The summer stargazing season is looking like it’ll be one for the books, and it all starts this weekend. A full moon will rise tomorrow night, the second in May and therefore a blue moon — something that only happens every two to three years. Check out nine more night sky events happening in the next few months.
Must Reads
Soon-to-be graduates, read these seven books to guide you through the next chapter
Small steps can go a long way toward increasing your happiness
Health
One-Time Gene Therapy Could Lower High Cholesterol for Life, Small Study Finds
SEBASTIAN KAULITZKI—Science Photo Library/Getty Images
High LDL cholesterol is a leading contributor to heart disease — the No. 1 cause of death in the U.S. While medications and lifestyle changes can help reduce it, some people are genetically predisposed to developing high LDL. But an experimental, one-time treatment could serve as a permanent solution, a small study suggests.
Publishing their work this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found that a single dose of a gene-altering therapy lowered the 35 participants’ LDL cholesterol levels by up to 62%. And the change appears to have sustained in a subset of patients who were followed up with 18 months after receiving the therapy.
Participants all had an inherited form of high cholesterol or heart disease due to a gene called PCSK9, which makes the PCSK9 protein — high levels of the protein prevent the liver from clearing LDL as it should. A larger study will follow, but these initial results are promising. Many people can’t or don’t want to take daily medications because of barriers like cost and side effects; a one-time treatment could offer a more accessible alternative.
“We have these debates and new guidelines that we should be treating people earlier,” John H. P. Alexander, a cardiologist at Duke University who was not involved with the study, told TheNew York Times. “A curative therapy would change the game.”
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Today, Lake Union is a bustling recreational hub in Seattle, home to parks, seaplane terminals, and floating saunas. But not long ago, the lake served as more of a working waterway — a hub for the maritime industry — and it’s accumulated a mass of sunken debris to show for it. Researchers have given it the nickname “Shipwreck City,” which is also the name of an ongoing project to explore the lake’s depths.
In the past, scuba divers and sonar surveys helped identify sunken barges, sailboats, and even a World War II-era minesweeper called Gypsy Queen. Now an underwater robot dubbed Finn and equipped with lights and a camera is going a step further, offering scientists a closer glimpse at the city’s oft-overlooked pieces of maritime history.
“This city’s got so many amazing things,” lead researcher Phil Parisi told NBC affiliate KING-5 TV. “The development’s changing so much around us. It’s growing. We got new things coming up all over the place, but let’s not forget what’s in our own backyard underwater in a lake that we use every day.”
So far, Finn has explored 34 targets, including two previously unknown wrecks. The hope is to eventually create a comprehensive underwater archive: Check out the map of targets in Shipwreck City.
Tech
How Balcony Solar Can Help Renters and Homeowners Save Money
Jens Büttner—picture alliance/Getty Images
This article was written by Moncef Krarti, a professor of civil, environmental, and architectural engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, for The Conversation.
Somewhere between5% and 7% of U.S. households have rooftop solar panels. Many more Americans want them, but high costs, building locations, and landlord restrictions are key obstacles.
As someone who has designed and evaluated a wide range of building energy efficiency technologies, including integrated photovoltaic systems, I know that other options are available elsewhere in the world — and are becoming available in the U.S. Plug-in solar systems, also referred to as balcony solar systems, are alternatives to rooftop panels that still generate electricity from sunlight, but without complex and expensive installations.
Plug-in solar systems are designed to be used without requiring specialized technicians, construction permits, or permission from electricity utility companies. A typical system consists of small photovoltaic panels that can be placed on a balcony, in a backyard, or on a deck, or roof area. Learn more about the benefits.
In Other News
The Lego Foundation pledged $97 million to help kids in conflict zones access play-based education (read more)
Scientists designed a wearable ultrasound patch that can continuously monitor pregnancy (read more)
A healthy baby gorilla was born via a rare emergency C-section at Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo (read more)
Baywatch stars are reuniting for a forthcoming reboot of the ’90s hit series (read more)
Queen Elizabeth II’s private rooms at Scotland’s Holyroodhouse are now open to the public for the first time (read more)
Inspiring Story
Trees and dreams
Young people in Los Angeles are helping heal fire-scorched communities — including their own — one sapling at a time. The kids are part of TREEAMS (a mashup of trees and dreams), a student-led movement championed by the late Jane Goodall. Over the next five years, the goal is to raise roughly 5,000 native trees in local nurseries, and then plant them in neighborhoods impacted by wildfires. In addition to restoring beneficial green spaces lost in the Palisades and Eaton fires, the new trees may help protect against future blazes.
The only true wild horse species still in existence — the Przewalski’s horse — welcomed a new member to its family tree, a foal born last month at the Bronx Zoo. With fewer than 2,000 of these animals left today, the foal represents promise that the endangered species will live on. Watch the baby trotting around its habitat.
Hume: What If You Could Watch Yourself Get Younger?
Your biological age isn’t fixed. It changes with your sleep, stress, movement, and recovery — and the Hume Band 2.0 lets you see those changes happening in real time. Hume members report feeling more energy day to day, and 71% see measurable drops in biological age within three months. Pair the Band with the Hume Pod, and you connect body composition to the full longevity picture. Nice News readers can use code BAND20 for an extra 20% off your Band 2.0.
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