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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 21, 2021 at 8:46am

Storing information with light

New photo-ferroelectric materials allow storage of information in a non-volatile way using light stimulus. The idea is to create energy efficient memory devices with high performance and versatility to face current challenges. The study has been published in Nature Communications by Josep Fontcuberta and co-workers and opens a path towards further investigations on this phenomenon and to neuromorphic computing applications. 

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Saturn's tilt caused by its moons

Two scientists from CNRS and Sorbonne University working at the Institute of Celestial Mechanics and Ephemeris Calculation (Paris Observatory—PSL/CNRS) have just shown that the influence of Saturn's satellites can explain the tilt of the rotation axis of the gas giant. Their work, published on 18 January 2021 in the journal Nature Astronomy, also predicts that the tilt will increase even further over the next few billion years.

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Deep sleep takes out the trash

A new Northwestern University study reaffirms the importance of getting a good night's sleep.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 21, 2021 at 8:44am

Designer DNA therapeutic wipes out cancer stem cells, treats multiple myeloma in mice

Many patients with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, eventually develop resistance to one treatment after another. That's in part because cancer stem cells drive the disease—cells that continually self-renew. If a therapy can't completely destroy these malignant stem cells, the cancer is likely to keep coming back.

Researchers are taking a new, targeted approach to myeloma treatment—silencing IRF4, a gene that allows myeloma stem cells and tumour cells to proliferate and survive. Past studies have shown that high IRF4 levels are associated with lower overall survival rates for patients with the disease.

The team details their successes inhibiting IRF4 with an antisense oligonucleotide, an engineered piece of DNA specifically designed to bind the genetic material coding for IRF4, causing it to degrade. The oligonucleotide—an investigational antisense medicine developed by Ionis and known as ION251—lowered disease burden, reduced myeloma stem cell abundance and increased survival of mice bearing human myeloma, according to preclinical study data.

Cell Stem Cell (2021). www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fu … 1934-5909(20)30601-9

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-01-dna-therapeutic-cancer-stem-...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 21, 2021 at 8:29am

Butterflies create jet propulsion with a clap of their wings

The whimsical, wafting flight of butterflies may not give the impression of top aerodynamic performance, but research published recently suggests their large flexible wings could be perfectly designed to give them a burst of jet propulsion.

Scientists set out to verify a decades-old theory that insects "clap" their wings together, squeezing out the air between with such force that it thrusts them forward.

In their aerodynamic analysis of free-flying butterflies published in the journal Interface, they showed that the clap function does generate a jet of air propulsion. But they also found that the butterflies perform this move "in a far more advanced way than we ever realised"

These findings could have uses for drones that use clapping wing propulsion.

L. C. Johansson et al. Butterflies fly using efficient propulsive clap mechanism owing to flexible wings, Journal of The Royal Society Interface (2021). DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2020.0854

https://phys.org/news/2021-01-butterflies-jet-propulsion-wings.html...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 21, 2021 at 7:01am

Termite mounds inspire energy-efficient buildings

Researchers develop a mathematical model to explain the complex architecture of termite mounds
Alexander Heyde et al, Self-organized biotectonics of termite nests, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2006985118
https://phys.org/news/2021-01-mathematical-complex-architecture-ter...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 20, 2021 at 1:22pm

Brilliant magnetar eruption in neighboring galaxy could aid search in the Milky Way

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 20, 2021 at 1:09pm

Why cancer cells waste so much energy

study sheds light on the longstanding question of why cancer cells get their energy from fermentation.

In the 1920s, German chemist Otto Warburg discovered that cancer cells don't metabolize sugar the same way that healthy cells usually do. Since then, scientists have tried to figure out why cancer cells use this alternative pathway, which is much less efficient. Now biologists have now found a possible answer to this longstanding question. In a study appearing in Molecular Cell, they showed that this metabolic pathway, known as fermentation, helps cells to regenerate large quantities of a molecule called NAD+, which they need to synthesize DNA and other important molecules. Their findings also account for why other types of rapidly proliferating cells, such as immune cells, switch over to fermentation. This has really been a hundred-year-old paradox that many people have tried to explain in different ways.

Why cancer cells waste so much energy

https://news.mit.edu/2021/cancer-cells-waste-energy-0115

https://researchnews.cc/news/4689/Why-cancer-cells-waste-so-much-en...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 20, 2021 at 12:20pm

Your Partner’s Genome May Affect Your Health

A study using data from more than 80,000 couples finds evidence of indirect genetic effects on traits ranging from smoking habits to mental health.

C. Xia et al., “Evidence of horizontal indirect genetic effects in humans,” Nat Hum Behav, doi:10.1038/s41562-020-00991-9, 2020.

https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/your-partners-genome-may...

https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/your-partners-genome-may...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 20, 2021 at 9:53am

New tool removes chemotherapy drugs from water systems

'What goes in, must come out' is a familiar refrain. It is especially pertinent to the challenges facing UBC researchers who are investigating methods to remove chemicals and pharmaceuticals from public water systems.

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grounded following two fatal crashes.

https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/tmb/2021/fakenewsbold.jpg" width="60" height="60" alt="" class="CToWUd" />

Fake news: Bold visual warnings needed to stop people clicking – ne... A senior doctor in charge of the NHS anti-disinformation campaign has said that language and cultural barriers could be causing people from ethnic minorities to reject the COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Harpreet Sood told the BBC it was "a big concern" and officials were working hard to reach different groups "to correct so much fake news."

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 19, 2021 at 12:37pm

Honey tests

Honey is not just a single consistent substance. Instead it’s a complex mix of sugars which vary according to the region it comes from, the flowers it is derived from and the time of harvesting. Designing a test that can work across a range of honeys and pick out the adulterated ones is a serious scientific challenge.

Historically regulators have relied on the one internationally accepted test, technically known as AOAC 998.12, but usually called the C4 Sugar test. This exploits the fact that the sugar molecules produced by tropical plants, such as sugarcane and maize, have four carbon atoms (C4), while the nectar and pollen protein collected by bees typically come from plants whose sugars have three carbon atoms (C3).

The test uses this difference to see whether C4 sugars have been added to honey. Fraudsters have, however, long been aware of this test – and how to beat it. They simply found other sources of cheap syrup, such as from rice or sugar beet, whose sugar molecules resemble those in honey – so undermining the test.

Scientists have fought back with other approaches, including liquid chromatography/isotope ratio mass spectrometry (lc/irms) which can detect C3 sugars from rice and sugar beet. But the laboratories warn fraudsters have found ways around this test too, creating syrups which mimic the composition of honey. Chinese traders even advertise on Alibaba that their syrup for blending with honey will pass the C4/C3 sugar tests.

There are other tests, but they all have their limitations. There are tests for enzymes such as beta-fructofuranosidase, which are used in industrial processes to turn sucrose into fructose, but the UK honey industry claims they can produce false positives because they do not properly account for the wide variations in honey profiles around the world.

Another test detects psicose in honey, a rare sugar which is not usually found in honey and is a marker for syrup adulteration. This sugar is however found naturally in a very small number of honeys, including chestnut honey, and is therefore unsuitable for prosecuting suspected fraudsters.

The failure to win the technological arms race means regulators are usually unable to prosecute – even though many scientists believe vast quantities of honey sold in shops are adulterated. No existing tests for honey purity are considered sufficiently robust to prove fraud. Or at least not until now.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is the technology that could change everything. It works by bathing samples in a powerful magnetic field, causing the atoms to resonate. The resonant frequencies of the nuclei in the atoms are then converted into peaks or spectra on a graph, generating a unique magnetic ‘signature’ for each sample.

In the case of honey, the technique is used to compare the molecular profile of a sample ‘honey’ with the NMR database of genuine honeys to establish authenticity. NMR can identify all the sugars, proteins and other molecules present – including those which should never be in any pure natural honey.

Beekeepers hope NMR will prove a technological lifeline.

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/honey-fraud-detection?utm_source=Na...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on January 19, 2021 at 12:33pm

The honey detectives are closing in on China’s shady syrup swindlers

Detecting honey laced with sugar syrup is notoriously tricky, but a new test could provide the evidence needed to make fake honey prosecutions stick

The great honey fraud When is honey not honey? When it’s laced with sugar syrup – produced at scale, saturating the market, crashing global honey prices and deceiving millions of customers. But beekeepers are starting to fight back, hoping to expose fraudsters with the help of scientists developing a test that uses nuclear magnetic resonance and a vast database of honey samples. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/honey-fraud-detection?utm_source=Na...

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