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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 21, 2025 at 9:59am

Physicists crack a 'Big Bang Theory' problem that could help explain dark matter
Theoretical work demonstrates that axions, hypothetical particles considered a candidate for dark matter, could be produced in fusion reactors using deuterium, tritium, and lithium. Neutron interactions with reactor walls and bremsstrahlung processes may generate axions or axion-like particles, offering a new approach to probing dark matter beyond solar-based searches.

Chaja Baruch et al, Searching for exotic scalars at fusion reactors, Journal of High Energy Physics (2025). DOI: 10.1007/jhep10(2025)215

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 21, 2025 at 9:56am

2.8 days to disaster: Why we are running out of time in low earth orbit

Satellite mega-constellations in low Earth orbit experience close approaches every 22 seconds, with each satellite performing frequent avoidance maneuvers. Solar storms increase atmospheric drag and can disable satellite control systems, raising collision risks. If operators lose control, a catastrophic collision could occur within 2.8 days, compared to 121 days in 2018, highlighting increased vulnerability.

Sarah Thiele et al, An Orbital House of Cards: Frequent Megaconstellation Close Conjunctions, arXiv (2025). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2512.09643

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 21, 2025 at 8:42am

While diverticula can develop in the large and small intestine, around 95 percent of patients in the Western world have diverticula in their sigmoid colon.

This part of the digestive tract works under great pressure to push feces into the rectum.

Once diverticula form, possibly from excessive pressure, they are prone to bleeding when aggravated, in a similar way to hemorrhoids, which form inside and outside the rectum and around the anus.
Diverticular bleeding is estimated to cause between 30 and 65 percent of all cases of lower gastrointestinal bleeding. It's usually painless and self-limiting, but seeing blood in the stool is a serious matter, as it may indicate other severe conditions.
Treatment depends on the severity of the episode.

https://www.sciencealert.com/most-people-develop-diverticulosis-in-...

Part 3

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 21, 2025 at 8:41am

Most People Develop Diverticulosis in Their Gut by Age 80

It's easy to see your body aging on the outside – wrinkles, dark spots, gray hair, the whole shebang – but as we grow older, our insides also inevitably change.
By the time most people reach the ripe age of 80, the smooth lining of their digestive tract is scattered with small, bulging pouches of tissue.

These sac-like protrusions along the digestive tract, called diverticula, are 'weak spots' in the gut's muscular wall. They are typically harmless, and most people never even know they are there.
Sometimes, after a colonoscopy, patients are alarmed to find they have developed diverticulosis, but most of the time, this condition is nothing to worry about.
Only if the pouches become inflamed or infected is it considered diverticular disease, or diverticulitis. Symptoms, which generally come and go, often include constipation, diarrhea, abdominal pain, bloating, or fever.
The good news is that even if a person does develop diverticulitis, their symptoms usually improve with just a few days of bed rest and a liquid diet. Over 85 percent of patients find this sufficient.
No one knows exactly what causes diverticula to form in the first place, but current treatments generally focus on helping the digestive tract move smoothly, without blockages.

That's why a high-fiber diet, including between 25 and 30 grams of fiber a day, is often recommended to recovering patients. This won't heal existing diverticula, but may prevent more from forming.
Other potential risk factors include obesity, lack of exercise, and smoking. There's likely a complicated mix of contributing factors.
Part2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 21, 2025 at 8:36am

Holes in your colon!

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 21, 2025 at 8:30am

Earth's Seasons Are Strangely Out of Sync, Scientists Discover From Space

Scientists  have watched our planet's seasons from space and discovered that spring, summer, winter, and fall are surprisingly out of sync.

Just because two places exist in the same hemisphere, at similar altitudes, or at the same latitude doesn't guarantee they'll experience the same seasonal changes at the same time.

Even regions that are side by side can experience different weather and ecological patterns, sculpting wildly different neighboring habitats.

It's similar to how time zones can separate two adjacent spots, but in this case, the boundary is drawn by nature itself.

Using 20 years of satellite data, researchers have created what they say is the most comprehensive map to date of the seasonal timing of Earth's terrestrial ecosystems.

The new map identifies global regions where seasonal patterns are particularly out of sync, and these asynchronies often occur in biodiversity hotspots.
That is probably no coincidence. More variability in weather patterns can have trickle-down effects, which may drive greater diversity within habitats.
For example, if natural resources in two neighboring habitats are made available at different times of the year, it could shape the ecology and evolution of flora and fauna in each spot.

It could even mean that a species in one habitat reaches its reproductive season before or after the same species in an adjacent habitat, preventing interbreeding.
Across many generations, this can lead to the evolution of two entirely separate species.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09410-3

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 20, 2025 at 8:45am

To test whether condensates can alter cell membrane voltage, the researchers used cell models called Giant Unilamellar Vesicles (GUVs). To allow them to visualize changes in voltage, they stained GUV membranes with a dye that changes color in response to changes in electrical charge. Then, they put GUVs in the same vessel as lab-made condensates and photographed their interactions under the microscope.

They showed that when the condensates and GUVs collided, it caused a local change in the GUV membranes' electrical charge at their point of contact.
By varying the chemical makeup of the condensates, the researchers showed that the more electrical charge a condensate carried, the bigger its impact on cell membrane voltage. They also found that the shape of the condensates appeared to be correlated with variations in the voltage change.

In some instances, the voltages induced are quite substantial in magnitude—on the same scale as voltage changes in nerve impulses.

Anthony Gurunian et al, Biomolecular Condensates Can Induce Local Membrane Potentials, Small (2025). DOI: 10.1002/smll.202509591

Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 20, 2025 at 8:43am

Biophysicists uncover new electrical transmission in cells

Many biological processes are regulated by electricity—from nerve impulses to heartbeats to the movement of molecules in and out of cells.

A new study by search scientists reveals a previously unknown potential regulator of this bioelectricity: droplet-like structures called condensates. Condensates are better known for their role in compartmentalizing the cell, but this study shows they can also act as tiny biological batteries that charge the cell membrane from within.

The team showed that when electrically charged condensates collide with cell membranes, they change the cell membrane's voltage—which influences the amount of electrical charge flowing across the membrane—at the point of contact.

The discovery, published in the journal Small, highlights a new fundamental feature about how our cells work, and could one day help scientists treat certain diseases.

Condensates are organelles—structures within cells that carry out specific functions—but unlike more well-known organelles such as the nucleus and mitochondria, they are not enclosed within membranes. Instead, condensates are held together by a combination of molecular and electrical forces. They also occur outside of cells, such as at neuronal synapses.

Condensates are involved in many essential biological processes, including compartmentalizing cells, protein assembly and signaling both within and between cells. Previous studies have also shown that condensates carry electrical charges on their surfaces, but little is known about how their electrical properties relate to cellular functions.

If condensates can alter the electrical properties of cell membranes, it could have big implications, because many cellular processes are controlled by changes in the cell membrane voltage. For example, ion channels—proteins that rapidly transport molecules across the cell membrane—are activated by changes in cell membrane voltage.
In the nervous system, this rapid, one-directional transport of electrically charged molecules is what drives the propagation of electrical signals between nerves.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 20, 2025 at 8:32am

New 'cloaking device' concept shields electronics from disruptive magnetic fields

Unwanted magnetic fields can disrupt the operation of precision instruments, sensors, and electronic components, leading to signal distortion, data errors, or equipment malfunction. This is a growing concern in environments such as hospitals, power grids, aerospace systems, and scientific laboratories, where increasingly sensitive technologies require effective protection from magnetic interference.

Researchers have unveiled a concept for a device designed to magnetically "cloak" sensitive components, making them invisible to detection.
A magnetic cloak is a device that hides or shields an object from external magnetic fields by manipulating how these flow around an object so that they behave as if the object isn't there.

In Science Advances, the team of engineers demonstrate for the first time that practical cloaks can be engineered using superconductors and soft ferromagnets in forms that can be manufactured.

Using computational and theoretical techniques such as advanced mathematical modeling and high-performance simulations based on real-world parameters, they have developed a new physics-informed design framework that allows magnetic cloaks to be created for objects of any shape. Until now, cloaks were mostly theoretical or restricted to simple shapes like cylinders.

This study demonstrates for the first time how to design magnetic cloaks for the irregular geometries we see in the real world. These cloaks also maintain their effectiveness across a broad range of field strengths and frequencies.

Magnetic cloaks could play a vital role in protecting sensitive electronics and sensors from magnetic interference, which is a growing challenge in everything from medical devices to renewable energy and space technology.

 Yusen Guo et al, Designing Functional Magnetic Cloaks for Real-World Geometries, Science Advances (2025). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aea2468. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aea2468

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on December 20, 2025 at 8:27am

Ancient viral DNA shapes early embryonic development

A new study reveals how ancient viral DNA once written off as "junk" plays a crucial role in the earliest moments of life. The research, published in Science Advances, begins to untangle the role of an ancient viral DNA element called MERVL in mouse embryonic development and provides new insights into a human muscle wasting disease.

Transposable elements are stretches of DNA that can move around the genome. Many of these DNA sequences originate from long ago, when viruses inserted their genetic material into our ancestors' genomes during infection. Today, these viral transposable elements make up around 8-10% of the mammalian genome.

Once disregarded as "junk" DNA, we now know that many transposable elements play an important role in influencing how genes are turned on and off, especially during early development. They have a variety of beneficial and harmful roles in the body, for example, some help regulate normal immune responses, while others can disrupt genes and contribute to diseases like cancer.

The latest work focuses on a viral transposable element called MERVL. 

This element becomes highly active for a short window of time when a mouse embryo reaches the two-cell stage—the point at which a fertilized egg has divided into two cells and switches on its own genome for the first time. Cells in this state are considered "totipotent," meaning they can generate every cell type of the embryo and extraembryonic tissues like the placenta.

MERVL acts as a central switch to activate a large network of genes specific to the two-cell stage of development.

To work out the role of MERVL, the team used a gene manipulation technique called CRISPR activation to turn on MERVL elements in mouse embryonic stem cells, to mimic what happens in two-cell embryos.

In cells where only MERVL was activated, the cells looked like they were only partially similar to cells of the two-cell stage, but they still had several characteristics of totipotency. The researchers described this in-between state as an "intermediate phenotype." They showed that activating MERVL alone is sufficient to create totipotent features in early embryonic development.

Paul Chammas et al, CRISPRa-mediated disentanglement of the Dux-MERVL axis in the 2C-like state, totipotency and cell death, Science Advances (2025). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adu9092. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adu9092

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