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Jurassic Bytes | Breathless Parasite | Suction Car
Issue #158
Roses are red,
Violets aren’t blue,
My colorblind mind just found out,
Woohoo I learned something new!
-Steve 🌹
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Jurassic Bytes
Jurassic Park’s amber has inspired real life DNA storage. MIT scientists developed a scalable T-REX amber polymer.
T-REX = Thermoset-REinforced Xeropreservation
Stores DNA at room temperature (instead of freezing)
Protects data integrity up to 167 °F
Early tests stored various data types from the entire human genome to Jurassic Park theme music. Further developments are aimed at offering personalized medicine and disease research. Soo who’s telling Jeff Goldblum?
Quick! (vote)How would you preserve your DNA? |
Check out last week’s results in “Unnatural Selection” below
Breathless Parasite
Maybe oxygen is overrated? A common salmon parasite, Henneguya salminicola, evolved beyond breathing.
H. salminicola lives nestled in salmon skin
Evolved from common jellyfish ancestor
Lacks a mitochondrial genome
H. salminicola is the first known multi-cellular organism that doesn’t require oxygen. Changing what we thought we knew about life on Earth, and across the galaxy. Or maybe they ARE the aliens we’re searching for?!
Suction Car
If you want to drive faster, get a fan. McMurtry’s electric Spéirling used fans to beat Hockenheim Ring’s previous track record by a whopping 14.1 seconds.
Power: 746 kW (1,000 hp)
0-60 mph: 1.4 seconds
2 fans create extra grip by creating a vacuum
That vacuum allows for high speed corners where most cars would slide out. Future tests will crank up the power and push the limits and see how this technology could trickle down to regular cars. Sounds like intense AC.

Clickables
🦉 Have a hoot with award winning bird pics (#2 is my favorite!)
🤑 $400k helmet turns fighter jets into a video game
🧱 Witness LEGO art by a 3D printer made of LEGO
👀 See this walking tree before it gets away
🎥 Chill w/ the birds - live video of puffins in Maine
⚡️ Stay charged-up with the Electric Vehicle industry. Join over 7,000 EV geeks*
*sponsored

Unnatural Selection
Last week: “How do elephants prefer to listen to music?”

Business idea: elephant earbuds, but we call them “peanuts”. 🥜
Make sure you vote up top for next week’s “Unnatural Selection”!

st3v on site
Amber Flowers

created with Chat GPT 4o (+ some human editing)
st3v’s robo-friends always stay informed while checking flower preservation inventory.
Where’s st3v? We’re having some fun with AI art until I can draw again when my broken wrist heals.

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