Category: Science

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Ex-NFL Player Deangelo Williams Paid for 500 Mammograms to Honor His Mother Who Died from Breast Cancer

DeAngelo Williams retired from professional football a few years ago, but, by the looks of it, his work might just be getting started. The former running back for the Carolina Panthers and the Pittsburgh Steelers made news recently when he paid for 500 mammograms for women through his non-profit organization, the DeAngelo Williams Foundation.

Williams’ mother passed away five years ago from breast cancer, and since then the ex-NFL player has made it his mission to help women with mammogram screenings and other tests so they can hopefully catch any potential issues as early as possible.

Sandra Hill, Williams’ mother, was only 53 years old when she passed away in 2014. Williams also lost four of his aunts to breast cancer, all before they had reached 50 years of age. So for him, this work if incredibly important.

So far, Williams’ foundation has paid for 500 mammograms for women in Pittsburgh, Charlotte, Memphis, and Jonesboro, Arkansas. He said, “To be able to help all these women is amazing. This can be life-changing for these women. We are enabling them to get this care that no one should ever be denied or not have access to.”

Even though Williams has already done an amazing amount of work, he’s aiming much higher. He wants to host free mammogram screenings in all 50 states and expand the reach of his organization as far as is humanly possible.

Risalyn Williams, his wife and executive director of the foundation, said, “DeAngelo wants to ensure that no woman (or man) fights breast cancer alone.”

Keep up the excellent work, Mr. Williams!

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A New Study Finds That Lop-Eared Rabbits Are Mostly Deaf and in Pain

I hate to read this news about those adorable, floppy-eared rabbits. I had one as a kid, and it was one of my favorite pets ever – he was funny and sweet and loved to snuggle as much as he enjoyed a well-timed nip.

The sad truth, though, is that lop-eared rabbits aren’t natural – they only exist because of intentional human breeding, and they suffer multiple health problems and not-insignificant discomfort because of it.

A new study compared the aural and dental health of lop-eared rabbits with that of erect-eared rabbits and found that floppy-eared bunnies are more than 15 times more likely to show signs of being in pain during examinations.

15 times!

Researchers discovered that their discomfort is likely due to their warped skull shape, a narrowing of the ear canal, and the resulting build-up of ear wax. It leads to a condition called otitis externa, an inflammation of the ear canal.

Most lop-eared rabbits examined were also hard of hearing, if not completely deaf.

None of the erect-eared rabbits had any of these issues.

The alterations that allow for their ears to flop also affects the rabbits’ teeth, making them 12 times more likely to have oversized molars, and 23 times more likely to suffer from diseased incisors.

Study author Charlotte Burn hopes the findings from this study will be supported by more like it in the future, and that people looking to own rabbits will take note.

“People now need to weigh up whether those cute floppy ears are worth the risk of pain, deafness, and difficulty eating for the rabbit, not to mention the extra vet bills.”

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Linus is j ust a sweetie #miniloprabbit #lopearedbunny

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I hope that people care more about the health of their pets than the way they look, but the fact that pugs and French bulldogs are still so popular don’t give me much hope.

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Scientists Captured Rare Video of Deepstaria, a Bizarre Jellyfish That Changes Shape

Even among all of the strange and mysterious group of ancient animals known as the jellyfish, the Deepstaria jellyfish is unique. A fact that has now been recorded on video by the Nautilus, a Pacific Ocean research vessel.

Fun fact: the Nautilus has also captured footage of a googly-eyed stubby squid and a weird purple orb.

Live Science reports that, halfway between the U.S. and Australia, the Nautilus spotted a jellyfish that appeared as a ghost….at first.

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#Repost from @mbari_news with @regram.app … The scyphomedusa Deepstaria is certainly odd, with its bag-like appearance, and bell that can open more than a meter wide. Speculation on the identity of a mystery blob has become a sensation online, sparking heated and entertaining debates over its identity. We've seen this unusual jellyfish with MBARI's ROVs around 30 times in 30 years from depths of a few hundred meters to about 2,000 meters deep! Surprisingly, according to morphological and genetic studies, its closest relative is one of the most commonly observed jellies in our area — the moon jelly, Aurelia aurita.⠀ ⠀ #deepstaria #jellyfish #jellies #pelagic #midwater #ROV #scyphomedusa⠀ #deepsealife #deepsea #ocean #oceanlife #sealife #plankton #mesopelagic #MBARI #underwaterphotography #marinebiology

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Then, it unfurled and they got a glimpse of the geometric mesh membrane that revealed its identity: Deepstaria. That, along with its distinctively flowing bell and lack of tentacles, are its most distinguishing features.

The rest of the video is the jellyfish changing shape, from what looks like a crumpled plastic bag to a blanket.

The jellyfish was first discovered by a submersible called the Deepstar 4000 (designed by Jacques Cousteau) in the 1960s, and since then it has only been spotted about a dozen times. Most of the details of its existence remain a mystery to researchers.

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Deepstaria enigmatica. This jellyfish was named after the research submersible Deepstar 4000, which collected the first specimens of this genus in 1966. This species is the home to another species, namely an isopod called Anuropus, which can be seen through the mantle of the jellyfish (on the upper right side of the bell). These animals probably form a symbiotic relationship, perhaps eating food captured by the jellyfish. ⠀ ⠀ Watch a video about this unusual jelly on MBARI's YouTube channel: http://ow.ly/JTf6u⠀ ⠀ #jellyfish #stragethings #deepstaria #MysteriesoftheDeep #MBARI #expedition #midwater #MontereyBay #deepsea #deepsealife #ROV #MarineTechnology #Technology #Robot #MarineBiology #Ocean #oceanlife #oceanscience #sealife #underwaterphotography #Nature #wildlife⠀⠀

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That’s not likely to change anytime soon, which makes this video all the more spectacular.

Science is so cool, y’all. Images like these make it pretty darn hard to disagree.

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Being Forgetful Might Be a Good Thing for Your Brain

I forget a whole lot of stuff. It’s gotten much worse as I age (and since my pregnancies and having kids – sleep deprivation is no joke!), so I’m quite happy to hear that maybe I haven’t become addled by middle age after all.

Now, let’s just say this: the science says that forgetting small details might mean your brain is functioning well, separating important things from the noise, but forgetting large things should still be considered a major problem.

Onward.

Recent research from the University of Toronto, published in Neuron, finds that the growth of new neurons in the hippocampus (where we think memories are stored) is formatted to make room for new and important information. In the process, that growth allows you to jettison useless knowledge.

Professor Blake Richards, lead author on the study, explains further.

“We always idealize the person who can smash a trivia game, but the point of memory is not being able to remember who won the Stanley Cup in 1972.”

The point of memory, of course, is to increase your intelligence and your ability to assess your circumstances and make educated decisions – and in order to do that, some things need to be forgotten.

The study is supported by 2007 research that used MRI scans to monitor the brains of 20 healthy adults taking a memory test. The results claimed people were better at remembering conflicting information, as opposed to easy or repetitive knowledge.

“The process of forgetting serves a functional purpose,” verified Michael Anderson, one of the researchers on the 2007 study. “What these guys have done is clearly establish the neurobiological basis for this process.”

Researchers agree that there are several benefits to being able to forget some things. First, certain information, like old phone numbers and passwords, is worthless. Second, we can generalize or combine certain memories to no detriment.

In one super interesting experiment with mice, scientists had the rodents find the exit to a maze, then on a future try, changed its location.

The mice who were drugged to forget the former location of the exit found the new one much faster.

Huh.

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Toby? Tom? Tim? Oooh, Andrew. Sorry.

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I’m not sure if this is why I can never remember the names of people I’ve just met (or met long ago), but hey. I’m going to go ahead and blame it on my brain trying to be smarter and stronger, and not on my general lack of interest.

Don’t try to stop me.

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Japanese researchers have created…

Japanese researchers have created a chair that can read a person’s “butt fingerprint” by registering an individual’s unique contour and pressure distribution. It might one day be used in cars as an anti-theft mechanism.

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These Dresses Record Groping Events so People Will Believe the Women Wearing Them

Some people think that the world has gotten less assault-y with the rise of the #MeToo era, and perhaps, on a large scale, that’s true.

In the day-to-day trenches, women still deal with micro-aggressions like being catcalled and denigrated for how they look, while also suffering larger transgressions like being stalked, touched without consent, and discriminated against due to their gender.

It is still also way too common for the men in our lives to assume that women either exaggerate the frequency or seriousness of these events, or that women are altogether making things up, because it just can’t be as common as females try to pretend.

Well, Ohio advertising agency Ogilvy decided to see whether men would be more inclined to believe so-called “smart clothing” than real women, so they started Dress for Respect in partnership with (weirdly) Schweppes.

Under the project’s aegis, they created a dress that uses heat and pressure sensors to record a heat map, location, and time of contacts.

Three women wore the dresses to a party in Brazil, and by the end of the night, the sensors had logged 157 non-consensual touches in under four hours – more than one every five minutes per woman. The accompanying video provided proof that all of the women repeatedly asked the men touching them to stop.

Lighter, cheaper, and more powerful batteries are inspiring all kinds of interesting ideas for smart clothing. Things like shoe insoles that generate energy and suits that double as air purifiers, along with many products meant to mitigate some of the challenges disabled people face day-to-day.

These dresses go a step further, to the root of a major social problem, addressing illegal behaviors at the source.

Costs still make mass production unlikely, but the Dress for Respect idea is showing that you don’t need to mass market a product in order for it to make a positive impact on the world.

The people behind the concept and the marketing video hope that it will change people’s minds – that those who are disinclined to believe real women might believe their clothing, and in the end, make it to the same conclusion.

The concept of consent is still hard for way too many men to grasp, so we need to teach it young, teach it often, and really make sure the men and boys in our lives understand what it means when a female says no.

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Bad News. Your Houseplants Probably Aren’t Going to Purify the Air in Your Home.

There’s a lot of talk lately about the idea that certain plants you welcome into your home could help purify the indoor air. Unfortunately, while the science behind the notion is completely sound, in practice it’s pretty unlikely to work.

At least, the plants in your house are unlikely to clean all your air on their own.

And that, my friends, is because (among other reasons) you’d need to own and tend around 1,000 of said plants in order to rely on them to completely purify the oxygen you breathe.

The science comes from a 1989 NASA study that found that ficus, daisies, mums, and other plants could pull all of the cancer-causing volatile organic compounds, like benzene and formaldehyde, from airtight environments like the ones in the space stations.

Their potential effect, though, never really lived up to the hype, says Dr. Michael Waring of Drexler University.

“The main issue with the NASA study – and other chamber studies of potted plants and VOCs – isn’t that the data are incorrect. Rather, the interpretation of the data and its application to indoor air cleaning are flawed.”

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Terms for Plant Care Part II Turgor Pressure – Plants are often stiff and hardy, but when they are watered incorrectly, the plant becomes limp because of a decrease in pressure at the cellular level. Propagation – plants can be cut up in certain ways and then placed in water or soil to regenerate from a cutting. Mother – a plant that regularly shoots out “babies” at the base. They don’t have to be your largest plant to be a mother. Separating Shoots – various plants will grow with multiple shoots and their roots become interlaced. You can separate them by carefully patting the soil and dirt from between the roots and then pulling apart. Even an expert will lose 30% of the roots. Hybrid – many plants, especially when they sell for a good price and have special characteristics, are hybrid. They grow differently than natural breeds. Drainage/Hydroponics – plants want a constant water source. That’s how hydroponics work. But with pots you need drainage, or a layer of sand, rock, and/or charcoal at the bottom. ~ Let me know if I’m missing anything important about plant care! ~ #verastruct #plantsforall #freeplants #houseplants #majestypalm #monsteramonday #goldenpothos #croton #snakeplant #bostonfern #fiddleleaffig #monstera #rubberplant #nerveplant #indoorjungle #urbanjungle #indoorplants #plantshelfie #houseplantsofinstagram #plantsmakepeoplehappy #plantsofinstagram

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Also, it’s important to mention that chamber studies like the ones conducted by NASA are not simulating real-world environments, so the data doesn’t exactly translate. The buildings we work and live in are well-ventilated, have continuous indoor-outdoor air exchange, and are generally full of decent quality breathing air to begin with, reminds Warring.

“Chamber studies have shown weak removal of VOCs by potted plants, just not at high enough rates to clean indoor air effectively compared to air exchange.”

Chemicals, too, are more regulated and specific in an environment like a space station.

“…in a home or office, there are mixtures of many different chemicals at different concentrations, which change all the time depending on exchange with outdoor and objects in the home or office that emit these chemicals.”

Other studies have been done that examine the effects of potted plants on real-world environments, and they have been found to have positive effects. That said, Warring says they remain flawed.

“The field studies typically did not measure the air exchange rate – the frequency with which indoor air is replaced by outdoor air, because that parameter wasn’t measured, changes in VOC concentrations can’t be ascribed to any particular removal mechanism.”

Basically, we’ve never proven that it’s actually the plants that are responsible for improving the air.

As far as the numbers? Warring says that, in a 10×10 foot bedroom or an office with an 8-foot ceiling, you’d need around 1,000 plants to match the air-cleaning capacity of a standard ventilation system.

Here’s the thing: if you enjoy having houseplants, you definitely should keep some around. They are shown to have other benefits to both mood and productivity, and they’re certainly not going to harm the air quality.

If the air quality is your main concern, open a window or two, and let in as much sunlight as possible.

A little fresh air and sunlight never hurt anyone.

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A Breast Cancer Vaccine Might Be Available in Less Than 10 Years

No matter who you are, you’ve likely known someone who’s been impacted by breast cancer.

That’s why this news from the world-renowned Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, is potentially so groundbreaking. The institution recently announced that a vaccine that could stop the recurrence of breast and ovarian cancer, that could even stop them from developing in the first place, may be available within eight years.

The vaccine is in the early stages of development, and it would be at least three years before it was available to large numbers of patients. Mayo Clinic investigator Keith L. Knutson said, “It is reasonable to say that we could have a vaccine within eight years that may be available to patients through their pharmacy or their doctor.”

Staff at the clinic already have two vaccines against breast cancer, and they’re currently worked on the third one. This latest vaccine is intended to fight DCIS, ductal carcinoma in situ, a non-invasive breast cancer that appears in 300,000 new cases each year.

Knutson added, “We know that they’re safe. We know that they stimulate the immune system [to fight cancer]. We know that they have had a positive impact on ovarian and breast cancer. We haven’t seen any adverse events that are causing problems other than irritation in the area similar to a flu vaccination. Now we have to convince the FDA, through solid, rigorous clinical trials that we’re seeing what we’re seeing.”

This “Phase 3″ clinical trial could potentially cost millions of dollars to carry out, which is why the process takes years. The vaccines the clinic is working on are intended to boost the body’s immune system and kill cancer cells. Knutson said, “If you develop a cold or something like that, you do develop an immune response, and that actually doesn’t necessarily prevent the disease, but it keeps it at bay and it helps clear it.”

Knutson added that the Mayo Clinic is working on the foundation they’ve already established to attempt to further develop their cancer-fighting vaccines. This may be a few years away, but it gives hope, both to women currently fighting cancer and to those who fear developing it in the future.

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Research Says You’re Worse at Picking Good Photos of Yourself Than a Stranger Is

Taking a good selfie may seem simple, until you actually try to do it. Often, you’ll wind up taking approximately 5,000 photos before you see one that’s cute enough to post.

But who deems a photo “cute enough”? Beauty is subjective, and according to one study, you’re not the best person to judge which photos of yourself are the best.

In 2017, researchers in Australia had 102 students rank photos of themselves by their attractiveness, trustworthiness, dominance, confidence, and competence. The participants rated each photo from one to 10 in each category. Then 160 strangers did the same thing for each picture.

Photo Credit: iStock

Surprisingly, the students’ favorite photos did not rank as well with strangers as the others. This was the opposite of what the researchers had predicted.

“This result is contrary to the prediction based on self-presentation literature, that participants would select more flattering images of themselves,” they wrote.

So, it might be a good idea to seek out a second opinion before you pick which selfie to post — at least when looking attractive to other people is the goal, such as on dating apps.

Photo Credit: iStock

But why, exactly, are people so bad at picking good photos of themselves? You’d think we’d be better at it because we know our own faces better than anyone else.

Well, that also means we’re more biased than other people.

We may see ourselves as hotter and more trustworthy, for example. Moreover, you see yourself in a specific way before you even glance at a photo, and you’re typically looking for a photo that matches up with what’s in your head. Strangers have no such biases.

So in this case, maybe don’t go with your gut.

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Bars in Italy Are Using Pasta Straws to Get Rid of Plastic Waste

Lately, companies have caused a stir (see what I did there?) by getting rid of plastic straws or only distributing them when customers specifically ask for them.

In Italy, bars and restaurants are now using pasta straws for drinks to cut down on plastic waste. What could be more Italian than drinking out of a pasta straw?!?!

Here in Italy bars are starting to use pasta as straws to reduce plastic use. Our technology amazes the world another time. from europe

The European Union voted to ban single-use plastic items by 2021, and it looks like the Italians are getting a head start.

Interestingly, there’s already a company in the UK called Stroodles that sells pasta straws. Maxim Gelmann, the founder of the company said, “Stroodles is not just a straw company and there is a much bigger picture, as I feel I can leave a long-term impact by creating a ripple effect by triggering many small changes all across the world, especially among people that are less conscious of sustainability and their respective actions and behaviors.”

??? Stroodles team at the Improving Air Quality in Mayfair event by @newwestendcompany

Posted by Stroodles- Pasta Straws on Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Gelmann added,

“The approach is to do this in a fun and non-preachy, non-finger-pointing manner. I rather aim for people to engage with a Stroodle and then themselves start asking themselves the right questions, like ‘Why is there a pasta straw in my drink?’ Thus, little realizations like that and them coming to their own conclusions, rather than being sold/preached. [It’s] much more powerful in creating behavioral and mindsets change. And … maybe next time one is offered a plastic bag, they will behave differently.”

I haven’t seen these in the U.S. yet, but maybe they’ll be coming soon?

The next step? Let’s work on getting pasta cups!

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