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Category Archives: Transhuman News

NASA next gen spacesuits not ready before Intl Space Station retires audit – RT

Posted: April 28, 2017 at 2:40 pm

NASA spent nearly $200 million on three new spacesuit designs for deep space exploration, although only one of the suits will be ready for testing on the International Space Station (ISS) before it retires in 2024, according to an audit by the agency.

Despite this investment, the Agency [NASA] remains years away from having a flight-ready spacesuit capable of replacing the [current spacesuit] or suitable forfuture exploration missions, stated the report, which was released on April 26.

Among the three design projects, auditors were critical of NASA spending $148 million on the Constellation Space Suit System (CSSS) program, which began with a contract issued to Oceaneering International to develop a suit for the Constellation exploration program in 2009.

A year later, the Obama administration canceled the project but NASA kept the contract active until January 2016, spending an additional $80.6 million on developing portions of the spacesuit technology, according to the audit.

NASA said it continued the contract because it wanted to keep the industry engaged in spacesuit design. Auditors dismissed this argument, however, noting the agencys in-house projects shared several contractors and primary subcontractors with Oceaneering.

The report found that by extending the program it duplicated work on another spacesuit design, the Advance Space Suit Project (ASSP). Designs for the ASSP were more advanced than the CSSS, but the auditors found NASA spent three times as much on the latters design.

Auditors found the ASSP had weaknesses including the lack of defined destinations for exploration missions, which affected the suit design, as well as competing funding priorities leading to the project only being financed for half a year in 2016.

The ASSP was redirected to a spacesuit design known as Exploration EMU, or xEMU, which will be tested on the ISS, but not until 2023.

This schedule leaves only one year for testing before the Stations planned 2024 retirement, the report stated, but added that extending the ISS operations beyond 2024 would alleviate this schedule pressure.

A third program, the Orion Crew Survival Suit, a pressure suit designed for use on the Orion spacecraft, is also facing delays, with the suit on track to be available only five months before the current launch date for the first crewed Orion mission in August 2021.

The audit was issued the same week President Donald Trump placed an inter-orbital call to NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson to congratulate her on setting a record for time spent in space and expressed his own goals for Mars.

Tell me, he asked. For Mars, what do you see as a timing for actually sending people to Mars? Is there a schedule, and when do you see that happening? In reply, Whitson told the president that NASA could go to Mars by the 2030s.

Unfortunately spaceflight takes a lot of time and money, she said. Getting there will require some international cooperation, a planet-wide approach in order to make it successful just because it is a very expensive endeavor.

Well, we want to try and do it during my first term or, at worst, during my second term, Trump responded. So well have to speed that up a little bit, okay?

Trump has already proposed cutting NASAs budget by about 1 percent in fiscal year 2018.

Auditors recommended the agency create a plan for developing a next-generation spacesuit and conduct a trade study comparing maintaining the current EMU spacesuits versus developing a new one, and apply lessons learned from existing spacesuit efforts to new designs.

NASA accepted the recommendations and said it would have a spacesuit development plan completed by the end of September, although its chief of human spaceflight, William Gerstenmaier, argued the report was overly critical and disagreed with the auditors findings over the work with Oceaneering.

NASA astronauts currently use spacesuits called ExtraVehicular Mobility Units, originally designed 40 years ago. The EMUs have been redesigned and completely refurbished multiple times since then. The space agency concluded its design life could last until 2028, but it would not meet the agencys needs for deep space exploration.

The space agency only has 11 of the original 18 EMU units left for future operations. They are also ill-suited to exploring planetary surfaces because they lack the hip flexibility needed to walk.

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Mars-like soil makes super strong bricks when compressed – Engadget

Posted: at 2:39 pm

A team of NASA-funded researchers from UC San Diego, and led by structural engineer Yu Qiao, made the surprising discovery using simulated Martian soil -- that's dirt from Earth which has nearly the same physical and chemical properties. They found that by compressing the simulant under high pressure, it readily created blocks stronger than steel-reinforced concrete.

This isn't the first time that researchers have attempted to create building materials from native resources on alien worlds. Last year, a team from Northwestern University figured out that you could create concrete by mixing Martian soil with molten sulphur. Qi's own team had previously sought to make bricks from lunar soil material, managing to reduce the amount of binder needed from 15 percent of the final weight to just 3 percent, before turning their attention to the red stuff.

Interestingly, it's the red stuff itself (specifically, iron oxide) that enables Martian soil's compression trick. Iron oxide cracks and shears easily when crushed and its resulting surfaces tend to be angular and flat. When those broad surfaces are subsequently smashed together with sufficient force, they form strong bonds that don't require a binding agent.

While the research team still needs to confirm that the soil property holds up on the macro level (they only made very small bricks during this experiment), Qi figures that if it does, future manned missions to Mars could use soil as the source material for additive manufacturing efforts. And why not? We've already done it with other alien metals.

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Audi Lunar Quattro to be Featured in Alien: Covenant – Motor Trend

Posted: at 2:39 pm

Free Price Quote From a Local Dealer No Obligation, Fast & Simple Free New Car Quote Change Car Select Make Acura Alfa Romeo Aston Martin Audi Bentley BMW Buick Cadillac Chevrolet Chrysler Dodge Ferrari FIAT Ford Genesis GMC Honda Hyundai Infiniti Jaguar Jeep Kia Lamborghini Land Rover Lexus Lincoln Lotus Maserati Mazda McLaren Mercedes-Benz MINI Mitsubishi Nissan Porsche Ram Rolls-Royce Scion smart Subaru Tesla Toyota Volkswagen Volvo Select Model GO

Audi gave a sneak peek at the upcoming summer movie Alien: Covenant, which features the Audi Lunar Quattro, a futuristic rover deployed on a colonization mission with a bunch of clueless humans.

In the short clip, the Lunar Quattro patrols the colony spaceship Covenant for unseen dangers while also providing exploration and research support for the crew.

The scene opens with the little rover exploring an unidentified lifeform in the ships cargo bay and it ends with a glimpse of a drooling xenomorph hanging from the ceiling. It certainly cant end well for anyone on board.

Audis moon rover is more than just a movie prop, however. It was developed in a partnership with Part-Time Scientists, a Berlin-based startup, and will be deployed on an actual mission to the moon later this year.

The mission will be the first private venture to the moon and details are still being finalized. It will be just the second rover to land on the moon since the 70s, following Chinas Yutu rover. The Chinese rover landed in 2013, 40 years after the previous rover, the Soviet Lunokhod 2.

Audis moon rover features Quattro drive technology and an e-tron motor that is powered a lithium-ion battery with a solar panel. The Lunar Quattro is 85 percent aluminum, weighs 66 pounds, and was produced by a 3D metal printer at Audis headquarters in Ingolstadt.

No word on whether it comes equipped with lasers or other weapons that could be used for blasting aliens.

Alien: Covenant opens on May 19 in the U.S. The movies human stars include Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, and Michael Fassbender.

Its a sequel to director Ridley Scotts Prometheus, the 2012 prequel to 1979s Alien, and is the eighth film in the Alien franchise. Check out the full trailer below if you havent already.

Source: Audi

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Europe and China Are Working on a Moon Base – Inverse

Posted: at 2:39 pm

America may have been first to reach the moon, but Europe and China are gunning to be the first to build a moon base.

Both the Chinese and European space agencies confirmed this week that talks are underway with the goal of beginning collaborative efforts to construct a base on the moon. News of the talks was initially disseminated by Tian Yulong, secretary general of Chinas space agency, via Chinese state media. It was corroborated and confirmed on Wednesday in a conversation between Bloomberg and Pal Hvistendahl, a spokesman for ESA, the European Space Agency.

Hvistendahl placed an emphasis on the importance of cooperation between these two, and other entities if extensive space travel and colonization are to be made possible.

Space has changed since the space race of the 60s. We recognize that to explore space for peaceful purposes, we do international cooperation, Hvistendahl told Bloomberg.

The groundwork for that cooperation will be laid by Chinas Change-5 expedition, the countrys first unmanned sample retrieval missions, set to return from the moon in November.

An international analysis of Change-5s sample will be conducted, by both China and the ESA, upon the missions return. A small step, but an important one. Europe also wants to send an astronaut to the Chinese space station (China was previously excluded from the ISS by the United Statess military concerns).

Further details about a design or timeline for the international moon base were not given, although its not hard to speculate what they might look like, given that both entities have stated their intentions for such a base in the past.

Public European plans for a moon base date back as far as 2015, when the ESA set a 2040 construction deadline for a moon base. The idea was described by Johann-Dietrich Woerner, the ESAs director general, as a moon village, although he stressed that this didnt mean village in the traditional sense. Rather, it would be a fully-functioning colony.

In 2016, Woerner put forward the idea of 3D-printing the moon base out of moon dust. It might sound like science fiction has addled Woerners brain with that suggestion, but it might just plausible and it could provide a blueprint for development if initial China-ESA collaborations prove fruitful.

China and the ESA have expressed interest in a moon base as a jumping off point for mars and as a staging area for space mining, which could prove to be a highly lucrative business in the future.

Curiously left out of the talks was the United States. While President Donald Trump has noted the potential military application of space travel efforts, he has sent mixed messages as to how supportive he will be of such efforts.

On asteroid mining, for example his NASA budget doesnt paint a friendly picture. Its possible that China and the ESA dont see the United States as fertile ground for space travel anymore, which in turn has driven them to seek collaboration elsewhere. It could be that very perception that brought them together in the first place.

And on paper, it does seem like a good fit. The ESA gets access to Chinas burgeoning space program and brings to the table its own ambition and extensive planning. Time will tell if the cooperative efforts hold and grow, and how quickly we really do make it to living on the moon.

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Genetic engineering could bring the northern white rhino back from extinction – Wired.co.uk

Posted: at 2:39 pm

Mike McKenney

The last male northern white rhino has seen better days. At the advanced age of 43, arthritic in leg and blind in one eye, Sudan struggles to get around. Since he now finds other rhinos intolerable, he has his enclosure at the Ol Petja Conservancy in Kenya all to himself. On occasion he welcomes human presence he is partial to a hind leg scratch, in particular but like other crotchety males he would sometimes rather not be disturbed, shaking his head and snorting to make his displeasure known.

Conservation is a discipline driven by crisis and perhaps nothing illustrates this better than the northern white rhino. Before they were poached near out of existence, northern whites roamed central and eastern Africa. As recently as the 1960s there were 2,300 in the wild. Today just three individuals remain: Sudan, his daughter and granddaughter, all at Ol Petja. Neither female can carry a calf to term. With a limited gene pool and the prospect of natural reproduction extinguished, the subspecies is considered functionally extinct.

In this moment of climactic disruption, poaching and urban expansion, species are lost all the time, of course. Since 1900 about 70 mammals are believed to have gone extinct, along with some 400 other types of vertebrate. Perhaps due to the abject hopelessness of their situation, northern whites are at the centre of a daring effort to arrest what seems inevitable: to bring them back from the brink.

The plan is two-pronged. First, a team of scientists at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Germany, along with international specialists, are attempting to grow a northern white embryo in-vitro, using oocytes, or eggs, from the two living females and frozen sperm. Once the embryo reaches the relatively stable blastocyst stage, it will be implanted in a surrogate southern white rhino, a sister subspecies, who will carry the northern white calf to term. So far the team has reached the zygote stage of embryonic development; next is the blastocyst. Thomas Hildebrandt, head of reproduction management at the Leibniz institute, says he is quite confident that the goal will be achieved soon.

Yet for a new generation of northern white rhinos to thrive, its gene pool must be diversified. We have an active population of three and they are all related to each other, so you never can produce a viable self-sustaining population out of these three, says Hildebrandt. That would make no sense at all.

So, for step two of the scheme, Hildebrandt is collaborating with Katsuhiko Hayashi, a reproductive biologist at Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan. Their aim is to transform skin cells from the living animals and from tissue samples kept in cryonic storage into stem cells. These cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS), have the capacity to develop into any type of tissue, including eggs and sperm, which could be used to produce gametes. Though difficult, this objective might not be far off in real terms. In 2011, a team at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, created iPS cells from the younger female rhinos skin. In October, Hayashis team in Japan transformed mouse skin cells into eggs in-vitro and then used those eggs to birth healthy pups, a scientific first.

Although, in theory, this technique could be applied to other critically endangered mammals, Hildebrandt doesnt think this cellular-based approach to conservation should be routine. It requires a lot of resources, he says. But mankind is responsible for the dramatic situation of the northern white rhinos and with the knowledge we have in our hand we might be capable, and Im fairly confident we are, of saving the species, of not losing them.

Some are sceptical about whether this radical intervention is worthwhile. Not only does it carry the implicit message that it is okay to drive a species to extinction, since it can always be reversed, it fails to redress the conditions that decimated the species in the first place. To truly wrest a species from extinction we need to provide and protect the habitat in which it lives. Hildebrandts scheme is also expensive; he estimates it will cost $5m to produce a northern white rhino calf, though his team currently operates on a yearly budget of 40,000, plus about 60,000 for equipment.

What are we moving towards, some sort of virtual conservation? says Michael Knight, chair of the International Union for Conservation of Natures African Rhino Specialist Group. If you want to make the best contribution to conserve rhinos in Africa, we should be securing the landscape and making sure those 25,000 [southern white] rhinos on the landscape are breeding as fast as they possibly can.

Knight advocates pursuing a fall-back policy crossbreeding the northern white rhino with its southern cousin. The southern white is a conservation success story. Once thought to be extinct, in 1895 a population of fewer than 100 individuals was discovered in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. Through traditional conservation mechanisms, that population has now bloomed to some 25,000 rhinos. Crossbreeding will preserve at least some of the genetic traits unique to the northern white. Knight calls it hedging our bets.

This move seems sensible. Yet the effort to rewind the extinction process is not about saving the northern white rhino alone. Its decline is a symptom of the broader loss of biodiversity worldwide. Biologists have found that the Earth is currently losing mammal species 20 to 100 times the rate of the past, and there is a growing consensus in the scientific community that we are on the brink of the sixth mass extinction the last such event took out the dinosaurs. If climate change is the largest collective-action problem humankind has faced, preserving biodiversity requires all hands on deck.

I dont think one should look at it as saving a species, says Richard Vigne, chief executive office, Ol Petja Conservancy. Theres lots of arguments about whether [northern whites] are a separate species or a subspecies, or whatever, but frankly it doesnt matter that much.

What is important, he says, is protecting a rhino with the specific genetic traits, evolved over millions of years, that enables it to inhabit central Africa. "We don't know what the situation will be like in central Africa in 4,000 years," says Vigne. "National parks may want to bring rhinos back. We need to retain the opportunity to do that."

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We are more than our DNA: Discovering a new mechanism of epigenetic inheritance – Science Daily

Posted: at 2:38 pm

We are more than our DNA: Discovering a new mechanism of epigenetic inheritance
Science Daily
Giacomo Cavalli's team at the Institute of Human Genetics (University of Montpellier / CNRS), in collaboration with the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), has demonstrated the existence of transgenerational epigenetic ...

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Ancient Ritually Sacrificed Stallions Reveal How Humans Changed … – Motherboard

Posted: at 2:38 pm

Some 2,700 years ago, in the Tuva region of southern Siberia, over 200 domestic horses were ritually sacrificed to honor the funeral rites of a high-ranking member of the Scythian people, one of the first cultures known to have mastered mounted warfare. About 400 years later, at the turn of the third century BCE, Scythians ceremonially killed around a dozen stallions and interred them in a sepulchral chamber in Berel, Kazakhstan.

These horses were probably none too thrilled about their fates. But thousands of years later, their literal sacrifice is helping to unravel the mysteries of horse domestication, and its enormous impact on human civilization, as evidenced by new research published Thursday in Science.

An international team led by Ludovic Orlando, a professor of molecular archaeology at the University of Copenhagen and research director at the University of Toulouse AMIS laboratory, conducted whole genome sequencing on 14 exceptionally preserved horse remains from three sites: Two stallions from the Siberian royal mound (known as Arzhan I), 11 more from the Kazakh burial grounds, and a mare that lived alongside the Sintashta people, the first culture known to use chariots, in the Chelyabinsk region of Russia, some 4,100 years ago.

Recreation of a Scythian horse with ornaments and equipment. Image: Carla Schaffer/Zainolla Samashev/AAAS

By mapping and cross-examining their genomes, Orlando and his colleagues were able to reconstruct key details about the appearance, characteristics, and genetic relationships between these early domestic horses, along with insights into the animal husbandry practices of the peoples who relied on them to build their empires. (Horse domestication is generally considered to have originated about 5,500 years ago in the Eurasian steppes.)

"We wanted to target a time period where humans interacted a lot with horses," Orlando told me over Skype, "but also a time period that would be meaningful for learning about the early and late stages of horse domestication. Because of those two constraints, we decided on selecting the Scythians, because they were living at about halfway into the domestication timeline."

Much like modern domestic horses, the Scythian stallions had a range of coat colors, including black, cream, bay, chestnut, and spotted patterns. The DMRT3 gene, associated with modern ambling gaits like the rack or the two-beat trot, was not present, so these horses probably only moved with "natural gaits"walking, trotting, cantering, and galloping.

However, the team did isolate genes associated with sprinting performance in contemporary horses, suggesting that Scythians may have valued those characteristics.

Scythian Kurgan Arzhan 2 (Tuva, Siberia), 7th century BC, grave 16 and a view of the unearthed 14 horse skeletons. Image: M. Hochmuth

One of the study's major findings is that Scythians seem to have allowed their horses to maintain natural herd structures, as opposed to selectively breeding several mares with a few high-valued studs, which is the norm today with race-horses and other competitive breeds.

The genetic result is that the Scythian horses are much less inbred than modern counterparts descended from a small number of cherished lineages. This corroborates the historian Herodotus' claims that Scythians sacrificed horses that had been presented as gifts from different tribes.

"The genetic diversity that was present in the horse population has declined a lot," Orlando told me. "We breed fewer diverse horses, or more of the same exact individuals, simply because we fancied that type more."

This selective breeding during the last 2,000 years has resulted in "an almost complete homogeneity" on the Y chromosome of modern horses, which has caused deleterious mutations and has negatively impacted horse health, according to the study.

Modern Mongolian horse with yurt in background. Image: Bndicte Lepretre

But for all of the costs of domestication to the horse, the process may have ultimately saved the species. Fossil evidence suggests that Eurasian wild horse populations were collapsing at the onset of domestication, and their counterparts in the Americas were already long extinct.

"Some paleontologists have even claimed that if humans had never domesticated horses, the horse would be extinct by now, simply because it was on the verge of extinction" 5,500 years ago, Orlando said.

The intricate ways in which humans shaped horses into their modern form, and were in turn shaped by them, are at the heart of the ongoing PEGASUS research project, funded by the European Research Council and led by Orlando.

Read More: How the Last Wild Horses Can Be Saved by Cheap Gene-Sequencing

"We are interested in replicating this same study, not just for Scythians, but actually for every ancient human culture," he told me. "The main goal is to understand how the human-horse relationship evolved through space and time."

"Horses have been so essential to human history," Orlando added. "Who knows whether some particular civilization managed to build their empire because they had a superior horse? This is the type of hypothesis that we want to test. By really looking at the horse, we want to see some facets of ancient people that are generally neglected."

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DNA of extinct humans found in caves – BBC News

Posted: at 2:37 pm

BBC News

DNA of extinct humans found in caves
BBC News
The DNA of extinct humans can be retrieved from sediments in caves - even in the absence of skeletal remains. Researchers found the genetic material in sediment samples collected from seven archaeological sites. The remains of ancient humans are often ...
DNA From Extinct Humans Discovered in Cave DirtTIME
Researchers Find DNA From Extinct Humans in Cave SedimentsSeeker
Cave sediments yield DNA of early human relativesUPI.com
New York Times -Science Daily -Science Magazine -Science
all 39 news articles »

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Unlocking the past: Contact 6 tests three popular DNA kits – fox6now.com

Posted: at 2:37 pm

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MILWAUKEE A glimpse into the past using DNA. These days more and more people are choosing to unlock their family history by taking genetic tests. There are a number of tests, but does it matter which one you buy? FOX6's Contact 6 put three popular brands to the test -- AncestryDNA, Family Tree and 23andMe.

Robert Smith, an associate professor at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, agreed to help out Contact 6 and be the test subject.

"I'm curious because if we have the technology now to trace in that respect, I have to know," Smith said.

Robert Smith is an associate history professor at UW-Milwaukee.

Smith teaches history. So, it's interesting that he knows very little about his ancestral origins.

"I would assume from my darker skin that I have some amount of African-ness in me, but to what degree? But to what extent?" Smithwondered.

Contact 6 ordered three different tests. The AncestryDNA kit and the 23andMe kit both cost $99. The Family Tree kit usually costs $79, but Contact 6 got it on sale for $59.

For AncestryDNA and 23andMe, Smith had to fill a tube with spit.

Robert Smith fills a tube with spit to collect samples for 23andMe and AncestryDNA tests.

For the Family Tree test Smith used two swabs to scrape the inside of both cheeks.

Robert Smith swabs both sides of his mouth to collect a sample for the Family Tree DNA test.

Once the samples were collected, Contact 6 registered the tests online and mailed them.

Five weeks later, all three labs respond. Two of Smith's reports are ready. However, the AncestryDNA test had an error and needs to be redone. The company sends a free replacement kit and Smith retakes the test.

The second test from AncestryDNA took a couple months to process because it was sent in after Christmas and the lab says it was swamped.

More than two months later, it's time to share the results.

Contact 6 found the three tests were fairly consistent.

All three tests found Smith is about 73 percent African. More specifically, the tests reveal his roots are primarily west African -- about 65 percent.

AncestryDNA was the most specific.

"They broke it down as 25 percent Nigerian, 20 percent Cameroon or the Congo, 14 percent Senegal and, then, 12 percent Ivory Coast/Ghana," Contact 6's Jenna Sachs revealed to Smith.

"That's really interesting," Smithresponded.

The tests, also, found Smith 23 to 26 percent European -- primarily the British Isles.

"Some of the tests found you are about 15 percent Irish," Sachs told Smith.

"That's interesting. I didn't expect Irish," Smith said.

The tests can be explored more online.

On AncestryDNA's website, Smith learned his ancestors were likely among African slaves brought to North Carolina.

On Family Tree's website, a family finder tool correctly connected Smith to relative he knows and a few he doesn't.

The experience only reaffirmed Smith belief that American identities are a lot more complex and connected than many people think.

"This is all very important in determining where one sits in the world," Smith said.

Contact 6 reached out to each company to ask about the tests and the experience with each one.

Ancestry gave more insight into why the retake test took so long to get back and more information about their services. The company sent the following statement.

"Due to the incredibly high volume of kits we received after the holidays, lab processing is taking longer than the typical 68weeks. We are working to reduce wait times, and are happy to announce that we recently opened an additional lab to expand our capacity to process and analyze DNA samples."

Right now, what most people want from a DNA kit is the chance to better understand themselves and get some sense of an answer to the question of Who am I? Thats a powerful, emotional thing, and Ancestry wants to make that experience as rich and rewarding as possible.Ancestry DNA has the worlds largest consumer genomics network with more than 3 million people. This network in combination with the billions of records and millions of family trees on Ancestry enables us to provide people with deeply meaningful insights about who they are and where they come from. As the Ancestry DNA database grows, people can greatly benefit as the network effect enables us to deliver insights that are not possible to uncover with smaller databases."

Family Tree sent Contact 6 the following statement about their services:

"Founded in 2000, Family Tree DNA pioneeredthe field ofgenetic genealogythe use of DNA testing to establish relationships between individuals and determine ancestry. As the very first company to develop and deliver direct-to-consumer DNA testing for genealogical purposes,our premier suite of DNA products and tools are designed to help customers uncover family history, find genetic matches and connect with relatives across all of their ancestral lines. What sets Family Tree DNA apart is not only that we established the industry, but the fact that we offer testing for all three types of DNA: Y-Chromosome (paternal), mitochondrial (maternal) and autosomal DNA (a combination of both). Other companies in this space provide only autosomal DNA testing, but our broad selection of Y-DNA, mtDNA and autosomal DNA tests are the most advanced available, and all processed in our own state-of-the-art genomics laboratory in Houston, Texas.While other companies have a single database for finding DNA matches, Family Tree DNA has the worlds most comprehensive DNA matching database, covering Y-DNA, mtDNA and autosomal DNA matches. By combining a wide range of DNA products with cutting-edge technology, we provide industry-leading tools for consumers to explore their family history and gain further insight into their genetic ancestryand all with a simple swab of DNA. "

23andMe sent Contact 6 the following statement about their services:

"23andMe is the first and only genetic service available directly to consumers that includes reports that meet FDA standards for clinical and scientific validity. We offer our Ancestry Service as a standalone product for $99 USD. The service features 23andMes pioneering Ancestry Composition analysis, enabling customers to trace their lineage to 31 populations worldwide through their DNA. The service also includes DNA Relatives, an optional tool matching willing customers with close or distant relatives based on shared DNA. Ninety-five percent of 23andMe customers participating in DNA Relatives connect with a third degree cousin or closer relative. And for customers interested in ancient ancestors, our Neanderthal report tells people how much Neanderthal DNA they have. The genetic ancestry service analyzes genetic variants across all chromosomes to provide a breakdown of global ancestry by percentages. The average customer can trace their DNA to at least 5 different populations from around the world. Customers will also have their 23 pairs of chromosomes painted a color-coded digital sketch unraveling your DNA, detailing the amount, or length, of specific ancestry on each chromosome. Our flagship Health + Ancestry Service includes the full Ancestry service and an additional 70+ genetic reports on carrier status, wellness and physical traits for $199 USD. We analyze, compile and distill the information extracted from your DNA into reports you can access online. You can learn about your carrier status for certain diseases, like cystic fibrosis or sickle cell anemia. You can also learn how genetics affect your diet, such as caffeine consumption, response to saturated fats, ability to digest lactose, and more. Additionally, we tell you how your DNA influences physical traits, such as muscle type, sense of taste and smell, hair type, eye color, etc. A full list of 23andMe reports is available here. Both products include access to 23andMe Research, where interested individuals can consent to participate in a series of research surveys, from your home computer or mobile device, that can help drive scientific and medical discoveries."

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Send Your DNA to Space and Back via New Service – Space.com

Posted: at 2:37 pm

A close-up of Celestis capsules and modules, containing DNA and cremated remains, posed with coins for scale.

The company that sells launch services for cremated remains is offering a new way for you to send a bit of yourself or your loved ones to space with the added bonus that you don't have to be dead to participate.

Houston-based Celestis on Friday (April 21) unveiled a new service that will put samples of DNA into space.

Company founder Charles Chafer said that flying genetic material is a way for people who don't choose cremation to participate in a memorial spaceflight. Another option is for the deceased's DNA to fly with the DNA of family and friends, whether living or deceased. [Ashes of Star Trek's 'Scotty' Ride Private Rocket Into Space]

The service will also provide a tangible, symbolic spaceflight experience for the living, and a way to put DNA into long-term storage off Earth. Prices range from $1,295 to $12,500, depending on where the DNA is sent. Prices range from $1,295 to $12,500, depending on where the DNA is sent. Thecompany's websitecurrently offers customers four flight options: a suborbital launch and return to Earth; a launch into Earth orbit, with eventual incineration during atmospheric re-entry; a flight to the moon (surface or lunar orbit); or a one-way journey beyond the moon.

Celestis capsules and modules being prepared for flight.

"We launch approximately one gram, which is enough to contain the entire genome," said Celestis spokeswoman Pazia Schonfeld.

The DNA will be processed into a powder and packaged into a capsule that looks like a large watch battery.

Celestis has been sending small capsules of cremated remains to space since 1997. So far, the company has launched more than 1,200 capsules during 14 spaceflight missions, and more than 200 capsules are ready to fly, the company said.

Celestis and Surrey Satellite Technology staff next to the orbital test bed after completing Flight Capsule Payload Integration I.

So far, five people have signed up for DNA flight services, including Sarah Green, 38, of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Green plans to fly some of her late father's DNA, along with some of her own.

"It's a cool way to take this journey through space and time together and honor him," Green told Space.com.

"My father was a science-fiction aficionado and a huge "Doctor Who" fan," she said. "He had this philosophy about life, that money and things, they come and go, but time is our most precious resource."

A Surrey Satellite Technology engineer integrates participant capsules and modules into the vessel that will carry them.

"It's interesting, this notion of sending genetic material to space to expand the imprint of humanity," she added.

Celestis' first flight of DNA samples is slated to take off in September aboard a suborbital rocket launching from Spaceport America in New Mexico.

The company is working with Ontario's CG Labs to process DNA samples to turn them into flight-ready silicate powder.

The vessel containing Celestis flight capsules is attached to the orbital test bed, located between the blue cylinders.

"Throughout the history of the universe, DNA molecules have traversed space, perhaps seeding life throughout the cosmos," Chafer said in a statement.

"Humans have begun to contribute to this process [by] sequencing DNA aboard the International Space Station; testing DNA's ability to withstand re-entry into Earth's atmosphere on the exterior of a rocket; and transmitting the human DNA code to distant stars as part of interstellar radio transmissions," he said. "Now, we are pleased to offer the chance for anyone to join these missions of purpose."

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Send Your DNA to Space and Back via New Service - Space.com

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Category Archives: Transhuman News

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We are more than our DNA: Discovering a new mechanism of epigenetic inheritance – Science Daily

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Unlocking the past: Contact 6 tests three popular DNA kits – fox6now.com

Send Your DNA to Space and Back via New Service – Space.com

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