuel.

It is hoped that the project will increase our understanding of asteroids, and even shed new light on the origin of life on Earth. 
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Breath test could detect bowel cancer

ANI | Dec 5, 2012, 06.40 PM IST
READ MORE Cancer|treatment|public|patients|Breath
Breath test could detect bowel cancer
Breath test could detect bowel cancer (Thinkstock photos/Getty Images)
A breath-test that they can accurately tell if a person has bowel cancer has been developed.

The test, which looks for exhaled chemicals linked to tumour activity, was able to identify a majority of patients with the disease, a team from a hospital in Bari, southern Italy, reported in the British Journal of Surgery.

The current screening test for bowel cancer looks for signs of blood in the faeces, but only a small proportion of those who test positive actually have colorectal cancer, which means unnecessary and invasive further testing for many people.

The breath-test technology relies on the idea that the biology of tumours can lead to the production of specific "volatile organic compounds", combinations of chemicals unlikely in a healthy person.

These can be found in small amounts in the breath of the patient, and early studies found dogs could be trained to identify them - although the latest study relies an electronic device to analyse breath gases.

The researchers compared the breath of 37 patients known to have bowel cancer with that of 41 "controls" who were thought to be healthy.

The initial test identified the cancer patients with 85 percent accuracy, and although, when combined with a follow-up test, the overall result fell to 76 percent, the researchers were upbeat about its potential.

"The present findings further support the value of breath-testing as a screening tool," the BBC quoted the researchers as saying.

It might be possible that the technique could help identify patients whose cancer was returning after treatment, they stated.

Dr Donato Altomare and colleagues noted that bigger studies with a greater number of patients are needed to confirm it.

However, another scientist said it was unlikely a fully functioning and reliable breath-test would be available soon for the general public.

Dr Claire Turner, a lecturer in analytical chemistry at the Open University, said "These technologies show a great deal of promise, and hopefully we will see larger studies in the future. However, we are unlikely to see this kind of breath testing available widely in the short term."
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Two bowel cancer genes discovered

PTI | Dec 24, 2012, 01.28 PM IST
READ MORE University of Oxford|Oxford|Cancer|Tumor|bowel cancer
Two bowel cancer genes discovered
Researchers from the University of Oxford and the Institute of Cancer Research, London, scanned the genes of 20 people from families with a strong history of bowel cancer.
LONDON: Researchers have discovered two genes that increase the risk of bowel cancer, which explain why some families are incredibly vulnerable to the disease.

The genes are passed from parent to child and greatly increase the risk of a tumour forming.

Researchers from the University of Oxford and the Institute of Cancer Research, London, scanned the genes of 20 people from families with a strong history of bowel cancer.

They found everyone who had a faulty POLE or POLD1 gene developed bowel cancer or had a precancerous growth in the bowel.

The two genes are so-called 'dominant' genes, where only one faulty copy needs to be inherited for someone to be at a high risk of developing bowel cancer.

Researchers looked for the faults in almost 4,000 people with bowel cancer and 6,700 without the disease. Neither of the faults were found in people without bowel cancer, while 12 people with the POLE gene were found in the bowel cancer group and one person had a POLD1 gene fault.

The POLD1 fault was also found to increase the risk of getting womb cancer and possibly brain tumours with seven people in the study being diagnosed with womb cancer and one developing two brain tumours.

"There are some families where large numbers of relatives develop bowel cancer but who don't have any of the known gene faults that raise the risk of developing the disease," said lead researcher Ian Tomlinson from the University of Oxford.

"These two faults are rare, but if you inherit them your chance of bowel cancer is high. By testing people with a strong family history of the disease for these faults, we can identify those who are at high risk and try to prevent the disease by using colonoscopy and other methods," Tomlinson said in a statement.

POLE and POLD1 are involved in scanning and repairing damage to DNA, removing incorrect sequences from the DNA chain. Without these genes, affected individuals build up damage in their DNA which can cause bowel cancer.

"Uncovering gene faults like these two is extremely important, as inherited susceptibility plays a role in the development of about a third of all cases of colorectal cancer," study co-leader Professor Richard Houlston said.

"This is one of the most important discoveries in bowel cancer genetics in years. It should allow us to manage families affected by inherited bowel cancer much more effectively, and it offers new clues for the prevention or treatment of all forms of the disease," he said.

The study was published in Nature Genetics.
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