⚛ China set to unveil High-Energy Photon Source, astronomers discover ‘cotton candy’-like dense planet, gut bacteria enzymes could lead to universal blood production

China is poised to unveil its cutting-edge High Energy Photon Source (HEPS) by year’s end, boasting some of the world’s most powerful synchrotron X-rays.

With a staggering investment of 4.8 billion yuan (approximately US$665 million), this facility marks a significant milestone for Asia, propelling China into the elite league of nations with fourth-generation synchrotron light sources.

Situated in Huairou, near downtown Beijing, the circular HEPS facility is a hive of activity as researchers meticulously calibrate thousands of components. These efforts are geared towards creating a light source capable of delving deep into samples, unveiling their molecular and atomic structures in real-time. For more on this development, check out today’s Must-Read.

🔥Today’s job of the day as featured on jobs.interestingengineering.com:

> Data Center Engineer
> Senior Developer Technology Engineer - AI

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China is poised to unveil its cutting-edge High Energy Photon Source (HEPS) by year’s end, boasting some of the world’s most powerful synchrotron X-rays.

With a staggering investment of 4.8 billion yuan (approximately US$665 million), this facility marks a significant milestone for Asia, propelling China into the elite league of nations with fourth-generation synchrotron light sources.

Situated in Huairou, near downtown Beijing, the circular HEPS facility is a hive of activity as researchers meticulously calibrate thousands of components. These efforts are geared towards creating a light source capable of delving deep into samples, unveiling their molecular and atomic structures in real-time. For more on this development, check out today’s Must-Read.

🔥Today’s job of the day as featured on jobs.interestingengineering.com:

> Data Center Engineer
> Senior Developer Technology Engineer - AI

Reading Time: 4 mins

Did a friend forward this e-mail to you? Subscribe here.

MUST READ

⚛ World’s brightest X-rays: China set to unveil High-Energy Photon Source

HEPS will revolutionize scientific research with its production of high-energy X-rays, facilitating the precise probing of samples at the nanoscale level. Upon its scheduled opening in 2025, HEPS will provide researchers with access to 14 beamlines catering to diverse fields such as energy, condensed matter physics, materials innovation, and biomedicine. Plans are underway to expand this capacity to accommodate up to 90 beamlines in the future.

One notable advancement facilitated by HEPS is in the study of protein structures. Traditional synchrotrons necessitate the purification of molecules and their transformation into X-ray-visible crystal forms to visualize atomic structures.

🪐 Astronomers discover planet with ‘cotton candy’-like density 1,200 light-years away

A new, giant exoplanet—the second least dense known so far—has been discovered about 1,200 light-years away from Earth.

Astronomers behind this discovery describe the density of this new planet as almost “similar to that of cotton candy.”

This new planet, dubbed WASP-193b, is a celestial enigma in many ways. It is 50 percent larger than Jupiter but seven times lighter in mass. Kepler-51d currently holds the position of the least dense planet discovered to date.

🦠 Gut bacteria enzymes could lead to universal blood production

Researchers have found enzymes from gut microbiota that can potentially lead to “universal” donor blood.

For the first time, the scientists are getting a step closer to the life-saving universal blood production. The crucial step was to identify long strings of sugar molecules that make blood donations incompatible with recipients who have another blood type. The next step was to use a cocktail of gut bacteria enzymes to remove the strings from red blood cells.

The bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila that can be found in the human gut has enzymes that can break down sugar chains. This means, when mixed with A and B blood those antigens are removed and align closely to type O blood. In other words, it is more compatible with so-called the “universal blood type.”

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IE QUIZ: THE RESULTS

In yesterday’s quiz, we asked, Can you find the missing number?

The answer is: The missing number can be found by subtracting the product of top two number from sum of top two numbers. The ?= (4×2)-(4+2)=2

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