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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Wednesday

Rust prevention coating uses nanotech to self-repair and conquer corrosion

A single application of a "smart" self-repairing coating is being developed to dramatically extend rust protection for buildings, bridges, cars and other steel components.
Nanomaterials experts have engineered powder-like particles that can turn water-based paint into self-repairing corrosion shields with the potential to slow rusting by more than 600 times compared with existing high-performance coatings.
The particles were effectively tiny containers that released rust-inhibiting molecules to protect damaged areas of the coating.

All rustproof coatings inevitably wear down over time; there is no stopping that.
What the researchers have now created is a barrier that is constantly sensing if something is wrong so it can patch any scrapes and cracks itself, greatly extending the duration of protection.
To create the coating, the researchers encased the common rust inhibitor benzotriazole in an intricate nanostructure that, when added to waterborne polyurethane coatings, creates a composite that is highly responsive to changes in acidity.

Each tiny particle is basically a nanocontainer that releases repair molecules only when the conditions demand it.
Electrochemical testing indicates this self-healing coating can restrict corrosion to 37 nanometers per year, 600 times more effectively than many existing "high-performance" rust-protection products that report an ability to restrict annual corrosion to 0.025 mm.

It is not a coating that will last forever, but coatings that contain this technology will have a greatly expanded lifetime, meaning far less maintenance and a much longer time between applications.

Asep Sugih Nugraha et al, Micelle‐Assisted Encapsulation Strategy in Metal‐Organic Framework Nanocontainers Enables Durable Corrosion Protection, Small Science (2026). DOI: 10.1002/smsc.70367

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Wednesday

Scientists pinpoint two brain regions that battle it out when deciding whether to take a risk
Every day, your brain runs the same calculation: Take a risk or play it safe? Your gas tank might be low, but there's just enough to make it to work on time. Do you stop and risk being late? Talk to a stranger at the park or stay quiet?
Scientists have discovered the exact spot in the brain where decisions like these take shape—and they can see each result coming half a second before a person acts.

Their study, published in Nature Neuroscience, recorded brain activity directly from the orbitofrontal cortex, a region just behind the eyes. By working with patients who already had electrodes implanted there for surgical evaluation of epilepsy, the team found two neighbouring patches of the brain that signal in opposite directions: one pushing toward "do it," the other toward "don't."

The discovery could reshape how doctors treat psychiatric conditions characterized by an imbalance between risk-taking and caution, from depression and OCD to addiction and gambling disorders. Patients with OCD, which gives rise to intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviors, and those with depression demonstrate excessive avoidance. This pattern may reflect an imbalance in this neural circuitry that is playing out in everyday decision-making.

Researchers found that a region near the middle of the eyebrow, called the medial orbital sulcus, increased its activity just before patients took a risk, such as going down a bomb-lined hallway. A patch about two centimeters (0.8 inches) over, toward the side of the eyebrow, did the opposite. Its activity spiked before patients avoided a risk, like skipping the bomb-lined hallway. The two signals moved in exact opposition to each other, down to the millisecond.

To understand how these two signals might produce a single decision, the researchers built a computer model of their interactions. Their model proposed that the circuit behaved like a tug-of-war: One side's signal would shoot up as the other dropped, and vice versa, with one side eventually winning out.

On easy decisions the "go for it" signal won almost instantly. On harder calls, with a more even mix of risk and reward, the two signals flickered back and forth several times before settling on a final answer. Using the pattern of brain activity alone, the researchers could tell which way a patient was about to decide before they moved.
What the researchers clearly saw was more like a switch flipping back and forth, oscillating between two extremes until one held.

Intracranial recordings in humans reveal differential contributions of medial and lateral orbitofrontal cortex to approach–avoidance decision-making, Nature Neuroscience (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-026-02444-4

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Tuesday

Six ways people have used magic to protect their homes throughout history—from witch bottles to 'hag stones'
Across cultures, homes were protected from perceived natural and supernatural threats using plants, symbols, architectural features, concealed witch bottles, stones, and religious objects. These practices often targeted entrances, chimneys, hearths, and beds, reflecting anxieties about illness, misfortune, witchcraft, fire, and harmful spirits.

 original article.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Tuesday

Scientists target gum disease with bacteriophage virus

Scientists have shown that a naturally occurring virus can dismantle complex bacterial communities responsible for severe gum disease, offering a potential alternative to traditional antibiotics. In the first study to demonstrate this effect, researchers found that the FNU1 virus selectively attacked Fusobacterium polymorphum, a bacterial species that helps other disease-causing bacteria stick together and thrive.
The virus reduced total bacterial levels by 94%, leaving only about 6% of the original disease-causing plaque intact. Despite targeting just one bacterial species, the treatment dramatically reduced the size and density of the plaque, with levels of three other bacteria linked to gum disease falling by more than 85%.

The findings 're important because gum disease affects more than half the world's population and remains a leading cause of tooth loss.

The research, published in the Journal of Oral Microbiology, focused on bacteriophages, or phages, viruses that infect bacteria but are harmless to humans.

Siti Saleha Binte Mohamed Yakob Adil et al, Fusobacterium bacteriophage FNU1 disrupts complex periodontal pathogenic biofilms comprising Fusobacterium polymorphum , Porphyromonas gingivalis , Tannerella forsythia and Prevotella intermedia, Journal of Oral Microbiology (2026). DOI: 10.1080/20002297.2026.2726627

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Tuesday

Researchers identify rubber-related chemicals in milk
Rubber-related chemicals were detected in raw milk from 7 of 17 Swiss farms; none were found in three remote alpine samples. Dairy equipment contained 14 such compounds, indicating material migration as a potential source. Concentrations were generally low, but exposure pathways and human health risks remain uncertain.

Florian Breider et al, Rubber-related chemical contamination in milk: Implications for dairy production systems, Food Chemistry: X (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.fochx.2026.104373

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Tuesday

No cities on the moon—there isn't enough water, scientists say

The discovery of water in dark craters at the moon's poles has sparked a "moon rush" to establish bases there, followed by villages, cities and heavy industry. How sustainable is this rush?

Soon after the moon was formed, asteroids bombarded it, creating its pockmarked topography. Near the moon's poles, there are dozens of crater floors that have not seen direct sunlight in about 4 billion years. Many of these cryogenically cold "pits of eternal darkness" are below a temperature of 110K, forming "cold traps" in which water ice won't sublimate away by more than a millimeter in a billion years, even in the vacuum at the moon's surface. And there is water to freeze: Some of those asteroids brought it along with them.

Since 2013, we have known that water is still there, possibly as much as 1 billion tons (910 million tonnes), thanks to a succession of moon-orbiting missions that have mapped likely locations in increasing detail.

The presence of water at the lunar poles changes everything about human visits to the moon. Suddenly, it is practical to envision a "moon village" where people could survive without importing every last bit from Earth. They could grow their own food and have showers and functional toilets, unlike the astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS). This possibility has sparked ambitions from people like Jeff Bezos to move heavy industry to the moon and Elon Musk's ambition to have "self-growing cities" there. These are enticing visions, but are they attainable?
Lunar polar water ice could support small settlements for centuries, aided by near-continuous solar power on crater rims. Even with 98% water recycling, a million-person city would exhaust optimistic ice estimates within about a century; lower current estimates reduce this to years or decades. Larger settlements require improved recycling, imports, reduced demand, or deeper water reserves.

This is the conclusion of scientists!

No Cities on the Moon: a Billion Tons of Water is not enough for Sustainability, Frontiers in Space Technologies (2026). DOI: 10.3389/frspt.2026.1894104

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Tuesday

To assess whether cefepime carries a higher risk of patient death than other β-lactam antibiotics, researchers conducted a systematic review of 110 randomized clinical trials with available mortality data, comparing cefepime with alternative β-lactams in both adults and children.

Using a statistical tool called Bayesian random-effects meta-analysis, the team pooled patient outcomes across studies and calculated the statistical probability of increased mortality associated with cefepime.

The data revealed an increased mortality risk associated with cefepime, which was concentrated entirely in adult patients, with children showing no increased risk of death.

Across all patients, the researchers estimated a number needed to harm of 227, meaning that for every 227 patients treated with cefepime, approximately one additional death would occur. However, when they focused only on the 15,411 patients in published, peer-reviewed trials, the probability that cefepime increases mortality rose to 98.6%, with the number needed to harm reduced to 111.
The highest probability of harm was seen in patients treated for febrile neutropenia, at 96.1%. They also found that standard and high doses, 2 grams every 12 hours or more, had a greater than 93% probability of harm, while lower doses still carried an 80.5% probability of harm.

The researchers stress that the results should not be interpreted as a call for abandoning cefepime. Instead, cefepime's potential link to increased mortality established in this study should be taken into consideration when framing its role in clinical practice guidance.

Future studies could explore whether tailoring cefepime dosing and closely tracking factors such as kidney function and bacterial susceptibility can improve safety.

Zahra N. Sohani et al, Cefepime and Mortality, JAMA Network Open (2026). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.33017

Daniel Z. Uslan et al, Cefepime and Mortality—A Dosing Problem, Not a Drug Problem, JAMA Network Open (2026). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.32904

Part 2

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on Tuesday

Common antibiotic linked to possible higher death risk

Cefepime is a fourth-generation antibiotic widely used to treat serious bacterial infections and febrile neutropenia—a fever in patients with abnormally low white blood cell counts. Unlike many antibiotics that are falling prey to antimicrobial resistance, cefepime is relatively stable against AmpC β-lactamases, giving it an advantage against bacteria that produce these enzymes. However, scientists are concerned that this widely effective antibiotic may increase the risk of death, a concern first brought to light by a 2007 meta-analysis.
In a recent study published in JAMA Network Open, researchers re-examined data from a series of clinical trials and studies to investigate whether patients treated with cefepime were more likely to die than those treated with other β-lactam antibiotics.

After analyzing more than 100 randomized trials involving 22,608 patients, researchers found a 94.4% probability that cefepime was associated with higher odds of death than other β-lactam antibiotics. Across all the trials screened, death occurred in 6.6% of cefepime-treated patients and 6.2% of comparison-group patients.

Cefepime was approved for medical use in 1994, but a study raised concerns about its safety only after it had been in clinical practice for a decade. In 2007, a meta-analysis by Yahav et al. found that patients treated with cefepime had a 26% higher relative risk of death than those treated with other β-lactam antibiotics.

Further studies suggested two possible mechanisms, both related to drug exposure rather than cefepime itself. The first is underexposure, in which a lower-than-required dose is prescribed, leading to inadequate treatment. The other is overexposure, which could cause neurotoxicity, especially when kidney function is impaired or dosing is not adjusted.

Later, the FDA released data showing no significant increase, but doubts about the drug's safety still linger because the meta-analysis included some unpublished, industry-sponsored data.

Cefepime remains the first line of defense against life-threatening conditions such as febrile neutropenia and severe bacterial infections, especially those caused by multidrug-resistant microorganisms, as it provides targeted activity against both aggressive gram-positive and gram-negative pathogens. Thus, establishing whether it is safe is essential to guiding its use in clinical practice.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 13, 2026 at 11:30am

Scientists Found an Animal That Fixes Its Shattered DNA Across Generations

In the mosses and lichens of the world – the in-between places, where living conditions rapidly fluctuate – lives a tiny animal with an extraordinary survival skill.

No, not tardigrades – it's their much weirder housemate, the bdelloid rotifer.

Just like tardigrades, bdelloid rotifers can dry out almost completely and spring back to life when water returns. They can be blasted with radiation hundreds of times greater than what would kill a human, and live to tell the tale, even while their chromosomes are shattered.

And now, scientists have discovered, one bdelloid rotifer can do something never before documented in any other living organism, even tardigrades: A species called Adineta vaga can reproduce without putting its chromosomes back together after radiation damage – and its offspring will continue fixing the damage over generations.

What's really exceptional in this discovery is that somehow they stabilize the ends of the chromosome; they stabilize these DNA pieces, and then they can transmit it to the next generation and then continue the repair.
That's never been shown, that you have this repair across generations.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aee0891

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 13, 2026 at 11:26am

Watch 'Conversations' Between Cells Across Organ Systems

Demonstrations of the WHOLISTIC imaging technique reveal real-time cellular signalling across the body of a zebrafish larvae.

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