Just Plain WEIRD #2 
							
						
			            																									
							
							
									
				
					
	
					
	
		A new targeted immune-modulating drug holds promise for people with RA. Depositphotos – By Paul McClure 2025 Aug 06 – A new nanoparticle drug has shown preclinical promise in both preventing rheumatoid arthritis and reducing painful flare-ups, offering hope for a targeted, steroid-sparing treatment …	
	        
        				
						
			            																									
							
							
									
				
					
	
					
	
		These new drops offer up to 10 hours of clearer vision without glasses. Depositphotos – By Bronwyn Thompson 2025 Aug 06 – The first aceclidine-based eye drop to improve near vision in adults with presbyopia, which affects more than 100 million adults in the …	
	        
        				
						
			            			
																												
							
							
									
				
					
	
					
	
		Microplastics break off from a wide range of plastic objects in the home with day-to-day use, as well as from synthetic materials in our cars. FlyD on Unsplash – By Abhimanyu Ghoshal 2025 Jul 31 – Research out of the University of Toulouse, France, …	
	        
        				
						
			            																									
							
							
									
				
					
	
					
	
		Betel nuts wrapped in betel leaves, a common preparation for chewing. Ffggss/Wikimedia Commons – By Bronwyn Thompson 2025 Aug 04 – Traces of a psychoactive compound has been detected in the dental plaque of a Bronze Age woman buried in Thailand some 4,000 years …	
	        
        				
						
			            									
																						
							
							
									
				
					
	
					
	
		A byproduct produced when tryptophan is metabolized by gut bacteria could become a natural obesity treatment. DALL-E – By Paul McClure 2025 Aug 03 – Byproducts from gut bacteria breaking down tryptophan, a dietary amino acid, can restore hormone-secreting gut cells reduced by obesity, …	
	        
        				
						
			            																									
							
							
									
				
					
	
					
	
		Beehive Geyser, in the Upper Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park. Thomas S. Bremer – By Thomas S. Bremer, Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies, Rhodes College Published: 2025 Jul 24 – Nearly 5 million travelers come to Wyoming to visit Yellowstone National Park each …	
	        
        				
						
			            															
																
							
							
									
				
					
	
					
	
		Humans building thousands of dams over the past century have changed the planet’s mass distribution, shifting the globe’s axis.  Depositphotos – By Jay Kakade 2025 Jul 30 – Over the past two centuries, the construction of thousands of dams has done more than just …	
	        
        				
						
			            																									
							
							
									
				
					
	
					
	
		New research has traced the evolutionary origins of the modern potato all the way back to an interbreeding event with tomatoes nine million years ago.  Made with Google AI – By Jay Kakade 2025 Jul 31 – Tracing the potato’s deep ancestry, researchers have …	
	        
        				
						
			            																					
										
							
							
									
				
					
	
					
	
		Kamchatka Krai earthquake location. USGS – By Dee Ninis, Earthquake Scientist, Monash University And by John Townend, Professor of Geophysics, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Published: 2025 Jul 30 – Today at about 11:30am local time, a magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck …	
	        
        				
						
			            																									
							
							
									
				
					
	
					
	
		Ethical concerns – like the mistreatment of content creators decried by this protester – drive both veganism and resistance to using AI. Mario Tama/Getty Images – By David Joyner, Associate Dean and Senior Research Associate, College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology Published: 2025 …