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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 3, 2025 at 9:54am

Large magma bodies found beneath dormant volcanoes

New research challenges the long-standing belief that active volcanoes have large magma bodies that are expelled during eruptions and then dissipate over time as the volcanoes become dormant.

Researchers used seismic waves to identify magma chambers beneath the surface of six volcanoes of various sizes and dormancy within the Cascade Range, which includes half of the U.S. volcanoes designated by the U.S. Geological Survey as "very high threat." The team found that all of the volcanoes, including dormant ones, have persistent and large magma bodies.

The study was published in Nature Geoscience .

The results are surprising given that some of these volcanoes, such as the Crater Lake volcano in Oregon, have not been active in millennia.

Regardless of eruption frequency, we see large magma bodies beneath many volcanoes, the researchers said. It appears that these magma bodies exist beneath volcanoes over their whole lifetime, not just during an active state.

The fact that more volcanoes have sustained magma bodies is an important consideration for how researchers may monitor and predict future volcanic activity.

Guanning Pang et al, Long-lived partial melt beneath Cascade Range volcanoes, Nature Geoscience (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41561-024-01630-y

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 3, 2025 at 9:50am

Yellowish nodules on the palms of a man in his 40s. Painless yellowish nodules were observed on the patient's palms (A) and elbows. B, Magnified view of the palmar lesions. These lesions are consistent with xanthelasma, likely resulting from severe hypercholesterolemia associated with a high-fat carnivore diet. Total cholesterol levels exceeded 1000 mg/dL. Credit: JAMA Cardiology (2025). DOI: 10.1001/jamacardio.2024.5209

Part 2

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 3, 2025 at 9:45am

Man on carnivore diet develops yellowish nodules on his hands, feet and elbows

A trio of cardiologists, two at Tampa General Hospital and the third at the University of Texas' MD Anderson Cancer Center, have reported an incident of an adult man developing yellowish nodules on his hands, feet and elbows after adopting a carnivore diet.

In their paper published in the journal JAMA Cardiology, Konstantinos Marmagkiolis, Jaime Caballero, and Cezar Iliescu, describe the symptoms of a patient who had come to Tampa General seeking aid after experiencing yellowish nodules appearing on various parts of his body, and their diagnosis.

The patient, a man in his 40s, told the doctors that the nodules had appeared three weeks prior to his hospital visit. After questioning, they determined that the patient had adopted the so-called carnivore diet approximately eight months prior to the appearance of the nodules.

The carnivore diet is a fad diet based on eating large amounts of animal fats and very little of anything else. The patient in this case reported eating nearly 10 pounds of butter, cheese and other fatty foods every day since embarking on the diet—even going so far as to add fat to the hamburgers he consumed daily.

Blood tests showed the patient's cholesterol was approximately four times normal levels. The doctors diagnosed the patient with xanthelasma, a condition in which yellowish deposits of cholesterol build up in various parts of the body—in this case, on the palms, the soles of his feet and his elbows. His case had progressed to the point that some of the cholesterol was pushing through cracks in the skin.

The doctors advised the man to cut back on his fat intake. But they also noted that doing so would not get rid of the nodules—they required surgical excision or burning them with liquid nitrogen. They also reminded the patient that such high levels of cholesterol could lead to a host of other conditions such as cardiovascular disease, a greatly increased risk of stroke, and eventually, liver problems.

 Konstantinos Marmagkiolis et al, Yellowish Nodules on a Man Consuming a Carnivore Diet, JAMA Cardiology (2025). DOI: 10.1001/jamacardio.2024.5209

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 2, 2025 at 6:12pm

Astronomers Discover Exoplanets Falling Apart in Space

Astronomers have found two planets around two separate stars that are succumbing to their stars' intense heat. Both are disintegrating before our telescopic eyes, leaving trails of debris similar to a comet's. Both are ultra-short-period planets (USPs) that orbit their stars rapidly.

These planets are a rare sub-class of USPs that are not massive enough to hold onto their material. Astronomers know of only three other disintegrating planets.

USPs are known for their extremely rapid orbits, some completing an orbit in only a few hours. Since they're extremely close to their stars, they're subjected to intense heat, stellar radiation, and gravity.

Many USPs are tidally locked to their star, turning the star-facing side into an inferno. USPs seldom exceed two Earth radii, and astronomers think that about 1 in 200 Sun-like stars has one. They were only discovered recently and are pushing the boundaries of our understanding of planetary systems.

The new observations are in two new papers available at the pre-press site arxiv.org. One is "A Disintegrating Rocky Planet with Prominent Comet-like Tails Aroun..."

The second paper is "A Disintegrating Rocky World Shrouded in Dust and Gas: Mid-IR Obser..."

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 2, 2025 at 6:04pm

The scientist heroes that starved to protect their science

In his book The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad, author Simon Parkin tells the story of the city’s Plant Institute — the world’s first proper seed bank — during the 1941-1944 Nazi siege. “The institute’s staff members sacrificed themselves, one by one, to protect a collection for which the whole raison d’être was to one day save humanity from starvation,” writes reviewer Simon Ings. Despite unthinkable privation, Vadim Stepanovich Lekhnovich, the curator of the tuber collection, later said that “it wasn’t difficult not to eat the collection. It was impossible to eat this, your life’s work, the work of the lives of your colleagues.”

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00055-w?utm_source=Live+...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 2, 2025 at 5:56pm

Mouse Created With Two Fathers And No Mother Survives to Adulthood

A mouse with no biological mother has survived to adulthood in China – a major scientific achievement that's been years in the making.

The feat was pulled off by a team of researchers in China using precise stem cell engineering.

This isn't the first time that scientists have created a mouse with two male parents. In 2023, researchers in Japan managed a similar feat using a different technique.

Before that, attempts to generate eggs from male stem cells proved unsuccessful. The motherless offspring, born through a female surrogate, are typically nonviable and show severe developmental defects.

Not so for the 'bi-paternal' mice recently created in China. These adult mammals are not capable of reproducing themselves, but they are healthier than their predecessors, without fatal feeding or respiratory difficulties.

That said, roughly half of their siblings failed to make it to adulthood, and nearly 90 percent of the viable embryos did not make it to birth, which means the success rate for the process can still be improved upon.

There's still a long way to go before the same sort of technique could be achieved in our own species, but the authors of the study say their work helps scientists better understand human congenital disorders caused by similar genetic issues.

https://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fulltext/S1934-5909(25)00005-0

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 2, 2025 at 5:52pm

Giant Radio Galaxy Could Hold 30 Milky Ways, Astronomers Say

Giant radio galaxies are cosmic megastructures that can span millions of light-years, making them some of the largest-known structures in the Universe.

Yet space is big, and despite their size, giant radio galaxies can be hard to find. Discovering one is a big deal, especially if it's as colossal – and peculiar – as one recently found by astronomers using South Africa's MeerKAT telescope.

The newly discovered galaxy measures over 3 million light-years from end to end, including the huge jets of hot plasma it's blasting into intergalactic space, the astronomers report in a new study.

That means it's more than 30 times the size of our own Milky Way galaxy.

It's also enigmatic, the researchers say, with unusual qualities that defy simple explanation. They decided to name it after this troublesome nature, choosing a word from two Bantu languages indigenous to Southern Africa.

Scientists nicknamed this giant galaxy 'Inkathazo,' meaning 'trouble' in isiZulu and isiXhosa because it has been a bit troublesome to understand the physics behind what's going on here.

Radio galaxies already feature mind-bending physics, with supermassive black holes accreting matter at the galactic core and sending out vast plasma jets that glow at radio frequencies. Those larger than roughly 2 million light-years may be classified as giant radio galaxies, or GRGs.

Yet even by radio-galaxy standards, Inkathazo is puzzling.

It doesn't have the same characteristics as many other giant radio galaxies. For example, the plasma jets have an unusual shape: Rather than extending straight across from end to end, one of the jets is bent.

And while Inkathazo's size would be impressive anywhere, it's especially surprising given the galaxy's location. Inkathazo is nestled amid a cluster of other galaxies, researchers report, where conditions should discourage the growth of such gargantuan jets.

https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/537/1/272/7958396?login=false

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 2, 2025 at 3:57pm

Stress during pregnancy could leave traces in placenta that affect baby's development, study suggests

Maternal stress could leave epigenetic imprints on genes in the placenta associated with cortisol—a necessary hormone for fetal development—and this would affect the baby's development from very early stages, according to a paper published in the journal European Neuropsychopharmacology.

The study suggests that a mother's emotional well-being during pregnancy is not only important for her, but could also influence the future health of her baby.

The placenta is an essential organ during pregnancy, as it not only provides oxygen and nutrients to the fetus, but also responds to factors such as maternal stress and helps the fetus adapt to its environment. However, the mechanisms by which the placenta adjusts to these stressors and how it influences fetal development remain largely unexplored.

The research team observed that maternal stress may leave epigenetic marks on certain placental genes. Specifically, these marks do not modify the genetic structure, but they do alter its function. The study identified epigenetic changes in genes related to the regulation of cortisol, an essential hormone in the body's response to stress.

The pilot study involved 45 healthy, first-time pregnant women. During pregnancy, their cortisol levels and depressive symptoms were measured and, after delivery, placentas were analyzed. At seven weeks, the neurodevelopment of the babies was assessed using a specialized test (Brazelton's NBAS).

The research team used an advanced sequencing technique that allows them to look at epigenetic changes in large areas of DNA and thus gain a very detailed view of the placental response to maternal stress. This method identified changes in key genes involved in cortisol regulation, such as HSD11B2, NR3C1 and FKBP5.

The results suggest that maternal stress—especially in early pregnancy—can cause alterations in these genes, which could affect fetal development and the future health of the baby.

This study reinforces the importance of taking care of the mental health of mothers from the beginning of pregnancy, since stress could leave a biological imprint on the baby's development through epigenetic mechanisms that we are just beginning to understand.

While these findings need to be replicated in larger studies, this breakthrough underscores the importance of psychological care and emotional support during pregnancy, not only for the mother's well-being, but also for the long-term health of the baby.

Agueda Castro-Quintas et al, Placental epigenetic signatures of maternal distress in glucocorticoid-related genes and newborn outcomes: A study of Spanish primiparous women, European Neuropsychopharmacology (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2024.10.001

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 2, 2025 at 3:39pm

How microbes help detoxify the atmosphere: Study provides atomic-level insights

Researchers have discovered crucial new information about how microbes consume huge amounts of carbon monoxide (CO) and help reduce levels of this deadly gas.

Over two billion metric tons of carbon monoxide are released into the atmosphere globally each year. Microbes consume about 250 million tons of this, reducing CO to safer levels.

The study, published in Nature Chemical Biology, reveals at an atomic level how microbes consume CO present in the atmosphere. They use a special enzyme, called the CO dehydrogenase, to extract energy from this universally present but highly toxic gas.

The study showed for the first time how this enzyme extracted atmospheric CO and powered cells.

This enzyme is used by trillions of microbes in our soils and waters. These microbes consume CO for their own survival, but in the process inadvertently help us.  This 's a fantastic example of microbial 'ingenuity': how life has evolved ways to turn something toxic into something useful.

These microbes help clean our atmosphere. This counteracts air pollution, which kills many millions of people each year, and also reduces global warming given CO is indirectly a greenhouse gas.

While this discovery is unlikely to be directly used to combat or monitor CO emissions, it deepens our understanding of how the atmosphere is regulated and how it might respond to future changes.

Microbes 're a big reason why our air 's breathable. They make half the oxygen we breathe and detoxify various pollutants like CO. It's crucial we better understand and appreciate how they support our own survival, say the researchers.

 Kropp, A., et al. Quinone extraction drives atmospheric carbon monoxide oxidation in bacteria, Nature Chemical Biology (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41589-025-01836-0

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on February 1, 2025 at 12:19pm

If you're around someone who has gone into cardiac arrest, call emergency services helpline and start hands-only CPR. This means placing the heel of one hand in the center of the chest at the nipple line. Place the other hand on top and interlock the fingers. Start pushing hard at a rate between 100 and 120 beats per minute.

Get an automated external defibrillator, or AED, if one is close by or send someone to find an AED. People should use an AED as soon as it's available. Even untrained people can use the device by following its voice instructions.
Because a heart attack can lead to a cardiac arrest, experts say it's critical to call emergency services immediately when symptoms start. These can include chest pain, jaw pain, shortness of breath, sweating and nausea.

Then sit and rest until the ambulance arrives. "Avoid exertion." An aspirin may help for those not allergic to it.
Someone with a prescription for nitroglycerin for chest pain should take the medication.

But one thing people don't need to do is cough.
Source: American Heart Association

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