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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 11, 2023 at 9:31am

Evidence that albatrosses use infrasound to navigate long journeys

A new study  provides the first evidence that wandering albatrosses, one of the widest-ranging seabirds, may use infrasound to help them navigate long and featureless foraging trips covering thousands of miles.

Researchers show that albatrosses  orientate towards areas of "loud" microbarom infrasound when flying on long distance foraging trips. The paper published on this work is titled "Albatross movement suggests sensitivity to infrasound cues at sea."

Infrasound is a form of low-frequency sound that is inaudible to humans but is ubiquitous in the marine environment. Microbaroms are a type of infrasound associated with colliding ocean waves. Such wavy areas are also associated with strong winds, which albatrosses depend on to help them fly efficiently. The researchers used GPS trackers to determine the flight paths of 89 wandering albatrosses breeding in the Crozet Islands archipelago, Southern Ocean, over the course of their foraging trips to sea, which can last up to a month. They then compared these flight paths to modeled acoustic maps that the team had developed to represent the distribution of microbarom infrasound.

This revealed that wandering albatrosses orientate towards areas of "loud" microbarom infrasound when departing on bouts of directed flight, suggesting that they may perceive and respond to microbarom infrasound propagated over long distances.

 Natasha Gillies et al, Albatross movement suggests sensitivity to infrasound cues at sea, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2218679120

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 11, 2023 at 8:59am

One of the metabolic quirks of pancreatic cancer is that it relies heavily on glutamine to produce energy for growth and survival. In the past, scientists have tried to block access to glutamine to slow the growth of pancreatic tumors, but this is easier said than done.

The new method relies on a molecule called DON that has structural similarities to glutamine but can't actually be used as a nutrient source. By studying mice, the research team found that DON significantly slowed pancreatic tumour growth and stopped the tumors from spreading.

Although DON was able to stop pancreatic tumors from using glutamine, pancreatic cancer cells can use other nutrients to grow in glutamine's absence. To combat this effect, the researchers combined DON with an existing cancer treatment that blocks the metabolism of asparagine, another important nutrient. The combined treatment had a synergistic effect, helping prevent the spread of pancreatic tumors to other distant organs, such as the liver and lungs.

This could be a game changer for pancreatic cancer, and a lot of the preclinical work needed to rationalize it and is already happening.

Maria Victoria Recouvreux et al, Glutamine mimicry suppresses tumor progression through asparagine metabolism in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, Nature Cancer (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s43018-023-00649-1

Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 11, 2023 at 8:57am

Copycat nutrient leaves pancreatic tumors starving

A study by scientists suggests an entirely new approach to treat pancreatic cancer. The research shows that feeding tumors a copycat of an important nutrient starves them of the fuel they need to survive and grow. The method, described in the journal Nature Cancer, has been used in early clinical trials for lung cancer. However, the unique properties of pancreatic cancer may make the strategy an even stronger candidate in the pancreas.

Pancreatic cancer relies on the nutrient glutamine much more than other cancers, so therapies that can interfere with tumors' ability to access glutamine could be highly effective.

Pancreatic cancer is relatively rare, accounting for only 3% of all cancers. However, it has one of the lowest survival rates among cancers: most people only live three to six months after being diagnosed with this disease.

One of the challenges of treating pancreatic cancer has to do with the physical properties of the tumors themselves.

Pancreatic tumors tend to be packed in dense connective tissue that keeps them encapsulated from the rest of the body and cuts off their supply of oxygen. As a consequence, these cancers develop unique metabolic properties compared to other tumors, and this is something we may be able to exploit with new treatments.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 10, 2023 at 11:12am

Why eyeballing four is easy but five is hard

Our brains use one mechanism to size up four or fewer items, and a different one f... — which is why doing the latter is so much harder. The brain contains specialized neurons that fire when we see a specific number of objects: some fire primarily when presented with one dot on a screen, for example. Brain scans of 17 people revealed that the neurons specializing in numbers of four or less responded very specifically and selectively to their preferred number. Neurons that specialize in five through nine responded strongly not only to their preferred number, but also to numbers immediately adjacent to it.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-023-01709-3.epdf?sharing_tok...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 10, 2023 at 10:30am

Prior research has shown that exchange of material such as aerosols into the atmosphere can lead to a land-atmospheric feedback system, resulting in cooling of temperatures in a region, and subsequent changes in rainfall amounts. Likewise, irrigation efforts have been found to instigate land-atmosphere feedback as water from such systems evaporates into the atmosphere. Such systems have been found to have an impact on local hydrological cycles, and in some cases, can impact monsoon rains. These findings convinced the team on this new effort to take a closer look at the possible impact of interlinking rivers.

To estimate possible impacts, the team used causal delineation techniques along with general climate models that have been modified to focus specifically on India and its weather, and also a reanalysis of datasets built from land-atmosphere feedback systems that already exist in India.

The researchers found that land-atmosphere feedbacks from interlinked rivers could generate causal pathways between river basins in India—as one example, they found incidences of decreased rainfall in September (during monsoon season) by up to 12% in parts of the country that are already experiencing water shortages. They also found evidence of some areas experiencing more dryness during El Niño years. They conclude that more study is required before approving new river linking efforts.

Tejasvi Chauhan et al, River interlinking alters land-atmosphere feedback and changes the Indian summer monsoon, Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41668-x

Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 10, 2023 at 10:29am

Models suggest interlinking rivers in India to meet water demand may adversely impact monsoon rainfall amounts

A team of civil engineers and meteorologists at the Indian Institute of Technology, working with colleagues from the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology and the University of Hyderabad, has found, via modeling, that a plan to interlink rivers in India to capture rain runoff could inadvertently have a negative impact on the amount and location of monsoon rainfall.

In their study, published in the journal Nature Communications, the group used a variety of modeling techniques to test the possibility of unintended changes to weather patterns in India as interlinking projects are undertaken.

Officials in India have a clear problem on their hands—their country has a population of 1.4 billion people, the highest of any country in the world. And it is still growing. Such growth is presenting a host of problems, including how to feed so many people, sustain economic growth and manage water. This last problem has become dire—for India to feed its people, it must grow more food and that will require more water. But water availability is decreasing. To meet the demand, scientists and government officials have proposed and instigated a plan that entails digging canals between rivers to interlink them, with the idea of capturing more rainfall. Instead of allowing most of its rainfall to run off into rivers and then to the sea, the country plans to divert some of that water into other rivers that can be shunted into drier areas, where it can be used for irrigation. But doing so, the researchers on this new effort insist, could have unintended and perhaps disastrous side effects.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 10, 2023 at 9:55am

Vacuum cleaner-effect in fungi can hold nanoplastics at bay

Researchers have investigated the effect of tiny polystyrene particles on bacteria and fungi. While these nanoplastics reduced both bacterial and fungal growth, the fungus actually managed to "clean up" their surroundings, thereby easing the effect of the plastics. 

Nanoplastics have been proven to induce toxicity in diverse organisms, yet very little is known how this new pollutant is affecting the soil ecosystem. To study these nanoparticles of polystyrene, the researchers used microfluidic chips, a growth system that allowed them to observe interactions of single cells with the plastics under the microscope.

At the highest nanoplastics concentration, the fungi caught most of the tiny plastics present in their vicinity, in a process that  the researchers labeled the 'vacuum cleaner effect.' Overall, they found that nanoplastics can cause a direct negative effect on the soil microbes. This highlights the need for further studies that can explain how the microbial stress response might affect soil functions.

The nanoplastic particles clung to the surface of the fungal branches in such a way that the surroundings were almost nanoplastic-free. The fungus cleaned up its surroundings under high concentrations, and could then grow better again. Although the results of the study were confirmed for many conditions, the researchers point out that it might be species dependent.

This serves as a reminder to reduce our plastic waste and the pollution of soils. Finding fungi that can specifically collect nanoplastics from the soil solution may help other organisms to sustain the pollution better, and perhaps attract bacteria that can break down plastics. The fungal 'vacuum cleaner' is not an easy fix for the problem, but can give a little hope for the future.

Paola M. Mafla-Endara et al, Exposure to polystyrene nanoplastics reduces bacterial and fungal biomass in microfabricated soil models, Science of The Total Environment (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166503

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 10, 2023 at 9:16am

Many midbody remnants are reabsorbed by one of the daughter cells that shed them, but those that touch down on a distant surface, like a lunar lander, may instead be absorbed by a third cell. If that cell swallows the midbody, it may mistakenly begin using the enclosed RNA as if it were its own blueprints.

Previous research showed that cancer cells are more likely than stem cells to have ingested a midbody and its potentially fate-altering cargo. Stem cells, which give rise to new cells and are valuable for their pluripotency, spit a lot of midbodies back out, perhaps to maintain their pluripotency.

Future research may be able to harness the power of midbody RNA to deliver drugs to cancer cells or to keep them from dividing.

The researchers identified a gene, called Arc, that is key to loading the midbody and midbody remnant with RNA. Taken up long ago from an ancient virus, Arc also plays a role in the way brain cells make memories.

Sungjin Park et al, The mammalian midbody and midbody remnant are assembly sites for RNA and localized translation, Developmental Cell (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2023.07.009

Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 10, 2023 at 9:14am

Remnant of cell division could be responsible for spreading cancer

Once thought to be the trash can of the cell, a little bubble of cellular stuff called the midbody remnant is actually packing working genetic material with the power to change the fate of other cells—including turning them into cancer.

When one cell divides into two, a process called mitosis, the result is not just the two daughter cells.

One cell divides into three things: two cells and one midbody remnant, a new signaling organelle. The midbody is full of genetic information, RNA, that doesn't have much to do with cell division at all, but likely functions in cell communication.

Researchers  analyzed the contents of midbodies—which form between the daughter cells during division—and tracked the interactions of the midbody remnants set free after cell division. Their results point to the midbody as a vehicle for the spread of cancer throughout the body.

What the researchers found inside midbodies was RNA—which is a kind of working copy of DNA used to produce the proteins that make things happen in cells—and the cellular machinery necessary to turn that RNA into proteins. The RNA in midbodies tends to be blueprints not for the cell division process but for proteins involved in activities that steer a cell's purpose, including pluripotency (the ability to develop into any of the body's many different types of cells) and oncogenesis (the formation of cancerous tumours).

A midbody remnant is very small. It's a micron in size, a millionth of a meter. But it's got everything it needs to sustain that working information from the dividing cell. And it can drift away from the site of mitosis, get into your bloodstream and land on another cell far away.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 10, 2023 at 8:55am

For a very long time, evolutionary biologists have tried to figure out what was behind this paradox of stasis idea," the scientists said. "What this study shows is that the answer may not be particularly complicated—we just had to conduct a study in the wild for a long enough time to figure it out."

Stroud, James T. et al, Fluctuating selection maintains distinct species phenotypes in an ecological community in the wild, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2222071120. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2222071120

Part 3

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Firefighting Fungi
Underneath every mushroom is a sprawling, branching network of rootlike structures called a mycelium. Now researchers have successfully grown these networks into Pop Tart–size sheets that could act as a fire retardant in building materials. Mycelium contains a lot of carbon. When exposed to fire, the sheet briefly burns, releasing water and carbon dioxide into the air, before petering out and leaving behind a black layer of carbon.

Why this is so cool: Unlike asbestos, which is still sometimes added to building materials as a fire retardant, mycelium does not shed noxious compounds when exposed to fire. Mycelium could replace the fire-retardant foam that insulates many commercial buildings, which can produce carbon monoxide and other toxic products when it combusts. Mycelium is also a biological material, and any waste it leaves behind is compostable.

What the experts say: “If the product reaches the end of its life, you can just chuck that mycelium in your garden,” says Everson Kandare an engineer at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. “Just toss it in the green beans.”

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