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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 22, 2023 at 9:05am

Turning a cockroach into a cyborg without injuring it

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 22, 2023 at 8:56am

Smart speaker lets users mute different areas of a room

In virtual meetings, it's easy to keep people from talking over each other. Someone just hits mute. But for the most part, this ability doesn't translate easily to recording in-person gatherings. In a bustling cafe, there are no buttons to silence the table beside you.

The ability to locate and control sound—isolating one person talking from a specific location in a crowded room, for instance—has challenged researchers, especially without visual cues from cameras.

A team of researchers has developed a shape-changing smart speaker, which uses self-deploying microphones to divide rooms into speech zones and track the positions of individual speakers. With the help of the team's deep-learning algorithms, the system lets users mute certain areas or separate simultaneous conversations, even if two adjacent people have similar voices.

Like a fleet of Roombas, each about an inch in diameter, the microphones automatically deploy from and then return to a charging station. This allows the system to be moved between environments and set up automatically. In a conference room meeting, for instance, such a system might be deployed instead of a central microphone, allowing better control of in-room audio.

Creating Speech Zones Using Self-distributing Acoustic Swarms, Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40869-8. www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-40869-8

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 22, 2023 at 8:38am

Regeneration across complete spinal cord injuries reverses paralysis

When the spinal cords of mice and humans are partially damaged, the initial paralysis is followed by the extensive, spontaneous recovery of motor function. However, after a complete spinal cord injury, this natural repair of the spinal cord doesn't occur and there is no recovery. Meaningful recovery after severe injuries requires strategies that promote the regeneration of nerve fibers, but the requisite conditions for these strategies to successfully restore motor function have remained elusive till recently.

Five years ago, some researchers demonstrated that nerve fibres can be regenerated across anatomically complete spinal cord injuries. But they also realized this wasn't enough to restore motor function, as the new fibers failed to connect to the right places on the other side of the lesion.

Now the scientists used state-of-the-art equipment to run in-depth analyses and identity which type of neuron is involved in natural spinal-cord repair after partial spinal cord injury.

Their  observations using single-cell nuclear RNA sequencing not only exposed the specific axons that must regenerate, but also revealed that these axons must reconnect to their natural targets to restore motor function.

Their discovery informed the design of a multipronged gene therapy. The scientists activated growth programs in the identified neurons in mice to regenerate their nerve fibers, upregulated specific proteins to support the neurons' growth through the lesion core, and administered guidance molecules to attract the regenerating nerve fibers to their natural targets below the injury.

Mice with anatomically complete spinal cord injuries regained the ability to walk, exhibiting gait patterns that resembled those quantified in mice that resumed walking naturally after partial injuries. This observation revealed a previously unknown condition for regenerative therapies to be successful in restoring motor function after neurotrauma.

Scientists now think a complete solution for treating spinal cord injury will require both approaches—gene therapy to regrow relevant nerve fibers, and spinal stimulation to maximize the ability of both these fibers and the spinal cord below the injury to produce movement.

While many obstacles must still be overcome before this gene therapy can be applied in humans, the scientists have taken the first steps towards developing the technology necessary to achieve this feat in the years to come.

Jordan W. Squair et al, Recovery of walking after paralysis by regenerating characterized neurons to their natural target region, Science (2023). DOI: 10.1126/science.adi6412. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi6412

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 21, 2023 at 11:16am

Deep sea mystery of the Lebensspuren

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 21, 2023 at 9:32am

Nanotechnology in the fight against viruses

Newly emerging and recurrent cases of viral infections constitute a significant problem and a huge challenge to public health. Most countries prevent or control acute viral infections through widespread vaccination and improved sanitation. As a result, measles, yellow fever, and rabies cases rarely occur now.

But these days very frequently, new viral infections, symptoms and infections are being  reported. But researchers are trying to fight these viral infections with nanotechnology that can solve current problems related to the prevention, treatment, and diagnosis of viral infections.

Most attention is paid to the synthesis of new drugs and vaccines based on nanocarriers, with increased effectiveness and reduced side effects, the design of personal protective equipment (masks, gloves, medical clothing) and self-disinfecting surfaces, as well as strategies for the development of nanobiosensors enabling early detection of viral infection.

The results of research conducted on a laboratory scale are very promising. However, when thinking about the commercialization of medical products based on nanotechnology, one should consider how their cost can be reduced and how they can be made more reliable compared to existing solutions.

This is one such paper: Joanna Goscianska et al, Nanoscience versus Viruses: The SARS‐CoV‐2 Case, Advanced Functional Materials (2021). DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202107826

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 21, 2023 at 8:57am

• In winter, the new coating was slightly warmer than the passive radiative cooling system, though both maintained similar temperatures in warmer conditions.
• In summer, the new coating was significantly cooler than the white paint and steel tiles.
• During spring and fall, the new coating was the only system that could adapt to the widely fluctuating temperatures changes, switching from heating to cooling throughout the day.

The researchers say that this color-changing system could save a considerable amount of energy for regions that experience multiple seasons, while still being inexpensive and easy to manufacture.

"Warm in Winter and Cool in Summer" Scalable Biochameleons Inspired Temperature Adaptive Coating with Easy Preparation and Construction, Nano Letters (2023). DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c02733

Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 21, 2023 at 8:56am

Chameleon-inspired coating could cool and warm buildings through the seasons

As summer turns to fall, many people will be turning off the air conditioning and firing up heaters instead. But traditional heating and cooling systems are energy-intensive, and because they typically run on fossil fuels, they aren't sustainable. Now, by mimicking a desert-dwelling chameleon, a research team reporting in Nano Letters has developed an energy-efficient, cost-effective coating. The material could keep buildings cool in the summers—or warm in the winters—without additional energy.

Many desert creatures have specialized adaptations to allow them to survive in harsh environments with large daily temperature shifts. For example, the Namaqua chameleon of southwestern Africa alters its color to regulate its body temperature as conditions change. The critters appear light gray in hot temperatures to reflect sunlight and keep cool, then turn a dark brown once they cool down to absorb heat instead.

This unique ability is a naturally occurring example of passive temperature control—a phenomenon that could be adapted to create more energy-efficient buildings. But many systems, such as cooling paints or colored steel tiles, are only designed to keep buildings either cool or warm, and can't switch between "modes."

Inspired by the Namaqua chameleon, researchers wanted to create a color-shifting coating that would adapt as outside temperatures fluctuate. To make the coating, researchers mixed thermochromic microcapsules, specialized microparticles and binders to form a suspension, which they sprayed or brushed onto a metal surface. When heated to 68 degrees Fahrenheit, the surface began to change from dark to light gray. Once it reached 86 degrees, the light-colored film reflected up to 93% of solar radiation. Even when heated above 175 degrees for an entire day, the material showed no signs of damage. Next, the team tested it alongside three conventional coatings—regular white paint, a passive radiative cooling paint and blue steel tiles—in outdoor tests on miniature, doghouse-sized buildings throughout all four seasons.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 21, 2023 at 8:48am

How bats evolved to avoid cancer

A new paper titled "Long-read sequencing reveals rapid evolution of immunity and cancer-related genes in bats" in Genome Biology and Evolution shows that rapid evolution in bats may account for the animals' extraordinary ability to both host and survive infections as well as avoid cancer.

Bats are exceptional among mammals for not only their ability to fly, but also for their long lives, low cancer rates, and robust immune systems. The ability of bats to tolerate viral infections may stem from unusual features of their innate immune response.

These characteristics make bats an interesting animal to investigate, because they may have implications for human health. For example, by better understanding the mechanisms of the bat immune system that allow bats to tolerate viral infections, researchers may be better able to prevent disease outbreaks from animals to people. Comparative genomic analyses of bats and cancer-susceptible mammals may eventually provide new information on the causes of cancer and the links between cancer and immunity.

Studies of bats and other organisms complement studies based on mouse models; mice are more amenable than bats to experimental manipulation but exhibit fewer characteristics with implications for human disease.

So researchers sequenced the genomes of two bat species, the Jamaican fruit bat and the Mesoamerican mustached bat, and carried out a comprehensive comparative genomic analysis with a diverse collection of bats and other mammals.

The researchers found genetic adaptations in six DNA repair-related proteins and 46 proteins in bats that were cancer-related, meaning that researchers have previously found that such proteins suppress cancer. Notably, the study found that these altered cancer-related genes were enriched more than two-fold in the bat group compared to other mammals.

By generating these new bat genomes and comparing them to other mammals scientists continue to find extraordinary new adaptations in antiviral and anticancer genes. These investigations are the first step towards translating research on the unique biology of bats into insights relevant to understanding and treating aging and diseases, such as cancer, in humans.

Armin Scheben et al, Long-read sequencing reveals rapid evolution of immunity and cancer-related genes in bats, Genome Biology and Evolution (2023). DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evad148

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 21, 2023 at 8:32am

Researchers make sand that flows uphill

Engineering researchers  have discovered that sand can actually flow uphill.

The team's findings were published recently in the journal Nature Communications. A corresponding video shows what happens when torque and an attractive force  is applied to each grain—the grains flow uphill, up walls, and up and down stairs.

"After using equations that describe the flow of granular materials,"  say the authors of the paper, "we were able to conclusively show that these particles were indeed moving like a granular material, except they were flowing uphill."

The researchers say the highly unusual discovery could unlock many more lines of inquiry that could lead to a vast range of applications, from health care to material transport and agriculture.

Uphill granular flow of microrobotic microrollers

But to understand how these grains are flowing uphill, the researchers calculated what the stresses are that cause them to move in that direction. If you have a negative angle of repose, then you must have cohesion to give a negative coefficient of friction. These granular flow equations were never derived to consider these things, but after calculating it, what came out is an apparent coefficient of friction that is negative.

Increasing the magnetic force increases the cohesion, which gives the grains more traction and the ability to move faster. The collective motion of all those grains, and their ability to stick to each other, allows a pile of sand particles to essentially work together to do counterintuitive things—like flow up walls, and climb stairs. The team is now using a laser cutter to build tiny staircases, and is taking videos of the material ascending one side and descending the other. A single microroller couldn't overcome the height of each step. But working together, they can.

 Samuel R. Wilson-Whitford et al, Microrollers flow uphill as granular media, Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41327-1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on September 21, 2023 at 8:20am

Spider silk is spun by silkworms for the first time, offering a green alternative to synthetic fibers

Scientists  have synthesized spider silk from genetically modified silkworms, producing fibers six times tougher than the Kevlar used in bulletproof vests.

The study, published September 20 in the journal Matter, is the first to successfully produce full-length spider silk proteins using silkworms. The findings demonstrate a technique that could be used to manufacture an environmentally friendly alternative to synthetic commercial fibers such as nylon.

Silkworm silk is presently the only animal silk fiber commercialized on a large scale, with well-established rearing techniques. Consequently, employing genetically modified silkworms to produce spider silk fiber enables low-cost, large-scale commercialization.

Scientists have eyed spider silk as an enticingly sustainable alternative to synthetic fibres, which can release harmful microplastics into the environment and are often produced from fossil fuels that generate greenhouse gas emissions. But turning to nature for alternatives isn't without challenges.

Previously developed processes for spinning artificial spider silk have struggled to apply a surface layer of glycoproteins and lipids to the silk to help it withstand humidity and exposure to sunlight—an anti-aging "skin layer" that spiders apply to their webs.

Genetically modified silkworms offer a solution to this problem, say the researchers  since silkworms coat their own fibers with a similar protective layer.

The exceptionally high mechanical performance of the fibers produced in this study holds significant promise in this field. This type of fiber can be utilized as surgical sutures, addressing a global demand exceeding 300 million procedures annually.

The spider silk fibers could also be used to create more comfortable garments and innovative types of bulletproof vests and they may have applications in smart materials, the military, aerospace technology, and biomedical engineering.

 Qing Meng, High-strength and ultra-tough whole spider silk fibers spun from transgenic silkworms, Matter (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.matt.2023.08.013. www.cell.com/matter/fulltext/S2590-2385(23)00421-6

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