[QUOTE=Xyzzy;430921][URL]http://www.nasa.gov/topics/nasalife/features/heals.html[/URL][/QUOTE]
I wonder if this would help with kind of herpes mouth sores I had as a youth.

o [url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/04/08/a-key-ingredient-for-life-on-earth-may-have-crash-landed-here-from-space/]A key ingredient for life on Earth may have crash landed here from space[/url] - The Washington Post

Question: If ribose in fact does occur in real-world cometary ice, wouldn't it have been detected in cometary spectra already? Perhaps it's a concentration issue - by definition the organic compounds easily detectable is spectra are the ones which occur at the highest concentrations. (And/or which have highly distinctive spectral signatures).

And while we're on the theme of potentially life-giving sugar molecules:

o [url=arstechnica.com/science/2016/04/sweet-drug-clears-cholesterol-reverses-heart-disease-and-was-found-by-parents/]Sweet drug clears cholesterol, reverses heart disease—and was found by parents[/url] | Ars Technica
[quote]The chemical, which is simply a bunch of sugar molecules assembled in a ring, is already widely used in medications and foods. Because the outside of the ring is hydrophilic (it mixes with water) and the inside of the ring is hydrophobic (it doesn’t mix with water), cyclodextrin can trap chemicals inside the ring and help them mix into medicines and foods. In medications, cyclodextrin acts as a ‘carrier’ that make active drugs dissolve better in the body. Cyclodextrin is also used in foods, such as mayonnaise, sweets, and butter, to stabilize flavors and emulsifications and to remove cholesterol. But besides its role as an additive, it was largely overlooked by researchers.

One of the first inklings of cyclodextrin’s therapeutic potential came in a 2004 scientific publication. Researchers were searching for a treatment for an ultra-rare genetic disorder called Niemann-Pick type C disease (NPC), which likely affects only a few hundred patients in the US. The disease is caused by a genetic mutation that breaks a protein responsible for shuttling cholesterol in cells. Because cholesterol is a vital building block to cell membranes and various organic molecules, its transport through the body and its cells is critical for proper health. In the absence of a working transporter, cholesterol gradually piles up in cells throughout the body, causing organ dysfunction, neurodegeneration, and eventual death.

NPC is sometimes called childhood Alzheimer’s because kids with the disease are often diagnosed after they develop symptoms similar to dementia, including deteriorating memory, balance, and verbal skills.

In the 2004 study, researchers presented data that a neurosteroid—given with the carrier cyclodextrin—seemed to help mice that were genetically engineered to have a broken cholesterol transporter. A single dose, the researchers found, doubled the life expectancy of the mice.

While other researchers rushed to repeat the experiment, which validated the finding, it took several years for researchers to figure out what was really going on: that the neurosteroid had no effect on the mice at all—it was the cyclodextrin.[/quote]

o [URL="http://phys.org/news/2016-04-dinosaurs-decline-asteroid-apocalypse.html"]Dinosaurs 'already in decline' before asteroid apocalypse[/URL] | phys.org

While it sounds very interesting, I would have appreciated takes from experts not directly involved in the study. Instead we get a bunch of self-promotional blurbs from the lead authors, as well as not-exactly-new stuff like this:
[quote]This observed decline in dinosaurs would have had implications for other groups of species. Dr Chris Venditti, an evolutionary biologist from the University of Reading and co-author of paper said: "The decline of the dinosaurs would have left plenty of room for mammals, the group of species which humans are a member of, to flourish before the impact, priming them to replace dinosaurs as the dominant animals on earth."[/quote]All true, all hugely imortant, all completely unoriginal. Given that the new findings are based on "sophisticated statistical analysis in conjunction with information from the fossil record", it's especially important to hear from non-authors about whether said statistical approach is of the gold-standard or of the validity-disputed variety. Lies, damned lies and statistics, and all that.

o [URL="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2016/04/what_caused_haiti_s_cholera_epidemic_the_cdc_s_museum_knows_but_won_t_say.html"]What caused Haiti's cholera epidemic? The CDC museum knows but won't say.[/URL] | Slate

For those not terribly familiar with the story of Victorian scientist John Snow and the 1854 London cholera outbreak, I highly recommend the book [i]The Ghost Map[/i]. (And of course Wikipedia for a shorter-than-book-length discourse.) In the present instance, this rises far beyond the level of gross negligence, as the article describes an active cover-up. But hey, nearly a million Haitians infected, many thousands dead, and the new-to-the-region Asian cholera strain now spreading across the Caribbean and the surrounding Central and South American countries, especially those with legions of urban poor -- hey, most of those poor slobs are black and brown, so who cares? We in the rich countries got white people's privileges to worry about! And ooh, look -- scary terrorists! We need to keep spending large chunks of our collective GDP to [strike]create more of[/strike] fight those.

[URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160405182931.htm"]Sensation-seeking may be linked to brain anatomy[/URL]

[URL="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/160407-spiders-animals-speed-science-fast/"]Watch Spider Jaws Move as Quickly as World's Fastest Runner[/URL]

[URL="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/04/06/ancient-exploding-stars-hurled-radioactive-debris-at-earth-and-its-still-here/?hpid=hp_regional-hp-cards_no-name%3Ahomepage%2Fcard"]Ancient exploding stars hurled radioactive debris at Earth — and it’s still here[/URL]

[URL="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601199/tech-slowdown-threatens-the-american-dream/"]Tech Slowdown Threatens the American Dream[/URL]

[URL="http://www.futurity.org/reading-brains-1133942-2/"]THIS IS WHAT’S GOING ON IN YOUR BRAIN WHEN YOU READ[/URL]

[URL="http://www.wired.com/2016/03/took-neuroscientists-ten-years-map-tiny-slice-brain/"]The Nameless Mouse Behind the Largest-Ever Neural Network[/URL]

[URL="https://aeon.co/opinions/how-clever-is-it-to-dismiss-iq-tests"]How clever is it to dismiss IQ tests?[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencenews.org/article/one-earths-missing-minerals-found-locked-inside-meteorite"]One of Earth’s missing minerals found locked inside meteorite[/URL]

[URL="http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/03/the-8-bit-game-that-makes-statistics-addictive/475848/"]The 8-Bit Game That Makes Statistics Addictive[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160330123454.htm"]Basketball games mimic nature[/URL]

[URL="http://www.popsci.com/who-will-be-first-to-hack-code-aging?dom=rss-default&src=syn"]WHO WILL BE FIRST TO "HACK THE CODE" OF AGING?[/URL]

[URL="http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/03/27/471600733/when-an-autism-diagnosis-comes-in-adulthood"]hen An Autism Diagnosis Comes In Adulthood[/URL]

[URL="https://www.statnews.com/2016/03/31/dna-shape-double-helix-dekker/"]Everything you thought you knew about the shape of DNA is wrong[/URL]

[URL="http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/forgetting-to-learn-making-room-in-the-brain/education"]Forgetting to learn: Making room in the brain[/URL]

[URL="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/04/the-future-will-be-quiet/471489/"]The Future Will Be Quiet[/URL]

[URL="https://aeon.co/opinions/how-mini-brains-can-help-to-avoid-neurodegenerative-disease"]How mini-brains can help to avoid neurodegenerative disease[/URL]

[URL="http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/green-spaces-can-have-positive-effects-on-gray-matter/education"]Green spaces can have positive effects on gray matter[/URL]

[URL="http://gizmodo.com/cyborg-rats-solve-mazes-better-and-faster-than-normal-r-1763530847"]Cyborg Rats Solve Mazes Better and Faster Than Normal Rats [/URL]

[URL="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-cardiovascular-brain-function-idUSKCN0WI2UH"]Healthy heart may also mean healthy brain[/URL]

[URL="http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/03/27/471600733/when-an-autism-diagnosis-comes-in-adulthood"]When An Autism Diagnosis Comes In Adulthood[/URL]

This article really strikes a chord for me, especially in wanting to know the source of my developmental difficulties in childhood and youth.

[QUOTE=kladner;432245]This article really strikes a chord for me, especially in wanting to know the source of my developmental difficulties in childhood and youth.[/QUOTE]

+1.

To this day I have difficulty with "normal" human interaction.

In some ways I have found being "different" can be useful. Seeing things in ways others don't is advantageous at times.

[url]http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article73405857.html[/url]

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;432416][url]http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article73405857.html[/url][/QUOTE]
An excellent article.

[url]http://www.pcworld.com/article/3065654/hardware/ibms-quantum-computing-processor-comes-out-of-hiding.html[/url]

[QUOTE]IBM has built a quantum processor with five qubits, or quantum bits. Even better, IBM isn’t hiding the quantum processor in its labs—it will be accessible through the cloud for the public to run experiments and test applications.[/QUOTE]

[URL="http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/05/you-could-probably-lift-a-car-if-you-really-needed-to.html"]You Could Probably Lift a Car, If You Really Needed To[/URL]

[URL="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/how-games-are-changing-the-museum-experience"]How Games Are Changing the Museum Experience[/URL]

[URL="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/05/05/the-victims-of-math-anxiety/"]Even the most empowered girls are more anxious about math than boys[/URL]

[URL="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601378/nimble-fingered-robot-outperforms-the-best-human-surgeons/"]Nimble-Fingered Robot Outperforms the Best Human Surgeons[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160425112453.htm"]First happiness genes have been located[/URL]

[URL="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601369/your-brain-limits-you-to-just-five-bffs/#/set/id/601363/"]Your Brain Limits You to Just Five BFFs[/URL]

[URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/10/upshot/why-talented-black-and-hispanic-students-can-go-undiscovered.html?_r=1"]Why Talented Black and Hispanic Students Can Go Undiscovered[/URL]

[URL="http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/04/how-neuroscientists-explain-the-mind-clearing-magic-of-running.html"]How Neuroscientists Explain the Mind-Clearing Magic of Running[/URL]

[URL="http://nautil.us/blog/dolphins-are-helping-us-hunt-for-aliens"]Dolphins Are Helping Us Hunt for Aliens[/URL]

[URL="http://www.wired.com/2016/04/now-anyone-can-nasas-fabled-1970s-graphics-manual/"]Now Anyone Can Own NASA’s Fabled 1970s Graphics Manual[/URL]

[URL="http://news.mit.edu/2016/algorithm-robot-teams-moving-obstacles-0421"]Robotic consensus[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160421150056.htm"]Volcanoes tied to shifts in Earth's climate over millions of years[/URL]

[URL="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601258/artificial-intelligence-can-now-design-realistic-video-and-game-imagery/#/set/id/601281/"]Artificial Intelligence Can Now Design Realistic Video and Game Imagery[/URL]

[URL="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160421133630.htm"]Asleep somewhere new, one brain hemisphere keeps watch[/URL]

[URL="http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/the-surprising-connection-between-heart-rate-and-wisdom/education"]The surprising connection between heart rate and wisdom[/URL]

[URL="http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-04-18/new-e-skin-allows-for-unrestricted-movement-and-wearable-technology"]New 'E-Skin' May Let You Wear a Watch on the Back of Your Hand[/URL]

[URL="http://techxplore.com/news/2016-04-brain-percent-accuracy.html"]Researchers can identify you by your brain waves with 100 percent accuracy[/URL]

[QUOTE=rogue;433622][URL="http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/05/you-could-probably-lift-a-car-if-you-really-needed-to.html"]You Could Probably Lift a Car, If You Really Needed To[/URL]
[/QUOTE]
Once upon a time, one of my uncles, who then lived in LA, was in a hurry, as his First Born was arriving. Unfortunately, his car's starter wasn't working. This led to parking where the car could be pushed onto a slope, where gravity and a manual transmission would allow starting. Also unfortunately, the car ran away from him and ended up with the front wheels in a ditch. While Uncle was surveying the situation, he was approached by what I assume was a Venice Beach-type muscle boy. This guy had a look, picked up the front end, and set it back on the shoulder. One supposes that hysterical strength was not at play in this case. :smile: