Scientists Get Fungi to Spill their Secrets

ANASTASIA NIKISHKINA

STEM WRITER sign? Due to the aforementioned fuel efficiency and overall better flight performance, this new aviation concept can prove to make waves in terms of commercial and even military flight as we know it. Flights could be made cheaper on a grand scale (sorry, Ryanair) and even shorter!

This method of flight would also greatly lower the environmental impact that flying has on our planet. The latest statistic for the aviation industry’s environmental impact is circling around 2% of global CO2 emissions. Due to new and innovative aircraft designs as seen with the X-plane, this figure has high potential of being lowered to less than 1%.

Alongside these major benefits, the military would be grateful to have machines similar to the X-Plane on their fleet. Due to a lack of fuel emissions and sound pollution as a result of the craft’s reliance on air manoeuvres to move, the X-Plane and its kin would prove to be quite the stealthy asset.

But these benefits are all merely hypotheses facing reality with DARPA’s project which just received the green light for Phase 2. Phase 2 “will focus on detailed design and development of flight software and controls.”With no financial details nor production timelines being published as of yet, the project has left us on a cliff, hanging on to hear the next advancement.

Fungi and other living organisms take a significant part in drug discovery and drug design. These types of organisms produce bioactive molecules, such as penicillin, to protect themselves from diseases. These bioactive molecules and compounds can be vastly used in anti-cancer therapies and infections, which makes them exceptionally crucial for the research.

The process of obtaining fungi-derived compounds includes targeting specific genes of fungi that have a code for the production of bioactive molecules. It is a complex, delicate, and time-consuming process as the majority of genes don’t reveal their full potential and a previously used single gene modification had to be carried out one at a time.

However, the new multiplex base-editing (MBE) technique has been introduced by the Rice University Chemical Engineering team as a prosperous tool that may dramatically decrease the time for extraction of fungi-derived compounds. It incorporates base editing via the use of CRISPR-based tools to modify a base pair of DNA on multiple genomic sites.

Furthermore, MBE can be used to delete several genes that restrict the production of bioactive molecules, thus producing more fungi-derived known and unknown compounds. The research on the MBE is still ongoing but it has been experimentally proven to have a successful future.

2023 Budget Travel Bucket List : Cheap Alternatives to Popular Destinations

We all love to travel, but we also don’t have any money to our name. Well, that is where the Turbine comes in. We have scoured the internet for 10 minutes and come up with some budget alternatives to popular travel destinations so you can make the most of 2023.

New York = Mullingar

Mullingar has it all really, New York has Broadway, but Mullingar has the Arts Centre. Times Square has nothing on The Joe Dolan Statue and Mount Street. It’s only a bus away, and with the Student Leap Card fees, you can see the sights and look after your money.

African Safari = Longford

They’ve got Center Parks, the remote location, and the local council has started doing guided tours of the local towns where you can feed villagers raw carrots.

Chicago = Dublin City Centre

Not really too similar but there’s roughly the same possibility of being stabbed or shot in both. Truly a cultural experience, just avoid buying a pint if you want to stay on a budget.

New Year, New me? Meet the Student Who is Pretending to Improve his Lifestyle in 2023

We all make New Year’s resolutions, and we all inevitably break them. But students across UCD are pioneering a new method of self-improvement, by not actually improving at all.

“It all started with an idea really”, says Paudie Flynn, who is credited with inventing the system. “I was like, I want to show people I’m improving myself, but I still fancy a few pints during the week”.

His first plan was to formulate a timetable for the clubhouse, identifying the points during the week when it was the least busy, minimising the chance of his mates seeing him neck- ing 5 pints of Fosters on a Wednesday. Then came pretending to study and exercise. “That was easy”, said Paudie. “I just went missing for a few hours either to sleep or to a pub off-campus, came back and told everyone I was studying or in the gym”.

In fact, his pretend productiveness has proved so convincing that he was offered a Government Position. They even increased their salary offer when they found out he just spent all his time in the pub.

“I was flattered really,” Paudie explained. “But I had to decline. The Dáil bar doesn’t have Fosters on tap.”

Paris = Belfield

What more can you say really, it’s got a near perfect Eifel Tower substitute in the background, pretentious locals, overpriced cafes, and bakeries. And what’s more is that you don’t have to go anywhere, it’s a win win.

Confused First Year Students on How They Didn’t Expect to do Another Semester of Work

JACK NOLNOD

DROP OUT, CLASS OF ‘22

Awave of panic has rippled through a significant portion of first year students this week as they have discovered that they have a spring trimester to complete. College Authorities have been forced to send reminder emails about registration for the upcoming term, as only 20% of first years have completed all the necessary steps.

“It’s just so hard”, said Hugo McInerny, who is a first-year business student. He claims a second semester puts too much stress on first year students, who, according to him, need to be “eased into the college lifestyle.”

We at the Turbine believe that the current two semester system is in need of a serious overhaul, and more and more students seem to agree.

Molly Pinkhair, who is studying social justice and being perpetually offended, claims that the timing of the second semester is culturally insensitive. “I don’t believe in the Gregorian Calendar, it is a symbol of white male oppression,” she said. In fact, she will be completing her assignments based on a time system she invented, as she identifies as a clock.

UCD have declined to comment on the matter, however they have ensured us that UCD will remain a safe space for people to express themselves, no matter how much of a chancer they are.