There is big money floating around space—so much so we could be on the brink of a cosmic gold rush, with nations across the globe all hoping to cash in. Now, the US Geological Survey (USGS) has said it wants a piece of the action, with the agency saying it has been paying “close attention” to space resources for a number of years. Laszlo Kestay, a research geologist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center, says that as commercial ventures hoping to mine asteroids edge closer to reality, it is the the job of the USGS to get involved. “The USGS realized that our congressional mandate to assess natural resources extends to space.” Read more.

Physicists build giant machines to study tiny particles

Diana Parno’s head swam when she first stepped inside the enormous, metallic vessel of the experiment KATRIN. Within the house-sized, oblong structure, everything was symmetrical, clean and blindingly shiny, says Parno, a physicist at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. “It was incredibly disorienting.”

Now, electrons — thankfully immune to bouts of dizziness — traverse the inside of this zeppelin-shaped monstrosity located in Karlsruhe, Germany. Building the experiment took years and tens of millions of dollars. Why create such an extreme apparatus? It’s all part of a bid to measure the mass of itty-bitty subatomic particles known as neutrinos. Read more.

Abstract

Importance

Targeted alpha therapy attempts to deliver systemic radiation selectively to cancer cells while minimizing systemic toxic effects and may lead to additional treatment options for many cancer types.

Observations

Theoretically, the high-energy emission of short-range alpha particles causes complex double-stranded DNA breaks, eliciting cell death. No known resistance mechanism to alpha particles has been reported or scientifically established. The short-range emission of alpha particle radiation confines its cytotoxic effect to cancerous lesions and the surrounding tumor microenvironment while limiting toxic effects to noncancerous tissues. The high level of radiobiological effectiveness of alpha particles, in comparison with beta emissions, requires fewer particle tracks to induce cell death. Clinically effective alpha particle–emitting isotopes for cancer therapy should have a short half-life, which will limit long-term radiation exposure and allow for the production, preparation, and administration of these isotopes for clinical use and application. Read more.

Two UC Riverside professors are driving around California in order to pinpoint sources of air pollution. They will be driving the university’s new Mobile Isotope Laboratory, a Mercedes Benz transport van equipped with a collection of tools capable of measuring the flux of greenhouse gases in the environment in real time. Read more.