ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

---

• Modified maggots could help human wound healing
• Earth's moon wandered off axis billions of years ago
• Brad Pitt's and fruit flies' cowlicks controlled by cancer protein
• Using frog foam to deliver antibiotics
• In the wilds of the Local Group, a lonely galaxy stays set apart

Modified maggots could help human wound healing Posted: 23 Mar 2016 03:56 PM PDT In a proof-of-concept study, researchers show that genetically engineered green bottle fly larvae can produce and secrete a human growth factor -- a molecule that helps promote cell growth and wound healing.

Earth's moon wandered off axis billions of years ago Posted: 23 Mar 2016 12:20 PM PDT A new study reports Earth's moon wandered off its original axis roughly 3 billion years ago. Ancient lunar ice indicates the moon's axis slowly shifted by 125 miles, or 6 degrees, over 1 billion years. Earth's moon now a member of solar system's exclusive 'true polar wander' club, which includes just a handful of other planetary bodies.

Brad Pitt's and fruit flies' cowlicks controlled by cancer protein Posted: 23 Mar 2016 08:55 AM PDT What does Brad Pitt have in common with a fruit fly? His Hollywood hairstyles cover a prominent cowlick -- the swirl of hair that that is caused by a patterning mechanism also active in our two-winged friends -- that similarly feature 'polarized' hair patterns.

Using frog foam to deliver antibiotics Posted: 23 Mar 2016 05:22 AM PDT Scientists have shown that the foam made by Trinidadian frogs represents a new, non-toxic antibiotic delivery system that may help to prevent infections. Researchers have been analysing the frog foam, showing that it is highly stable and capable of taking up drugs before releasing them at a stable rate.

In the wilds of the Local Group, a lonely galaxy stays set apart Posted: 23 Mar 2016 05:20 AM PDT This scene, captured by ESO's OmegaCAM on the VLT Survey Telescope, shows a lonely galaxy known as Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte, or WLM for short. Although considered part of our Local Group of dozens of galaxies, WLM stands alone at the group's outer edges as one of its most remote members. In fact, the galaxy is so small and secluded that it may never have interacted with any other Local Group galaxy -- or perhaps even any other galaxy in the history of the Universe.

You are subscribed to email updates from Strange & Offbeat News -- ScienceDaily. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States