Experiments are showing that muscle loss caused by prolonged periods spent in zero gravity could be prevented (or at least lessened) by daily spins in a centrifuge. Just thinking about this makes me nauseous, so there goes being an astronaut. More »
Apparently, egg beaters are more than just a tool for making tasty omelettes—these cheap contraptions can also be used as a quick and dirty centrifuge in developing countries. According to the Royal Society of Chemistry, taping a bit of plastic tubing to the end of a standard egg beater and a little elbow grease is all that is needed to separate plasma from blood. According to George Whitesides and colleagues at Harvard University, the plasma obtained in the procedure is perfectly fine for conducting tests for diseases like Hepatitis B and cysticercosis. I can’t believe it took chemists and Harvard-educated doctors all this time to figure that out. [Eurekalert via Crunchgear]
