The brightest take on this week’s science
We have some ground-breaking news… quite literally.
GPS data has found that an earthquake physically moved parts of Japan.
Also in this issue:
🪨 Scientists cracked open a Mars meteorite and got a big surprise
🧅 Your taste for onions may reveal health secrets
🔬 A microscope mystery
Let’s see where the science takes us!
LOOK OUT
An Earthquake May Have Moved Japan
(Grant Faint/The Image Bank/Getty Images)
Earthquakes can shake up our planet in ways we never knew.
The devastating 2011 earthquake that hit Japan – one of the largest ever recorded – may have actually moved the island nation.
GPS data show parts of Japan have shifted eastward by up to 5 to 6 millimeters since the event.
At first, researchers thought it was a mistake.
But as it turns out, this shift is the result of powerful seismic processes scientists never knew were possible.
HEADLINES
This Week in Science
LOOK IN
Your Taste For Onions May Reveal Health Secrets
(Los Muertos Crew/Pexels)
Liking the smell and the taste of onions may be linked to health risks and benefits.
When researchers studied the health data of more than 160,000 adults in the UK, they found several genetic variants that were linked to food choices.
A preference for onions was linked to a variant of the OR2T6 smell receptor gene.
This variant, in turn, is associated with:
1. Lower odds of developing either type 2 diabetes
2. Lower odds of high blood pressure
If you’re nosy for the details, click the link below…
ZOOM ZONE
Microscope Mystery: What Do You See?
(Yue Wang/UCLA)
A) Fungal spore
B) Killer T Cell
C) Conductive molecule
D) Ganglion cyst
Answer at the bottom.
LOOK UP
A Mars Meteorite Holds a Big Surprise
(Minakryn Ruslan/iStock/Getty Images Plus)
Scientists have cracked open a Martian meteorite that crashed onto Earth and found a big surprise.
Within the rock, they found a curious mineral.
Garnet exists on Earth, but scientists have never found it in a sample from Mars.
The conditions under which the mineral forms have never been observed on the red planet.
So how did this meteorite end up with a seed of garnet?
It’s a mystery scientists are keen to solve.
WOW FACTOR
Science Fact of The Week
(Gif by butler on Giphy)
If you took every strand of DNA in your body and stretched it out, it would run all the way from the Sun to Pluto and back nine times.
DOPAMINE HIT
Before You Go…
We’ll give you time to munch on all that info…
(Giphy)
Microscope answer: Conductive molecule.
No, this is not a blooming purple flower. It’s an electrically conductive molecule called tetraaniline. The head of the ‘flower’ is actually aggregated sheets, where the aniline has linked up in short chains called oligomers.
That’s all for today… see you next week!
- Carly
