Monthly Archives: August 2017

A monster typhoon has been swirling in the Northwest Pacific Ocean for over a week. On Sunday, it became the strongest storm on Earth so far this year, with 160-mph winds.

It seems inevitable, given the projections, that this storm will track over Japans southern prefectures of Okinawa and Kagoshima as a very strong typhoon. On Wednesday morning, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center predicted it would be near northern Okinawa on Saturday evening, Eastern Time, as the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane.

Japan has already endured several spates of extreme weather this summer, the AP reports, with heavy rains triggering deadly landslides on Kyushu in June that killed 37 people and left six missing. Torrential rains in northern Japan flooded parts of northern Honshu island in late July.

Astronauts on the International Space Station fly over the Pacific Ocean several times per week. Every summer, they have the opportunity to see incredible storms like Typhoon Noru.

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Check out these incredible photos from the ISS of Earth's strongest storm in 2017 - Washington Post

For the first time, astronauts 250 miles above Earth successfully tested a novel DNA detection method that changes color in the presence of a target DNA sequence, in only 30 minutes. The method, developed by NEB, is called colorimetric loop-mediated isothermal amplification (cLAMP). It works through a clever combination of an inexpensive pH dye and less of the buffer that scientists typically use during polymerase chain reaction (PCR). A change from pink to yellow indicates the presence of a predetermined DNA or RNA sequence.

"One major hurdle to DNA-based diagnostics in outer space particularly those based on PCR is the need for specialized equipment, which can present significant logistical challenges. With limited resources and challenging working environments associated with deep space travel, astronauts will need diagnostics that are simple and easy-to-use," said Nicole Nichols, Group Leader, DNA Polymerase Development at NEB and co-investigator of the experiment.

"The robustness of colorimetric LAMP in zero gravity opens up a whole new set of possibilities, including the ability to test for viruses, health markers, or even food and environmental organisms, granting a degree of self-sufficiency needed for life and survival in space," Nichols said.

Here on Earth, this technique could be instrumental in improving healthcare in remote regions of the world. For example, river blindness, the second most common cause of blindness due to infection, is normally detected through either microscopic examination or PCR detection of the Onchocerca volvulus parasite, both of which require equipment and procedures that can be cumbersome for researchers that need a quick diagnosis out in the field.

"The colorimetric LAMP assay is poised to help those who need to work without electricity and use reagents that are cost effective," said Nichols. "NEB's parasitology research group recently tested a cLAMP assay directly on skin snips from African patients with river blindness and found that it was more sensitive in detecting the parasite than PCR and conventional microscopy."

LAMP, which is a single tube technique that can make large amounts of DNA at a constant temperature, obviates the need for expensive thermocyclers used in conventional nucleic acid amplification methods like PCR. However, NEB scientists have modified the LAMP method by adding a colorimetric component that exploits a natural phenomenon during DNA amplification.

"LAMP produces large quantities of protons when DNA from a sample is amplified. However, these protons are masked by the buffer used in a typical LAMP reaction," explains Nathan Tanner, staff scientist at NEB, and one of the developers of the colorimetric LAMP assay.

"By removing the buffer from the reaction, we demonstrated that the accumulation of protons significantly changes pH levels. This change can be visualized by adding a pH-sensitive colorimetric dye, such as our pink to yellow indicator. We've taken this principle and developed it into a stable formulation, which is commercially available for a wide range of diagnostic assay developers to enable field-friendly, point-of-care tests," Tanner said.

The colorimetric LAMP assay conducted on the ISS was part of an experiment designed by Julian Rubenfein, from New York's Stuyvesant High School. Rubenfein was the 2016 winner of Genes in Space, a national competition that challenges students in grades 7-12 to design experiments that solve real-life space exploration problems through DNA analysis. Rubenfein's proposal was centered around the examination of telomere dynamics in outer space and involved two sets of experiments that were flown on board the ISS the colorimetric LAMP experiment and a more traditional PCR, also conducted using NEB's reagents. Both experiments were enabled by a portable thermocycler aboard the ISS designed by miniPCR.

TheGenes in Spacecompetition was founded by miniPCR and Boeing and is sponsored by Math for America, the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, NEB, and FedEx.

To learn more about colorimetric LAMP, visit http://www.neb.com/M1800 To learn more about the Genes in Space Competition, visit GenesinSpace.org.

About New England Biolabs Established in the mid 1970s, New England Biolabs, Inc. (NEB) is the industry leader in the discovery and production of enzymes for molecular biology applications and now offers the largest selection of recombinant and native enzymes for genomic research. NEB continues to expand its product offerings into areas related to PCR and qPCR, gene expression, sample preparation for next generation sequencing, synthetic biology, glycobiology, epigenetics and RNA analysis. Additionally, NEB is focused on strengthening alliances that enable new technologies to reach key market sectors, including molecular diagnostics development. New England Biolabs is a privately held company, headquartered in Ipswich, MA, and has extensive worldwide distribution through a network of exclusive distributors, agents and seven subsidiaries located in Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore and the UK. For more information about New England Biolabs visit http://www.neb.com.

NEW ENGLAND BIOLABS and NEB are registered trademarks of New England Biolabs, Inc.

GENES IN SPACE and MINIPCR are trademarks of Amplyus, LLC.

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SOURCE New England Biolabs

http://www.neb.com

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First Successful Colorimetric LAMP Experiment Performed on International Space Station Opens Up New Possibilities ... - PR Newswire (press release)

The International Space Station is the size of a football field. But a stunning image by Spanish photographer Dani Caxete shows it as a tiny figure dwarfed by the moona jaw-dropping reminder of the magnificence of nature, and the persistence of human achievement.

The image is on the shortlist for the Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year, an annual contest run by Britains Royal Greenwich Observatory. Caxete writes:

The International Space Station (ISS) whizzes across the dusky face of the Earths natural satellite, the Moon, whilst photographed in broad daylight. Shining with a magnitude of -3.5, the ISS was illuminated by the Sun at a height of 9 on the horizon. Like the Moon, the ISS receives solar rays in a similar way during its 15 orbits of the Earth a day, making it possible to see it when the Sun is still up. This is a real shot, with no composite or clipping in the process.

The sight of the moonhumanitys first major conquest in spacealongside the space station makes one wonder where technology will take us next. Will we one day see spacecrafts orbiting the Earth the way we see commercials flights streak across the sky? Will a future settlement on the moon be visible from Earth?

Here are some other breathtaking shots from the contests finalists.

A stargazer observes the constellation of the Big Dipper perfectly aligned with the window of the entrance to a large glacier cave in Engadin, Switzerland. This is a panorama of two pictures, and each is a stack of another two pictures: one for the stars and another one for the foreground, but with no composing or time blending.

A large, searing hedgerow prominence extends from the surface of the Sun on 29 August 2016. There are a number of different prominence types that have been observed emanating from the Sun, and the hedgerow prominence is so called due the grouping of small prominences resembling rough and wild shrubbery.

The 7% waxing crescent Moon setting in the evening sky over the Needles Lighthouse at the western tip of the Isle of Wight. Despite the Moon being a thin crescent, the rest of its shape is defined by sunlight reflecting back from the Earths surface.

During an astrophotography tour of the Murmansk region with Stas Korotkiy, an amateur astronomer and popularizer of astronomy in Russia, the turquoise of the Aurora Borealis swirls above the snow covered trees. Illuminated by street lamps, the trees glow a vivid pink forming a contrasting frame for Natures greatest lightshow.

The Milky Way rises ominously above a small radio telescope from a large array at Miyun Station, National Astronomical Observatory of China, in the suburbs of Beijing. The image depicts the ever-growing light pollution we now experience, which together with electromagnetic noise has turned many optical and radio observatories near cities both blind and deaf a battle that inspired the photographers title of the shot. The image used a light pollution filter (iOptron L-Pro) and multiple frame stacking to get the most of the Milky Way out of the city light.

NGC 7331 is an unbarred spiral galaxy found some 40 million light years away from Earth, in the constellation Pegasus. Of the group of galaxies known as the Deer Lick Group, NGC 7331 is the largest, and can be seen dominating the image whilst the smaller galaxies NGC 7335, NGC 7336, NGC 7337, NGC 7338 and NGC 7340 drift above it.

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A perfectly-timed photo of the space station and the moon puts human achievements in perspective - Quartz

Soon after the onset of nautical dusk on 2August, observers in the British Isles can see not only the 10-day-old waxing gibbous Moon within a low-power binocular field of the ringed planet, but the International Space Station makes a flypast too! Outshining the brightest stars, the ISS rises low in the west soon after 11:16pm. It passes a span of an outstretched hand at arms length above Saturn low in the south-southwest a few seconds before 11:20pm for skywatchers in the heart of the UK but dont leave it too long as the spacecraft fades from view into the Earths shadow around 11:20:30pm (all times British Summer Time). AN graphic by Ade Ashford.

If you see a bright star slowly crawling across the sky in an arc from west to east, an object that doesnt flash or possess red and green running lights like an aircraft, then you can be sure that youve spotted the International Space Station (ISS). The 400-tonne orbiting laboratory is so large 73 109 x 20 metres that it can be viewed with the unaided eye from the heart of the most light-polluted town or city. Fortunately, its current orbit carries it over the British Isles and Western Europe for the next few nights.

As an added bonus, the ISS passes close above an attractive conjunction of the 10-day-old Moon and Saturn late into the evening of Wednesday, 2August 2017 for observers in the British Isles. On this night the ringed planet and waxing gibbous Moon lie just 5degrees apart, so the pair will fit in the same field of view of a low-magnification binocular. As seen from the heart of the UK, the International Space Station passes just 18degrees the span of an outstretched hand at arms length above Saturn and the Moon a few seconds before 11:20pmBST.

If you have a clear quadrant of sky from the south to the west, look low in the western sky of the British Isles at 11:17pm for the spacecrafts ascent but be vigilant as the International Space Station is only in sunlight for a further 3minutes before fading into the Earths shadow in the south close to 11:20pm+30sec. BST.

Using Astronomy Nows Almanac to make ISS viewing predictions Many of you may have used our online Almanac to obtain information about lunar phases, or the rising and setting of the Sun, Moon and planets for wherever you may live, but the Almanac can also tell you when and where to see the International Space Station.

In the Almanac, select the closest city to your location from the Country and City pull-down menus before ensuring that the box beside AddISSpasses? has a tick in it and just as importantly the DaylightSavingsTime? box, if applicable to your time and location. The table underneath the months Moon phase data then shows current nighttime passes of the International Space Station over your chosen location during the next five days, if any.

For the given Date in year/month/day format, LocalTime is the instant the ISS first becomes visible and Duration indicates the length of the sighting in minutes. At the given LocalTime, look in the direction indicated by Approach and, weather permitting, you should see the ISS as a slowly moving, bright star. Max.elevation is how high the Station will get above your horizon (90 is overhead, while 20 is about the span of an outstretched hand at arms length) and Departure indicates where the ISS will be when it vanishes from sight. Sometimes an appearance or disappearance occurs well up in the sky when the Station emerges into sunlight or slips into the Earths shadow, respectively.

Here is an example from last year computed for the centre of the UK:In the example above, as seen from the heart of the BritishIsles on the evening of Tuesday, 2August 2016, the ISS first appeared 16 (a span and a half of a fist at arms length) above the west-southwest (WSW) horizon at 10:09pmBST in a viewing window lasting five minutes. It attained a peak altitude of 50 above the south-southwest (SSW) horizon before sinking down to 15 above the eastern (E) horizon at 10:14pmBST. One orbit later, the ISS rose again at 11:46pmBST.

Note: the actual times of events in the future will change as the orbit of the ISS varies over time; Almanac predictions made on the day are more accurate.

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See the International Space Station, Moon and Saturn in the UK sky ... - Astronomy Now Online