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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 7, 2021 at 8:56am

Researchers develop materials for oral delivery of insulin medication

A revolutionary technology developed  could dramatically improve the wellbeing of diabetic patients: an insulin oral delivery system that could replace traditional subcutaneous injections without the side effects caused by frequent injections.

Using prepared layers of nanosheets with insulin loaded in between layers to protect it, the researchers developed gastro-resistant imine-linked-covalent organic framework nanoparticles (nCOFs) that exhibited insulin protection in the stomach as well in diabetic test subjects whose sugar levels completely returned to normal within two hours after swallowing the nanoparticles.

Farah Benyettou et al. In vivo oral insulin delivery via covalent organic frameworks, Chemical Science (2021). DOI: 10.1039/D0SC05328G

https://phys.org/news/2021-04-materials-oral-delivery-insulin-medic...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 7, 2021 at 8:54am

Rise of the 'robo-plants', as scientists fuse nature with tech

Remote-controlled Venus flytrap "robo-plants" and crops that tell farmers when they are hit by disease could become reality after scientists developed a high-tech system for communicating with vegetation.

Researchers in Singapore linked up plants to electrodes capable of monitoring the weak electrical pulses naturally emitted by the greenery.

The scientists used the technology to trigger a Venus flytrap to snap its jaws shut at the push of a button on a smartphone app.

They then attached one of its jaws to a robotic arm and got the contraption to pick up a piece of wire half a millimetre thick, and catch a small falling object.

The technology is in its early stages, but researchers think it could eventually be used to build advanced "plant-based robots" that can pick up a host of fragile objects which are too delicate for rigid, robotic arms. These kinds of nature robots can be interfaced with other artificial robots (to make) hybrid systems.

The system can also pick up signals emitted by plants, raising the possibility that farmers will be able to detect problems with their crops at an early stage.

"By monitoring the plants' electrical signals, we may be able to detect possible distress signals and abnormalities. Farmers may find out when a disease is in progress, even before full-blown symptoms appear on the crops.

https://phys.org/news/2021-04-robo-plants-scientists-fuse-nature-te...

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 7, 2021 at 8:50am

A safer way to deploy bacteria as environmental sensors

In recent years, scientists have developed many strains of engineered bacteria that can be used as sensors to detect environmental contaminants such as heavy metals. If deployed in the natural environment, these sensors could help scientists track how pollutant levels change over time, over a wide geographic area.

MIT engineers have now devised a way to make this kind of deployment safer, by encasing bacterial sensors in a tough hydrogel shell that prevents them from escaping into the environment and potentially spreading modified genes to other organisms.

"Right now there are a lot of whole-cell biosensors being developed, but applying them in the real world is a challenge because we don't want any genetically modified organisms to be able to exchange genetic material with wild-type microbes.

Researchers showed that they could embed E. coli into hydrogel spheres, allowing them to detect the contaminants they're looking for while remaining isolated from other organisms. The shells also help to protect the sensors from environmental damage.

Tzu-Chieh Tang et al. Hydrogel-based biocontainment of bacteria for continuous sensing and computation, Nature Chemical Biology (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41589-021-00779-6

https://phys.org/news/2021-04-safer-deploy-bacteria-environmental-s...

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 6, 2021 at 6:30am

The problems we face with

Forever Chemicals

Forever chemicals are used in everything from rain jackets to jet fuel. But the chemistry behind what makes them useful also makes them stick around in the environment and us...forever?

Could microbes save us from PFAS? You can read about the study we mention here: https://cen.acs.org/environment/persistent-pollutants/microbes-save...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 6, 2021 at 6:22am

Scientists develop a safe, cheap technology for disinfection of pac...

Russian researchers have developed an inexpensive, safe, and reliable surface disinfection technology for packed eggs. This technology helps to kill bacteria, including salmonella, on eggshells. Also, it allows growing broiler chickens with strong immunity to viral diseases. Packed eggs are disinfected with an electron beam for 50 nanoseconds (one-billionth of a second). Disinfection takes place in plastic containers. The description of the technology was published in Food and Bioproducts Processing.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 6, 2021 at 6:09am

Geoengineering is just a partial solution to fight climate change

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Study reveals uncertainty in how much carbon the ocean absorbs over...

The ocean's "biological pump" describes the many marine processes that work to take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and transport it deep into the ocean, where it can remain sequestered for centuries. This ocean pump is a powerful regulator of atmospheric carbon dioxide and an essential ingredient in any global climate forecast.

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Making cleaner, greener plastics from waste fish parts

Polyurethanes, a type of plastic, are nearly everywhere—in shoes, clothes, refrigerators and construction materials. But these highly versatile materials can have a major downside. Derived from crude oil, toxic to synthesize, and slow to break down, conventional polyurethanes are not environmentally friendly. Today, researchers discuss devising what they say should be a safer, biodegradable alternative derived from fish waste—heads, bones, skin and guts—that would otherwise likely be discarded.

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Paleopharmaceuticals from Baltic amber might fight drug-resistant i...

For centuries, people in Baltic nations have used ancient amber for medicinal purposes. Even today, infants are given amber necklaces that they chew to relieve teething pain, and people put pulverized amber in elixirs and ointments for its purported anti-inflammatory and anti-infective properties. Now, scientists have pinpointed compounds that help explain Baltic amber's therapeutic effects and that could lead to new medicines to combat antibiotic-resistant infections.

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Doping by athletes could become tougher to hide with new detection ...

As the world awaits the upcoming Olympic games, a new method for detecting doping compounds in urine samples could level the playing field for those trying to keep athletics clean. Today, scientists report an approach using ion mobility-mass spectrometry to help regulatory agencies detect existing dopants and future "designer" compounds.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 6, 2021 at 6:07am

A sun reflector for Earth? Scientists explore the potential risks and benefits

Nine of the hottest years in human history have occurred in the last decade. Without a major shift in this climate trajectory, the future of life on Earth is in question. Should humans, whose fossil-fueled society is driving climate change, use technology to put the brakes on global warming?

Every month since September 2019 the Climate Intervention Biology Working Group, a team of internationally recognized experts in climate science and ecology, has gathered remotely to bring science to bear on that question and the consequences of geoengineering a cooler Earth by reflecting a portion of the sun's radiation away from the planet—a climate intervention strategy known as solar radiation modification (SRM).

The group's seminal paper, "Potential ecological impacts of climate intervention by reflecting sunlight to cool Earth," was published in the most recent Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

The costs and technology needed to reflect the Sun's heat back into space are currently more attainable than other climate intervention ideas like absorbing carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the air. 

Scientific investigation into how a climate intervention strategy known as solar radiation modification (SRM), in tandem with greenhouse gas emissions reduction, would affect the natural world is being studied.

The feasibility of planetary-wide SRM efforts hinge on accurate predictions of its myriad outcomes provided by the well-established computer simulations of the Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project (GeoMIP).

While climate models have become quite advanced in predicting climate outcomes of various geoengineering scenarios, we have very little understanding of what the possible risks of these scenarios might be for species and natural systems. Are the risks for extinction, species community change, and the need for organisms to migrate to survive under SRM greater than those of climate change, or does SRM reduce the risks caused by climate change?

Most of the GeoMIP models only simulate abiotic variables, but what about all of the living things that are affected by climate and rely on energy from the sun?

"We need to better understand the possible impacts of SRM on everything from soil microorganisms to monarch butterfly migrations to marine systems."

Phoebe L. Zarnetske el al., "Potential ecological impacts of climate intervention by reflecting sunlight to cool Earth," PNAS (2021). www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1921854118

https://phys.org/news/2021-04-sun-reflector-earth-scientists-explor...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 5, 2021 at 9:19am

Climate Change is affecting you personally. Here's how

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 5, 2021 at 8:54am

Female monkeys use males as 'hired guns' for defense against predators, study says

Researchers with the Wildlife Conservation Society's (WCS) Congo Program and the Nouabalé-Ndoki Foundation found that female putty-nosed monkeys (Cercopithecus nictitans) use males as "hired guns" to defend from predators such as leopards.

Publishing their results in the journal Royal Society Open Science, the team discovered that female monkeys use alarm calls to recruit males to defend them from predators. The researchers conducted the study among 19 different groups of wild putty-nosed monkeys, a type of forest guenon, in Mbeli Bai, a study area within the forests in Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, Northern Republic of Congo.

The results promote the idea that females' general alarm requires males to assess the nature of the threat and that it serves to recruit males to ensure group defense. Females only cease the alarm call when males produce calls associated with anti-predator defense. Results suggest that alarm-calling strategies depend on the sex of the signaler. Females recruit males, who identify themselves while approaching, for protection. Males reassure their female of their quality in predation defense, probably to assure future reproduction opportunities.

Males advertise their commitment to serve as hired guns by emitting general "pyow" calls while approaching the rest of their group—a call containing little information about ongoing events, but cues to male identity, similar as to a signature call. Hearing his "pyow" call during male approaches enables females to identify high quality group defenders already from a distance. This might contribute to long-term male reputation in groups, which would equip females to choose males that ensure their offspring's survival most reliably.

Frederic Gnepa Mehon et al, Female putty-nosed monkeys ( Cercopithecus nictitans ) vocally recruit males for predator defense, Royal Society Open Science (2021). DOI: 10.1098/rsos.202135

https://phys.org/news/2021-03-female-monkeys-males-hired-guns.html?...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 5, 2021 at 8:34am

Researchers achieve world's first manipulation of antimatter by laser

Researchers with the CERN-based ALPHA collaboration have announced the world's first laser-based manipulation of antimatter, leveraging a  laser system to cool a sample of antimatter down to near absolute zero. The achievement, detailed in an article published recently and featured on the cover of the journal Nature, will significantly alter the landscape of antimatter research and advance the next generation of experiments.

Antimatter is the otherworldly counterpart to matter; it exhibits near-identical characteristics and behaviors but has opposite charge. Because they annihilate upon contact with matter, antimatter atoms are exceptionally difficult to create and control in our world and had never before been manipulated with a laser.

These results are the culmination of a years-long program of research and engineering.

Laser cooling of antihydrogen atoms , Nature (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03289-6

https://phys.org/news/2021-03-canadian-built-laser-chills-antimatte...

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