S02-E02 - Cancer Removal, Xenobots, Doomsday Glacier, Blue-Eyed Humans, NASA's Perseverance, Human Evolution

Science Bytes with Joe and Craig

Cancer Removal

Today is Thursday, February 4, 2021. At the top of our news, a new laser system to aid in cancer treatment will help surgeons remove cells without damaging healthy tissue. Scientists proved in the lab that the laser system could remove cancer cells in a way that does not damage the surrounding, healthy cells. Those healthy cells were within the width of a human hair.....

Xenobots

An African clawed frog, in biology, it is known as Xenopus laevis. This frog typically lives in sub-Saharan Africa's streams and ponds, scavenging for food that it rips apart with its feet. In January, researchers at the University of Vermont and Tufts University published a report that gave the amphibian a different lot in life. They harvested its embryonic skin and heart cells and reassembled the living matter into robotic devices — transforming Xenopus into xenobot. Xenobots are the first robots made entirely of living materials....

Doomsday Glacier

If Thwaites melts away, that much-larger ice block will add water to our oceans as well, further driving up sea level rise. If and when this might happen, however, is what researchers are trying to learn. Scientists know that Thwaites Glacier is very important, but still, how much and how fast sea levels increase into the decades and centuries is still uncertain....

Blue Eyes

I’ve heard that the blue waters near ocean glaciers are beautiful to behold. The same could be said about blue eyes. New research shows that people with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor. A team at the University of Copenhagen have tracked down a genetic mutation that took place 6-10,000 years ago and is the cause of the eye color of all blue-eyed humans alive on the planet today....

NASA's Perseverance

NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission is just 22 days from landing on the surface of Mars. The spacecraft has about 25.6 million miles remaining in its 292.5-million-mile journey and is currently closing that distance at 1.6 miles per second....

Human Evolution

When we think of human evolution, our minds wander back to the millions of years it took natural selection to produce modern-day man. Recent research suggests that humans continue to evolve....

--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sciencebytes/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sciencebytes/support