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The Texas Heart Institute has successfully implanted an artificial titanium heart using the same technology as bullet trains to pump blood mechanically throughout the body. Called the Total Artificial Heart (TAH), this development represents a significant advancement in extending patients’ lives while they wait for heart transplants.

In collaboration with medical tech company BiVACOR, Texas Heart developed the TAH. It’s a titanium biventricular rotary blood pump with a single moving part, utilizing a magnetically levitated rotor to pump blood and replace both ventricles of a failing heart.

Magnetic levitation reduces friction by preventing moving parts from scraping or sliding against each other, greatly increasing the device’s lifespan. The TAH can pump blood at a rate of 12 liters per minute, sufficient for an adult male to engage in exercise.

The first-in-human clinical study, closely monitored by the FDA, aims to evaluate the safety and performance of the BiVACOR TAH as a bridge-to-transplant solution for patients with severe bi or univentricular heart failure. Following the first implantation at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in the Texas Medical Center, four more patients will be enrolled in the study.

Dr. Joseph Rogers, President and CEO of The Texas Heart Institute, stated, “With heart failure as a leading cause of death worldwide, the BiVACOR TAH offers hope for many patients awaiting a heart transplant. We are proud to be leading this medical breakthrough with BiVACOR, Baylor College of Medicine, and Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center.”

Heart failure affects at least 26 million people worldwide, including 6.2 million adults in the US, and is on the rise. Heart transplants are limited to fewer than 6,000 procedures annually, despite an estimated 100,000 patients in the US alone who could benefit from mechanical alternatives.

The successful implantation of BiVACOR’s TAH underscores the potential of new technologies to address critical challenges in cardiac care, such as long transplant waitlists.

Daniel Timms, founder and CTO of BiVACOR, acknowledged the courage of the first patient and their family, the dedication of the team, and the expertise of collaborators at The Texas Heart Institute in making this achievement possible.

Scientists have confirmed the existence of a sizable cave on the moon near where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed 55 years ago. They suspect there are hundreds more that could house future astronauts.

An Italian-led team reported that evidence points to a large cave accessible from the deepest known pit on the moon, located at the Sea of Tranquility, just 250 miles (400 kilometers) from the Apollo 11 landing site. This pit, like over 200 others discovered, was formed by the collapse of a lava tube.

Researchers used radar measurements from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and compared them with Earth’s lava tubes. Their findings, published in Nature Astronomy, indicate that the cave is at least 130 feet (40 meters) wide and several tens of yards long, likely more.

Most of these pits are located in the moon’s ancient lava plains, though there could be some at the moon’s south pole, where NASA plans astronaut landings later this decade. Permanently shadowed craters at the south pole are believed to contain frozen water, which could be used for drinking and rocket fuel.

The findings suggest there could be hundreds of pits and thousands of lava tubes on the moon. These structures could provide natural shelter for astronauts, protecting them from cosmic rays, solar radiation, and micrometeorite strikes. Building habitats from scratch would be more time-consuming and challenging, even considering the need to reinforce cave walls to prevent collapse.

Additionally, the unaltered rocks and materials inside these caves could help scientists better understand the moon’s history, particularly its volcanic activity.

If you have never heard about this enormous stone “castle” that was built all by one man, then you will really want to check this video out.

It is absolutely incredible! Not just because it was built by one person, but because it is a genuinely amazing structure.

A new pesticide specifically targeting the Colorado potato beetle has proven effective, killing the pest while leaving other species unharmed, including its close relatives. This beetle, originating from the Rocky Mountains, causes over $500 million in annual damage across the Northern Hemisphere.

GreenLight Biosciences has developed Calantha, a spray that uses RNA interference technology to target the PSMB5 gene, which is essential for removing damaged proteins in cells. Blocking this gene causes protein buildup, killing the larvae within six days. The beetle, which also harms eggplant, tomatoes, and bell peppers, has developed resistance to 50 pesticide formulas.

Similar to bacteria developing antibiotic resistance, crop pests have become immune to many pesticides, necessitating ongoing innovation. In 2001, farmers in Maine found that neonicotinoids were no longer effective against the potato beetle. Andrei Alyokhin, an entomologist at the University of Maine, observed that the beetles were unaffected by treated plants.

RNA interference is praised for its precision and safety, targeting only the potato beetle’s genetic relatives and sparing beneficial insects like pollinators. Subba Reddy Palli, an entomologist at the University of Kentucky, highlighted its precision and effectiveness.

Calantha, produced at about $1 per gram, was approved by the FDA after proving harmless to non-target species. GreenLight conducted safety trials comparing PSMB5 in the potato beetle with other insects, finding that only two other agricultural pest species were affected.

Astronomers recently discovered two young stars in the WL20 star system, located in the rho Ophiuchi molecular cloud complex, over 400 light years away. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), they observed two separate disks with jets erupting from each star in this binary system. This discovery was unexpected due to the stars’ age, size, and chemical composition, and it occurred in a well-studied part of the Universe.

Most of the Universe is invisible to the human eye, but ALMA and MIRI can observe different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, revealing details hidden in radio and infrared wavelengths. This dual observation approach allowed astronomers to identify these twin stars.

Astronomer Mary Barsony explained that one star in WL20 appeared much younger than the rest, but further observations showed it was actually two stars close together, each surrounded by a disk and emitting parallel jets. ALMA identified the disks, and MIRI detected the jets. Co-author Valentin J.M. Le Gouellec of NASA analyzed ALMA data to determine the disks’ composition, while Lukasz Tychoniec of Leiden Observatory provided high-resolution images, showing the disks were about 100 times the distance between Earth and the Sun.

Michael Ressler from JPL highlighted the serendipity of the discovery. While initially studying binaries in a different region, he decided to include WL20 in his JWST observing time, leading to this significant find.

This multi-wavelength data combination from ALMA and JWST offers new insights into the formation processes of multiple star systems.