As you read this, a protein in your body called P-gp is hunting down and ejecting unwanted chemicals from your insides. It’s a critical defensive measure we rely on that pretty much makes sure you aren’t constantly getting poisoned.
But new research suggests there’s something in seafood that could make that protein worthless — and compromise your body’s ability to protect itself.
Researchers tested yellowfin tuna, a fish you’d commonly find in sushi rolls, along with human blood and urine to detect traces of Persistent Organic Pollutants, like the pesticide DDT and flame-retardant chemicals.
In its international development efforts, the US sends more than a billion dollars’ worth of food assistance across the world. America’s food aid shipments sometimes spoil, resulting in food going to waste where it could be most needed. A group of researchers at MIT may have found a way to save over $10 million while feeding thousands of the world’s poorest people.
Shipping agricultural commodities like grains and legumes to the developing world raises considerable challenges for the nation’s food assistance programs. Procurement officials need to know when to ship, where, and when the food is expected to arrive. After all, food can—and all too often does—spoil.
The researchers from MIT’s Comprehensive Initiative on Technology Evaluation have found that much of the loss is potentially preventable. Now, they have embarked on a pilot project to improve the way America aids the world.
If you’re an innovative person with ideas about how best to deal with your bodily functions while wearing a spacesuit, then NASA wants to hear from you! The agency is currently soliciting entries in its aptly titled Space Poop Challenge, posted on the website HeroX, to “source a system that routes and collects human waste away from the body” for “fully-suited astronauts.”
What’s more, it pays. The innovator with the winning design gets $30,000.
Right now, astronauts use space toilets when they’re out of their suits and diapers when they need to wear their spacesuits during launch and entry, but diapers are usually only worn for a matter of hours. They’re also uncomfortable, and keeping waste next to your body for long periods of time can lead to irritation and infection.
When it comes to preventing pregnancy, there are plenty of contraceptive options — like birth control pills, implants and IUDs — designed for people with female reproductive systems. But for people with male reproductive systems? Sadly, not so much.
But that could change. An injectable contraceptive — the latest in a series of forays into birth control for people with penises — proved highly effective at preventing pregnancies in a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Despite various side effects — including mood disorders, acne and erectile dysfunction — a majority of the participants were happy with the birth control method, and said they’d use it if it were available.
“The study found it is possible to have a hormonal contraceptive for men that reduces the risk of unplanned pregnancies in the partners of men who use it,” researcher Mario Festin said, according to the BBC.
With five more states voting on whether or not to legalize recreational marijuana come November, millions more Americans are closer than ever to being able to smoke pot freely and legally. This makes it a perfect time to take another look about some of the facts about marijuana’s effects.
Mic has done extensive reporting on the positive and negative effects of weed. For those interested in marijuana’s effects on the body — from your brain to your heart to your uterus.
Remember Tom DeLonge of early-2000s pop-punk band Blink-182? Remember how he took a break from the band to focus on a multimedia project about UFOs and the government? Turns out, the singer-guitarist has contacted Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta about UFOs, according to the Wall Street Journal. WikiLeaks released the emails this month.
As the Wall Street Journal reports, DeLonge wrote to Podesta about UFOs at least twice, but it’s unclear if Podesta responded.
[DeLonge] wrote in cryptic terms about their well-documented mutual interest in more government disclosure about the phenomenon of unidentified flying objects of potential extraterrestrial origin.
The emails, released by the website Wikileaks this month, also reveal that Mr. Podesta participated in a documentary that Mr. DeLonge is producing. It isn’t clear whether Mr. Podesta responded to the messages.
Science tells us a lot of things, in many cases things we didn’t even know we needed to know. Without science, we’d be ignorant to the brain functions of dead salmon, the complex physical properties of the human ponytail and the most and least painful areas of the human body to be stung by a bee.
Now, a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has officially determined that, no, you cannot be Spider-Man.
A team of researchers from four universities concluded that as animals grow, they require more and more adhesive padding on their bodies to climb surfaces the way an insect or a frog does, and that for a human to successfully ascend a smooth vertical would require 40% of the person’s surface area covered in adhesive material like that which pads gecko feet.
The Sunday Times published a column by English journalist Dominic Lawson, elder brother of Nigella, with the headline “The One Sex Change on the NHS [National Health Service] That Nobody Has Been Talking About.” (Yes, really.) In it, Lawson argues that the problems facing Britain’s health care system are the fault of female doctors who prioritize their families over their work. Male doctors, he said, will work longer hours because they’re not as tied down by family, thereby saving the NHS money.
Unsurprisingly, the piece was slammed for its sexist and backward attitude toward gender and the workplace.
The most powerful response, however, came from the very same community Lawson set his sights on: doctors. Using the hashtag #PinkWednesday, doctors from around England on Wednesday posted selfies wearing pink, often accompanied by messages of encouragement for female doctors.
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
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James' World 2 