Oh, shit!
Colorectal cancer—a highly curable form of the disease, but the second-leading cancer killer in the U.S.—may have an effective new enemy: the stool sample.
Even though it’s easy to treat, many succumb to colorectal cancer. Catching it in its early stages is crucial, but in order to screen for the disease in advance a patient must have a 2-metre-long endoscope shoved up their wazoo.
But researchers at Johns Hopkins University have developed a non-invasive procedure to screen cells that are sloughed off the intestinal lining during the course of a normal BM.
After sifting through piles of poop (grad students: this is your future!), the intestinal cells are separated out and screened for a mutation in the APC gene, which is known to be mutated in virtually every colorectal tumour.
If a patient possesses the mutation, a more rigorous anti-cancer treatment may be ordered.
Mighty microbes
U.S. scientists have identified a kind of bacteria that could eat through oil spills and simultaneously generate electricity.
The ocean-dwelling bugs extract electrons from carbon in ocean sediments. Normally, the electricity goes to waste, but scientists believe they could be piled up against electrodes to make a battery.
A certain species of bacteria has been shown to munch on oil, so theoretically they could be linked to an electrode to make juice while cleaning tanker spills.
SUPER SCIENCE FACT
There was this guy in my high school who was extremely brainy and he graduated with a 98 per cent OAC average and he made robots in his basement and stuff like that. My friends and I speculated that at some point in his first year of university (he went to Harvard) he would snap, drop out and join a death metal band.
But I found his website the other day and not only is he totally normal, but he still has a 98 per cent average and is a really nice guy.
