SoT 216: Wobble When They Waddle

Published: March 6, 2016, 7:28 a.m.

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A team of astronomers have traced the origins of a Fast Radio Burst - a sudden, high energy blast or radio waves - to a galaxy 6 billion light years away. This has helped them find \'regular\' matter (not dark matter or dark energy) that was previously missing.

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An experiment in Antarctica set out to see how a penguin\'s walk - or waddle - changes with variations in body mass. To do this it was necessary to put the penguins on treadmills. For science!

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A new study has found that Lyme Disease can be caused, rarely, by a different bacterial species to the one that usually gets all the blame. And this new species could cause more serious symptoms, from vomiting to neurological issues.

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Some bacteria have a mechanism for releasing extra long spears to puncture cellular membranes and release molecules on demand. They get eaten by other bacteria, then puncture the cell wall and release poison. Now a team at the Wyss Institute have developed a technique to activate these spears, and could one day use them to deliver drugs and beneficial molecules.

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