With the power to turn themselves into any other cell in the body, stem cells have a future as a key treatment for a range of diseases and injuries. The problem is, they lack some of the self-defense mechanisms that other cells have, leaving them open to attack from viruses and other threats. Now, researchers from the University of Edinburgh may have found a way to switch this mechanism back on, making stem cell treatments more effective.
In the future, I can say with very high degrees of confidence, the American Army is probably going to be fighting in urban areas. We need to man, organize, train and equip the force for operations in urban areas, highly dense urban areas, and that’s a different construct. We’re not organized like that right now.
– Gen. Mark A. Milley, Chief of Staff of the Army.
Finally, 130 years after it was established, the kilogram as we know it is about to be retired. But it’s not the end: tomorrow, 20 May 2019, a new definition will be put in place — one that’s far more accurate than anything we’ve had until now.
After the shift was unanimously voted in at the General Conference on Weights and Measures in Versailles at the end of last year, the change is now finally about to become official. Le kilogramme est mort, vive le kilogramme.
Most people don’t think about metrology — the science of measurement — as we go about our day. But it’s vastly important. It’s not just the system by which we measure the world; it’s also the system by which scientists conduct their observations.