|
SPONSORED BY  | | | | October 14, 2024: Human ancestors were migrants rather than conquerors, health care for sickle cell disease is at a turning point, and how the American economy is rigged. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | | An artist's concept of NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft swooping over Jupiter's icy ocean-bearing moon Europa. NASA/JPL-Caltech | | | • Mathematicians are making progress on a question called the Mordell conjecture, which was posed 100 years ago and is still revealing new answers in fundamental mathematics. (Make sure you've had your caffeine for this one!) | 4 min read | | | • Hurricane Milton was a record maker: Never-before-seen rainfall, dozens of tornadoes and extreme wind acceleration. | 4 min read | | | The latest studies of ancient bones and their genetics have transformed the metaphorical human family tree into more of a tangled shrub. Instead of a single spread "Out of Africa," ancient Homo sapiens frequently interbred with other branches of the family tree like Neanderthals and Denisovans, exchanging genetic material and perhaps cultural behaviors. A July 2021 analysis for example found that "only 1.5 to 7 [percent] of the modern human genome is uniquely human."
Why this matters: How modern humans spread around the world has often been used to characterize human nature. Rather than conquerors who eradicated the competition, our ancestors were more like wanderers who paired up with members of each new hominid population we found. We were always migrants.
What the experts say: "No specific point in time can currently be identified at which modern human ancestry was confined to a limited birthplace," wrote Chris Stringer, of the Natural History Museum in London, and colleagues in a 2021 Nature paper. --Dan Vergano, senior opinion editor | | | At the end of last year, the FDA approved a treatment for sickle cell disease using the gene-editing tool CRISPR Cas-9. For the first time since the disease was described in a medical journal some 114 years ago, people might be cured of the condition (it affects millions around the world and the life expectancy of those affected is 50 years old). Geneticists use CRISPR to edit the gene mutation in patient stem cells that produces sickle-shaped blood cells. The edited stem cells produce healthy hemoglobin.
The catch: Gene-editing treatments are expensive and the entire treatment takes a year. A series of blood transfusions lowers the number of sickled cells in the body, then a course of transcription factors encourages the growth of new stem cells. The new stem cells undergo genetic reprogramming and are reintroduced into the patient.
What's next: Scientists are exploring using nanoparticles or viral transporters to carry the gene-editing molecules directly to the patient's stem cells, without the stem cells having to be removed from the patient's body. Dozens of other drugs are in the pipeline, most aimed at helping red blood cells maintain their round shape and hang on to the oxygen they carry. | | | SPONSORED CONTENT BY BIOFUTURE | Reimagine the Future of Healthcare at BioFuture | BioFuture, where relentless therapeutic pioneers, innovators, and investors gather to shape the future of healthcare. Come participate in candid, unfiltered discussions. This year, we'll explore the convergence of rapidly evolving fields including biopharma, digital medicine, big data, TechBio, AI, and more. Learn More | | | • Today, three economists won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for their research into how inequality arises among nations--why some become rich and others do not. But even within rich countries inequality is rampant, with the American economy rigged to help the rich get richer, writes 2001 Nobel laureate and economist Joseph E. Stiglitz. "Morale is lower in unequal societies, especially when inequality is seen as unjust, and the feeling of being used or cheated leads to lower productivity," he says. | 14 min read | | | Today we're launching a survey of our readers so we can get to know you and learn how we can make Scientific American an even more enjoyable destination for science news and analysis. Please take 10 minutes to answer some questions about your interests and what you think of our publication. Click the image above or find the survey here. | Thank you for being part of our circle of science-curious readers! If you have more detail to add beyond the survey email me anytime: newsletters@sciam.com. Same time tomorrow! | —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
One New York Plaza, New York, NY, 10004 | | | | | | Support our mission, subscribe to Scientific American | | | | | | | | | |
