Astronauts on NASA’s ninth rotational SpaceX crew mission (Crew-9) splashed down off the Florida coast yesterday evening, ending their months-long science expedition onboard the International Space Station (ISSInternational Space Station). Over the course of the mission, the crew supported a variety of investigations sponsored by the ISS National Laboratory®, including research to improve treatments for neurodegenerative conditions, studies to manufacture more effective therapeutics in space, and student-led experiments to prepare the next generation of explorers. Returning crew members include NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore, who are part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.

Researchers at the University of Houston, in collaboration with Baylor College of Medicine, are developing new devices for treating children with hyperleukocytosis, a condition that develops when the body has an extremely high number of white blood cells, often due to leukemia.  

Researchers simulated efforts to defend Manhattan against sea level rise through the end of this century. Compared with other systems, reinforcement learning lowered costs by 6-36% in a scenario modeling climate change under moderate carbon emissions. For a high-emissions scenario, the decrease was 9-77%.

Concordia researchers have developed an augmented-reality (AR)-based platform called iSurgARythat can make ventriculostomies far safer and more accurate, especially in low- and middle-income countries and resource-limited settings.

The iSurgARy system uses LIDAR, a light detection and ranging technology, to help surgeons identify specific landmarks on the skull and accurately map them to the patient’s preoperative images (CT/MRI). Augmented reality is then used to project the ventricles onto the patient. The creators describe the technology in the Healthcare Technology Letters journal.