To slay a horseman

[ReuKinChe]

In their continuing quest to bring about a united humanity, the European Federation has been making numerous technological and scientific advances. With each one, the realm of human knowledge is expanded, and the world gets one step closer to killing at least two of the horsemen of the apocalypse. The deaths of Pestilence and Famine are already in sight, and through careful understanding and force of will, the European Federation will ensure that such a vision comes to fruition.

Below are several of the recent advances made in the Federation.

• The refinement of a viral method, known as adoptive cell transfer, to treat leukaemia and aggressive lymphoma. It involves collecting T-cells from the patient's immune system, and infecting them with a specially designed virus, which reprograms the DNA of the T-cells to target cancer cells. The T-cells are then introduced into the bloodstream, where they will target the cancer cells. Work is being done to see if this treatment can be effectively translated to other types of cancer.
• The development of a viral method to edit the DNA of a donated organ, so that it will not be rejected by the patient's immune system. Human organs have not yet been edited, but the method has proved successful in tests on mice. An edited pig lung was also successfully transplanted into a terminally ill human, and at least for now, the patient is healthy.
• The discovery of some genes linked to intelligence.
• The successful erasure of cystic fibrosis alleles from 96% of recessive allele-carrying human sperm cells in a sample.

[ReuKinChe]

Further advances were made, some of which are listed below.

• Scientists tested a genetically modified virus on mice to rid them of cystic fibrosis. It removed the disorder from 54% of mice, but 39% of mice experienced health complications. 28% died. More animal testing will be necessary before human testing becomes ethical.
• The terminally ill patient who received a genetically modified pig lung was released from hospital, and declared healthy. More terminally ill patients have received pig organs since.

[ReuKinChe]

The following advances were made:

• The virus was retested on mice with cystic fibrosis, this time with immunosuppressants. The disorder was removed from 78% of mice, but 15% of mice died from complications stemming from a weakened immune system. A refining of the process is necessary.
• A non-obstructive earpiece was patented, which automatically translates speech from a foreign language into the user's spoken language. The civilian and military applications are obvious, and the Federation's efficiency in uniting linguistic groups is expected to skyrocket, boosting the economy. For now, the sale of devices is tightly restricted, with translators going to Durotar only.
• Experiments were made in using quantum encryption, especially quantum key distribution.