cool science
2022-Oct-25, Tuesday 04:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mellowtiggerThis is the kind of stuff I enjoy posting. It's not intended to be scary, so I'm not waiting for next Moody Monday. And, yes, I'm posting at 4am today because my rambunctious cat woke me at 1am and I was unable to get back to sleep. Welcome to my insomnia.
I asked yesterday for automated ways of dealing with box elder bugs, maybe a bug zapper or something. Well, somebody trained an A.I. to recognize cockroaches, then automated a laser to zap them dead. (What could go wrong?) Ooh! Ooh! Do box elder bugs next!
I've mentioned syncytia a few times already. An Australian professor tweeted this video of cells infected with SARS-CoV-2 (probably a BA.5 lineage) forming syncytia. You see cells clumping together and being joined by long connecting filaments. Look 2 tweets above this one for a higher resolution photo, but you'll have to zoom in to see the filament. This is one way that SARS-CoV-2 gets into new cells and tissues that it wouldn't normally infect via ACE2 pathways. It's really talented at forming these syncytia. And now there's video! :)
In another Twitter thread, someone points out that Blaschko's lines are visible in ultraviolet light, and since some animals (such as cats and dogs) can detect light in the ultraviolet spectrum, they might see us with these unique patterns on our body.
I asked yesterday for automated ways of dealing with box elder bugs, maybe a bug zapper or something. Well, somebody trained an A.I. to recognize cockroaches, then automated a laser to zap them dead. (What could go wrong?) Ooh! Ooh! Do box elder bugs next!I've mentioned syncytia a few times already. An Australian professor tweeted this video of cells infected with SARS-CoV-2 (probably a BA.5 lineage) forming syncytia. You see cells clumping together and being joined by long connecting filaments. Look 2 tweets above this one for a higher resolution photo, but you'll have to zoom in to see the filament. This is one way that SARS-CoV-2 gets into new cells and tissues that it wouldn't normally infect via ACE2 pathways. It's really talented at forming these syncytia. And now there's video! :)
In another Twitter thread, someone points out that Blaschko's lines are visible in ultraviolet light, and since some animals (such as cats and dogs) can detect light in the ultraviolet spectrum, they might see us with these unique patterns on our body.