News in Short

• MIT scientists have revealed that their AI discovered an antibiotic compound, halicin, that can not only kill many forms of resistant bacteria but do so in a novel way.
• Halicin wipes out bacteria by wrecking their ability to maintain the electrochemical gradient necessary to produce energy-storing molecules.
• The scientists have already used their model to screen over 100 million molecules in another database, finding 23 candidates. They also hope to design antibiotics from scratch and modify existing drugs to increase their effectiveness or reduce their unintended side effects.

• Japan’s space agency JAXA has approved a mission that will, if successful, achieve a new milestone for human space exploration.
• The agency will launch the Martian Moon eXploration (MMX) mission in 2024,with the goal of plucking a sample from the Martian moon Phobos.
• After studying the moons, MMX will return to Earth in 2029 carrying the small sample of Martian moon dust.
• The MMX mission will feature 11 instruments including MEGANE, a NASA-funded tool designed to measure the elemental composition of each moon. As well, a small rover will be deposited on Phobos, where it will travel around and acquire data.

• Researchers have found that surgical treatment of obesity is as effective for individuals who developed the disorder early, by the age of 20, as for those who have developed obesity later in life.
• For many diseases, early treatment is advantageous, but individuals with early-onset obesity have often had their disorder for a long time before bariatric surgery is considered.
• It has sometimes been speculated that bariatric surgical treatment would be less effective in these individuals because of their longer exposure to the adverse health effects of obesity.

• Researchers have found that fat around our arteries may play an important role in keeping those blood vessels healthy.
• The fat, known as perivascular adipose tissue, or PVAT, helps arteries do what scientists call "stress relax," or let go of muscular tension while under constant strain.
• PVAT reduces the tension that blood vessels experience when stretched, and that's a good thing, because the vessel then expends less energy. It's not under as much stress.

• India has regained its ranking as the fifth-largest global economy in terms of nominal GDP, leapfrogging France and the UK.
• India's economy now has a nominal GDP of $2.94 trillion, according to a report by the US-based think-tank World Population Review.
• India is also set to reach a GDP of $5 trillion by 2026, two years later than the government's target. Japan, Germany and India will battle for third position over the next 15 years.