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Mind-Altering Parasite May Make Infected People More Attractive, Study Suggests

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A steel razor blade can get dull surprisingly quickly when cutting something as soft as hair, and now researchers have gotten their first up-close look at how a close shave actually damages an everyday disposable razor.
This leading-edge research, described in the journal Science, used a scanning electron microscope to peer at a razor as it sliced through strands of hair.

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NASA Announces InSight Lander on Mars May Only Have a Few Months Left

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The shell of a turtle is more than just a cover, it’s a vital part of the animal’s skeleton that protects its organs. And although pet turtles are usually safe from the dangers that might crack it, wild ones aren’t so lucky. Fires, and especially cars often damage them, causing serious consequences. However, not every injury they inflict is fatal. With proper care, cracked turtle shells can be fixed, and one wildlife organization has come up with a genius way to do so. Recently, Wildthunder Wildlife & Animal Rehabilitation & Sanctuary took to Facebook, asking for discarded bra fasteners: “We use them to mend our turtle shells!” they wrote.

Here is a hungry rotifer attacking and eating another protozoan unicellular organism.

Look how fast the first attack was. If anything, the video was filmed in real time, with a hundred times magnification.

@science

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Researchers Just Found That Kidneys Act on Blood Differently Than We Thought Before

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There are predators in nature that do not attack when they are looked into the eyes. Therefore, some African tribes wear masks backwards to keep predators away. It looks creepy, yes. But the main thing is that it works.

In parts of India, people, going into the forest, also put on a mask in the form of a face on the back of their heads.

For this reason, to scare away, for example, mountain lions, you can try to put on a hat, on which believable toy eyes will be glued on the back.

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Why Your Body May Need to Shed Some Tears, Even if You Don't Feel Sad

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Everything You Need to Know About Monkeypox, And Why It's Not a Cause For Fear

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Mouse brain visualized by light sheet microscopy
Nature Methods (2022) doi: 10.1038/s41592-022-01468-5

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What Would Happen if Someone Moved at Twice The Speed of Light?

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The Mystery of Why So Many Lifelong Smokers Never Get Lung Cancer May Be Solved

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An amazing little Fruit Fly of the Family Tephritidae with incredibly realistic ants on it´s wings. They look as though they are biting onto the abdomen of the fly. This fly was only about 3 mm long, but even from a distance, it looks like ants are feeding on the fly.
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Robotics contest will build a biomimetic robot based on winning entry

More and more, we're finding that by copying nature, we can develop technologies that are capable of performing previously impossible functions. A new contest encourages that kind of thinking, by inviting ideas for nature-inspired robots … and the winning entry will actually be made into a robot.

An Artificial Retina aiming to restore sight for people with damaged retinas.

This medical implant is suitable for people who have damaged photoreceptors (cones and rods) but otherwise a functioning retina, as is the case for many patients suffering from retinitis pigmentosa or advanced dry AMD.

The implant will be inserted subretinally, where photoreceptors are located in a healthy retina. The artificial retina acts as a substitute for the damaged photoreceptors by converting light into a signal the brain can interpret.

This artificial retina is standalone and self-powered by ambient light, using photovoltaic effect: it does not require external power sources or glasses-mounted camera.

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The Human Heart Can Repair Itself, And We Now Know Which Cells Are Crucial For It

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New type of 3D printing uses sound waves to build up objects

3D printing typically involves depositing layers of molten plastic, laser-melting powdered metal, or using UV light to harden gelatinous resin. A new technique takes yet another approach, however, by utilizing sound waves.
In the current version of the technique, a transducer is used to send focused pulses of ultrasound through the sides of a chamber, into liquid polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) resin contained within. Doing so produces ultrasonic fields, which cause rapidly oscillating microscopic bubbles to temporarily form at specific points in the resin.

As those bubbles oscillate, the temperature inside them rises to about 15,000 degrees Kelvin (14,727 ºF or 26,540 ºF) and the pressure within them climbs to over 1,000 bar (14,504 psi). Although this sudden increase in temperature and pressure only lasts for picoseconds (trillionths of a second), it causes the resin to solidify at the exact location of the bubble.

- @science -