Predicting Predicaments
A new, simple blood test developed and co-funded by Parkinson’s UK could predict Parkinson’s disease seven years before symptoms show. Researchers believe that early diagnosis will help hamper or even stop the disease from taking hold. “Finding biological markers that can be identified and measured in the blood is much less invasive than a lumbar puncture, which is being used more and more in clinical research,” says Professor David Dexter, director of research at Parkinson’s UK. A lumbar puncture involves tapping and sampling spinal fluid whereas the new method uses AI to analyse samples of blood – so far with 100% accuracy. Another AI system has shown similar potential in another field, this time breast cancer research. According to a study published in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), a state-of-the-art system called AsymMirai – based on the Mirai deep-learning algorithm – can predict breast cancer, from mammograms, up to five years in advance.
Cave-o-nauts
Researchers believe that they may have found evidence of an enormous underground cave on the moon which can be entered via the surface, making it a potential site for a lunar base. Data collected by Nasa’s lunar reconnaissance orbiter (LRO) shows the cave can be reached via the moon’s deepest known pit, the Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility), which is an ancient lava plain where Neil Armstrong took his “giant leap for mankind” from Apollo 11. The pit is the deepest so far discovered on the moon, and the cave, believed to be an empty lava tube, measures 80 metres by 45 metres, sits about 150 metres beneath the surface, and could contain water ice. Study author Leonardo Carrer says: “The main advantage of caves is that they make available the main structural parts of a possible human base without requiring complex construction activities.” They also provide protection from the massively varying surface temperatures between day and night as well as harmful cosmic rays, solar radiation, and micrometeorites.
Handbag History
It turns out that women’s love of handbags may be almost evolutionary thanks to the discovery of ancient carvings that predate even the likes of makeup, perfumes and hairbrushes! The artworks – some of which are 12,000 years old – have been found in sites around the world, among the earliest are carved upon the ruins of the ancient megalithic temple Göbekli Tepe in Turkey. Similar motifs sit in Mexico, Iraq, and around South America, adorning walls, columns, and statues. While some archaeologists claim the works are more likely to be baskets, others are adamant that they’re the original must-have clutch. The first modern-day handbag was designed in the UK by industrialist and confectionary entrepreneur Samuel Parkinson so that his wife could carry belongings which wouldn’t fit in her purse.
Memory of a Goldfish? You Wish!
It turns out that fish aren’t so forgetful after all. Though the creatures do generally possess relatively small brains when measured against fellow vertebrates, researchers have discovered some species to have memories that last for many months, as well as having the ability to avoid pain and danger, seek out reward and navigate mazes. Some fish even use tools such as holding rocks in their mouths and using them to smash open shellfish for food, while others, like the cleaner wrasse, form symbiotic relationships with other fish by cleaning them to stop themselves from becoming prey. Perhaps the biggest, fishiest misconception of all – that goldish have three-second memories – is absolutely untrue, with studies showing that they can often remember which part of their tank they are usually fed from, while being able to recognise other goldfish and also escape nets.
Don’t Daily Dose?
Forget about prolonging your life, or even making you healthier, a recently released US study of hundreds of thousands of adults has concluded that taking a daily multivitamin may actually increase the risk of early death. Researchers at Maryland’s National Cancer Institute analysed data from three major US health studies that began in the 1990s and covered 390,124 adults. Shockingly, there was a 4% increase in the mortality rate of users in the first years of follow-up. Dr Neal Barnard, an adjunct professor of medicine at George Washington University and co-author of a commentary published alongside the study, says “multivitamins overpromise and underdeliver”. There are, however, some caveats. The greater risk of death may in part be due to the trend in people taking vitamins once they become seriously ill. Also, some research shows that multivitamins may help slow cognitive decline in the elderly while taking other vitamins can be beneficial in specific cases such as with certain deficiencies. Generally speaking, however, a healthy diet is king.
Pity the Pigeons
They’re among the most detested of creatures in cities around the world, commonly called “flying rats” or “rodents of the sky”. But for millennia, pigeons were adored, sometimes to the point of worship. Some Mughal Emperors kept pigeons in their thousands, while Charles Darwin was so fascinated by them that he had a flock of 90. Among their most fascinating traits is that they are one of only three birds (along with the flamingo and male emperor penguins) that produce milk (both papa and mamma pigeon can produce it, from part of their oesophagus, to feed their young). But most heartbreaking about these humble birds – which belong to the same family as doves and the dodo and delivered essential messages during both world wars – is that the reason that they’re so happy to hang out around our city streets is because they’re descendants of discarded domesticated birds. Studies have even shown that feral pigeons actively choose to walk, fly and nest around us and our architecture rather than seek the shelter of seemingly more welcoming forests.
