In this week’s edition of The Prototype, we look at water on Mars, how new technology could end animal testing, a possible vaccine for HIV, and more. You can sign up to get The Prototype in your inbox here.

A Martian glacier seen from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter NASA

A lthough there are many who dream about one day living on Mars, there’s been one challenge to plans for eventually settling on the Red Planet: access to water, which would be vital for any kind of community. But new findings show that water might be easier to find than expected. It turns out that Martian glaciers, once thought to be mostly rock intermixed with ice, are actually over 80% ice in regions across the planet’s surface.

In trying to figure out the puzzle of Martian glaciers, the researchers behind the new study realized that previous efforts to determine their composition were inconsistent. So one of the first things they did was standardize their approach. Using a radar instrument on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been circling the planet for nearly two decades, the scientists found that the glaciers were mostly ice that was covered in rocks and dust. Moreover, they found that glaciers on different parts of Mars–even on opposite hemispheres–had virtually identical ratios of water.

That will make it easier for future Martian citizens to access water, increasing the odds that a permanent colony on the planet might happen one day.

Stay tuned.

How AI And Mini-Organs Could Replace Testing Drugs On Animals

Illustration by Macy Sinreich for Forbes; Images by Svetlana Shamshurina; Serhii Borodin; Kristina Velickovic; Nosyrevy via Getty Images

At Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, researchers have created something extraordinary: tiny, beating lab-grown “hearts.” Visible only under a microscope, the diminutive innards are called organoids. They can be grown in a matter of days from a patient’s own stem cells, and their doctors use them to screen for the best medicine for their condition, sparing months of trial and error.

They’re also core to the future of drug testing, and someday perhaps the end of the lab rat.

Animal testing has been mandated by law since 1937, when a new formulation of a common antibiotic had a poisonous new ingredient — and killed more than 100 people. Nearly a century later, drugs are still being pulled from shelves because they have toxic effects, even though animal testing showed they were safe. Now, politicians, scientists and entrepreneurs are pushing for new, more accurate ways to test drugs before they get to human clinical trials — potentially saving lives and billions of dollars in the process.

In 2022, a group of scientists ran an experiment with 27 known drug compounds that animal studies had shown to be safe. Some of them had turned out to have toxic side effects and had been pulled from the market after they’d killed people. The researchers tested the 27 compounds on a new technology called “organ-on-a-chip”: similar to organoids, “organ chips” have clusters of cells embedded in a diminutive electronic device that can simulate an organ’s behavior. The researchers found that liver organs-on-a-chip accurately predicted which compounds were dangerous, an advancement that might someday lead to significant cost savings in the extremely expensive drug development process. More accurate testing using organ chips could save the industry over $3 billion a year, the study’s authors calculated.

On top of safety, cost is another reason to move away from animal testing. Today, pharma companies often spend more than $2 billion to bring a single drug to market, with the industry spending nearly $300 billion a year on research & development. But despite these vast R&D expenditures, more than 90% of drug candidates fail. It’s a wasteful process, contributing to the flabbergasting prices of drugs that do make it to market.

Read the whole story at Forbes.

DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK: MRNA VACCINES MIGHT PREVENT HIV INFECTION

Scientists have made great strides in treating HIV since the 1980s, though after decades of work, a vaccine still remains elusive. But a new study of an mRNA vaccine against the virus offers hope. A clinical trial of 108 healthy adults found that it triggered the immune system to develop antibodies against HIV while having few serious side effects. More study is needed before any kind of vaccine hits the market, but the authors stated that this approach using mRNA vaccines offers a lot of future promise.

FINAL FRONTIER: THIS STAR SYSTEM MIGHT HAVE FIVE LIVABLE PLANETS

Astronomers have found a new planet around L 98-59, a red dwarf star that’s just 35 light-years away from Earth. What’s interesting about the planet is that it lies in the “habitable zone” of the star–meaning it’s at the right distance for temperatures allowing liquid water to flow. Even more interesting: this is the fifth such planet to be found around L 98-59 over the past decade. All of the planets have roughly similar masses and sizes to Earth, as well. Next up, astronomers hope to study the system using the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope to learn more about these worlds.

WHAT ELSE I WROTE THIS WEEK

In my other newsletter, InnovationRx, Amy Feldman and I looked at how Trump’s tariffs on European drugs will hit American consumers, Halle Berry’s menopause startup, how robots eliminate the need to do open heart surgery for a valve replacement, and more.

I filled in this week on my colleague Thomas Brewster’s cybersecurity newsletter, The Wiretap, where I took a look at how OpenAI’s agent casually proved it wasn’t a bot, pro-Ukrainian hackers taking down Russia’s national airline and Apple’s efforts to combat text message spam.

SCIENCE AND TECH TIDBITS

Self-driving taxi company Waymo announced that it will be expanding its services to Dallas next year. The robot cars are currently available in five U.S. cities and will also be launching in Miami and Washington D.C. in 2026.

Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface company Neuralink is joining a research project aimed at developing a bionic eye, reports Bloomberg.

Fusion power company Helion has broken ground on its first nuclear fusion plant in Malaga, Washington. The company has a contract with Microsoft to power its data centers in the region.

Commercial space company Firefly Aerospace, which is so far the only company to successfully land a spacecraft on the Moon’s surface, has been awarded a $177 million contract from NASA to deliver rovers and scientific instruments to the lunar South Pole.

PRO SCIENCE TIP: GET IN THE TRENCHES IF YOU WANT TO SPEAK YOUR MIND AT WORK

Two new studies on the workplace both shared a result you may not find surprising: the folks who tend to agree with their bosses a lot tend to get promoted more than people who challenge them. That’s true even though there’s a wealth of papers finding that empowering employees willing to challenge the company line is better for results in the long run. But there’s one way the studies found that internal critics can still get promoted and empowered: if they exhibit helpful behaviors and are willing to roll up their sleeves when the going gets tough.

“If an employee was willing to buckle down and put in the work when the chips were down, such as helping leaders with heavy workloads, leaders were not threatened when that employee highlighted problems or raised concerns,” study co-author Bradley Kirkman said in a statement.

WHAT’S ENTERTAINING ME THIS WEEK

I recently read the book Assassin’s Anonymous by Rob Hart. It’s a spin on the old story of the world’s deadliest assassin, who has been retired until his past inevitably catches up to him. But there’s a catch: he’s also in a 12-step program with other assassins, working to break the patterns that led him to become a killer, and he’s about to get his one-year chip. So now he needs to deal with his enemies using non-fatal solutions. It’s a perfect summer beach read.

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