The First Pig-to-Human Organ Transplants Could Happen This Year

Every day in the United States, 17 people die waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant. To address this crisis, one biotech company is turning to an unlikely source: pigs. Maryland-based United Therapeutics says it plans to begin transplanting organs from genetically modified pigs into people as soon as this year. From a report: “We’re right on that cusp. We’re looking to…

61 weird and wonderful ways to measure a building with a smartphone

Unusual uses for a smartphone, plus a new organ and stopping palaeontologists from saying “bone”, in Feedback’s weird weekly round-up Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24833071-500-61-weird-and-wonderful-ways-to-measure-a-building-with-a-smartphone/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…

Surgical device inspired by parasitic wasps could extract bits of you

Parasitic wasps use a long, thin, tubular organ to implant eggs in their victims. A device inspired by this organ could make it easier and less painful to remove tumours, blood clots or even whole organs Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2255694-surgical-device-inspired-by-parasitic-wasps-could-extract-bits-of-you/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…

A Chinese perspective on autumn

In Chinese thought, autumn is with the direction west, considered to be the direction of dreams and visions. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/autumn-equinox-cycles-of-nature-and-chinese-philosophy…