Talking Points: Used oysters, illegal GPS?, chromosomal sniffles

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How might restaurants begin to help raise baby oysters?

Under a new bill before Maryland lawmakers, restaurants would get a dollar-per-bushel tax credit for recycling oyster shells -- a shift that could help restore the region's oyster beds. Young oysters raised in hatcheries prefer to attach to adult oyster shells, which are in short supply. Each adult shell can host up to 10 young oysters, known as spat, according to the Oyster Recovery Partnership.

Will GPS devices become illegal in Virginia?

The Virginia Senate on Tuesday passed a bill to make it illegal to secretly use an electronic device to track a person's movements. The bill goes back to the House, which already passed its version of the legislation, to work out some minor differences. The measure has exemptions for police performing official duties, parents tracking their children, any legally authorized representatives of incapacitated adults, owners of fleet vehicles, electronic communications providers like OnStar and, in some cases, private investigators.

How does the length of your of chromosomes impact your runny nose?

Telomeres are bits of DNA that cap the ends of chromosomes and protect them from degeneration. The length of the structures correlates with aging and mortality in older adults. It turns out that those with the longest telomeres also catch fewer colds. Scientists reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association that people with the shortest telomeres were also less likely to fight off the virus than those with the longest telomeres.

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By the staff of
The Washington Examiner