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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 3 seconds ago

Bacteria 'pills' could detect gut diseases—without the endoscope

Move over, colonoscopies—researchers report in ACS Sensors that they've developed a sensor made of tiny microspheres packed with blood-sensing bacteria that detect markers of gastrointestinal disease. Taken orally, the miniature "pills" also contain magnetic particles that make them easy to collect from stool.

Once excreted from mouse models with colitis, the bacterial sensor detected gastrointestinal bleeding within minutes. The researchers say the bacteria in the sensor could be adapted to detect other gut diseases.

This technology provides a new paradigm for rapid and noninvasive detection of gastrointestinal diseases.

How it works ....

Previously, the researchers developed heme-sensing bacteria that light up in the presence of blood, but the bacterial sensors break down in the digestive system and are hard to collect. In this current study, they encapsulated their heme-detecting bacteria and magnetic particles inside globs of sodium alginate, a thickening agent used in foods.

The process creates tiny hydrogel microsphere sensors that can easily be removed from feces with a magnet after they travel through the body. Initial tests showed that the hydrogel protected the bacteria from simulated digestive fluids but also allowed heme to interact with the bacterial sensor, causing it to glow.

the team administered the microspheres orally to mouse models of colitis, representing disease levels from no activity to severe stages. After the microspheres traveled through the animals' gastrointestinal systems, the researchers retrieved the sensors from feces with a magnet and found:
Microsphere cleanup and signal analysis took about 25 minutes.
As the disease stage progressed, the intensity of the light produced by the sensor increased, which indicated more heme from mouse models with more advanced colitis.
Assessments of healthy mice given the sensor indicated the microspheres were biocompatible and safe.
Although the sensor still needs to be tested in humans, the researchers say that this method of encapsulating bacterial sensors could diagnose gastrointestinal diseases and monitor treatments and disease progression.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 4 minutes ago

'Chocolate-flavored' honey created using cocoa bean shells

A group of researchers  developed a product made from native bee honey and cocoa bean shells that can be consumed directly or used as an ingredient in food and cosmetics. The results were published in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.

The researchers used native bee honey as an edible solvent to extract stimulants such as theobromine and caffeine, which are associated with heart health, from cocoa bean shells. These shells are usually discarded during the production of chocolate and other cocoa derivatives. The ultrasound-assisted extraction process also enriched the honey with phenolic compounds, which have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

The researchers who tasted it say that, depending on the ratio of honey to shells, it has a strong chocolate flavor, although they are still planning tests on the product's taste and other sensory properties.

 Felipe Sanchez Bragagnolo et al, Stingless Bee Honeys As Natural and Edible Extraction Solvents: An Intensified Approach to Cocoa Bean Shell Valorization, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering (2025). DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.5c04842

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 8 minutes ago

Taking prenatal supplements associated with 30% lower risk of autism

Researchers  report that prenatal folic acid and multivitamin supplementation is associated with a roughly 30% lower risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children, based on an umbrella review of existing systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

Global estimates in the reviewed material place ASD prevalence at up to 1% of children. ASD affects reciprocal social interaction, nonverbal communication, and understanding of social relationships. Co-occurring conditions frequently include epilepsy, depression, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, sleep disturbance, and self-injury.

Previous studies found that both genetic mutations and environmental influences contribute to ASD risk, with prenatal maternal nutrition identified as one modifiable environmental factor. Within that broader category of prenatal maternal nutrition, folic acid and multivitamin supplements are among the most accessible interventions offered to women before and during pregnancy.

Folic acid supports DNA methylation and epigenetic regulation that shape neurodevelopment and supports neural tube formation, processes linked to structural brain development. Multivitamin preparations typically provide vitamin B12, vitamin D, iodine, and other micronutrients that help maintain immune balance, modulate inflammation, and support neurotransmitter synthesis and amino acid metabolism, creating a nutritional context that may favor optimal fetal brain development and potentially lower ASD risk.

Combined analysis in the umbrella review indicated that maternal prenatal folic acid and/or multivitamin supplementation was associated with a 30% reduced risk of ASD in offspring (pooled relative risk of 0.70 with 95% CI 0.62–0.78 vs. no supplementation.)

Subgroup analysis by supplement type found that prenatal multivitamin supplementation was associated with a 34% reduction in ASD risk. Folic acid supplementation alone was associated with a 30% reduction in ASD risk.

Authors conclude that maternal prenatal folic acid or multivitamin supplementation is associated with reduced ASD risk in children and that current evidence provides highly suggestive support for a protective effect.

Researchers described this pattern as strong enough to support incorporating folic acid and multivitamin supplementation into routines beginning before conception and continuing through early pregnancy.

Biruk Beletew Abate et al, The association between maternal prenatal folic acid and multivitamin supplementation and autism spectrum disorders in offspring: An umbrella review, PLOS One (2025). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0334852

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 16 minutes ago

Thunderstorm clouds contain ice crystals and larger ice pellets. When these collide, they exchange electrical charges. Eventually, the cloud becomes so charged that lightning forms.
One theory suggests that the first little spark of a lightning bolt could be initiated at the charged ice crystals themselves.
Alternative theories suggest cosmic rays initiate the process as the charged particles they create accelerate from pre-existing electric fields.
While ice crystals in clouds are much larger than the model ones, the ISTA scientists are now aiming to decode these microscale interactions to better understand the big picture.

Using optical tweezers to simultaneously trap, charge and measure the charge of a microparticle in air, Physical Review Letters (2025). DOI: 10.1103/5xd9-4tjj

Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 18 minutes ago

Scientist captures tiny particles for clues on what sparks lightning

Using lasers as tweezers to understand cloud electrification might sound like science fiction, but at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) it is a reality. By trapping and charging micron-sized particles with lasers, researchers can now observe their charging and discharging dynamics over time.

This method, published in Physical Review Letters, could provide key insights into what sparks lightning.

Aerosols are liquid or solid particles that float in the air. They are all around us. Some are large and visible, such as pollen in spring, while others, such as viruses that spread during flu season, cannot be detected by the naked eye. Some we can even taste, like the airborne salt crystals we breathe in at the seaside.

In the new work researchers focused on ice crystals within clouds. The  scientists used model aerosols—tiny, transparent silica particles—to explore how these ice crystals accumulate and interact with electrical charge.

They developed a way to catch, hold, and electrically charge a single silica particle using two laser beams. This approach holds potential for application in different areas, including demystifying how clouds become electrified and what sparks lightning.

The scientists discovered that lasers charge the particle through a "two-photon process."

Typically, aerosol particles are close to neutrally charged, with electrons (negatively charged entities) swirling around in every atom of the particle.

The laser beams consist of photons (particles of light traveling at the speed of light), and when two of these photons are absorbed simultaneously, they can "kick out" one electron from the particle. In this way, the particle gains one elemental positive charge. Step by step, it becomes increasingly positively charged.

The researchers can now precisely observe the evolution of one aerosol particle as it charges up from neutral to highly charged and adjust the laser power to control the rate.

This observation also reveals that, as the particle becomes positively charged, it begins to discharge, meaning that it occasionally releases charge in spontaneous bursts.

Way above our heads, something similar might also be happening in clouds.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 21 hours ago

Blink to the beat: Scientists discover that when we listen to music, we unconsciously blink our eyes
Spontaneous eye blinks synchronize with the beat of music, reflecting involuntary auditory-motor synchronization even in non-musicians. This effect disappears when attention is diverted, indicating that focus on music is required. The findings suggest a link between auditory processing and oculomotor control, offering potential for non-invasive rhythm assessment and therapeutic applications.

Wu Y, et al. Eye blinks synchronize with musical beats during music listening, PLOS Biology (2025). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3003456

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 21 hours ago

Oregano oil shows promise as natural fire ant repellent
Oregano essential oil, particularly its compound carvacrol, effectively repels invasive fire ants and disrupts their nest-building behavior. Carvacrol and related plant-derived compounds are biodegradable, less toxic to humans and beneficial insects, and may offer a sustainable alternative to synthetic pesticides for fire ant management.

Ginson George et al, Repellent effect of oregano essential oil and carvacrol analogs against imported fire ants, Pest Management Science (2025). DOI: 10.1002/ps.70297

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 21 hours ago

Why do we fear snakes?

Fear of snakes is common. In most polls conducted in some parts of the world, respondents listed snakes as their top fear, outranking public speaking and heights.

Why are so many of us afraid of snakes? And more curiously, why does our unconscious mind recognize them as a threat before our conscious mind?

This is what the experts say:

Our relationship with snakes is an ancient one that reaches back to the evolutionary origins of primates. Primates are really differentiated from other mammals by their heavy reliance on vision as the primary sensory modality with the environment. If you want to understand why primates evolved, you have to address why they have such good vision.

The predator-prey relationship between snakes and primates across tens of millions of years enhanced our visual acuity. 

Avoiding predators and getting food are the two main selective pressures operating on organisms. The idea is that the unique conditions under which primates were living, that is, being active at night like other mammals but resting during the day in trees where sunlight penetrates, instead of in caves or burrows, allowed them to expand their visual sense as a way to avoid being eaten by snakes.

Molecular evidence bolsters the idea of ancient snake predation on primates. Researchers have found that primates in Africa and Asia, where cobras live, have evolved some immunity toward cobra venom. But primates in Madagascar and South America, where there are no cobras, have no immunity.

Even today, there seems to be a biological tendency for primates to perceive snakes as a threat.

If a young, naïve monkey watches a video of older monkeys reacting carefully to a snake, they will learn to do that. But if you splice in a flower where the snake was, they don't learn to react carefully toward the flower.

Even captive-born-and-raised rhesus macaques, who likely haven't been harmed by snakes, respond with "fearful fascination" to them.

Primate vision is highly snake-sensitive.

This fact is beyond primatology and enhanced by the fields like neuroscience, evolutionary theory, genetics and molecular biology, to name a few.

While constricting snakes were instrumental in the origin of primates and the initial changes in their vision, venomous snakes, appearing later, were very important in facilitating the changes in vision that led to anthropoid primates.

Two mammalian visual systems are key to this idea: the superior colliculus-pulvinar visual system and the lateral geniculate nucleus visual system. The first system enables our unconscious detection of an object in our environment. The second, slightly slower, system allows for conscious recognition of the object and the ability to assign intent to it. Both visual systems are more developed in primates than in other mammals, and even more so in anthropoids.

If you've ever had the experience of walking on a trail and coming across something that could be a snake, you might suddenly freeze or jump away before you actually recognize that there is a snake in front of you. The recognition taps into the conscious visual system, but the unconscious visual system gives you the ability to get out of danger more quickly.

Evolution at its best!

https://www.ucdavis.edu/magazine/why-do-we-fear-snakes#:~:text=Both...

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 21 hours ago

Given the pace of technological and environmental change, biological evolution cannot keep up. Biological adaptation is very slow. Longer-term genetic adaptations are multigenerational—tens to hundreds of thousands of years.

That means the mismatch between our evolved physiology and modern conditions is unlikely to resolve itself naturally. Instead, the researchers argue, societies need to mitigate these effects by rethinking their relationship with nature and designing healthier, more sustainable environments.

Addressing the mismatch requires both cultural and environmental solutions.

One approach is to fundamentally rethink our relationship with nature—treating it as a key health factor and protecting or regenerating spaces that resemble those from our hunter-gatherer past.
Another is to design healthier, more resilient cities that take human physiology into account.
This new research based thinking can identify which stimuli most affect blood pressure, heart rate or immune function, for example, and pass that knowledge on to decision-makers.
We need to get our cities right—and at the same time regenerate, value and spend more time in natural spaces, say the researchers.

 Daniel P. Longman et al, Homo sapiens, industrialisation and the environmental mismatch hypothesis, Biological Reviews (2025). DOI: 10.1111/brv.70094

Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa 21 hours ago

Humans are evolved for nature, not cities, say anthropologists

A new paper by evolutionary anthropologists argues that modern life has outpaced human evolution. The study suggests that chronic stress and many modern health issues are the result of an evolutionary mismatch between our primarily nature-adapted biology and the industrialized environments we now inhabit.

Over hundreds of thousands of years, humans adapted to the demands of hunter-gatherer life—high mobility, intermittent stress and close interaction with natural surroundings.

Industrialization, by contrast, has transformed the human environment in only a few centuries, by introducing noise, air and light pollution, microplastics, pesticides, constant sensory stimulation, artificial light, processed foods and sedentary lifestyles.

In our ancestral environments, we were well adapted to deal with acute stress to evade or confront predators. 

The lion would come around occasionally, and you had to be ready to defend yourself—or run. The key is that the lion goes away again.

Today's stressors—traffic, work demands, social media and noise, to name just a few—trigger the same biological systems, but without resolution or recovery. Our body reacts as though all these stressors were lion, say the researchers.

Whether it's a difficult discussion with your boss or traffic noise, your stress response system is still the same as if you were facing lion after lion. As a result, you have a very powerful response from your nervous system, but no recovery.

This stress is becoming constant.

In their review, the researchers synthesize evidence suggesting that industrialization and urbanization are undermining human evolutionary fitness. From an evolutionary standpoint, the success of a species depends on survival and reproduction. According to the authors, both have been adversely affected since the Industrial Revolution.

They point to declining global fertility rates and rising levels of chronic inflammatory conditions such as autoimmune diseases as signs that industrial environments are taking a biological toll.

There's a paradox where, on the one hand, we've created tremendous wealth, comfort and health care for a lot of people on the planet, but on the other hand, some of these industrial achievements are having detrimental effects on our immune, cognitive, physical and reproductive functions.

One well-documented example is the global decline in sperm count and motility observed since the 1950s, which the researchers  link to environmental factors. This is thought to be tied to pesticides and herbicides in food, but also to microplastics.

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