From Deep Time Earth Cycles to Next-Gen Chips: Science Unravels Planetary and Biological Limits

Biology & Medicine

• Researchers found that using the FDA-approved drug AMD3100 can help immunotherapy defeat fibrolamellar carcinoma, a rare liver cancer that primarily affects children and young adults [33]. The study revealed that fibrolamellar tumors cause T-cell exclusion by altering their environment, trapping immune T cells away from the cancer [33]. By treating patient tumor tissue with AMD3100, researchers demonstrated that the drug successfully guided T cells back into the center of the tumors, leading to increased T-cell activation and a significant rise in tumor cell death when combined with immune checkpoint inhibition [33]. ^[33]
• NASA’s Perseverance rover detected a complex form of carbon, termed macromolecular carbon (MMC), within mudstones at Jezero Crater, representing the shallowest detection of organic matter on Mars to date [56, 70]. The MMC was found in two rocks—one being the Cheyava Falls mudstone—located in the Bright Angel outcrop of Neretva Vallis, a river channel feeding the crater's western delta [70]. While this discovery supplements other essential building blocks for life, such as carbonates and sulfates, researchers caution that the spectral properties alone cannot attribute the MMC to any unique source, meaning it could have formed through abiotic processes or been transported from elsewhere [70]. ^[56][70]
• Researchers identified NANOG as a master gene controlling human embryonic development by disabling it in fertilized human eggs donated during IVF treatments, finding that none of the resulting cells developed into those forming an embryo [25]. This discovery is significant because understanding this developmental program could improve stem cell research and regenerative medicine, potentially boosting the success rate of IVF [25]. While previous studies showed NANOG's role in animal models, the team’s work specifically demonstrated its function in human eggs using CRISPR base editing, a technique noted for its precision compared to original CRISPR methods [25]. ^[25]