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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 5, 2021 at 8:32am

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 made-in-Canada laser system to cool a sample of antimatter down to near absolute zero. The achievement, detailed in an article published today and featured on the cover of the journal Nature, will significantly alter the landscape of antimatter research and advance the next generation of experiments.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 3, 2021 at 9:09am

How life-span shifting insects are reshaping aging research

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 3, 2021 at 9:03am

Cells Form Into ‘Xenobots’ on Their Own

Embryonic cells can self-assemble into new living forms that don’t resemble the bodies they usually generate, challenging old ideas of what defines an organism.

https://www.quantamagazine.org/cells-form-into-xenobots-on-their-ow...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 3, 2021 at 8:47am

Fungi could manipulate bacteria to enrich soil with nutrients

A team of researchers from the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) has discovered a distinct group of bacteria that may help fungi and plants acquire soil nutrients. The findings could point the way to cost-effective and eco-friendly methods of enriching soil and improving crop yields, reducing farmers' reliance on conventional fertilizers.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 3, 2021 at 8:41am

Microplastics are affecting melt rates of snow and ice

Microplastics have reached the farthest corners of the Earth, including remote fjords and even the Mariana Trench, one of the deepest parts of the ocean. Recently, yet another distant area of our planet has been found to contain these pollutants: glaciers and ice sheets. An Eos article published in March examines how microplastics create changes in these icy ecosystems, and underscores the importance of properly distinguishing them from another form of pollution in snow, black carbon.

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How pathogenic bacteria weather the slings and arrows of infection

Infectious diseases are a leading cause of global mortality. During an infection, bacteria experience many different stresses—some from the host itself, some from co-colonizing microbes and others from therapies employed to treat the infection. In this arms race to outwit their competition, bacteria have evolved mechanisms to stay alive in the face of adversities. One such mechanism is the stringent response pathway. Understanding how the activation of the stringent response pathway is controlled can provide clues to treat infection.

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Understanding itch: New insights at the intersection of the nervous...

Eczema, or atopic dermatitis (AD), is sometimes called "the itch that rashes." Often, the itch begins before the rash appears, and, in many cases, the itchiness of the skin condition never really goes away. Although much has been learned about the uncomfortable sensation that triggers the desire to scratch, many mysteries remain about chronic itch, making it a challenge to treat. A paper by authors from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, offers new clues about the underlying mechanisms of itch. Findings suggest a key molecular player known as cysteine leukotriene receptor 2 (CysLT2R) that may be a new target for intractable chronic itch.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 3, 2021 at 8:27am

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 3, 2021 at 7:57am

Don’t go near water bodies that are coloured because study found airborne release of toxin from algal scum

A dangerous toxin has been witnessed—for the first time—releasing into the air from pond scum, research published in the peer-reviewed journal Lake and Reservoir Management recently shows.

Not only is pond scum—otherwise known as algal bloom—an unsightly formation which can occur on still water across the world, it can also prove dangerous to wildlife and humans.

For the first time, scientists have now detected the presence of the algal toxin anatoxin-a (ATX)which is also known as 'Very Fast Death Factor', in the air near ponds with large algal blooms. ATX can cause a range of symptoms at acute doses, including loss of coordination, muscular twitching and respiratory paralysis, and has been linked to the deaths of livestock, waterfowl and dogs from drinking contaminated water.

ATX is produced by single celled organisms known as cyanobacteria, which can form harmful algal blooms—when huge amounts of cyanobacteria grow in lake surface waters. Blooms are exacerbated by fertilizer run-off entering lakes or ponds from nearby fields or improperly treated wastewater, and can stimulate growth and high water temperatures. Cyanobacteria, which also are known as blue-green algae, are actually a type of bacteria that can photosynthesize.

Cyanobacterial blooms can also lead to low oxygen conditions, further degrading water quality. This is because when the algae in these large blooms die, they sink to the lake bottom and decompose, which can use up all the oxygen in the water, killing fish and other animals. The blooms also can release toxins into the water that can prove fatal for these animals.

ATX is one of the more dangerous cyanotoxins produced by harmful algal blooms, which are becoming more predominant in lakes and ponds worldwide due to global warming and climate change.People often recreate around these lakes and ponds with algal blooms without any awareness of the potential problems. Direct contact or inhalation of these cyanotoxins can present health risks for individuals, and researchers have reported a potential human health exposure not previously examined.

The detection of airborne anatoxin-a (ATX) on glass fiber filters during a harmful algal bloom, Lake and Reservoir Management (2021). DOI: 10.1080/10402381.2021.1881191

https://phys.org/news/2021-04-airborne-toxin-algal-scum.html?

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 2, 2021 at 11:49am

Butterflies -2

Martins, a former National Geographic Emerging Explorer, wrote about Charaxes, or emperor butterflies, in Swara magazine, published in East Africa where he is now Director of Kenya’s Mpala Research Centre.

“They are fast and powerful,” he writes. “And their tastes run to stronger stuff than nectar: fermenting sap, fresh dung and rotting carrion are all particular favourites.”

That’s right; don’t get between a butterfly and a freshly dropped pile of dung. It drives them wild. They uncoil their probosces and slurp away, lapping up the salts and amino acids they can’t get from plants.

It’s called mud-puddling, and it’s very common butterfly behavior. It doesn’t have to be dung, although that’s always nice; you may see flocks of butterflies having a nip of a dead animal (as depicted in this diorama of butterflies eating a piranha), drinking sweat or tears, or just enjoying a plain old mud puddle.

Butterflies start life as caterpillars, which are far from harmless if you’re a tasty plant, and can be carnivorous. Some are even parasites: Maculinea rebeli butterflies trick ants into raising their young. The caterpillars make sounds that mimic queen ants, which pick them up and carry them into their colonies like the well-to-do being toted in sedan chairs. Inside, they are literally treated as royalty, with worker ants regurgitating meals to them and nurse ants occasionally sacrificing ant babies to feed them when food is scarce. Butterflies invented the ultimate babysitting con.

So, let’s review. Here are seven not-so-nice things butterflies are into:

• Getting drunk
• Fighting
• Eating meat
• Eating poop
• Drinking tears
• Tricking ants
• Raping pupae

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/butterflies-beha...

The dark truth about butterflies

All this time, butterflies have been living secret lives that most of us never notice. From getting drunk to eating poop and tricking ants into raising their young, here are a few lesser known facts about these beautiful (sometimes) cannibals.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 2, 2021 at 11:48am

Butterflies Behaving Badly: What They Don’t Want You to Know

Butterflies have had us fooled for centuries. They bobble around our gardens, all flappy and floppy, looking so pretty with their shimmering colors.

But butterflies have a dark side. For one thing, those gorgeous colors: They’re often a warning. And that’s just the beginning. All this time, butterflies been living secret lives that most of us never notice.

Take this zebra longwing, Heliconius charithonia. It looks innocent enough. 

But it’s also famously poisonous, and its caterpillars are cannibals that eat their siblings. And that’s hardly shocking compared with its propensity for something called pupal rape.

Once you know that a pupa is the butterfly in its chrysalis—in between being a larva and an adult—then pupal rape is pretty much what it sounds like. As a female gets ready to emerge from her chrysalis, a gang of males swarms around her, jostling and flapping wings to push each other aside. The winner of this tussle mates with the female, but he’s often so eager to do so that he uses his sharp claspers to rip into the chrysalis and mate with her before she even emerges. Since the female is trapped in the chrysalis and has no choice in the matter, the term pupal rape came about, though some biologists refer to it more charitably as “forced copulation” or simply pupal mating.

One day in Kenya’s North Nandi forest, Dino Martins, an entomologist, watched a spectacular battle between two white-barred Charaxes. A fallen log was oozing fermenting sap, and while a fluffy pile of butterflies was sipping and slowly getting drunk, the two white-barred butterflies showed up and started a bar fight. Spiraling and slicing at one another with serrated wings, the fight ended with the loser’s shredded wings fluttering gently to the forest floor.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on April 2, 2021 at 11:39am

A Visual Guide to the New Coronavirus Variants

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