Hot Bones | Ant Ant | Venom Rx

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Woah, this issue makes 222 weeks in a row!

2 fast

2 curious

2 hydrogens + 1 oxygen = mmm hydration

—Steve ✌️

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Hot Bones

Hot glue-guns coming to a surgeon near you. The hobbyist-tool inspired researchers to build a handheld 3D printer for mending bones.

• Bio-ink provides temporary grafts, promoting bone healing

• Bio-ink = calcium phosphate, collagen, and living stem cells

• Replaces need for pre-fabricated implants and secondary surgeries

Early testing reported no immune rejection or toxicity in pigs and rats. Once approved for humans, bone-guns could revolutionize battlefield and disaster response medicine. And make custom skeleton decorations.

3D-printed jumbo skeleton coming soon

Ant Ant

Queen ants are waaay ahead of us on cloning science. C. kagutsuchi lay unfertilized eggs that hatch into an entirely different species of worker ants, C. obscurior.

• Worker clones are all male and genetically chimeric

• Nuclear DNA comes from the queen

• While her previous C. obsurior mate provided mitochondrial DNA

Hybrid males cannot reproduce and function just like workers in homogenous colonies. This first known example of asexual interspecies reproduction challenges conventional species definitions and could inspire future hybridization discoveries.

More work being lost to AI (ant intelligence)

Venom Rx

Ants may be the key to treating pain. West African ant venom’s uniquely sinister path to pain sheds light on potential therapies.

• Their venom peptide, Ta3a, binds to nerve cell sodium channels

• Attracting negative ions and repelling positive ones

• Channels hijacked to constantly fire pain signals

Most arthropod venoms target multiple sodium channels and diffuse rather than take over signaling. Harnessing venom peptide’s hijacking capabilities could lead to better treatment for patients suffering from chronic pain. And a cool Marvel origin story.

Anty Venom

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Unnatural Selection

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