New Scientist Australian Edition

Virtual event Fermilab: Solving the mysteries of matter and energy, space and time Join Fermilab senior scientist Don Lincoln as he explains what the particle physics facility in Illinois has taught us about our universe. Major discoveries made at the lab include the top and bottom quarks – and its future work might be critical for a “theory of everything”. Online on 4 April at 6pm BST/1pm EDT. Tickets are £16. newscientist.com/events Tour Marine ecosystems of the Azores: Portugal Experience the volcanic craters, lush vegetation and lagoons of the Azores archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean. Accompanied by experts, including marine biologist Russell Arnott, you will have an opportunity to go whale spotting, visit seabird colonies and learn how the archipelago’s volcanism supports the local viniculture. newscientist.com/tours Podcast Weekly This…

RIVER WEATHERBY is an energetic 2-year-old, all thanks to a groundbreaking trial of genome sequencing for sick newborns. Sequencing his genome revealed that he had a rare disease, and he has thrived since getting treatment (see page 8). More good news comes with the development of a cure for sickle cell, a devastating condition affecting 7 million people worldwide, using CRISPR gene editing (see page 23). Cases like these show the power of a new healthcare revolution that is under way – one that was predicted as far back as the first draft of the Human Genome Project in 2001. Finally, genomic technology can identify the exact cause of many conditions and, in a growing number of cases, also treat and cure them. Yet there is a big “but”. The…

THE lives of critically ill babies in Australia have been saved after their genomes were rapidly sequenced as part of a trial. Some babies are born extremely sick: for example, they may have seizures or be unable to breathe on their own. It has traditionally been difficult to determine what causes their symptoms. In many cases, children have died or have had disabilities due to missing out on a diagnosis and then not receiving the appropriate treatment. To address this, a small number of hospitals worldwide have experimented with sequencing sick babies’ genomes to uncover if they have one of more than 7000 rare genetic conditions. On average, these studies diagnosed genetic conditions in around 37 per cent of critically ill infants, said Stephen Kingsmore, president of Rady Children’s Institute…

ROOM-temperature, room-pressure superconductivity has been a central goal of materials science for more than a century, and it may have nearly been achieved. If this new superconducting material holds up, it could revolutionise the way our world is powered – but the results are headed for serious scientific scrutiny first. When a material is superconductive, electricity flows through it with zero resistance, which means none of the energy involved is lost as heat. But every superconductor made so far has required extraordinarily high pressures, and most have required very low temperatures. Ranga Dias at the University of Rochester in New York and his colleagues claim to have made a material from hydrogen, nitrogen and lutetium that becomes superconductive at a temperature of just 21°C (69°F) and a pressure of 1…

ON A cold winter’s day in February, the drone of a powerful fan filled the cavernous office space on the 17th floor of a new skyscraper in downtown Boston. A group of building developers wearing hard hats and orange safety vests stood around as the machine sucked air from the space. They were conducting a depressurisation test as part of a process to confirm that the space – one of 21 floors of office in the 62-storey building – met new energy-saving benchmarks. Those design requirements, known as passive house standards, call for airtight construction and extra insulation to help maintain a comfortable indoor temperature. The idea is to use such building design elements to minimise reliance on energy-consuming heating or cooling systems. Thousands of passive house buildings already exist…

DOCTORS are in the middle of a major rethink about the causes of heart attacks and strokes, which are among the commonest killers worldwide. For decades, much of the focus has been on cholesterol; statin drugs, used to lower cholesterol, are the most commonly prescribed medication for preventing cardiovascular disease in the UK. But a growing number of researchers say that there is another key contributor: inflammation, which is linked to the background activity of the immune system. Last week, research showed that in people taking statins to lower their cholesterol, inflammation is a bigger risk factor for heart attacks or strokes than whether they still have high cholesterol levels. “It’s clear that if you don’t start addressing the inflammatory response, you’re never going to beat this disease,” says Paul…