General science thread

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A new study suggests per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as forever chemicals or PFAS, reduce the activity of human immune cells.

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PFAS are “water-, stain-, and grease-resistant” and “toxic at extremely low levels (i.e. parts per quadrillion),” according to the National Resources Defense Council.

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PFAS were invented in the 1930s, proliferated over the next two decades, and have been linked to “high levels of serum cholesterol, thyroid dysregulation, gestational hypertension, ulcerative colitis, and some cancers.”

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Binesh Puthen Veettil of Macquarie University and colleagues devised a cheaper, less energy-intense way to both make and recycle solar panels. The team bought a kitchen microwave and added heat-proofing so it could handle very high temperatures. Microwave radiation selectively heats silicon, leaving the rest of the panel of glass, plastic and aluminum largely unaffected.

As an added bonus, microwaving also softened the plastic, making it easier to peel off, and freeing the solar cell and glass for recycling. The plastic coating is designed to protect the panel from moisture, but is difficult to remove. “Until now it made economic sense to just dump the panels in the landfill,” said Veettil in a press release. “In the rare instances when they are recycled, you crush the panels, heat them to about 1400°C and wash them with chemicals to remove the plastic—a highly energy-demanding process.”

The researchers have a patent pending for the microwave-based recycling process. They are now working on further improvements with plans to commercialize it.

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By targeting the USAG-1 gene, researchers believe that they can help people without a full set of teeth regrow teeth.
The team says that humans have a third set of teeth available as buds, ready to grow as needed

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Anywhere from 96,000 to as many as 450,000 people in the U.S. may have developed an allergy to red meat following the bite of a tick, according to recent data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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It’s still not clear to scientists why a bite from a tick could cause a person to develop an allergy to red meat, or why some people who are bitten develop the allergy and others don’t.

There’s also an intriguing difference between the alpha-gal red meat allergy and every other type of food allergy. Typically, allergic reactions to food occur immediately after exposure, within a few minutes. With an alpha-gal allergy, however, a reaction typically doesn’t start until several hours after eating red meat—which can make it challenging to pinpoint the culprit.

And different people who do develop the allergy can have widely varying levels of sensitivity. Some may react only to mammalian meat (such as pork, beef, rabbit, lamb, venison, and more), while others may have reactions to cow’s milk (in which the alpha-gal molecule is also present), products made with milk, gelatin, or certain medications or vaccines made with gelatin or other animal ingredients.

What to Watch For
Early signs of anaphylaxis may include a metallic taste, burning, tingling, or itching of the tongue or mouth, headache, and feelings of fear or confusion. A reaction can progress quickly, and severe symptoms include throat swelling, difficulty breathing, vomiting, diarrhea, and more.

Quote: rxwine

Filing that under weird stuff you don't expect to discover.

Quote: GenoDRPh

Does targeting the gene cause a whole new set of teeth to grow, like when we were kids, or can a dentist or geneticist or whoever just target the buds of missing teeth, replacing just the missing ones?

Quote: odiousgambit

life markers found on planet circling a red star

oddly, article did not bother to state how many light years away, about 127 , instead reporting how many trillions of miles

https://nypost.com/2023/09/14/nasas-new-telescopes-stunning-discovery-biggest-hint-of-alien-life-so-far/