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Science Explorist, Washington D.C., DC (2025)

07/05/2025

Wow, we did it! 🎉 100K+ followers on Science Explorist! I'm beyond grateful for every single one of you who’s joined this journey to explore the wonders of science. Your likes, comments, and shares fuel our passion to bring you more mind-blowing facts, discoveries, and experiments!

This milestone is all about YOU—our curious, awesome community. To keep growing and reach even more science lovers, please share our page with your friends and family. Let’s make Science Explorist a bigger hub for everyone who geeks out over the universe! 🚀

Thank you again for being part of this adventure. Here’s to more science, more fun, and more discoveries together! 🔬✨

07/05/2025

Sunlight has been found to literally strengthen your immune cells.

New research reveals a surprising immune-boosting benefit of sunlight—beyond its well-known role in vitamin D production.

Scientists at Georgetown University Medical Center found that blue light, a component of sunlight, directly activates infection-fighting T cells, increasing their speed and responsiveness. This discovery suggests that sunlight helps the immune system not just through vitamin D, but also by energizing key immune cells via a completely separate mechanism.

The study showed that blue light stimulates the production of hydrogen peroxide in T cells, triggering a cascade that enhances their movement. These findings suggest that blue light, which is safer than UV rays, could potentially be harnessed through therapy to boost immunity. While more research is needed, the results open the door to new ways of enhancing immune defense, particularly through non-invasive treatments like targeted light therapy.

🔗 Read more about the study: https://gumc.georgetown.edu/news-release/sunlight-offers-surprise-benefit-it-energizes-infection-fighting-t-cells/

07/05/2025

Oxytocin has been found to stimulate heart stem cells — regenerating heart tissue after injury.

Oxytocin, popularly known as the “love hormone,” may soon play a vital role in heart repair, according to a new study by researchers at Michigan State University.

In experiments with zebrafish and human cell cultures, oxytocin was shown to activate heart stem cells known as Epicardium-derived Progenitor Cells (EpiPCs). T

hese cells can transform into cardiomyocytes—the muscle cells responsible for heartbeats—and help regenerate heart tissue following injury. This finding could pave the way for groundbreaking treatments to regenerate damaged human hearts after heart attacks.

The study revealed that zebrafish dramatically increase oxytocin production after heart injury, which stimulates EpiPCs to rebuild lost heart tissue. Remarkably, oxytocin had a similar effect on human heart cells in laboratory conditions, performing better than other tested molecules. Since oxytocin is already widely used for medical purposes, researchers are hopeful about its potential to be repurposed for cardiac therapy. The next steps involve testing oxytocin’s effects in humans post-heart injury and possibly developing longer-lasting versions of the hormone for clinical use.

💡 This discovery brings new hope for millions suffering from heart disease!

🔗 Read the full article here: https://www.news-medical.net/news/20220930/Oxytocin-induces-epicardial-cell-proliferation-study-finds.aspx

07/05/2025

Supplements may hurt your health more than help.
As the supplement industry flourishes, so does concern among health experts about a hidden cost: rising cases of liver damage and other serious side effects.
Once seen as harmless health boosters, supplements are now linked to a surge in liver injury, with patients also reporting fatigue, gastrointestinal issues, kidney stones, and more.
Experts attribute this trend to increasingly potent formulations, dangerous interactions with other medications, and the growing practice of “megadosing”—consuming far more than recommended amounts.
Despite widespread confidence in these products—84% of consumers believe they're safe—most supplements aren’t rigorously tested for safety or effectiveness. Driven by social media trends and frustration with traditional healthcare, many people turn to supplements as an alternative fix. While some, like folic acid or omega-3s, can offer real benefits in specific cases, experts warn that the supplement market remains a largely unregulated “Wild West.” Without greater oversight, the risk of serious health consequences continues to rise.

🔗 Read the full article here: https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/pharmacy/supplements-drive-surge-in-drug-induced-liver-injury/

07/05/2025

Fireflies are already extinct in many areas. Stop spraying your lawn.
Baby fireflies live underground for 2 years. Spraying your yard literally kills 2 years of life in an instant.

Learn more about firefly conservation from the Xerces Society: https://www.xerces.org/endangered-species-conservation/firefly-conservation

✨ Let your yard stay wild — and let the fireflies light the night.

07/05/2025

Don't ever paint a turtle's shell — it's living tissue, so you're literally painting their skin.
Turtles also get their Vitamin D from the Sun through their shells. The paint blocks this process and can be fatal.
Beyond health risks, painting a shell can make a turtle a visible target for predators due to the unnatural, bright colors.
Even if the turtle survives the ordeal, the recovery from a damaged or painted shell is long and difficult, often taking months or years with specialized veterinary care.

Please, if you see a turtle with a painted shell, contact a local wildlife rescue or veterinarian immediately. Let’s spread awareness and keep our shelled friends safe! ❤️

07/05/2025

Old tires can be reused in roads and sound barriers to reduce noise — and to reduce pollution.
Researchers in Slovakia have demonstrated that adding rubber from recycled tires to road asphalt and other materials can significantly reduce traffic noise.
Tests comparing two road sections—one using traditional stone mastic asphalt and another mixed with 1.2% crumb rubber—found that the rubber-infused road consistently produced lower sound levels across all vehicle types, including cars and heavy trucks.
These findings came from real-world noise measurements conducted using the Statistical Pass-By method, which captures how much noise moving vehicles generate under typical traffic conditions.
This approach not only offers a quieter driving experience but also presents a sustainable solution for tire waste.
With road noise being a major quality-of-life issue in urban and suburban areas, this innovation shows promise in addressing both environmental waste and noise pollution in a single solution.

🔗 Read more in the study: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/306070175_Using_Crumb_Rubber_from_Waste_Tires_to_Reduce_Road_Traffic_Noise

07/05/2025

🐟 Say hello to Earth's deepest-dwelling fish — captured on camera over 5 miles (8km) below the sea!
In a record-breaking deep-sea discovery, scientists have captured footage of the deepest fish ever recorded on camera—an unidentified species of snailfish from the genus Pseudoliparis—swimming 27,349 feet (8,200 meters) below the surface in Japan’s Izu-Ogasawara Trench.
This tiny juvenile fish was spotted during a 2022 expedition aboard the research vessel Pressure Drop, part of a decade-long study investigating marine life in the planet’s most extreme underwater environments. The find surpasses the previous depth record held by a Mariana snailfish captured at 26,830 feet in 2017.
Researchers also collected two additional Pseudoliparis belyaevi specimens in the nearby Japan Trench, making them the first fish ever retrieved from below 26,000 feet. Marine biologist Alan Jamieson, who led both the current and prior record-setting expeditions, noted that these Japanese trenches are surprisingly rich in life, even at crushing depths. The abundance of young snailfish at such depths challenges earlier assumptions about the biological limits of ocean life, suggesting that extreme-pressure environments may be more habitable than once believed.

🔗 Read more here: https://www.uwa.edu.au/news/Article/2023/April/Scientists-break-new-record-after-finding-worlds-deepest-fish

07/05/2025

Scientists Have Discovered a New Blood Type:
The world's rarest blood type was just discovered. Only one person has it, a 68-year-old woman from Guadeloupe, a French island in the Caribbean.
Scientists have named the blood type "Gwada negative," after the local nickname for her home island. This is now officially the 48th known blood group system in the world, as confirmed by the International Society of Blood Transfusion in June 2025.
The discovery started back in 2011 when doctors in Paris found unusual results during the woman’s pre-surgery blood tests. They couldn’t match her blood to any known type. At the time, they didn’t have the technology to figure it out. In 2019, they used advanced DNA sequencing and found a rare mutation in a gene called PIGZ, which changes how certain proteins appear on red blood cells. Because of this unique mutation, her blood doesn’t match anyone else’s—scientists say she’s the only person in the world who is "compatible with herself." Blood types are based on molecules on the surface of red blood cells, and your immune system reacts if it encounters a type it doesn’t recognize. The most common systems are ABO and Rh (like A+, B-, O+, etc.), but there are many others. Rare types like Gwada negative can cause serious problems during transfusions, especially if doctors can’t find a matching donor. That’s why this discovery matters: it helps improve care for people with rare blood. Researchers now want to check if anyone else, especially in Guadeloupe, shares this blood type. Finding more carriers would make it easier to treat people safely in medical emergencies.

📌 Read more: https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a65161270/gwada-negative-48-blood-group/

🔬

07/04/2025

Only one nation in the world can fully feed itself without relying on food imports, according to a new study.
That nation is Guyana.
Researchers looked at food production data from 186 countries and found that Guyana is the only one that produces enough of all seven key food groups for its own population.
China and Vietnam came close, each meeting their own needs in six of the seven categories. But most countries fall far short. Only 1 in 7 nations can cover five or more food groups.
Over a third can't manage more than two.
Six countries—including Afghanistan and Yemen—don’t meet the mark in any category. Even regional alliances like the Gulf Cooperation Council and West African unions struggle to produce enough, especially vegetables.
That means global food security heavily depends on international trade. But there's a risk: many countries rely on just one trading partner for most of their food imports. This makes them vulnerable to market disruptions, political tensions, or supply chain failures. The researchers argue that building more diverse and resilient food networks is essential to avoid future crises. In short, if global trade stopped tomorrow, nearly every country would face serious food shortages—except Guyana. Guyana is in safe hands when it comes to food security because it has a small population, a favorable climate, and plenty of arable land, which together allow it to produce a wide range of crops and livestock in quantities that meet local demand.

🔗 Read the full article here: https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/only-one-country-produces-food-it-needs-self-sufficient

07/04/2025

🚨 Scientists just took a huge step toward treating Down syndrome.

Japanese scientists have successfully used CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to remove the extra chromosome responsible for Down syndrome in lab-grown human cells.

This process, known as trisomic rescue, targets and cuts the additional copy of chromosome 21—present in individuals with trisomy 21—encouraging the cell to eliminate the damaged chromosome entirely.

The result: cells that maintain a healthy pair of chromosomes, one from each parent, and exhibit normalized growth, gene expression, and reduced stress.

This marks a pivotal advance in the field of chromosomal disorder research. The technique worked not only in pluripotent stem cells but also in fibroblasts, suggesting wide applicability. While it’s not yet safe for clinical use due to potential off-target effects, the success of this method lays the groundwork for future treatments of Down syndrome and possibly other conditions caused by extra chromosomes, such as trisomy 13 and 18.

Read more here: https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/4/2/pgaf022/8016019?login=false

🔬 This breakthrough gives new hope for future therapies that could one day correct chromosomal abnormalities at their root cause!

07/04/2025

Camera traps recorded a clouded leopard mother with her two cubs for the first time ever.

Recorded by camera traps in Indonesia’s Tanjung Puting National Park, the video shows a mother leopard and her two cubs walking through the forest.

This is an unprecedented glimpse into the life of one of the world’s most elusive big cats.

This rare sighting confirms that the endangered species is still successfully reproducing, offering a ray of hope amid growing concerns about its future.

The Bornean clouded leopard, a subspecies of the Sunda clouded leopard, is the top predator in Borneo's ecosystem but remains largely a mystery due to its nocturnal habits and dwindling population. Habitat loss and poaching have dramatically reduced its numbers, prompting the IUCN to classify it as endangered. The footage, obtained by the Orangutan Foundation, signals that despite widespread deforestation, breeding populations still persist. Researchers say it highlights the urgent need for continued conservation to protect the forests that these remarkable animals call home.

🔗 Read the full article here: https://www.livescience.com/animals/bornean-clouded-leopard-family-filmed-in-wild-for-1st-time-ever

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