21 November, 2018 – Episode 696 – This Week in Science (TWIS) Podcast

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Interview w/ Dr. Andrew Maynard, Artificial Pseudocells, Active Mini-Brains, Strong Old Mice, Pouring Rain, Poop Cubes, Vitamins For Babies, Spider Silk Strong, New Old Life, Tooth Rings, And Much More…

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DISCLAIMER, DISCLAIMER, DISCLAIMER!!!
Giving thanks.
That thing we do once a year
and then go about taking everything and everyone for granted all over again.
And at times, depending on where you are standing in the world,
when you look about it may be difficult to find things to be thankful for.
So here are a few starters…
Be thankful for friends and/or family!
Unless you haven’t got such folks in which case…
Be thankful for your good health!
Unless yours happens to be failing you in which case…
Be thankful for sunny days!
Unless you are in a drought in which case…
Be thankful for rainy days!
Unless you live in a flood plain in which case…
Be thankful that we are all at least safe from immediate danger
Unless we aren’t in which case, can I hide with you?
But the point is,
humans have been surviving for as long as there have been humans on the planet.
And if there is one thing we should all be thankful for this year…
It is that we humans are a resilient bunch of hairless apes.
That no matter what feast or famine of good times or bad are thrown our way.
We eventually make it to the other side.
And nowhere is the metal of our resolve or the determination of will and fierce glint of persistence in the eyes of humanity more blindingly apparent than right here on…
This Week in Science
Coming Up Next…

Interview w/ Dr. Andrew Maynard
Andrew Maynard is a former physicist, a professor in the Arizona State University School for the Future of Innovation in Society, and leading expert in the responsible development of emerging and converging technologies. He directs the ASU Risk Innovation Lab, and chairs the ASU Master of Science and Technology Policy program. He writes regularly for popular science publications, and recently published a book called “Films from the Future: the Technology and Morality of Sci-Fi Movies“.

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This Week in What Has Science Done for me Lately?!?
This week we here at This Week in Science are grateful for the science that allows us to podcast and stream, so that we can talk about science with you. We are grateful for scientists who endeavor around-the-clock to discover more about the world around us, so that we can calk about that science with you. We are grateful for those who shine a light on the failings of the scientific institutions, so that science may one day better represent the world around it, and so that we can discuss the improvements to science with you. We are also grateful to science for helping us all to live healthier, longer, more fruitful lives, so that we can share our lives with you. We are grateful that you share your time with us.

Artificial Pseudocells
UCSD researchers have created artificial cell mimics with several lifelike traits, like cell-to-cell communication and quorum sensing.

Active Mini-Brains
Scientists turned stem cells into brain cells, and then into mini-brains, which spontaneously began connecting and communicating thru electrical signals that were eventually comparable to the brain activity of preterm babies.

Living longer/better lives through mice
Young proteins rejuvenate old muscles.

When it rains…
it really does pour.

Did you know that wombats poop cubes? We thought we knew why, but now we might know how…
It turns out, it all comes down the the end of their intestines. But there’s still some mystery there.

Vitamin D – it does a baby good!
Vitamin D may be an essential part of all reproduction across the animal kingdom. Pregnant? Past due? Go get some sun!

Spider Silk Strong
The strength of spider silk can now be attributed to nanofibrils that make up the strands.

It’s all in your teeth.
How many babies you’ve had, or when you were pregnant, may be written in the rings in your teeth!

New Old Life
First identified in the 19th century, Hemimastigotes have been given their own branch in the tree of life thanks to molecular phylogenetic analysis.

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