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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 25, 2023 at 12:48pm

Dementia risk linked to protein imbalance
Abnormal levels of certain proteins — most of which have functions unrelated to the brain — could be an early hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease. In a decades-long study of more than 10,000 people, unbalanced levels of 32 proteins during middle age were strongly associated with an elevated chance of developing dementia in later life. Some of the proteins showed changes only in blood plasma but not in brain tissue, which suggests that “mechanisms below the neck could also play a role”, says neurologist Nicholas Seyfried.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.adf5681

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 25, 2023 at 12:25pm

Psychological study suggests arithmetic is biologically-based and a natural consequence of our perception

Everyone knows that 2 + 2 = 4, but why do we have arithmetic in the first place, and why is it true?  have recently answered these questions by "reverse engineering" arithmetic from a psychological perspective. To do this, they considered all possible ways that quantities could be combined, and proved (for the first time in mathematical terms) that addition and multiplication are the simplest.

Their proof is based on four assumptions—principles of perceptual organization—that shape how we and other animals experience the world. These assumptions eliminate all possibilities except arithmetic, like how a sculptor's work reveals a statue hidden in a block of stone.

Monotonicity is the idea of "things changing in the same direction," and helps us keep track of our place in the world, so that when we approach an object it looms larger but smaller when we move away. Convexity is grounded in intuitions of betweenness. For example, the four corners of a football pitch define the playing field even without boundary lines connecting them. Continuity describes the smoothness with which objects seem to move in space and time. Isomorphism is the idea of sameness or analogy. It's what allows us to recognize that a cat is more similar to a dog than it is to a rock.

Taken together, these four principles structure our perception of the world so that our everyday experience is ordered and cognitively manageable.

The implications, explained in a paper in Psychological Review, are far-reaching because arithmetic is fundamental for mathematics and science. They suggest arithmetic is biologically-based and a natural consequence of our perception. Mathematics is thus a realization in symbols of the fundamental nature of the mind, and as such both invented and discovered. The seemingly magical success of mathematics in the physical sciences hints that our mind and the world are not separate, but part of a common unity.

Matt Grice et al, The psychological scaffolding of arithmetic., Psychological Review (2023). DOI: 10.1037/rev0000431

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 25, 2023 at 12:20pm

The cost of being a non-native English speaker in science

English serves as a convenient, common language for science. However, this practice poses insurmountable barriers to those whose first language is not English—the majority of people around the world.

According to research published on July 18 in the open access journal PLOS Biology, the disadvantages of being a non-native English speaker in science range from difficulties in reading and writing papers to reduced participation in international conferences.

Few studies to date have quantified the manifold costs of being a non-native English speaker in science. Researchers surveyed 908 environmental scientists from eight countries with different linguistic and economic backgrounds, and compared the amount of effort required by individual researchers to conduct a variety of scientific activities in English.

The survey revealed clear and substantial disadvantages for non-native English speakers. Compared to native English speakers, non-native English speakers need up to twice as much time to read and write papers and prepare presentations in English. Papers written by non-native English speakers are 2.5 times more likely to be rejected and 12.5 times more likely to receive a request for revision, simply due to the written English. Many of them also give up attending and presenting at international conferences because they are not confident communicating in English.

These findings have important implications for global efforts to create a more inclusive academia where anyone can thrive and shine. The authors found that these disadvantages disproportionately affect those at an early career stage and from lower income countries. Unless we break down these barriers, the authors argue, we won't be able to achieve fair participation for non-native English speakers in science, nor can we expect contributions to science from those whose first language happens to be a language other than English.

The researchers point out that countless people must have given up their scientific careers because of language barriers.

The real, bigger picture issue is that we have done almost nothing as a community, and instead relied on individuals' own efforts to tackle this problem.

With this in mind, the paper also proposes potential solutions, which range from supervisors recognizing the difficulties faced by their students, to journals providing free English editing, and funders offering financial support to efforts working towards overcoming language barriers.

"To date, being fluent in English has been a ticket to enter the world of academia," according to these researchers. "We must abandon this old system. Anyone in any part of the world should be able to participate in science and contribute to accumulating humanity's knowledge", they conclude.

 Amano T, Ramírez-Castañeda V, Berdejo-Espinola V, Borokini I, Chowdhury S, Golivets M, et al. The manifold costs of being a non-native English speaker in science, PLoS Biology (2023). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002184. journals.plos.org/plosbiology/ … journal.pbio.3002184

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 25, 2023 at 9:38am

Deadly dust: Engineered stone is making workers sick

Workers making artificial-stone slabs for the most popular type of countertops  are developing a potentially deadly, irreversible lung disease from tiny particles of toxic dust, researchers found in the largest study of this emerging health crisis.

When the synthetic quartz is cut, ground and polished, lung-damaging dust is released into the air, leading to a disease called silicosis. The disease has plagued miners and cutters of natural stone for centuries, but the engineered stone is far more dangerous due to its high concentration of silica, a natural product in sandstone, and the harmful polymer resins and dyes that are added to the engineered product.

This growing occupational hazard has been sickening and claiming the lives of workers, predominantly young Latino men, at an alarming rate since the first U.S. silicosis case due to engineered stone was reported in 2015, according to the study published in the July 24, 2023, edition of JAMA Internal Medicine.

JAMA Internal Medicine (2023). jamanetwork.com/journals/jamai … ainternmed.2023.3295

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 23, 2023 at 11:34am

Very polite fish form queues in emergencies, new study finds

 Selfish humans push through one another to ensure their own survival – only to make everything worse. One very sensible species of fish forms queues to avoid exactly this issue, according to a new study.

When evacuating through narrow spaces, schools of neon tetra fish (Paracheirodon innesi) queue so that they don’t collide or clog up the line.

Researchers interpret this behaviour as respecting the social rules even in an emergency situation.  

Humans, like sheep, tend to quickly forget about social rules when they encounter a stressful situation, and rather adopt a selfish behaviour.

In the wild, neon tetra fish have to navigate around rocks in the rivers they swim along. To test how they do this when moving in large groups, a team of scientists from the University Grenoble Alpes, France, put the fish in a tank with narrow openings leading to other compartments.

These openings ranged in size from 1.5 to 4cm: not much bigger than the size of the fish themselves, which are 3cm long and 0.5cm wide.

The scientists then moved a fishing net through the tank and observed groups of 30 neon tetra fish as they evacuated through these openings.

The team were surprised to see that the fish gathered around the openings before passing through them – managing to avoid physical contact and clogging so that they could pass through at a constant rate.

The study marks the first time an experiment on crowd movements has focused on group evacuations in water. Previous observations have focused on animals that walk on 2D, solid surfaces.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-36869-9?utm_medium=affil...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 22, 2023 at 10:45am

This is an optical illusion.

The secret behind the confusing images is “reverse engineering”.

Devon, from 3D printing company Make Anything, proved that one side of each cylinder is shaped like a square and the other is more circular.

“Two of the sides are arching upwards, while the other two dip downwards and that basically ‘corrects’ this hybrid ‘squircle’ into either a square or a circle by compensating in opposite directions, which means it blends back into a square or circle when the true shape is right in between.

https://youtube.com/shorts/rVWQoGZeVOg?feature=share

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 22, 2023 at 10:36am

The role of ribosomes in the development of new treatments

The human body consists of trillions of cells, and 60% of the energy used within a cell is dedicated to a specific molecular machine. That machine is responsible for producing proteins, which are fundamental building blocks of the body.

The molecular machine is called a ribosome. The ribosome's task is to create proteins based on a copy of the genetic code found in the genome, known as mRNA. Until now, scientists thought that the ribosome performed the same type of work with all mRNA, like a standardized assembly line that it did not regulate on its own.

However, researchers now have discovered that this is not the case.

It has long been known that there are different types of ribosomes. But it has been assumed that no matter what mRNA you give the ribosome, it will produce a protein. But the new results suggest that different types of ribosomes produce specific proteins.

Scientists found that cancer cells have different ribosomes compared to other cells, and that was the basis for this new discovery. The paper based on this work is published in the journal Developmental Cell.

Part 1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 22, 2023 at 10:26am

Using GPS as a possible earthquake predictor

A pair of seismologists  has found what might turn out to be an accurate way to predict earthquakes. In their study, reported in the journal Science, they looked at high-rate GPS time series data that was gathered in the time leading up to the moment earthquakes of magnitude 7 or above occurred. 

Seismologists have long sought to predict earthquakes so that people could react. In many cases, several minutes warning would be helpful—it would allow people to exit buildings that might collapse. Finding a precursor is difficult due to the lack of information regarding what was happening in the vicinity of an epicenter before a quake. In this new effort, they have found a way to go back in time to learn more about land shifting before a big quake.

In looking for an earthquake precursor, the researchers obtained and studied precise GPS data for geographical areas surrounding the epicenters of 90 quakes over magnitude 7 over the past several years. They found a pattern—a slip between tectonic plates that caused the land above them to move in a measurable, horizontal direction.

They also found that such slips could be observed and measured using GPS, that they occurred up to two hours before the earthquake struck and were too small to show up on standard seismographs. Most important, they saw the same slip in all the earthquakes they studied.

The work suggests that a reliable earthquake system could be designed based on a precise GPS listening system. On the downside,  researchers note that more work is required to prove that such a precursor exists for all, or at least most, large earthquakes. Also, they add, some upgrades to GPS technology are required to allow for measuring individual events around the clock.

 Quentin Bletery et al, The precursory phase of large earthquakes, Science (2023). DOI: 10.1126/science.adg2565

Roland Bürgmann, Reliable earthquake precursors?, Science (2023). DOI: 10.1126/science.adi8032

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 22, 2023 at 10:14am

Scientists develop AI-based tracking and early-warning system for viral pandemics

 Research scientists have developed a machine-learning system—a type of artificial intelligence (AI) application—that can track the detailed evolution of epidemic viruses and predict the emergence of viral variants with important new properties.

In a paper published in Patterns on July 21, 2023, the scientists demonstrated the system by using data on recorded SARS-CoV-2 variants and COVID-19 mortality rates. They showed that the system could have predicted the emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 "variants of concern" (VOCs) ahead of their official designations by the World Health Organization (WHO). Their findings point to the possibility of using such a system in real-time to track future viral pandemics.

The software enabled the researchers to track sets of genetic changes appearing in SARS-CoV-2 variants around the world. These changes—typically trending towards increased spread rates and decreased mortality rates—signified the virus' adaptations to lockdowns, mask wearing, vaccines, increasing natural immunity in the global population, and the relentless competition among SARS-CoV-2 variants themselves.

One of the big lessons of this work is that it is important to take into account not just a few prominent variants, but also the tens of thousands of other undesignated variants, which the scientists  call the 'variant dark matter.

A similar system could be used to track the detailed evolution of future viral pandemics in real time, the researchers note. In principle, it would enable scientists to predict changes in a pandemic's trajectory—for example, big increases in infection rates—in time to adopt appropriate public health countermeasures.

William E. Balch, Understanding the Host-Pathogen Evolutionary Balance through Gaussian Process Modelling of SARS-CoV-2, Patterns (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.patter.2023.100800. www.cell.com/patterns/fulltext … 2666-3899(23)00155-1

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on July 21, 2023 at 2:04pm

The quirks of asp caterpillar venom support the idea it evolved independently from other insect venom, the researchers say. In fact, its origins seem to lie outside the animal kingdom entirely.

When researchers  looked at it more closely, they saw proteins that were very similar to some of the bacterial toxins that make people sick.

Specifically, asp caterpillar venom resembles a type of bacterial toxin that binds itself to the surface of a cell, the researchers explain, assembling into doughnut-like structures that rip holes in their cell target.

While organisms normally pass genes down their offspring in a so-called vertical fashion, sometimes genes can be transferred across between species – even distantly related ones – in a less common horizontal process.

Previous research has found evidence of horizontal gene transfer from bacteria to other, more complex creatures, including the transfer of genes involved with producing venom toxins.

In their new study, researchers say they've found evidence that major components of asp caterpillar venom were recruited as venom toxins from genes that bacteria transferred horizontally to their ancestors.

The venom in these caterpillars has evolved via the transfer of genes from bacteria more than 400 million years ago.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2305871120

Part 2

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