This Week in Science: Carbon Dioxide, Mouth Swabs, And VERY Fast Spiders

Here’s some more “nerd news”, a quick rundown of This Week In Science…

1) This seems like it could be a “game changer” . . . researchers have developed a painless mouth-swab that detects oral cancer, with 95.5% accuracy, and you get results in less than an hour. The best part is, you don’t need a biopsy, which means it’s cheaper and less invasive.

2) This might give you nightmares . . . scientists have identified the world’s fastest spider after testing 258 species (and no, it’s not the Moroccan Flic-Flac spider). It’s the HUNTSMAN SPIDER, which reached speeds of about 8 miles per hour. To give that some perspective, that’s faster than most humans walk.

3) And finally, scientists have developed a new process to capture carbon dioxide, by using waste products from cheese and tofu. They found a way to turn leftover proteins into tiny porous beads that can absorb CO2 more efficiently. The beads can then release the captured carbon, using way less energy than conventional methods, and can be reused multiple times. They’re hoping this could help reduce carbon emissions AND food industry waste. Only scientists could look at leftover cheese and say, “You know what? THIS can save the planet” . . . while everybody else just sees nachos.