Time Travel Could Be Possible, But Only With Parallel Timelines
Have you ever made a mistake that you wish you could undo? Correcting past mistakes is one of the reasons we find the concept of time travel so fascinating. As often portrayed in science fiction, with a time machine, nothing is permanent anymore — you can always go back and change it. But is time […]
Alpha-Gal Syndrome: How A Tick’s Saliva Can Make You Allergic To Meat
Alpha-gal Syndrome (AGS) is a rare allergy with unusual origins. Believed to follow bites from the lone star tick, AGS brings on an intolerance that would make BLT fanatics shudder. People with AGS have to be very careful about their meat consumption as certain meats, including bacon, contain a substance that can trigger a deadly […]
“Potentially Hazardous” Asteroid The Width Of 2,000 Ferrets To Whizz Past Earth Tomorrow
A “potentially hazardous” near-Earth asteroid is set to whizz past our planet tomorrow, followed by an even larger one next week – but don’t worry, Earth may be popular right now, but not enough for any of these visiting space rocks to hit us. Asteroid 418135 (2008 AG33) will be zooming by at around 37,400 […]
Cases Of Mysterious Liver Damage In Children Spread To Japan And China
Japan has reported its first probable case of acute hepatitis (liver damage) in a child, following a surge in cases across the US and Europe, predominantly in children under the age of 10. In a recent update on the outbreak, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced it has been informed of 169 cases of liver […]
“Forever Chemicals” May Be Damaging Your Liver, New Study Claims
“Forever chemicals” that linger in the environment and our bodies have been linked to liver damage in a new study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. The chemicals – called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS – are a band of thousands of synthetic chemicals used in a wide range of everyday products, from […]
Denmark Becomes First Country To Suspend COVID Vaccinations
Denmark has become the first country to pause COVID-19 vaccinations as it claims high levels of immunization, a decrease in cases, and stabilizing hospital rates have meant the virus is under control. The government will not issue any more invitations to get vaccinated after May 15, it announced yesterday, although it isn’t ruling out starting […]
All RNA and DNA Base Types Are Found in Meteorites, Study Claims
The discovery could add weight to the hypothesis that the building blocks of life on Earth originally came from space, but some scientists note the possibility of contamination. All five nucleobases that make up DNA and RNA have now been detected in meteorite samples, according to a study published yesterday (April 26) in Nature Communications. […]
Microplastics in Seawater May Harbor Parasites
Laboratory experiments find that Toxoplasma, Cryptosporidium, and Giardia can congregate on microplastic beads and fibers, suggesting they might make their way into and around the world’s oceans by hitching rides on tiny bits of trash. Tiny pieces of plastic can ferry around fecal pathogens in saltwater, researchers report today (April 26) in Scientific Reports, suggesting […]
Smallpox Vaccine Recruits Skin Bacteria to Fight Disease
A mouse study points to a possible mechanism by which the smallpox vaccine helped eradicate the disease in the 1980s. Decades after an effective vaccine helped wipe smallpox off the face of the earth, researchers claim they finally understand how that injection induces immunity: by recruiting bacteria found on the skin. Smallpox vaccination involved pricking […]
Revealing The Sex Of A Baby Before Birth Can Benefit Health, Mouse Studies Suggest
One question that expecting parents get asked a lot is “Boy or Girl?”. Some parents find out as soon as possible and others like to wait until the birth – but this waiting tradition may soon be over, as finding out the sex early in the pregnancy may improve the life chances, animal model studies […]