This week in science: How a storm slowed down time in the US; why you might soon be using garlic mouthwash; frogs gift us a powerful new cancer treatment; and much more!
One Protein Is a Better Predictor of Heart Disease Than Cholesterol
A biomarker called C-reactive protein has been identified as a more accurate predictor of future heart disease than cholesterol alone.
"Cholesterol is only part of the story; it is, in fact, the immune system that facilitates each step in the processes that drive heart disease," the researchers write.
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US Official Time Standard Slowed Down Last Week Following Massive Storm
The US official time standard slowed by 4.8 microseconds, after a storm in Colorado cut off atomic clocks from measurement systems.
That's an unimaginably short period of time at the human scale: the blink of an eye can take an entire 572,000 microseconds. It's certainly not enough to make a difference to your meeting schedule or school pickup time.
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Powerful Anti-Cancer Drug Discovered Inside Japanese Tree Frog
Gut bacteria from the Japanese tree frog has been found to be a powerful cancer drug, fully clearing tumors from mice after just one dose.
The bacteria works in two ways: It attacks tumor tissue while also amping up the body's immune response, enlisting extra help from T cells, B cells, and neutrophils – key fighters in the immune system.
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Garlic Mouthwash Could Be The New Gold Standard. Here's Why.
Garlic extract could be an effective antibacterial mouthwash rivaling the current gold standard, a new review study has found.
Overall, the data showed that mouthwash based on garlic extract was indeed comparable to existing chlorhexidine-based mouthwash when it came to reducing bad bacteria in the mouth – in particular Mutans Streptococci (MS), the bug primarily responsible for tooth decay.
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Fusion Reactors Might Create Dark Matter Particles, Physicists Show
Physicists have proposed a new way to look for theoretical dark matter particles called axions: in interactions in nuclear fusion facilities.
Their mathematical analysis shows that axions or axion-like particles could also emerge in neutron-capture interactions, or from the release of energy as the neutron slows down after scattering off another particle.
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New Drug Stalls Alzheimer's Development in Breakthrough Trial
A new drug called NU-9 halted Alzheimer's before symptoms appeared in mice, by clearing precursor protein clumps from their brains.
"If someone has a biomarker signaling Alzheimer's disease, then they could start taking NU-9 before symptoms appear," says neurobiologist William Klein.
"There are a couple of early diagnostic blood tests for Alzheimer's disease in development. The promise of better early diagnostics – combined with a drug that could stop the disease in its tracks – is the goal."
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