This Week in Science: Video From Pluto, Yeti Crabs, and Skinny Jean Dangers

(The Week of June 22, 2015)

Seven days, lots of science in the news. Here’s our roundup of some of the week’s most notable and quotable items.

The first color movies of Pluto are starting to arrive from the New Horizons spacecraft.

Dwarf porcupines can’t jump.

Laser beams can be used to control the shape and direction of electrical discharges.

Iowa State University researchers created tiny soft robotic tentacles that can handle delicate objects safely.

The Neptune-sized planet GJ 436b sports a comet-like tail created by its red dwarf home star blasting 1,000 tons of hydrogen gas off the planet’s atmosphere every second.

Yeti crabs have distinctive “hairs” on their bodies that provide a place for its favorite food source, bacteria, to grow.

Genetically modified wheat tweaked to emit an insect-warning pheromone to drive away pests failed in field trials with aphids.

Climate change is already thinning out California’s wildflowers.

Diabetics may soon be able to use patches to deliver insulin instead of having to give themselves injections.

Children raised by same-sex couples exhibit no differences socially and behaviorally than those raised by heterosexual couples or single parents.

A Seattle biotech company is planning to flood the black market with 3D-printed rhino horns to force the price downward and combat poaching.

Mars may have had flowing water on its surface as recently as 500,000 years ago.

SpaceX is preparing for a Sunday launch to deliver supplies to the International Space Station, which will make it the eighth such supply run by the California-based company.

A newly developed blood test for pancreatic cancer could provide sorely-needed advance warning for the disease, which kills more than 96 percent of patients within 5 years of diagnosis.

Wearing too-tight skinny jeans can cause nerve damage if you’re not careful.

Most kangaroos are left-handed.

Image: NASA