Johnald's Fantastical Daily Link Splurge

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NASA Escape Pod Glides to New Home Posted: 09 Nov 2009 12:34 PM PST The odd story of NASA's unused wingless escape vehicle for the International Space Station is finally over. The prototype X-38, a 7-person, unpowered, totally automatic lifeboat, was officially laid to rest at the Strategic Air and Space Museum in Ashland, Nebraska last weekend. Canceled in 2002 by the Bush Administration in an effort to cut some costs from the International Space Station budget, the vehicle could have provided an emergency return route for astronauts on the station. It would have been docked in space, awaiting the call of duty. The program got as far as "drop tests" during which the vehicles were dropped from B-52s and piloted to the ground. One of them is seen above. After a short freefall, the X38 deployed an enormous parafoil, which allowed it to glide softly to the ground. The program had cost around $510 million and needed around $50 million more to complete its flight testing. At the time, an unnamed engineer told the Houston Chronicle the decision to abandon the project was "absolutely ridiculous." The shape of the plane's body recalls the X-24 and other lifting body airplanes, including the one designed for the 1969 space opera starring Gene Hackman, Marooned. Images: NASA See Also: Gallery: Let the X-Planes Begin Little X-Plane Pushes Bottom Edge of the Envelope Let Private Sector Help NASA Gallery: Oddities From NASA's Massive Image Archive NASA to Show Off New Lunar Rover at Obama Inauguration NASA Sets Date for Phoenix's Return to the Ashes Torture Chamber: NASA Tests Next-Gen Craft for Space Blast From the NASA Archive: Early Apollo Lander Model WiSci 2.0: Alexis Madrigal's Twitter, Google Reader feed, and green tech history research site; Wired Science on Twitter and Facebook.

Engineered Rabbit Penises Raise Human Hopes Posted: 09 Nov 2009 12:00 PM PST Using tissue grown in a laboratory, researchers have engineered fully functional replacement penises. The organs were made for rabbits, but the technique may someday be useful for people. "This technology has considerable potential for patients requiring penile construction," wrote researchers in a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Leading the team was Anthony Atala, director of Wake Forest University's Institute of Regenerative Medicine. Atala is best known for developing a technique in which cells are taken from an organ and sprayed onto a frame made of collagen, the primary structural protein in animal tissue. The structure is then bathed with growth-stimulating compounds and kept in an oven that duplicates the body's temperature and chemical composition. Given these starting conditions, natural biology does the rest. The cells divide and arrange themselves in natural, working configurations. Atala's group has already implanted lab-grown bladders, grown from the patients' own tissue, in seven men. Bladders are just one of dozens of organs being engineered by the group, from every part of the body — but in some organs, it's been difficult to find the right starting mix of different cell types, and reconstruction has proved challenging. The penis is one such organ. In earlier studies, the researchers grew segments of the penis' main structures, called corpus cavernosa. These lie along the shaft of the penis, and are made from a complex, sponge-like arrangement of different cell types. But when implanted in rabbits whose corpus cavernosa had been removed, the tissue failed to become erect. This time, they used a different mix of growth factors, and grew entire corpus cavernosa, rather than pieces of them. It worked: The next penises responded normally to electrical and chemical stimuli, and — more importantly — to biological imperative. When given the chance to have sex, eight were able to ejaculate, and four became fathers. Oddly, the procedure seemed to make the rabbits randier than usual. "Most control rabbits did not attempt copulation after introduction to their female partners," wrote the researchers. "All rabbits with bioengineered neocorpora attempted copulation within one minute of introduction." Image: PNAS See Also: Salamander Discovery Could Lead to Human Limb Regeneration How the Smell of Rotten Eggs Could Lead to a New Viagra Citation: "Bioengineered corporal tissue for structural and functional restoration of the penis." By Kuo-Liang Chen, Daniel Eberli, James J. Yoo, and Anthony Atala. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 106 No. 45, November 9, 2009. Brandon Keim's Twitter stream and reportorial outtakes; Wired Science on Twitter. Brandon is currently working on a book about ecosystem and planetary tipping points.

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