The brightest take on this week’s science
We’ve got a sweet treat for you this week:
A low-calorie sugar that is 92 percent as sweet as sucrose and yet doesn’t spike insulin.
Also in this issue:
🧠 The genetic secrets of superagers
🧬 What space does to astronaut brains
🔬 A microscope mystery
Let’s see where the science takes us!
LOW-KEY GENIUS
Sugar Without The Insulin Spike
(Uma Shankar sharma/Getty Images)
A natural, low-calorie sugar that doesn’t cause a spike in insulin sounds too good to be true. But it really does exist!
It’s called tagatose, and it comes in very small amounts in a few fruits and dairy products.
Now, scientists have figured out how to manufacture the rare sugar at larger scales.
The product is 92 percent as sweet as sucrose, and yet it doesn’t spike insulin levels.
Tagatose is mostly fermented in the gut, so only a small portion of it is actually absorbed into the bloodstream.
Unlike high-intensity artificial sweeteners, it can even be used in baked goods. Order up!
HEADLINES
What Else We're Watching
🏅This week’s most read: Scientists Figured Out a Standard Measure For Cannabis Use
LOOK IN
Superagers Have Two Key Advantages
(Portra Images/Stone/Getty Images)
‘Superagers’ who live past 80 and still show the exceptional cognition of someone decades younger have secrets in their genes.
A study of 18,000 people has found two key advantages:
Superagers are less likely to have a gene variant associated with a higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
They are also more likely to have a gene variant associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer’s.
The findings suggest that superagers don't avoid dementia purely by chance.
The genetic dice are stacked in their favor.
ZOOM ZONE
Microscope Mystery: What Do You See?
(Hennebert et al., PNAS, 2014)
A) Starfish foot
B) Parasitic wasp sucker
C) World’s tiniest stack of pancakes
D) Hair follicle
Answer at the bottom.
LOOK UP
Astronaut Brains Are Not The Same
(Brain: 3dMedisphere/Getty; Background: ESA/Hubble & NASA)
Even just a few weeks in space can cause lasting changes to the brains of astronauts.
A new study of 26 astronauts has found that following spaceflight:
There are subtle changes to the brain’s shape that can last six months or more.
The most impacted brain regions are involved in balance and sensory and motor control.
The astronauts who spent a year in space showed the greatest measurable changes to their brain shapes, sometimes by as much as 2-3 millimeters.
Life in microgravity comes at a cost.
WOW FACTOR
Science Fact of The Week
(David Gruber)
Did you know that some sharks glow green?
Two species of catshark - the chain catshark (Scyliorhinus retifer) and the swell shark (Cephaloscyllium ventriosum) - have scales that flicker with a green biofluorescent flare on the dim seafloor.
The light show may represent a secret visual language only the sharks can understand…
DOPAMINE HIT
Before You Go…
Hang loose 🤙
Microscope answer: Starfish foot.
Sea stars have hundreds of these little tube feet, which they use to crawl around. Even without a brain, they somehow manage to coordinate each and every foot.
That’s all for today… see you next week!
- Carly
