22 May, 2014 – Episode 465 – This Week in Science

Share

Bacteria On Mars, Bacteria On Beaches, Killing Bacteria, Little Pig Sperm, Red Queen Snails, Toss Your Snails, Anti-Stick Octopus, Interview W/ Chris Patil On MarsOne Project, And Much More…

Disclaimer
Disclaimer Disclaimer
As SETI
searches the celestial heavens for earth like signals of communication…
Scanning
slice by slice across the nearly 9 billion earth like planets in the milky way…
With an eye
out towards the 150 billion more galaxies we have yet to search…
Seeking any
sign intelligence.
Meanwhile
you, the earth bound human have been looking for intelligent communications
closer to home.
Scanning
Radio frequencies, dialing digital channels, browsing, searching, clicking past
billions or teraflops of data, hoping to find a link that will direct you
towards that intelligent slice of life on earth…
Despite your
countless hours spent in fruitless pursuit of this elusive content, which as
often as not ended in little more than a Wikipedia article…
And then…
the wow signal! Somehow you stumbled upon TWIS. 
Eureka! You’ve done it! Congratulations! Break out your favorite self-reward
treat, wave to the crowd and take a deep bow.
You earned
it after all you discovered…
This week in
science… coming up next

Bacteria on Mars
Researchers report on the bacteria that survived NASA’s sanitation efforts of Curiosity.

Bacteria on the beach
The Deepwater Horizon spill shifted bacterial communities on coastal beaches to contain those with genes for degrading hydrocarbons.

A better way to kill bacteria
With pulses of electricity, researchers are killing bacteria in wounds to reduce the use of antibiotics.

Pigs select sperm
Internal sperm selection allows them to “choose” to make little boy or girl piggies.

Red queen hypothesis tested
… in snails?! And, it looks like it works.

How to properly dispose of a garden snail
Throw it over the fence… or take up baseball.

Octopus skin is anti-sticky
Specialized reactions in the skin keep octopuses from sticking from themselves.

Get a free audiobook at Audible.com!

Support us on Patreon!

Interview with Chril Patil about being a candidate for the Mars One planned trip to Mars. Check out his blog, and his Facebook page, A Biologist on Mars.

This is your brain on meditation
Directed and non-directed meditation elicit different activity patterns in the brain.

What you taste might kill you
Taste buds might influence our physiology and thus how long we live.

Sending messages thru time and space
IF a wormhole is longer than it is wide, it just might stay open long enough to send a photon through it.

If You love TWIS, please consider making a donation below. Don’t forget to tell a friend about TWIS, and to check out our Patreon page!

Share

About the Author

I'm the host of this little science show.