Daily low-dose aspirin is not a panacea for the elderly
sciencenews.org – Healthy elderly adults don’t benefit from a daily dose of aspirin, according to results from a large-scale clinical trial.
Source: John J. McNeil, et al. Effect of Aspirin on Cardiovascular Events and Bleeding in the Healthy Elderly. New England Journal of Medicine, 2018.
Versatile robotic skin gives stuffed horse, other inanimate objects some giddyup
digitaltrends.com – Researchers at Yale University have developed a new sensor-packed robot skin that can be wrapped around inanimate objects, such as toys, to transform them into functioning robots. Here's why that's so exciting -- and which robots the team has created with their new tech.
Source: Joran W. Booth, et al. OmniSkins: Robotic skins that turn inanimate objects into multifunctional robots. Science Robotics, 2018.
Songbirds may avoid obesity by regulating energy use
upi.com – Songbirds living near bird feeders have access to an unlimited supply of food, and yet, they never seem to gain weight.
Source: Lewis G. Halsey. Keeping Slim When Food Is Abundant: What Energy Mechanisms Could Be at Play?. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 2018.
You should check how much sugar your 'healthy' yogurt really has
popsci.com – Researchers found that many varieties of yogurt were absolutely packed full of sugar. We did a little more digging to unmask the worst culprits.
Source: J Bernadette Moore, Annabelle Horti, Barbara A Fielding. Evaluation of the nutrient content of yogurts: a comprehensive survey of yogurt products in the major UK supermarkets. BMJ Open, 2018.
Humans arrived on Madagascar 6,000 years earlier than previously thought — so then what killed the elephant bird?
zmescience.com – The story of the elephant bird's extinction just got a lot more interesting.
Source: James Hansford, et al. Early Holocene human presence in Madagascar evidenced by exploitation of avian megafauna. Science Advances, 2018.
BPA and Its Replacements Have Same Effects on Mice
the-scientist.com – The plastic ingredients BPS and diphenyl sulfone cause chromosomal abnormalities, and the effects can last for generations.
Source: Tegan S. Horan, et al. Replacement Bisphenols Adversely Affect Mouse Gametogenesis with Consequences for Subsequent Generations. Current Biology, 2018.
Volcanoes on dwarf planet ooze ice instead of molten lava
zmescience.com – Ceres just got a heck of a lot more interesting to researchers.
Source: Michael M. Sori, et al. Cryovolcanic rates on Ceres revealed by topography. Nature Astronomy, 2018.
Scientists Just Made Human Egg Cells from Human Blood for the First Time
vice.com – It’s the first step toward being able to mass produce human eggs using other people’s body tissues or blood.
Source: Chika Yamashiro, et al. Generation of human oogonia from induced pluripotent stem cells in vitro. Science, 2018.
The Gut of Mice Communicates with the Brain Through the Vagus Nerve
the-scientist.com – The researchers who made the discovery suggest the signaling may form a sixth sense.
Source: Melanie Maya Kaelberer, et al. A gut-brain neural circuit for nutrient sensory transduction. Science, 2018.
How math helps explain the delicate patterns of dragonfly wings
sciencenews.org – Scientists have found a mathematical explanation for the complex patterns on the wings of dragonflies and other insects.
Source: Jordan Hoffmann, Seth Donoughe, Kathy Li, Mary K. Salcedo, Chris H. Rycroft. A simple developmental model recapitulates complex insect wing venation patterns. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2018.
