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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 28, 2020 at 11:28am

Novel magnetic spray transforms objects into millirobots for biomedical applications

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 28, 2020 at 11:25am

Is it a bird? Is it a bee? No, it's a lizard pollinating South Africa's 'hidden flower'

How a chance encounter with a ‘weird plant’ in the Drakensberg mountains led to a startling discovery

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/nov/25/is-it-a-bird-is...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 28, 2020 at 11:18am

Physicists invent printable superconducting device

Superconducting devices such as SQUIDS (Superconducting Quantum Interferometry Device) can perform ultra-sensitive measurements of magnetic fields. Leiden physicsts invented a method to 3-D-print these and other superconducting devices in minutes.

How to Print a Quantum Device in Less than 30 Minutes

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 28, 2020 at 10:11am

Gut microbes: The key to normal sleep

A detailed study in mice revealed the extent to which bacteria can change the environment and contents of the intestines, which ultimately impacts behaviours like sleep.

Researchers gave a group of mice a powerful cocktail of antibiotics for four weeks, which depleted them of intestinal microorganisms. Then, they compared intestinal contents between these mice and control mice who had the same diet.

Digestion breaks food down into bits and pieces called metabolites. The researchers found significant differences between metabolites in the microbiota-depleted mice and the control mice. They found more than 200 metabolite differences between mouse groups. About 60 normal metabolites were missing in the microbiota-depleted mice, and the others differed in the amount, some more and some less than in the control mice.

The team next set out to determine what these metabolites normally do. Using metabolome set enrichment analysis, they found that the biological pathways most affected by the antibiotic treatment were those involved in making neurotransmitters, the molecules that cells in the brain use to communicate with each other. For example, the tryptophan–serotonin pathway was almost totally shut down; the microbiota-depleted mice had more tryptophan than controls, but almost zero serotonin. This shows that without important gut microbes, the mice could not make any serotonin from the tryptophan they were eating. The team also found that the mice were deficient in vitamin B6 metabolites, which accelerate production of the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine. The team also analyzed how the mice slept by looking at brain activity in EEGs. They found that compared with the control mice, the microbiota-depleted mice had more REM and non-REM sleep at night—when mice are supposed to be active—and less non-REM sleep during the day—when mice should be mostly sleeping. The number of REM sleep episodes was higher both during the day and at night, whereas the number of non-REM episodes was higher during the day. In other words, the microbiota-depleted mice switched between sleep/wake stages more frequently than the controls.

So blame your gut microbes if you can't sleep properly and thank them if you can!

Yukino Ogawa et al. Gut microbiota depletion by chronic antibiotic treatment alters the sleep/wake architecture and sleep EEG power spectra in mice, Scientific Reports (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-76562-9

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-11-gut-microbes-key.html?utm_so...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 28, 2020 at 7:16am

Immune responses during embryo development could increase risk of schizophrenia

 Research has often highlighted the effects that immune activation in pregnant women can have on the development of human embryos, for instance increasing the risk of a child developing psychiatric disorders later in life. The neural mechanisms underpinning these effects, however, remained largely unclear till now.

Researchers  have recently carried out a study investigating the impact that the activation of microglia (i.e., a specialized cell population that removes damaged neurons or infections) can have on an embryo's development of a specific class of neurons that regulates information processing, known as cortical interneurons. Their findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, suggest that activated microglia can cause metabolic disruptions that adversely impact the development of cortical interneurons. Interestingly, in individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia these disruptions could persist when the microglia are no longer activated.

They found found that the metabolism of cortical interneurons is compromised under inflammatory condition during development, which showed prolonged impact in cortical interneurons derived from schizophrenia iPSCs but not healthy control iPSCs. These findings highlight the existence of interactions between schizophrenia genetic backgrounds and environmental risk factors.

Activated microglia cause metabolic disruptions in developmental cortical interneurons that persist in interneurons from individuals with schizophrenia. Nature Neuroscience(2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-020-00724-1

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-11-immune-responses-embryo-schi...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 28, 2020 at 6:54am

Understanding Skull Base Tumors

https://www.uhhospitals.org/health-information/health-and-wellness-....

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Periodic table: scientists propose new way of ordering the elements

https://theconversation.com/periodic-table-scientists-propose-new-w...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 27, 2020 at 11:44am

Miniscule robots of metal and plastic

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 27, 2020 at 11:42am

**   Pregnancy stress may shape baby brain

Stress levels in mothers – measured by a hormone linked to anxiety and other health problems – is related to changes in areas of the infant brain associated with emotional development, the study suggests. Doctors say the findings highlight the urgent need for women to be better supported with their mental and physical health before and during pregnancy, and could help them spot mums and babies who need help. The experts add that pregnant women who feel stressed or unwell should seek help from their midwife or consultant and that with support, most health issues can be well managed in pregnancy. Maternal stress is known to influence the development of the child’s behaviour and ability to regulate its emotions as it grows. This is usually measured by questionnaires, which are not always reliable. The new study is the first time that scientists have used an objective measure – levels of the hormone cortisol – in the mother to study links with baby brain development.

https://researchnews.cc/news/3791/Pregnancy-stress-may-shape-baby-b...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 27, 2020 at 11:29am

Moth wings sport acoustic camouflage

Moths draped in stealth acoustic cloak evade bat sonar

Moths can hide from the sonar of feeding bats using their acoustically camouflaged wings. Their evolved stealth adaptation is the result of an array of scales attached to their wing membranes that absorb ultrasound frequencies emitted by hunting bats, and are the first acoustic metamaterials found in nature.

A University of Bristol team discovered that sound waves from bats that hit the fork-shaped scales found on two species of moth cause them to bend and twist, dissipating the energy. ‘Less sound is reflected back to the bat, and the moth thereby disappears or partially disappears from the bat’s sonar screen

Z Shen et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2018, 115, 12200 (DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1810025115)

https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/moths-draped-in-stealth-acousti...

Scales on the wings of moths form acoustic camouflage that hides the insects from the sonar of bats. Researchers examined the Chinese tusar moth (Antheraea pernyi) and Dactyloceras lucina, a large African moth. These species have no ears to hear approaching predators. Instead, they defend themselves using a dense array of tiny, thin scales that each resonate at a particular frequency. Together, the scales absorb at least three octaves of sound — the first known natural acoustic metamaterial. The intricate arrangement and structure of the scales could inspire ultrathin sound-absorbing materials: think sound-absorbing wallpaper instead of panels, say researchers.

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on November 27, 2020 at 10:59am

**Climate change is making autumn leaves change colour earlier – here’s why

research shows that deciduous trees can only absorb a set amount of carbon each year and once that limit is reached, no more can be absorbed. At that point, leaves begin to change colour. This limit is set by the availability of nutrients, particularly nitrogen, and the physical structure of the plant itself, particularly the inner vessels which move water and dissolved nutrients around. Nitrogen is a key nutrient which plants need in order to grow, and it’s often the amount of available nitrogen that limits total growth. This is why farmers and gardeners use nitrogen fertilisers, to overcome this limitation.

Together, these constraints mean that carbon uptake during the growing season is a self-regulating mechanism in trees and herbaceous plants. Only so much carbon can be taken up.

In a world with increasing levels of carbon in the atmosphere, these new findings imply that warmer weather and longer growing seasons will not allow temperate deciduous trees to take up more carbon dioxide. The study’s predictive model suggests that by 2100, when tree growing seasons are expected to be between 22 and 34 days longer, leaves will fall from trees between three and six days earlier than they do now.

with the prospect of some trees losing their leaves earlier and others losing them at the time they do now, there might be the prospect of prolonged autumnal colours – and more time for us to kick through the leaves.

https://theconversation.com/climate-change-is-making-autumn-leaves-...

https://researchnews.cc/news/3819/Which-factors-trigger-leaf-die-of...

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