#last week in science

1. The water bear uses a special protein to turn it into a glass bead and that’s why it’s basically indestructible

2. Australia took a lesson in Herd Immunity and wants to ban unvaccinated children from preschool

3. We find the first fluorescent frog

4. If you want to eat lab-grown chicken, it’ll cost you $9,000/pound

that’s less than half the price since last year, the waiting game begins…

5. The Great Barrier Reef is dying because of warming oceans

6. Trump’s budget plan cuts funding for arts, humanities, public media - medical and scientific research - setting science back by decades …here’s a pretty list of all the things it will fuck up

With the only thing apparently getting more funding (the military) at least the defense secretary recognizes climate change

7. While NASA’s budget is being restructured, Bill Nye desperately tries to inform the Trump administration how important NASA science is (Video)

8. With some incredibly well-timed Trump-era foreshadowing, a team of physicist immortalize nuclear test footage

9. This artist made the cosmic microwave background with sand 

10. Ever wonder what the fuck “time crystals” are? Here you go

11. Here’s what it looks like in the pilot seat at night

12. Kellyanne Conway provides more evidence that she doesn’t understand basic science, microwave ovens can’t spy on you 

13. Crazy-eyed conman gets sued for selling bullshit “drinkable sunscreen”

watchhis video for a good laugh

14. A snakeoil for-profit clinic in Florida uses unproven stem cell treatments for macular degeneration and caused blindness in 3 patients

15. Highspeed footage of the Shuttles enginesstabilizing

16. This millionaire entrepreneur is bringing Black Mirror closer to reality with his “Kernel”, which is planned to integrate computers to the human brain

17. Watch this supercomputer tornado simulation

Looking at the simulation, the researchers observed numerous “mini tornadoes” that formed at the onset of the main tornado.

Your weekly dose of science, please enjoy responsibly.

1. The first fully synthetic eukaryotic yeast genome was created

2. We find 50,000 year old DNA in Neanderthal dental plaque and find out what they ate and how they self-medicated

3. New re-usuable sponge can soak up 90x its weight in oil

4. Another first, this time artificial embryos using stem cells

5. Have your mind blown with 3D comparisons of everything in the universe

6. That smell of rain is because of bacteria being launched into the air

7. We found a gene that regulates brain tumor growth

8. Cassini just saw this alien spaceship Ravioli shaped moon named Pan

9. Congress passes a bill telling NASA to beat china send humans to Mars by 2030′s

10. “Fast Radio Bursts” could be aliens traveling across space

11. Scott Pruitt continues to deny that CO2 is main contributor to global warming as he shoves money from fossil fuel companies in to his pocket

12. The brain is 10x more active than we once thought

Their research showed that dendrites are electrically active in animals that are moving around freely, generating nearly 10 times more spikes than somas. The finding challenges the long-held belief that spikes in the soma are the primary way in which perception, learning and memory formation occur.

13. Watch this squid eat a fish twice its size

14. How aborted fetal cells potentially saved billions of lives through vaccines

15. Pigeons with just their veins are freaky (Wellcome Image Awards winners)

16. We test out CRISPR in normal human embryos for the first time and it looks promising

17. Virus-mediated gene therapy treats muscle wasting disease in dogs

18. Treat cancer or disease with gene therapy (In A Box) 

19. Doing chemistry experiments in the stratosphere because why not

20. A story of Richard Feynman and the 60 year quest to find Gravity Waves

1. As we move towards a bioshock-reality, this company has a plan to treat muscular dystrophy with CRISPR

2. Oldest fossils found are 3.7 Billion years old, iron-oxidizing, live on hydro-thermal vents and show that life starts early but takes forever to become multi-cellular (at least on Earth)

3. Remember that metallic-hydrogen reported a few weeks ago? Yea, apparently it disappeared 

but it was probably bullshit to begin with since 1) They rushed to publish it and over-hyped it. 2) Only they had this magic process to create stronger diamond-presses (which they were happy to share, in person only).3) They don’t even know for sure if the “shiny stuff” they saw was their hydrogen sample. 4) When they published this, they didn’t even release the diamond-press to see if the hydrogen stayed metallic (which was really the best reason for making it)… I smell pseudoscience.

4. Tilapia skin might be the next best way to heal burn victims

5. The inventor of the Lithium-Ion battery announced new sodium-ion glass-electrolyte battery technology that stores 3x more energy, has more recharging cycles and faster charging rate (hopefully we can mass-manufacture this, otherwise it’s too good to be true)

6. EPA Chief Scott Pruitt promises EPA regulation rollbacks soon, his followers continue to be delusional

6.1 As Trump pours billions in to defense, at least the military will focus on renewable energies

7. Conservationists are bringing the Galapagos tortoise back from the brink

8. Billionaire CEOs finally kick off the commercial space race with bold plans

9. Here’s what the inside of a spinning CT scanner looks like

10. Autism rates are up,study also shows that awareness of your breathing goes up as you read this sentence

11. Boston Dynamics new robot is a parkour master

12. Prepare for Trump’s plan to deregulate pharmaceuticals and usher in a new wave of pseudoscience
(Trump uses a sob story in his case – eerily similar to the flame retardant case in Merchants of Doubt – saying our drug approval process was too slow and could have saved this girl)

“Further, the FDA already has a program for expanded access (compassionate use). This allows terminal patients without options to gain access to experimental drugs before being approved. The FDA approves 99% of applications for expanded access.

So essentially, Trump is trying to fix a problem that does not exist. In the process he will destroy a system that is already near optimal.”

13. The only way to terraform Mars is to protect its atmosphere from the Sun by putting a giant magnet in front of it

14. America learns an important lesson in bullshit food-labeling loopholes and realizes Subways chicken is 50% chicken and 50% soy meat

15. Illustration on how chiropractic spinal manipulation can cause a stroke

15.1 Cincinnati zoo employs pseudoscientist who thinks he can cure “failure to thrive” in a baby tiger

16. Here’s what pregnant animals look like under an x-ray

17. Time-lapse of a giant wasp building its nest

18. Watching a male seahorse give birth is, err… explosive

19. These turkeys circling this dead cat are either inspecting a predator or are so dumb they are just caught in a loop following each other

Your weekly dose of science, please enjoy responsibly.

1. Strimvelis gene-therapy cure treated its’ first patient, only costed ~$650k

2. Each of your neurons are genetically different (which may be the answer to treating certain psychiatric diseases)

3. Emerging field of “Electricroceuticals” may help treat inflammatory diseases (also prepare yourself for the coming wave of electro-quackery)

4. Cassini dove between Saturn and its’ rings and didn’t get pummeled by rocks

5. The structure of the Perseus galaxy cluster was formed by other massive clusters passing by

6. We found out that this algae lives INSIDE salamander cells (kind of like the mitochondria symbiosis theory)

7. The new GOP healthcare removed protections from having genetic predispositions to diseases (good thing CRISPR will save the day, right?)

8. Put these two fungal species in a dish together and they’ll make a powerful new antibiotic

9. European politics continues to lag behind as advancing GM crops save the rest of the planet

10. Watch this crazy lightning storm from space

11. Anti-vaxxers in Minnesota resurrect disease in largest measles outbreak in 30 years

Vaccinate yourselves from garbage science by understanding good and bad studies

12. Avocados became popular through a combination of lifting import-bans and marketing as the “low-fat diet” era slowly died

13. A short film about ‘Tree Lobsters’ escaping extinction by clinging to life in one bush on a baron sea-stack 

14. If you want to keep your sense of taste in your 60′s, don’t burn your tongue as much

15. People, please stop juicing, it isn’t healthy (and definitely don’t buy a fucking $400 diabetesjuice machine that has wifi)

16. More awesome slow-mo Triboluminescence

17. For your weekly dose of Pseudoscience; Be wary of Trash Journal Scams (thesheer number of them is amazing)

1. The new Bill Nye show was, DARE I SAY IT…a little cringey

2. Mothernaturefucker Trump wants to let oil companies drill in national parksand expand off-shore drilling tomarine monumentsin the name of job creation 

3. Scientists are perfecting these artificial wombs to help premature babies

4. Wikipedia co-founder hopes his Wikitribune will cure the fake news plague

5. We just found an Earth-massed iceball 13,000 light years away using microlensing

6. Europe and China planning on a Moon base by 2020′s, (in other news, Trump craps his bed as he hears China will mine lunar fuel and hopefully starts a bigly space race)

7. Prepare yourself for a smartphone app that uses light to control engineered-cells and regulate blood sugarcontinuously

8. Your gut bacteria control your cravings

9. Aspirin may actually help prevent some cancers from forming and it may even prevent cancers from spreading

10. The Wax Worm can digest plastic bags

11. Lady Dragonflies play dead when they don’t want to bone anymore

12. How to study dolphins’ curvy vaginas with a CT scanner

12.1 Animal penis tangent: True Facts about the Duck

13. Flashlight fish remind you how cool evolution is

14. For your weekly dose of pseudoscience bull-shit: Here is Justin Trudeau, the apparent scientific savior from the north, endorsing “Cupping”

15. BONUS PSEUDOSCIENCE-SMACKDOWN!!!: The FDA’s sent out warning letters to 14 companies for selling BS cancer-cures

1. New browser plug-in lets you access millions of scientific papers for free and legally!

2. After millions of years, Earth passed the 410ppm CO2 thresholdagain

2.1 At the same time, entire rivers disappear because of retreating glaciers

3. We marched for SCIENCE!! (here’s my face and a dumb sign I made)

4. Another asteroid flew by at about 1 million miles away

4.1 In similar news: The Lyrid meteor shower peaked over the weekend

5. We just keep finding more and more potentially habitableexoplanets

6. The LHC found some shiny new particles, maybe

7. We find out that aliens are probably not trying to communicate with lasers

8. Pigeons, among a few other species, build knowledge across generations

9. Spider feet up close are kind of cute

10. Human umbilical cord proteins revitalize aged brainsin mice

11. Here’s what will happen to Earth and the Universe in the next 100,000,000,000,000,000,000years

12. This 5-foot-long ship worm has a stinky story of evolution

13. Unpublished, 40-year-old study shows that Saturated Fats are not evil (also shows the importance of publishing undesired results because that’s how science works, and is how this myth was perpetuated in the first place. /rant)

14. This bone-protein could treat Diabesity

15. Behold! Triboluminescence (because breaking chemical bonds with a blender is fun)

16. For your weekly dose of pseudoscience bull-shit: Crazy antivaxers are saying vaccines cause dog-autism

1. Scientists just used super-computers to predict and design two new types of magnetic materials

2. Replacing traditional antibiotics with a CRISPR-pill is the future for hospitals and nursing facilities

3. Hydrothermal vents with hydrogen on Saturn’s moon could hold life (those vents are basically where life began here on Earth)

4. Self-taught AI is slightly better at predicting heart attacks than your doctor

5. Your shoe-laces actually come undone in one or two strides (rather than slowly throughout the day)

6. This device can pull nearly 3 Liters of water from dry air in 12 hours

7. The March for Science is on the 22nd, many are concerned the march will fail to be non-partisan enough

The Science March’s twitter backtracking on some identity politics

8. Also NASA is putting the Earth up for adoption for Earth Day

9. A black hole simulation in 1978 looks just like the supercomputer simulation used in the movie Interstellar

10. Behold the horrifying mess that is your adult teeth ramming their way through your skull

11. Finding the one true caveman diet is ridiculous because humans lived essentially in all climates and food sources evolved throughout history

12. Archer fish are actually just nature’s bidet for insects

13. More evidence that shows high-energy events like lightning strikes or meteor impacts can create building-blocks for life

14. Here’s what an earthquake looks like under water

15. Scientists design a special drone to study volcanoes

16. For your weekly dose of pseudoscience bull-shit: Naturopath kills patient with IV Turmeric

1. Two thirds of the Great Barrier Reef is now bleached; recovery is possible but very unlikely

2. Inventor of the internet gets the Nobel prize of computing decades later as we are now using quantum computers in search algorithms for the first time

3. Graphene-oxide sieve filters sea water and can hopefully be scale-able 

4. NASA’s new plan for getting humans to Mars: Phase 1 (a lunar space station) will resupply and refuel Phase 2 (a deep space transport)

5. Crowd-sourcing helped narrow down the search for Planet 9 

6. Here’s a nice video showing how Cassini will crash in to Saturn this year 

7. 23andMe, gene testing company, wins back the right to tell you your risk factors for certain diseases rather than just your heritage (likely leading to wild misinterpretation by most consumers)

8. More evidence supporting how early exposure to antibiotics affects gut microbiota and behavior

9. Low-Calorie sweeteners possibly promote fat accumulation by up-regulating receptors in fat tissue (caution: very small study)

10. Scientists drive sperm to deliver cancer-fighting drugs

11. New supercomputer model of the TRAPPIST-1 system estimate that only one of the planets is likely habitable

12. Alan Alda hopes to make jargon-spewing scientists better communicators

13. Look at this crazy photo of Blue Jet Lightning

14. Republicans continue to ignore basic science in favor or re-election and risk causing measles outbreaks

15. The Kingfisher is so fucking cool, here it is in slow-mo breaching the waters with a live fish in it’s throat

16. Octopus and squid evolve differently than most organisms

“Unlike most animal species, whose genomes are riddled with millions of years of mutations that have helped them adapt to a volatile world, cephalopod adaption appears to have been more a result of RNA editing. Heavy reliance on RNA editing, however it first evolved, practically would have guaranteed the need for cephalopod DNA to remain fairly stable over millennia.”

17. Just create an antibody for the bacterial-toxin associated with acne and blamo, acne vaccine…maybe

18. The ESO just discovered this firework display created by stars colliding

19. And for your weekly dose of pseudoscience bullshit, here is a sheep placenta face-mask

1. SpaceX makes history and lands the first used rocket

1.1 We are at the beginning of a space-race between the billionaire private space industries and now Russia

1.2 Tesla’s stock value surpassed Ford’s

2. FDA approved the first drug to treat aggressive MS

3. Remember how starving yourself can make monkeys live a little longer? Yea, there’s a drug for that

4. There’s a new comet you can see with binoculars!

5. Fly through the known universe in this fantastic animation

6. The interesting path to the invention of the telescope

7. The burps of super-massive black holes literally create new stars

8. Trumpian-EPA reverses course and allows toxic pesticide on market

9. The HouseAlt-Science Committee perpetuates the delusional climate change debate

9.1 As the Arctic warms twice as fast as the global average, climate data continues to be silenced

9.2 Here’s some new evidence showing how human greenhouse gas release causes extreme weather

10. This small study showed that 82% of marathon runners developed acute kidney injury

11. How to give a turtle a C-Section

12. These fanged-fish have opioid venom and (counter to most venomous animals) evolved the venom after the sweet fangs

13. Scientists grafted an eyeball on to this tadpole’s tale and it can see from it

14. This robotic octopus arm is really good at gripping smooth surfaces

15. A molecule found in sunscreen couldbethe warmest superconductor

16. An interesting story on how NASA employees are being bribed to fund bullshit theologian research, it will be interesting to see how this plays out

1. A type of Bumblebee is officially enlisted as endangered

Here are some things you can do to help

2. The Large Hadron Collider found some new particles

3. This deep-sea fisherman is actually on an alien world

4. When Betelgeuse goes supernova (relatively) soon, it could be as bright as the full moon

5. Computers are getting pretty good at reading minds

“…[the researcher] carried speakers into hospital rooms and played the same segment of a Pink Floyd song for about a dozen brain surgery patients…”

6. A chemical color guide for the light they emit

7. A company 3D-printed a house in 3 weeks

8. All of the spiders in the world eat ~800 million tons of bugs per year (so just let them chill in the corner and save you from a bug apocalypse)

9. We tested out the worlds largest artificial sun (I’m pretty sure this thing will soon kill more bugs than the spiders will)

10. The Kea Parrot’s ‘laugh’ spontaneously makes other Kea playful

11. Mount Etna erupts for the second times this month (and this photographer took a sweet long exposure of it)

And you can see it from space

12. Trump signs bill for slightly decreased NASA funding and space exploration focus, yet still completely denies climate change by removing funding for Earth science

Asice sheets disappear and the great barrier reef dies due to climate change

13. Founder of NextGen Climate proves that there’s at least one billionaire trying to save the planet

14. Here’s an interactive map of all the hazardous waste sites in the US which the EPA cleans up

15. The Diphylleia flower becomes transparent when it rains

16. Scientists find that adding this protein to old stem cells makes them produce more white blood cells (just like younger stem cells do, so of course they spin it as the fountain of youth, *skeptical sighing*)

17. The NIH is launching a $3 million study to see if Vitamin C infusion really does help with sepsis

18. Fly over Mars in this 3D animation from NASA HiRISE data

19. These scientists are trying to repair heart tissue with spinach leaves

20. Simple fix stops bottles from dripping when you pour, just add a groove bellow the lip

21. This time-lapse of a tadpole embryo dividing almost looks animated