For the first time, a pig kidney has been transplanted into a human without triggering immediate rejection by the recipient's immune system, a potentially major advance that could eventually help alleviate a dire shortage of human organs for transplant.
The procedure done at NYU Langone Health in New York City involved use of a pig whose genes had been altered so that its tissues no longer contained a molecule known to trigger almost immediate rejection.
The recipient was a brain-dead patient with signs of kidney dysfunction whose family consented to the experiment before she was due to be taken off of life support, researchers told Reuters.
For three days, the new kidney was attached to her blood vessels and maintained outside her body, giving researchers access to it.
Test results of the transplanted kidney's function "looked pretty normal," said transplant surgeon Dr. Robert Montgomery, who led the study.
Awesome progress here. Could be a big money saver, considering how long transplant patients need to sit on a waiting list getting expensive treatments in the meantime. Plus you could name your donor pig and make fun videos for your social media, before it's butchered just for you.
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For the first time in history, a spacecraft has touched the Sun. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has now flown through the Sun’s upper atmosphere – the corona – and sampled particles and magnetic fields there.
Thanks for the video. 10b gamble is right. I sincerely hope it overcomes all 500 obstacles it has to just to operate. 1 glitch, 1 spec of dirt flies through that things heat shield and its all lost.
Still, what an impressive piece of tech and I hope to see what it can produce.
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Amazing engineering, finding solutions for such almost mundane things like pushing a string down a wire.
I'm really hoping this will all work out and be successful, having the ability to find the dimmest stars is unreal and who knows what discoveries will come of this.
If there is a problem that can't be solved remotely is this space junk? Or can they return it to Earth orbit and repair. Probably not but wondering.
Unlike Hubble, the Webb telescope won't be serviceable. This is a one-shot deal.
I recall that the mirrors on the Hubble were eroded by something like 1000 nanometers after the launch, so the initial images were blurry. Astronauts were able to basically install correction lenses to fix the issue. They considered that this time and made the mirrors from different materials and they have moveable parts so it can at least calibrate in the event of some damage.
I think the riskiest part is that meteors the size of sand or pebbles might shred the heat shield. They reinforced the materials to take that into consideration but it is still a big risk. The Webb telescope won't last forever and is relying a lot on luck since there is no way to know everything that is flying around out there. Much of it is just too small to detect from Earth. Hopefully they get some good years out of it.
I am curious about what practical knowledge they hope to gain from it. All I keep reading is that they want to get images from the early formation of the universe, which sounds super cool. But there seems to be little talk about what practical applications that knowledge will give us. I assume there is something and it isn't just a vanity project, but I really want to know.
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