Filling Cavities: 5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

Including a surprising move by a monkey
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 14, 2017 5:40 AM CST
Filling Cavities: 5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week
If a new approach works, having cavities filled might be less of a problem.   (Getty)

A potential new way of filling cavities and a study sure to cheer those too busy to work out during the week were among the discoveries making headlines:

  • Alzheimer's Drug May Help Your Teeth: A novel therapy holds promise for changing the way dentists treat your cavities—they'd get them to fill themselves. Researchers found they could stimulate stem cells within the teeth to regenerate through a relatively simple approach: They insert a tiny, drug-soaked sponge in the cavity that eventually disintegrates and is replaced by natural growth. The current use of the drug, called tideglusib, in Alzheimer's tests could speed up its path to dentists' offices.
  • Good News for Weekend Warriors: Hate having to drag yourself to the gym after work? A new JAMA study suggests that people who exercise only on the weekend enjoy many of the same benefits as weekday gym-goers. When it comes to the ultimate bottom line—a lower risk of death—the difference between the two groups was negligible. Total couch potatoes, however, might want to take notice of the full results.
  • Monkey's Bold Move Surprises Scientists: One lonely snow monkey in Japan is taking animal sexuality to strange new places. Researchers documented a monkey having or attempting sexual relations with at least two sika deer. While sex between closely related species does happen, sexual acts between two distantly related species is a rarity. Scientists have a few theories on the monkey's odd behavior.

  • Japanese Tapeworm Found in Alaska Fish: A cautionary story for sushi lovers: A tapeworm usually found only in fish from Asia's Pacific coasts has been discovered in salmon netted around Alaska. That means salmon caught anywhere off North America's Pacific coasts could be affected. The good news is that the health effects usually aren't dangerous.
  • Our Moon May Have Formed From 'Moonlets': A series of cosmic collisions may have spawned multiple moonlets that morphed into the one big moon we know today. Rather than one giant impact that knocked off part of early Earth and created the moon, a number of smaller collisions may have produced lots of mini-moons, say Israeli scientists. And those mini-moons, over millions of years, may have clumped together to make one large one. If so, it would help explain the moon's composition.
Click to read about more discoveries. (More discoveries stories.)

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