One day, an anti-cancer agent could be a cell with specially equipped powerful balloons that pop when placed near an ultrasound beam(超声束) —killing surrounding cancer cells in its wake.

The key to this operation are tiny protein bubbles. If a microbe(微生物) wishes to rise to the surface, it can create a few bubbles, making its body more flowing and pushing it upward. If it wishes to drop, it can pop a few bubbles and do the opposite. The study’s authors wondered if they could put the shock waves from those bubbles to work against tumors(肿瘤).

First, the researchers had to test bubbles’ explosive capabilities. They placed them into a petri dish. After they attacked the dish with ultrasound, in a matter of mere seconds, they saw signs of widespread damage that showed the bubbles were responsible. Then, the researchers tested the process in living, cancer-stricken mice. The researchers put E.coli bacteria in to let the microbes create bubbles. After letting the bacteria circulate for five days, they turned on the ultrasound. By that time, the researchers found that those bacteria had settled deep inside of the tumors. Nearly two weeks after the ultrasound treatment, tumors that had been broken had grown three times more slowly than those that weren’t. And the mice who had received the bubble treatment survived, on average, more than twice as long as their counterparts.

“After decades, I just haven’t seen that come to fruition,” says Mark Borden, a biomedical engineer at the University of Colorado. Of course, making this research work in the lab is one challenge. They need to ensure that putting bubble-containing microbes into a human body won’t end up striking the immune system, or that they won’t cause damage to tissues outside the tumor. So, they’d need to further test the way on animals. But, if it does work out, it could add to the ever-growing toolbox that can be used against the threat of cancer. “It’s an attractive technology and I think it has a lot of potential,” says Borden.

Space travelers face a number of health risks. Astronauts have reported loss of bones and muscle and some even have developed immune disorders and heart problems. A new study finds that energy-producing new structures in cells might be to blame for many of these problems.

A systems biologist, Afshin Beheshti, who studies how different parts of the body work together, also a member of a team of researchers that want to know how spaceflight might affect cells and tissues, notes, “It’s a basic question.”

The team looked at NASA GeneLab’s collection of data from past space biology experiments and studied cells and tissues from mice and people and compared space travelers with others that had remained on Earth.

“The idea is not only to look at one type of chemical,”Beheshti says. Rather, they wanted to “look at the living system as a whole”. And in doing that, they found a common theme. After some time in space, mitochondria, the energy powerhouses of cells, often didn’t work as well as they should.

Those findings are consistent with samples from NASA’s Twin Study. Before retiring, astronaut Scott Kelly spent nearly a year aboard the International Space Station. His twin, Mark remained on the ground. Afterward, blood samples from the two showed different mitochondrial activities.

For the latest study, Beheshti and his team studied GeneLab data for many types of cells and tissues. Another focus was related to metabolism. That process includes a mix of chemical activities that supports life in cells, organs and the whole body.

Damage to mitochondria may be a common factor in spaceflight health risks, the team now concludes. Finding similar changes in so many astronauts indeed points to some general effect, agrees Michael Snyder, a systems biologist at Stanford University in California, who worked on Scott and Mark Kelly’s Twin Study but was not part of the new analysis. If mitochondria are the cause, dealing with problems of them could help protect future astronauts. Some diseases cause mitochondrial defects(线粒体缺陷). Dealing with such diseases in different ways may help reduce astronauts’ health risks. Future studies could test if existing drugs prevent mitochondrial problems in cells, animals and people on long deep-space travels.

Faced with a drop of population and workforce, Japan has been increasingly turning to robots for help. Over the years, robots have been used to perform a large number of human tasks, including building products and providing care and company for old people.

The latest addition to the Japanese "workforce" may be Model-T. This seven-foot-tall robot is currently taking tests restocking(补给)sandwiches, drinks, and ready meals on shelves at local convenience store chains Lawson and FamilyMart.

Model-T, whose face is somewhat like that of a kangaroo, is certainly not the first restocking robot. However, the warehouse(仓库)robots currently being used by supermarkets, like Walmart, are only able to complete single, repetitive tasks, such as stacking(堆积)boxes. Model-T, on the other hand, has a wide range of movement and can be used to restock objects of various sizes. So it is perfect for convenience and grocery stores, which sell a large variety of items.

"It is able to hold, or pick and place, objects of several different shapes and sizes into different locations," Telexistence, the company behind Model-T, said.

Model-T is not autonomous. Instead, it is operated by human "pilots" wearing virtual glasses and special gloves. Therefore, the operators are able to "feel" the product that the robot is holding in their hands and then guide it to the right shelf. Since the connection between the robot and the human operator only has a 0. 05 seconds latency(时延), the operation process is nearly seamless. Telexistence says the VR-controlled robots are easier to develop. They are also ten times cheaper than autonomous robots, which require much more programming.

Model-T's easy-to-use controls require little training and can be operated from a faraway location. During the test at a Tokyo FamilyMart store, the robot was controlled from the Telexistence office about five miles away.