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ucsdhealthsciences:

Absorbing news

Nanoengineers at UC San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering have invented incredibly tiny sponges capable of soaking up a broad class of dangerous toxins in the bloodstream. So-called “pore-forming toxins” punch holes in cell membranes, killing them, and are produced by lethal microbes like MRSA and E. coli and in the venoms of snakes and bees.

Unlike other anti-toxin platforms that require customization to individual toxin types, the scientists say the new nanosponges (approximately 85 nanometers in diameter or roughly 3,000 times smaller than a red blood cell) absorb multiple toxins regardless of molecular shape. In a study using alpha-haemolysin toxin from MRSA, pre-innoculation with nanosponges enabled 89 percent of tested mice to survive lethal doses. Administering nanosponges after the lethal dose led to 44 percent survival.

The research, led by Liangfang Zhang, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Nanoengineering and researcher at the UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, was published in Nature Nanotechnology.

Read the full news release here.

A pretty amazing (and completely new!) way of removing toxins from the blood stream: The nanosponges, which are 3000 times smaller than red blood cells, flood the blood stream and intercept the toxins. The nanosponge can absorb tens to hundreds of toxins before it is eventually metabolized by the liver (with no ill effects).

(via dduane)

(Source: alles-so-einfach, via alexandralsh)

(Source: fitriafiera, via alexandralsh)

dangerhamster:

superwholockfeels:

oldest-man-on:

he’s my hero

this makes the best reaction gif ever

what makes this even better is he’s trying to make a point about grammar. He’s explaining why the phrase “I could care less” makes no sense and that the actual phrase is “I couldn’t care less” and it makes me so happy because HE IS SO FUCKING RIGHT IT MAKES ME SO ANGRY WHEN PEOPLE USE THE PHRASE I COULD CARE LESS YOU DON’T GET IT

(Source: makemestfu, via alexandralsh)

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fyterrypratchett:

no. 3 of yoodi’s Night Watch Teaser Poster series

(via dduane)

How do they rise up, rise up, rise up?
How do they rise up, rise up high?

(Source: whatdiscworldtaughtme, via gyzym)

rockcandymelted:

this is both hilariously, and horrifyingly, true.

(via uglyorangecouch)

pigmenting:

my life is a constant battle between wanting tea and forgetting about it when i do have it

(via sentientcitizen)

"Colleges have experimented with short-term social-media blackouts in the past. But Ms. Hill’s course, “Information and Contemplation,” goes way further. Participants scrutinize their use of technology: how much time they spend with it, how it affects their emotions, how it fragments their attention. They watch videos of themselves multitasking and write guidelines for improving their habits. They also practice meditation—during class—to sharpen their attention. Their professor, David M. Levy, sees these techniques as the template for a grass-roots movement that could spur similar investigations on other campuses and beyond. Mr. Levy hopes to open a fresh window on the polarized cultural debate about Internet distraction and information abundance."

You’re Distracted. This Professor Can Help.

And all I could think was “This would be an interesting MOOC.”

(via world-shaker)

(via world-shaker)

castielsminions:

bucketofchum:

fuckskinnyletsgetfit:

Advertising’s image of women. Watch this and get your mind blown. 

This needs to stop.

I am not female but I really don’t think that matters. EVERYONE needs to see this. 

(Source: hustleforchange, via alexandralsh)