Tainted Nacho Cheese: Why Botulism Is So Deadly
Posted on October 28, 2022
| 4 minutes
| 676 words
| Arica Deslauriers
A botulism outbreak has killed one man and sickened nine other people who ate nacho cheese sauce contaminated with the toxic bacterial protein. Heath officials traced the outbreak to a gas station in California's Sacramento County.
But how did this deadly protein, known as botulinum toxin, get into the cheese sauce? And how can people protect themselves from botulism?
"Botulism is the illness associated with eating a toxin called botulinum toxin,"
[Read More]Vitamins and Supplements May Lead to Earlier Death
Posted on October 28, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 485 words
| Trudie Dory
People taking vitamins or supplements are more likely to die over a given period than people not taking them, a new study from Finland says, adding weight to recent findings from the U.S. along those lines.
In the new study, researchers gathered data on nearly 1,800 people between the ages of 62 and 74 who were participating in a prospective, population health study of the residents of one town in Finland.
[Read More]Was This Man a Bronze-Age Cyborg? His Metal Hand May Have Been a Prosthetic.
Posted on October 28, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 573 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Treasure hunters in Switzerland have unearthed a hand-some artifact: a 3,500-year-old bronze hand outfitted with a gold cuff, Swiss archaeologists announced last week.
The slightly smaller-than-life hand, crafted during the Bronze Age, is the oldest metal sculpture of a human body part in Europe, the archaeologists said.
An ancient artisan placed a hollow socket at the bottom of the hand, a clue that the body part was once mounted on another object, such as a statue or a scepter, the archaeologists said.
[Read More]Why bats don't get sick from the viruses they carry, but humans can
Posted on October 28, 2022
| 5 minutes
| 897 words
| Trudie Dory
One of the first questions scientists ask when a new disease appears is, "Where did this come from?"
Many viruses jump from animals to humans, a phenomenon known as "zoonotic spillover." Although it remains unclear which animal was the source of the current coronavirus pandemic, all the attention is on bats.
The transmission of viruses from bats to humans is not just a matter of a bat biting someone or licking their blood.
[Read More]Why Does Jell-O Jiggle?
Posted on October 28, 2022
| 1 minutes
| 177 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Peter Cooper is known for inventing the steam locomotive. By 1945, with cars taking over the world, he experimented in cooking with gelatin.
This gelling agent is a processed version of collagen, the elastic in our skin and tendons. It's made by grinding up the bones and tissues of cows and pigs, which weakens collagen protein bonds. Pouring gelatin powder in boiling water breaks the weak bonds. As the concoction slowly cools in the fridge, some bonds don't reconnect.
[Read More]Why We're Not Always Tongue-Tied
Posted on October 28, 2022
| 2 minutes
| 394 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
Spoken language may seem effortless, but it requires a complex dance of the muscles in the lips, jaw, tongue and voice box. New research reveals the patterns of brain activity that control these finely wrought movements, essentially keeping people from being perpetually tongue-tied.
The wide variety of sounds in American English are produced by combining just a small set of movements, researchers reported online today (Feb. 20) in the journal Nature.
[Read More]Wide-eyed prehistoric shark hid its sharpest teeth in nightmare jaws
Posted on October 28, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 575 words
| Patria Henriques
Imagine you're a fish swimming through the ocean millions of years ago, when a shark lunges at you, gaping its mouth to bite. The horror of your predicament increases as the predator's lower jaw also stretches downward on both sides, so that newer, sharper teeth that were previously lying flat along the side of the jaw now curve up.
Scientists recently discovered this nightmarish trait in a fossil of a 370 million-year-old shark that once inhabited waters near what is now Morocco.
[Read More]Will 'Green Bullets' Ruin Hunting?
Posted on October 28, 2022
| 4 minutes
| 745 words
| Trudie Dory
Lead, a heavy metal with a notorious reputation for causing severe health problems, has been used for centuries in everything from cooking pots and plumbing to lead shot for hunters.
But lead ammunition may be going the way of leaded gasoline, as an increasing number of wildlife conservationists and public health experts support the use of non-lead ammo, sometimes referred to as "green bullets."
In October, Gov. Jerry Brown of California signed into law AB 711, a bill banning the use of lead bullets by hunters.
[Read More]Wonderland of iridescent worms and hydrothermal vents found off Mexican coast
Posted on October 28, 2022
| 6 minutes
| 1159 words
| Fernande Dalal
In the Gulf of California, off the coast of La Paz, Mexico, lies a mysterious world where searing hot water spews out of 80-foot-tall (24 meters) mounds and iridescent worms inch along the seafloor. Scientists recently discovered this hydrothermal wonderland, and as they explored the area, they also found at least six potential new animal species that haven't been seen before.
The international team, which included scientists from both the U.
[Read More]'Alien' Catfish Baffles Scientists
Posted on October 27, 2022
| 4 minutes
| 711 words
| Arica Deslauriers
Updated on May 15, at 8:58 a.m. ET.
A small, toothy fish, which researchers say resembles the terrifying creature from the movie "Alien," is turning out to be a big mystery for the scientists who study it.
Kryptoglanis shajii is a tiny, subterranean catfish with a number of defining skeletal features, including a bulging lower jaw similar to a bulldog's. The fish's strange, bony face has baffled researchers, who have been unable to classify the odd species.
[Read More]