Comment

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 24, 2025 at 10:59am

Telomerase contains an RNA template that is used to make the replacement DNA. In humans and other mammals, this RNA comes from the TERC gene. C. elegans has working telomerase, but it doesn't seem to have a TERC gene.
This mystery has stumped scientists for more than 20 years, and some have assumed that the gene was lost during evolution. In their study, the team at RIKEN BDR discovered how C. elegans can exist without a standalone TERC gene.

Because telomerase levels are normally very low, the researchers genetically engineered C. elegans to overproduce the telomerase protein, which made it possible to collect large amounts of the whole telomerase complex, including the RNA template.

They then used all the collected template RNA to search the genome for matching DNA. Unlike in mammals, instead of being located in its own gene, they found it inside another gene's intron.

Usually, the instructions in DNA within genes are used to build proteins. But some parts of genes, called introns, are not used to build proteins and are usually removed and discarded once the gene's protein is made.

It was surprising to find that the key RNA—which 's named terc-1—was hidden inside an intron of the gene called nmy-2, which is expressed only in germ cells.
Indeed, the discovery that the essential telomerase RNA was hidden within an intron was completely unexpected.
Experiments showed that in C. elegans lacking terc-1, telomeres became shorter each generation, and within 15 generations, the animals became extinct. Inserting terc-1 inside introns of other genes that are expressed in germ cells created roundworms that had normal telomeres and did not become extinct.

In contrast, when terc-1 was inserted into introns of genes that only activate in somatic cells, the animals did become extinct. Thus, by hitching a ride inside genes activated in germ cells, terc-1 is produced where it is needed—the germ cells. There, it helps ensure that future generations do not receive shortened telomeres, thus supporting the survival of the species.
Beyond its evolutionary significance, this discovery will help us better understand how telomerase is regulated in healthy cells and could transform approaches to aging, fertility, and regenerative medicine.

 Yutaka Takeda et al, Nematode telomerase RNA hitchhikes on introns of germline–up-regulated genes, Science (2025). DOI: 10.1126/science.ads7778. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ads7778

Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 24, 2025 at 10:55am

Hitchhiking DNA picked up by a gene may save a species from extinction

An international research team  has solved a genetic mystery and revealed a previously unknown way that DNA can control what cells do.

Published in Science, the study reveals that in the roundworm C. elegans, vital RNA needed to keep the ends of chromosomes intact does not have its own gene. Instead, it hitchhikes inside another one. DNA hitchhiking could be a common strategy in the animal kingdom, and has implications for anti-aging therapies and regenerative medicine in humans.

Telomeres are DNA caps that protect the ends of chromosomes, much like the plastic tips of shoelaces. As we age, the cells of our bodies—called somatic cells—divide when we need new tissue, and every time that happens the telomeres lose some of their DNA.

Some signs of aging are related to this process. For example, skin cells with shorter telomeres make less collagen and skin becomes wrinkled. When they are too short, cells self-destruct.

Sperm and egg precursor cells—collectively called germ cells—are an exception to this rule. When they divide, an enzyme called telomerase adds replacement DNA to the ends of shortened telomeres. Because of this, telomere length doesn't get shorter with each generation, and species do not become extinct.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 24, 2025 at 10:20am

Peatlands' 'huge reservoir' of carbon at risk of release, researchers warn

Peatlands make up just 3% of Earth's land surface but store more than 30% of the world's soil carbon, preserving organic matter and sequestering its carbon for tens of thousands of years. A new study sounds the alarm that an extreme drought event could quadruple peatland carbon loss in a warming climate.

In the study, published in Science, researchers find that, under conditions that mimic a future climate (with warmer temperatures and elevated carbon dioxide), extreme drought dramatically increases the release of carbon in peatlands by nearly three times. This means that droughts in future climate conditions could turn a valuable carbon sink into a carbon source, erasing between 90 and 250 years of carbon stores in a matter of months.

As temperatures increase, drought events become more frequent and severe, making peatlands more vulnerable than before. These extreme drought events can wipe out hundreds of years of accumulated carbon, so this has a huge implication.

The researchers found that the lowered water table during drought took longer to recover at higher temperatures and elevated carbon dioxide levels, which led to more carbon release.

Quan Quan et al, Drought-induced peatland carbon loss exacerbated by elevated CO₂ and warming, Science (2025). DOI: 10.1126/science.adv7104. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adv7104

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 24, 2025 at 9:18am

In contrast, the elapid snakes, such as the Cape coral cobra (Aspidelaps lubricus) and the forest cobra (Naja melanoleuca), used a stealthier strategy, creeping closer to their victim before lunging and biting repeatedly as their jaw muscles tensed to squeeze the venom into their dinner.

The colubrid snakes, with fangs further back in their mouths, lunge over the greatest distances before clamping their jaws around their meal, sweeping their jaws from side-to-side to tear a crescent-shaped gash in the victim to deliver the maximum dose of venom. And on one occasion, a blunt-nosed viper misjudged the distance to its prey, hitting the right fang and breaking it off. But the team suspects that this occurs more than you'd think, with fangs turning up in snake scats after being swallowed.

Venomous snakes use dramatically different strategies to deliver their deadly bites. Vipers and elapids strike elegantly before victims are even aware of their presence and colubrid bites inflict the maximum damage. These creatures don't pull any punches when they mean business.

Cleuren, S. G. C., et al. Kinematics of feeding strikes in venomous snakes., Journal of Experimental Biology (2025). DOI: 10.1242/jeb.250347

Part 3

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 24, 2025 at 9:17am

After capturing more than 100 snake strikes in minute detail, the team saw the vipers embed their fangs in the fake prey within 100ms of launching a smooth strike—with the blunt-nosed viper (Macrovipera lebetina) accelerating up to 710m/s2 and landing its bite within 22ms; the elapid snakes bit their victims as quickly as vipers.

In addition, the vipers moved the fastest as they struck, with Bothrops asper—sometimes known as the ultimate pit-viper—reaching speeds of over 4.5m/s after hitting accelerations of more than 370m/s2, although the fastest elapid—the rough-scaled death adder—only reached speeds of 2.5m/s.

Focusing on the vipers' fangs, the team saw the needle-like teeth sink into the fake prey, but if the viper wasn't happy with the position of a fang, it pulled it out to reinsert it at a better angle, effectively walking the fang forward. Only when the fangs were comfortably in place did the vipers close their jaws and inject venom into their catch.

Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 24, 2025 at 9:16am

Snakes' biting styles revealed in fine detail for the first time

Few actions in nature inspire more fear and fascination than snake bites. And the venomous reptiles have to move fast to sink their fangs into their prey before their victim flinches, which may be as little as 60 ms when hunting rodents.

Until recently, video technology was not sufficiently sophisticated to capture the deathly maneuvers in high definition, but recent improvements have made this possible, so researchers decided to get to the heart of how venomous viper, elapid and colubrid snakes sink their fangs into their dinner.

Publishing their research in the Journal of Experimental Biology, the researchers reveal how vipers sink their fangs into their victims before walking them into position to inject venom. Elapids squeeze venom into their victims by biting repeatedly. And colubrids sweep their jaws from side to side to tear a gash in their victim and deliver maximum venom.

Researchers also tempted 36 species of snake—from western diamondback rattlesnakes (Crotalus atrox) and west African carpet vipers (Echis ocellatus) to the rough-scaled death adder (Acanthophis rugosus)—to lunge at a cylinder of warm muscle-like medical gel resembling a small animal, recording the encounters with two cameras at 1000 frames/s to recreate the lightning-fast maneuvers in 3D. 

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 23, 2025 at 12:53pm

Dangerous E. coli strain blocks gut's defense mechanism against spreading infection

When harmful bacteria that cause food poisoning, such as E. coli, invade through the digestive tract, gut cells usually fight back by pushing infected cells out of the body to stop the infection from spreading.

In a new study published today in Nature, scientists discovered that a dangerous strain of E. coli—known for causing bloody diarrhea—can block this gut defense, allowing the bacteria to spread more easily.

The bacteria inject a special protein called NleL into gut cells, which breaks down key enzymes known as ROCK1 and ROCK2, that are needed for infected cells to be expelled. Without this process, the infected cells can't leave quickly, allowing the bacteria to spread more easily.

Usually, when harmful bacteria invade the gut, the body fights back quickly. The first line of defense is the intestinal lining—made up of tightly packed cells that absorb nutrients and keep bacteria out of the bloodstream. If one of these cells gets infected, it sacrifices itself by pushing itself out of the gut lining and into the intestines to be flushed. This helps prevent the bacteria from spreading.

This study shows that pathogenic bacteria can block infected cells from being pushed out.

It's a completely different strategy from what we've seen before. Some bacteria try to hide from being detected, but this one actually stops the cell's escape route.

This discovery could pave the way for new treatments that target how bacteria cause disease, rather than killing the bacteria outright, like antibiotics do.

Vishva Dixit, Enteropathogenic bacteria evade ROCK-driven epithelial cell extrusion, Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09645-0. www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09645-0

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 23, 2025 at 9:58am

Chemists discover clean and green way to recycle Teflon

New research demonstrates a simple, eco-friendly method to break down Teflon—one of the world's most durable plastics—into useful chemical building blocks.

Scientists have developed a clean and energy-efficient way to recycle Teflon (PTFE), a material best known for its use in non-stick coatings and other applications that demand high chemical and thermal stability.

The researchers discovered that Teflon waste can be broken down and repurposed using only sodium metal and mechanical energy—movement by shaking—at room temperature and without toxic solvents.

Publishing their findings in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, researchers reveal a low-energy, waste-free alternative to conventional fluorine recycling.

The process they discovered breaks the strong carbon–fluorine bonds in Teflon, converting it into sodium fluoride, which is used in fluoride toothpastes and added to drinking water.

Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), best known by the brand name Teflon, is prized for its resistance to heat and chemicals, making it ideal for cookware, electronics, and laboratory equipment, but those same properties make it almost impossible to recycle.
When burned or incinerated, PTFE releases persistent pollutants known as "forever chemicals" (PFAS), which remain in the environment for decades. Traditional disposal methods therefore raise major environmental and health concerns.
The research team tackled this challenge using mechanochemistry—a green approach that drives chemical reactions by applying mechanical energy instead of heat.
Inside a sealed steel container known as a ball mill, sodium metal fragments are ground with Teflon which causes them to react at room temperature. The process breaks the strong carbon–fluorine bonds in Teflon, converting it into harmless carbon and sodium fluoride, a stable inorganic salt.
The researchers then showed that the sodium fluoride recovered in this way can also be used directly, without purification, to create other valuable fluorine-containing molecules. These include compounds used in pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, and other fine chemicals.

A Reductive Mechanochemical Approach Enabling Direct Upcycling of Fluoride from Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) into Fine Chemicals, Journal of the American Chemical Society (2025). DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c14052

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 23, 2025 at 9:53am

Why the universe exists

In 1867, Lord Kelvin imagined atoms as knots in the aether. The idea was soon disproven. Atoms turned out to be something else entirely. But his discarded vision may yet hold the key to why the universe exists.

Now, for the first time, physicists have shown that knots can arise in a realistic particle physics framework, one that also tackles deep puzzles such as neutrino masses, dark matter, and the strong CP problem.

Their findings, in Physical Review Letters, suggest these "cosmic knots" could have formed and briefly dominated in the turbulent newborn universe, collapsing in ways that favored matter over antimatter and leaving behind a unique hum in spacetime that future detectors could listen for—a rarity for a physics mystery that's notoriously hard to probe.

This study addresses one of the most fundamental mysteries in physics: why our universe is made of matter and not antimatter.

This question is important because it touches directly on why stars, galaxies, and we ourselves exist at all.

The universe's missing antimatter

The Big Bang should have produced equal amounts of matter and antimatter, each particle destroying its twin until only radiation remained. Yet the universe is overwhelmingly made of matter, with almost no antimatter in sight. Calculations show that everything we see today, from atoms to galaxies, exists because just one extra particle of matter survived for every billion matter–antimatter pairs.

The Standard Model of particle physics, despite its extraordinary success, cannot account for that discrepancy. Its predictions fall many orders of magnitude short. Explaining the origin of that tiny excess of matter, known as baryogenesis, is one of physics' greatest unsolved puzzles.

In the present study, by combining a gauged Baryon Number Minus Lepton Number (B-L) symmetry, with the Peccei–Quinn (PQ) symmetry, the team showed that knots could naturally form in the early universe and generate the observed surplus.

These two long-studied extensions of the Standard Model patch some of its most puzzling gaps. The PQ symmetry solves the strong CP problem, the conundrum of why experiments don't detect the tiny electric dipole moment that theory predicts for the neutron, and in the process, introduces the axion, a leading dark matter candidate. Meanwhile, the B–L symmetry explains why neutrinos, ghostlike particles that can slip through entire planets unnoticed, have mass.

Minoru Eto et al, Tying Knots in Particle Physics, Physical Review Letters (2025). DOI: 10.1103/s3vd-brsn

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on October 23, 2025 at 9:38am

People exposed to rationing in utero and during early life also showed progressively longer delays (up to two and a half years) in the age of onset of cardiovascular outcomes compared with those not exposed to rationing.

Sugar rationing was also associated with small yet meaningful increases in healthy heart function compared with those never rationed.

The authors point out that during the rationing period, sugar allowances for everyone, including pregnanat women and children, were limited to under 40 g per day—and no added sugars were permitted for infants under 2 years old—restrictions consistent with modern dietary recommendations.

Reminder: This is just an observational study, so no firm conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect.

Exposure to sugar rationing in first 1000 days after conception and long term cardiovascular outcomes: natural experiment study, The BMJ (2025). DOI: 10.1136/bmj-2024-083890

Part 2

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 47
• 48
• 49
• 50
• 51
• …
• 1176
• Next ›
• Page