Discover 3 recent science news in our #PeerusWhatsNew, now on Medium.
1 The identification of more than 100 new genes related to hair color could advance knowledge about skin cancer and other diseases, researchers say.
This work could also help police investigations by helping forensic pathologists to identify DNA criminals with the color of their hair. To carry out this study, researchers analyzed DNA data from nearly 300,000 people.
“The link between pigmentation and health is very important in the evolution of the human species,” told Veronique Battle, co-author of the study. Pigment-related diseases cited by researchers included testicular, prostate and ovarian cancers, as well as Crohn’s disease and other forms of intestinal diseases.
2 American and British researchers accidentally discovered an enzyme capable of destroying plastic, which could solve the global problem related to this type of pollution.
More than eight million tonnes of plastics end up in the world’s oceans every year, raising concerns about the toxicity of this petroleum derivative and its impact on the health of future generations and the environment.
“Luck often plays an important role in basic scientific research and our discovery is no exception,” said John McGeehan, a professor at the School of Biological Sciences in Portsmouth.
3 SpaceX will launch NASA satellite, Tess, in the night of April 18–19. This satellite will hunt exoplanets.
While waiting for the next generation, like the European Plato, Tess is today the best chance to discover planets similar to the Earth in terms of size and mass.
Tess will help astronomers define a list of exoplanets that the James-Webb Space Observatory will look at in the next decade.
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