Jaw Surgery Changes an Accent

Today is Friday, June 24, 2016.  Volkswagen settles.  Jaw surgery changes your accent.  Can we grow plants on Mars?

Volkswagen Settles

Volkswagen will pay more than $10 billion to settle a lawsuit.  This is based on a scandal in which 482,000 Volkswagen diesel cars emit as much as 40 times the permitted amounts of smog-forming nitrogen oxides.  Car owners are expected to receive thousands each.

Jaw Surgery Changes an Accent

A woman from Houston sounds different after undergoing jaw surgery.  Doctors call it foreign accent syndrome.  That’s a rare medical condition that can result from trauma or an injury to the area of the brain that controls speech.

This is what she sounds like now.

Texas woman wakes up with foreign accent after jaw surgery. Doctors say it’s a rare disorder @abc13houston pic.twitter.com/f2K5KAMuqZ

— Marla Carter (@MarlaABC13) June 22, 2016

Growing on Mars

If we ever want to survive on Mars, we’re going to have to figure out how to grow crops.  Dutch scientists were able to grow crops (like radishes, peas, tomatoes, and rye) using soil similar to what is found on Mars.  That’s good.