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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 6 minutes ago

An industrial microbe converts carbon monoxide into biofuel

How do you turn toxic waste into fuel? Ask the microbe. A team of scientists  experimentally demonstrates the molecular tricks used by the gas-converting microbe Clostridium autoethanogenum to transform industrial waste gases into ethanol—a finding with enormous implications for sustainable fuel and chemical production.

First isolated from rabbit droppings, Clostridium autoethanogenum can thrive on pure carbon monoxide, a deadly gas for most organisms, including human beings. This extraordinary microbe consumes the poison to build cellular materials from the carbon and derives its energy through successive chemical reactions. These reactions can help to produce valuable chemicals and fuels, perfect for driving sustainable biotechnology.

While the organism is currently widely used in industrial plants to produce ethanol, the exact mechanism behind its ethanol production remains unclear. A key step suspected in the reaction was the reduction of acetate to acetaldehyde. However, some scientists did not believe this was possible to carry out for organisms. This study, published in Nature Chemical Biology, now settles this dispute and solves the mystery.

The enzyme putatively responsible for the challenging chemical reaction is known as the aldehyde: ferredoxin oxidoreductase (AFOR). It contains tungsten, the heaviest atom found in biology. In addition, there is a cluster of iron and sulfur, giving it a pretty dark brown colour.
Using advanced techniques, the scientists purified the enzyme from C. autoethanogenum and determined its atomic structure through X-ray crystallography. With the three-dimensional structure, the scientists depicted the tungsten-containing element and described its surroundings with outstanding precision. However, there was a problem: the enzyme was inactive.

However, with long and hard work researchers found a way to reactivate it.

Scientists knew that the enzyme would not reduce acetate easily because of the laws of thermodynamics, so they looked for inspiration in the tricks used by the microbe when growing on carbon monoxide. 

The solution was to mix different enzymes on top of the AFOR. The scientists built an "artificial pathway" in a tube and successfully produced ethanol from acetate, confirming that the full reaction sequence is biologically feasible inside the cell.

The process can also be transferred to other organisms. This will drastically enlarge the potential sources of microbial biofuel production.

This is another step forward in green energy production through gas bioconversion.

Carbon-monoxide-driven bioethanol production operates through a tungsten-dependent catalyst, Nature Chemical Biology (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41589-025-02055-3.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 15 minutes ago

In Al-Haroun, a solicitor listed 45 cases provided by his client. Of these, 18 were fictitious and many others irrelevant. The judicial assistant is quoted in the judgment as saying: "The vast majority of the authorities are made up or misunderstood."

These incidents highlight a profession facing a perfect storm: overstretched practitioners, increasingly powerful but unreliable AI tools, and courts no longer willing to treat errors as mishaps. For the junior legal profession, the consequences are stark.

Many are experimenting with AI out of necessity or curiosity. Without the training to spot hallucinations, though, new lawyers risk reputational damage before their careers have fully begun.

The high court took a disciplinary approach, placing responsibility squarely on the individual and their supervisors. This raises a pressing question. Are junior lawyers being punished too harshly for what is, at least in part, a training and supervision gap?
Law schools have long taught research methods, ethics, and citation practice. What is new is the need to frame those same skills around generative AI.
Part 2

https://techxplore.com/news/2025-10-hallucinated-cases-affecting-la...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 15 minutes ago

'Hallucinated' cases are affecting lawyers' careers. They need to be trained to use AI

Generative artificial intelligence, which produces original content by drawing on large existing datasets, has been hailed as a revolutionary tool for lawyers. From drafting contracts to summarizing case law, generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Lexis+ AI promise speed and efficiency.

But the courts are now seeing a darker side of generative AI. This includes fabricated cases, invented quotations, and misleading citations entering court documents.

It is vital that lawyers are taught how, and how not, to use generative AI. Lawyers need to be able to avoid the risk of sanctions for breaking the rules, but also the development of a legal system that risks deciding questions of justice based on fabricated case law.

On 6 June 2025, the high court handed down a landmark judgment on two separate cases: Frederick Ayinde v The London Borough of Haringey and Hamad Al-Haroun v Qatar National Bank QPSC and QNB Capital LLC.

The court reprimanded a pupil barrister (a trainee) and a solicitor after their submissions contained fictitious and inaccurate case law. The judges were clear: "freely available generative artificial intelligence tools… are not capable of conducting reliable legal research."

As such, the use of unverified AI output can no longer be excused as error or oversight. Lawyers, junior or senior, are fully responsible for what they put before the court.

AI "hallucinations"—the confident generation of non-existent or misattributed information—are well documented. Legal cases are no exception. Research has recently found that hallucination rates range from 58% to 88% in response to specific legal queries, often on precisely the sorts of issues lawyers are asked to resolve.

These errors have now leapt off the screen and into real legal proceedings.

https://academic.oup.com/jla/article/16/1/64/7699227?login=false

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 25 minutes ago

Study finds EVs quickly overcome their energy-intensive build to be cleaner than gas cars

Making electric vehicles and their batteries is a dirty process that uses a lot of energy. But a new study says that EVs quickly make up for that with less overall emissions through two years of use than a gas-powered vehicle.

The study also estimated that gas-powered vehicles cause at least twice as much environmental damage over their lifetimes as EVs, and said the benefits of EVs can be expected to increase in coming decades as clean sources of power, such as solar and wind, are brought onto the grid.

The work offers insight into a transportation sector that makes up a big part of  emissions. It also comes as some EV skeptics have raised concerns about whether the environmental impact of battery production, including mining, makes it worthwhile to switch to electric.

While there is a bigger carbon footprint in the very short term because of the manufacturing process in creating the batteries for electric vehicles, very quickly you come out ahead in CO₂ emissions by year three and then for all of the rest of the vehicle lifetime, you're far ahead and so cumulatively much lower carbon footprint, confirms the  study .

Pankaj Sadavarte et al, Comparing the climate and air pollution footprints of Lithium-ion BEVs and ICEs in the US incorporating systemic energy system responses, PLOS Climate (2025). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pclm.0000714

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 1 hour ago

This year's health stocktake paints a bleak and undeniable picture of the devastating health harms reaching all corners of the world—with record-breaking threats to health from heat, extreme weather events, and wildfire smoke killing millions. The destruction to lives and livelihoods will continue to escalate until we end our fossil fuel addiction and dramatically up our game to adapt, the report warns.

The 2025 report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change, The Lancet (2025). DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(25)01919-1

Part2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 1 hour ago

Climate change inaction being paid for in millions of lives every year, global findings suggest

New global findings in the 9th annual indicator report of The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change reveal that the continued overreliance on fossil fuels and failure to adapt to climate change is being paid in people's lives, health, and livelihoods, with 12 of 20 indicators tracking health threats reaching unprecedented levels.

The report says failure to curb the warming effects of climate change has seen the rate of heat-related deaths surge 23% since the 1990s, to 546,000 a year. In 2024 alone, air pollution from wildfire smoke was linked to a record 154,000 deaths, while the global average transmission potential of dengue has risen by up to 49% since the 1950s.

Authors say 2.5 million deaths every year are attributable to the air pollution that comes from continued burning of fossil fuels. This is also straining national budgets—as fossil fuel prices soared, governments collectively spent 956 billion US dollars on net fossil fuel subsidies in 2023. Meanwhile, oil and gas giants keep expanding their production plans—to a scale three times greater than a livable planet can support.
While some governments backtrack on climate commitments, the report also exposes the life-saving impact of action already underway. An estimated 160,000 lives are being saved annually from the shift away from coal and the resultant cleaner air, while renewable energy generation reached record-highs.

The report reveals the emerging leadership of local governments, communities, organizations and the health sector, and calls for "all hands on deck" to accelerate progress.

As health threats from climate change reach unprecedented levels and political backsliding on climate action threatens to stall progress, the 2025 Report of The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change issues a fresh clarion call for "all hands on deck" to accelerate and intensify efforts to simultaneously reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and adapt to climate change.
Part1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 1 hour ago

Instead, researchers have developed an antivenom that does not require them to constantly extract antibodies from animals. Instead, they used phage display technology to develop their antivenom. This method makes it possible to select and copy effective antibody fragments (nanobodies) and later produce them on a large scale and with consistent quality. This means that they would be able to produce the antivenom in large quantities without compromising on quality.
There is also no single antivenom that covers all relevant African snake species. This can be particularly problematic if a person is bitten somewhere in Central Africa, where several venomous species live side by side. For example, the venom of the cape cobra and the spitting cobra contain very different toxins: the cape cobra's venom consists primarily of neurotoxins that paralyze the nervous system, while the spitting cobra's venom is rich in cytotoxins, which, among other things, break down tissue and can lead to amputation.
This great variation means that an antivenom that works against one species does not necessarily work against another—and therefore, it is crucial to develop an antivenom that covers several species.

The researchers have now developed a more effective and broadly effective antivenom by combining eight carefully selected nanobodies into a cocktail that targets venom from 18 medically relevant African snake species. Nanobodies are a special type of antibody that originates from antibodies found in animals in the camel family. Nanobodies are both smaller and more stable than ordinary antibodies.

The researchers developed these nanobodies to bind strongly and precisely to many different similar toxins, which enables the antivenom to neutralize venom from multiple species.
During in vivo testing, the antivenom has shown promising results and covered a wide spectrum of snake species, increasing its potential for effective treatment in real-life cases. In experiments where the antivenom was mixed directly with the venom before being injected, it successfully neutralized venom from 17 out of 18 tested different snake species, with the exception of one of the green mambas.

The new antivenom also shows promising results against local tissue damage. Nanobodies penetrate tissue faster and deeper than the larger antibodies in current antivenoms. Even with delayed treatment, nanobodies appear to effectively reduce tissue damage, whereas current antivenoms have only a limited effect.

At the same time, nanobodies carry a much lower risk of serious immune reactions compared to today's antivenoms. This means treatment could be started earlier, without waiting for clear symptoms—unlike current practice, where clinicians often delay administration to avoid triggering dangerous side effects.
Although the antivenom shows promising results, it has not yet been tested on humans, and there is still some way to go before it reaches the market.
The researchers are still working on fine-tuning and improving the content of the antivenom so that the final version can provide even better protection for snakebite victims and increase the chance of saving lives.

Andreas Laustsen, Nanobody-based recombinant antivenom for cobra, mamba and rinkhals bites, Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09661-0. www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09661-0

Part2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 2 hours ago

Nanobody-based antivenom shows effectiveness against 17 African snake species

Snakebite envenoming is among the world's deadliest yet most overlooked tropical diseases. The WHO has classified snakebite envenoming as one of 21 neglected tropical diseases, resulting in between 100,000 and 150,000 deaths worldwide each year. Three times as many survive with serious disabilities, including amputations and permanent tissue damage.

In sub-Saharan Africa, more than 300,000 snakebite cases are recorded annually. More than 7,000 people lose their lives, while around 10,000 undergo amputations. The actual extent—also globally—is probably much greater, as many cases go unreported.

Snakebite victims are therefore dependent on antivenom, but the existing types have serious limitations: these include that they do not cover all medically relevant snake species and that they cannot always neutralize all medically relevant toxins found in snake venoms. This makes it difficult to provide correct and optimal treatment.

Now, an international team of researchers  has developed a broad-spectrum antivenom against snake venoms, which shows impressive potential in laboratory studies. The antivenom covers a total of 17 different African snake species (including cobras, mambas, and rinkhals), provides better protection against tissue damage, has a lower risk of immune reactions, and, according to the researchers, can be produced at a lower cost than existing antivenoms.

The results have just been published in the journal Nature and mark the culmination of several years of intensive research with a clear goal: to develop an antivenom that can make a real difference for snakebite victims.

Existing antivenoms are produced by immunizing horses with snake venom and extracting antibodies from their blood. The result is a large, undefined mixture of antibodies, only a small proportion of which target and neutralize the most dangerous toxins. This method produces a product with great variation in quality and a risk of serious side effects.

The horses' blood is purified slightly and then given to people who have been bitten by a venomous snake. The antivenom works, but can cause harmful side effects—it's similar to a blood transfusion from a horse. At the same time, the quality varies because different horses are used in each production.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 2 hours ago

The new findings could inspire improved designs for microscopic robots, the researchers add.

Nano-engineered self-propelling particles can be used for a variety of industrial and drug delivery applications, and scientists think there are potential insights that will come from these results.

The results could also eventually lead to better antimalarial drugs.

 Erica M. Hastings et al, Chemical propulsion of hemozoin crystal motion in malaria parasites, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2025). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2513845122

Part2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 2 hours ago

Malaria parasites are full of wildly spinning iron crystals—scientists finally found out why

Every cell of the deadly Plasmodium falciparum parasite, the organism that causes malaria, contains a tiny compartment full of microscopic iron crystals. As long as the parasite is alive, the crystals dance. They spin, jolt, and ricochet in their little bubble like change in an overclocked washing machine, too fast and chaotic to even be tracked by traditional scientific techniques. And when the parasite dies, they stop.

The iron crystals have long been an important target for antimalarial drugs, but their motion has mystified scientists since they were first detected.

Now, scientists have finally found what makes the crystals dance: the same chemical reaction that powers spacefaring rockets. The findings could reveal new targets for malaria treatments and provide new insights for creating nanoscale robots. The results are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The crystals, which are made of an iron-based compound called heme, move by triggering the breakdown of hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen, the researchers discovered. The reaction releases energy, giving the crystals the "kick" they need to spin into motion.

It's a form of propulsion common in aerospace engineering, where peroxide fuel launches satellites into orbit, but previously unknown in biology.

Hydrogen peroxide is found at high levels inside the microscopic compartment that contains iron crystals, and parasites make the compound as a waste product, so it had stood out to the researchers as a potential chemical fuel that might power the crystals' motion. Indeed, the scientists found that hydrogen peroxide on its own was enough to set purified crystals spinning—no parasite required. Conversely, when the researchers raised malaria parasites at unusually low levels of oxygen, which lowers the amount of peroxide parasites produce, the crystals decelerated to about half their normal speed, even though the parasites were otherwise healthy.

The researchers suspect that the frenetic motion of the crystals may be important for malaria parasites to stay alive, and they have a few ideas why. Peroxide itself is extremely toxic to cells. The spinning crystals might be a way for the malaria organism to "burn off" excess toxic peroxide before it can cause harmful chemical reactions and damage the parasite.

The spinning motion might also help the parasite quickly deal with excess heme by keeping crystals from clumping together. Clumped-up crystals would prevent the parasite from storing additional heme as quickly, because they'd have less available surface to add new heme to. By keeping the crystals in constant motion, the malaria parasite may ensure that it's able to sequester additional heme efficiently.

The spinning crystals are the first known example in biology of a self-propelled metallic nanoparticle, the researchers say. But they suspect that this phenomenon is much more widespread.

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