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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 14, 2024 at 9:35am

Toxic smog smothering India's capital smashes WHO limit

Residents of India's capital New Delhi choked in a blanketing toxic smog this week as worsening air pollution surged past 50 times the World Health Organization's recommended daily maximum.

Many in the city cannot afford air filters, nor do they have homes they can effectively seal from the misery of foul smelling air blamed for thousands of premature deaths.

Cooler temperatures and slow-moving winds trap deadly pollutants each winter, stretching from mid-October until at least January.

At dawn on Wednesday, "hazardous" pollutant levels in parts of the sprawling urban area of more than 30 million people topped 806 micrograms per cubic meter, according to monitoring firm IQAir.

That is more than 53 times the World Health Organization recommended daily maximum of fine particulate matter—dangerous cancer-causing microparticles known as PM2.5 pollutants that enter the bloodstream through the lungs.

By midday, when air usually is at its best, it eased to about 25-35 times above danger levels, depending on different districts.

Now breathing in Delhi has become  like "smoking cigarettes". Older people have difficulties breathing. It is particularly punishing for babies, children and the elderly.

The city is blanketed in acrid smog each year, primarily blamed on stubble burning by farmers in neighboring regions to clear their fields for plowing, as well as factories, Diwali fire works and traffic fumes.

But a report by The New York Times this month, based on air and soil samples it collected over five years, revealed the dangerous fumes also spewing from a power plant incinerating the city's landfill garbage mountains.

Experts the newspaper spoke to said that the levels of heavy metals found were "alarming".

Swirling white clouds of smog also delayed several flights across northern India.

The India Meteorological Department said that at least 18 regional airports had a visibility lower than 1,000 meters (1,093 yards)—dropping below 500 meters in Delhi.

India's Supreme Court last month ruled that clean air was a fundamental human right, ordering both the central government and state-level authorities to take action.

But politicians are accused of not wanting to anger key figures in their constituencies, particularly powerful farming groups and industrialists.

City authorities have launched some initiatives to tackle pollution, which have done little in practice.

The choking carbon smog across Delhi came as researchers warned that planet-warming fossil fuel emissions would hit a record high this year, according to new findings from an international network of scientists at the Global Carbon Project.

Researchers said increases in CO₂ emissions from India—as well as growth in international aviation—drove emissions up.

It found no sign the world was moving away from fossil fuels as planned.

Source: News agencies

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 14, 2024 at 9:08am

These results support the importance of early identification of individuals exhibiting accelerated brain atrophy and certain unfavorable biomarkers. By recognizing when higher risk is present, preventive intervention strategies can be optimized to delay or hopefully even prevent the onset of MCI.

Yuto Uchida et al, Acceleration of Brain Atrophy and Progression From Normal Cognition to Mild Cognitive Impairment, JAMA Network Open (2024). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.41505

 Shohei Fujita, Optimizing Strategies to Prevent Cognitive Decline With 20-Year Brain Imaging, JAMA Network Open (2024). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.41466

Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 14, 2024 at 9:07am

Indicators of an aging brain

Researchers, working with the Biomarkers for Older Controls at Risk for Dementia (BIOCARD) cohort, have found that certain factors are linked to faster brain shrinkage and quicker progression from normal thinking abilities to mild cognitive impairment (MCI). People with type 2 diabetes and low levels of specific proteins in their cerebrospinal fluid showed more rapid brain changes and developed MCI sooner than others.

Long-term studies tracking brain changes over many years are rare but valuable. Previous research mostly provided snapshots in time, which can't show how individual brains change over the years. By following participants for up to 27 years (20-year median), this study offers new insights into how health conditions might speed up brain aging.

In a study, "Acceleration of Brain Atrophy and Progression From Normal Cognition to Mild Cognitive Impairment," published in JAMA Network Open, researchers used the BIOCARD cohort to examine risk factors associated with the acceleration of brain atrophy and progression from normal cognition to MCI. An Invited Commentary is also available.

 A total of 185 participants, averaging 55 years old at the start and all cognitively normal, were selected. They underwent brain scans and tests of their cerebrospinal fluid over 20 years, measuring changes in brain structures and levels of proteins associated with Alzheimer's disease.

Findings showed that high rates of white matter shrinkage and enlargement of the brain's ventricles (fluid-filled spaces) were significant predictors of earlier MCI onset. Specifically, white matter atrophy was associated with an 86% higher risk and ventricular enlargement with a 71% higher risk of progressing to MCI.

Individuals with diabetes showed an average 41% higher risk of progressing from normal cognition to MCI compared to individuals without.
A low ratio of amyloid β peptides Aβ42 to Aβ40 in cerebrospinal fluid was associated with a 48% higher risk of developing MCI. This ratio acts as a biomarker for Alzheimer's disease, where an imbalance between these two forms of amyloid beta proteins is linked to the formation of harmful plaques in the brain.

When participants had both diabetes and a low Aβ42 to Aβ40 ratio, their risk of progressing to MCI increased by 55%, demonstrating that these two factors together significantly heighten the likelihood of cognitive decline.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 14, 2024 at 9:01am

Experiment supports existence of a new type of superconductor

A research team has found the strongest evidence yet of a novel type of superconducting material, a fundamental science breakthrough that may open the door to coaxing superconductivity—the flow of electric current without a loss of energy—in a new way.

The discovery also lends tangible support to a long-held theory about superconductivity—that it could be based upon electronic nematicity, a phase of matter in which particles break their rotational symmetry.

Here is what that means. In iron selenide crystals mixed with sulfur, iron atoms are positioned in a grid. At room temperature, an electron in an iron atom cannot distinguish between horizontal and vertical directions. But at lower temperatures, the electron may enter a "nematic" phase, where it begins to prefer moving in one direction or the other.

In some instances, the electron may start to fluctuate between preferring one direction, then the other. This is called nematic fluctuation.

For decades, physicists have attempted to prove the existence of superconductivity due to nematic fluctuations, with little success. But the new study, a multi-institutional effort led by Yale's Eduardo H. da Silva Neto, offers promise.

The findings appear in the journal Nature Physics.

Pranab Kumar Nag et al, Highly anisotropic superconducting gap near the nematic quantum critical point of FeSe1−xSx, Nature Physics (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41567-024-02683-x

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 14, 2024 at 8:58am

Dr. Drake's equation was more of a guide for scientists on how to go about searching for life, rather than an estimating tool or serious attempt to determine an accurate result.

Its parameters included the rate of yearly star formation in the Milky Way, the fraction of stars with planets orbiting them and the number of worlds that could potentially support life.

By comparison, the new model connects the rate of yearly star formation in the universe with its fundamental ingredients, such as the aforementioned dark energy density.

 Daniele Sorini et al, The impact of the cosmological constant on past and future star formation, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2024). DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stae2236. academic.oup.com/mnras/article … .1093/mnras/stae2236

Part 3

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 14, 2024 at 8:57am

It concludes that a typical observer would expect to experience a substantially larger density of dark energy than is seen in our own universe—suggesting the ingredients it possesses make it a rare and unusual case in the multiverse.

The approach presented in the paper involves calculating the fraction of ordinary matter converted into stars over the entire history of the universe, for different dark energy densities.

The model predicts this fraction would be approximately 27% in a universe that is most efficient at forming stars, compared to 23% in our own universe.

This means we don't live in the hypothetical universe with the highest odds of forming intelligent life forms. Or in other words, the value of dark energy density we observe in our universe is not the one that would maximize the chances of life, according to the model.
Understanding dark energy and the impact on our universe is one of the biggest challenges in cosmology and fundamental physics.

The parameters that govern our universe, including the density of dark energy, could explain our own existence.
Surprisingly, though, researchers found that even a significantly higher dark energy density would still be compatible with life, suggesting we may not live in the most likely of universes.
The new model could allow scientists to understand the effects of differing densities of dark energy on the formation of structures in the universe and the conditions for life to develop in the cosmos.

Dark energy makes the universe expand faster, balancing gravity's pull and creating a universe where both expansion and structure formation are possible.

However, for life to develop, there would need to be regions where matter can clump together to form stars and planets, and it would need to remain stable for billions of years to allow life to evolve.
Crucially, the research suggests that the astrophysics of star formation and the evolution of the large-scale structure of the universe combine in a subtle way to determine the optimal value of the dark energy density needed for the generation of intelligent life.
Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 14, 2024 at 8:55am

A formula for life? New model calculates chances of intelligent beings in our universe and beyond

The chances of intelligent life emerging in our universe—and in any hypothetical ones beyond it—can be estimated by a new theoretical model which has echoes of the famous Drake Equation.

This was the formula that American astronomer Dr. Frank Drake came up with in the 1960s to calculate the number of detectable extraterrestrial civilizations in our Milky Way galaxy.

More than 60 years on, astrophysicists led by Durham University have produced a different model which instead focuses on the conditions created by the acceleration of the universe's expansion and the amount of stars formed.

It is thought this expansion is being driven by a mysterious force called dark energy that makes up more than two thirds of the universe.

Since stars are a precondition for the emergence of life as we know it, the model could therefore be used to estimate the probability of generating intelligent life in our universe, and in a multiverse scenario of different hypothetical universes.

The new research does not attempt to calculate the absolute number of observers (i.e. intelligent life) in the universe but instead considers the relative probability of a randomly chosen observer inhabiting a universe with particular properties. The study has been published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 14, 2024 at 8:44am

Researchers demonstrate universal control of a quantum dot-based system with four singlet-triplet qubits

Being able to precisely manipulate interacting spins in quantum systems is of key importance for the development of reliable and highly performing quantum computers. This has proven to be particularly challenging for nanoscale systems with many spins that are based on quantum dots (i.e., tiny semiconductor devices).

Researchers recently demonstrated the universal control of a quantum dot-based system with four singlet-triplet qubits. Their paper, published in Nature Nanotechnology, could open new possibilities for the successful upscaling of quantum information processing systems.

Xin Zhang et al, Universal control of four singlet–triplet qubits, Nature Nanotechnology (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41565-024-01817-9

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 13, 2024 at 1:11pm

Stem-cell transplants restore lost vision

Three people with severely impaired vision have had their sight substantially improved by a stem-cell transplant. These improvements have now lasted more than a year. A fourth person also experienced a boost in their vision, but it did not last. The four are the first to receive a transplant of reprogrammed stem cells to treat damaged corneas, the transparent outer surface of the eye. The team behind the treatment will launch larger clinical trials next year.

Nature | 
Reference: The Lancet paper

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 13, 2024 at 12:05pm

I Made Kidney Stones So I Could DESTROY THEM FOREVER

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