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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 21, 2024 at 2:11pm

Scientists Confirm Microplastics Now Detected in Human Testicles

We can now add testicles to the list of places where microplastics have managed to spread – alongside human placentas, ancient rocks, clogged arteries, blue whales, baby poop, the wilderness of Antarctica, near the peak of Mount Everest, and the bottom of the ocean.

Research led by the University of New Mexico looked at testicular tissue taken from both dogs and humans, finding microplastics in every sample, with an abundance almost three times higher in humans than in dogs.
The team found an average 122.63 micrograms of microplastics per gram of tissue in canines, and 329.44 micrograms per gram in people.

Besides giving us another sobering reminder of how plastic pollution is penetrating every part of our bodies, the study raises some concerning questions in regards to how these microscopic fragments might impact male fertility.

https://academic.oup.com/toxsci/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.109...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 21, 2024 at 12:39pm

Now Cancer drug pollution is a cause for concern!

As incidence of cancer increases globally, the use of cancer drugs is also growing at a rate of approximately 10 percent per year in developed countries.
Pharmaceuticals significantly contribute to the improvement of human health; however, their environmental impacts have also become a major concern.

Cancer drugs in our ecosystems
Among the many molecules used to treat cancers are cytostatics.

As defined by the United States' National Institutes of Health (NIH), a cystostatic is "a substance that slows or stops the growth of cells, including cancer cells, without killing them."

When a cancer patient takes these drugs, the chemicals in them, including cytostatics, are eventually evacuated through the patients' solid and liquid waste.

A patients' waste ends up in the hospital or domestic wastewater system, where the chemicals in it are not entirely eliminated by end of pipe wastewater treatment plants. These chemicals can then find their way into aquatic ecosystems, and even our drinking water supply, at varying concentrations.

Cytostatic drugs are now classified as contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) due to their hazardous environmental impact.

The message is clear: this problem is only going to get worse as more people use cancer drugs.
The continuous release of pharmaceuticals into aquatic ecosystems (even at low levels) can reduce surface water quality, endanger biodiversity and disrupt ecosystem functioning.
They have a toxic impact on aquatic flora and fauna, especially the fish.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S004896972205...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 21, 2024 at 12:33pm

 Rusting Rivers: The Alarming Impact of Permafrost Thaw on Arctic Rivers

In this video, researchers reveal the startling discovery of over 75 streams and rivers in Alaska's Brooks Range turning orange due to metals released in permafrost thaw. Researchers delve into the consequences of this phenomenon, its impact on aquatic ecosystems and local communities, and the ongoing research efforts to understand and mitigate these changes.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 21, 2024 at 11:04am

The study's results indicate that the group that received the supplements was much more inclined to reject unequal offers at the end of the seven weeks, even when the money split was slightly unbalanced. Conversely, the placebo group behaved similarly during the first and second test sessions.
Moreover, the behavioral change in the supplemented group was accompanied by biological changes: the participants who, at the start of the study, had the greatest imbalance between the two types of bacteria that dominate the gut flora (Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes) experienced the most significant change in the composition of their gut microbiota with the intake of supplements. In addition, they also showed the greatest sensitivity to fairness during the tests.
The researchers also observed a sharp drop in their levels of tyrosine, a dopamine precursor, after the seven-week intervention. For the first time, a causal mechanism is emerging: the composition of the gut microbiota could influence social behavior through the precursors of dopamine, a neurotransmitter involved in brain reward mechanisms.

"It's too early to say that gut bacteria can make us less rational and more receptive to social considerations," conclude the researchers.
However, these new results clarify which biological pathways we must look at. The prospect of modulating the gut microbiota through diet to positively influence decision-making is fascinating. We need to explore this avenue very carefully.

Marie Falkenstein et al, Impact of the gut microbiome composition on social decision-making, PNAS Nexus (2024). DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae166

Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 21, 2024 at 11:00am

Composition of gut microbiota could influence decision-making

The way we make decisions in a social context can be explained by psychological, social, and political factors. But what if other forces were at work? Scientists show that changes in gut microbiota can influence our sensitivity to fairness and how we treat others. Their findings are published in the journal PNAS Nexus.

The intestinal microbiota—i.e., all the bacteria, viruses and fungi that inhabit our digestive tract—plays a pivotal role in our bodies, well beyond digestive function. Recent research underscores its impact on cognition, stress, anxiety, depressive symptoms, and behaviour; mice raised in a sterile environment, for example, have difficulty interacting with other individuals.

While these findings are promising, most of this research is carried out on animals and cannot be extrapolated to humans. Nor does it allow us to understand what neuronal, immune, or hormonal mechanisms are at work in this fascinating dialogue between brain and intestine: researchers observe a link between the composition of the microbiota and social skills but do not know precisely how one controls the other.

The available data suggests that the intestinal ecosystem communicates with the central nervous system via various pathways, including the vagus nerve. It might also use biochemical signals that trigger the release of neurotransmitters, such as dopamine and serotonin, which are essential for proper brain function.

To determine whether the composition of the human gut microbiota could influence decision-making in a social setting,  researchers used behavioural tests—including the famous "ultimatum game" in which one player is given a sum of money he must split (fairly or unfairly) with a second player, who is free to decline the offer if s/he deems it insufficient. In that case, neither player receives any money.
Refusing the sum of money is equivalent to what we call "altruistic punishment," i.e., the impulse to punish others when a situation is perceived as unfair: for the second player, restoring equality (no one receives any money) sometimes feels more important than obtaining a reward. The ultimatum game is then used as an experimental way of measuring sensitivity to fairness.

To fully exploit this effect, the researchers recruited 101 participants. For seven weeks, 51 took dietary supplements containing probiotics (beneficial bacteria) and prebiotics (nutrients that promote the colonization of bacteria in the gut), while 50 others received a placebo. They all participated in an ultimatum game during two sessions at the beginning and end of the supplementation period.
Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 20, 2024 at 1:41pm

What is the Blood Brain Barrier?

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 20, 2024 at 10:59am

They also demonstrated the process as scalable, with the interference effect persisting even when sending more than one qubit through the cavity.

By carrying out the process on the IBM Quantum Platform and IonQ's quantum hardware, the team demonstrated a proof-of-concept for their protocol, showing a similar system could have the potential to be an energy-effective way of rapidly charging and extracting power from a quantum system.
Though a qubit can simulate the fundamental physics, new methods will be needed to turn the protocol into something more practical and battery-like, meaning it will be a while before you'll be recharging your electric moped in an eyeblink.

Still, the experiment shows there's nothing in the laws of physics that says we can't exploit the quantum landscape for long-life, rapid-charging energy storage.

https://journals.aps.org/prresearch/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevResearc...

Part 2

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 20, 2024 at 10:58am

 Quantum Breakthrough Could Charge Batteries in a Snap

Batteries based on the wave-like nature of charged particles could revolutionize energy storage, potentially cramming in more power at a faster rate than conventional electrochemical cells could ever hope to manage. A new protocol developed by a team of physicists from National Cheng Kung University could transform the basic principles of a fast-charging quantum battery into a practical system, demonstrating ways the superposition of a battery may be used to store energy quickly and efficiently.

Fundamental to quantum physics is the principle that all bits of matter have a wave-like identity that spreads out through space and time.

As counterintuitive as it is to our experience of reality, these waves represent the properties of an object – whether it's an electron, a molecule, a cat, or a whole planet – as a spectrum of possibility referred to as its superposition.

In recent years, researchers have pondered whether one or more objects in a superposition have something in common with the chaotic zip and bounce of heated material in an engine. Tapping into this quantum phenomenon could even provide new ways to transfer and hold energy.

It's a nice idea in concept, but transforming the theory behind quantum heat engines into a working device requires identifying suitable processes that don't waste a whole lot of energy.

The researchers experimentally evaluated two approaches to using the superposition of a particle to charge a hypothetical quantum battery to determine whether its fuzzy state is indeed transferring energy.

In place of an actual battery, the team simply used a trapped ion in a superposition state known as a qubit, which can gain energy as it passes through a reflective space that constrains the kinds of waves passing through.
Sending the ion through a device that split its wave into two beams, the team compared the battery's ability to store energy as separated waves passed through multiple entry points into a single cavity, and then into multiple cavities.
Not only did they find the ion's superposition really can allow for efficient charging, they found the 'many doorways, one room' approach induced an interference effect that could theoretically lead to what they call a "perfect charging phenomenon", which allows a complete conversion of stored energy to work from the quantum battery at any point in the charging process.
Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 20, 2024 at 9:51am

Discovery may explain why Egyptian pyramids were built along long-lost Ahramat branch of the Nile

Some 31 pyramids in Egypt, including the Giza pyramid complex, may originally have been built along a 64-km-long branch of the river Nile which has long since been buried beneath farmland and desert. The findings, reported in a paper in Communications Earth & Environment, could explain why these pyramids are concentrated in what is now a narrow, inhospitable desert strip.

The Egyptian pyramid fields between Giza and Lisht, built over a nearly 1,000-year period starting approximately 4,700 years ago, now sit on the edge of the inhospitable Western Desert, part of the Sahara. Sedimentary evidence suggests that the Nile used to have a much higher discharge, with the river splitting into several branches in places. Researchers have previously speculated that one of these branches may have flown by the pyramid fields, but this has not been confirmed.

Eman Ghoneim and colleagues studied satellite imagery to find the possible location of a former river branch running along the foothills of the Western Desert Plateau, very near to the pyramid fields. They then used geophysical surveys and sediment cores to confirm the presence of river sediments and former channels beneath the modern land surface, indicating the presence of a former branch, which they propose naming "Ahramat" (meaning pyramids in Arabic).

The authors suggest that an increased build-up of windblown sand, linked to a major drought which began approximately 4,200 years ago, could be one of the reasons for the branch's migration east and eventual silting up.

The discovery may explain why these pyramid fields were concentrated along this particular strip of desert near the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis, as they would have been easily accessible via the river branch at the time they were built. Additionally, the authors found that many of the pyramids had causeways that ended at the proposed riverbanks of the Ahramat branch, which they suggest is evidence the river was used for transporting construction materials.

The findings reiterate the importance of the Nile as a highway and cultural artery for ancient Egyptians, and also highlight how human society has historically been affected by environmental change, according to the authors.

Future research to find more extinct Nile branches could help prioritize archaeological excavations along their banks and protect Egyptian cultural heritage, they add.

Eman Ghoneim, The Egyptian pyramid chain was built along the now abandoned Ahramat Nile Branch, Communications Earth & Environment (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s43247-024-01379-7. www.nature.com/articles/s43247-024-01379-7

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on May 19, 2024 at 12:48pm

Why digging soil is not good?

Digging disrupts natural processes that keep soil healthy and productive. Minimising cultivation is desirable when trying to grow plants in ways that have the least environmental impact.

Digging the soil bulldozes a number of structures underground. Drainage channels created by worms are destroyed, important fungal networks are broken and carbon that’s been locked in the soil is released into the atmosphere. 

Digging also brings weed seeds closer to the surface, causing them to sprout more readily.

Benefits don’t necessarily include better crops, although some gardeners have reported higher yields. 

Charles Dowding, a champion of no-dig gardening, compared side-by-side beds over eight years. One was dug, the other wasn’t. He reported 100kg of additional produce from the no-dig bed.

So how does a no-dig garden grow? Instead of cultivating the soil, no-dig gardeners cover their beds with a layer of mulch or well-rotted organic matter, either from their own compost bins or the garden centre. 

If the ground is weedy, simply cover it with a few sheets of cardboard.

Then add another layer of compost on top (this is sometimes known as lasagne gardening). 

The weeds will be smothered and plants root into the soil below, which will be enriched by the activity of worms carrying the compost into the underlying soil.

Source: 

https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/no-dig-gardening?utm_campaign=...

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