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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 21, 2021 at 7:28am

People who don't suffer in cold have a genetic mutation to tolerate cold better

A new research has identified a specific genetic mutation that makes a fifth of us more resilient to cold conditions.

The genetic mutation in question stops the production of the protein α-actinin-3, which is important for skeletal muscle fibre: The protein is only found in fast-twitch (or white) fibres and not in slow-twitch (or red) fibres.

Based on the new study's results, people without α-actinin-3 have a higher proportion of slow-twitch fibres, and one of the consequences is that the body tends to conserve energy by building up muscle tone through contractions rather than shivering.

This suggests that people lacking α-actinin-3 are better at keeping warm and, energy-wise, at enduring a tougher climate. The loss of this protein gives a greater resilience to cold .

https://www.cell.com/ajhg/fulltext/S0002-9297(21)00013-6

https://www.sciencealert.com/1-in-5-of-us-have-a-genetic-mutation-t...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 20, 2021 at 11:20am

Spina bifida can be caused by uninherited genetic mutations

Genetic mutations which occur naturally during the earliest stages of an embryo's development can cause the severe birth defect spina bifida, finds a new experimental study in mice.

The research explains for the first time how a 'mosaic mutation' - a mutation which is not inherited from either parent (either via sperm or egg cell) but occurs randomly during cell divisions in the developing embryo—causes spina bifida.

Scientists 

found that when a mutation in the gene Vangl2 (which contains information needed to create spinal cord tissue) was present in 16% of developing spinal cord cells of mouse embryos, this was sufficient to produce spina bifida.

Researchers say the findings add to scientists' understanding of how and why mosaic mutations can affect and disrupt cell function, including those of neighbouring cells, helping cause birth defects.

For parents, the findings may help reduce the burden felt by those who believe their child inherited spina bifida from them via genes, and believe future children could also inherit the condition. This is often discussed during genetic counselling.

Cell non-autonomy amplifies disruption of neurulation by mosaic Vangl2 deletion in mice, Nature Communications (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21372-4

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-02-spina-bifida-uninherited-gen...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 20, 2021 at 11:13am

Researchers observe stationary Hawking radiation in an analog black hole

Black holes are regions in space where gravity is very strong—so strong that nothing that enters them can escape, including light. Theoretical predictions suggest that there is a radius surrounding black holes known as the event horizon. Once something passes the event horizon, it can no longer escape a black hole, as gravity becomes stronger as it approaches its center.

Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking predicted that while nothing can escape from within them, black holes spontaneously emit a limited amount of light, which is known as Hawking radiation. According to his predictions, this radiation is spontaneous (i.e., it arises from nothing) and stationary (i.e., its intensity does not change much over time).

Researchers at Technion- Israel Institute of Technology have recently carried out a study aimed at testing Hawking's theoretical predictions. More specifically, they examined whether the equivalent of Hawking radiation in an "artificial black hole" created in a laboratory setting was stationary.

If you go inside the event horizon there's no way to get out, even for light. Hawking radiation starts just outside the event horizon, where light can barely escape. That is really weird because there's nothing there; it's empty space. Yet this radiation starts from nothing, comes out, and goes towards Earth.

The Hawking radiation emitted by this analog black hole is made of sound waves, rather than light waves. The rubidium atoms flow faster than the speed of sound, so sound waves cannot reach the event horizon and escape from the black hole. Outside of the event horizon, however, the gas flows slowly, so sound waves can move freely.

According to Hawking's predictions, the radiation emitted by black holes is spontaneous. In one of their previous studies, Researchers were able to confirm this prediction in their artificial black hole. In their new study, they set out to investigate whether the radiation emitted by their black hole is also stationary (i.e., if it remains constant over time).

A black hole is supposed to radiate like a black body, which is essentially a warm object that emits a constant infrared radiation (i.e., black body radiation). Hawking suggested that black holes are just like regular stars, which radiate a certain type of radiation all the time, constantly. That's what they wanted to confirm in our study, and they did.

Observation of stationary spontaneous Hawking radiation and the time evolution of an analog black hole. Nature Physics(2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41567-020-01076-0

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-stationary-hawking-analog-black-hole....

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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 19, 2021 at 11:25am

Paleopocalypse!
Earth’s magnetic field broke down 42,000 years ago and caused massive sudden climate change

Ancient trees show turning point in Earth history 42,000yr ago

https://theconversation.com/earths-magnetic-field-broke-down-42-000...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 19, 2021 at 10:44am

The dogs trained to spot cancer

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 19, 2021 at 8:56am

Using plasma technology to feed the world

Using state-of-the-art plasma technology to make cheap fertilizer for small farmers may sound like magic, but it has now become reality. Researchers have built a small plasma-powered plant that produces nitrogen-based liquid fertilizer only using sun, water and air. The plant is easy to set up, sustainable and very efficient.

https://www.tue.nl/en/news/news-overview/01-01-1970-using-plasma-te...

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-plasma-technology-world.html?utm_sour...

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AI may mistake chess discussions as racist talk

"The Queen's Gambit," the recent TV mini-series about a chess master, may have stirred increased interest in chess, but a word to the wise: social media talk about game-piece colors could lead to misunderstandings, at least for hate-speech detection software.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 19, 2021 at 8:53am

Physics of tumours: Cancer cells become fluidised and squeeze through tissue

Researchers  have achieved a breakthrough in research into how cancer cells spread. They demonstrated for the first time how cells deform in order to move in dense tumor tissues and squeeze past neighboring cells. The researchers found that motile cells work together to fluidise tumour tissue.

These first observations of a phase transition in human tumours change our basic concepts of tumour progression and could improve cancer diagnosis and therapy.

 the research showed that human tumours contain solid and fluid cell clusters, which would be a breakthrough in scientists' understanding of tumour mechanics.

Steffen Grosser et al, Cell and Nucleus Shape as an Indicator of Tissue Fluidity in Carcinoma, Physical Review X (2021). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevX.11.011033

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-physics-tumours-cancer-cells-fluidise...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 19, 2021 at 8:47am

Scientists identify over 140,000 virus species in the human gut

Viruses are the most numerous biological entities on the planet. Now researchers  have identified over 140,000 viral species living in the human gut, more than half of which have never been seen before.

The paper, published today (18 February 2021) in Cell, contains an analysis of over 28,000 gut microbiome samples collected in different parts of the world. The number and diversity of the viruses the researchers found was surprisingly high, and the data opens up new research avenues for understanding how viruses living in the gut affect human health.

The human gut is an incredibly biodiverse environment. In addition to bacteria, hundreds of thousands of viruses called bacteriophages, which can infect bacteria, also live there.

It is known that imbalances in our gut microbiome can contribute to diseases and complex conditions such as Inflammatory Bowel Disease, allergies and obesity. But relatively little is known about the role our gut bacteria, and the bacteriophages that infect them, play in human health and disease.

Using a DNA-sequencing method called metagenomics, researchers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and EMBL's European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) explored and catalogued the biodiversity of the viral species found in 28,060 public human gut metagenomes and 2,898 bacterial isolate genomes cultured from the human gut.

The analysis identified over 140,000 viral species living in the human gut, more than half of which have never been seen before.

Camarillo-Guerrero, L.F., et al. (2021). Massive expansion of human gut bacteriophage diversity. Cell. DOI: doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2021.01.029

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-scientists-virus-species-human-gut.ht...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 19, 2021 at 8:42am

Metabolic mutations help bacteria resist drug treatment

Bacteria have many ways to evade the antibiotics that we use against them.

Most of the mutations known to confer resistance occur in the genes targeted by a particular antibiotic. Other resistance mutations allow bacteria to break down antibiotics or pump them out through their cell membranes.

Researchers have now identified another class of mutations that helps bacteria develop resistance. In a study of E. coli, they discovered that mutations to genes involved in metabolism can also help bacteria to evade the toxic effects of several different antibiotics. The findings shed light on a fundamental facet of how antibiotics work, and suggest potential new avenues for developing drugs that could enhance the effectiveness of existing antibiotics.

This study gives us insights into how we can boost the effectiveness of existing antibiotics because it emphasizes that downstream metabolism plays an important role. Specifically, the work indicates that the killing efficacy of an antibiotic can be enhanced if one can elevate the metabolic response of the treated pathogen. By turning down their metabolism after drug treatment, bacteria can prevent the buildup of harmful byproducts.

The findings raise the possibility that forcing bacteria into a heightened metabolic state could increase the effectiveness of existing antibiotics, the researchers say.

A.J. Lopatkin el al., "Clinically relevant mutations in core metabolic genes confer antibiotic resistance," Science (2021). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi … 1126/science.aba0862

"The genetic underground of antibiotic resistance," Science (2021). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi … 1126/science.abf7922

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-metabolic-mutations-bacteria-resist-d...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 19, 2021 at 8:23am

Scientists entered people’s dreams and got them ‘talking’

Because Lucid dreamers can hear and answer questions while still asleep, scientists find. 

Scientists have successfully "talked" to a sleeping person in real-time by invading their dreams, a new study shows. The researchers say it's like trying to communicate with an astronaut on another world.

Dreamers can follow instructions, solve simple math problems and answer yes-no questions without ever waking up, according to the results of four experiments described Thursday (Feb. 18) in the journal Current Biology.  

The researchers communicated directly with sleeping participants by asking them questions and having them respond with eye or facial movements during lucid dreams — when people are at minimum aware that they are dreaming. (Some lucid dreamers can control what happens in their dreams.) 

Studying dreams is difficult because people often forget or distort details after waking up. That's in part because the brain doesn't form many new memories while sleeping and has a limited capacity to accurately store information after the dream has ended, according to the study. 

To overcome this limitation, the researchers attempted to communicate with people while they were still dreaming. Because the study participants were having lucid dreams, that meant they could make a conscious effort to respond to cues coming in from the outside world, the researchers hypothesized. 

Researchers placed electrodes on the participants' heads, to measure their brainwaves; next to their eyes, to track eye movements; and on their chin, to measure muscle activity. They used this data to determine when the participants entered the rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep, when lucid dreams are most likely to occur.

The researchers used several techniques across the experiments to communicate with dreamers during REM sleep, including asking them spoken questions and giving them encoded messages in flashing lights, beeping tones and physical taps, that the dreamers had been trained to decipher. If dreamers received and understood the question or message during a lucid dream, they then responded with a set of distinctive eye or facial movements that were interpreted by the electrodes.

"Such two-way communication — from outside to inside the dream and back out again — is something that may seem to belong to the domain of science fiction.

https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(21)00059-2

https://www.livescience.com/real-time-communication-while-dreaming....

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