J.Adam Fenster/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
A naked mole rat.
Thanks to the federal government shutdown, the big science news last week was a sudden halt to all manner of research projects. Scientists across the country found themselves locked out of their labs as any work deemed nonessential — a designation that could seem arbitrary at times — was stopped. "Academic medicine is no day at the beach," said Ellen Beckjord, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, to The Huffington Post. "It doesn't help matters when the rug gets torn out from under you like this."
Developments
Physics
Energy Water
At M.I.T., researchers found that water droplets that form on a water-repellent metal surface, then bounce off that surface, contain an electric charge, reported The Christian Science Monitor. The researchers used high-speed video to observe the droplets of water, which are known to fly off (rather than slide off) metal surfaces with a specific kind of superhydrophobic coating under the right conditions. "We saw that they repel one another midflight," said Nenad Miljkovic, a postdoctoral associate and an author of the study, suggesting they carry an electrical charge. Experiments with an electrode confirmed their suspicions.
Biology
Beautiful on the Inside
With a 30-year life span, naked mole rats are the longest living of rodents, if also perhaps the least pleasant looking. (True, it's a low bar.) The secret to their longevity? Near-perfect protein construction, reported The Science Recorder. Researchers discovered that RNA in naked mole rats has a unique structure that greatly reduces the frequency of errors common in rodent proteins. "Proteins with no aberrations help the body to function more efficiently," said Andrei Seluanov, a biologist at the University of Rochester.
The scientists now want to try recreating the RNA peculiarity in mice, with an eye toward eventually bettering protein synthesis in humans. Others noted that longevity isn't the only reason to take interest in the naked mole rat: The animals have an immunity to diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, which may also stem from their sturdy proteins.
Space
Lava on Mars
Huge "super volcanoes" erupted on Mars about 3.7 billion years ago, spewing ash and lava for thousands of miles and possibly altering the planet's atmosphere, reported The Associated Press. Mars is already known for its dormant volcanoes, particularly the 14-mile-high Olympus Mons, considered the largest volcanic mountain in the solar system. But the newly discovered formations are found in the planet's northern highlands, a place not previously considered to have been active. Researchers at London's Natural History Museum and NASA made the discovery using images from several spacecraft that have orbited Mars and described their findings in the journal Nature.
Health
Hormone Risks and Rewards
Hormone replacement therapy for menopausal women has been called a miracle, a threat and everything in between. A new study reveals a complicated truth: For most women, the drugs carry more risks than benefits. But the potential for harm is low early in menopause, and hormones can ease symptoms in some women. An author of the large, federally-funded study, which followed more than 27,000 women since 1993, said that its findings "should not be used as a basis for denying women treatment if they're in early menopause and have significant distressing symptoms." Don't expect the debate to end there.
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