Parkinson’s disease may start in the appendix and travel to the brain. SCIEPRO/SPL/Getty By Clare Wilson Parkinson’s disease may start in the appendix, not the brain.
People are less likely to get the condition if they had their appendix out decades previously. And a toxic compound found in the brains of people with this disease has now been spotted in the appendix. Parkinson’s, a degenerative condition involving tremors and stiffness, has long been thought to stem from the death of brain cells, caused by build up of a protein called synuclein that normally plays a role in nerve signalling.
New Studies Link Cell Phone Radiation with Cancer. Does cell phone radiation cause cancer?
New studies show a correlation in lab rats, but the evidence may not resolve ongoing debates over causality or whether any effects arise in people. The ionizing radiation given off by sources such as x-ray machines and the sun boosts cancer risk by shredding molecules in the body. But the non-ionizing radio-frequency (RF) radiation that cell phones and other wireless devices emit has just one known biological effect: an ability to heat tissue by exciting its molecules. Mail-Order CRISPR Kits Allow Absolutely Anyone to Hack DNA. “We aren’t going to get sick, are we?”
My roommate Brett asked me. He cringed as I knelt down and stuffed a plate of E. coli bacteria—which came as part of the DIY CRISPR–Cas9 kit I bought online—into our fridge next to cartons of eggs, strawberry jam, bottles of beer and a block of cheese. “No, we won’t. The label says ‘non-pathogenic,’” I replied, trying to sound assuring. But honestly, I had no clue what I was doing. New Airplane Design Could Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Airplane emissions are a big problem for the climate—and steadily rising.
If the aviation sector were a country, it would rank seventh worldwide in carbon pollution. Experts predict that aircraft emissions, on their current trajectory, will triple by 2050 as demand for flights increases. To prevent this dire scenario, a team of scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, along with government and industry collaborators, is attempting to fundamentally redesign airplanes.
Their concept, dubbed the “double-bubble” D8, could significantly reduce aviation’s carbon footprint and improve fuel efficiency if validated in full-scale tests. It entails major changes to the standard 180-passenger Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 aircraft—for example, the fuselage has a wider, more oval shape than a conventional jet. The most significant change, though, is the engine position. Solar System's First Interstellar Visitor Dazzles Scientists.
Belief in Aliens May Be a Religious Impulse. In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Captain James T.
Kirk encounters a deity that lures him to its planet in order to abscond with the Enterprise. “What does God need with a starship?” The skeptical commander inquires. I talked to Kirk himself—William Shatner, that is—about the film when I met him at a recent conference. The original plot device for the movie, which he directed, was for the crew to go “in search of God.” Cassini: The Grand Finale: Making 'Cassini's Grand Finale' To help visualize the dramatic final chapter in Cassini's remarkable story, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory produced this short film that features beautiful computer-generated animation, thoughtful narration and a rousing score.
Producers at JPL worked with filmmaker Erik Wernquist, known for his 2014 short film "Wanderers," to create a stirring finale video befitting one of NASA's most successful missions of exploration. Wernquist's signature animation style uses real images from space missions as a starting point, which gives the resulting animations an uncanny authenticity. In addition, the vistas he creates have an uncommonly powerful sense of scale that conveys the vastness of the planetary locales NASA spacecraft have visited. Real Inspiration The image on the left is a real Cassini image. About the Visuals Together, the team realized it was not enough to merely depict Cassini's Grand Finale dives between the planet and the rings. Life on Earth Came from a Hot Volcanic Pool, Not the Sea, New Evidence Suggests. El concepto de 'rover' de la NASA está listo para dominar Marte.
Escondidos entre los anuncios de Apple en la conferencia WWDC de este año, especialmente iOS 11, hay pistas jugosas sobre lo que la actualización de software para tu iPhone y iPad también podría traer al siguiente gran iPhone.
El iPhone de Apple debería recibir una actualización importante. El Sol podría tener un 'gemelo malvado' llamado Némesis. Hallan unas proteínas que 'bloquean' el cáncer de mama. Un equipo de investigadores de la Universidad de Birmingham, en el Reino Unido, ha descubierto que un tipo de proteínas conocidas como proteínas homeodominio ricas en prolina (PRH) puede jugar un papel clave en el desarrollo del cáncer de mama.
Scientists Launch Worldwide Search for Lost Species [Slide Show] A few years ago at a bar in Reno, graduate student John Zablocki was talking about his research on the rediscovery of lost species—those presumed to have gone extinct only to turn up again alive and well—when a stranger chimed in.
![Scientists Launch Worldwide Search for Lost Species [Slide Show]](http://cdn.pearltrees.com/s/pic/th/scientists-worldwide-species-152294079)
“What about the Lord Howe Island stick insect?” He suggested, recalling the widely reported 2001 rediscovery of that species on an island in Australia. Recalling the celebrated line from the 1993 movie Jurassic Park, the stranger added: “Life, uh, finds a way.” Los asteroides troyanos de Marte provendrían de un planeta destruido hace mucho. Descubrieron el supuesto origen del Alzheimer y el hallazgo sorprendió. Un nuevo material permite crear aviones de combate invisibles para cualquier radar. A Second da Vinci Smile Has Been Discovered - Illusion Chasers. Ed.
Note: Some of the information here about the Mona Lisa was previously described in: Martinez-Conde, S. and Macknik, S.L. (2010, May 1st). Viruses Gettin' Viruses. Psychology's Ongoing Credibility Crisis. 3 Cosmic Mysteries. Despite remarkable accomplishments (and despite any claims to the contrary), we are in many, many respects still profoundly ignorant about the nature of the universe and its contents. That might seem depressing, but I think it's wonderfully exciting - there are so many things for the human intellect to study and attempt to understand, so much fun to be had and so much awe to explore! For a little northern-hemisphere summer stimulation I've picked a triplet of puzzles spread across this and two other posts. Una almeja vivió 507 años y tú también puedes. El animal más viejo del mundo vivió 507 años. Fue una almeja de Islandia que había nacido en 1499, antes que Miguel de Cervantes.
Científicos finalmente descubrieron la clave de la estructura del cáncer. Ha sido una espera larga, pero finalmente científicos en los EE.UU., han descubierto la estructura atómica de PRC2, un complejo de enzimas que juega un papel crucial en el desarrollo de varios tipos de cáncer. Al parecer, ésta enzima desencadena las mutaciones en el gen PRC2, que está relacionado con el desarrollo de linfoma, leucemia y tumores cerebrales, además de una serie de enfermedades congénitas que afectan el crecimiento de una persona.