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The 2016 IgNobels!, Three-Parent Baby, No Direction, Psycho Shrew Brains, Spider Nightmare Juice, Symbolic Horses, Musky Marstropolis, Biological Aging, Psychic Psychology?, Socialism Development, And Much More…
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Once upon a time in a land far far away…
A human being will be born…
But no ordinary human being…
Because this human being will not be born on earth…
This child will be born on Mars…
Or the Moon…
Or on a spacecraft headed into deep space…
And while these children of the future may not be born on earth…
Are they are still earthlings?
At first there will be nationalism no doubt…
The first American born on the mars…
The first Chinese citizen born on the moon…
The first half Mongolian half Swedish twins born on the Starship deGrasse Tyson.
And, regardless of what we think,
or even what the first South Africa-born Canadian-American father to a child born on Mars thinks…
It will ultimately be up to them…
those children born off earth…
To decide what their native home is…
and if history has shown us anything,
and it has,
it has also shown us that people move on from places of origin…
They take root in new locations and new traditions with such ease…
That it would be hard to imagine the children born in these places to call anywhere else home…
And speaking of home,
welcome back,
wherever you may be,
hang your hat,
put on your thinking slippers,
grab a seat in your favorite mental comfy chair and relax to some whimsical meanderings of science-y goodness… it’s time for…
This Week In Science
Coming up next…
The 2016 IgNobels!
And, the winners are…
Three-Parent Baby
It’s not the first time that a baby has been born with the help of three parents, but it is the first time that a baby has been born thanks to a technique called spindle nuclear transfer in which the nucleus of a female egg is tranplanted into the egg of a donor that has the nucleus removed. The resulting egg was then fertilized with the husband’s sperm, and implanted into the mother using IVF techniques. The take-home here is that a woman with mitochondrial disease was able to birth a healthy baby.
No Direction
Analysis of various models of the universe compared to the Cosmological Microwave Background Radiation supports the hypothesis that the universe is expanding equally in all directions.
Psycho shrew brains…
Are we homicidal by nature? A new study says yes.
Perhaps the most potent nightmare juice in the history of Blair’s Animal Corner…
You thought female widow spiders were tough, wait til you hear what males do to juvenile females to shortcut being eaten by adults…
Horses can communicate with symbols. What’s next, horse semifore???
Horses could indicate whether they wanted a blanket put on or removed by using symbols provided to them by their trainers. It would appear the mammalian brain was set up pretty well before we came along!
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Mars-a-fest Destiny just got Musky…
Elon wants a Mars-o-tropolis now.
Biological Aging
An analysis of around 13,000 genomes found that epigenetic markers can predict lifespan even when controlling for lifestyle risk factors. While risk factors definitely influence aging, and were more predictive than the markers, this study suggests that we all have an innate biological clock.
Psychic Psychology?
Will they help us gain insight into disorders like schizophrenia?
Development of Socialism
French and Swiss researchers determined that the concept of social fairness develops between the ages of 5-8 years old. Toddlers between the ages of 2-4 years more often deferred to dominant individuals, while those 5-8 were increasingly likely to distribute rewards given to dominant players to those considered more subordinate.
Discovering new animals in the oddest of places
New species of ant discovered by flushing the stomach of a “devil frog.” Now the challenge is on to find them alive!
Tracking fugitive spiders via their main predator.
Wasps lead researchers to the invasive Joro spider as the wasps feed them to their babies and use them to make their nests. CSI: invertebrate massacre, #amiright???
CRISPR For Humans
A Swedish scientist has started using the CRISPR/Cas-9 system to edit healthy human embryos with the hope of unravelling the intricacies of early development at the genetic level.
Plumes On Europa
Hubble has spied more evidence of periodic vapor plumes emanating from beneath the surface of Europa.
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