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Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 16, 2020 at 7:14am

Scientists just found something new in our mouths

• Researchers have discovered a new type of taste cell that can detect the full rank of taste stimuli.
• The cells are different from the previously known taste bud cells in that they have multiple pathways to send signals to the brain, regardless of the type of taste stimuli.
• The research was conducted using mouse models.

A subset of broadly responsive Type III taste cells contribute to the detection of bitter, sweet and umami stimuli

https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.p...

https://bgr.com/2020/08/15/science-news-taste-buds/

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 16, 2020 at 5:51am

Scientists Create a Material That Makes Salty Water Safe to Drink in Minutes

https://www.sciencealert.com/new-material-makes-seawater-drinkable-...

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https://iheartcats.com/ask-a-vet-why-does-my-cat-sharpen-his-claws/

Ask A Vet: Why Does My Cat Sharpen His Claws?

A chemical message for others

A visible mark

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 16, 2020 at 5:49am

Climate change could put tropical plant germination at risk: Study

https://news.mongabay.com/2020/08/climate-change-could-put-tropical...

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https://theconversation.com/how-to-talk-to-someone-who-doesnt-wear-...

How to talk to someone who doesn’t wear a mask, and actually change their mind

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 15, 2020 at 7:22am

Mitochondria May Hold Keys to Anxiety and Mental Health

Research hints that the energy-generating organelles of cells may play a surprisingly pivotal role in mediating anxiety and depression.

https://www.quantamagazine.org/mitochondria-may-hold-keys-to-anxiet...

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‘Zombie’ Microbes Redefine Life’s Energy Limits

A new model shows that the denizens of a vast, ancient biome beneath the seafloor use barely enough energy to stay alive — and broadens understanding of what life can look like.

https://www.quantamagazine.org/zombie-microbes-redefine-lifes-energ...

https://www.quantamagazine.org/zombie-microbes-redefine-lifes-energ...

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Entire cities could fit inside the moon's monstrous lava tubes

https://www.livescience.com/lava-tubes-mars-and-moon-habitable.html

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 15, 2020 at 6:20am

Tree ferns are older than dinosaurs. And that's not even the most interesting thing about them

tree ferns are ferns, but they are not really trees. To be a tree, a plant must be woody (undergo secondary plant growth, which thickens stems and roots) and grow to a height of at least three meters when mature. While tree ferns can have single, thick trunk-like stems and can grow to a height of more than 15 meters, they are never woody.

They're also incredibly hardy—tree ferns are often the first plants to show signs of recovery in the early weeks after bushfires. The unfurling of an almost iridescent green tree fern fiddlehead amid the somber black of the bushfire ash is almost symbolic of the potential for bushfire recovery.

Tree ferns are generally slow growing, at rates of just 25-50 millimeters height increase per year. This means the tall individuals you might spot in a mature forest may be several centuries old.

However, in the right environment they can grow faster, so guessing their real age can be tricky, especially if they're growing outside their usual forest environment.

As a plant group, tree ferns are ancient, dating back hundreds of millions of years and pre-dating dinosaurs.

They existed on earth long before the flowering or cone-bearing plants evolved, and were a significant element of the earth's flora during the Carboniferous period 300-360 million years ago, when conditions for plant growth were near ideal. This explains why ferns don't reproduce by flowers, fruits or cones, but by more primitive spores.

In fact, fossilized tree ferns and their relatives called the fern allies laid down during the carboniferous then have provided much of the earth's fossil fuels dating from that period. And tree ferns were a great food source, with Indigenous people once eating the pulp that occurs in the center of the tree fern stem either raw or roasted as a starch.

The way tree ferns grow is quite complex. That's because growth, even of the roots, originates from part of the apex of the stem. If this crown is damaged, then the fern can die.

At the right time of the year, the new fronds unfurl in the crown from a coil called a fiddlehead. The stem of the tree fern is made up of all of the retained leaf bases of the fronds from previous years.

The stems are very fibrous and quite strong, which means they tend to retain moisture. And this is one of the reasons why the stems of tree ferns don't easily burn in bushfires—even when they're dry or dead.

https://theconversation.com/tree-ferns-are-older-than-dinosaurs-and...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 15, 2020 at 6:14am

Forensic research proves that textile fibres can be transferred between clothing in the absence of contact

Breakthrough forensic research at Northumbria University, Newcastle, has revealed for the first time that textile fibers can, under certain circumstances, be transferred between clothing in the absence of contact.

This new forensic discovery has not been demonstrated before and could have a major implication for fiber evidence in certain criminal cases.

Researchers within Northumbria University's Department of Applied Sciences have proved that contactless transfer of fibers between garments can be possible through airborne travel.

Because it has largely been assumed that fiber transfer only occurs when two surfaces touch, it is generally accepted in a case that two surfaces have, at some point, been in contact with each other. However, researchers at Northumbria University have revealed that under certain conditions, this is not necessarily always the case.

when people travel on elevators this can happen.

It not only proved that textile fibers can transfer between garments in the absence of contact, but they can do so in relatively high numbers."

In this study, the potential of fiber transfer between different items of sheddable clothing through airborne travel has been assessed for small, compact and semi-enclosed spaces, such as elevators.

The results of this study demonstrate that when certain strict conditions are met (i.e. time, sheddability of garment, proximity and confined space), airborne transfer of fibers can occur in forensic scenarios, and that these could be in potentially significant numbers for fiber types, such as cotton and polyester.

The results of this study define a set of circumstances that can be used as a baseline to evaluate the likelihood of an alleged activity being conducive to contactless transfer. What is equally, if not more, important, is how that fiber was transferred from one surface to another," he said. "This research shows that airborne transfer is viable in a number of case scenarios despite previous beliefs and could explain the presence of fibers on a variety of surfaces.

 A study on contactless airborne transfer of textile fibers between different garments in small compact semi-enclosed spaces, Forensic Science International (2020).

https://phys.org/news/2020-08-forensic-textile-fibres-absence-conta...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 15, 2020 at 5:59am

Spacecraft Uncover Mystery Behind Auroral Beads

https://phys.org/news/2020-08-aurora-mysteries-nasa-themis-mission....

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 15, 2020 at 5:41am

Nanoparticles to immunize plants against heat stress

https://phys.org/news/2020-08-nanoparticles-immunize-stress.html?ut...

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Researchers capture footage of fluid behaving like a solid

https://phys.org/news/2020-08-capture-footage-fluid-solid.html?utm_...

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Space bricks for lunar habitation

In what could be a significant step forward in space exploration, a team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has developed a sustainable process for making brick-like structures on the moon. It exploits lunar soil, and uses bacteria and guar beans to consolidate the soil into possible load-bearing structures. These 'space bricks' could eventually be used to assemble structures for habitation on the moon's surface.

https://phys.org/news/2020-08-space-bricks-lunar-habitation.html?ut...

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Coronavirus Found on Food Packaging, but Likely of Little Concern

China recently reported the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus on the outside of frozen food items imported from other countries, but experts stress the risk of transmission is extremely low.

https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/coronavirus-found-on-foo...

the chance of transmission through inanimate surfaces is very small, and only in instances where an infected person coughs or sneezes on the surface, and someone else touches that surface soon after

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 14, 2020 at 7:23am

We Finally Know The Chemical That Triggers Locust Swarms. Now to Use It Against Them

A single locust is just bigger than a paper clip.

But when these solitary critters attract others into a growing swarm, billions of locusts wind up flying together, forming a moving carpet that can block out the sun and strip the landscape of plants and crops.

Giant swarms like this have devastated large swaths of crops in Africa and Asia since January, threatening food supplies for millions.

But until now, scientists weren't sure what causes the insects to come together and abandon their solitary lifestyles. 

A study published Wednesday in the journal Nature pinpointed the trigger: Migratory locusts respond to a pheromone called 4-vinylanisole (4VA).

4VA is specific to that one type of locust, but the finding could offer a way to control many devastating swarms, including those wreaking global havoc this year. The study authors suggest using 4VA to corral locusts into areas in which they can then be killed en masse with pesticides.

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The migratory locust is the most widely distributed locust species on the planet.

Like all locust species, these insects can follow one of two paths as they mature: some become solitary creatures, while others gather together in a cohesive mass. Locusts can also transition from solitary to gregarious creatures at any point during their life cycle.

Scientists had long thought this change in lifestyle might be prompted by a pheromone put out by other locusts. Yet until the discovery of 4VA, they hadn't figured out what that chemical klaxon was.

This study has found the long-anticipated but never-before-described aggregation pheromone that is responsible for bringing solitary locusts together and turning them into gregarious, dangerous swarming locusts

The study authors found that 4VA was equally attractive to male and female migratory locusts, as well as juveniles and adults.

Their results also showed that as the density of a locust swarm grew, the amount of 4VA in the air "increased markedly," Voss wrote. That could explain why swarms, once they start, gather more and more solitary locusts over time.

Additionally, the researchers found that once four or five solitary locusts crowd out together, they begin to produce and emit 4VA.

As a substance, 4VA would smell sweet to humans. he discovery of 4VA could facilitate a more surgical approach to fighting swarms: The study authors suggest deploying a synthetic version of the scent to lure locusts into traps where they can be killed. 

Another option, they wrote, might be to figure out ways to stop locusts from detecting 4VA at all.

Locusts detect the pheromone via their antennae; the molecules attach to an olfactory receptor. So the researchers genetically engineered locusts to lack that receptor, and found that the mutant locusts were less attracted to 4VA than their wild counterparts.

Based on those findings, the authors think "anti-VA" chemicals could be developed to obstruct the locusts' olfactory process.

"Such molecules could be widely deployed to prevent locust aggregation, in effect making the locusts blind to their own scent," 

https://www.sciencealert.com/researchers-have-finally-worked-out-th...

Comment by Dr. Krishna Kumari Challa on August 14, 2020 at 6:47am

The hidden math of bacterial behavior

As modern medical science has become increasingly aware of the positive role that bacteria and other microorganisms can play in our health, a mystery has emerged: How is it that beneficial microbial communities can sometimes "flip" into a harmful state that is stubbornly resistant to treatment?

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Pandemic Conspiracies And Rumours Have Killed Over 800 People, Study Shows

"Infodemic" – an oversupply of information, carrying with it fake news, rumours, and conspiracy theories that put people in harm's way. Bad ideas and poor advice, shared amongst friends, family, and total strangers alike.

In a new study, an international team of infectious disease researchers scoured social media and news websites to monitor how COVID-19 misinformation was circulating on online platforms.

In total, they identified over 2,300 reports of COVID-19-related rumours, stigma, and conspiracy theories, communicated in 25 languages from 87 different countries.

None of this misinformation is helpful – even if it's intended to be – and much of it is harmful. In some cases, it's lethal, leading to preventable death and injury on a truly tragic scale.

"For example, a popular myth that consumption of highly concentrated alcohol could disinfect the body and kill the virus was circulating in different parts of the world," the authors write in their study.

"Following this misinformation, approximately 800 people have died, whereas 5,876 have been hospitalised and 60 have developed complete blindness after drinking methanol as a cure of coronavirus."

https://www.sciencealert.com/covid-19-rumours-have-killed-800-peopl...

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How a protein stops cells from attacking their own DNA

Viruses multiply by injecting their DNA into a host cell. Once it enters the intracellular fluid, this foreign material triggers a defense mechanism known as the cGAS-STING pathway. The protein cyclic GMP-AMP Synthase (cGAS), which is also found inside the fluid, binds to the invading DNA to create a new molecule. This, in turn, binds to another protein called Stimulator of Interferon Genes (STING), which induces an inflammatory immune response.

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