Science of the Week: 2/27/15

And here we are at the end of another month already.

Here are some of the most interesting science news articles I read this week:

Reducing energy efficiency boosts calorie burning in muscle

Vision loss reversed in people with diabetic eye disease

Climate change driving brutal winter?

Higgs boson could explain matter's dominance over antimatter
(From what I understand, if the Higgs field was much stronger in the early universe and decreased over time, then it could have made the masses of matter and antimatter unequal [since today they are equal] and made the production of matter more likely)

Just like modern cities, ancient settlements became more productive as they grew

Can "three hots and a cot" stave off mental illness?
(Our inner clocks that govern when we eat and sleep are governed by neurotransmitters that also play a role in mental illness. A structured life may keep the neurotransmitters in balance.)

Ocean acidification threatens coastal communities across the U.S.

Long-acting HIV medicine in the works
(It can act as both a preventative and a treatment)

Two-father babies could soon be possible with no egg donor
(Gene manipulation could transform a man's germ cells into oocytes, which could then be fertilized by his partner's sperm. However, what's not discussed in the article is epigenetics, the different tagging of the genes in men and women. Scientists might have to alter the molecular tagging of the genes so they're regulated properly.)

U.S. Defense Dept: Come get wierd with us

Worldwide, the nitrogen cycle is off (and it's affecting the ability of legumes to fix nitrogen in the soil)


Antifreeze protein from ticks fights frostbite in mice (Warm-blooded animals don't make antifreeze proteins, but the proteins still do their job when introduced to mammalian tissue. I think we're all going to need antifreeze protein to make it through the rest of this winter!)


That's all for now. I'm going to take a blogging break for the next couple of weeks. I have a lot of things to catch up on for Broad Universe (I'm the Readings/Events Coordinator for BU), I need to preschedule more A-Z posts, I need to finish editing Scattered Seasons and get it ready for publication, and I'm still trying to draft the next book in the series, Chaos Season. Something's got to give before I do. Don't worry; I'll be back before A-Z kicks off. Take care, and talk to you later!