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ASX Tech Stocks: Astronaut DNA mutates after spaceflight and Suvo invests in a high purity alumina tech developer
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- Space radiation means astronauts are at more risk of developing cancer and heart disease
- Suvo Strategic Minerals picks up 26% of green High Purity Alumina player Dingo
- Ai-Media nabs 5-year contract extension with Seven Network for its transcription tech
Space is cool but you might want to think twice before booking a spot on a Blue Origin flight, because it turns out it really messes with your DNA.
A study from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has found that astronauts are more likely to develop mutations that raise their lifelong risk of getting cancer and heart disease.
Researchers took blood samples from astronauts who served on space shuttle missions between 1998 and 2001 for NASA and all 14 were found to have DNA alterations, or somatic mutations, in the blood-forming system (hematopoietic stem cells).
This raises possibility that these mutations may be brought on by spaceflight and highlights the importance of routine blood testing for astronauts throughout their careers – and during retirement – to keep an eye on their health.
“Astronauts work in an extreme environment where many factors can result in somatic mutations, most importantly space radiation, which means there is a risk that these mutations could develop into clonal hematopoiesis,” Cardiovascular Research Institute MD, Professor of Medicine (Cardiology) and study lead author David Goukassian said.
“Given the growing interest in both commercial spaceflights and deep space exploration, and the potential health risks of exposure to various harmful factors that are associated with repeated or long-duration exploration space missions, such as a trip to Mars, we decided to explore, retrospectively, somatic mutation in the cohort of 14 astronauts.
“The presence of these mutations does not necessarily mean that the astronauts will develop cardiovascular disease or cancer, but there is the risk that, over time, this could happen through ongoing and prolonged exposure to the extreme environment of deep space.”
Who’s got tech news out today?
SUVO STRATEGIC MINERALS (ASX:SUV)
Kaolin producer Suvo is acquiring a 26% share in green High Purity Alumina (HPA) player Dingo which is developing a technology that aims to produce HPA from recycled aluminium feedstock.
HPA is a high-purity form of aluminium oxide (Al2O3), with a minimum purity level of 99.99 % and is a high value critical mineral used in the production of portable electronics, electric vehicles and LED lights.
Plus, HPA commands between US$28,000 – US$40,000 per tonne in a global market that’s predicted to reach US$4.8 billion by 2026.
HPA is traditionally produced using aluminium metal as a feedstock, which is typically sourced from bauxite or kaolin mines.
However, with global aluminium demand forecast to increase nearly 40 per cent by 2030, the aluminium sector will need to produce an additional 33.3Mt to meet demand growth in all industrial sectors – from 86.2Mt in 2020 to 119.5Mt in 20302 while achieving stringent reduction in embedded emissions.
This presents an opportunity for recycling processes, such as that being developed by Dingo, to help meet the rising need for high quality low-carbon aluminium to create HPA.
The initial placement funding will be used by Dingo towards scoping study advancement for its closed loop recycling process.
The transcription and translation tech player has signed a five-year contract renewal with Seven Network, with Seven to extend its use of Ai-Media’s offerings from traditional premium services to technology products iCap Encode, Lexi and Smart Lexi, and an enhanced use of SubSilo.
“Through the pioneering use of our SubSilo product, team members at Seven can now use embedded captioning to search extended video archives,” AIM co-founder and CEO Tony Abrahams said.
“The full suite of Ai-Media’s products and services will be available to Seven once we complete the transition to the iCap network, which is expected to occur in Q3 FY23.
“The agreement further accelerates our technology-driven growth through recurring revenue and speeds up the transition of our top customers to the iCap network and SaaS products Lexi and Smart Lexi.
“This will also deliver viewers much more choice of captioned content, helping to deliver further on our vision of making the world’s content accessible for everyone.”
ASIC has commenced civil proceedings in the Federal Court against the analytics software company and its directors during the period 18 January 2021 to 21 April 2021.
ASIC alleges that aspects of the company’s market disclosure in that period contravened provisions of the Corporations Act and ASIC Act and that the relevant directors breached their duties in respect of that disclosure – and that the company’s disclosure of its Annualised Contract Value (ACV) and statutory revenue performance as against forecasts was deficient.
ASIC seeks declarations in respect of the alleged contraventions, pecuniary penalties against Nuix and pecuniary penalties and disqualification orders against the relevant directors.
Nuix denies the allegations and intends to defend the proceedings.
Datacentre player DC Two has secured binding commitments to raise $1m at $0.039 per share via a two-tranche placement which it says will underpin its new phase of revenue growth.
Funds will be directed towards marketing efforts aimed to supercharge recurring revenue in the Bibra Lake data centre – WA’s only Tier III design accredited data centre with its own ISO 27001 ISMS accredited cloud platform.
DC Two will also pursue Tier III construction accreditation, and if successful this will provide further competitive advantages when tendering for large enterprise customers.
The company is also undertaking a Share Purchase Plan to raise up to a further $1m.
SUV, AIM, NXL and DC2 share prices today:
