Space Grown Crystals Could Help Us Counteract Deadly Nerve Agents. The International Space Station ISS might be the perfect laboratory for developing antidotes to gases used in chemical warfare. Nerve agents such as sarin and VX are incredibly toxic, and yet, one way to combat them could come from crystals grown in microgravity. According to NIH, the ACh. E enzymeor enzyme acetylcholinesterashelps muscles to relax after theyve been stimulated by the nervous system. Nerve agents, however, come from a group of chemicals called Organophosphates OPs, which block ACh. E activity. This leads to paralysis and deathsarin, for example, can kill within a couple of minutes. In June, a project from the National Institutes of Health NIH called Countermeasures Against Chemical Threats Counter. ACT flew samples of human ACh. E enzyme aboard a Space. X Dragon 1. 1 capsule to the International Space Station. On Earth, its very difficult to grow this enzyme to a large enough size, but in microgravity, astronauts are currently trying to do just thattheyre literally growing crystals of the stuff for future analysis back on Earth. By taking advantage of the microgravity conditions of the International Space Station, we hope to grow better, more uniform crystals that we are unable to grow on Earth, Dr. Andrey Kovalevsky, a Counter. Free Sex, Free Porn, Free Direct Download. Sami has a distinctive native appearance that will be appealing to those who like diverse ethnic flavours. Latest trending topics being covered on ZDNet including Reviews, Tech Industry, Security, Hardware, Apple, and Windows. ACT scientist on the study, said in a statement. Once the crystals are large enough, they will be ferried back to Earth for testing. The Counter. ACT teams hopes to produce an antidote that would break the OP ACh. E bond quickly and essentially reverse the effects of a nerve agent. Ideally, this could be administered orally to the person affected by a nerve agent. Developing better countermeasures against these sorts of nerve agents is a major thrust of our overall program, Dr. David A. Jett, director of the Counter. ACT program, said in a statement. This project is the kind of cutting edge science we envisioned when we established the Counter. ACT program. Heres hoping knowledge from the final frontier helps us counteract some of our mistakes here on Earth. NIH.
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