An experiment launched last year came back to earth with evidence that the bacterium Salmonella becomes more virulent when exposed to the ravages of the extraterrestrial climate. The bacteria spent 12 days exposed to the radiation of space, and the zero gravity of aforementioned space. The experiment was carried out by Arizona State University. The pathogen raised in space was more than three times likely to kill test animals than a control strain of the same bacteria kept on earth.

There was another experiment launching this year that will test similar ideas. It is a student experiment from Russia. At least I think it was this year. My quick search for a news link turned up very little definitive information on that particular experiment, but it did show that many similar experiments with bacteria and fungi have been tried in the past.

Some folks are working on a way to manufacture cellular life. At the moment their goal is to create a life form that can stay alive for a few hours. The experiments at ProtoLife in Venice Italy have been able to produce several parts of a working cell, including vesicles apparently (which I am inferring from the attached picture). Although later on in the article Jack Szostak at Harvard Medical School claims that the next step is to create a cellular membrane. This is a little confusing -- I can't remember exactly from my biology class, but I thought vesicles were little hunks of proto-membranes that were used by the cell to create and maintain the cell membrane. Perhaps they haven't been able to get the vesicles to form together into a full membrane, or perhaps there is an intermediate process that the vesicles need to go through in order to become a full on membrane. Of course, ProtoType believes that the next step is to get a functioning genetic system. Perhaps ProtoType envisions using a 'genetic' system to organize and control the vesicles for the formation of complete membranes.

A computer simulation showed that dust in an environment of plasma and zero gravity will begin to form DNA like structures. Further more these DNA structures will incorporate less stable DNA structures from the surrounding environment. The results are in the Aug 14th issue of the New Journal of Physics. The simulation was done by a team of scientists including V.N. Tsytovich from the Russian academy of science and Gregor Morfill from the Institute of Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany. Some people are excited about these results, claiming that this shows the possible origins of life or possible that these structures are possibly the a more common form of life in the universe.

People from NASA and UNAM University in Mexico are studying the feasibility of growing trees on Mars. Growing trees on Mars is currently considered one of the first steps towards terraforming the planet. By pumping a lot of heavy gases onto the planet, such as methane and nitrous oxide, it might be possible to heat the surface of Mars to around 41 °s; F. Certain tree species in Mexico are known to grow at that temperature on a mountain called Pico de Orizaba. Trees are considered to be the 'engine of the biosphere'. Once they start growing, it is believe that the process of terraforming will begin to take care of itself.

Researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have been experimenting with various fungi and their response to radiation. The experiment started when a robot exploring the Chernobyl site found several large growths of a dark, melanin rich fungi. Melanin is present in all fungi, as well as people - it's the chemical that makes our skin darker. Dr. Casadevall theorized that the fungi were able to use the radiation at Chernobyl as an energy source for growth. After some test were performed, Dr. Casadevall seems to have been correct. Darker fungi containing more melanin will indeed grow faster in a radiation rich environment.

The push to develop ethanol is giving the Biotech industry a boost. President Bush's desire to see the country decrease oil consumption by 20% over the next 10 years is prompting people to turn towards plant sugar based ethanol. In turn they are also looking towards biotech companies for new manufacturing solutions. According to the article "The [Department of Energy] DOE has awarded up to $385 million over four years to six companies to develop ethanol." Most of this money seems to be going to green spinoffs of established oil companies. However some startups may find venture financing help from people like Vinod Khosla (the founder of Sun Microsystems).

Mosquitos genetically modified to be malaria resistant have been developed. The mosquitoes created at John Hopkins University are somehow incapable of passing the malaria parasite and therefore they will not pass the disease along to humans. Other research has been conducted at the Imperial College of London. The GM mosquitoes would need to become dominant in the wild in order for the eradication effort to be successful. However, if the bugs were allowed to do so, it could stop a disease that causes over 1 million deaths a year.

By using a protein found in the human ear, scientists have found that they can generate electricity. The protein is called prestin. In the human body the protein is responsible for moving hairs in response to an electrical stimulus from the brain. This process also works in reverse, allowing sources of motion (wind, body movement, etc) to generate electricity.

This research has given rise to the concept of a 'power skin'. The idea being that a building can be covered in this protein and thereby generate electricity from the prevailing winds, which may prove useful on structures built in space.

Bio-engineered plants continued to be grown at an increasing pace in 2006. However, most of the engineered crops were aimed at pest and weed control rather than improving nutritional content of the plants, according to this article.

This bio-ink printer has been used, according to the article, to 'print' cellular tissue and build organs. The technology is being pursued for health reasons. Notably for repairing existing tissue in patients. Ah, but I spy with my little eye... Steak In Space!

Print your own Steak