MI weekly selection #407
What can we learn from 2 giant radio galaxies?
The discovery of a pair of giant radio galaxies in a relatively small area has astronomers wondering if such massive galaxies are more common than previously thought. “We suspect that many more galaxies like these should exist, because of the way we think galaxies grow and change over their lifetimes,” says study co-author Matthew Prescott.
Ultrasound could be used for dissolving blood clots
An ultrasound “drill” is a key component in a new technique for dissolving retracted blood clots. The procedure involves introducing engineered nanodroplets to the clot’s site and exposing the nanodroplets to the ultrasound drill, which converts them to microbubbles that can break up the clots.
350K-year-old stone may be oldest grinding tool
Archaeologists say a round stone that dates back 350,000 years may have been used for abrading softer materials and may be the oldest such tool yet found. The stone was found in the 1960s in a cave in Israel.
There’s a method to cats’ madness over catnip
A chemical compound in Nepeta cataria and Actinidia polygama – better known as catnip and silver vine, respectively – activates cats’ opioid receptors and repels mosquitoes when cats rub against the plants and get the compound on their faces. In a study published in Science Advances, researchers found the iridiod nepetalactone repelled mosquitoes when rubbed on cats’ fur and stimulated the production of beta-endorphins, but cats whose opioid receptors were suppressed were not attracted to the plants.
Videos show RNA knotting and unknotting itself
Researchers have created high-resolution videos showing RNA knotting up as it forms then untangling itself just before it resolves into its permanent shape. Scientists describe how the nucleotides that make up the RNA strand twist and turn into a variety of shapes, observed in videos created using a computer algorithm.