What fecal transplant pills could look like in the future. (Credit: Marc Bruxelle/Shutterstock)
Swallowing poop is ok.
That’s the conclusion of a recent study assessing the effectiveness of fecal microbiota transplants (FMT) delivered in pill form, versus given by colonoscopy. It sounds a bit off-putting, but validating the safety and efficacy of fecal capsules could give patients with gut diseases a cheaper and less invasive option for treatment.
The study, published Tuesday i ...read more
I used to think of birds as delicate creatures, airy and carefree, with pretty feathers and pretty songs. Then I saw the film “Winged Migration” and came to understand just how gritty and daring these lovely creatures really are.
The film uses bird’s-eye footage to document the treacherous treks birds across the globe make each year—over the Himalayas, across oceans, into raging storms, and through hunters’ lines-of-fire, and anyone who sees it can’t help but ...read more
(Credit: toysf400/Shutterstock)
If you’ve ever spent any time at a hospital, you know what it’s like to be under constant supervision. Sensors and monitors keep track of your most basic bodily functions day and night, giving doctors and nurses to-the-second information on how you’re doing. All that supervision comes with wires and sensors taped and stuck all over a patient’s body, though, which is annoying and can throw off some readings.
Now, two Cornell ...read more
(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Artificial intelligence (AI) still has a ways to go before it reigns supreme.
In October, a group of researchers at California’s NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) pitted a professional human drone racer, Ken Loo, against an AI-piloted drone. They set out to test two years of research into drone autonomy, which was funded by Google.
The researchers built three custom drones with algorithms that were outfitted with Google’s Tango, a ...read more
Gobble gobble! My poops look a lot like yours! Photo Credit: Michael Tatman/Shutterstock
In the U.S., it’s Thanksgiving, which means today is all about the Turkey. So here’s a fun fact you may not have heard to chew on as you masticate your meal: you can tell a turkey’s sex by it’s poop.
That’s right—male turkeys and female turkeys crap different turds. The toms’ feces are long and skinny, while the hens’ are coily little clumps.
A tale ...read more
Illustration of `Oumuamua, the first-known interstellar asteroid. Its unusual shape and color offer cryptic clues about the nature of objects from other solar systems. The challenge now is to find more of these messengers from the stars. (Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser)
It isn’t aliens. It’s never aliens.
That’s the only sensible answer whenever astronomers spot something truly weird in space. That unusual radio blip from the planet Ross 128b? Not aliens. Potential SETI signal SHG ...read more
By: Daniel McDonald
While you kick back and relax after your Thanksgiving dinner, your gut microbiota – the collection of beneficial microbes, mostly bacteria, that inhabit your lower intestine – will be hard at work breaking down the food you ate and carrying out all kinds of other essential functions. Research on the microbes that call your intestine home has shown they can affect your brain, treat a hospital-acquired condition called Clostridium difficile infectio ...read more
