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With thousands of species at risk of extinction, scientists have devised a radical plan: a vault filled with preserved samples of our planet’s most important and at-risk creatures located on the moon.

An international team of experts says threats from climate change and habitat loss have outpaced our ability to protect species in their natural habitats, necessitating urgent action. A biorepository of preserved cells, and the crucial DNA within them, could be used to enhance genetic diversity in small populations of critically endangered species, or to clone and create new individuals in the worst-case scenario of extinction.

A repository to safeguard biological samples from disaster is not a new idea. The Svalbard global seed vault on a remote Norwegian island in the Arctic Circle provides frozen storage of seeds to ensure important food crops can be re-established if wiped out by disease or drought. Recent flooding as a result of warm temperatures, however, has proven that not even Svalbard is safe from the effects of climate breakdown.


“If there had not been people there, flooding could have damaged the biorepository,” said the proposal’s lead author, Dr Mary Hagedorn of the Smithsonian’s national zoo and conservation biology institute.

War also poses a threat to biorepositories on Earth, she noted, citing the destruction of Ukraine’s seed bank in 2022.

“So all in all, the idea of having a really secure, passive biorepository for safeguarding Earth’s biodiversity seems like a really good idea.”…….

www.theguardian.com

Scientists propose lunar biorepository as ‘backup’ for life on Earth

Experts say facility beyond reach of climate breakdown and other terrestrial events is needed to safeguard biodiversity
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
Nasa may have found evidence of past alien lifeon Mars.

The space agency says that its rover, Perseverance, has found a rock that might once have been host to microbial life, billions of years ago.

A host of notable traits found on the rock suggest that it is possible that it is evidence that there is life on the red planet. Researchers say that it is filled with organic compounds, shows that water once flowed through it, and is marked with specks of the kind that on Earth usually signal life.

The Perseverance rover has used onboard instruments to examine the rock, nicknamed “Cheyava Falls” and shaped like an arrowhead. That analysis showed that it had chemical signatures and structures that might have been formed by ancient life forms.

That life was probably microbial, and lived billions of years ago when parts of Mars had flowing water. But it would be the first ever firm indication that Mars was once inhabited – and of any kind of life on another planet.……

www.independent.co.uk

Nasa might have found evidence of life on Mars

Rock discovered by Perseverance rover might once have been home to microbial life
www.independent.co.uk www.independent.co.uk
 
Scientists have developed a “holy grail” insulin that responds to changing blood sugar levels in real-time and could revolutionise treatment for millions of people with type 1 diabetes worldwide.

Patients currently have to give themselves synthetic insulin up to 10 times a day in order to survive. Constant fluctuation between high and low blood sugar levels can result in short- and long-term physical health issues, and the struggle to keep levels stable can also affect their mental health.

Scientists have found a solution that experts say comes as close to a cure for type 1 diabetes as any drug therapy could: smart insulin that lays dormant in the body and only springs into action when needed. Researchers in the US, Australia and China have successfully designed novel insulins that mimic the body’s natural response to changing blood sugar levels and respond instantly in real time.


Standard insulins stabilise blood sugar levels when they enter the body, but once they have done their job, they typically cannot help with future fluctuations. It means patients often need to inject more insulin again within just a few hours.…….

www.theguardian.com

Scientists hail ‘smart’ insulin that responds to changing blood sugar levels in real time

Exclusive: People with type 1 diabetes may in future only need to give themselves insulin once a week, say experts
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
Vast amounts of water could be trapped deep within the crust of Mars, scientists have said, raising fresh questions about the possibility of life on the red planet.

Scientists say that more than 3bn years ago, Mars not only had lakes and rivers but oceans on its surface – however, as the planet lost its atmosphere these bodies disappeared. All that is visible today is permafrost ice at the planet’s poles.

While it is thought some of the water was lost to space, research has suggested that is not the full story, and that water could have been incorporated into minerals, buried as ice, or even exist in liquid form deep within the planet’s crust.


Now scientists say their calculations suggest vast quantities of liquid water are to be found trapped within rocks about 11.5-20km below the Martian surface.

“Our liquid water estimate is more than the water volumes proposed to have filled possible ancient Martian oceans,” said Dr Vashan Wright, a co-author of the study from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego.……

www.theguardian.com

New hope of finding life on Mars after indication of water, scientists say

Liquid amounting to a 1-2km-deep ocean may be frozen up to 20km below surface, calculations suggest
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
Optimus Prime said:
Vast amounts of water could be trapped deep within the crust of Mars, scientists have said, raising fresh questions about the possibility of life on the red planet.

Scientists say that more than 3bn years ago, Mars not only had lakes and rivers but oceans on its surface – however, as the planet lost its atmosphere these bodies disappeared. All that is visible today is permafrost ice at the planet’s poles.

While it is thought some of the water was lost to space, research has suggested that is not the full story, and that water could have been incorporated into minerals, buried as ice, or even exist in liquid form deep within the planet’s crust.


Now scientists say their calculations suggest vast quantities of liquid water are to be found trapped within rocks about 11.5-20km below the Martian surface.

“Our liquid water estimate is more than the water volumes proposed to have filled possible ancient Martian oceans,” said Dr Vashan Wright, a co-author of the study from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego.……

www.theguardian.com

New hope of finding life on Mars after indication of water, scientists say

Liquid amounting to a 1-2km-deep ocean may be frozen up to 20km below surface, calculations suggest
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
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