GOOD NEWS TO THE AGED

DRUG TO REVERSE AGEING LIKELY BY 2020

(Source: News paper ‘Times of India’)

     A drug that reverses ageing could be on the market by 2020, scientists said. In early experiments the drug nicotinamide mono-nucleotide (NMN), had a dramatic rejuvenating effect on ageing mice. The cells of the old mice were indistinguishable from the young mice just after one week of treatment. NMN boosts the levels of NAD+, the oxidized form of the chemical nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, which is naturally present in every cell of the body and helps regulate protein interactions that control DNA repair.

     Accumulated DNA damage is believed to be a major driver of natural ageing and a primary cause of cancer. Levels of NAD+, a “co-enzyme” or “helper” that assists essential proteins, decline with age. Recent work high-lighting the chemical potential anti-ageing properties have led to an influx of NAD+ supplements available online.

     The research reported in the journal Science showed that NAD+ boosts the activity of a well known DNA repair enzyme called PARP1. Reduced levels of NAD+ with age were thought to reduce the ability of PARP1 to repair damaged DNA. The work has attracted the interest of NASA, which is looking for shielding astronauts from the effects of radiation on the long voyage to Mars.

EXOPLANETS AND SEARCH FOR INTELLIGENT LIFE

 EXOPLANETS AND SEARCH FOR INTELLIGENT LIFE.

(sourece: News paper ‘Times of India’)

     Exoplanets are the planets outside our Solar system, rotating around other stars.

     The following statistics give the intensity of search for the exoplanets.

1.      3500-plus exoplanets were discovered since 1988 across 2600 planetary systems

2.      2000-plus planets are found by Kepler space telescope alone.

3.      TrES-4 is one of the largest exoplanets and it is 1.7 times the size of Jupiter.

4.      Of the 2600 planetary systems astronomers have details of around 20 of them.

     A few of those include

1.      TRAPPIST-1 PLANETARY SYSTEM.

     It is 40 light years away. (1 light year = 9 trillion km). Its seven planets are known by b, c, d, e, f, g, h. Trappist b, c and d are on the border of habitable zone and can have liquid water under certain conditions. Trappist e, f, g are in the habitable zone. They surround the star known as Trappist-1, which is 1/12^th the size of our Sun, and is located in the constellation Aquarius.

2.      KEPLER-11 SYSTEM.

     It is 2000 light years from the Earth. Planets orbiting Kepler-11, a yellow dwarf star are larger than Earth. They are Kepler 11c, Kepler 11d, Kepler 11e, Kepler 11f and Kepler 11g. They are all in constellation Cygnus.

3.      KEPLER-90 SYSTEM.

     It is about 2500 light years away from us. It has a planetary system of 8 planets which are the same in number as our solar system. Before its discovery the solar system was considered as having more number of planets than any other star systems. The planet Kepler- 90i is rocky and hot. It orbits its star about once in every 14 days. It is about 30% larger than Earth and about as hot as Mercury reaching about 800 degrees F(427 degrees C).