Daily Archives: September 10, 2016
This Churning Nebula Is a Massive Star Factory
Behold N159, a turbulent stellar nursery comprised of glowing gas and dark dust. Located over 160,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, this type of nebula churns out some of the universe’s largest stars.
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PROTEIN IN YOUR HAIR IS BETTER THAN DNA AT IDENTIFYING YOU
If you’ve watched enough reruns of shows like CSI, Bones, and Law and Order, you probably know by now that when forensic specialists find DNA evidence, the suspect is often identified within the next couple of minutes—as soon as the team sticks the results of DNA analysis into a computer program. Although the real life process isn’t quite as speedy, DNA certainly has been the highest bar for identification in forensics. But when it comes to hair samples of missing persons or those found at crime scenes, sequencing the proteins in those locks may work better than DNA.
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Here’s How Many Apple Cores It Would Take to Poison You
IF YOUR MOTHER ever warned you not to eat apple cores, it was with good reason. Yeah OK, so apples don’t really havecores, but they do have those rough middle sections full of seeds, and those seeds can harbor concentrations of molecules called cyanogenic glycosides. One of those is amygdalin, and when it gets down into your gut bacteria, it can turn into cyanide, which can do a pretty good job of killing you.
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A REFRIGERATOR BACKPACK COULD HELP TRANSPORT VACCINES AND ORGANS
Medical supply transportation is a serious problem in remote regions, where it may take weeks to transport a vaccine where it’s most needed. But a British student has developed a simple device that might help get supplies where they need to go and save millions of lives in the process.
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Volkswagen Engineer Pleads Guilty To Fraud Charge Over Diesel Cheating, Could Face Prison
A Volkswagen engineer pleaded guilty today after being indicted for creating a defeat system for the 2.0-liter VW diesel engines that cheated federal emissions regulations, Automotive News reports. It is the first criminal charge handed down as a result of the U.S. Justice Department’s investigation into VW.