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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 20, 2026 at 10:41am

The researchers also found that a rover's approach path into a crater can strongly influence its charging environment. If it enters a crater on the downwind side—facing the sun and solar wind—it can remain in a relatively dense plasma flow.
If the rover enters the leeward edge of the crater—moving with the sun at its back—the rover enters a region where the local mini-wake first forms
Finally, they examined how a rover's wheels should be electrically connected to its body. While isolating the wheels might seem like a way to protect onboard electronics, the simulations showed that this isolation actually limits the dissipation of charge—only worsening the problem.
Instead they recommend that the rover wheel is tested to ensure it is electrically connected to the larger rover structure, ensuring that the wheel has a conductive path to the larger structure. The rover body can then be used to increase the plasma current collection to more quickly dissipate the wheel tribocharge buildup.
Together, these findings highlight how space-weather effects on the moon can pose subtle but serious risks to surface operations.

W.M. Farrell et al, Rover wheel tribocharging in lunar shadowed regions: deriving a speed limit for charge accumulation, Advances in Space Research (2026). DOI: 10.1016/j.asr.2025.10.102

Part 2**

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 20, 2026 at 10:32am

Charge buildup in a lunar rover

As they roll across shadowed regions of the moon's surface, future lunar rovers could develop hazardous buildups of electric charge on their wheels.

With an interest in lunar exploration now reigniting worldwide, several space agencies are considering how the moon's surface could be explored in unprecedented detail using wheeled rovers. One challenge these vehicles will face is the buildup of 'triboelectric charge' as their wheels move across the regolith: a dry, granular, and highly insulating layer of dust and rock that blankets the moon. If allowed to accumulate, this charge could trigger discharges that threaten a rover's sensitive electronics and instruments.

Under many circumstances, charge buildup is naturally limited by the solar wind—a continuous stream of charged particles that emanate from the sun. Because this plasma is far more conductive than the regolith, it provides a pathway for excess charge to dissipate into the surrounding environment. However, this helpful effect can't always be guaranteed.

As the moon travels through the solar wind, it creates a long plasma "wake" on its night-time side, where particle densities drop dramatically. "If the plasma flux levels are reduced, charge dissipation will slow. In essence, it will become increasingly difficult to remediate charge buildups in these plasma-starved regions.
These conditions are also found inside the moon's permanently shadowed polar craters—potential harbors of frozen water and carbon dioxide that could be prime targets for upcoming missions. For rovers operating in these environments, engineers must take steps to prevent triboelectric charging from reaching problematic levels.
Using advanced simulations, researchers modeled the balance between triboelectric charging and plasma-based charge dissipation under realistic lunar conditions. Their results show that keeping a rover's speed extremely low—below about 0.2 cm per second—can prevent charge from accumulating.

If a rover moves faster than this speed limit in the given plasma environment, then the wheel tribocharging currents will exceed plasma dissipation currents and the wheel will build up charge. If the rover moves slower than this speed limit, then the plasma currents will dissipate the charge before it builds up to large levels
Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 20, 2026 at 9:22am

This a the first cow ever documented using a tool

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 17, 2026 at 11:35am

Focusing on variety and balance is the best way to reduce exposure to heavy metals in food while keeping your plate full of nutritious choices.

Mix it up. Eat a variety of grains, proteins, fruits, and vegetables—and even vary the brands you buy. Relying too heavily on one food type, source, or growing location can risk repeated exposure to an element that happens to be particularly high in that food or region. Low levels of heavy metals make their way into foods. A varied, healthy diet can limit exposure and absorption.

Choose safer seafood. Fish is one of the healthiest foods you can eat. Opt for smaller fish, which are lower on the food chain, such as salmon, canned light and skipjack tuna, sardines, pollock, or tilapia. Shellfish like scallops, clams, crab, and shrimp are good choices as well. Limit large predatory fish, like swordfish, orange roughy, and king mackerel.

Cook rice smartly. Cook rice with extra water (like pasta) that you drain off. This simple step can reduce arsenic levels (but it also lowers nutritional value). Try other grains like oats, quinoa, bulgur, or barley for variety.

Check your home. If you have older pipes, test your tap water for lead and consider a certified filter if needed. Paint in houses built before 1978 should be tested for lead. (Test kits can be purchased at home improvement stores and may be available for free through local health departments and/or water utilities.)

Refer to trusted sources. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency are tasked with helping to ensure your food and water meet safety standards. If unusually high levels of any heavy metals are discovered in a particular food, the media will be alerted, and recalls will be put in place.
Heavy metals are part of our environment, and small amounts do make their way into foods. But research shows that the benefits of a varied, nutrient-rich diet far outweigh the minimal risks from trace exposure.

What to Know About Heavy Metals in Food | Tufts Now

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 17, 2026 at 11:25am

Super agers tend to have at least two key genetic advantages

The gene variant posing the greatest genetic risk of late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) is called APOE-ε4. A different variant of the same gene, APOE-ε2, is thought to confer protection against AD.

A comparatively large study reported in Alzheimer's & Dementia by researchers  measures the frequency of APOE-ε4 and APOE-ε2 in so-called super agers—people ages 80 or older whose cognitive function is comparable to people 20 or 30 years younger.

Super agers were 68% less likely to harbor the gene nobody wants, APOE-ε4, compared to individuals with AD dementia in the same 80+ age group.

Most notably, super agers were 19% less likely to harbor APOE-ε4 than were cognitively normal participants in the same age group.

Super agers were also found for the first time to have higher frequency of the variant you'd want, APOE-ε2: They were 28% more likely to carry APOE-ε2 than were cognitively normal controls ages 80+, and 103% more likely to carry the variant than were participants with AD dementia aged 80 or older.

Evaluating the association of APOE genotype and cognitive resilience in SuperAgers, Alzheimer's & Dementia (2026). DOI: 10.1002/alz.71024. alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wil … oi/10.1002/alz.71024

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 17, 2026 at 11:10am

Scientists discover natural 'brake' that could stop harmful inflammation

Researchers have uncovered a key mechanism that helps the body switch off inflammation—a breakthrough that could lead to new treatments for chronic diseases affecting millions worldwide.

Inflammation is the body's frontline defense against infection and injury, but when it doesn't switch off properly, it can drive serious health conditions such as arthritis, heart disease, and diabetes. Until now, scientists didn't fully understand how the body decides to stop the immune "fight" response and start healing.

Published in Nature Communications, the study reveals that tiny fat-derived molecules called epoxy-oxylipins act as natural brakes on the immune system. These molecules prevent the overgrowth of certain immune cells, known as intermediate monocytes, that can cause chronic inflammation—linked to tissue damage, illness and disease progression.

Tests revealed that one epoxy-oxylipin, 12,13-EpOME, works by shutting down a protein signal called p38 MAPK, which drives monocyte transformation. This was confirmed in lab experiments and in volunteers given a p38-blocking drug.

Targeting this mechanism could lead to safer treatments that restore immune balance without suppressing overall immunity.

Epoxy-Oxylipins Direct Monocyte Fate in Inflammatory Resolution in Humans, Nature Communications (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-67961-5

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 16, 2026 at 12:43pm

Cancer cells use stolen goods to stay hidden

Hijacking the energy-producing organelles from immune cells seems to help tumours in mice to infiltrate lymph nodes.
Cancer cells use mitochondria stolen from immune cells to escape detection and spread. Researchers found that when cancer cells take on these mitochondria in mice, it both weakens the immune cells and triggers a molecular pathway in the cancer cells that help them fly under the immune system’s radar and invade lymph nodes. This beneficial molecular pathway was activated even when researchers disrupted the mitochondria’s ability to produce the energy-carrying molecule ATP. The findings could explain how cancer cells survive in lymph nodes, which are packed with immune cells that should be able to kill them.

Mitochondrial transfer from immune to tumor cells enables lymph nod...

Cancer might evade immune defences by stealing mitochondria

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 16, 2026 at 12:40pm

How the gut microbiome affects transplants

Antibiotic and immunosuppressant treatment administered before, during and after a solid-organ or haematopoietic-stem-cell transplant can dysregulate the gut microbiome. On the flipside, the gut microbiome can also influence the long-term success of such procedures by, for example, metabolizing immunosuppressants into less active forms. A better understanding of these interactions could yield targeted interventions that improve outcomes in transplant recipients, write five internal-medicine specialists in their review.

The gut microbiome in solid-organ and haematopoietic-stem-cell tran...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 16, 2026 at 12:38pm

Vaccines create a halo of benefits
Growing evidence suggests that vaccines have benefits in older adults beyond protecting against infectious diseases. These ‘off-target effects’ include a reduced risk of dementia and cardiovascular events. Exactly why vaccines have these protective effects is unclear, but researchers suggest that in protecting against infection, vaccines also protect against the inflammation that comes with them. Many experts now worry that opposition to childhood vaccinations could dissuade some adults from getting vaccinated, which would leave them vulnerable to the diseases that vaccines can protect against, both infectious and not.

Vaccines Are Helping Older People More Than We Knew - The New York ...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 16, 2026 at 12:35pm

Gut bacteria cause rare alcohol syndrome
Researchers have found more evidence that ethanol-producing gut bacteria are the main drivers of auto-brewery syndrome (ABS) — a rare and poorly understood condition in which people become drunk when they haven’t consumed alcohol. A team found that strains of Klebsiella bacteria and Escherichia coli that produce ethanol were much more prevalent in the gut microbiomes of people with ABS than in those of people who didn’t have the condition. One person with ABS was successfully treated with a faecal microbiota transplant, but the authors say a targeted intervention, such as disrupting the metabolic pathways the bacteria use to produce ethanol, might be more effective.

Gut microbial ethanol metabolism contributes to auto-brewery syndro...

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