Climate change is closing daily temperature gap: Clouds could be th...

Climate change is shrinking the difference between the daily high temperature and the daily low in many parts of the world. The gap between the two, known as the diurnal temperature range (DTR), has a significant effect on growing seasons, crop yields, residential energy consumption and human health issues related to heat stress. But why and where the DTR shrinks with climate change has been something of a mystery.

Hidden 'Oasis of Life' Discovered Deep Under The Ocean in The Maldives

Purified Sand Particles Have Anti-Obesity Effects, Scientists Confirm

Porous particles of silica made from purified sand could one day play a role in attempts to lose weight.

Past clinical trials have already produced promising results, but the actual weight-lowering mechanism behind the potential treatment has been poorly understood.

To sift out the key variables, researchers have now tested a range of silica sizes and shapes in a simulation of the human gut after a heavy meal.

The results support the idea that porous silica can "impede the digestive processes" that are usually triggered by enzymes breaking down fat, cholesterol, starches, and sugars in the stomach and intestines.

What's more, the size of administered nanoparticles seems to determine how much digestive activity is inhibited.

The authors acknowledge that their model is much too simple to perfectly mimic the complexity of the human gut during digestion, but given the ethics surrounding human clinical trials, gut simulations and animal models are closer than researchers might otherwise get.

Unlike other human gut models, this new one accounts for both fat digestion and carbohydrate digestion. The authors also analyzed the degree to which organic matter might be absorbed within the gastrointestinal tract.

It's possible that porous silica triggers a reduction of weight gain in other ways, too, but the new findings provide additional research with a more solid place to start.

In 2014, researchers found mice on high fat diets put on significantly less weight when fed nanoparticles of porous silica (MSPs). Their total body fat percentage was also reduced. Still, that effect seemed to be based on the relative size of the silica particles used. Larger particles were ultimately more effective.

Follow-up studies on mice supported these results. The right size and shape of porous silica particles seemed to determine the power of mouse digestion in the small intestine.

In 2020, the first clinical data on 10 healthy humans with obesity demonstrated that MSPs can reduce blood glucose levels and blood cholesterol levels, both of which are known risk factors for metabolic and cardiovascular complications.

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Even better, the treatment did not trigger any abdominal discomfort or changes to bowel habits, which can't be said of current medicines for weight gain like Orlistat.

The current research elaborates on these promising findings by comparing an array of 13 porous silica samples of various widths, absorption potentials, shapes, sizes, and surface chemistries.

These samples were each introduced to a human gastrointestinal model that simulated a fed state after a high-carbohydrate, high-fat meal. The model allowed for half an hour of gastric digestion and an hour of intestinal digestion and absorption.

Fat digestion was monitored by titrating fatty acids from what was absorbed, while starch digestion was monitored by measuring the concentration of sugars absorbed.

The authors say the ideal silica samples were silica microparticles with pore widths between 6 and 10 nanometers. These sizes seemed to inhibit the enzymes examined best.

The pores don't just appear to trap enzymes, either. It's more complicated than that, researchers think.

Some pores which were the optimal size for inhibiting starch digestion, for instance, were too large to optimally trap enzymes associated with fat digestion.

The porous sand particles also seemed to absorb digested and undigested nutrients from the gastrointestinal tract before they could pass into the system's bloodstream.

This could be another way in which the particles counter the input of calories.

Those particles with greater surface areas but smaller pores unable to impact digestive enzymes actually absorbed the most organic matter in models.

Further research on animal models will be needed to replicate these results.

https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4923/14/9/1813/htm

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Scientists discover material that can be made like a plastic but conducts like a metal

Scientists have discovered a way to create a material that can be made like a plastic, but conducts electricity more like a metal.

The research, published Oct. 26 in Nature, shows how to make a kind of material in which the molecular fragments are jumbled and disordered, but can still conduct electricity extremely well.

This goes against all of the rules we know about for conductivity. In principle, this opens up the design of a whole new class of materials that conduct electricity, are easy to shape, and are very robust in everyday conditions. 

Conductive materials are absolutely essential if you're making any kind of electronic device, whether it be an iPhone, a solar panel, or a television. By far the oldest and largest group of conductors is the metals: copper, gold, aluminum. Then, about 50 years ago, scientists were able to create conductors made out of organic materials, using a chemical treatment known as "doping," which sprinkles in different atoms or electrons through the material.

This is advantageous because these materials are more flexible and easier to process than traditional metals, but the trouble is they aren't very stable; they can lose their conductivity if exposed to moisture or if the temperature gets too high.

But fundamentally, both of these organic and traditional metallic conductors share a common characteristic. They are made up of straight, closely packed rows of atoms or molecules. This means that electrons can easily flow through the material, much like cars on a highway. In fact, scientists till now thought a material had to have these straight, orderly rows in order to conduct electricity efficiently.

Then some researchers began experimenting with some materials discovered years ago, but largely ignored. They strung nickel atoms like pearls into a string of of molecular beads made of carbon and sulfur, and began testing.

To the scientists' astonishment, the material easily and strongly conducted electricity. What's more, it was very stable. When they heated it, chilled it, exposed it to air and humidity, and even dripped acid and base on it, and nothing happened. That is enormously helpful for a device that has to function in the real world.

But the most striking thing was that the molecular structure of the material was disordered.

They tried to understand how the material can conduct electricity. After tests, simulations, and theoretical work, they think that the material forms layers, like sheets in a lasagna. Even if the sheets rotate sideways, no longer forming a neat lasagna stack, electrons can still move horizontally or vertically—as long as the pieces touch.

The end result is unprecedented for a conductive material.

The discovery suggests a fundamentally new design principle for electronics technology.

John Anderson, Intrinsic glassy-metallic transport in an amorphous coordination polymer, Nature (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05261-4. www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05261-4

Scientists discover exotic quantum state at room temperature

For the first time, physicists have observed novel quantum effects in a topological insulator at room temperature. This breakthrough, published as the cover article of the October issue of Nature Materials, came when  scientists explored a topological material based on the element bismuth.

The scientists have used topological insulators to demonstrate quantum effects for more than a decade, but this experiment is the first time these effects have been observed at room temperature. Typically, inducing and observing quantum states in topological insulators requires temperatures around absolute zero, which is equal to -459 degrees Fahrenheit (or -273 degrees Celsius).

This finding opens up a new range of possibilities for the development of efficient quantum technologies, such as spin-based electronics, which may potentially replace many current electronic systems for higher energy efficiency.

Nana Shumiya et al, Evidence of a room-temperature quantum spin Hall edge state in a higher-order topological insulator, Nature Materials (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41563-022-01304-3

Scientists warn in report that climate change has pushed Earth to 'code red'

Writing in the journal BioScience, an international coalition of  researchers says in a report published today that the Earth's vital signs have reached "code red" and that "humanity is unequivocally facing a climate emergency."

In the special report, "World Scientists' Warning of a Climate Emergency 2022," the authors note that 16 of 35 planetary vital signs they use to track climate change are at record extremes. The report's authors share new data illustrating increasing frequency of extreme heat events, rising global tree cover loss because of fires, and a greater prevalence of the mosquito-borne dengue virus. Further, they note that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have reached 418 parts per million, the highest on record.

The report follows by five years the "World Scientists' Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice" published by Ripple and colleagues in BioScience and co-signed by more than 15,000 scientists in 184 countries.

As we can see by the annual surges in climate disasters, we are now in the midst of a major climate crisis, with far worse to come if we keep doing things the way we've been doing them, say the scientists. 

The report points out that in the three decades since more than 1,700 scientists signed the original "World Scientists' Warning to Humanity" in 1992, global greenhouse gas emissions have increased by 40%.

As Earth's temperatures are creeping up, the frequency or magnitude of some types of climate disasters may actually be leaping up.

William J Ripple et al, World Scientists' Warning of a Climate Emergency 2022, BioScience (2022). DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biac083

William J. Ripple et al, World Scientists' Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice, BioScience (2017) DOI: 10.1093/biosci/bix125

Doctors say 'fossil fuel addiction' kills, starves millions

Extreme weather from climate change triggered hunger in nearly 100 million people and increased heat deaths by 68% in vulnerable populations worldwide as the world's "fossil fuel addiction" degrades public health each year, doctors reported in a new study.

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Earth on track to warm above 2 degrees Celsius despite climate action

Government plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions aren't enough to avoid catastrophic global warming, with the planet on track to heat up between 2.1 and 2.9 degrees Celsius by the end of the century compared to pre-industrial times, according to a new report from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

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Bacteria could last on Mars for 280 million years

Researchers have discovered that certain hardy bacteria could survive in the hostile Martian conditions for millions of years, by testing the ability of a selection of ‘extremophile’ microbes — which can live in harsh environments — to survive in cold, radioactive conditions similar to those on Mars. The team found that, when dried and frozen, the Deinococcus radiodurans microbe could survive under the surface of Mars for 280 million years. The findings increase the chance that life could be found in future samples from the red planet.

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The scientists trying to rewind ageing

Research laboratories and biotech companies are applying cellular-reprogramming techniques to animals to see whether they can make them more youthful. The methods are based on the Nobel-prizewinning discovery in 2006 by Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka, who turned adult cells into stem cells that resemble embryonic cells. Some scientists say they have found evidence of the procedure rejuvenating the animals and their organs. “We think we can turn back the clock,” Richard Klausner, chief scientist of the company Altos Labs, told an audience at an event in June. Investors are throwing billions into these initiatives, despite a lack of consensus among scientists on what causes ageing and when ageing even begins.

Quantum pseudo-telepathy is the fact that in certain Bayesian games with asymmetric information, players who have access to a shared physical system in an entangled quantum state, and who are able to execute strategies that are contingent upon measurements performed on the entangled physical system, are able to achieve higher expected payoffs in equilibrium than can be achieved in any mixed-strategy Nash equilibrium of the same game by players without access to the entangled quantum system.

In their 1999 paper,[1] Gilles Brassard, Richard Cleve and Alain Tapp demonstrated that quantum pseudo-telepathy allows players in some games to achieve outcomes that would otherwise only be possible if participants were allowed to communicate during the game.

This phenomenon came to be referred to as quantum pseudo-telepathy,[2] with the prefix pseudo referring to the fact that quantum pseudo-telepathy does not involve the exchange of information between any parties. Instead, quantum pseudo-telepathy removes the need for parties to exchange information in some circumstances.

By removing the need to engage in communication to achieve mutually advantageous outcomes in some circumstances, quantum pseudo-telepathy could be useful if some participants in a game were separated by many light years, meaning that communication between them would take many years. This would be an example of a macroscopic implication of quantum non-locality.

Quantum pseudo-telepathy is generally used as a thought experiment to demonstrate the non-local characteristics of quantum mechanics. However, quantum pseudo-telepathy is a real-world phenomenon which can be verified experimentally. It is thus an especially striking example of an experimental confirmation of Bell inequality violations.

1. Brassard, Gilles; Cleve, Richard; Tapp, Alain (1999). "Cost of Exactly Simulating Quantum Entanglement with Classical Communication". Physical Review Letters. 83 (9): 1874–1877. arXiv:quant-ph/9901035. Bibcode:1999PhRvL..83.1874B. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.83.1874. S2CID 5837965.
2. ^ Brassard, Gilles; Broadbent, Anne; Tapp, Alain (2003). "Multi-party Pseudo-Telepathy". Algorithms and Data Structures. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Vol. 2748. pp. 1–11. arXiv:quant-ph/0306042. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-45078-8_1. ISBN 978-3-540-40545-0. S2CID 14390319.

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Birds getting smaller, 'wingier' as planet warms, research finds

A UCLA-led study published today reveals that migratory birds across North America are getting smaller, a change the researchers attribute to the rapidly warming climate.

The link between gut bacteria and rheumatoid arthritis

Researchers have discovered that a unique bacteria found in the gut could be responsible for triggering rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in people already at risk for the autoimmune disease.

They established that  they can identify people who are at risk for RA based on serologic markers, and that these markers can be present in the blood for many years before diagnosis. 

The researchers  took the antibodies created by immune cells  from individuals whose blood markers showed they were at risk for the disease and mixed them with the feces of the at-risk individuals to find the bacteria that were tagged by the antibodies.

To further test their hypothesis, the researchers used animal models to host the newly discovered bacteria. Those experiments showed that not only did the bacteria cause the animal models to develop the blood markers found in individuals at risk for RA; but some of the models showed development of full-blown RA as well.

They confirmed that the T cells in the blood of people with RA will respond to these bacteria, but people who are otherwise healthy do not respond to these bacteria. 

If the unique species of bacteria is indeed driving the immune response that leads to RA in individuals already at risk for the disease. It might be possible to target the bacteria with medication to prevent that response from happening.

 Meagan E. Chriswell et al, Clonal IgA and IgG autoantibodies from individuals at risk for rheumatoid arthritis identify an arthritogenic strain of Subdoligranulum, Science Translational Medicine (2022). DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abn5166

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Social mammals evolve faster than solitary ones, according to new study of evolution

A groundbreaking new research project has analyzed the evolution of the placental mammal skull using 3D scans of 322 specimens housed in more than 20 international museum collections, and crafted a new model of how mammals diversified based on the emerging patterns.

By gathering data on the skulls of all major groups of placental mammals, both extinct and extant, the team of researchers have gained a unique look across time and taxa to trace the adaptive radiation (rapid evolution which fills a variety of ecological niches) of mammals and decipher what drove their incredible rise in the wake of the dinosaur extinction.

Although the earliest mammals existed alongside dinosaurs, they were relatively constrained in their diversity, with the largest mammals of the Mesozoic Era growing to be the size of a small dog. However, immediately after the extinction of the dinosaurs there is an incredible explosion of diversity among placental mammals with the earliest ancestors of today's living groups appearing in the fossil record within a few 100,000 years of this event.

However, this new study shows that after the initial burst of mammal diversification, the pace of evolution quickly slows down. Later bursts of faster evolution do occur, but their impacts get smaller and smaller through time, and never match the speed of that first peak. While uncertainty in the exact timing of these later bursts makes it is difficult to attribute them to specific events, they are likely caused by periods of rapid or sustained climate change and the global cooling through the Cenozoic era.

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The study also shows remarkable similarities, or convergence, among placental mammals with most mammal skull shapes evolving in much the same way throughout the fossil record. The biggest exceptions are whales and rodents.

What makes mammals evolve fast?

A key aim of this study is to better predict how different species may respond to rapid changes in their environment—the kind we are likely to see throughout the current planetary emergency. To do this the team investigated the characteristics of mammals that evolve fast and found the key influencers to be habitat, social behaviors, diet, parental care and time of activity.

Social structures hugely differentiate the rate which mammals evolve. Mammals which are social evolve much faster than those that are solitary. This is easily witnessed in ungulates which have evolved horns and antlers for fighting and social display. Mammals that live in aquatic environments, including whales but also manatees, seals and walruses are also fast evolvers. Herbivores also evolve faster than carnivores, probably because they track changes in plants and the environment more closely than meat eaters do.

Parental care also seems to be a big factor slowing down the speed of evolution. Precocial animals that require little primary care, such as horses and antelopes, evolve a lot faster than altricial mammals that are reliant on caregivers in infancy, such as primates. When animals are active also makes a difference, with species with a strict schedule, whether nocturnal or diurnal, evolving slower than animals without a fixed activity pattern.

Unexpectedly, the groups of mammals with the most species, rodents and bats, don't appear to evolve very quickly, suggesting that diversity in shape and diversity in number aren't closely linked in mammals.

Anjali Goswami et al, Attenuated evolution of mammals through the Cenozoic, Science (2022). DOI: 10.1126/science.abm7525

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Heat waves driven by climate change have cost global economy trillions since the 1990s

Massive economic losses due to sweltering temperatures brought on by human-caused climate change are not just a problem for the distant future. A study in the journal Science Advances has found that more severe heat waves resulting from global warming have already cost the world economy trillions of dollars since the early 1990s—with the world's poorest and lowest carbon-emitting nations suffering the most.

Researchers combined newly available, in-depth economic data for regions worldwide with the average temperature for the hottest five-day period—a commonly used measurement of heat intensity—for each region in each year. They found that from 1992–2013, heat waves statistically coincided with variations in economic growth and that an estimated $16 trillion was lost to the effects of high temperatures on human health, productivity and agricultural output.

The findings stress the immediate need for policies and technologies that protect people during the hottest days of the year, particularly in the world's warmest, most economically vulnerable nations, the researchers report.

Christopher W. Callahan et al, Globally unequal effect of extreme heat on economic growth, Science Advances (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.add3726. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.add3726

Physicists see light waves moving through a metal

When we encounter metals in our day-to-day lives, we perceive them as shiny. That's because common metallic materials are reflective at visible light wavelengths and will bounce back any light that strikes them. While metals are well suited to conducting electricity and heat, they aren't typically thought of as a means to conduct light.

But in the burgeoning field of quantum materials, researchers are increasingly finding examples that challenge expectations about how things should behave. In new research published in Science Advances, a research team describes a metal capable of conducting light. These results defy our daily experiences and common conceptions.

Researchers have been  exploring the optical properties of a semimetal material known as ZrSiSe. They  showed that ZrSiSe shares electronic similarities with graphene, the first so-called Dirac material discovered in 2004. ZrSiSe, however, has enhanced electronic correlations that are rare for Dirac semimetals.

Whereas graphene is a single, atom-thin layer of carbon, ZrSiSe is a three-dimensional metallic crystal made up of layers that behave differently in the in-plane and out-of-plane directions, a property known as anisotropy. It's sort of like a sandwich: One layer acts like a metal while the next layer acts like an insulator. Whereas graphene is a single, atom-thin layer of carbon, ZrSiSe is a three-dimensional metallic crystal made up of layers that behave differently in the in-plane and out-of-plane directions, a property known as anisotropy. "It's sort of like a sandwich: One layer acts like a metal while the next layer acts like an insulator.

They observed such zigzag movement of light, so-called hyperbolic waveguide modes, through ZrSiSe samples of varying thicknesses. Such waveguides can guide light through a material and here, result from photons of light mixing with electron oscillations to create hybrid quasiparticles called plasmons.

Although the conditions to generate plasmons that can propagate hyperbolically are met in many layered metals, it is the unique range of electron energy levels, called electronic band structure, of ZrSiSe that allowed the team to observe them in this material.

Yinming Shao et al. Infrared plasmons propagate through a hyperbolic nodal metal. Science Advances (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.add6169

Rainbows will change their frequency because of climate change

Climate change will increase or decrease opportunities to see rainbows, according to a new study led by researchers.

The study's authors estimate that by 2100, the average land location on Earth will experience about 5% more days with rainbows than at the beginning of the 21st century.

Northern latitudes and very high elevations, where warming is predicted to lead to less snow and more rain, will experience the greatest gains in rainbow occurrence. However, places with reduced rainfall under climate change—such as the Mediterranean—are projected to lose rainbow days.

Rainbows are produced when water droplets refract sunlight. Sunlight and rainfall are therefore essential ingredients for rainbows. Human activities such as burning fossil fuels are warming the atmosphere, which changes patterns and amounts of rainfall and cloud cover.

Researchers  sorted through tens of thousands of photos taken around the world, labeled with the word "rainbow," to identify rainbows generated from the refraction of light by rain droplets.

Then, the scientists trained a rainbow prediction model based on rainbow photo locations and maps of precipitation, cloud cover, and sun angle. Finally, they applied their model to predict present day and future rainbow occurrences over global land areas. The model suggests that islands are rainbow hotspots.

Kimberly M. Carlson et al, Global rainbow distribution under current and future climates, Global Environmental Change (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2022.102604

Geomagnetic fields reveal the truth behind Biblical narratives

A joint study by TAU and the Hebrew University, involving 20 researchers from different countries and disciplines, has accurately dated 21 destruction layers at 17 archaeological sites in Israel by reconstructing the direction and/or intensity of the earth's magnetic field recorded in burnt remnants. The new data verify the Biblical accounts of the Egyptian, Aramean, Assyrian, and Babylonian military campaigns against the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

Should we move species to save them?

A proposed change to conservation rules in the United States could expand the use of a controversial tool to save species on the.... Assisted migration, in which an endangered species is relocated to a new environment, is a last resort for organisms being squeezed out of their historic ranges by climate change, habitat loss and threats from introduced species. But fears of unintended ecological consequences have limited its use so far. The US Fish and Wildlife Service is set to relax assisted-migration regulations, to allow experimental relocations outside a species’ current or recent range. Regulators “need to seriously consider conservation actions that are currently deemed too extreme”, says conservation biologist Avril Harder.

Monoclonal antibody prevents malaria infection

One dose of an antibody drug safely protected healthy, non-pregnant adults from malaria infection during an intense six-month malaria season in Mali, Africa, a National Institutes of Health clinical trial has found. The antibody was up to 88.2% effective at preventing infection over a 24-week period, demonstrating for the first time that a monoclonal antibody can prevent malaria infection in an endemic region. 

These study results suggest that a monoclonal antibody could potentially complement other measures to protect travelers and vulnerable groups such as infants, children, and pregnant women from seasonal malaria and help eliminate malaria from defined geographical areas.

Malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites, which are transmitted to people through the bite of an infected mosquito. The mosquito injects the parasites in a form called sporozoites into the skin and bloodstream. These travel to the liver, where they mature and multiply. Then the mature parasite spreads throughout the body via the bloodstream to cause illness. P. falciparum is the Plasmodium species most likely to result in severe malaria infections, which—if not promptly treated—may lead to death.

The Phase 2 NIAID-USTTB trial evaluated the safety and efficacy of a one-time, intravenous infusion of a monoclonal antibody called CIS43LS. This antibody was previously shown to neutralize the sporozoites of P. falciparum in the skin and blood before they could infect liver cells. Researchers  isolated a naturally occurring form of this antibody from the blood of a volunteer who had received an investigational malaria vaccine, and then modified the antibody to extend the length of time it would remain in the bloodstream. And tested it.

  Kassoum Kayentao. Testing the safety and efficacy of anti-malaria monoclonal antibodies in African adults and children. Session 41—Progress in the discovery and clinical development of anti-malaria monoclonal antibodies. ASTMH 2022 Annual Meeting, Seattle. Monday, Oct. 31, 2022. 5:40 pm Pacific Time.

Kassoum Kayentao et al, Safety and efficacy of a monoclonal antibody against malaria in Mali. The New England Journal of Medicine DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2206966 (2022).

R.L. Wu et al, Low-dose subcutaneous or intravenous monoclonal antibody to prevent malaria. The New England Journal of Medicine DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2203067 (2022).

Photos suggest rhino horns have shrunk over past century, likely due to hunting

By scrutinizing over a century's worth of photos researchers have made the first ever measurements that show rhinoceros horns have gradually decreased in size over time.

The researchers measured the horns of 80 rhinos, photographed in profile view between 1886 and 2018. The photographs, held by the Rhino Resource Center—an online repository—included all five species of rhino: white, black, Indian, Javan and Sumatran. Horn length was found to have decreased significantly in all species over the last century.

Real rhino horns are so valuable that strict security protocols typically prevent researchers accessing them for study, so this is the first time that horn length has been measured over a long timeframe.

The researchers think rhino horns have become smaller over time due to intensive hunting. Rhino horns command a high price and are in demand both as a financial investment, and for their use in traditional medicines in China and Vietnam. The report is published today in the journal People and Nature.

Image-based analyses from an online repository provide rich information on long-term changes in morphology and human perceptions of rhinos, People and Nature (2022). DOI: 10.1002/pan3.10406

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Neurotransmitter Buildup May Be Why Your Brain Feels Tired

Performing complex cognitive tasks leads to glutamate accumulating in a key region of the brain, a study finds, which could explain why mental labor is so exhausting.

The fatigue that comes from performing demanding mental tasks may stem from a buildup of the neurotransmitter glutamate, according to research published recently in Current Biology.

Mental fatigue also appears to shift decision-making toward a kind of easy-button mode where the brain favours low-cost, immediate-reward options, according to researchers. So after a day of work, you [make] different choices compared to when you’re fresh in the morning. They think that this is due to glutamate accumulation.

The research has identified a potential marker of fatigue to study more widely in athletes or in people with disorders such as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). 

Previous theories posited that the tiredness people experience from mental exertion stemmed from the depletion of energy reserves. But research hasn’t borne that out, the study authors write. 

The region that helps orchestrate cognitive control: the left lateral prefrontal cortex.  In addition to helping us undertake complex tasks like solving a Sudoku puzzle, playing chess, or designing an experiment, the left lateral cortex helps control the processes required to remember and manipulate information to solve those problems. It’s also part of the system that says, ‘Well, actually, maybe I don’t want to play chess. I want to watch Netflix and do something simpler. I want to relax.

That result of this work suggested to the researchers that mental fatigue could be the result of the glutamate diffusing out of neurons and building up this area of the brain, perhaps causing it to work less efficiently. 

https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(22)01111-3

 Groundbreaking bioelectronic devices: Bacterial sensors send a jolt of electricity when triggered

When you hit your finger with a hammer, you feel the pain immediately. And you react immediately. But what if the pain comes 20 minutes after the hit? By then, the injury might be harder to heal.

The same is true for the environment. If a chemical spill in a river goes unnoticed for 20 minutes, it might be too late to remediate.

Scientists thought living bioelectronic sensors can help. So they engineered bacteria to quickly sense and report on the presence of a variety of contaminants.

The study published in Nature journal shows the cells can be programmed to identify chemical invaders and report within minutes by releasing a detectable electrical current.

Such "smart" devices could power themselves by scavenging energy in the environment as they monitor conditions in settings like rivers, farms, industry and waste water treatment plants and to ensure water security, according to the researchers.

The researchers' proof-of-concept bacteria was Escherichia coli, and their first target was thiosulfate, a dichlorination agent used in water treatment that can cause algae blooms.

 Caroline Ajo-Franklin, Real-time bioelectronic sensing of environmental contaminants, Nature (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05356-y. www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05356-y

The environmental information communicated by these self-replicating bacteria can be customized by replacing a single protein in the eight-component, synthetic electron transport chain that gives rise to the sensor signal.

Planets can be an anti-aging formula for stars

Planets can force their host stars to act younger than their age, according to a new study of multiple systems using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. This may be the best evidence to date that some planets apparently slow down the aging process for their host stars.

A hot Jupiter like planet can potentially influence its host star by tidal forces, causing the star to spin more quickly than if it did not have such a planet. This more rapid rotation can make the host star more active and produce more X-rays, signs that are generally associated with stellar youth.

As with humans, however, there are many factors that can determine a star's vitality. All stars will slow their rotation and activity and undergo fewer outbursts as they age. Because it is challenging to precisely determine the ages of most stars, it has been difficult for astronomers to identify whether a star is unusually active because it is being affected by a close-in planet, making it act younger than it really is, or because it is actually young.

In previous cases there were some very intriguing hints, but now we finally have statistical evidence that some planets are indeed influencing their stars and keeping them acting young.

Nikoleta Ilic et al, Tidal star-planet interaction and its observed impact on stellar activity in planet-hosting wide binary systems, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2022). DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stac861. academic.oup.com/mnras/article … t/513/3/4380/6564186

Nikoleta Ilic et al, Tidal star-planet interaction and its observed impact on stellar activity in planet-hosting wide binary systems, arXiv (2022). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2203.13637

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The new Chandra study led by Ilic approached this problem by looking at double-star (or "binary") systems where the stars are widely separated but only one of them has a hot Jupiter orbiting it. Astronomers know that just like human twins, the stars in binary systems form at the same time. The separation between the stars is much too large for them to influence each other or for the hot Jupiter to affect the other star. This means they could use the planet-free star in the system as a control subject.

It's almost like using twins in a study where one twin lives in a completely different neighborhood that affects their health. By comparing one star with a nearby planet to its twin without one, we can study the differences in behavior of the same-aged stars.

The team used the amount of X-rays to determine how "young" a star is acting. They looked for evidence of planet-to-star influence by studying almost three dozen systems in X-rays (the final sample contained 10 systems observed by Chandra and six by ESA's XMM-Newton, with several observed by both). They found that the stars with hot Jupiters tended to be brighter in X-rays and therefore more active than their companion stars without hot Jupiters.

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Adverse effects of hand sanitisers

Despite many benefits of hand sanitiser, it also possesses some side effects

 if used extensively:

• Irrational use of hand sanitiser can lead to moisture loss on our skin. It can further result in dry, flaky, and cracked skin. Many studies have shown that dry skin is more prone to germ attack.
• Overusing hand sanitiser may cause red or discolored itchy patches on our skin. This patch is also called eczema.
• Direct exposure to hand sanitiser on the eye may result in irritation and redness of the eyes. If not washed immediately, it can damage the outer layer of our eyes.
• When we use hand sanitiser more, pathogens and germs start building up resistance to the drugs, putting us at risk for several infections.
• Hand sanitiser approved for use contains a high amount of alcohol (60-95%) and other ingredients. So if swallowed in a significant amount, they may show symptoms similar to alcohol poisoning.

Cats May Be Harboring Crime Scene DNA

 New research suggests that our little feline friends could be surprising sources of evidence when a crime has been committed.

Specifically, a cat's fur can retain enough DNA shed by a person who has been in their vicinity to serve as evidence of a fleeting meeting between the two. This could mean that, even though cats can't be questioned, they might still be able to help identify perpetrators of crime.

The new study is the first to examine how household pets can contribute to DNA transfer, so there's a lot more work to be done. But it represents a positive step towards the future collection of more comprehensive forensic evidence – which, obviously, would be really helpful police investigations.

The companion animals can be highly relevant in assessing the presence and activities of the inhabitants of the household, or any recent visitors to the scene.

In recent years, DNA analysis technology has become so sophisticated that even the most minute traces of genetic material can be relevant for a crime scene investigation. And we messy humans leave our DNA everywhere. Even just brief contact with an object can transfer traces of our genetic material. So-called touch DNA isn't enough on its own to positively identify a suspect, but it can be used to support other lines of evidence, or rule people out.

Touch DNA obtained from a surface doesn't even require the person to touch that surface, necessarily. It can be transported by a number of means, in skin cells or hairs that drift from a passing body, for example. Which is where household pets may play a role.

Researchers found detectable levels of DNA  in 80 percent of the cat swab samples. For all cats, there was no significant difference between the amount of DNA present, and the time since last contacted by a human, or length of hair on the cat.

https://www.fsigeneticssup.com/article/S1875-1768(22)00056-7/fulltext

Researchers find that 60% of home 'compostable' plastic doesn't fully break down and ends up in our soil instead

In a recent study, researchers have found that 60% of home-compostable plastics do not fully disintegrate in home compost bins, and inevitably end up in our soil. The study also found that citizens are confused about the labels of compostable and biodegradable plastics, leading to incorrect plastic waste disposal. These results highlight the need to revise and redesign this supposedly sustainable plastic waste management system.

Global plastic pollution remains one of the biggest environmental challenges of our time. A new OECD report shows that plastic consumption has quadrupled over the past 30 years. Globally, only 9% of plastic waste is recycled, while 50% ends up in landfills, 22% evades waste management systems, and 19% is incinerated.

In response to this pollution crisis, several countries have set targets to eliminate all single-use plastics and to make plastic packaging 100% recyclable, reusable, or compostable by 2025.

Compostable plastics are becoming more common as the demand for sustainable products grows. The main applications of compostable plastics include food packaging, bags; cups and plates, cutlery, and bio-waste bags. But there are some fundamental problems with these types of plastics. They are largely unregulated, and claims around their environmental benefits are often exaggerated.

Now, in a new study published in Frontiers in Sustainability, researchers   have found that consumers are often confused about the meaning of the labels of compostable plastics, and that a large portion of compostable plastics do not fully disintegrate under home composting conditions.

"Compostable plastic" describes a material that can undergo biological degradation in a compost site at a rate consistent with other known compostable materials, leaving no visible (toxic) residues.

However, compostable plastics are currently incompatible with most waste management systems. There exists no harmonized international standard for home compostable plastics. The fate of these plastics, when they are thrown away or sorted for recycling, is therefore either incineration or landfill.

Frontiers in Sustainability (2022). DOI: 10.3389/frsus.2022.942724

New research discovers new role for blood clotting protein in triggering inflammation

Scientists have discovered a new role for the blood clotting protein known as von Willebrand Factor (VWF), which could lead to the development of new treatments for patients with inflammatory and blood clotting disorders.

The research finds that VWF plays an important role in regulating immune responses at sites of blood vessel injury. This means that the protein has a newly discovered role in repairing damaged blood vessels in addition to its role in blood clotting.

Deficiency in VWF is called "von Willebrand Disease" and occurs in about 1 in 1,000 people in Ireland. People with this condition have increased risk of serious heavy bleeding. In contrast, people with high levels of the protein in their blood are at risk of developing serious blood clots. For example, very high VWF levels have been implicated in the unusual blood clots seen in the lungs of patients with severe COVID-19.

This research shows, for the first time, that VWF not only regulates blood clotting at the site of damage but also triggers local immune responses. Understanding this new biological role for VWF in regulating inflammatory responses may offer the opportunity to develop entirely new treatment options for patients with inflammatory and blood clotting disorders, such as von Willebrand Disease, deep vein thrombosis and myocardial infarction.

von Willebrand factor links primary hemostasis to innate immunity, Nature Communications (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33796-7

How magnetism could help explain the Earth-moon system's formation

There are several theories about how Earth and its moon were formed, most involving a giant impact. Now scientists have analyzed the dynamics of fluids and electrically conducting fluids and concluded that Earth must have been magnetized either before the impact or as a result of it.

They claim this could help to narrow down the theories of the Earth-moon formation and inform future research into what really happened. Their work is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

This new idea is to point out that our theoretical understanding of the Earth's magnetic field today can actually tell us something about the very formation of the Earth-moon system. At first glance, this seems somewhat surprising, and previous theories had not recognized this potentially important connection.

This new assessment is based on the resilience of Earth's magnetic field, which is maintained by a rotating and electrically conducting fluid in the outer core, known as a geodynamo.

A peculiar property of the Earth's dynamo is that it can maintain a strong magnetic field but not amplify a weak one.

The scientists therefore concluded that if Earth's field were to get switched off, or even reduced to a very small level, it would not have the capability to kick in again.

It is this remarkable feature that allows us to make deductions about the history of the early Earth; including, possibly, how the moon was formed.

This work says any realistic model of the formation of the Earth–moon system must include magnetic field evolution. 

Fausto Cattaneo et al, How was the Earth-Moon system formed? New insights from the geodynamo, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2120682119

Why Does Climate Change Matter?

A scientist explains

Sunlight-absorbing organic compounds are produced on the wet surfac...

Heterogenous oxidation reactions can occur upon mixing chemicals that are in two different physical states, such a liquid and a gas; for example, in the atmosphere the reaction of gaseous nitrate (NO3) free radicals reaching the wet surface of aerosol particles containing aromatic pollutants from wildfires.

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Can cosmic inflation be ruled out?

A team of astrophysicists say that cosmic inflation—a point in the universe's infancy when space-time expanded exponentially, and what physicists really refer to when they talk about the "Big Bang"—can in principle be ruled out in an assumption-free way.

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Mars: Could life itself have made the planet uninhabitable?

Four billion years ago, the solar system was still young. Almost fully formed, its planets were starting to experience asteroid strikes a little less frequently. Our own planet could have become habitable as long as 3.9 billion years ago, but its primitive biosphere was much different than it is today. Life had not yet invented photosynthesis, which some 500 million years later would become its main source of energy. The primordial microbes—the common ancestors to all current life forms on Earth—in our planet's oceans therefore had to survive on another source of energy. They consumed chemicals released from inside the planet through its hydrothermal systems and volcanoes, which built up as gas in the atmosphere.

Lighting fires using ferro rods

Ferro Rod

Ferrocerium (also known in Europe as Auermetall) is a synthetic pyrophoric alloy of mischmetal (cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, other trace lanthanides and some iron – about 95% lanthanides and 5% iron) hardened by blending in oxides of iron and/or magnesium. When struck with a harder material, the mixture produces hot sparks that can reach temperatures of 3,315 °C (6,000 °F) when rapidly oxidized by the process of striking the rod. Striking both scrapes fragments off, exposing them to the oxygen in the air, and easily ignites them by friction heat due to cerium's remarkably low ignition temperature of ~170 °C (338 °F).
Its easy flammability gives ferrocerium many commercial applications, such as the ignition source for lighters, strikers for gas welding and cutting torches, deoxidization in metallurgy, and ferrocerium rods. Because of ferrocerium's ability to ignite in adverse conditions, rods of ferrocerium (also called ferro rods, spark rods, and flint-spark-lighters are commonly used as an emergency fire lighting device in survival kits.The ferrocerium is referred to as a "flint" in this case despite being dissimilar to natural flint as both are used in conjunction for fire lighting, albeit with opposite mechanical operation.

 How to reduce the risk of stomach bleeding occasionally caused by regular aspirin use

A new study  has found that the risk of stomach bleeding caused by using aspirin long-term can be reduced with a short course of antibiotics, potentially improving the safety of aspirin when used to prevent heart attacks, strokes and possibly some cancers.

The results of the HEAT (Helicobacter pylori Eradication Aspirin) trial  are published in The Lancet.

Aspirin in low doses is a very useful preventative drug in people at high risk of strokes or heart attacks. However, on rare occasions, it can provoke internal ulcer bleeding. By thinning the blood, aspirin makes ulcers in the stomach bleed. These ulcers may be caused by a particular type of bacteria, Helicobacter pylori.

The HEAT (Helicobacter pylori Eradication Aspirin) Trial was a large trial conducted in 1,208 UK general practices. It was a real-life study that used clinical data routinely stored in general practitioner and hospital records, instead of bringing patients back for follow-up trial visits.

The team wrote to 188,875 patients who were taking aspirin, and 30,166 volunteered and took part in the study. Those who tested positive for H. pylori were randomized to receive antibiotics or placebos (dummy tablets) and were followed for up to 7 years.

Over the first two and a half years, those who had antibiotic treatment were less likely to be admitted to hospital because of ulcer bleeding than those who had dummy tablets (6 versus 17). Protection occurred rapidly: with those who received placebos (dummy treatment), the first hospitalization for ulcer bleeding occurred after 6 days, compared to 525 days following antibiotic treatment.

Over a longer time period, protection appeared to wane. However, the overall rate of hospitalization for ulcer bleeding was lower than expected and this in line with other evidence that ulcer disease is on the decline. Risks for people already on aspirin are low. Risks are higher when people first start aspirin, when searching for H. pylori and treating it is probably worthwhile.

Helicobacter pylori eradication for primary prevention of peptic ulcer bleeding in older patients prescribed aspirin in primary care (HEAT): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, The Lancet (2022). www.thelancet.com/journals/lan … (22)01843-8/fulltext

Researchers cure man who had COVID for 411 days

Researchers announced recently they have cured a man who was continually infected with COVID for 411 days by analyzing the genetic code of his particular virus to find the right treatment.

Persistent COVID infection—which is different to long COVID or repeated bouts of the disease—occurs in a small number of patients with already weakened immune systems. These patients can test positive for months or even years with the infection "rumbling along the whole time".

The infections can pose a serious threat because around half of patients also have persistent symptoms such as lung inflammation but much remains unknown about the condition.

Now thanks to scientists, this  59-year-old man finally overcame his infection after more than 13 months.

The man, who has a weakened immune system due to a kidney transplant, caught COVID in December 2020 and continued to test positive until January this year.

To discover whether he had contracted COVID numerous times or if it was one persistent infection, the researchers used a rapid genetic analysis with nanopore sequencing technology.

The test, which can deliver results in as little as 24 hours, showed the man had an early B.1 variant which was dominant in late 2020 but has since been replaced by newer strains.

Because he had this early variant, the researchers gave him a combination of the casirivimab and imdevimab monoclonal antibodies from Regeneron.

Like most other antibody treatments, the treatment is no longer widely used because it is ineffective against newer variants such as Omicron.

But it successfully cured the man because he was battling a variant from an earlier phase of the pandemic.

The very new variants that are increasing in prevalence now are resistant to all the antibodies available in most developed countries.

The researchers used several such treatments to try to save a seriously ill 60-year-old man in August this year who had been infected since April.

However none worked.

So the team crushed up two antiviral treatments not previously used together—Paxlovid and remdesivir—and administered them to the unconscious patient via a nasal tube, according to a non-peer-reviewed preprint study on the website ResearchSquare.

Miraculously he cleared and perhaps this is now the avenue for how we treat these very difficult persistent infections.

At the ECCMID conference in April, the team announced the longest-known persistent infection in a man who tested positive for 505 days before his death.

But now now there are treatment options available.

 Real-time whole genome sequencing to guide patient-tailored therapy of SARS-CoV-2 infectionб Clinical Infectious Diseases (2022). DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciac864 , academic.oup.com/cid/advance-a … /cid/ciac864/6785897

Fire in the Amazon is associated more with agricultural burning and...

A Brazilian study shows that the number of fires detected in the entire Amazon region between 2003 and 2020 was influenced more by uncontrolled human use of fire than by drought. According to the researchers, burning of vegetation to prepare areas for pasture and deforestation rather than extreme water deficits were the main cause of fire in most years with large numbers of fires.

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Egg whites can be transformed into a material capable of filtering ...

Researchers at Princeton Engineering have found a way to turn your breakfast food into a new material that can cheaply remove salt and microplastics from seawater.

Ultraprocessed foods linked to premature deaths

Ultraprocessed foods (UPFs), ready-to-eat-or-heat industrial formulations made with ingredients extracted from foods or synthesized in laboratories, have gradually been replacing traditional foods and meals made from fresh and minimally processed ingredients in many countries. A new study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine has found that increased consumption of these foods was associated with more than 10% of all-cause premature, preventable deaths in Brazil in 2019, although Brazilians consume far less of these products than countries with high incomes.

Ultraprocessed foods (UPFs), ready-to-eat-or-heat industrial formulations made with ingredients extracted from foods or synthesized in laboratories, have gradually been replacing traditional foods and meals made from fresh and minimally processed ingredients in many countries. A new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine has found that increased consumption of these foods was associated with more than 10% of all-cause premature, preventable deaths in Brazil in 2019, although Brazilians consume far less of these products than countries with high incomes.

 Premature Deaths Attributable to the Consumption of Ultraprocessed Foods in Brazil, American Journal of Preventive Medicine (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.amepre.2022.08.013

Our brains 'time-stamp' sounds to process the words we hear

Our brains "time-stamp" the order of incoming sounds, allowing us to correctly process the words that we hear, shows a new study by a team of psychology and linguistics researchers. Its findings, which appear in the journal Nature Communications, offer new insights into the intricacies of neurological function.

To understand speech, your brain needs to accurately interpret both the speech sounds identity and the order that they were uttered to correctly recognize the words being said.

This new work shows how the brain achieves this feat: Different sounds are responded to with different neural populations. And, each sound is time-stamped with how much time has gone by since it entered the ear. This allows the listener to know both the order and the identity of the sounds that someone is saying to correctly figure out what words the person is saying.

Part 1

The scientists aimed to understand how the brain processes the identity and order of speech sounds, given that they unfold so quickly. This is significant because your brain needs to accurately interpret both the speech sounds' identity (e.g., l-e-m-o-n) and the order that they were uttered (e.g., 1-2-3-4-5) to correctly recognize the words being said (e.g. "lemon" and not "melon").

To do so, they recorded the brain activity of more than 20 human subjects—all native English speakers—while these subjects listened to two hours of an audiobook. Specifically, the researchers correlated the subjects' brain activity in relation to the properties of the speech sounds that distinguish one sound from another (e.g. "m" vs "n").

The researchers found that the brain processes speech using a buffer, thereby maintaining a running representation—i.e., time-stamping—of the past three speech sounds. The results also showed that the brain processes multiple sounds at the same time without mixing up the identity of each sound by passing information between neurons in the auditory cortex.

They  found that each speech sound initiates a cascade of neurons firing in different places in the auditory cortex. 

This means that the information about each individual sound in the phonetic word 'k-a-t' gets passed between different neural populations in a predictable way, which serves to time-stamp each sound with its relative order.

Laura Gwilliams et al, Neural dynamics of phoneme sequences reveal position-invariant code for content and order, Nature Communications (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-34326-1

Part 2

Is DNA the Future of Data Storage?

Could the future of data storage be DNA? It’s the original format after all, storing the information needed to build every living thing. and it has a handful of qualities that would make it perfect to store all the digital information in our world. With recent advances in DNA sequencing and DNA printing, it’s technically possible. But there are a few obstacles to overcome before this sci-fi sounding tech can become a household reality.

Fertilizers limit pollination by changing how bumblebees sense flowers

Pollinators are less likely to land on flowers sprayed with fertilizers or pesticides as they can detect electric field changes around the flower, researchers have found.

The study, published in PNAS Nexus recently, shows that chemical sprays alter the electric field around flowers for up to 25 minutes after exposure. This impact lasts substantially longer than natural fluctuations, such as those caused by wind, and causes a reduction in bee feeding effort in nature.

The researchers  noted that fertilizers did not affect vision and smell, and set out to mimic the electrical changes caused by fertilizers and pesticides in the field by electrically manipulating flowers. This showed that bumblebees were able to detect and discriminate against the small and dynamic electric field alterations that are caused by the chemicals.

Flowers have a range of cues that attract bees to promote feeding and pollination. For instance, bees use cues like flower odor and color, but they also use electric fields to identify plants.

A big issue is thus—agrochemical application can distort floral cues and modify behavior in pollinators like bees.

Furthermore, various other airborne particles such as nanoparticles, exhaust gases, nano-plastics, and viral particles may have similar impacts, affecting a wide array of organisms that use the electric fields that are virtually everywhere in the environment.

It's the first known example of anthropogenic 'noise' interfering with a terrestrial animal's electrical sense. It's much like motorboat noise that hinders the ability of fish to detect their predators, or artificial light at night that confuses moths; the fertilizers are a source of noise to bees trying to detect floral electrical cues.

This widens our understanding of the multifaceted ways in which human activity is negatively impacting the natural world. 

Synthetic fertilizers alter floral biophysical cues and bumblebee foraging behavior, PNAS Nexus (2022). DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac230. academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/art … 93/pnasnexus/pgac230

A new nanoparticle to act at the heart of cells

How can a drug be delivered exactly where it is needed, while limiting the risk of side effects? The use of nanoparticles to encapsulate a drug to protect it and the body until it reaches its point of action is being increasingly studied. However, this requires identifying the right nanoparticle for each drug according to a series of precise parameters.

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Physical theory describes movements of micro-hairs

They are only very simple structures, but without them we could not survive: Countless tiny hairs (cilia) are found on the outer wall of some cells, for example in our lungs or in our brain. When these micrometer-sized hairs coordinate their movement and produce wave-like movements together, they can cause currents on a microscale and thus pump fluid from one place to another. Paramecia—unicellular organisms with numerous cilia—also use such effects to move around.

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Greenwashing: ‘the sham must end’

A United Nations-backed report has called out businesses and financial institutions whose net-zero commitments have “loopholes wide enough to drive a diesel truck through”. The group points to those who continue to invest in fossil fuels, offset emissions with shoddy ca... to undermine ambitious government climate policies. It also calls for public reporting and regulation to ensure companies are doing what they claim. "We must have zero tolerance for net-zero greenwashing,” said UN secretary-general António Guterres. “The sham must end.”

Starved yeast poisons clones

Yeast is not the simple single-celled microorganism we once thought, but a competitive killer. When starved of glucose, yeast releases a toxin that will poison other microorganisms that have entered its surrounding habitat, even its own clones. This venomous phenomenon was previously unknown and contributes to our understanding of unicellular microorganism behavior, the evolution of unicellular to multicellular organisms, as well as having potentially useful applications for the food industry.

In the critical survival situation of glucose starvation, yeasts release toxins into their habitat which kill other microorganisms while the yeast itself acquires resistance.

 The toxins produced by yeasts can also kill their nonadapted clones, so they are at risk of killing not only invading microorganisms but also their own offspring. Such seemingly risky and almost suicidal behavior had not previously been found in a single-celled organism or even considered to exist.

Although cooperative forms of behavior are well known in many bacteria and fungi, this research is the first prominent finding of competitiveness occurring in clonal cells in unicellular organisms. This has important implications for our understanding of the ecology of microorganisms, as well as why some specific microorganisms grow during fermentation while others do not. 

Arisa H. Oda, Miki Tamura, Kunihiko Kaneko, Kunihiro Ohta, Tetsuhiro S. Hatakeyama. Autotoxin-mediated latecomer killing in yeast communities. PLOS Biology, 2022; 20 (11): e3001844 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001844

Scientists identify neurons that restore walking after paralysis

A new study by scientists at the .NeuroRestore research center has identified the type of neuron that is activated and remodeled by spinal cord stimulation, allowing patients to stand up, walk and rebuild their muscles – thus improving their quality of life. This discovery, made in nine patients, marks a fundamental, clinical breakthrough. The study was published in Nature on Nov 9, 2022.

Rare, deadly genetic disease successfully treated in utero for first time

Physicians have successfully treated a fetus with a devastating genetic disorder for the first time, and the child is now thriving as a toddler, a case study in the New England Journal of Medicine reports.

This treatment expands the repertoire of fetal therapies in a new direction. As new treatments become available for children with genetic conditions, researchers and doctors are developing protocols to apply them before birth.

The child's disorder, infantile-onset Pompe disease, is one of several lysosomal storage diseases that begin to cause severe damage to major organs, such as the heart, before birth. By initiating enzyme replacement therapy during fetal development, physicians aimed for better outcomes than are typical with post-birth treatment—outcomes that can include death in early childhood, very low muscle tone or ventilator dependency.

After six prenatal enzyme replacement treatments at The Ottawa Hospital, the child, Ayla, was born at term. She is receiving postnatal enzyme therapy at CHEO (a pediatric hospital and research center in Ottawa, Canada), and doing well at 16 months of age. She has normal cardiac and motor function and is meeting developmental milestones.

The successful treatment is a feat of collaboration between UCSF, where an ongoing clinical trial on the treatment is based; CHEO and The Ottawa Hospital, where the patient was diagnosed and treated; and Duke University, home to the world's top experts on Pompe disease.  

Jennifer L. Cohen et al, In Utero Enzyme-Replacement Therapy for Infantile-Onset Pompe's Disease, New England Journal of Medicine (2022). 10.1056/NEJMoa2200587. www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2200587

‘Most complicated therapy ever’ success

A small clinical trial has shown that CRISPR gene editing can alter immune cells so that they seek out an.... T cells, a type of white blood cell that patrols the body looking for errant cells, were modified to recognize the mutated proteins in tumours, which are different in every person. It is the first attempt to combine two hot areas of cancer research: gene editing to create personalized treatments, and the engineering of T cells to make them better at targeting tumours. “It is probably the most complicated therapy ever attempted in the clinic,” says study co-author Antoni Ribas, a cancer researcher and physician. “We’re trying to make an army out of a patient’s own T cells.”

CRISPR cancer trial success paves the way for personalized treatments

A microscopic video shows a virus (purple track) as it finds its way to the surface of human intestinal cells (green).

Researchers have captured the first real-time footage of viruses on the move, right before they hijack a cell.

Nanocrystals store light energy and drive chemical reactions

Chemistry is increasingly making use of the trick plants can do with photosynthesis: driving chemical reactions that run poorly or do not occur spontaneously at all with light energy. This requires suitable photocatalysts that capture light energy and make it available for the reaction. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a Chinese research team has now introduced layered core/shell quantum dots that efficiently drive challenging organic transformations. Their low toxicity is a particular advantage.

Nanocrystals store light energy and drive chemical reactions

Chemistry is increasingly making use of the trick plants can do with photosynthesis: driving chemical reactions that run poorly or do not occur spontaneously at all with light energy. This requires suitable photocatalysts that capture light energy and make it available for the reaction. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a  research team has now introduced layered core/shell quantum dots that efficiently drive challenging organic transformations. Their low toxicity is a particular advantage.

Quantum dots are finely dispersed nanoscopic crystals of inorganic semiconductors. They absorb strongly in an adjustable range of the spectrum and are easy to recycle. Until now, photocatalytic quantum dots have been based almost exclusively on the highly toxic elements cadmium and lead. This and their limited efficiency have been the main barriers to their broader use.

A research team  has now introduced novel quantum dots with very low toxicity and very high performance. They are activated by commercially available blue LEDs—the UV light that is usually required is not needed. The secret to their success lies in their core/shell structure and the variable coatings that can be used to "store" the light energy.

The quantum dots are only a few nanometers wide. Their core consists of zinc selenide (ZnSe) and is surrounded by a thin shell made of zinc sulfide (ZnS). Blue light raises the zinc selenide to an excited state in which it can easily give up electrons. The shell prevents the electrons from immediately being captured by so-called defects. The team equipped the surface of the shell with special benzophenone ligands that "suck up" the electrons from the quantum dots, store them, and make them available for organic reactions. For example, the team was able to carry out reductive dehalogenations of aryl chlorides and additive-free polymerizations of acrylates—important reactions that run poorly or not at all by conventional photocatalysts. A second version was made by coating the surface with biphenyl ligands that can directly absorb energy from excited quantum dots. This brings them into a long-lived, highly energetic triplet state. The triplet energy "stored" in this way can be transferred to specific organic molecules, which then also enter a triplet state. In this state, they can undergo chemical reactions that are not possible in their ground state. As a demonstration, the team carried out [2+2] homo-cycloadditions of styrene and cycloadditions of carbonyls with alkenes. These produce four-membered rings (cyclobutanes or oxetanes, respectively), which are substances that are important starting materials in areas such as pharmaceutical development.

 Chengming Nie et al, Low‐Toxicity ZnSe/ZnS Quantum Dots as Potent Photoreductants and Triplet Sensitizers for Organic Transformations, Angewandte Chemie International Edition (2022). DOI: 10.1002/anie.202213065