The body has a clever way of keeping cells healthy. It uses a tiny helper called cytosolic thioredoxin. This helper is a protein that works hard to keep other proteins in good shape. It does this by converting protein disulfides to thiols. It needs the help of thioredoxin reductase-1 and NADPH to do its job. There is another version of this helper called thioredoxin-...
Imagine you have a fancy rechargeable battery but it keeps losing power too quickly. You might then figure out that Li-S batteries have an annoying problem: When lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) are created, they can cause a so-called "shuttle effect. " This effect makes the battery lose energy faster, effectively shortening its lifespan, like a leaky bucket. Not good, r...
Imagine you're on an automated shuttle, zipping through the University of North Carolina in Charlotte. From July to December 2023, researchers were watching how well these shuttles handled their routes. They collected lots of data, like GPS information, disengagement records (when the shuttle hands control back to a human), weather details, and road layouts. The shut...
Back in 1977, President Jimmy Carter was having some beef with NASA. He thought the space shuttle program was just a way to keep the agency alive, not a genuine need. Despite his skepticism, Carter ended up saving the space shuttle project, which became one of NASA's most famous vehicles. Plus, his message of peace and hope has been traveling on the Voyager probes fo...
Have you ever wondered what happens to space robots once their space mission is over? Well, NASA's Robonaut-2, or R2 for short, found a new home at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Virginia. This humanoid robot, which looks like it's straight out of a sci-fi movie, was last seen riding the space shuttle Discovery back in 2011. Now, it's standing nex...
The California Science Center is celebrating a big achievement: the new home for space shuttle Endeavour has hit a new high! On Thursday, three steel beams were raised nearly 200 feet in the air to top off the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center. This puts the center closer to its goal of being finished by the middle of next year. The beams were signed by hundreds of ...