🧬 23andMurder?! ☠️ Polio's back 🤧 Sneeze hack

🧬 23andMurder?! ☠️ Polio's back 🤧 Sneeze hack

That spit sample you sent to 23andMe last week could be used to develop biological weapons against you. At least that's what Colorado congressman and House Intelligence Committee member Jason Crow thinks...

The best news, hacks, & facts from the past week!
July 29, 2022
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Vacation is a critical component of work-life balance...

...but anyone else feel like 99% of people are OOO 99% of the time this summer? It feels like everyone has 35 weddings, 15 bachelor(ette) parties, and two Euro trips on their cal.

Which makes getting things done at work nearly impossible because no one responds to anything. But heck, maybe we're the problem. Maybe WE should go to Europe!

*checks flight prices to Italy; checks bank account; closes browser and sulks*

As always, please forward IQNEWS to a friend if you're a fan!

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STORY OF THE WEEK

23 and Me Murder?!!!

image: business insider

That spit sample you sent to 23andMe last week could be used to develop biological weapons against you. At least that's what Colorado congressman and House Intelligence Committee member Jason Crow thinks...

The lawmaker made his concerns known at the Aspen Security Forum last Friday, where he warned that data from private DNA testing services (Ancestry.com is another big one) could end up in nefarious hands and facilitate biological carnage.

Bioweapons are disease-causing microorganisms or toxins that can be engineered in a lab. What's scary is that - with knowledge of people's genomes - these labs can create compounds that target specific people in specific ways based on their genetics.

Crow didn’t offer much evidence of an impending threat, but his concerns are being viewed by the scientific community as fairly legitimate. Especially because DNA testing services do currently sell customers' genetic info to third parties.

Companies like 23andMe claim to never sell data without consent, but consent must be opted into and the opt-in is easy to miss in Terms-of-Use agreements.

Bottom line: Crow urged Americans to steer clear of these DNA testing services (and we kiinnddaa agree).

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IN OTHER NEWS

Polio, COVID, Monkeypox (yea, it's a lot)...

image: st. lukes museum
Disease

An adult New York resident recently caught polio. It's the first U.S. case since 2013. The risk of spread is low, but officials warned that folks without a polio vaccine are at risk.

Napping

A new study linked frequent napping to elevated risk of high blood pressure and stroke. But napping itself likely isn't to blame. It’s the poor nightly sleep that necessitates naps!

Long COVID

British researchers report that hair loss and sexual dysfunction have joined fatigue, brain fog, loss of smell, and shortness of breath on the list of long-haul COVID symptoms.

Pet Dreams

Do animals dream? New evidence confirms they do! This should come as no surprise to anyone who’s seen their dog run and bark in its sleep.

Monkeypox

The WHO has declared monkeypox a "public health emergency of international concern," its highest alert level. The decision follows more than 16,000 reported worldwide cases.

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HACK OF THE WEEK

Level up your sneeze game

image: reddit

You’re surely familiar with that annoying, tickling feeling you get when you have to sneeze but it just isn't happening. Well, turns out you might be able accelerate your sneeze via a simple method: look at a bright light.

This stimulates a neural reflex that can trigger a “stuck” sneeze. There's a caveat though. It’s a hereditary trait that only works with about one third of people.

One the flip side, if you’re in an important meeting and want to avoid a sneeze, there's a hack there too: rub your tongue on the roof of your mouth. This acts as a competing signal to your brain, stifling your urge to sneeze.

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SHOWER THOUGHTS
  1. Do caterpillars know they’re going to become butterflies?
  2. A bad horror movie is usually funnier than a bad comedy movie.
  3. Humans are the only species that know extinct species existed.
  4. We will never hear about the truly perfect crime.
  5. It’s impossible to touch any reflection that isn’t your own.
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QUOTE / TIL / WORD / TRIVIA

George Bernard Shaw: “Two things define you: your patience when you have nothing and your attitude when you have everything.”

Today I learned that tigers are nearly invisible to prey, who see orange as green due to having dichromatic color vision. This helps tigers blend into the forest. (more here)

kismet [ kiz-met ] - noun
destiny; fate.
It must have been kismet that brought the couple together.

Q: According to Kentucky law, remarrying the same man how many times is prohibited?
A: (see below next section)

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TWEET OF THE WEEK
image: twitter

TRIVIA ANSWER: Three times.

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