Remember “The Matrix”? The science-fiction, action movie where Keanu Reeves learns Kung-Fu by downloading the skills into his brain among other cool things. We’re one step closer to making “skill downloading” a reality. Biologists at UCLA say they have successfully transferred memory from one animal to another. Researchers tested their original hypothesis that memory can be transferred by extracting and administration RNA.
Source: abc.net
The success of the experiment gives us a clue to how memories are stored and how memory can be altered and transferred. The actual procedure involved shocking the tail’s sea snails, the snails who had been shocked curled their tails up for 40-50 seconds to avoid being shocked again. When the RNA from the trained snails was injected into the untrained snails, scientists noticed they also curled up their tails in the same way even though they hadn’t been shocked. Snails that hadn’t been shocked and didn’t receive an RNA injection only curled their tails for 2-3 seconds proving RNA is responsible for parts of memory storage.
Source: labnews.co.uk
Scientists Discover Massive Black Hole
This week Scientists confirmed the discovered the largest and fastest growing black hole in our universe. The hole was about the size of 20 billion suns 12 billion years ago and has grown by one percent every million years. Today it is capable of swallowing the equivalent of our sun every two days. Dr. Wolf, the head researcher at the ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics. says: “This black hole is growing so rapidly that it’s shining thousands of times more brightly than an entire galaxy, due to all of the gases it sucks in daily that cause lots of friction and heat.” Finding these holes helps scientist study the elements of universe’s earliest days connected to the big bang and the beginning of everything.
Crime:
The Good: Chicago Using New Methods To Deter Violence
The South Side of Chicago has been embedded in one of the most violent battles between gang and police the U.S. has ever seen, however some residents are becoming hopeful that the worst may be over. This week statistics came in on the amount of violent crimes in the city and the numbers show decreases across the board from homicides to shootings dipping as much as 40%. Police officers and detectives say that several factors have contributed to the decrease. Newly installed surveillance cameras, gunshot detectors, more police presence in high crime areas and a better relationship between the community and police department all create a better & safer environment. Police and community relations have been hostile since the 2015 scandal that exposed Chicago officers covering up the unjust shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald; an investigation was opened by the U.S. Justice Department that revealed years of violations within the department. Although community members agree that violence is down, everyone expects law enforcement will have considerable more work to do to erridicate the issues of crime, poverty and access to firearms.
Source: nydailynews.com
The Bad: Another Wrongfully Convicted Man Released, Still No Justice
Even though John Bunn was visibly grateful and emotional in the courtroom as he was exonerated for murder charges in a 17 year old case, he still had some choice words to the prosecution who wrongfully put him behind bars when he was only 14 years old. “They won’t admit I’m an innocent man,” Bunn said. “Y’all had the wrong man this whole time and you have (someone) out there running free and y’all had no right to do what you did.”
Louis Scarcella Source: nypost.com
Bunn is part of a group of victims being released from prison due to the corruption of former NYPD detective Louis N. Scarcella (left) who’s legacy swims in controversy. Bunn is just one example of dozens of wrongful arrests and convictions yet the justice department says that Scarcella hasn’t broken any laws and today is still a free man. So far at least 10 convictions involving Scarcella have been overturned with more likely in the pipeline.
Hilarity
Source: indianexpress.com
Toronto Cops End Infinity War
If you haven’t seen Marvel’s blockbuster hit “Avengers: Infinity War”, you may want to skip this post and come back to it when you’ve seen it, otherwise this week the super villain Thanos who the Avengers couldn’t stop has been arrested by Toronto officers this week sparking a stream of hilarious comments and meme’s on social media. The man behind the mask Frank Coraci, took to the streets of Toronto taking pictures and even staged an “arrest” with Sgt. Noel DeGuzman. What began as a simple picture has turned into a viral moment. DeGuzman addressed the explosion of comments and attention via social media: “What started as good-hearted banter between two Marvel fans and subsequently a photo for my daughter, apparently exploded onto social media. I am thankful that it put a smile on many people’s faces.”
Break Dancing Before Breaking In
This week Police in Fresno California arrested a man they said was caught breaking into a local business and was seen on camera celebrating a bit too early. Police say David Seale broke into the office building around midnight with copied keys and stole laptops and $2500 cash. Seale returned the stolen items however still faces charges and a viral history on social media.
