WEIRD SCIENCE
Property rights get messy when DNA is involved. By Sarah Kearns – Scattered around your house or apartment, lightly coating the surface of your coffee table and lurking in the nooks and crannies of each room, are millions of your skin and hair …
Report claims 400,000 insect species face extinction amid heavy use of pesticides. Damian Carrington Environment editor @dpcarrington – The study also indicates that insects, including bees, are vanishing due to damage to nature. Photograph: Rodrigo Garrido/Reuters. The “unnoticed insect apocalypse” should set alarm …
A safe, stretchy semiconductor could help save lives. By Thor Benson – Scientists have been struggling to create a semiconductor that is stretchy, conductive and fully degradable—all at the same time. Researchers have now created a semiconductor that meets all of these requirements, …
‘Hot electron’ harvesting could unlock big solar energy gains. By Mike Brown – “Hot electrons” could add a new dimension to harvesting energy from solar panels. Scientists from the University of Groningen and Nanyang Technological University have developed a means of harnessing otherwise-wasted …
Your microbiome begins in your mouth. Why don’t we look there more often? By Derek Beres – Photo by Carl D. Walsh/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images. Eighty percent of patients who’ve had heart attacks have gum disease, says Dr. Shahrzad Fattahi. …
We know what happens if you get too close… By Janie Hoormann – Can Earth be affected by a black hole in the future? – Rakovi, age 12, Dimapur, India. As we know, black holes are called that because the gravity in their …
“We really might be known as the Plastic Age.” By Nina Pullano – We’ve found tiny plastic particles in the depths of the ocean and the air we breathe, fragments of car tires and plastic bags among them. Plastic pollution may seem like …
Two cattle worm infections in human hosts within two years suggests that they might be an “emerging zoonotic disease in the United States,” according to a recent case report. by Maddie Bender – Left: Flickr/Geoffrey Fairchild. Right: Bradbury, Gustafson et. al. – A parasitic worm …
By Rich Haridy – A freely available app can detect early signs of several eye diseases in children as accurately as devices used by professionals. Sheftsoft/Depositphotos. – An app designed to detect early signs of several eye diseases in children has surpassed an …
Just as long as no one gets windmill cancer By Thor Benson – If you’re worried about getting “windmill cancer,” we have some good news for you. According to a new study published recently in the journal Environmental Research Letters, installing more renewable …
