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A river of biological information flows just beneath the outermost layers of your skin, in which a hodgepodge of proteins squeeze past each other through the interstitial fluid surrounding your cells. This interstitium is an expansive and structured space, making it, to some, a newfound âorgan.â But its wealth of biomarkers for conditions like tuberculosis, heart attacks, and cancer has attracted growing attention from researchers looking to upend reliance on diagnostic tools they say are inefficient, invasive, and blood-centric. Blood is a tiny fraction of the fluid in our body, says Mark Prausnitz, a chemical engineer at Georgia Tech who has been studying drug delivery through the skin since the 1990s. Other fluids should have something usefulâit s just hard to get those fluids.
A global effort is unraveling many mysteries around the Covid-19 virus. During the course of the pandemic society has adapted quickly, turning many aspects of every day life upside down. Virologists have warned that Covid-19 inoculation isn’t a silver bullet, as the virus will continue to mutate. Thomas Frieden, former director of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention says society must accept that this disease is here to stay. As people grieve a previous way of life, we must also adopt long term changes. Daniela Hernandez and Drew Hinshaw of The Wall Street Journal look to the future and how we will live with Covid-19 after the pandemic. – Melani Nathan
Credits: NASA
NASA has selected four new additions to its cadre of flight directors to oversee operations of the International Space Station. The newest inductees in the class of 2021 are Diane Dailey, Chloe Mehring, Fiona Turett, and Brandon Lloyd.
They will work in the Mission Control Center of NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston to lead teams of flight controllers, engineers, and countless professionals, both agencywide and internationally. Following a rigorous training program that includes both technical knowledge and leadership skills, they will be ready to oversee human spaceflight missions to, from, and aboard the space station, as well as the lunar missions of NASAs Artemis program.