Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Apr 4, 2018

Sucks to be you:

It's a sad day at JENNIFER GARNER's home as the family's precious pet chicken has flown to the big coop in the sky. The A-lister revealed on Instagram last Monday that "Chicken Regina George" passed away due to natural causes, posted a collage of photos, then hashtagged the post: "#shewasourfavorite," "#RIP" and "#shelivedagoodlife." Ms. George was approximately eight-months old and was adopted last November.(Lee)

Parent(s) of the Day:

When mama tells you to get up and go to church, you do it! SHARRON DOBBINS, who's 40, went into her son's room on Easter morning in Arizona and told him to get up and get ready for church. When he didn't, she used a Taser on his left leg.
Dobbin's son, who's 16 years old, had an ankle bracelet on and was in her custody for previous crimes. He didn't complain of any pain on his leg but he did have two small bumps from the Taser. Police are looking to get the son placed with someone else. (Myers)

Grace notes from Vinny Marino:

Wanna go horseback riding with SHERYL CROW? She's teamed up with the charity funraising site Omaze to offer up a riding session and hangout with Sheryl on her Nashville ranch. All of the money raised will go to the Pink Lotus Foundation which helps women with little or no medical insurance get screenings and treatment for breast cancer. The top bidder gets a flight to Nashville, a stay in a 4-star hotel along with the riding session and tea with Sheryl. Get all the info at Omaze.com. (Marino)

Weird science:

Researchers have developed an injectable bandage made out of pastry gel and LiveScience.com says it could one day save your life. In a paper published by a team of Texas A&M University researchers reported that they had successfully developed the so-called hydrogel. It can also provide some bonus benefits, such as inducing blood-clotting, the researchers reported. The hydrogel, however, has been tested only in lab experiments so far, and more research is needed to see if it works in living, bleeding humans.
The material --designed specifically for "battlefield wounds"-- is a mix of seaweed-derived kappa-carrageenan (a thick, organic mush used by --yes-- pastry chefs) and ceramic molecules. The ceramic is the big innovation here, strengthening the bandage without making it less useful. The mixture, even loaded with ceramic, is porous enough to deliver medicines directly into an injury along with the bandage. The material is designed to harden after being injected into a wound, inducing clotting within six minutes. (Bartha)