The brightest take on this week’s science
Time to spark your curiosity!
Scientists just found new evidence that handwriting can hint at Parkinson’s.
And what’s up with that bizarre ‘jellyfish’ NASA’s rover spotted floating on Mars?
We’ve got the answers.
Also in this issue:
🍞 Putting spinach in bread changes insulin responses
🔬 A microscope mystery
Happy reading!
LOOK OUT
NASA Spotted A Bizarre 'Jellyfish' Floating on Mars
Weird jellyfish? Or something weirder? (NASA/JPL Caltech)
The human eye seems to find many a strange thing on the surface of Mars.
Most of the time it’s just, well, a rock.
But a bizarre jellyfish, photographed by NASA in 2023, is more unusual.
It’s not a Martian Tripod straight out of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds.
But neither is it a rock.
It’s a smudge on the image itself.
It seems that just as the Curiosity rover’s camera was taking a picture, a charged particle rained down from space and smacked into its silicon detector.
Alas, the search for life on Mars continues.
HEADLINES
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LOW-KEY GENIUS
The Way You Draw May Reveal Parkinson's
(Yifei Fang/Moment/Getty Images)
Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative condition that affects movement and muscle control.
A simple drawing test may be a way to screen for the disease.
A recent experiment tested the idea among 31 individuals with Parkinson's and 35 healthy controls by having them trace simple shapes using smart pens.
AI models correctly identified who had Parkinson’s and who did not with a success rate over 97 percent.
It’s only a small dataset, but it warrants future clinical trials, argue the study authors.
ZOOM ZONE
Microscope Mystery: What Do You See?
(Craig P. Jewell/Moment/Getty Images)
A) Paracetamol
B) Snake skin
C) Quartz gemstone
D) Abalone shell
Answer at the bottom.
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LOOK IN
Spinach In Bread Changes Insulin Responses
(Peter Cade/Stone/Getty Images)
Not everyone loves to eat their greens.
To get more of that goodness into our bellies, researchers are trying to sneak spinach into our favorite foods.
In a recent crossover trial, researchers put spinach into white bread and found that it had an immediate and measurable impact on the body’s insulin response compared to plain old white bread.
When 15 healthy adults ate the spinach bread, their insulin peaked roughly 30 minutes later than when they ate the white bread.
What's more, after eating the spinach bread, participants didn't report the same rise in hunger three hours later that was experienced by those who'd eaten white bread.
Spinach bread might sound yuck, but it was specially designed to taste and smell the same.
It’s just a bit green.
WOW FACTOR
Science Fact of The Week
Ida and Dactyl (NASA/JPL)
Asteroids are not planets – far from it.
But believe it or not, these small rocky bodies can have rings and moons, too.
The image above features Ida the asteroid, along with her lunar companion, Dactyl.
Wave hello 👋
DOPAMINE HIT
Before You Go…
Check out this alien-looking fish moonwalking across the seafloor.
Microscope answer: Paracetamol
This is what happens to paracetamol when it is dissolved in liquid, and then the liquid is evaporated. The crystals left behind are microscopic works of art.
That’s all for today… see you next week!
- Carly
