Keith’s 18 March update: It has been 24 48 72 96 hours and no mention of this discovery by NASA public affairs or its science mission news sites. I know that NASA HQ knows about this story. The logical place for a news item would be SMD’s NASA Science News but they are only interested in planets and stars. Keith’s note: Three novel microorganisms i.e. bacterial strains never before isolated […]

Keith’s note: Reading NASAWatch you might think that this site has a preoccupation with clumsy projects (like SLS) that are over budget, behind schedule, and lacking in terms of mission focus. That is not representative of NASA as a whole. Here is one example – I saw this article in Science last week and thought that this research was worth re-featuring – especially given that a bunch of science is […]

First DNA Sequencing Conducted in Space, NASA “For the first time ever, DNA was successfully sequenced in microgravity as part of the Biomolecule Sequencer experiment performed by NASA astronaut Kate Rubins this weekend aboard the International Space Station. The ability to sequence the DNA of living organisms in space opens a whole new world of scientific and medical possibilities. Scientists consider it a game changer.” In Depth Look: Sequencing DNA […]

Proud to enable the first successful DNA amplification in space!https://t.co/if4DEQS32W — miniPCR (@miniPCR) May 25, 2016 miniPCR announces first DNA amplification in space “miniPCR announced the first successful DNA amplification on the International Space Station (ISS). Using a miniPCR thermal cycler, astronauts performed Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) on DNA samples on April 19th. Analysis performed today on Earth confirms that DNA amplification done in microgravity was successful, ushering in a […]

Sequencing DNA in Space, NASA/SpaceRef “NASA is not often known for making the best use of existing COTS (commercial off the shelf technology) abord the ISS. There’s usually quite a lag time. The reasons range from slogging through the often cumbersome payload safety and integration process to people at NASA who are simply not up to date with what the real world is doing in their field. In this instance […]