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somedude89897on First atmosphere found on Earth-like planet in habitable zone of distant star

An alternative is to use Earth's atmosphere for imaging exoplanets:

https://www.snexplores.org/article/idea-would-turn-earth-gia...

I started a new thread for further discussion:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48953907

somedude89897on Idea would turn the Earth into a giant space telescope

A recent HN thread (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48947560) has mentioned using gravitational lensing by the sun to image exoplanets. This is an alternative, using refraction by Earth's atmosphere for imaging, which might be more feasible.

somedude89897on More evidence is consistent with possible ancient life on Mars (2025)

The two Viking landers, 6500km apart, had positive results. That would suggest that life is widespread and close to the surface. But the atmosphere of Mars is in chemical equilibrium, which means life can't be widespread and close to the surface because it is not affecting the atmosphere. If life is present on Mars it would have to be deep underground, perhaps in a geothermally heated brine lake, which would be very hard to detect with current technology. The Viking data was probably non-biological, it really isn't strong evidence for life today.

somedude89897on Gut bacteria from amphibians and reptiles achieve tumor elimination in mice

Yes it is amazing! Solid tumors tend to be poorly oxygenated, as they don't have a good network of blood vessels to supply them. The bacteria in these experiments can only live in low oxygen environments, so they will multiply in the tumor and die in any other part of the body they end up in. It's a clever idea, hopefully it will be successful.

somedude89897on Gut bacteria from amphibians and reptiles achieve tumor elimination in mice

Very small sample size and only in mice. Most experimental treatments don't make it to the clinic, and this could be another in a long list of exciting early results that don't lead to anything. However... These results seem too good to be true, but the paper actually seems pretty good. There have been other attempts to use anaerobic bacteria to treat cancer (as solid tumors tend to be hypoxic environments), this is the first I've seen that interacts with PD-1/PD-L1 pathway. This is the most promising cancer treatment I've seen in quite a while. Maybe we can be cautiously optimistic!

somedude89897on Gut bacteria from amphibians and reptiles achieve tumor elimination in mice

Figures 2 and 3 seem to be different experiments, with n=3 and n=5, respectively. Both showed 100% survival. Obviously very small sample sizes, but still promising.