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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 9, 2026 at 12:02pm

How mechanical stress can accelerate bone destruction in periodontitis
Mechanical stress from excessive bite force alone does not cause alveolar bone loss but significantly accelerates bone destruction when combined with periodontitis. Gene expression analysis in mouse models showed that key inflammatory and bone metabolism pathways are upregulated only when both conditions coexist, indicating that mechanical overload amplifies periodontitis-induced bone loss through enhanced inflammatory signalling.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 9, 2026 at 11:59am

How often do people pass gas?

Flatulence, or farting, is something people often joke about or find embarrassing when it happens unexpectedly. It is, however, an essential bodily function that allows the digestive system to keep pressure within the intestinal tract low and prevents painful stretching of the stomach and intestines. Even though it is normal to fart, it remains unclear what counts as a healthy number.

A study by researchers from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation wanted to measure how many times people pass gas in a day. So they designed a mobile phone application, Chart Your Fart, that allowed more than 6,400 Australians to log their farting patterns in real time.

They found that most people, on average, passed gas five times a day, with men doing it more often than women. Flatulence patterns were not the same throughout the day.

They observed a gradual increase that typically peaked between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m., coinciding with the time when people generally consume the most calories and fiber.

When we fart, our body releases a mixture of gases accumulated from two very different origins. The first is the air that sneaks in when you are eating or drinking, and the second is the gases churned out by the billions of bacteria living in the gut during digestion.

The swallowed air is harmless and odorless, but the byproduct of the bacterial breakdown of food contains sulfurous compounds that are responsible for the notorious smell associated with flatulence.

Some food groups, such as fiber, can often lead to more frequent passing of gas, and so can gastrointestinal problems such as irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS. While too much can be an issue, too little is actually the bigger concern. A sudden inability to pass gas, especially alongside stomach pain or bloating, can signal a blockage or other serious gut problem that needs medical attention.

Researchers have not yet been able to clearly define what counts as excessive, too little or normal passing of gas. Without solid data on how often healthy people actually pass gas in daily life, it is difficult to know what is healthy and what is a potential digestive problem. Past studies usually looked at small groups of people or focused only on those with stomach problems.

In the study nearly 80% of participants fell within a range of two to seven times daily. The youngest group, ages 14 to 25, reported passing gas less often than all other age groups, while men averaged 5.2 times per day compared with 4.8 times for women. The number of recordings remained low during midday and began to rise after 6 p.m., when people are more likely to start eating their highest-calorie meals.

The researchers highlight that this study might be one of the first to describe real-time flatulence habits in a large, general population. Establishing what is normal for flatulence can not only provide a helpful starting point for discussions about symptoms at both ends of the spectrum, but also help monitor gut health and change social attitudes toward flatulence.

Emily Brindal et al, Regular Flatulence Patterns Among Community-Dwelling Individuals in Australia, JAMA Network Open (2026). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.15637

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 9, 2026 at 11:16am

Why does the Y chromosome retain UTY?

The human Y chromosome has lost many of its ancestral genes over millions of years of evolution. Yet a small number of genes, including UTY, have been evolutionarily retained despite their weak expression and reduced enzymatic activity. Why these genes persist has remained a longstanding question in chromosome biology.

A study, published in the journal Development, is the first to precisely map endogenous UTY occupancy across the human genome and demonstrate that UTY remains functionally involved in transcriptional regulation during early human development.
UTY is retained on the Y chromosome because it continues to contribute to transcriptional regulation during early human development, co-occupying active cis-regulatory elements with its X homolog UTX and supporting pluripotency-associated transcription factor localization. Despite weaker expression and occupancy than UTX, UTY maintains residual, largely noncatalytic regulatory functions, suggesting it is in an evolutionary transition phase rather than being fully redundant or lost.

Tomohiko Akiyama et al, Functional redundancy between UTY and UTX in regulating the localization of transcription factors involved in pluripotency, Development (2026). DOI: 10.1242/dev.205328

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 9, 2026 at 10:59am

Scientists map more than 200 years of nature's progress
Comparisons of current mammal communities along the Lewis and Clark Trail with historical records reveal significant changes in species composition and ecosystem function, largely due to land use, development, and species loss over two centuries. Dominant species such as bison and wolves are now absent or greatly reduced, indicating altered ecological roles and community dynamics.

For scientists, the project's goal goes beyond documenting which species remain. By pairing modern data with Lewis and Clark's observations, they are examining how centuries of land use, development, and species loss have reshaped entire ecosystems.

https://showme.missouri.edu/2026/mizzou-helps-smithsonian-map-more-...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 9, 2026 at 10:52am

Corals have a hormonal clock and it looks surprisingly like ours

A three-year study has cracked open the hidden biology behind coral reproduction, revealing hormone cycles that echo those of humans and other animals, and a new way to detect reef distress before it's too late.
Corals exhibit annual reproductive hormone cycles, with estrogen peaking months before spawning and progesterone surging after, paralleling patterns seen in other animals. Sunlight, rather than temperature, primarily regulates these hormone levels. These findings provide a baseline for detecting reproductive stress in corals, aiding early intervention in reef conservation.

Once a year, on cue, corals across a reef release their eggs and sperm into the sea simultaneously. Coral reproduction is one of nature's most spectacular events. For reefs increasingly threatened by warming, pollution and overfishing, getting that timing right is a matter of survival.
A team of researchers has uncovered evidence that corals may rely on hormone cycles like those used by many animals, including humans, to prepare for reproduction.
Their findings reveal a hidden biological rhythm that may help explain how corals coordinate reproduction and how scientists might detect reproductive stress before spawning failures become visible.
Scientists had previously suspected that estrogen-like hormones would peak just before corals spawned. Instead, the researchers found that estrogen levels reached their highest point months earlier, during the earliest stages of egg development, before steadily declining as eggs matured.

Meanwhile, progesterone remained relatively stable throughout the reproductive season but surged several months after spawning, suggesting it may help initiate the next reproductive cycle.

Equally surprising: Sunlight, not heat, emerged as the dominant driver of these hormone levels.
So there's a whole process beforehand, driven by these familiar reproductive hormones, which are remarkable to find in corals, animals so evolutionarily distant from us.
The team discovered another surprise inside individual coral colonies. Hormone levels were distributed fairly evenly throughout the colony, yet the central portions of corals were far more likely to contain developing eggs than the growing outer edges. The finding suggests that local conditions within a colony, such as age, energy reserves or developmental stage, may determine which polyps respond to reproductive signals.

Beyond advancing basic science, the findings could have practical implications for conservation.

Chen Azulay et al, Steroid hormones dynamics during coral reproduction: Multi-year patterns in Acropora eurystoma from the Red Sea, iScience (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2026.116205

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 9, 2026 at 9:44am

Bacteria can learn and form memories without a brain

Researchers have shown that bacteria can learn from past experiences, store memories across generations and adapt their behaviour to changing environments, all without a brain or nervous system. The research could shape how scientists think about bacterial infections and antibiotic treatment.
E. coli bacteria can encode and transmit memories of past environmental conditions, enabling adaptive responses to fluctuating nutrient availability. These memory effects persist across generations via inherited molecular components, influencing behaviour even in descendants. The findings indicate bacterial responses depend on both current and historical environments, with implications for understanding infection dynamics and antibiotic resistance.
In a study published in PRX Life, researchers tracked individual E. coli cells as nutrient conditions shifted between rich and poor environments. Instead of responding the same way every time, the bacteria adjusted their growth based on patterns they had experienced before. Cells exposed to rapidly changing conditions were able to adapt better than cells raised in more stable environments.

The findings suggest bacteria do more than just react to their surroundings. They appear to encode memories of past environments and use those memories to guide future behaviour.

Josiah C. Kratz et al, Multi-Timescale Adaptation and Emergent Learning in Single Bacterial Cells, PRX Life (2026). DOI: 10.1103/5zbg-8vll

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 8, 2026 at 12:13pm

CAR-T enables kidney transplants

A single dose of engineered immune cells has helped three people with ‘highly sensitized’ immune systems to receive life-saving kidney transplants. People in this group are often ineligible for transplants because their bodies usually reject the donated organ. Researchers engineered the recipient’s own immune cells into chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells that ultimately reduce the trouble-making antibodies that push their immune systems into overdrive. More than a year after receiving the cells, the three people are now living with new kidneys and without notable side effects.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMoa2513428

https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMc2517277

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 8, 2026 at 11:21am

Confronting risks of mirror life

Broad discussion is needed to chart a path forward

‘Mirror life’ study reignites fierce debate

Mirror life — a hypothetical form of microbes that use mirror-image versions of the biological molecules that exist in nature — might not pose an existential threat to life after all, says a team of researchers. In a modelling study, the group found that mirror organisms would struggle to survive in the wild because they would require ‘mirror’ nutrients that don’t exist naturally. The study has prompted criticism from other researchers — including some who co-authored a 2024 paper calling for all work to create mirror life to be halted — who counter that mirror life would quickly adapt to new conditions.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.07.723461v2

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ads9158

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 7, 2026 at 12:15pm

Science Media Amplifies Male Scientists’ Voices Over Female Ones

Analysis of more than 2,500 science stories revealed that men were quoted more often than women, highlighting systemic gender bias in science communication.
According to the Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP), which analyzes gender in news, only 26 percent of the people seen, heard, or spoken about in the news are women. Merryn McKinnon, a science communication researcher at the Australian National University, set out to investigate whether science news reflects a similar imbalance.

By analyzing STEM stories in Australian media over five years, McKinnon and her colleagues found that men were more frequently used as direct sources, even in disciplines dominated by women.1 Their findings, published in the Journal of Science Communication, reveal that stories shaping public understanding of science continue to cater to male voices and expertise, underscoring the importance of journalists, organizations, and science communicators in increasing the diversity of their sources.
Female Voices Are Consistently Underrepresented in Science News

McKinnon M, et al. Gender in Australian science news. J Sci Comm. 2026;25(3).

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on June 7, 2026 at 11:58am

Air pollution may be harming your brain's 'encyclopedia'

A new study by researchers found that higher exposure to very small air pollution particles (PM2.5) over a 17-year span was associated with lower semantic memory. Semantic memory acts like the brain's "encyclopedia" for things like facts, words and long-term general knowledge.
Semantic memory is essential for communication, comprehension and navigating everyday life.
Long-term exposure to higher levels of fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) is associated with lower semantic memory performance in older adults, independent of age, education, income, and marital status. The impact of PM2.5 on semantic memory exceeds that expected from a decade of normal aging, while executive function and verbal episodic memory were not affected.
Two other measures of cognitive function—executive function and verbal episodic memory—did not show an impact related to the pollution.

The researchers found:

People who were exposed to higher levels of PM2.5 pollution over many years scored noticeably lower on semantic memory tests than those exposed to lower levels of pollution.
The association with PM2.5 pollution persisted even after accounting for other factors such as age, education, income and marital status.
The effect of long-term PM2.5 exposure on semantic memory was greater than what researchers would expect from 10 years of normal aging.

How individuals can reduce exposure to air pollution
While air pollution is largely a community-level issue, there are many ways individuals can reduce their exposure to air pollution:

Check daily air quality forecasts on AirNow. The EPA website lets you enter your ZIP code to find out about air quality, which accounts for fine particulates, in your area.
Limit outdoor activity when pollution levels are high, especially during wildfire smoke events.
Use high-efficiency (HEPA) air filters indoors.
Keep windows closed on poor air quality days.
Avoid exercising near busy roads or heavily trafficked areas.
Use recirculated air settings in vehicles during heavy traffic or smoky situations.

Stacey E. Alexeeff et al, Particulate air pollution and domain‐specific cognition among Black adults, Alzheimer's & Dementia: Behavior & Socioeconomics of Aging (2026). DOI: 10.1002/bsa3.70074

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