The Download: Ice-melting robots, and genetically modified trees

In the end, NASA’s Europa Clipper mission is on its method. It launched on October 14 and is now en path to its goal: Jupiter’s ice-covered moon Europa, whose frozen shell virtually actually conceals a heat saltwater ocean. When the spacecraft will get there, it is going to conduct dozens of shut flybys with a view to decide what that ocean is like and, crucially, the place it may be hospitable to life.

Europa Clipper remains to be years away from its vacation spot—it’s not slated to achieve the Jupiter system till 2030. However that hasn’t stopped engineers and scientists from engaged on what would come subsequent if the outcomes are promising: a mission able to find proof of life itself. Read the full story.

— Robin George Andrews

GMOs may reboot chestnut timber

Residing so long as a thousand years, the American chestnut tree as soon as dominated elements of the Jap forest cover, with many Native American nations counting on them for meals. However by 1950, the tree had largely succumbed to a fungal blight in all probability launched by Japanese chestnuts.

As not too long ago as final yr, it appeared the 35-year effort to revive the American chestnut would possibly grind to a halt. Now, American Castanea, a brand new biotech startup, has created greater than 2,500 transgenic chestnut seedlings— doubtless the primary genetically modified timber to be thought of for federal regulatory approval as a software for ecological restoration. Read the full story.

—Anya Kamenetz

This piece is from the latest print issue of MIT Expertise Evaluate, which is all in regards to the extraordinary world of meals. When you don’t already, subscribe to obtain future copies as soon as they land.