March 25, 2024: Today we're covering wood-based "ink," a solar storm that could make the northern and southern lights visible to more people tonight, and a U.S. Supreme Court case that threatens the FDA's authority. —Robin Lloyd, Contributing Editor | | | The repercussions of a case before the U.S. Supreme Court involving a pill commonly used in medication abortion go far beyond reproductive rights, reports health and science journalist Liz Szabo. The drug has been used by more than five million people in the U.S. since the Food and Drug Administration approved it in 2000. Mifepristone has a better safety profile than Tylenol and Viagra, analyses show. Medication abortion accounted for 63 percent of all pregnancy terminations in the U.S. in 2023. Oral arguments in the mifepristone case are set for tomorrow.
Why this matters: If the Court limits or bans the use of mifepristone, the decision could undermine the FDA's authority to regulate all drugs and medical devices, potentially putting people at risk of harm. Such a ruling also could destabilize drug research and development, according to leaders of the pharmaceutical industry.
What the experts say: "It is extraordinarily important that the FDA has the power to set a national uniform standard for all vaccines and drugs based solely on science and evidence," says Lawrence Gostin, faculty director of the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University. "The last thing the public needs is for these scientific decisions to be micromanaged by [layperson] judges." | | | Wood "Ink" for 3D Printers | Scientists have found a way to turn wood scraps and waste, millions of tons of which end up in U.S. landfills annually, into "ink" that could eventually be used to 3D-print furniture and other custom creations, reports freelance journalist Payal Dhar. To improve on past wood-based inks, the researchers created a water-based solution of molecular building blocks of wood—cellulose and lignin—in a ratio the same as that found in natural wood. In tests of their ink, the researchers printed miniature furniture and a honeycomb lattice.
Why this is cool: Wood-based inks currently on the market don't have the look or feel of natural wood. The new technique theoretically could yield 3D-printing ink from any plant tissue of lignin and cellulose, and the printed products could be recycled again and again.
What the experts say: The materials scientists used a 3D-printing method called direct-ink-writing (DIW), which involves squeezing inks through a microscale nozzle to "draw" a desired structure a little bit at a time. Inks from almost any material can be used to 3D print structures, provided that the inks have the right physical properties. For now, DIW is especially useful in constructing "highly complex and customized" parts, says Kevin Estelle, a Washington State University researcher who studies the technique. | | | Credit: Eugene Mymrin/Getty Images | | | Credit: Anaissa Ruiz-Tejada | | | On the benefits of getting slimed If you take a journey into the depths of the slime all around us, you find yourself starting to understand that mucus is a miracle. Learn more in our latest episode of Science, Quickly, in which we cover, quickly, hot science topics of the day, all in 10 minutes or less. | | | • A company accused of smuggling greenhouse gases has settled with the U.S. EPA, as part of the agency's crackdown on planet-warming hydrofluorocarbons used in air-conditioning. | 9 min read | • Why isn't dental health considered primary medical care? | 9 min read | | | • The death penalty does not deter crime, is not humane, and has no moral or medical basis, write the editors of Scientific American in an essay published after the state of Alabama in January used nitrogen gas to execute a man who killed three men in workplace shootings. Study after study has failed to support the use of capital punishment. It puts innocent people to death, is racially biased and is more expensive than life imprisonment. The "desire for violent retribution is the very impulse that our criminal justice system is made to check, not abet," the essay states. | 4 min read | | | A severe solar storm is currently underway, giving sky-watchers an opportunity to see the aurora borealis and aurora australis farther than usual from Earth's magnetic poles, that is, closer to where most of us live on the planet. Tonight, the northern lights could be visible in Scotland and in the U.S. as far south as the Midwest, reports Tory Shepherd for The Guardian. In the Southern Hemisphere, people in southern Australia, from Victoria to Western Australia, have a shot at seeing the aurora australis. For tips on how to view the "rippling curtains, ribbons and streamers of colors across the rainbow light up the night, shimmering and majestic and all eerily silent," check out this recent guide by astronomer and science communicator Phil Plait. Readers also might enjoy this archive item on the auroras, published by Scientific American in 1860.
| —Robin Lloyd, Contributing Editor with contributions by Allison Parshall | | Subscribe to this and all of our newsletters . | | | | Scientific American
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