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This week in science: How a storm slowed down time in the US; why you might soon be using garlic mouthwash; frogs gift us a powerful new cancer treatment; and much more!
One Protein Is a Better Predictor of Heart Disease Than Cholesterol
A biomarker called C-reactive protein has been identified as a more accurate predictor of future heart disease than cholesterol alone.
“Cholesterol is only part of the story; it is, in fact, the immune system that facilitates each step in the processes that drive heart disease,” the researchers write.
Read the full story here.
US Official Time Standard Slowed Down Last Week Following Massive Storm
The US official time standard slowed by 4.8 microseconds, after a storm in Colorado cut off atomic clocks from measurement systems.
That’s an unimaginably short period of time at the human scale: the blink of an eye can take an entire 572,000 microseconds. It’s certainly not enough to make a difference to your meeting schedule or school pickup time.
Read the full story here.
Powerful Anti-Cancer Drug Discovered Inside Japanese Tree Frog
Gut bacteria from the Japanese tree frog has been found to be a powerful cancer drug, fully clearing tumors from mice after just one dose.
The bacteria works in two ways: It attacks tumor tissue while also amping up the body’s immune response, enlisting extra help from T cells, B cells, and neutrophils – key fighters in the immune system.
Read the full story here.
Garlic Mouthwash Could Be The New Gold Standard. Here’s Why.
Garlic extract could be an effective antibacterial mouthwash rivaling the current gold standard, a new review study has found.
Overall, the data showed that mouthwash based on garlic extract was indeed comparable to existing chlorhexidine-based mouthwash when it came to reducing bad bacteria in the mouth – in particular Mutans Streptococci (MS), the bug primarily responsible for tooth decay.
Read the full story here.
Fusion Reactors Might Create Dark Matter Particles, Physicists Show
Physicists have proposed a new way to look for theoretical dark matter particles called axions: in interactions in nuclear fusion facilities.
Their mathematical analysis shows that axions or axion-like particles could also emerge in neutron-capture interactions, or from the release of energy as the neutron slows down after scattering off another particle.
Read the full story here.
New Drug Stalls Alzheimer’s Development in Breakthrough Trial
A new drug called NU-9 halted Alzheimer’s before symptoms appeared in mice, by clearing precursor protein clumps from their brains.
“If someone has a biomarker signaling Alzheimer’s disease, then they could start taking NU-9 before symptoms appear,” says neurobiologist William Klein.
“There are a couple of early diagnostic blood tests for Alzheimer’s disease in development. The promise of better early diagnostics – combined with a drug that could stop the disease in its tracks – is the goal.”
Read the full story here.
