The News Not Noise Letter: News That Doesn't Suck
An incredible new treatment for heart attacks. Plus: a dog worth a 2500+ mile trip, and Harvard and the Pentagon weigh in on alien life.
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Here’s some news that doesn’t suck:
Making a Scarred Heart, Whole: Ever felt like your heart was too scarred to be whole again? This breakthrough good news in the world of science and medicine has some emotional echoes, too. Context: Heart attacks cause dangerous permanent scarring of heart tissues. Scars are how the body naturally patches up wounds, but the tissue also increases strain on your heart, limits its ability to pump blood and can lead to future heart failure. We haven’t had a way to repair scarred heart tissue – till now. Researchers from the University of California, San Diego developed a new “biomaterial” that can prevent and even reverse scar tissue damage. Tested in pigs and rodents, the new treatment reduced inflammation in the heart and facilitated cell regrowth, not just healing damage but preventing deep scarring from occurring in the first place. The material also shows potential for facilitating recovery from traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) like concussions. If science can repair a scarred heart, so can you.
Metal Detector, Meet Medieval Treasure: 27-year-old Dutch historian Lorenzo Ruijter has been treasure-hunting with a metal detector since he was ten years old. In 2021, he found his greatest treasure yet: four gold earrings, two strips of gold leaf, and 39 silver coins. They were all buried in the 13th century. The Dutch National Museum of Antiquities announced this week that after a careful cleaning process and thorough investigation, they have determined that the jewelry actually dates back to the 11th century, making it 1000 years old. Though it’s unclear exactly why the treasure was buried in the 13th century, the museum suggested that it could be related to a war between two Dutch regions in the mid-13th century. Ruijter, the historian, proposed that perhaps a wealthy person at the time buried the treasure to keep it safe, hoping to dig it up after the battles concluded. The treasure is on loan to the museum because of its historical significance, but luckily for Ruijter, the Dutch government (unlike most US states) respects a strict policy of “finders keepers.”
Death of A Star: When they go out, they do it in glorious color, in deep space. Here at NNN, we’re big fans of the James Webb Space Telescope, and this week it captured a rare, stunning image of a colossal star (30 times the mass of our sun) just on the cusp of going supernova. Very large stars have incredibly brief lifespans in cosmic terms, and not all go through the phase pictured here, known as the Wolf-Rayet phase. This is when stars shed their outer layers, creating the beautiful pink halo of dust you can see above. NASA says this star, known as WR 124, has already “shed” 10 solar masses of material so far, forming the nebula around it which is nearly 10 lightyears across. Shortly after the Wolf-Rayet phase, WR 124 will explode in a supernova, erupting and ejecting heavy elements into the surrounding area that may one day create new planets.
Ben Affleck Didn’t Hate the Grammys: Not your typical NTDS. In these kinda stressful times, we are looking for sources of lightness. And Ben Affleck delivered this week. He gave his first interview since the online world became obsessed with dissecting his facial expressions at the Grammys; they appeared to be the very definition of never-abating-suffering. But, speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, he declared "I had a good time at the Grammys." He also admitted to some annoyance that the internet assumed he was drunk and he revealed a new addiction to Octordle which he described as “wordle with more words”. (We googled and it’s legit, but can’t help but think he’s somehow trolling us?) Back to the Grammys: Affleck explained his feelings about the evening, this way: "it is your wife's work event." We've all been there....ish?
Aliens? Lots of you are DMing me about all the reports of unidentified objects in the sky and asking– are there aliens probing our world? A Harvard astronomer and a Pentagon official say: maybe, but not with physics-defying flying saucers. A recently-released draft paper from Harvard breaks down the latest science behind unexplained aerial phenomena (UAPs), a term for what we’ve traditionally called UFOs. There’s been a lot of fuss about UAPs since NASA observed a mysterious interstellar object they called 'Oumuamua slingshotting around the sun in 2017, and the number of UAP reports this year increased after the drama with the Chinese spy balloon. Individual sightings and declassified military reports have generated huge amounts of speculation about objects that reportedly move at unnatural speeds and with extraordinary agility. Bad news for UFO truthers: Harvard says most of the unusual data from UAPs can be explained by flaws in our observation equipment, because certain reports defy the unbreakable laws of physics. However, the scientists didn’t rule out the possibility of extraterrestrial exploration of our solar system: they suggest an object like 'Oumuamua could be a large ship that could eject smaller probes like “dandelion seeds” that might land on Earth and nearby planets to explore. The scientists insist that because of the massive timeframe required for interstellar travel, “it is unreasonable to assert that the intention of any such probe launched in the far distant past, has anything to do with the human species.” If alien probes are investigating, they aren’t asking to be taken to our leaders.
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