A British Teenager Finds an Error in NASA's Space Station Data
A 17-year-old British schoolboy spots an error in the data from International Space Station's radiation sensors.
27 March, 2017
The International Space Station (ISS) is seen from NASA space shuttle Endeavour after the station and shuttle began their post-undocking relative separation May 29, 2011 in space. (Photo by NASA via Getty Images)
<p class="p1">A 17-year-old British student, <strong>Miles Solomon</strong>, spotted an error in NASA’s data while working on a school physics project. What’s more, the teenager figured out that radiation sensors on the International Space Station (ISS) were not working properly. The sensors were actually capturing “false data”. </p> <p class="p1">Once he found the error, Solomon emailed NASA, which said it “appreciated” the feedback and even invited him to help fix the problem. </p> <p class="p1">Solomon’s Tapton Secondary School in Sheffield was taking part in a project from Institute for Research in Schools (IRIS) which provided the students with real scientific data from NASA’s radiation readings. The measurements were of radiation levels from British astronaut Tim Peak’s stint on the ISS in December 2015, taken every 4 seconds. The students were encouraged to look for anomalies and promising patterns.</p> <p class="p1">When he first got the readings, Miles right away had a plan. </p> <blockquote>
<p class="p3"><span class="s1">'What we got given was a lot of spreadsheets, which is a lot more interesting than it sounds,' <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-39351833" target="_blank">he told <span class="s2"><strong>BBC Radio 4</strong></span>.</a> “I went straight to the bottom of the list and I went for the lowest bits of energy there were.”</span></p>
</blockquote> <p class="p3"><span class="s1"><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8xODMzOTAwNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxODI2NjM2M30.YcrexwA1UhSHA7Fg1wY3M_ij24mCkqBzODNVU7pQnXQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="3e26c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="397da02b9d9194aa259cf9f76b74de70" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image"><br></span></p> <p class="p3"><em>Miles Solomon. Credit: BBC</em></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1">What he spotted is that on occasions when the sensors didn’t detect any radiation, they instead recorded a negative reading of -1. As you cannot have a negative for energy, Solomon and his teacher got in touch with NASA.</span> </p> <blockquote>
<p class="p5"><span class="s1">"It's pretty cool", <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-39351833" target="_blank"><span class="s3">said Miles</span></a>. "You can tell your friends, I just emailed Nasa and they're looking at the graphs that I've made."</span></p>
</blockquote> <p class="p3"><span class="s1">It turned out the teen noticed an error that NASA didn’t fully see for 15 months. The space scientists said they did actually know of the error’s existence but thought it happened once or twice a year rather than many times a day.</span></p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1">The discovery of the error was welcomed by NASA and IRIS, which created the opportunity to get “real science in the classroom”. They hope this kind of cooperation can inspire students to become scientists. </span> </p> <p class="p3"><span class="s1">Miles is very excited, although his friends might be less enthused.</span></p> <blockquote>
<p class="p5"><span class="s1">"They obviously think I'm a nerd," <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-39351833" target="_blank"><span class="s3">shared</span></a> the self-deprecating student. "It's really a mixture of jealousy and boredom when I tell them all the details."</span></p>
</blockquote> <p class="p4">He also doesn’t see the situation as a case of embarrassment for the world’s premiere space program.</p> <blockquote>
<p class="p5"><span class="s1">"I'm not trying to prove Nasa wrong. I want to work with them and learn from them,” <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-39351833" target="_blank"><span class="s3">Solomon added</span></a>.</span></p>
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Two Infants Cured of Terminal Cancer by Breakthrough Gene-Editing Therapy
British doctors eliminate the disease in two infants with incurable cancer by utilizing a medical first gene-editing techniques.
29 January, 2017
A group of British doctors successfully eliminated cancer in two infants with leukemia by using genetically modified immune cells from a donor. The accomplishment opens a new age of cancer therapy treatment.
<p>This medical first was carried out by doctors from London’s Ormond Street hospital on two children aged 11 and 16 months, who were not responding to other forms of therapy. Scientists manipulated the donor <strong>T cells</strong> to be able to kill the cells of leukemia, with chemotherapy following the new experimental approach. Now one of them has been cancer-free for a year and another for 18 months.</p> <p>The difference in the treatment was that the engineered T-cells (known as <strong>CAR-T</strong>) were from another person, while <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603502/two-infants-treated-with-universal-immune-cells-have-their-cancer-vanish/" target="_blank">usual T-cell therapy involves</a> removing immune cells from the patient, modifying them and giving them back to the patient. What’s remarkable about this approach is that the cells could be collected from donors, treated and stored before they are needed, thus making it possible for the patient to receive them immediacy upon diagnosis. They would not have to wait for their own T cells to be modified. Additionally, blood from one donor could supply hundreds of treatments, reducing costs and efficiency. </p> <blockquote><p>“We estimate the cost to manufacture a dose would be about $4,000,” told Julianne Smith, vice president of CAR-T development for Cellectis, supplier of universal cells, in an interview with <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603502/two-infants-treated-with-universal-immune-cells-have-their-cancer-vanish/" target="_blank">Technology Review</a>. “That’s compared to a cost of around $50,000 to alter a patient’s cells and return them.” </p></blockquote> <p>The novel treatment is not yet available to the general public but CAR-T cell therapy is currently in phase II clinical trials in the U.S. There is also the question if the infants are actually cured, because doctors usually wait a few years before declaring someone completely cancer-free.</p> <p>Some critics have pointed out that because chemotherapy was also used as part of the treatment, it's not entirely clear if the modified T-cells were the main cause of the improvements. But the doctors point to the long-lasting effects of their treatment and are enthusiastic about its potential in future treatments.</p> <p><a href="http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/9/374/eaaj2013.full" target="_blank">You can read the details of the cases here, published in the journal <em>Science Translation Medicine.</em></a></p> <p><span><em>Cover photo: </em></span>One-year-old Layla Richards was treated by the new therapy and is now cancer-free. Credit: <span><a href="http://www.gosh.org/" target="_blank">Great Ormond Street Hospital</a></span></p>
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