Geek Weekly: She Blinded Me With Science

HELP! IT'S THE CLOVERFIELD MONSTER!

Good afternoon! I’m so excited for tonight’s Geekadelphia Fiesta party at North Bowl. Mikey and Tim have plenty planned– so I hope I will be seeing you all there. In the mean time, here’s to servin’ up some science:

• THANKS FOR RUINING SEAFOOD FOREVER. I’m not kidding. Have you seen the 2.5 foot-long seabug that popped out of the ocean last week?! I keep scrolling under the image because it’s giving me chills and I live on the 17th floor of a landlocked building! A bit of a thrill-seeker, Crazy Sea Bug (more formally referred to in the article as a previously unstudied, harmless, giant isopod) apparently attached itself to a remotely operated submarine and then scared the team surfacing the ship. Yes, Crazy Sea Bug terrorized robo-sub. You’re welcome.

• Talk about drilling down! PopSci released an article on the world’s deepest drill: “Chikyu research vessel is capable of fetching samples at depths of 2,890 feet below the seabed, two to four times that of any other drill.” It sounds so science fiction, but apparently this is real. Don’t tell the mole men.

• Happy almost anniversary, The Human Genome Project! On June 26, 2000, the head of the NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute met in the White House with Craig Venter, founder of Celera Genomics and President Bill Clinton. Almost 10 years ago, the researchers announced that the human genome’s three billion base pairs of DNA had been mapped with an initial draft of their findings. Today the project continues and has made great strides and scientists hope these projects will fill the massive gaps that remain in current genetic explanations for most common diseases.

• Wake up and smell the trash! Beijing Deploys Giant Deodorant Cannons to Freshen Up City Landfill. I’m not going to lie, I was cracking up at the title… especially how there are ‘deodorant guns that shooting fragrance based on Italian and German technology’ (um, whatever that actually means)… but after reading it, some light was shed on the importance of developing/ implementing a waste-management system that can deliver for a city with 17-million people producing more trash then they can handle.

• “A Dose of Embryonic Cells Could Induce Infant-Like ‘Plasticity’ in Brain, Allowing it to Rewire Itself Like New.” According to an awesome PopSci article out earlier this week, a study suggests that ‘it may be possible to transplant immature neurons into the visual cortex/other parts of the brain damaged by stroke, trauma, developmental disorders, psychiatric illness or aging’ –allowing the brain a second chance to wire itself like new.

This post has been brought to you by the letter B.