You'll never regret a futuristic, functional tattoo like this one

Health & Medicine

These tattoos change colors based on the body's conditions. They could be tremendously helpful for people with chronic diseases, such as diabetes.

You'll Never Regret a Futuristic, Functional Tattoo Like This One

You’ll Never Regret a Futuristic, Functional Tattoo Like This One

<h2>Origins of Life</h2>
<p><a href="https://futurism.com/videos/new-model-origins-life-earth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The origins of life on Earth</a> remain a mystery. Many have theorized and hypothesized on the matter, but no ideas have been thoroughly proven; those early years of emerging life on Earth continue to puzzle even leading experts. But one new discovery, made by chemists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), could help to answer some well-worn questions about how life began on planet Earth: namely, what was the chemical compound that started life?</p>
<p>Prior to this discovery, scientists have hypothesized that a chemical reaction, phosphorylation, could have been a crucial part of life&#8217;s emergence. This chemical would have allowed for the combining of three ingredients that are critical to early life forms — short nucleotide strands to store genetic information in, short amino acid chains to carry out the majority of cell work, and lipids to form cell wall structures.</p>
<p>But no compound capable of such a reaction to produce these three ingredients has been found until now. Scripps chemists found a compound, diamidophosphate (DAP), that answers previous questions and could have feasibly been present on Earth when life first originated.</p>
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<p>Senior study author Ramanarayanan Krishnamurthy, associate professor of chemistry at TSRI, <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-11/sri-sfp110317.php">said in a press release</a>: &#8220;We suggest a phosphorylation chemistry that could have given rise, all in the same place, to oligonucleotides, oligopeptides, and the cell-like structures to enclose them. That in turn would have allowed other chemistries that were not possible before, potentially leading to the first simple, cell-based living entities.&#8221;</p>
<h2>Theoretical Beginnings</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nchem.2624" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Published today in </a><i><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nchem.2624" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nature Chemistry,</a> </i>this study is giving scientists renewed hope that we might further solidify the story of how life transformed from chemical chaos to cell-based biology and biochemistry.</p>
<p>Other reactions have been considered as capable of the phosphorylation of such molecules, but they require different agents for different molecules and unlikely environments. Krishnamurthy explained that, &#8220;It has been hard to imagine how these very different processes could have combined in the same place to yield the first primitive life forms.&#8221;</p>
<p>This discovery isn&#8217;t the end-all-be-all finding in the search to better understand the origins of life on Earth. There seem to be an endless stream of theories, ranging from practical to absurd, that hope to explain this time in the history of the universe; <a href="https://futurism.com/origins-life-mars-earth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">discoveries on Mars</a> and theories <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/were-meteorites-the-origi/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">about meteorites holding the key ingredients</a> for life have fueled speculation, while some scientists<a href="https://futurism.com/collapsing-bubbles-may-have-triggered-life-on-earth-new-study-suggests/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> even suspect bubbles to be responsible</a>.</p>
<p>However DAP may have arisen, it seems to have played a crucial role in the formation of cell-based biochemistry. It was even shown to phosphorylate simple sugars, which could have led to the creation of carbohydrates that supported the formation of early life. It seems to have played a major and central role in the creation of life. As the finding was described by Krishnamurthy, &#8220;It reminds me of the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella, who waves a wand and &#8216;poof,&#8217; &#8216;poof,&#8217; &#8216;poof,&#8217; everything simple is transformed into something more complex and interesting.&#8221;</p>


This compound may have been the "fairy godmother" that transformed simple chemicals into the ingredients of life.

Scientists may have found the chemical compound that started life

Hard Science

Diamidophosphate may be the chemical compound that started life on Earth, responsible for the precursors of genetic information and cell structures.

Scientists May Have Found the Chemical Compound That Started Life

This compound could be the "missing link" scientists have been looking for. 

<h2>Ants Marching</h2>
<p>Researchers have used the <a href="https://futurism.com/11-incredible-things-crispr-has-helped-us-achieve-in-2017/">CRISPR technique</a> to manipulate the social activities of ants for a study that will be published in <i>Cell</i>. Two independent teams <a href="https://phys.org/news/2017-08-gene-editing-induced-ant-social.html" target="_blank">knocked out the orco</a> (odorant receptor coreceptor) gene in entire colonies of ants, which negated their ability to perceive pheromone signals they use to communicate. Without those cues, they began to exhibit asocial behaviors like leaving the safety of the nest and declining to aid efforts to hunt for food.</p>
<p>Ants possess a whopping 350 genes for odorant receptors, but as they all need to liaise with the orco gene to be effective, they could all be knocked out at once. The two teams chose different ants based on two distinct strategies for proliferating this edit among the colony.</p>
<p>One group chose a species that has no queens, instead procreating using unfertilized eggs that mature as clones, producing ants that are genetically identical. CRISPR was used to <a href="https://futurism.com/for-the-first-time-ever-biologists-have-genetically-modified-ants/" target="_blank">edit lone eggs</a>, which produced an entire colony with the desired modification.</p>
<p><iframe width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MnYppmstxIs?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Meanwhile, the other team of researchers selected a species known for an unusual trait that sees worker ants graduate to the role of egg-laying pseudoqueen in the event that the former queen dies. The chosen worker ant had its genetic makeup modified being converted into a pseudoqueen and prompted to spawn a new colony.</p>
<h2>Superorganism Socialization</h2>
<p>The social interactions of ants are fascinating because of the way a colony acts as a single entity. And as such, these amalgamate superorganisms can potentially tell us a lot about the way we humans interface with one another.<figure style="width: 360px" class="wp-caption alignright"><a href="https://futurism.com/images/how-crispr-works-the-future-of-genetic-engineering/"><img src="https://wp-assets.futurism.com/2015/01/Crispr-Cas-9.jpg" alt="How CRISPR Works: The Future of Genetic Engineering and Designer Humans" ></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text center"><strong><a href="https://futurism.com/images/how-crispr-works-the-future-of-genetic-engineering/" target="_blank">Click to View Full Infographic</a></figcaption></strong></figure></p>
<p>The researchers observed that disabling the orco gene resulted in certain substructures from the ants&#8217; central processing centers going missing. These parts of the brain are essential to their olfactory communications, and it&#8217;s not known exactly why they disappeared. Symptomatically, this is analogous to a number of human mental disorders.</p>
<p>The hope is that further research into the biochemistry of ant colony behavior could reveal more about disorders that affect social communication, <a href="https://futurism.com/doctors-are-now-fighting-depression-by-targeting-the-brains-wiring-not-its-chemical-balance/" target="_blank">like depression</a> or schizophrenia. If we can better understand this process as it occurs in an ant&#8217;s brain, and then that of the invisible hand moving the colony as superorganism, we might shine a light on how similar changes that affect mammals.</p>


Using CRISPR, ant colonies behavior might resemble human mental disorder.

Scientists using CRISPR to genetically modify individual ants have interfered with odorant receptor coreceptor, impairing ant colony socialization.

Researchers Used CRISPR to Manipulate the Social Activities of Ants

This could reveal more about disorders that affect social communication, like depression or schizophrenia.

<h5>Telomerase</h5>
<p>When our cells divide, they also replicate their DNA. However, with each replication the DNA becomes shorter and shorter. Luckily, the repetitive sequences at the end of our DNA, called telomeres, can be sacrificed with every replication. An enzyme called telomerase maintains the telomeres but it can only do so for so long as the telomeres continue to get cut shorter year after year, causing cell division disruption and eventually cell death. This shortening of DNA is thought to be involved with aging. On the other hand, cells with extremely active telomerase can continuously rebuild their telomeres, allowing them to continue dividing and making them immortal. Although this may sound appealing, especially for those in the anti-aging crowd, this cell immortality is harmful. Since the risk of error increases for every DNA replication, this ultimately leads to an increased risk of cancer.</p>
<h5>The Breakthrough</h5>
<p>Now, scientists from UCLA and UC Berkeley have produced the clearest images of telomerase using high-powered microscopes, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, mass spectrometry and biochemical methods. This allows them to study the enzyme’s structure better and learn more precisely how it operates, potentially leading to the development of pharmaceuticals that target specific sub-units for cancer treatment.</p>


Scientists use high powered microscopes to get the clearest picture yet of how our telomeres relate to aging and the development of cancer

/Biochemistry

Health & Medicine

You’ll Never Regret a Futuristic, Functional Tattoo Like This One

Hard Science

Scientists May Have Found the Chemical Compound That Started Life

Hard Science

Researchers Used CRISPR to Manipulate the Social Activities of Ants

Hard Science

Scientists use high powered microscopes to get the clearest image yet of telomerase

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