fun facts
It’s time we talked about eels.
“ALL the eels in Europe and America are born in the Sargasso Sea (in the Bermuda Triangle! Ominous? Yes).” | learn more
Tag: Europe
fun facts
Seeing natural selection in action, human edition.
“When the Black Death struck Europe in 1348, the bacterial infection killed large swaths of people across the continent, driving the strongest pulse of natural selection yet measured in humans, the new study found.” | learn more
under the microscope
New technique kills tumors with sound waves.
This is an incredible development and it’s already in human trials. “The new treatment is called “histotripsy,” and it noninvasively directs ultrasound waves so that the target tissue is mechanically destroyed — and with millimeter precision. This novel technique is […]
thoughts of food
China’s approval of gene-edited crops energizes researchers.
There are a lot of people to feed in China, so it’s probably a good thing that their new rules are less strict than the EU’s policy of Just Say No to GMOs. “Scientists say newly published guidelines will spur […]
fun facts
Gutta percha, the hardened latex of the Palaquium gutta tree.
“Gutta percha was introduced to Europe in 1842 by Dr. William Montgomerie, a surgeon serving with the British army in the East Indies who had come across the substance in Singapore, where it was being used to make handles for […]
fun facts
No one can figure out how eels have sex.
“From Ancient Greece to the 20th century, Aristotle, Freud, and numerous other scholars were all looking for the same thing: eel testicles. Freshwater eels could be found in rivers across Europe, but no one had ever seen them mate and […]
under the microscope
Bacteriophages, a multi-tool to fight infectious disease
“Bacteriophages (or phages) have been in the toolbox of medical treatments for almost a century. The use of phages to treat infection was mostly confined to eastern European countries, while in the Western world we abandoned their use a long […]
to your health
Annual rates of new type 2 diabetes diagnoses stable or falling
This is a wonderful piece of news! “A global analysis of contemporary data reporting diabetes incidence over time has found the number of adults diagnosed annually with type 2 diabetes has been stable or falling in most high-income countries across […]
tech, startups, internet
The European longevity startups hacking the aging process
“We are living in the first iteration of humans on the planet that for the very first time understands, on a biochemical level, what makes us age.” | learn more
fun facts
Genes mirror geography within Europe
These researchers did a genetic analysis of 1,387 Europeans and plotted them on a chart that looks a lot like a map of Europe. If anyone can explain Principal Component Analysis of genomes to me, I’d be eager to listen. | learn […]