Search Results (3)

Parabolic flights are one of the most important pillars for research, development, and applications in space. Accordingly, we developed the world’s first non-governmental parabolic flight program using Novespace’s Airbus A310 ZERO-G. Through the flexible combination of academic research with industrial experiments, as well as with the support of private persons and low administrative efforts, we achieved a highly cost-efficient small-scale campaign concept, which is located at the Air Base Dübendorf in Switzerland. The program was very successful, and it resulted in 31 experiments and tests conducted by Universities and organizations in the industry in microgravity, culminating in many scientific publications and in larger subsequent projects for all users. We describe here how we designed, developed, tested, and built up this program. We also discuss the difficulties, problems, and success factors of a project that—for the first time—was successfully built from the “bottom-up”, and which was a large-scale flight research platform by scientists for scientists on a voluntary, non-governmental, and non-commercial basis. Full article

Changes in magmatism and sedimentation along the late Neoproterozoic-early Paleozoic Ross orogenic belt in Antarctica have been linked to the cessation of convergence along the Mozambique belt during the assembly of East-West Gondwana. However, these interpretations are non-unique and are based, in part, on limited thermochronological data sets spread out along large sectors of the East Antarctic margin. We report new ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar hornblende, muscovite, and biotite age data for plutonic (n = 13) and metasedimentary (n = 3) samples from the Shackleton–Liv Glacier sector of the Queen Maud Mountains in Antarctica. Cumulative ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age data show polymodal age peaks (510 Ma, 491 Ma, 475 Ma) that lag peaks in U-Pb igneous crystallization ages, suggesting igneous and metamorphic cooling following magmatism within the region. The ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar ages are similar to ages in other sectors of the Ross orogen, but younger than detrital mineral ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar cooling ages indicative of older magmatism and cooling of unexposed inboard areas along the margin. Detrital zircon trace element abundances suggest that the widespread onset of magmatism in outboard localities of the orogen correlates with a ~560–530 Ma decrease in crustal thickness. The timing of crustal thinning recorded by zircon in magmas overlaps with other evidence for the timing of crustal extension, suggesting that the regional onset of magmatism with subsequent igneous and metamorphic cooling probably reflects slab rollback that coincided with possible global plate motion changes induced during the final assembly of Gondwana. Full article

Genome editing (GE) represents a powerful approach to fight inherited blinding diseases in which the underlying mutations cause the degeneration of the light sensing photoreceptor cells of the retina. Successful GE requires the efficient repair of DNA double-stranded breaks (DSBs) generated during the treatment. Rod photoreceptors of adult mice have a highly specialized chromatin organization, do not efficiently express a variety of DSB response genes and repair DSBs very inefficiently. The DSB repair efficiency in rods of other species including humans is unknown. Here, we used ionizing radiation to analyze the DSB response in rods of various nocturnal and diurnal species, including genetically modified mice, pigs, and humans. We show that the inefficient repair of DSBs in adult mouse rods does not result from their specialized chromatin organization. Instead, the DSB repair efficiency in rods correlates with the level of Kruppel-associated protein-1 (KAP1) expression and its ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM)-dependent phosphorylation. Strikingly, we detected robust KAP1 expression and phosphorylation only in human rods but not in rods of other diurnal species including pigs. Hence, our study provides important information about the uniqueness of the DSB response in human rods which needs to be considered when choosing model systems for the development of GE strategies. Full article