New research has shown that nanotubes are used to shuttle information between cells. They were previously dismissed as "junk," but it now looks like cells use them to exchange material, and some viruses (virii?) use them to sneak around without getting exposed to vaccines. Weirder still is news that some macrophages in the body use them as spider webs to direct food into their clutches.
I don't have any exciting news today.
Sure, news is actually happening, but I'm not talking about it. I haven't found anything worth talking about today. I don't feel like dwelling on murders, or natural disasters, or anything like that.
Medical marijuana will not be finding its way into restaurants anytime soon.
There's a report on it in July's issue of the Journal Anesthesiology. Apparently, not only is oral cannabis ineffective at treating pain, but it can increase sensitivity to some kinds of pain.
The doctor performing the study maintains that medical marijuana may still remain a viable option for treating some types of chronic pain.
Seriously, though, a sports bra totally saved a woman's life.
An American hiker stranded in the Bavarian Alps was able to signal for help with her sports bra. Undergarments are apparently an international language.
It was pretty smart and not at all slutty, since she kept wearing her shirt and jacket after removing the bra.
Dr. Jeff Kalina, of the Methodist Hospital in Houston is doing his civic duty. Dr. Kalina has put out a Q&A document about how to stay out of the emergency room this summer. Some of it's basic stuff: take care to avoid heat stroke; be careful around pools; and don't forget to take your prescription medication exactly as your doctor directs. Oddly enough, scratching mosquito bites is more dangerous than I would have expected.
I don't know if Indiana University Bloomington and Harvard University scientists spend too much time thinking about cars, or too much time thinking about bacteria. Seriously. They've written up an article equating flagellum mechanisms with a clutch, but the metaphor's just simple enough that even I can grasp it. While it sounds neat, I don't think they're going to be building nanoscopic thunderbirds anytime soon.
Farmers in India can now get help from the new
plant clinic that has opened there. It's the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, but it hopes to be the first of six, one in each district of Bangladesh.
With all the people that they have in India, crop production is very important. It's heartening to see that they are doing everything they can to keep their food supply secure.
I know that I'm tired of my manager hassling me about showing results now, and not letting me work on projects that will pay off in the future. It turns out that investors are not as short-sighted as big business has traditionally thought. A professor at University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business has researched information dating back to the 1970's, showing that stock prices have reacted as favorably to announcements about long-term research projects as much as to information about short-term profitability, if not more so. That's something they need to start drilling into the heads of tomorrow's MBA's!
You knew all along it was bad for you. The Medical University of South Carolina has published research linking saturated fats and cholesterol to memory loss.
Not, like, right away. They're saying that things like alzheimer's and other memory loss that occurs with old age may be a result of poor diet. It's a shaming indictment of the rise in numbers of Alzheimers cases and the national obesity epidemic. What I want to know is whether I can offset my triple helping of onion rings by playing an extra hour of Brain Age on the DS.
It's a shock, I know.
Based on a release from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, Science Daily has reported that black holes feed alike, regardless of size.
Apparently, this is a big deal because smaller black holes attract different types of matter than larger black holes. However, they all display similar forces in action. Will this stunning revelation postpone the heat death of the universe? Maybe, maybe not.
First post! Can you believe it? I'm pretty excited.
My friend Gary thinks he's some kind of superstar, just because he has a blog. That's why I've started this blog, to show him it's not some kind of unique talent.
I'm not really sure what I'll be posting though. Expect some randomness as I find my sea legs (internet legs?).
