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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 31, 2020 at 6:46am

Breakthrough in Artificial Photosynthesis Lets Scientists Store The Sun's Energy as Fuel

https://www.sciencealert.com/new-artificial-photosynthesis-device-c...

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One Theory Beyond the Standard Model Could Allow Wormholes that You Could Actually Fly Through

https://www.universetoday.com/147549/one-theory-beyond-the-standard...

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**Effectiveness of cloth masks depends on type of covering

https://phys.org/news/2020-08-effectiveness-masks.html?utm_source=n...

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Lupus, Arthritis Patients Aren't Necessarily High Risk For Severe COVID-19 After All

https://www.sciencealert.com/study-says-arthritis-and-lupus-patient...

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Human Vision and Color Perception

https://www.olympus-lifescience.com/en/microscope-resource/primer/l...

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The Human Eye's Response to Light

https://www.nde-ed.org/EducationResources/CommunityCollege/Penetran....

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 31, 2020 at 6:42am

Scientists Think They've Figured Out a Main Culprit of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Between 6 and 8 million people worldwide suffer from inflammatory bowel disease, a group of chronic intestinal disorders that can cause belly pain, urgent and frequent bowel movements, bloody stools and weight loss.

New research suggests that a malfunctioning member of the patient's own immune system called a killer T cell may be one of the culprits. This discovery may provide a new target for IBD medicines.

The two main types of IBD are ulcerative colitis, which mainly affects the colon, and Crohn's disease, which can affect the entire digestive tract. Researchers currently believe that IBD is triggered when an overactive immune system attacks harmless bacteria in the intestines.

Although there are many treatments for IBD, for as many as 75 percent of individuals with IBD there are no effective long-term treatments. This leaves many patients without good options.

https://theconversation.com/ibd-how-a-class-of-killer-t-cells-goes-...

IBD: How a class of killer T cells goes rogue in inflammatory bowel disease

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 31, 2020 at 6:17am

An infant with caudal appendage (tail)

There are several human atavisms that reflect our common genetic heritage with other mammals. One of the most striking is the existence of the rare ‘true human tail’. It is a rare event with fewer than 40 cases reported in the literature. The authors report a case of an infant born with the true tail. A 3-month-old baby girl, presented with an 11 cm long tail, which was successfully surgically removed. Human embryos normally have a prenatal tail, which disappears in the course of embryogenesis by programmed cell death. Recent advances in genetic research reveal that ‘of those organs lost, in evolution, most species carry ‘genetic blue prints’. Thus, rarely the appearance of ancient organs like tail may be the result of re-expression of these switched off gene.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3339178/

https://biologydictionary.net/vestigial-structures/#:~:text=Vestigi....

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 31, 2020 at 5:59am

Crabs Shell Exchange:

As a hermit crab grows its shell becomes a tighter fit so eventually the crabs need to move into a bigger one, leading to an amazing exchange. Watch how this happens ….

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 31, 2020 at 5:34am

Research shows stimulating tuft cell production reverses intestinal inflammation

Researchers for the first time been able to trigger the specific immune system response required to reverse the course of small intestinal inflammation by inducing production of tuft cells, very rare epithelial cells that sense and respond to parasites. The breakthrough has the potential to provide Crohn’s disease and inflammatory bowel disease patients a safe alternative to what’s known as helminthic therapy, wherein parasitic organisms are introduced to the body to stimulate an immune response and calm inflammation.

https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2020/08/28/vanderbilt-research-shows-st...

https://researchnews.cc/news/2247/Vanderbilt-research-shows-stimula...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 30, 2020 at 9:39am

Physicists Just Found a New Quantum Paradox That Casts Doubt on a Pillar of Reality

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? Perhaps not, some say.

And if someone is there to hear it? If you think that means it obviously did make a sound, you might need to revise that opinion.

We have found a new paradox in quantum mechanics – one of our two most fundamental scientific theories, together with Einstein's theory of relativity – that throws doubt on some common-sense ideas about physical reality.

Quantum mechanics vs common sense

Take a look at these three statements:

1. When someone observes an event happening, it really happened.

2. It is possible to make free choices, or at least, statistically random choices.

3. A choice made in one place can't instantly affect a distant event. (Physicists call this "locality".)

These are all intuitive ideas, and widely believed even by physicists. But our research, published in Nature Physics, shows they cannot all be true – or quantum mechanics itself must break down at some level.

https://theconversation.com/a-new-quantum-paradox-throws-the-founda...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 30, 2020 at 9:37am

Microbes Living Deep Below Earth's Surface Could Be Remnants of Ancient Life Forms

There's an enormous variety of life thriving deep beneath Earth's surface. A new analysis of two major groups of subsurface microbes has now revealed that their evolutionary path to life in the dark has been more curious than we expected.

In our planet's first 2 billion years of existence, there was no oxygen in the atmosphere. Once the air on our blue planet changed, not all life forms adapted, with many microbes retreating into less oxygenated parts of the planet.

Patescibacteria and DPANN are two ubiquitous groups of such subsurface microbes - bacteria and archaea, respectively - that appear to have very simple genomes. This has led many to suspect that without the ability to breathe oxygen, these microbes might need to rely on complex interactions with other organisms to supplement their simple lifestyles. 

Now, it seems we may not be giving them enough credit. New research indicates that instead of having a symbiotic dependency on other major groups of organisms, most Patescibacteria and DPANN live as completely free cells. 

These microbes [..] are really special, really exciting examples of the early evolution of life.

They may be remnants of ancient forms of life that had been hiding and thriving in the Earth's subsurface for billions of years

https://www.sciencealert.com/these-two-groups-of-microbes-can-t-bre...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 29, 2020 at 7:56am

How Birds Evolved Their Incredible Diversity

An analysis of 391 skulls shows that birds evolved surprisingly slowly, compared with their dinosaur forerunners

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-birds-evolved-their-...

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Sex differences in COVID-19 immune responses affect patient outcomes

When comparing male and female patients, the researchers found key differences in the immune response during the early phases of infection. These differences included higher levels for men of several types of inflammatory proteins called cytokines, including two known as IL-8 and IL-18. Cytokines are deployed as part of the body’s innate immune reaction. This is a first general counterattack to invading pathogens, in which immune cells are called to the site of an infection, creating inflammation of the affected tissue as a physical barrier against the invading pathogen to promote healing.

However, in severe cases of COVID-19, an excessive buildup of cytokines, referred to as a “cytokine storm,” causes fluid to build up in the lungs, depriving the body of oxygen and potentially leading to shock, tissue damage, and multiple organ failure. The earlier higher concentrations of cytokines in men make these outcomes more likely.

In contrast, the researchers found that female patients had more robust activation than men of T-cells, white blood cells of the adaptive immune system that can recognize individual invading viruses and eliminate them.

Observations of patients over time revealed that poor T-cell responses in men led to worsening of the disease. When female patients had highly elevated innate cytokine levels, they too did worse. In addition, older men — but not older women — were observed to have significantly worse T-cell responses than younger patients.

Based on these findings, the researchers suggest exploring therapeutic interventions and vaccine strategies that elevate T-cell immune response to the virus in male patients and that dampen innate immune activation during early stages of the disease in female patients.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2700-3

https://researchnews.cc/news/2239/Sex-differences-in-COVID-19-immun...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 29, 2020 at 6:54am

Four things you need to know about hurricanes

Hurricanes leave a lasting impact on affected communities. Experts have put together a list of things you have to be careful about ….

1. Mosquitoes thrive in flooded, stagnant water, and hurricanes can kickstart disease outbreaks.
2. In places with aging and insufficient infrastructure, water quality literally goes down the toilet after a big storm.
3. In addition to their human toll and property damage, hurricanes and other natural disasters leave lasting impacts on the mental health of survivors.
4. And as if a handful hurricanes per year wasn’t bad enough, the ongoing climate crisis is making them (and many other disasters) stronger and more frequent.

https://massivesci.com/notes/hurricane-dorian-mental-health-disease...

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Tropical Songbirds Have an Extreme Drought Survival Tactic: They Stop Breeding

https://www.sciencealert.com/tropical-songbirds-have-an-extreme-dro...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 29, 2020 at 6:43am

Medial prefrontal cortex regions involved when the brain decides whether to continue a behavior or change it

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-08-medial-prefrontal-cortex-reg...

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Zika Infection Increases Risk of Severe Dengue Fever

A study of Nicaraguan children links prior Zika virus infection with aggravated dengue fever symptoms.

https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/zika-infection-increases...

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 Modeling Study Flags Species Susceptible to SARS-CoV-2

Some critically endangered animals are on the list.

https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/modeling-study-flags-spe...

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The First-Ever Quantum Simulation of a Chemical Reaction

https://www.sciencealert.com/google-claims-the-first-ever-simulatio...

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 Can Vaccines for Wildlife Prevent Human Pandemics?

Studies suggest that self-disseminating vaccines could prevent the "spillover" of animal viruses into humans as pandemic diseases.

https://www.quantamagazine.org/can-vaccines-for-wildlife-prevent-hu...

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To Pay Attention, the Brain Uses Filters, Not a Spotlight

A brain circuit that suppresses distracting sensory information holds important clues about attention and other cognitive processes.

https://www.quantamagazine.org/to-pay-attention-the-brain-uses-filt...

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