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IgNobels 2017!!!, Bacteria And Cancer, Alzheimer’s Progress, TWITEOTW, The Ultimate Sacrifice, All Hail Beelzebufo!, Easter Island People, Black Planet?, Blue Eggs, Why Blue?, No Sleep For Depression, DeColorizing Butterflies, Fake Skin!, Plastic Eating Problem?, VaJayJay Science, And Much More…
DISCLAIMER, DISCLAIMER, DISCLAIMER!!!
Humans.
Since the dawn of time…
Wait…
humans haven’t been around since the dawn of time
Since the dawn of somewhat recent events maybe…
Science has been humanities greatest accomplishment…
There have been a few other accomplishments along the way…
But really too few to mention…
Mostly having to do with figuring out what is and isn’t edible,
trial and error type things.
Without science we would know nothing reliable about the past…
We would know precious little about the present…
And the future would reliably include cycles of famine, war and pestilence…
Worse still, dishes and laundry would all be done by hand.
And long distance communication would require a lot of walking…
While humans continue to build upon the best thing they ever came up with
We continue to report upon their progress
In the hope that through better understanding of the greatest accomplishments
We can understand where humanity has been
And where it is headed.
And while not all humanity seems headed in the same direction…
You are certainly headed for a bright future as you walked into another episode of
This Week in Science…
coming up next
This Week in What Has Science Done for me Lately?!?
“Hey guys!
First, we love your show, and we listen together on a weekly basis. And, that’s a good segue…
You’ll note I said “”we.””
“”We”” has changed a lot for my wife and I over the past year, and that’s what science has done for us lately.
You see, a little over a year ago we were told by our doctors to talk to a reproductive endocrinologist – the short story is that it appeared there was no way we could have children naturally. My wife and I both have issues on our own that make having a child difficult. Combine these issues together, it just couldn’t happen.
But science to the rescue!
Thanks to a whole slew of different scientific fields, we were able to bring our daughter home last month.
Science gave us :
The work of Patrick Steptoe and nobel winner Richard Edwards who developed in vitro fertilization.
It gave us our reproductive endocrinologist whose specialization in hormones was able to trick our bodies into working right long enough to put the parts together to make a baby.
It gave us the geneticists who performed genetic screening for us, to ensure that there were no genetic problems that could make an embryo incompatible with life.
It gave us embryologists who could select the embryos that were most likely to survive the IVF process and make it to full term.
It gave us the pharmaceutical scientists to develop the epidural to limit my wife’s pain over 22 hours of labor, and the anesthesiologists to administer it.
It gave our daughter the vaccinations to prevent disease, it gave her vitamin k shots to prevent bleeding, and eye drops to prevent blindness.
There are hundreds more ways that science helped this whole thing happen, but this email has to end at some point.
So really, what I am saying is – what has science done for me lately? Science gave my wife and I this beautiful little girl, Ada Marie.
My wife and I owe our family to science. And for that, we are eternally grateful.
That’s what science has one for us lately.
Thank you again for everything you guys do, and keep fighting the good fight to spread the light of science over the land.
– Matty and Jen Sarro
PS: Ada (Lovelace) Marie (Curie), because we’re nerds like that ”
IgNobels 2017!!!
Who was recognized for improbable research this year?
Bacteria And Cancer
In some tumors, anaerobic bacteria hangout and consume chemotherapy drugs. New research suggests that in these cases treating cancer patients with anti-biotics concurrently with chemotherapy is more successful.
Alzheimer’s Progress
A study being called “seminal” by leading Alzheimer researchers brings together the worlds of amyloid plaques and tau tangles to tell a more complete story that can potentially lead to more effective treatments.
Predicting the end of the world with math or… the end is pi
How long do we have before we tip the balance and trigger a mass extinction?
Aunt of the year goes to the spider who lets her nieces and nephews devour her alive
Velvet spiders, some of the only communal spiders, allow babies to eat them to survive, even if they aren’t their (or anyone else’s) mother. Yikes.
All hail Beelzebufo!
By studying horned frogs, aka pacman frogs, researchers conclude that the now extinct beelzebufo was able to eat dinosaurs. Now that is a version of pacman I’d like to play!
Support us on Patreon!
Easter Islands Population Problem…
There were quite a few people on those islands.
Black Planet?
Or a black body planet that glows kind of red or yellow? Someone answer me this question!!!
Blue Eggs
Thanks to molecular chemistry paleontologists have discovered a world of color in dinosaur eggs.
Why Blue?
The naming of colors come from cultural need, and an isolated Amazonian tribe has less need to describe cool colors like blue.
No Sleep For Depression
A meta-analysis found that about 50% of patients respond positively to acute-sleep deprivation treatment for depression symptoms. However, most report return of symptoms within days or weeks.
DeColorizing Butterflies
Using CRISPR to delete genes, researchers are able to identify which are responsible for the beautiful colors that differentiate them from moths.
One step closer to terminator…
New aritficial skin can sense the difference between hot and cold. What’s next??
Plastic-eating caterpillar may be bunk.
Study released in April about potential for plastic-degrading enzymes from caterpillars may need some revisiting.
The right way to touch a vajayjay…
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