New vaping-sickness theory
Toxic chemical fumes might be responsible for the surge in vaping-related lung injuries across the U.S., a new Mayo Clinic study has found. More than 1,000 e-cigarette users have been hospitalized in recent months and at least 18 have died. Many of those sickened used bootleg vaping liquids containing THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Tests have shown that some black market producers diluted expensive THC oil with vitamin E acetate. That led health experts to suspect that this greasy substance was causing the e-cigarette illnesses, by coating the lungs after being inhaled and triggering an inflammatory response. But when Mayo Clinic researchers examined lung biopsies from 17 people who got sick after vaping—about two-thirds of whom had used THC cartridges—they found no signs of oil accumulation. Instead, the tissue had damage consistent with a “chemical burn injury,” pathologist Brandon Larsen told The New York Times, similar to that seen in people exposed to airborne poisons like mustard gas. It’s still not clear what harmful substance is causing the injuries, or whether the toxin is in the vaping fluid or materials used to make the vaping device.
to be discovered in the outer reaches of our solar system might actually be a black hole no bigger than a bowling ball, reports NBCNews.com. Planet 9 proponents have pointed to the unusual orbit paths of asteroids, comets, and other bodies in the region beyond Neptune, which appear to be influenced by the gravity of an object up to 15 times more massive than Earth. So far, scientists haven’t been able to locate the phantom object. A new study by two theoretical physicists proposes that Planet 9 could be a primordial black hole, which means it wouldn’t be detected by visible-light or infrared telescopes. Unlike black holes that are formed by collapsing stars, primordial black holes are thought to be small, superdense clumps of matter that formed in the aftermath of the Big Bang. Their existence, however, has never been confirmed. “The discovery of a giant planet in the outer solar system would be an extraordinary discovery,” says coauthor James Unwin, from the University of Illinois at Chicago. “But the discovery of a primordial black hole would be immense and even more spectacular.”
inside three 3,000-year-old vessels from Bavaria. The researchers concluded that the sippy cups contain remnants of milk from cattle, sheep, or goats—first domesticated in the Neolithic era—and were likely used to wean children. The discovery may help explain why human populations boomed in the Neolithic era, says bioarchaeologist Siân Halcrow, who wasn’t involved in the study. Breastfeeding women tend to have a period of infertility. But once women could swap breast milk for animal milk, she tells NPR .org, “they could actually have more babies during their lifetime.”