54 years ago today, My Sweet Lord by George Harrison reached number 1 on the UK pop charts. It would hold the same position in the US, Ireland, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, West Germany, Japan, and others. His first single as a solo artist, the song was the first number-one single by an ex-Beatle. It was also a worldwide call to abandon religious secularism by blending the Hebrew word hallelujah with a Vedic mantra in praise of the Hindu god Krishna. READ more… (1972)
“Everything is on fire–but everyone I love is doing beautiful things and trying to make life worth living.” – Nikita Gill
Quote of the Day: “Everything is on fire–but everyone I love is doing beautiful things and trying to make life worth living.” – Nikita Gill
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Arizona Man Who Never Stopped Trying is Reunited with Dog Lost 8 Years Ago in Another State
A man was recently reunited with his beloved pooch Damian after 8 years of separation.
He’s far from the puppy he was when he ran off at a rest stop in Oklahoma, with longer teeth, wobbly legs, and a grey snout, but he hadn’t forgotten his owner’s face even after so many years.
The story begins in 2017 when Paul Guilbeault and his family were moving from Massachusetts to Arizona. At the rest stop, miniature Pincher Damian got spooked, jumped off his leash, and disappeared. A week of searching yielded as much as the first minute of searching, and finally, Paul’s father told him and his family it was time to move on.
“It was devastating—that dog got me through a lot of emotional things, family issues and whatnot, just being there for me as a companion,” Guilbeault told ABC News. “I was his everything, as he was mine, and losing him was really, really tough.”
Years went by, and Guilbeault never gave up hope of seeing Damian again; routinely posting the dog’s face on social media pages for lost animals.
Then one day, a woman from Oklahoma City nearly ran over a small brown dog who darted across the road. Alighting to pick him up, she said the dog tried to bite her, but as luck would have it she was an animal lover, and wasn’t going to let their close call be replicated.
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Bringing Damian to her brother, who then took him to the vet, they scanned for a microchip. Minutes later, whilst Guilbeault and his husband were driving to LA to donate clothes to victims of the recent wildfires, he got the text of a lifetime.
“My Apple Watch gave me a little preview, and it said, ‘Your dog, Damian, has been found,'” he recalled. “And I was like, ‘What the …?!'”
MORE REUNIONS: Cat Missing for 7 Years is Reunited with Family in a ‘Christmas Miracle’
That spurred a detour of 16 hours that led to an unforgettable reunion.
Guilbeault and Damian have been making up for lost time, going to the park everyday, with the former keeping a close eye on his owner to make sure there are no more separations.
WATCH the video below from ABC News…
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Lacking Ninja Training, Trapped Turtle is Rescued from City Sewer by Police and Firefighters
Fire department officers on Florida’s Sanibel Island were alerted to the plight of a local turtle who had fallen into the sewer.
What’s more, it seemed to the first responders that the terapin lacked certain mutations and ninja-like agility known to be common in sewer turtles, and therefore needed someone else to save it.
Captain Robert Wilkins and his team received the call from a local on a December day shortly before Christmas.
“The call came into the firehouse and the lady was obviously distraught,” Wilkins said. “She was telling us the turtle was in a drain and it had been there for three or four days. She’d called multiple people to help it and no one was coming.”
A sanctuary island for species of all stripes, the drain was located in a nearby strip mall. Down below, there was enough water to keep the turtle’s skin moist, but all around were piles of muck and debris.
Wilkins and his team told local news that the turtle was armed with neither samurai swords nor nunchucks, and despite the shortsighted decision not to bring any pizza, the turtle surprisingly didn’t ask for any.
Opening the grate, two of the fire department officers lowered a third down into the small shaft by his legs. Firefighter Allen Schelm volunteered for the job, and managed to get the turtle out single-handedly.
Fort Myers News-Press reports that the trio has earned new nicknames, including “Michelangelo.”
MORE WILDLIFE RESCUES: Watch Arizona Firefighters Rescue Entangled Hawk: ‘Humans, Pets, Animals–We Take Care of Them All’
“We may or may not have ordered some rubber duckies with that written on them,” Schelm joked. But for the turtle itself, locals on scene drew from a different inspiration than Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
MORE WILDLIFE RESCUES: Watch Rope-Dangling Rescue of Young Mountain Lions Before Dam Deluge ‘Likely Would Have Drowned Them’
“We held him up and asked them what he should be called,” and some children said, “Mr. Pickles, because he had gotten himself in a pickle.”
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Ominous and Helmeted, New Species of Giant Crustacean Named After Darth Vader of the Deep Seas
Though recently gaining the limelight as a superior alternative to lobster tail, a species of giant isopod is making headlines for another reason: it was never officially entered into the scientific record.
Now that it has, it happened to be through the work of Peter Ng, a “carcinologist” or crustacean researcher (i.e. cancer, in both definitions) who happened to note that the armored plates covering this creature looked like a certain Hollywood villain’s famous helmet.
“I am the biggest Star Wars fan in the team, as it’s my vintage. The first movie was in 1977, in my youth, and it was cool,” study co-author Peter Ng, a carcinologist, or crustacean researcher, at the National University of Singapore, tells New Scientist’s James Woodford. “But we all agree that the face of Bathynomus looks so much like Darth Vader that it just had to be named after the Sith Lord.”
Bathynomus vaderi lives in the depths of the ocean around the contested Spratley Islands, and perhaps a much wider ecosystem in the South China Sea. Known in Vietnam where they’re eaten as a delicacy as bọ biển or “sea bug,” Bathynomus vaderi belongs to a genus of strange underwater crustaceans with seven pairs of legs.
They inhabit the Bathypelagic zone, or the region of the ocean where light cannot reach, easily grow over 1 foot in length, and can weigh 2 pounds.
In 2022, the researchers acquired four of these giant isopods from fishmongers in the Vietnamese city of Quy Nhơn, reports Margherita Bassi at Smithsonian Magazine. Through comparisons to other isopods and analysis of DNA, they realized they were dealing with a species that had never been officially described.
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According to a statement from the researchers, its discovery should act as a rallying cry to better explore the deeper areas of the sea.
“That a species as large as this could have stayed hidden for so long reminds us just how much work we still need to do to find out what lives in Southeast Asian waters,” the statement read.
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Asteroid ‘Bennu’ Found to Contain More Building Blocks for Life Than Any Sample Ever Found–An Ancient Brine of Multivitamins
In 2018, a NASA mission arrived at the near-Earth asteroid Bennu to collect pristine samples to be analyzed on Earth.
It turns out, there have never been more ingredients for life identified in a single extraterrestrial material of any kind. Indeed, Bennu carried all five DNA and RNA nucleo-bases, and enough amino acids to look like a multivitamin supplement.
The mission was called OSIRIS-REx, and was the first in human history to land on an asteroid and bring a sample back from its surface. Inside, 14 of the 20 amino acids contained in life on Earth, including all 9 of the essential amino acids, blended in “interesting ways,” with another 19 non-protein amino acids that are rare or absent in known biology.
“We now know from Bennu that the raw ingredients of life were combining in really interesting and complex ways on Bennu’s parent body,” said Tim McCoy, the Smithsonian Museum’s curator of meteorites and the co-lead author of the new paper. “We have discovered that next step on a pathway to life.”
Bennu’s parent asteroid, which formed around 4.5 billion years ago, seems to have been home to pockets of liquid water. Bennu was also found to be rich in nitrogen and ammonia-bearing compounds and the new findings indicate that water evaporated and left behind brines that resemble the salty crusts of dry lakebeds on Earth.
The theory of how life emerged without the existence of a creator is known as prebiotic organic synthesis, which is believed to have most likely taken place in liquid water with this sort of elemental configuration to play with.
The Bennu samples were rich in sodium carbonate, which had never been found before in meteorites and asteroids. On Earth, sodium carbonates often resemble baking soda and naturally occur in evaporated lakes that were rich in sodium, such as Searles Lake in the Mojave Desert.
Bennu’s brine differs from terrestrial brines due to its mineral makeup. For example, the Bennu samples are rich in phosphorus, which is abundant in meteorites and relatively scarce on Earth. The samples also largely lack boron, which is a common element in hypersaline soda lakes on Earth but extremely rare in meteorites.
ON THIS TOPIC: Scientists Studying Asteroid Sample Say it Could Have Come from Ocean World
The researchers posit that similar brines likely still exist on other extraterrestrial bodies, including the dwarf planet Ceres and Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus where spacecraft have detected sodium carbonate.
MORE FROM THE SEARCH FOR LIFE: Tiny Planet Makes Big Splash as Surprise Study Shows it May Be Producing its Own Organic Compounds
While the Bennu brines contain an intriguing suite of minerals and elements, it remains unclear if the local environment was suitable for crafting these ingredients into highly complex organic structures.
“We now know we have the basic building blocks to move along this pathway towards life, but we don’t know how far along that pathway this environment could allow things to progress,” McCoy said.
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“What do you hang on the walls of your mind?” – Eve Arnold
Quote of the Day: “What do you hang on the walls of your mind?” – Eve Arnold
Photo by: JOSHUA COLEMAN (cropped)
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Good News in History, January 30
50 years ago today, Hungarian sculptor and architecture professor Ernő Rubik applied for a patent for his “Magic Cube” in Hungary. The first Rubik’s Cubes reached Budapest toy shops two years later. READ what Rubik was up to when he invented the cube… (1975)
Classy Ravens Fans Return the Favor for Foes–After Bills Player Drops Ball in Heartbreaking Playoff Loss
The quality among Baltimore Ravens fans have donated to a GoFundMe to raise money for an autism charity supported by Buffalo Bills tight end Dalton Kincaid, who just dropped a key pass that could have taken the franchise to the Super Bowl and enraged some in the fan base.
In a bizarre reversal of circumstances, the fundraiser mirrors what happened last week: when Bills fans set up a GoFundMe to raise money for a diabetes charity supported by Ravens tight end, Mark Andrews, who also dropped a key pass that may have taken his franchise to the Super Bowl.
Two tight ends, two missed passes, two class fan bases, two good causes: it’s quite the story.
Kincaid allowed a pass to slip between his body and arms in the Bills’ 32-29 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in a game that decided who would play the Philidelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl.
Ravens Flock, a Baltimore supporter group said that they would “return the favor.”
“As many of you know, Bills TE Dalton Kincaid made a phenomenal attempt to catch Josh Allen’s last pass of the season but couldn’t haul it in, upsetting a lot of Bills fans,” the Flock organizers wrote in their GoFundMe.
“We want Ravens Flock to donate to Summit Center for Autism, the charity Dalton works with, and try and return the favor Bills Mafia did for us and Mark Andrews. Let’s raise what we can, please repost!”
OTHER INSPIRING CROWDFUNDING: Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy Channels Thousands in Donations to Save Baltimore Pizzeria
Bills Mafia is known for cheekily donating to charitable causes held dear by players on opposing teams that the Bills defeat, and managed to raise $147,000 for a charity supported by Ravens tight end Andrews, whose failed catch in the End Zone allowed the Bills to advance to play the Chiefs.
Andrews is a type-1 diabetic and regularly works with a charity working to find a cure called Breakthrough TD1, which was recently given this massive haul by the generous fan base from Buffalo.
READ THE FIRST STORY: After Ravens Player Drops Ball to End Playoff Hopes, Opposing Bills Fans Honor Him, Raise $140k for His Charity
At the time of writing, the Ravens Flock have put together $17,000 for Autism work, just $3,000 shy of the $20k goal.
It’s a lovely demonstration of how Buffalo might triumph over Baltimore, and Kansas City might triumph over Buffalo, but at the end of the day, though we come from different cities and wear different colored toques, scarves, and jerseys, we all live in the same society and face the same challenges.
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After 5 Year Ban on Direct Flights Between China and India, Border Relations Thaw as Planes Resume
There are few things as important for global human flourishing as keeping the two most populous nations, which happen to be two of the 5 largest national manufacturers, at peace.
That’s exactly what foreign ministry delegations from India and China have worked towards for a number of months, culminating in a recent agreement to resume the commercial flight traffic that once totaled 500 direct trips per month.
Relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbors have remained frosty since a 2020 clash high in the Himalayas.
Along a disputed border over 12,000 feet above sea level in a Himalayan region called Ladakh, both sides claim territory the other considers theirs. This dispute hasn’t boiled over into conflict since the 1960s. However, in 2020, squadrons of troops clashed while running into each other on patrol. No shots were fired, in keeping with a ceasefire agreement from the ’70s, but the forces opted to engage in something like a street brawl, leaving over 20 dead.
Direct flights between India and China were suspended, Indian Buddhist pilgrims were prevented from visiting Tibet, numerous Chinese apps, products, and investments were banned in India, and security presences along the disputed “Line of Actual Control” in Ladakh grew menacingly dense.
But the Asian giants are set for a defrost after high-level meetings led by foreign ministers Wang Yi and S. Jaishankar.
“The improvement and development of China-India relations is fully in line with the fundamental interests of the two countries,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said.
MORE POSITIVE DIPLOMACY: Historic Prisoner Swap Frees Americans Held in Russia After Years-Long, Multi-Nation Diplomacy
Flights were interrupted by COVID-19 restrictions, and though service between India and Hong Kong resumed, those of the mainland did not.
Other restrictions, including controls on the grazing rights of the Himalayan cultures in Ladakh, and Chinese-imposed restrictions on access to Tibet, have also been lifted recently.
OTHER INDIAN NEWS: India Law Allows Villagers to Claim 2000 Acres of Bamboo Forest to Turn Poverty into Prosperity
On the Hindu holiday of Diwali, Chinese military units visited the Indian border checkpoints loaded with presents to offer their counterparts as a preview of these warming relations on the very brow of the world
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A Breath Closer to Alzheimer’s Cure: How Xenon Gas Could Transform Treatments
A general anesthetic has been found to have the potentially added benefit of stimulating a neuroprotective effect against Alzheimer’s disease.
Xenon is a colorless, odorless noble gas used for many purposes in science, but a recent study in mice found it stimulated the brain’s resident immune system, which can protect against Alzheimer’s, leading to reduced neuroinflammation and minimized brain atrophy, and promoted protective neuronal states.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most prevalent neurodegenerative disease in humans. Believed to be caused by the build-up of toxic proteins called tau and beta-amyloid in the brain, drugs that clear these snags haven’t been able to slow the progression of the disease. As a result, neither the driver nor the cure is well-understood.
Microglia, the brain’s most common immune cell, play a critical role in preventing cognitive decline throughout life, and coupled with cerebral spinal fluid, actually help remove tau and amyloid proteins.
Inhaled Xenon gas was found in laboratory work at Brigham and Women’s Hospital to treat a mouse model of Alzheimer’s in which one group was suffering from a build-up of tau, and a second from a build-up of beta-amyloid.
Able to cross the blood-brain barrier, Xenon gas seemed to perk the mice right up, which became particularly active in the building and maintaining of their nests. Post-trial examinations found that the gas induced and increased a protective microglial response typical of the kind that clears tau and beta-amyloid proteins.
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“It is a very novel discovery showing that simply inhaling an inert gas can have such a profound neuroprotective effect,” said senior and co-corresponding author Oleg Butovsky, PhD and director of the lab where the research took place at Brigham and Women’s.
“One of the main limitations in the field of Alzheimer’s disease research and treatment is that it is extremely difficult to design medications that can pass the blood-brain barrier—but Xenon gas does. We look forward to seeing this novel approach tested in humans.”
MORE ALZHEIMER’S NEWS: Alzheimer’s Memory Loss Reversed in Mice After Scientists Discover Method to Form New Brain Cells
“It is exciting that in both animal models that model different aspects of Alzheimer’s disease, amyloid pathology in one model and tau pathology in another model, that Xenon had protective effects in both situations,” said senior and co-corresponding author David M. Holtzman, MD.
Healthy volunteers are currently being enrolled at the hospital for a phase 1 trial on dosage and safety. Sci Tech Daily reports the team is also devising technologies to help use Xenon gas more efficiently as well as to potentially recycle it.
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New Class of Matter Behaves Like a Solid and a Granule in Way Never Seen Before
From the depths of the engineering department at California Technical Institute comes a big one: a new class of matter.
Though scientists are trained not to be, maybe laboratory director Chiara Daraio was being hyperbolic when she described the new material as such, but she and the team that invented it claim it behaves as both a solid and a grain.
The materials are called polycatenated architectured materials, or PAMs, and when they are compressed, they act like the hard crystalline latticework in a solid, but when they are subjected to sheer force or lateral force, they behave like a Newtonian liquid, or more specifically, like a grain—such as sand or rice—simply reorganizing their structure to accommodate the motion.
A little like the autolock on a seatbelt, only when the compressive force is ended completely do the PAMs revert to their granular, or liquid state.
“We all have a clear distinction in mind when we think of solid materials and granular matter,” Daraio told Caltech Press. “Solid materials are often described as crystalline lattices. This is what you see in the classic ball-and-stick models of atomic, chemical, or larger crystalline structures.”
“It is these materials that have formed our conventional understanding of solid matter. The other class of materials is granular, as we see in substances like rice, flour, or ground coffee. These materials are made up of discrete particles, free to move and slide relative to one another,” she said, adding that PAMs defy this binary classification.
“With PAMs, the individual particles are linked as they are in crystalline structures, and yet, because these particles are free to move relative to one another, they flow, they slide on top of each other, and they change their relative positions, more like grains of sand.”
On a very technical level, the team behind their design used computer modeling to mimic how the lattice-work structure in a solid is formed while replacing the fixed particles at the level of the joints with linked ones which allow for dynamic movement and interchangeability between the elements in an essentially infinite number of possible configurations.
There’s something in the invention reminiscent of medieval chain mail, which was designed to prevent the shearing force of blades with hardness, and absorb and disperse incoming energy like water.
PAMs were brought to life in Daraio’s lab using 3D printing after experimenting with different materials, from acrylic polymer to metal.
CONTINUE EXPLORING THIS TOPIC: Shape-Shifting Fiber Produces Fabrics That Shrink or Expand in Real-Time and Fit into Existing Manufacturing
“We started with compression, compressing the objects a bit harder each time. Then we tried a simple shear, a lateral force, like what you would apply if you were trying to tear the material apart,” explained Wenjie Zhou, a postdoctoral scholar in Daraio’s lab.
“Finally, we did rheology tests, seeing how the materials responded to twisting, first slowly and then more quickly and strongly.”
MORE FUTURISTIC INVENTIONS: Holographic 3D Printing Has the Potential to Revolutionize Multiple Industries, Researchers Demonstrate
Daraio herself described them as really a “new class of matter” and said that they can take the form of squishy substances or metal substances as the case may be.
In terms of applications, the potential is vast, but soft robotics, biomedical tech, and a variety of protective, insulative gear and equipment appear as obvious fields and products for PAMs.
WATCH how these materials move in one’s hand…
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“America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense… human rights invented America.” – Jimmy Carter
Quote of the Day: “America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense… human rights invented America.” – Jimmy Carter
Photo by: Andrej Lisakov for Unsplash+
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Good News in History, January 29
61 years ago today, the iconic black comedy film Dr. Strangelove, premiered in American cinemas. Directed by the genius Stanley Kubrick, the film was terrifying in a new way, because of its seemingly accurate depiction of America’s hair-trigger nuclear war defense plans, which were later revealed by whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg and others. In fact, Ellsberg recounts in his book Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner, that he emerged with his closest friend from the darkness of the cinema into the light of a San Diego afternoon dazed and confused, thinking “how could Kubrick have gotten it so right?” READ more about this monumental film… (1964)
California Fire Chief Saves Altadena Homes from Blaze with Nothing but Milk and ‘a Couple Beers’
A California fire chief single-handedly saved his brother’s house and that of his neighbor, armed only with a carton of milk and a few beers.
Brian Fennessy said that was a first despite an almost 50-year career in firefighting.
As soon as Fennessy heard about the Eaten Fire springing in the canyon above Altadena, he was on his way to check on his brother. Unable to get in contact with them, the fire chief was going to help if he could.
But as he arrived in Altadena he got the phone call he so desperately wanted: confirmation that his brother and family had safely evacuated. Already in the area, Fennessy told KACB and CBS’ 60 Minutes that he thought he might as well check on his brother’s property.
Passing building after building either completely on fire or already burnt to the foundations, he found his brother’s home unengulfed along with the neighbor’s. However, he soon saw the gas meter in the back of the house had caught fire. Nearby, there was a hose, but no water came out.
“I thought I’ll check the refrigerator and all that was in there was some milk and a couple beers,” Fennessy told KABC.
MORE FIREFIGHTING STORIES: Hundreds Credit Hero’s Early Weather Predictions for Saving Them from the Eaton Fire
“Went back out and kind of ran back there and cooled it off and pulled it back a little bit,” he added. “It wasn’t completely out, so I wasn’t sure if it was going to rekindle, but it was all I could do.”
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As it turned out, it was enough, and the two homes remained the only ones in the whole neighborhood not burned down.
WATCH the story from ABC7 News…
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Two Hundred Companies Sign Up for Permanent Four-Day Work Week in the UK
A group of 200 UK businesses and charities have signed a pledge that company work weeks will be shortened to 4 days without a loss in pay
Including marketing and advertisement; tech, it, and software; and charity groups as well, the companies employ more than 5,000 people.
Organized by the 4 Day Week Foundation, it follows something less than a trend but more than a fad in which a mixture of employees and executives believe that a happier, more balanced workforce is key to driving productivity.
That balance, they would argue, can be achieved by far more people through the reduction of the 5-day work week to a 4-day one.
“[With] 50% more free time, a four-day week gives people the freedom to live happier, more fulfilling lives,” Joe Royle, the foundation’s campaign director, told the Guardian.
“As hundreds of British companies and one local council have already shown, a four-day week with no loss of pay can be a win-win for both workers and employers.”
This sentiment isn’t shared by all workplaces, but market competition should demonstrate over time whether or not firms that implement unorthodox work hours are in fact as productive or more so than traditional ones.
Economics says that with all else being equal, if enjoying more free time leads to greater employee retention and motivation, then these 4-day work week firms will begin to out-compete the old ones, which in turn will be forced to adapt or risk losing market share.
MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: Iceland Trots Out Service That Lets Horses Reply to Work Emails While You’re On Vacation
London firms have been the most enthusiastic, with 59% of the 200 workplaces being located in the capital. With so many firms for talented workers to choose from, it’s no wonder that some are looking to seek advantage in attracting this talent through more desirable working terms.
IN THE SAME VEIN: Instead of To-Do Lists, Your Wellbeing May Be Crying Out for a ‘To-Don’t’ List
Last year, GNN reported extensively on a report that was released by a county government in Washington called San Juan, detailing their one-year experiment with a 32-hour, or 4-day work week. In the report, quitting and retiring decreased by 48%, while 55% of employees said their workflow wasn’t interrupted even though they lost an entire working day’s worth of time to complete it.
Even in the famously hard-working nation of Japan, a 4-day workweek seems to strengthen productivity.
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Courtship, Escaping Predators, or Just for Fun: Why Do Stingrays Jump Out of the Water?
String rays and manta rays don’t just have wings for show—they actually use them to fly out of the water and through the air.
Described as “one of the most remarkable sights in the sea” by researchers studying ray breaching, it is as remarkable as it is mysterious; no one knows for sure why rays breach.
In the pristine tropical waters around Heron Island in southeast Queensland, near the Great Barrier Reef, Associate Professor Ian Tibbetts from the University of Queensland’s School of Environment has studied rays for years.
The stingrays in the area commonly find it in their interest to breach, leaping over 10 feet above the water before plunging back down. Both the large-bodied manta ray and the smaller stingrays, especially eagle rays, will breach, and the working hypothesis is that it helps remove parasites stuck to the ray’s skin.
MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: Fish Swim in Schools for Stealth–as 100 Fish Make Less Noise Than an Individual Swimming Alone
However, it’s also theorized as being a courtship ceremony, a dominance display between rival males, and even a fun way to pass the time.
“I rather like the fun idea, right? if you can, why not?” Dr. Tibbets said to ABC News Down Under.
Tibbets said that it’s the eagle rays that are the most common “fun jumpers” but mobula rays also jump—sometimes to confuse predators chasing them in shallow water.
“It’s seldom caught on camera because it’s quite a rapid event, but sometimes rays will have a series of jumps,” he said.
ALSO CHECK OUT: Watch a Huge Spotted Eagle Stingray Glide Majestically Around Scuba Diver
Yet another theory posits that multiple belly-flopping stingrays help send a loud underwater message to any itinerant rays that may have strayed from the group.
ABC News reports that the waters around Heron Island are a hotspot for watching ray jumping. This tiny never-before-inhabited spit of land is the center point of a national marine sanctuary that protects thousands of acres of lovely ocean habitat for reef sharks, sea turtles, colored fish of every description, and 12 species of ray.
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New Base Editing Gene Therapy Cures its First Patient: A Sickle-Cell Sufferer Now in the ‘Gym Every Day’
Though GNN has reported that several sickle cell disease patients have already been successfully treated with CRISPR gene editing technology, a new method of addressing this debilitating condition has been successfully demonstrated.
Braden Baptiste has had sickle cell crises since he was a toddler. It left him missing large chunks of school, left him repeatedly hospitalized, forced him to get replacement hips, and even threatened his life when his blood cells, through forming sickle shapes, had trouble reaching his heart.
“Now I’m going to the gym every day, doing cardio and weight lifting,” said Baptiste, the 20 year old recipient of a more precise gene editing protocol called base editing.
Put simply, wherein CRISPR involves the artificial facilitation of a break across one or both strands of DNA, base editing utilizes enzymes to modify single amino acids at the most foundational unit of DNA, called a base.
Boston Children’s Hosptial, where Baptiste was treated, describe base editing as a spell check. Using the targeting ability of a CRISPR product, physicians were able to reach a single base. There are four: adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T).
The experimental pharma company Beam Therapeutics has a base editing treatment that chemically transform one base into another—changing C to T, or A to G, for example. These small changes can correct a point mutation, silence a disease-causing gene, or help activate a specific gene.
In this case, it was correcting for a mutation in the hemoglobin that’s part of an ancient human adaptation to protecting the body from the malaria parasite and which has the occasional side effect of causing red blood cells to change into sickle shapes and get caught in the blood stream.
“Sickle cell disease has a broad spectrum of severity, and the severity and frequency of complications can wax and wane,” Matthew Heeney, MD, Baptiste’s long-time hematologist at Boston Children’s Hospital said in a news release.
“Unfortunately, Branden was quickly acquiring many of the chronic complications of sickle cell disease, including organ dysfunction affecting his kidneys, lungs, joints, and eyes.”
Baptiste became eligible for an experimental trial of base editing called BEACON. By October 2023, after a year of tests to ensure he was physically capable in his diminished state to handle the procedure, it began with a sample of his blood stem cells.
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These were then transferred to a separate facility where the base editing would take place. Using chemotherapy, his team then killed off all the diseased blood stem cells in his bone marrow, after which he was ready to receive his own stem cells back in November.
Boston Children’s Hospital write that while waiting for the effects of the infusion to kick in, Baptiste watched all eight seasons of Netflix’ legal drama, Suits.
Apart from being seemingly cured, Baptiste was back at home in time for Christmas Eve to everyone’s surprise.
MORE GENETIC MODIFICATIONS: Gene Therapy at Duke Improves NC Dad’s Failing Vision Just in Time for His Baby’s Birth
“In my opinion, I’m perfect. I never felt fine before—before, ‘fine’ was moderate pain I could take deep breaths through. Now I’m more than fine. I’m operating in every way possible.”
“I used to always try to exercise, but every little movement would cause joint pain, and exhaustion would also cause pain,” he says. “Now I’m going to the gym every day, doing cardio and weight lifting.”
SHARE This Inspiring Breakthough Moment In Genetic Therapy…
“The power to question is the basis of all human progress.” – Indira Gandhi
Quote of the Day: “The power to question is the basis of all human progress.” – Indira Gandhi
Photo by: Mel Lituañas
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Good News in History, January 28
On this day 40 years ago, a group of American performers recorded the charity song, We Are the World, to raise money for famine relief in Africa. Written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, the song became the fastest-selling American pop single in history, selling over 20 million copies and raising over $63 million immediately for humanitarian aid. READ more… (1985)