The brightest take on this week’s science

Scientists are starting to find microplastics all over the human body: in our brains, lungs, guts, and blood.

Actor Orlando Bloom can’t seem to stand the thought. Recently, the celebrity raised eyebrows when he announced that he had ‘cleaned his blood’ of microplastics, using apheresis…

… a medical procedure similar to dialysis where blood is pulled out of the body and filtered to remove unwanted entities.

The truth is, the process may actually backfire.

Filtration systems are often made of plastic, and recent research suggests that they may inadvertently introduce synthetic pollutants into the blood.

Until we know more, it’s better we leave our bodies be. Plastic and all.

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• 🧠 Common sweetener could damage critical brain barrier, risking stroke

Early reptiles were sporting extravagant appendages long before birds, mammals, or even dinosaurs evolved on planet Earth.

According to fossils from 250 million years ago…

… a bizarre lizard once scurried through the Triassic treetops with a huge crest on its back – one made of neither scale, nor bone, nor feather.

It was probably composed of keratin, like your nails or hair.

"This had to be something new," paleontologist Stephan Spiekman, from the Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History in Germany, told ScienceAlert.

"Prior to our discovery, complex outgrowths from the skin were restricted to mammals and birds and their closest relatives.”

These ancient lizards are fit for a cat walk.

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A) Flower anther
B) Gastric glands
C) Octopus suckers
D) Spider silk glands

Answer at the bottom.

It took 8.3 billion years for the light to reach us, and now, a miraculous story is unfolding before our eyes.

Out there, in the vastness of space, astronomers have detected a pair of galaxies in the act of colliding.

"We think we're witnessing the birth of a supermassive black hole – something that has never been seen before," says astronomer Pieter van Dokkum of Yale University.

The overlapping galaxies are oriented in the shape of an infinity symbol.

• Each lobe contains a black hole, and at the place where they intersect lurks another.

• The third hole seems to be newly formed, a possible byproduct of two galaxies collapsing into one another.

If we’re lucky, the ‘infinity galaxy’ may give us an unprecedented glimpse at the mysterious creation of a supermassive black hole.

Read more.

Butterflies are beautiful, but the process of their physical metamorphosis is frankly not so pretty.

Once a caterpillar is wrapped inside a cocoon, it starts to digest its own tissue, its body liquefying into a gooey soup.

Amazingly, clumps of organized cells in that melted mess can retain memories. Studies suggest that butterflies can even recognize certain smells from their life pre-cocoon.

Keep those eyes open.

Microscope answer: Spider silk glands.

Spiders have a variety of silk glands, each of which can be spun out for a specific purpose – one for the web, one for the cocoon, one to capture prey, or another to wrap prey. Some species have up to eight different types. Talk about a multitasker.