The light-emitting glasses device helps visually impaired patients locate and touch the book on the table. (Source: nytimes.com) On May 24, a group of scientists announced that they had partially restored the vision of a blind man, by injecting light-sensitive proteins into one eye. The study was published in the journal Nature Medicine. This is the first study to describe the successful use of this new treatment. The patient participating in the trial of the new treatment is a 58-year-old French man who is completely blind due to retinitis pigmentosa. With the help of a special type of glass, he was able to see some objects from a narrow perspective such as notebooks, pin boxes, glass shards… The study’s authors say the trial – the result of 13 years of continuous work – has reached an important milestone for more effective treatments in the future. Dr José-Alain Sahel, an ophthalmologist at the University of Pittsburgh and the Sorbonne in Paris, said: “Clearly this is not the end of the road, but an important milestone.” Dr. Sahel and other scientists have been trying for decades to find a cure for inherited forms of blindness. These genetic disorders rob the eye of essential proteins needed for vision, causing the light-sensitive cells to degenerate. When light enters the eye, photoreceptors capture these rays. They then send an electrical signal to neighboring cells, called ganglion cells, which are responsible for transmitting information. vision from photoreceptors to the brain via the optic nerve. In previous studies, researchers were able to treat a form of genetic blindness known as Leber congenital blindness, by correcting a faulty gene that can cause photoreceptors to gradually become impaired. degenerate. But other forms of blindness cannot be treated so simply if the retina has completely lost its photoreceptors. “Once the cells are dead, you can’t fix the gene error,” says Dr. Sahel. For these diseases, Dr. Sahel and other researchers tested a new, more radical approach. They used gene therapy to turn ganglion cells into new photoreceptors, even though these ganglion cells normally don’t pick up light. Scientists are taking advantage of proteins derived from algae and other bacteria that can make neurons sensitive to light. Ed Boyden, a neuroscientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) who is a pioneer in the field of optical genetics, thinks the use of proteins to cure blindness has taken him by surprise. “So far, I’ve only thought of optical genetics as a tool primarily for scientists, because it’s being used by thousands of people to study the brain,” he said. But if optical genetics were used for medical purposes, that would be extremely exciting.” Dr. Sahel and colleagues realized that the photogenetic proteins created by Dr. Boyden were not sensitive enough to produce images from normal light entering the eye. Amplified light also cannot be used to shine into the patient’s eyes, as this will damage the delicate tissues of the retina. So they selected a photogenetic protein that is only sensitive to amber light and inserted it into ganglion cells in the patient’s retina. Next, the researchers invented a special device that transforms visual information from the outside world into an amber light that the ganglion cells can perceive. They created goggles that scan the field of view at a rate of thousands of times a second and record any pixel where the light changes. The goggles then send a pulse of light from that pixel into the eye. The method can produce images in the brain, the researchers say. Our eyes naturally roam around in small movements many times a second. With each movement, these pixels change the light level. However, it is still an open question whether blind people can learn how to use this information to identify objects. About this Botond Roska said: “The brain has to learn a new language.” After testing gene therapy and goggles on monkeys, Dr Roska, an ophthalmologist at the University of Basel, co-author of the study, and colleagues are ready to test it in humans. Their plan was to inject the gene-carrying virus into the eyes of each blind volunteer who signed up for the new gene therapy, then wait a few months for the ganglion cells to develop the photogenetic proteins. They will then instruct the volunteers on how to use the goggles. However, they have only coached one volunteer due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 58-year-old man has been wearing goggles at home and while walking. One day, he realized that he could see pedestrian lines on the road. When the pandemic subsided in France, scientists continued to test his eyesight and discovered that he could still reach and touch a notebook on the table, identifying swapped glasses. The results of the electroencephalogram (EEG) showed that his brain was indeed responding to the visual signals from the eye. Currently, Dr. Sahel and colleagues are bringing in other volunteers to test and further refine the new treatment technique.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) alumni at that time had to consider choosing a stopover in their year-long project in Asia. With proficiency in both English and Mandarin, Jon finally decided to choose Singapore. Lion Island has many unique and interesting experience activities, but Jon has chosen for himself a very own way to explore the country and its people. And the cuisine is the answer to Jon’s unforgettable experiences in this island nation. The young man “collapses Singapore” Jon Lu and the chef of Odette restaurant. (Source: CNN) Up to now, the American has visited a total of 255 restaurants, including cafes and street vendors. Including 37 Michelin-starred restaurants. These figures are considered an impressive feat, especially in the period when the city’s restaurants have been closed for live dining for more than two months. Not to mention that Jon had to take a temporary break for a while because his health declined. When the city started to partially close the country – also known as Circuit Breaker – from April 7 to June 1, 2020, restaurants were forced to switch to a take-away form. ). But that didn’t stop Jon, who continued to extend his culinary experience by ordering takeout. Not once, but twice a day, during the first half of this difficult period. And most of all, these are not ordinary meals. Jon Lu has chosen to focus on the city’s many famous culinary landmarks, including the Michelin-starred honor restaurants – which usually take weeks, even months, to book a table. “It’s been a tough time for the F&B (food service) industry – I want to do as much as I can to help support local businesses,” Jon said. This special culinary journey is detailed by Jon Lu on his personal page [email protected] (Source: CNN) With endless opportunities to experience at Singapore’s top restaurants – a feat that even the culinary critics take a year or two to achieve, Jon becomes the expert at hand. tips on the best food destinations in Singapore. In his favorite Michelin star restaurant lineup is Odette with 3 Michelin stars by chef Julien Royer. Jon has experienced the meal here 4 times and are extremely satisfied. He highly appreciates contemporary French restaurants for “extremely delicate and technically excellent” dishes. In the Japanese restaurant category, Jon Lu chooses Sushi Kimura. Although this place only received 1 Michelin star, he still fondly visited twice. He shared that chef and owner Tomo-o Kimura gives diners “thicker” and “more exotic” fish pieces. These include sujiko (salmon roe), oki aji (white-tongue jackfish) and usubu hagi (unicorn fish). Not to mention Kimura’s shari (sushi rice), “sure but still surprisingly light,” and served at “perfect temperature”. When it comes to Singaporean cuisine, chef Han Li Guang’s Labyrinth restaurant caught Jon’s attention. It is famous for displaying enhanced versions of local dishes – like Signature Chilli Crab – that originated from Lion Island with mostly locally sourced ingredients. Jon Lu has a passion for culinary experience since he was an intern in Chicago, USA. (Source: CNN) Jon Lu’s most-visited site in Singapore is, surprisingly, a new two-year-old restaurant named Preludio that has yet to receive a Michelin star. Run by Colombian chef Fernando Arevalo, Preludio serves “writer’s cuisine” around an annual theme called “chapter”. Jon Lu himself “is an ordinary person who does not like to repeat dishes at high-end restaurants”, so the fact that he dine at Preludio nine times (in 2020) is “a testament to their creativity”. . Jon Lu shared that food and exploring places have been a hobby of him since 2015. At that time, he was just a student intern in downtown Chicago and in a multitude of culinary landmarks just a few steps from your office … Since then, Jon Lu has been to at least 300 different restaurants each year, starting with popular cafes and boutiques. This journey continues until he graduates in 2019 and there is no sign of stopping in the future. (According to CNN)

Qian was born when the last Chinese dynasty was about to be replaced by a republic. From a young age, Qian was gifted and eventually, he graduated with distinction from Shanghai Jiaotong University, winning a rare scholarship from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in America. Qian Xuesen (Precursor of Ginseng) From MIT, Qian moved to the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), studying under one of the most influential Hungarian aeronautical engineers named Theodore von Karman. There Qian shares his office with another famous scientist, Frank Malina, who is a key member of a small group of innovators known as the Suicide Squad. Fraser MacDonald, author of “Escape from Earth: A Secret History of the Space Rocket”, said the group earned the nickname for its efforts. of them in building a rocket on campus and because of some of their experiments with volatile chemicals. At that time, rocket science was considered by MacDonald as “a tool of reelers and fantasies. No one takes it seriously – no mathematic engineer has risked their reputation in saying this is the future. But, that quickly changed when World War 2 began. The “suicide squad” attracted the attention of the US military and was funded for research on a jet-assisted takeoff method, where the boosters were attached to the wings of aircraft so they could fly. overhead from short runways. Military funding also helped establish the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in 1943, with its director, Theodore von Karman. Qian, along with Frank Malina, is at the center of the project. Qian is a Chinese citizen but the ROC is an ally of America, so “there is no great doubt that a Chinese scientist is at the heart of America’s space effort,” said Fraser Macdonald. Qian is licensed to work in the classified weapons research department and even served on the US Government Scientific Advisory Board. At the end of the war, Qian was one of the foremost experts in jet engines and was sent with Theodore von Karman on an extraordinary mission to Germany, serving as a temporary lieutenant colonel. Their goal was to interview Nazi engineers, including Wernher von Braun, Germany’s top missile scientist. America wants to find out exactly what the Germans know. But, by the end of the decade, Qian’s sparkling career in America suddenly stopped. In China, Chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Meanwhile, a new JPL director believed there was a spy group at the laboratory and shared the suspicions. about a number of employees with the FBI. It is in this atmosphere that the FBI accuses Qian, Frank Malina and others of threats to national security. The allegations against Qian are based on 1938 US Communist Party documents that show Qian attended a social gathering that the FBI suspected was a meeting of the Communist Party of Pasadena. Zuoyue Wang, a history professor at California State Polytechnic University, claims there is no evidence that Qian ever spied for China or was an intelligence agent while he lived in the US. However, Qian was stripped of his security passport and placed under house arrest. Caltech colleagues, including Theodore von Karman, wrote to the government pleading for Qian’s innocence but to no avail. In 1955, after Qian was under house arrest for five years, President Eisenhower decided to expel him to China. The scientist left by boat with his wife and two children born in America. Qian told reporters he would never set foot in America again and that he kept his promise. When he arrived in the US, Qian had very little knowledge of rocket science. But, 15 years later, he oversaw the launch of the first Chinese satellite into space. For decades, Qian trained a new generation of scientists, and his work laid the foundation for China to send people to the Moon. While most Americans know nothing about Qian and his role in the US space program, Tianyu Fang said many Chinese Americans and Chinese students in the US knew about him, why he had to leave. and they see similarities today. “US relations with China have become so much worse that they know they could be suspected of being like Qian’s generation,” Fang commented. In Fraser MacDonald’s view, Qian’s story is a warning about what happens when knowledge shredding. “The whole story of American science is that it was driven by people from outside.” MacDonald believes that JPL’s contribution to the American space program was far ignored compared to Wernher von Braun and other German scientists, who were secretly arriving in America shortly after von Karman and Qian’s visit. Braun was once a Nazi but his achievements are recognized. Whereas the achievements of Qian and others from the JPL are not. Qian’s life lasted for nearly a century. During that time, China has grown from an uneconomical country into a superpower on Earth and in space. Qian is part of that transformation. But, Qian’s story can also be a great American one – where talent can flourish wherever talent is found.

Technician places the MOXIE device inside the Perseverance vessel in the laboratory in Pasadena, California, USA, March 2019. (Photo: AFP / VNA) After the Ingenuity mini helicopter made history by successfully making its first flight on another planet (Mars) a few days ago, the US Aviation and Space Agency’s Perseverance expedition ship ( NASA) continues to make a spectacular new mark when it first created oxygen on the “Red Planet.” NASA’s announcement on April 21 states that the Perseverance explorer has made history by successfully converting carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere into oxygen. This is the first time creating oxygen is done on another planet. “This is the first important step in converting carbon dioxide (CO2) into oxygen on Mars,” said Jim Reuter, NASA’s space technology mission executive vice president. The Mars experiment using local oxygen resources, called MOXIE, is a device the size of an automobile battery and is located inside, in front of the right side of the Perseverance. The device uses electrochemical methods to split carbon dioxide molecules, made up of one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms, and produces a carbon monoxide by-product. Manufactured by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), MOXIE is made of a heat-resistant material like a nickel alloy and is designed to withstand extreme temperatures up to 800 degrees Celsius. The device is coated with a thin layer of gold. so as not to radiate heat and harm the Perseverance vessel. On the first test run, MOXIE generated 5.4 grams of oxygen – enough for an astronaut to breathe easily for 10 minutes while still performing normal activities. Engineers will conduct more tests and find ways to increase oxygen production. By design, MOXIE can generate 10 grams of oxygen per hour. “MOXIE has a lot to do, but the results from this technology demonstration are promising as we move towards our goal of one day seeing humans on Mars,” said Jim Reuter. Tests for MOXIE will be divided into three phases. The first stage is to test and characterize the equipment. Stage two will evaluate the performance of MOXIE under a variety of atmospheric conditions. In the final phase, researchers will step up the operation of the equipment, which includes testing new operating modes or adding functionality. NASA expects the development of experimental instruments not only to help generate oxygen for astronauts in the future, but also to help generate large amounts of oxygen to be used as rocket launchers for the return journey. Not transported from Earth. According to MIT engineer Michael Hecht, a one-ton version of MOXIE can generate about 25 tons of oxygen needed for a rocket to take off from Mars. Production of oxygen from the atmosphere is 96% carbon dioxide’s Mars It may be a more viable option than extracting subsurface magnetic ice and electrolysis to produce oxygen. Ms. Trudy Kortes – Technology Demonstration Director NASA “MOXIE is not only the first instrument of oxygen production in another world, but the first technology of its kind that helps future missions use elements of another world environment, also known as on-premises resource use. ” Expedition ship Perseverance landed on Mars on February 18, on a mission to search for signs of microbial life on the “Red Planet.” In the coming years, the Perseverance ship aims to collect 30 soil and rock samples to send back to Earth (estimated around 2030) for analysis.

Using computational tools, researchers can virtually open a complicated folded letter from 1697. These are complex techniques to help recipients detect if a message has been tampered with. To date, scientists say letters over 300 years old can be read without opening. Read letters using algorithm During research at the Vatican Secret Archives, conservator Janaa Dambrogio at the MIT Library (Massachusetts Institute of Technology in America) unearthed Renaissance letters with strange cuts and angles. . She found these were signs that they were initially locked with a sliding paper slot and sealed with wax. Such letters cannot be opened without tearing the letter – which helps the recipient to see if the letter has been read or not. After studying 250,000 ancient letters, Dambrogio and her colleagues invented the first system for classifying key-lettering techniques. This is a type of periodic table based on how to crease pages. “Mail lock is 10 thousand years old technology and since people try to secure their mail, gradually they have come to know the key features of mail lock” – Ms. Dambrogio said. Until now, scientists have only read these letters by cutting them out and often corrupting the letters. Although such work naturally focuses on the content of the letter, it is also important to research the letter lock. Dambrogio and her colleagues have devised a way to both read the locked letter’s text without opening it, while at the same time reconstructing the intricate folds and gaps used to fix it. “This is an interesting and pretty big contribution over the decades to the search for artifacts that have barely been opened yet,” said computer scientist Brent Seales at the University of Kentucky. He is not involved in this study. The scientists investigated the Brienne Collection – a postmaster’s chest containing more than 3,000 unsent letters, of which 577 were never opened. Letters sent from all over Europe to the Dutch city of The Hague between 1680 and 1706, the era when Salem witch trials unfold, Newton revealed his law of motion and gravity. King Louis XIV moved the court to Versailles. First, the researchers analyzed four envelopes by scanning high-resolution X-rays to create 3D models of the letter. They then use a new algorithm to identify and separate different layers of folded letters and recognize the written text. In the end, the algorithm virtually unfolds the letters, not only making the handwriting visible, but also records the crease patterns so that the researchers can re-create the step-by-step letter locking process. Scientists use technology to read locked letters dating back centuries. Open up many research directions Scientists have found a way to read the letter without breaking its seal or opening it in any way. Using highly sensitive X-ray scanners and computer algorithms, researchers can read these sealed letters. The new strategy above helps scientists read the text in unopened messages for the first time. For example, an unopened letter is from a man named Jacques Sennacques, dated 31/7/1679 to his cousin Pierre Le Pers – a French businessman in The Hague. Perhaps this letter was intended to obtain a certified copy of the death certificate of a relative, Dainel Le Pers, regarding the inheritance issue. The scientists detailed their findings in the recent Nature Communications journal. This new technique will also work for other collections of unsent mail around the world. For example, “there are so many old origami art pieces that the way they were created has never been recorded,” said study co-author Erik Demaine, a computer scientist at MIT – “The idea of ​​scanning them so they can replicate the way they are folded is really interesting.” The historian Howard Hotson at the University of St Anne in Oxford, UK was not involved in the study, however he stressed that future research on locked letters could shed light on cultural patterns and patterns. global technology exchange “because sophisticated mail locking techniques have been transferred from one country, sector or continent to the respective places over the long period in which it is used”. Scientists are making their technology and open source available for others to use and possibly improve. “We see this as the starting point for many future research directions,” said co-author of the study, algorithm engineer Amanda Ghasaei at Adobe Research in San Francisco.