The brightest take on this week’s science
What a historic week!
Humans have now traveled further into space than ever before.
Plus, back on Earth, we just got the first clear evidence that wild chimpanzees engage in ‘civil warfare’.
Jane Goodall might have been right all along…
Also in this issue:
🩸 An immune ‘reset’ with incredible results
🤯 A mind-blowing fact about splashdown
🔬 A microscope mystery
Off we go!
LOOK UP
Humans Travel Further into Space Than Ever Before
NASA astronaut Christina Koch looking back at Earth through the main windows of the Orion spacecraft Integrity. (NASA)
Earth has never looked so distant to the human eye.
On Monday, NASA’s Artemis II mission officially carried four humans farther into space than ever before:
A whopping 406,771 kilometers (252,756 miles) from our planet.
From that unique vantage point, the far side of the Moon looks absolutely stunning.
As the Orion spacecraft swung around our neighboring satellite, the astronauts on board lost contact with Earth for about 40 minutes.
But the moment of silence ended with a gorgeous sight: our planet rising from the surface of the Moon.
Mission accomplished!
Now for a safe return home…
HEADLINES
This Week in Science
LOOK OUT
Wild Chimps Caught in a Rare ‘Civil War’
A chimpanzee in Kibale National Park, Uganda, bares its teeth before a fight. (Moritz Wolf/imageBROKER/Getty Images)
Scientists have caught the largest group of wild chimpanzees in the world engaging in a bloody ‘civil war’.
The late Jane Goodall noticed similar behaviors among a different chimp community way back in the 1970s, but this is the first clear evidence of a group fissioning and fighting each other.
In 2015, after years of peaceful coexistence, scientists in the rainforests of Uganda watched as a group of wild chimps fractured into two separate clusters.
What was once the center of the community became a border, patrolled by both sides.
Then, the encounters turned aggressive.
Each year, the smaller ‘rebel’ group of chimps killed numerous individuals in the larger group, including infants.
The reasons for their attacks may help us better understand the evolutionary roots of human war and peace.
ZOOM ZONE
Microscope Mystery: What Do You See?
(Connect Images/Getty Images)
A) Uterus
B) Moss
C) Bark
D) Fly wing
Answer at the bottom.
LOW-KEY GENIUS
Immune ‘Reset’ Puts 3 Diseases in Remission
An artist's impression of a CAR T cell. (Nemes Laszlo/Science Photo Library/Getty Images)
A 47-year-old woman in Germany with three different autoimmune diseases has entered complete remission after an experimental immune system ‘reset’.
The patient no longer requires daily blood transfusions, almost a year later.
The incredible treatment is called Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR-) T cell therapy.
It essentially takes a person’s immune cells, teaches them to hunt down specific targets, and then returns them to the body.
The therapy is still experimental, but in this case, it put the woman’s three autoimmune conditions into remission in just 25 days.
Her blood platelet counts had finally normalized, and she could stop taking medication for blood clots.
WOW FACTOR
Science Fact of The Week
(NASA)
When the Orion spacecraft plummets back to Earth on Friday, friction from our planet’s atmosphere will cause superheated plasma to build up around the vehicle.
Temperatures are expected to reach nearly 1,650 degrees Celsius (around 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit), temporarily blocking communication with the crew.
You can watch the splashdown live here.
DOPAMINE HIT
Before You Go…
It’s been a while since we’ve seen an Earthrise…
(Gif by NASA on Giphy)
Microscope answer: Uterus
The surface of the uterus contains a thick lining called the endometrium. It regenerates approximately 400 times over a lifetime of menstruation.
That’s all for today… see you next week!
- Carly
