Paper-thin solar cell can turn any surface into a power source

Now just a light beam can detect malaria

A fast, needle-free malaria detection tool developed by research team could help save hundreds of thousands of lives annually.

Malaria is usually detected by a blood test, but scientists have devised a method using a device that shines a beam of harmless infrared light on a person's ear or finger for five-to-10 seconds, it collects an infrared signature that is processed by a computer algorithm.

The technique is chemical-free, needle-free and detects malaria through the skin using infrared-light—it's literally just a flash on a person's skin and it's done.

"The device is smart-phone operated, so results are acquired in real time."

The researchers think the technology is the first step to eliminating malaria.

The technology could also help tackle other diseases. Because the researchers have successfully used this technology on mosquitoes to non-invasively detect infections such as malaria, Zika and dengue.

Gabriela A Garcia et al, Malaria absorption peaks acquired through the skin of patients with infrared light can detect patients with varying parasitemia, PNAS Nexus (2022). DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgac272

Scientists identify gene that controls scarring in damaged hearts

Scientists  have identified a gene that controls the behaviour of a specific type of cardiac macrophage responsible for excessive scarring during the early phases of common heart diseases or cardiomyopathies. When the gene, called WWP2, is blocked, heart function is improved and scar tissue formation is slowed, delaying the progression to heart failure.

Scarring or fibrosis of the heart, as in non-ischemic cardiomyopathies, is a progressive condition and global health concern. In its earliest stages, it is characterized by an inflammatory phase, so intervening at that point could significantly delay disease progression.

Researchers had been studying the function of WWP2 in fibrotic diseases for several years, first discovering that it is a significant driver of scaring when it is expressed in fibroblasts—the cells that make scar tissue. In their latest findings, published in Nature Communications, his team turned their attention to the early stage of the disease.

Using single cell RNA sequencing, the team found when fibrosis is triggered, a wide range of different macrophages—immune cells that clear foreign material in the body—are activated in a preclinical model of heart disease. While macrophages are mostly known for their role in removing cancer cells, microbes and cellular debris, they also help with the regeneration of healthy muscle cells.

However, a subset of these cardiac macrophages are controlled by WWP2. These WWP2-expressing macrophages actively promote scarring by triggering local cardiac cells (fibroblasts) to produce collagen in an uncontrolled manner, fuelling scar tissue formation.

In this latest study, researchers focused on the 'cross-talk' that happens between macrophages and fibroblasts in the early stages of fibrogenesis. They  found that when WWP2 is expressed in macrophages, these cells 'irritate' fibroblasts which leads to uncontrolled scarring. 

When macrophages did not express WWP2, on the other hand, the team observed reduced infiltration of pro-fibrotic macrophages into the heart, and the action of repair macrophages was better sustained with clear beneficial effects on cardiac tissue and function during the later stages of the disease.

Blocking WWP2's function in this subset of cardiac macrophages is enough to slow—or even stop—the scarring. The team is developing a small molecule inhibitor against WWP2 that can achieve just that.

Huimei Chen et al, The E3 ubiquitin ligase WWP2 regulates pro-fibrogenic monocyte infiltration and activity in heart fibrosis, Nature Communications (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-34971-6

Aging is driven by unbalanced genes, finds AI analysis of multiple species

Researchers have discovered a previously unknown mechanism that drives aging.

In a new study, researchers used artificial intelligence to analyze data from a wide variety of tissues, collected from humans, mice, rats and killifish. They discovered that the length of genes can explain most molecular-level changes that occur during aging.

All cells must balance the activity of long and short genes. The researchers found that longer genes are linked to longer lifespans, and shorter genes are linked to shorter lifespans. They also found that aging genes change their activity according to length. More specifically, aging is accompanied by a shift in activity toward short genes. This causes the gene activity in cells to become unbalanced.

Surprisingly, this finding was near universal. The researchers uncovered this pattern across several animals, including humans, and across many tissues (blood, muscle, bone and organs, including liver, heart, intestines, brain and lungs) analyzed in the study.

The new finding potentially could lead to interventions designed to slow the pace of—or even reverse—aging.

Aging is associated with a systemic length-associated transcriptome imbalance, Nature Aging (2022).

https://phys.org/news/2022-12-aging-driven-unbalanced-genes-ai.html...

Scientists shed new light on genetic changes that turn 'on' cancer genes

Cancer, caused by abnormal overgrowth of cells, is the second-leading cause of death in the world. Researchers  have zeroed in on specific mechanisms that activate oncogenes, which are altered genes that can cause normal cells to become cancer cells.

Cancer can be caused by genetic mutations, yet the impact of specific types such as structural variants that break and rejoin DNA, can vary widely. The findings, published in Nature on December 7, 2022, show that the activity of those mutations depends on the distance between a particular gene and the sequences that regulate the gene, as well as on the level of activity of the regulatory sequences involved.

This work advances the ability to predict and interpret which genetic mutations found in cancer genomes are causing the disease.

Most genetic mutations have no impact on a cancer and the molecular incidents that lead to oncogene activation are relatively rare.

Using CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, the researchers introduced genetic mutations by cutting DNA in certain locations of the genome. They found that some of the variants they created had major impacts on the expression of nearby genes, and could ultimately cause cancer, but that most had essentially no impact. Some genes appeared to go haywire when they were brought into environments with novel regulatory sequences, and others were not affected at all. The type of sequence that was introduced appeared to have a huge impact on whether or not the cell became cancerous.

Their next move is to test whether there are other factors in the genome that contribute to the activation of oncogene.

Zhichao Xu, Dong-Sung Lee, Sahaana Chandran, Victoria T. Le, Rosalind Bump, Jean Yasis, Sofia Dallarda, Samantha Marcotte, Benjamin Clock, Nicholas Haghani, Chae Yun Cho, Kadir C. Akdemir, Selene Tyndale, P. Andrew Futreal, Graham McVicker, Geoffrey M. Wahl, Jesse R. Dixon. Structural variants drive context-dependent oncogene activation in cancer. Nature, 2022; DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05504-4

A surprising discovery: The female locust has superhero-like abilities

A new Tel Aviv University study has discovered that the female locust has superpowers. The findings of the study reveal that the female locust's central nervous system has elastic properties, allowing her to stretch up to two or three times her original length when laying her eggs in the ground, without causing any irreparable damage.

We are not aware of a similar ability in almost any living creature. Nerves in the human nervous system, for example, can stretch only up to 30% without tearing or being permanently damaged. In the future, these findings may contribute to new developments in the field of regenerative medicine, as a basis for nerve restoration and the development of synthetic tissues.

When the female locust is ready to lay her eggs, she digs a hole in the ground that will offer them protection and optimal conditions for hatching. For this purpose, she is equipped with a unique digging apparatus, consisting of two pairs of digging valves which are located at the tip of the abdomen, on either side of the ovipositor (a tube-like organ used for laying eggs).

"As she digs, the female extends her body, until sensors located along its length signal that she has reached a suitable point for depositing her eggs. Thus, an adult female, whose body length is about four to five centimeters, may, for the purpose of laying her eggs, stretch her body to a length of 10–15 centimeters, then quickly return to her normal length, and then extend again for the next egg-laying.

The superpower of the locust is almost something out of science fiction. There are only two other known examples in nature of a similar phenomenon: the tongue of the sperm whale, and a certain type of sea snail whose nervous systems are able to extend significantly due to an accordion-like mechanism they have. Scientists sought to identify the biomechanical mechanism that gives the female locust its wonderful ability.

In the study, the researchers removed the central nervous systems from female locusts and placed them in a liquid simulating their natural environment, under physiological conditions similar to those inside the body. Using highly sensitive measuring instruments, they measured the forces needed to extend the nervous system.

Contrary to previous hypotheses and examples we are familiar with, they did not find any accordion-like mechanism. They discovered that the nervous system of the female locust has elastic properties, which enable it to elongate and then return by itself to its original state, ready for reuse, without any damage caused to the tissue. This finding is almost incomprehensible from a biomechanical and morphological point of view.

The researchers hope that in the future their findings will help to develop synthetic tissues with a high level of flexibility, and to restore nerves in regenerative medicine therapies.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S258900422201567X

Do You Flush With The Lid Up? You Won't After Watching This

New research shows the impact of flushing the toilet in a whole new light. Using bright green lasers and camera equipment, a team of  engineers ran an experiment to reveal how tiny water droplets, invisible to the naked eye, are rapidly ejected into the air when a lid-less, public restroom toilet is flushed. These aerosolized particles are known to transport pathogens and could pose an exposure risk to public bathroom patrons. This visualization method, however, provides experts in plumbing and public health with a consistent way to test improved plumbing design and disinfection and ventilation strategies, in order to reduce exposure risk to pathogens in public restrooms.

Researchers discover embryonic origins of adult pluripotent stem cells

Stem cells are a biological wonder. They can repair, restore, replace, and regenerate cells. In most animals and humans these cells are limited to regenerating only the cell type they are assigned to. So, hair stem cells will only make hair. Intestine stem cells will only make intestines. But, many distantly-related invertebrates have stem cell populations that are pluripotent in adult animals, which means they can regenerate virtually any missing cell type, a process called whole-body regeneration.

Even though these adult pluripotent stem cells (aPSCs) are found in many different types of animals (such as sponges, hydras, planarian flatworms, acoel worms, and some sea squirts) the mechanism of how they are made is not known in any species.

In a new study in Cell researchers  have identified the cellular mechanism and molecular trajectory for the formation of aPSCs in the acoel worm, Hofstenia miamia.

H. miamia, also known as the three-banded panther worm, is a species that can fully regenerate using aPSCs called "neoblasts." Chop H. miamia into pieces and each piece will grow a new body including everything from a mouth to the brain.

 Researchers developed a protocol for transgenesis in H. miamia. Transgenesis is a process that introduces something into the genome of an organism that is not normally part of that genome. This method allowed the researchers to pursue this question of how these stem cells are made.

One common characteristic among animals that can regenerate is the presence of pluripotent stem cells in the adult body. These cells are responsible for re-making missing body parts when the animal is injured. By understanding how animals like H. miamia make these stem cells, they felt they could better understand what gives certain animals regenerative abilities.

There are some unifying features of these stem cell populations in adult animals such as the expression of a gene called Piwi.

Part 1

The researchers knew that worm hatchlings contain aPSCs, so reasoned they must be made during embryogenesis. Ricci used transgenesis to create a line that caused embryo cells to glow in fluorescent green due to the introduction of the protein Kaede into the cell. Kaede is photo-convertible, which means shining a laser beam with a very specific wavelength on the green will convert it to a red color. You can then zap the cells with a laser to turn individual green cells of the embryo into a red color.

Using transgenic animals with photo-conversion is a very new twist the researchers devised in the lab to figure out the fates of embryonic cells.

 They followed the embryo's development as it split from single cell to multiple cells. Early division of these cells is marked by stereotyped cleavage, which means embryo to embryo cells divide in the exact same pattern such that cells can be named and studied consistently. This raised the possibility that perhaps every single cell has a unique purpose. For instance, at the eight-cell stage it's possible the top, left corner cell makes a certain tissue, while the bottom, right cell makes another tissue.

To determine the function of each cell, they systematically performed photo-conversion for each of the cells of the early embryo, creating a full fate map at the eight-cell stage. They then tracked the cells as the worm grew into an adult that still carried the red labeling. The repetitious process of following each individual cell again and again across many embryos made it possible for them to trace where each cell was working.

At the sixteen-cell stage embryo they found a very specific pair of cells that gave rise to cells that looked to be the neoblasts.

To be certain, the researchers put this particular set of cells, called 3a/3b in H. miamia, on trial. In order to be the neoblasts the cells must satisfy all of the known properties of stem cells. Are the progeny of those cells making new tissue during regeneration? The researchers found that yes, the progeny of only those cells made new tissue during regeneration.

Part 2

Another defining property is the level of gene expression in stem cells, which must have hundreds of genes expressed. To determine if 3a/3b fit this property, they took the progeny with 3a/3b glowing in red and all other cells glowing in green and used a sorting machine that separated the red and green cells. they then applied single-cell sequencing technology to ask, which genes are being expressed in the red cells and in the green cells. That data confirmed that at the molecular level only the progeny of the 3a/3b cells matched stem cells and not the progeny of any other cell.

That was definitive confirmation of the fact that we found the cellular source of the stem cell population in our system. But, importantly, knowing the cellular source of stem cells now gives them a way to capture the cells as they mature and define what genes are involved in making them.

They generated a huge dataset of embryonic development at the single-cell level detailing which genes were being expressed in all of the cells in embryos from the beginning to the end of development. They allowed the converted 3a/3b cells to develop a little bit further, but not all the way to hatchling stage. They then captured these cells using the sorting technology. By doing this they could clearly define which genes were specifically being expressed in the lineage of cells that make the stem cells.

This study reveals a set of genes that could be very important controllers for the formation of stem cells. Homologues of these genes have important roles in human stem cells and this is relevant across species.

The researchers plan to continue digging deeper into the mechanism of how these genes are working in the stem cells of Hofstenia miamia, which will help to tell how nature evolved a way to make and maintain pluripotent stem cells. Knowing the molecular regulators of aPSCs will allow researchers to compare these mechanisms across species, revealing how pluripotent stem cells have evolved across animals.

Mansi Srivastava, Embryonic origins of adult pluripotent stem cells, Cell (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2022.11.008. www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(22)01420-9

Part 3

**

The toughest material on Earth

Scientists have measured the highest toughness ever recorded, of any material, while investigating a metallic alloy made of chromium, cobalt, and nickel (CrCoNi). Not only is the metal extremely ductile—which, in materials science, means highly malleable—and impressively strong (meaning it resists permanent deformation), its strength and ductility improve as it gets colder. This runs counter to most other materials in existence.

Dong Liu et al, Exceptional fracture toughness of CrCoNi-based medium- and high-entropy alloys at 20 kelvin, Science (2022). DOI: 10.1126/science.abp8070

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Did physicists make a wormhole in the lab? Not quite, but a new exp...

Scientists made headlines last week for supposedly generating a wormhole. The research, reported in Nature, involves the use of a quantum computer to simulate a wormhole in a simplified model of physics.

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Forget net-zero: Aim for net-negative to halt global warming, argue...

In the fight against climate change, the lever every policymaker has been focusing on has been the reduction in (net) emissions. Curbing the rate at which greenhouse gases are pumped into the atmosphere clearly remains a priority. Yet every serious scientific analysis—in particular the latest IPCC report—agrees that a substantial amount of CO2 must be removed from the atmosphere via negative-emission technologies if we want to have a reasonable chance of limiting the temperature increase by the end of the century to 1.5 to 2C above pre-industrial levels.

Researchers reveal how trauma changes the brain

Exposure to trauma can be life-changing—and researchers are learning more about how traumatic events may physically change our brains. But these changes are not happening because of physical injury; rather, the brain appears to rewire itself after these experiences.

Understanding the mechanisms involved in these changes and how the brain learns about an environment and predicts threats and safety is a focus of neuro-scientists. 

Scientists  are learning more about how people exposed to trauma learn to distinguish between what is safe and what is not. Their brain is giving them insight into what might be going awry in specific mechanisms that are impacted by trauma exposure, especially when emotion is involved.

Their research, recently published in Communications Biology, identified changes in the salience network—a mechanism in the brain used for learning and survival—in people exposed to trauma (with and without psychopathologies, including PTSD, depression, and anxiety).

Using fMRI, the researchers recorded activity in the brains of participants as they looked at different-sized circles—only one size was associated with a small shock (or threat). Along with the changes in the salience network, researchers found another difference—this one within the trauma-exposed resilient group. They found the brains of people exposed to trauma without psychopathologies were compensating for changes in their brain processes by engaging the executive control network—one of the dominant networks of the brain.

The possibility of threat can change how someone exposed to trauma reacts. Researchers found this to be the case in people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Patients with PTSD can complete the same task as someone without exposure to trauma when no emotion is involved. However, when emotion invoked by a threat was added to a similar task, those with PTSD had more difficulty distinguishing between the differences.

 researchers observed that people with PTSD had less signaling between the hippocampus (an area of the brain responsible for emotion and memory) and the salience network (a mechanism used for learning and survival).

They also detected less signaling between the amygdala (another area linked to emotion) and the default mode network (an area of the brain that activates when someone is not focused on the outside world). These findings reflect the inability of a person with PTSD to effectively distinguish differences between the circles.

Xi Zhu et al, Sequential fear generalization and network connectivity in trauma exposed humans with and without psychopathology, Communications Biology (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-04228-5

Antibodies to common antibiotic possible new risk factor for type 1 diabetes

Antibodies produced against the commonly used antibiotic, gentamicin, appear to increase the risk of type 1 diabetes in children already genetically at risk, scientists say.

When  scientists compared the blood of nearly 300 individuals with type 1 diabetes to healthy controls, they found that a higher level of antibodies against gentamicin was associated with increased risk of progression to type 1 diabetes. G418 and sisomicin, analogs of gentamicin, also showed a similar association.

Their study analyzed samples from the Diabetes Autoimmunity Study in the Young (DAISY) and Phenome and Genome of Diabetic Autoantibody (PAGODA). The databases studied did not state whether study participants had been given gentamicin. However, anywhere between 5-10% of newborns receive the broad-spectrum antibiotic to treat potentially lethal sepsis.

They report in the journal Nature Communications that a similar percentage, 5.3% of the participants, had high levels of these antibodies and a high percentage of this group later developed type 1 diabetes.

To compound the scenario, it's known that premature babies are considered at higher risk for both sepsis and type 1 diabetes. The current standard of care for newborns with sepsis is giving gentamicin, per World Health Organization guidelines.

These infections are common, and the babies need the antibiotic because their own immune systems are not well developed at that juncture, and the drug may be a lifesaving therapy.

It's not uncommon for antibiotics to prompt production of antibodies because the body views them as foreign. In this study, scientists looked at antibodies to glycans, which are found on the surface our cells as well as the cells of microorganisms like bacteria and are known to be a ready target for this immune response.

Gentamicin and other similar antibiotics are a class of compounds called aminoglycosides, which are commonly used to treat serious infections, and are also broadly classified as glycans because of their sugar content.

When the  scientists did "profiling" of all the antibodies, they clustered the glycans two ways. The first was by glycans with similar function and secondly, by antibody levels in patients. They also found an association between the multitasking FUT2 gene and the antibodies against both gentamicin and the islet cells of the pancreas. The  data reveals that they are compounding the risks.

Paul M. H. Tran, Fran Dong, Eileen Kim, Katherine P. Richardson, Lynn K. H. Tran, Kathleen Waugh, Diane Hopkins, Richard D. Cummings, Peng George Wang, Marian J. Rewers, Jin-Xiong She, Sharad Purohit. Use of a glycomics array to establish the anti-carbohydrate antibody repertoire in type 1 diabetes. Nature Communications, 2022; 13 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-34341-2

Experimental cancer therapy shows success in more than 70% of patients in global clinical trials

A new therapy that makes the immune system kill bone marrow cancer cells was successful in as many as 73% of patients in two clinical trials, according to researchers . 

The therapy, known as a bispecific antibody, binds to both T cells and multiple myeloma cells and directs the T cells—white blood cells that can be enlisted to fight off diseases—to kill multiple myeloma cells. The researchers described this strategy as "bringing your army right to the enemy." The success of the off-the-shelf immunotherapy, called talquetamab, was even seen in patients whose cancer was resistant to all approved multiple myeloma therapies. It uses a different target than other approved therapies: a receptor expressed on the surface of cancer cells known as GPRC5D. Talquetamab was tested in phase 1 and phase 2 trials. The phase 1 trial, which was reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, established two recommended doses that were tested in the Phase 2 trial. The results of the Phase 2 trial were reported at the American Society of Hematology annual meeting on Saturday, December 10. The study participants had all been previously treated with at least three different therapies without achieving lasting remission, suggesting talquetamab could offer new hope for patients with hard-to-treat multiple myeloma. This means that almost three-quarters of these patients are looking at a new lease on life.

The efficacy and safety findings in the phase 1 study were validated in the phase 2 trial presented at ASH. The overall response rate in these two groups was about 73%.

Ajai Chari et al, New England Journal of Medicine (2022).

Conference: www.hematology.org/meetings/annual-meeting

Subcutaneous fat emerges as a protector of females' brains

Females' propensity to deposit more fat in places like their hips, buttocks and the backs of their arms, so-called subcutaneous fat, is protective against brain inflammation, which can result in problems like dementia and stroke, at least until menopause, scientists report.

Males of essentially any age have a greater propensity to deposit fat around the major organs in their abdominal cavity, called visceral adiposity, which is known to be far more inflammatory. And, before females reach menopause, males are considered at much higher risk for inflammation-related problems from heart-attack to stroke.

When people think about protection in women, their first thought is estrogen. But sceintists need to get beyond the kind of simplistic idea that every sex difference involves hormone differences and hormone exposure. We need to really think more deeply about the underlying mechanisms for sex differences so that we can treat them and acknowledge the role that sex plays in different clinical outcomes. Diet and genetics are other likely factors that explain the differences broadly assigned to estrogen.

To learn more about how the brain becomes inflamed, they looked at increases in the amount and location of fat tissue as well as levels of sex hormones and brain inflammation in male and female mice at different time intervals as they grew fatter on a high-fat diet. Since, much like with people, obese female mice tend to have more subcutaneous fat and less visceral fat than male mice, they reasoned that the distinctive fat patterns might be a key reason for the protection from inflammation the females enjoy before menopause.

They found again the distinctive patterns of fat distribution in males and females in response to a high-fat diet. They found no indicators of brain inflammation or insulin resistance, which also increase inflammation and can lead to diabetes, until after the female mice reached menopause. At about 48 weeks, menstruation stops and fat positioning on the females starts to shift somewhat, to become more like males.

They then compared the impact of the high-fat diet, which is known to increase inflammation body wide, in mice of both sexes following surgery, similar to liposuction, to remove subcutaneous fat. They did nothing to directly interfere with normal estrogen levels, like removing the ovaries.

The subcutaneous fat loss increased brain inflammation in females without moving the dial on levels of their estrogen and other sex hormones.

Bottom line: The females' brain inflammation looked much more like the males', including increased levels of classic inflammation promoters like the signaling proteins IL-1β and TNF alpha in the brain, researchers report.

We can't just say obesity. We have to start talking about where the fat is. That is the critical element here.

Alexis M. Stranahan et al, Sex Differences in Adipose Tissue Distribution Determine Susceptibility to Neuroinflammation in Mice With Dietary Obesity, Diabetes (2022). DOI: 10.2337/db22-0192

Fusion energy breakthrough

Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California for the first time produced more energy in a fusion reaction than was used to ignite it, something called net energy gain, according to one government official and one scientist familiar with the research.

Proponents of fusion hope that it could one day produce nearly limitless, carbon-free energy, displacing fossil fuels and other traditional energy sources. Producing energy that powers homes and businesses from fusion is still decades away. But researchers said it was a significant step nonetheless.

Net energy gain has been an elusive goal because fusion happens at such high temperatures and pressures that it is incredibly difficult to control.

Fusion works by pressing hydrogen atoms into each other with such force that they combine into helium, releasing enormous amounts of energy and heat. Unlike other nuclear reactions, it doesn't create radioactive waste.

The net energy gain achievement applied to the fusion reaction itself, not the total amount of power it took to operate the lasers and run the project. For fusion to be viable, it will need to produce significantly more power and for longer.

It is incredibly difficult to control the physics of stars. It has been challenging to reach this point because the fuel has to be hotter than the center of the sun. The fuel does not want to stay hot—it wants to leak out and get cold. Containing it is an incredible challenge.

It takes enormous resources and effort to advance fusion research. One approach turns hydrogen into plasma, an electrically charged gas, which is then controlled by humongous magnets. This method is being explored in France in a collaboration among 35 countries called the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor as well as by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a private company.

Last year the teams working on those projects in two continents announced significant advancements in the vital magnets needed for their work.

Source: The Associated Press

'Breakthrough' as fusion energy generates excess energy for first time

Scientists have hailed a "true breakthrough" as a fusion reaction has successfully generated more energy than was used to create it.

Producing 'green' energy from living plant 'bio-solar cells'

Though plants can serve as a source of food, oxygen and décor, they're not often considered to be a good source of electricity. But by collecting electrons naturally transported within plant cells, scientists can generate electricity as part of a "green," biological solar cell.

Now, researchers reporting in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces have, for the first time, used a succulent plant to create a living "bio-solar cell" that runs on photosynthesis.

In all living cells, from bacteria and fungi to plants and animals, electrons are shuttled around as part of natural, biochemical processes. But if electrodes are present, the cells can actually generate electricity that can be used externally. Previous researchers have created fuel cells in this way with bacteria, but the microbes had to be constantly fed. Instead, scientists have turned to photosynthesis to generate current.

During this process, light drives a flow of electrons from water that ultimately results in the generation of oxygen and sugar. This means that living photosynthetic cells are constantly producing a flow of electrons that can be pulled away as a "photocurrent" and used to power an external circuit, just like a solar cell.

The researchers created a living solar cell using the succulent Corpuscularia lehmannii, also called the "ice plant." They inserted an iron anode and platinum cathode into one of the plant's leaves and found that its voltage was 0.28V. When connected into a circuit, it produced up to 20 µA/cm2 of photocurrent density, when exposed to light and could continue producing current for over a day. Though these numbers are less than that of a traditional alkaline battery, they are representative of just a single leaf. Previous studies on similar organic devices suggest that connecting multiple leaves in series could increase the voltage.

The team specifically designed the living solar cell so that protons within the internal leaf solution could be combined to form hydrogen gas at the cathode, and this hydrogen could be collected and used in other applications. The researchers say that their method could enable the development of future sustainable, multifunctional green energy technologies.

Yaniv Shlosberg et al, Self-Enclosed Bio-Photoelectrochemical Cell in Succulent Plants, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (2022). DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c15123

Mighty proteins keep DNA regions close for longer

New work by researchers shows that key proteins help to stabilize the interaction between otherwise highly dynamic DNA structures. The findings shed light onto how the complex folds that help to fit nearly two meters of DNA into the cell’s nucleus influence important biological processes.

World-First Trial Transfusing Lab-Grown Red Blood Cells Begins

A trial testing how long a teaspoon-sized transfusion of lab-grown red blood cells lasts in the body could revolutionize clinical care for people with blood disorders who require regular blood transfusions.

The world-first trial, underway in the UK, is studying whether red blood cells made in the laboratory last longer than blood cells made in the body. Although the trial is only small, it represents a "huge stepping stone for manufacturing blood from stem cells.

To generate the transfusions, the team of researchers isolated stem cells from donated blood and coaxed them into making more red blood cells, a process that takes around three weeks.

In the past, researchers showed they could transfuse lab-grown blood cells back into the same donor they were derived from. This time, they have infused the manufactured cells into another compatible person – a process known as allogeneic transfusion.

Only two people have so far received the lab-made red cells under close monitoring and "no untoward side effects" have been reported by the clinical team, according to a statement released last month. At least another eight participants will receive two transfusions of 5 to 10 milliliters of blood, spaced at least four months apart. One transfusion will contain red blood cells provided by a donor; the other will have lab-grown red cells derived from stem cells from the same donor. Once transfused into the bodies of healthy volunteers, the manufactured cells – which are labeled with a tracer dye – will be tracked as they whiz through the body's circulatory system, until they are worn out, gobbled up, and recycled. The lab-grown blood cells are all freshly made from donated stem cells, whereas a typical blood donation contains a swirling mix of new and months-old blood cells, so the researchers are hopeful the manufactured cells will go the distance and last longer.

https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/first-ever-clinical-trial-under...

Pollination loss removes healthy foods from global diets, increases chronic diseases causing excess deaths

Inadequate pollination has led to a 3-5% loss of fruit, vegetable, and nut production and an estimated 427,000 excess deaths annually from lost healthy food consumption and associated diseases, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and certain cancers, according to research. It is the first study to quantify the human health toll of insufficient wild (animal) pollinators on human health.

A critical missing piece in the biodiversity discussion has been a lack of direct linkages to human health. This research establishes that loss of pollinators is already impacting health on a scale with other global health risk factors, such as prostate cancer or substance use disorders.

Increasing human pressure on natural systems is causing alarming losses in biodiversity, the topic of the COP 15 UN Biodiversity Conference currently taking place in Montreal. This includes 1-2% annual declines of insect populations, leading some to warn of an impending "insect apocalypse" in the coming decades. Key among insect species are pollinators, which increase yields of three-fourths of crop varieties and are critical to growing healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Changes in land-use, use of harmful pesticides, and advancing climate change threaten wild pollinators, imperiling human supply of healthy foods. The researchers used a model framework, which included empirical evidence from a network of hundreds of experimental farms across Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America, that looked at "pollinator yield gaps" for the most important pollinator-dependent crops, to show how much crop loss was due to insufficient pollination. They then used a global risk-disease model to estimate the health impacts the changes in pollination could have on dietary risks and mortality by country. Additionally, they calculated the loss of economic value from lost pollination in three case study countries. The results showed that lost food production was concentrated in lower-income countries but that the health burden was greater in middle- and higher-income countries, where rates of non-communicable diseases are higher. The geographic distribution was somewhat unusual in that generally the health effects from global environmental change are centered among the poorest populations in regions such as South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Here, middle-income countries with large populations—China, India, Indonesia, and Russia—suffered the greatest burden. The analysis also showed that lower-income countries lost significant agricultural income due to insufficient pollination and lower yields, potentially 10-30% of total agricultural value.

Strategies to protect wild pollinators are not just an environmental issue, but a health and economic one as well. This study shows that doing too little to help pollinators does not just harm nature, but human health as well.

Pollinator deficits, food consumption, and consequences for human health: a modeling study, Environmental Health Perspectives (2022). DOI: 10.1289/EHP10947

Discovery could explain why women are more likely to get Alzheimer's

Scientists  have found a clue to the molecular cause of Alzheimer's—a clue that may also explain why women are at greater risk for the disease.

In the study, reported on December 14, 2022, in Science Advances, the researchers found that a particularly harmful, chemically modified form of an inflammatory immune protein called complement C3 was present at much higher levels in the brains of women who had died with the disease, compared to men who had died with the disease. They also showed that estrogen—which drops in production during menopause—normally protects against the creation of this form of complement C3.

These new findings suggest that chemical modification of a component of the complement system helps drive Alzheimer's, and may explain, at least in part, why the disease predominantly affects women.

Hongmei Yang et al, Mechanistic insight into female predominance in Alzheimer's disease based on aberrant protein S-nitrosylation of C3, Science Advances (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ade0764. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ade0764

Physics-Based Planning for Generalizable Assembly by Disassembly

Study finds higher levels of common diet-associated microbe elevates heart failure risk

New research  expands the link between what we eat and how the gut microbiome impacts our susceptibility to develop different diseases—in this case, how a specific gut microbe-generated byproduct is linked to heart failure risk.

Elevated levels of phenylacetylglutamine (PAG)—a byproduct created when microbes in the gut breakdown dietary protein—can be directly linked to both increased heart failure risk and severity, according to findings published in Circulation: Heart Failure.

The new findings improve researchers' understanding of how the gut microbiome, through PAG levels, are linked to cardiac disease risks, and suggest potential approaches to modify PAG-associated risks through interventions such as diet and beta blocker use.

Elevated PAG levels also were shown to correspond with types of heart failure. For example, elevated blood PAG was observed in subjects with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, a condition where the heart muscle doesn't relax enough between beats and becomes too stiff, making it less able to fill and consequently pump blood.

Kymberleigh A. Romano et al, Gut Microbiota-Generated Phenylacetylglutamine and Heart Failure, Circulation: Heart Failure (2022). DOI: 10.1161/CIRCHEARTFAILURE.122.009972

Ina Nemet et al, A Cardiovascular Disease-Linked Gut Microbial Metabolite Acts via Adrenergic Receptors, Cell (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.02.016

Immune surprise: Recently evolved alarm molecule drives inflammation

Scientists  have made an important breakthrough in understanding how inflammation is regulated. They have just discovered that a key immune alarm protein previously believed to calm down the immune response actually does the opposite.

Their work has numerous potential impacts, especially in the context of understanding and responding to autoimmune disorders and inflammation.

While our immune system serves a very important function protecting us from infection and injury, when immune responses become too aggressive this can lead to damaging inflammation, which occurs in conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. Inflammation is triggered when our bodies produce "alarm proteins" (interleukins), which ramp up our defenses against infection and injury by switching on different components of our immune system.

Understanding how and when such alarm proteins are produced and how they activate our immune system has led to major breakthroughs in the treatment of many immune conditions.

Now, scientists  have found that Interleukin-37 has an unexpected function as an immune-activating molecule, as previous studies suggested that this interleukin instead served as an "off switch" for the immune system.

Prior to the new study, Interleukin-37 was thought to have immune-suppressive functions but how exactly it switched off inflammation was hotly debated. However, the scientists now report that, when activated in the correct way, Interleukin-37 displays potent pro-inflammatory activity.

Part 1

This pro-inflammatory impact was highly unexpected. Our work shows that the protein binds to an interleukin receptor in the skin that is known to play a key role in driving psoriasis. And, to add further intrigue to the story, this brings the total number of immune alarm molecules that signal via this particular interleukin receptor to four.

"Why there are so many interleukins that bind to the same receptor is a mystery, but if we were to speculate it may be because this receptor serves a very important sentinel function in our skin, and that one alarm protein may simply not be enough to respond to the many different infectious agents that our skin encounters. Our skin is the major barrier between our bodies and the outside world that microbes must breach if they are to gain entry to our bodies and, in many respects, represents the first line of defense in our immune systems."

As such, Interleukin-37 and other immune alarm  proteins may have evolved to become distinct variations on the same theme that enable our bodies to detect different types of infection by becoming activated by enzymes that are distinct to each infectious agent.

 Graeme P. Sullivan et al, Myeloid cell–derived proteases produce a proinflammatory form of IL-37 that signals via IL-36 receptor engagement, Science Immunology (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.ade5728. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciimmunol.ade5728

Part 2

From COVID-19 to the common cold: scientists identify broadly effective, infection-halting compound

Researchers have identified a compound that shows early promise at halting infections from a range of coronaviruses, including all variants of SARS-CoV-2 and the common cold. The findings, published this week in Molecular Biomedicine, reveal a potential path toward antiviral treatments that could be used against many different pathogens.

Beyond COVID-19, there are many different types of coronaviruses that can cause serious and sometimes fatal disease, and even more are likely to emerge in the future. 

The researchers credit the compound’s broad effectiveness to the unique way it works. Rather than targeting the virus itself, the compound targets a human cellular process that coronaviruses use to replicate.

Since viruses can’t reproduce on their own, they rely on protein-synthesis pathways in host cells to create copies of themselves. In the case of coronaviruses, they use a human enzyme called GSK3 beta that exists in all human cells.

Scientists found that coronaviruses hijack this human enzyme and use it to edit the protein that packs its genetic material. This compound blocks GSK3 beta, which in turn, stops the virus from reproducing and maturing its proteins.

The compound is part of a broader family of experimental drugs known as GSK3 inhibitors. Since the late 1990s, scientists across academia and industry have been studying GSK3 inhibitors for their potential as treatments for a number of diseases, including diabetes, Alzheimer’s and cancer.

By targeting this cellular pathway, rather than the virus itself, scientists see broad activity against multiple pathogens. We’re also acting on a pathway that is so far immune to changes between variants and different coronaviruses.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s43556-022-00111-1

Gold-based passive heating for eyewear

Study uncovers existing limitations in the detection of entanglement

Quantum entanglement is a process through which two particles become entangled and remain connected over time, even when separated by large distances. Detecting this phenomenon is of crucial importance for both the development of quantum technology and the study of quantum many-body physics.

Researchers  have recently carried out a study exploring the possible reasons why the reliable and efficient detection of entanglement in complex and "noisy" systems has often proved to be very challenging. Their findings, published in Physical Review Letters, hint at the existence of a trade-off between the effectiveness and efficiency of entanglement detection methods.

This new work showed that to observe entanglement on a large-scale, researchers must be able to control all interactions in a system with high precision and know almost all information about them. When there is a lot of uncertainty about the system, therefore, the probability of detecting its entanglement is very small, even if one is almost certain of its occurrence.

This proved that no entanglement detection protocols are both efficient and effective. This may help the design of entanglement detection protocols in the future.

Pengyu Liu et al, Fundamental Limitation on the Detectability of Entanglement, Physical Review Letters (2022). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.230503

Karol Życzkowski et al, Volume of the set of separable states, Physical Review A (2002). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.58.883

Leonid Gurvits et al, Largest separable balls around the maximally mixed bipartite quantum state, Physical Review A (2002). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.66.062311

Stanislaw J. Szarek, Volume of separable states is super-doubly-exponentially small in the number of qubits, Physical Review A (2005). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.72.032304

Xi-Lin Wang et al, 18-Qubit Entanglement with Six Photons' Three Degrees of Freedom, Physical Review Letters (2018). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.260502

Developing antibiotics that target multiple-drug-resistant bacteria

Researchers have designed and synthesized analogs of a new antibiotic that is effective against multidrug-resistant bacteria, opening a new front in the fight against these infections.

Antibiotics are vital drugs in the treatment of a number of bacterial diseases. However, due to continuing overuse and misuse, the number of bacteria strains that are resistant to multiple antibiotics is increasing, affecting millions of people worldwide. The development of new antibacterial compounds that target multiple drug resistant bacteria is also an active field of research so that this growing issue can be controlled.

Scientists have been working on the development of new antibacterials. Their most recent research, published in the journal Nature Communications, details the development of a highly effective antibacterial compound that is effective against the most common multidrug-resistant bacteria.

 worked on a class of antibacterial compounds called sphaerimicins. These compounds block the function of a protein in the bacteria called MraY. MraY is essential for the replication of bacteria and plays a role in the synthesis of the bacterial cell wall; it is also not a target of currently available commercial antibiotics.

The team analyzed structures of sphaerimicin A by molecular modeling assisted by calculation, and designed and synthesized two analogs of sphaerimicin, SPM1 and SPM2. These analogs were found to be effective against Gram positive bacteria.

They then determined the structure of SPM1 bound to MraY. By studying this structure and comparing it to that of related antibacterial agents, they determined how to further simplify the molecules. They were successful in developing a simpler analog, SPM3, whose activity was similar to SPM1.

In addition to their effectiveness against MRSA and VRE, the SPMs were also effective against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes tuberculosis—and which has multidrug-resistant strains.

Satoshi Ichikawa et al, Synthesis of macrocyclic nucleoside antibacterials and their interactions with MraY, Nature Communications (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-35227-z

**

Network neuroscience theory best predictor of intelligence, study finds

Scientists have laboured for decades to understand how brain structure and functional connectivity drive intelligence. A new analysis offers the clearest picture yet of how various brain regions and neural networks contribute to a person's problem-solving ability in a variety of contexts, a trait known as general intelligence, researchers report.

The study used "connectome-based predictive modeling" to compare five theories about how the brain gives rise to intelligence. 

To understand the remarkable cognitive abilities that underlie intelligence, neuroscientists look to their biological foundations in the brain. Modern theories attempt to explain how our capacity for problem-solving is enabled by the brain's information-processing architecture. A biological understanding of these cognitive abilities requires 'characterizing how individual differences in intelligence and problem-solving ability relate to the underlying architecture and neural mechanisms of brain networks'. Historically, theories of intelligence focused on localized brain regions such as the prefrontal cortex, which plays a key role in cognitive processes such as planning, problem-solving and decision-making. More recent theories emphasize specific brain networks, while others examine how different networks overlap and interact with one another.

Strong connections involve highly connected hubs of information-processing that are established when we learn about the world and become adept at solving familiar problems. Weak connections have fewer neural linkages but enable flexibility and adaptive problem-solving. Together, these connections provide the network architecture that is necessary for solving the diverse problems we encounter in life.

Part 1

One of the really interesting properties of the human brain is how it embodies a rich constellation of networks that are active even when we are at rest. These networks create the biological infrastructure of the mind and are thought to be intrinsic properties of the brain.

These include the frontoparietal network, which enables cognitive control and goal-directed decision-making; the dorsal attention network, which aids in visual and spatial awareness; and the salience network, which directs attention to the most relevant stimuli. Previous studies have shown that the activity of these and other networks when a person is awake but not engaged in a task or paying attention to external events "reliably predicts our cognitive skills and abilities".

With the cognitive tests and fMRI data, the researchers were able to evaluate which theories best predicted how participants performed on the intelligence tests.

We can systematically investigate how well a theory predicts general intelligence based on the connectivity of brain regions or networks that theory entails. This approach allowed the researchers to directly compare evidence for the neuroscience predictions made by current theories.

The researchers found that taking into account the features of the whole brain produced the most accurate predictions of a person's problem-solving aptitude and adaptability. This held true even when accounting for the number of brain regions included in the analysis.

The other theories also were predictive of intelligence, the researchers said, but the network neuroscience theory  outperformed those limited to localized brain regions or networks in a number of respects.

The findings reveal that "global information processing" in the brain is fundamental to how well an individual overcomes cognitive challenges.

Rather than originate from a specific region or network, intelligence appears to emerge from the global architecture of the brain and to reflect the efficiency and flexibility of systemwide network function. 

Investigating cognitive neuroscience theories of human intelligence: A connectome-based predictive modeling approach, Human Brain Mapping (2022). DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26164

Part 2

Three quarters of major observatories affected by light pollution

Researchers  have studied and compared the light pollution levels at major astronomical observatories across the world. The study shows that light is polluting the sky above most observatories and that immediate action is needed to decrease the amount of contamination coming from artificial light. The work was published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The study presents the light pollution levels above almost 50 observatories across the globe, including the world's largest professional observatories, as well as smaller observatories for amateurs. The study utilizes a model of propagation of light in the Earth's atmosphere and applies it to night-time satellite data. Using additional light pollution indicators, beyond examining the traditional brightness directly overhead (i.e. at the zenith), reveals that the night sky at major observatory sites is more polluted than one may assume. The zenith is generally the less polluted, therefore darker, zone of the night sky, and is one of the indicators used to classify the sites in the study. The additional indicators are the average brightness at a 30° altitude above the horizon, the average brightness in the first 10° above the horizon, the overall average brightness across the sky, and the illuminance of the ground given by the artificial light coming from the night sky. These indicators, along with the overhead brightness, help to decipher how artificial light affects the night sky.

The key measure is the comparison with the natural sky brightness caused by airglow in the high atmosphere, and light originating from stars and the Milky Way. The study results show that only 7 of the 28 major astronomical observatory sites (sites that host a telescope with a diameter of 3 meters or more) have a zenith sky brightness with light pollution below the expected threshold of 1% of natural sky brightness, and so could be considered almost uncontaminated in that direction. This leaves the remaining 21 other major sites—three quarters of all the major observatories—all above this level. The lowest pointing direction of ground-based telescopes is around 30° above the horizon. Only one observatory of the 28 major sites has light pollution in that direction below the 1% level. A more relaxed 10% limit was set by the International Astronomical Union in the 1970s as the maximum allowable artificial brightness for major observatories. The new study shows that light pollution at two thirds of the ground based observatories in the study has now crossed this higher threshold.

Fabio Falchi et al, Light pollution indicators for all the major astronomical observatories, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2022). DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stac2929

Human-caused emissions create new cloud-forming particles

Human activity is changing atmospheric chemistry—even in remote places—that could alter how and when clouds form.

That's the conclusion of a new study by scientists, which finds that at a laboratory on a mountaintop in Colorado, new aerosol particles are forming in the air on average every other day and that those particles, likely formed from gases emitted by nearby power plants, can grow until they're big enough for water to condense around, forming clouds.

The study draws an important scientific link, using newly developed statistical methods, that link aerosol growth to measured cloud condensation nuclei—which are the critical ingredients for accurately modeling the role of aerosols and clouds in climate change. 

 To form, clouds need something in the air, such as a speck of dirt or salt, around which to begin condensing water vapor. These somethings, about a tenth of the diameter of spider silk, are particles called "cloud condensation nuclei."

It's known that increased aerosols in the atmosphere lead to more cloud formation, and more reflective clouds. But it's not known whether new aerosol particles, much smaller than cloud condensation nuclei and formed with human-caused emissions, can grow into cloud condensation nuclei. And it's also not known how to incorporate the relationship between aerosols and clouds in climate models. As you might imagine, clouds play a large role in the climate, reflecting solar energy and moving water from one place to another. So being able to realistically model those clouds could help increase the accuracy of the models forecasting changes in our climate.

Noah S. Hirshorn et al, Seasonal significance of new particle formation impacts on cloud condensation nuclei at a mountaintop location, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (2022). DOI: 10.5194/acp-22-15909-2022

New software based on artificial intelligence helps to interpret co...

More is not always better—sometimes, it's a problem. With highly complex data, which have many dimensions due to their numerous parameters, correlations are often no longer recognizable. Especially since experimentally obtained data are additionally disturbed and noisy due to influences that cannot be controlled.

Study finds birds build hanging-nests to protect offspring from nest invaders

A new study has found that birds build hanging-nests, particularly those with extended entrance tunnels, to help protect offspring against nest invaders like snakes and parasitic cuckoos.

Researchers examined the relationship between nest design and the length of time offspring spend in the nest before fledging across species of weaverbirds and icterids, two bird families renowned for their complex woven nests. They found that species building the most elaborate nests, particularly those with long entrance tunnels, produce offspring with longer developmental periods.

Nests with longer entrance tunnels are more effective at hindering access by nest invaders than shorter tunnels and thereby limits the exposure of developing offspring to nest invaders.

Researchers suggest that the complex structural features in these nests do indeed play a role in protecting offspring from predators and brood parasites. They find the consistency of these findings "striking" given that highly elaborate nests have evolved independently in the weaverbirds and icterids.

Sally Street et al, Convergent evolution of elaborate nests as structural defences in birds, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2022). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.1734. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi … .1098/rspb.2022.1734

The physical intelligence of ant and robot collectives

Researchers took inspiration from ants to design a team of relatively simple robots that can work collectively to perform complex tasks using only a few basic parameters.

Researchers use 3D bioprinting to create eye tissue

Scientists used patient stem cells and 3D bioprinting to produce eye tissue that will advance understanding of the mechanisms of blinding diseases. The research team from the National Eye Institute (NEI), part of the National Institutes of Health, printed a combination of cells that form the outer blood-retina barrier—eye tissue that supports the retina's light-sensing photoreceptors. The technique provides a theoretically unlimited supply of patient-derived tissue to study degenerative retinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

We know that AMD starts in the outer blood-retina barrier. However, mechanisms of AMD initiation and progression to advanced dry and wet stages remain poorly understood due to the lack of physiologically relevant human models.

The outer blood-retina barrier consists of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), separated by Bruch's membrane from the blood-vessel rich choriocapillaris. Bruch's membrane regulates the exchange of nutrients and waste between the choriocapillaris and the RPE. In AMD, lipoprotein deposits called drusen form outside Bruch's membrane, impeding its function. Over time, the RPE break down leading to photoreceptor degeneration and vision loss.

Researchers combined three immature choroidal cell types in a hydrogel: pericytes and endothelial cells, which are key components of capillaries; and fibroblasts, which give tissues structure. The scientists then printed the gel on a biodegradable scaffold. Within days, the cells began to mature into a dense capillary network.

On day nine, the scientists seeded retinal pigment epithelial cells on the flip side of the scaffold. The printed tissue reached full maturity on day 42. Tissue analyses and genetic and functional testing showed that the printed tissue looked and behaved similarly to native outer blood-retina barrier. Under induced stress, printed tissue exhibited patterns of early AMD such as drusen deposits underneath the RPE and progression to late dry stage AMD, where tissue degradation was observed. Low oxygen induced wet AMD-like appearance, with hyperproliferation of choroidal vessels that migrated into the sub-RPE zone. Anti-VEGF drugs, used to treat AMD suppressed this vessel overgrowth and migration and restored tissue morphology.

Researchers  are using printed blood-retina barrier models to study AMD, and they are experimenting with adding additional cell types to the printing process, such as immune cells, to better recapitulate native tissue.

Kapil Bharti, Bioprinted 3D outer retina barrier uncovers RPE-dependent choroidal phenotype in advanced macular degeneration, Nature Methods (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41592-022-01701-1. www.nature.com/articles/s41592-022-01701-1

Meta-optics: The disruptive technology you didn't see coming

Robots and autonomous cars will have eyes that see much more than the human eye is capable of, a review of the growing field of meta-optics has found.

Meta-optics is advancing science and technology far beyond the 3,000-year-old optical paradigm that we rely on for the visual human-machine interface, such as through cameras in our mobile phones, the lenses in microscopes, drones, and telescopes. Optical components are the technology bottleneck that meta-optics aims to transform, bringing the stuff of science-fiction stories into everyday devices. The field, which blossomed after the early 2000s thanks to the conceptualization of a material with negative refractive index that could form a perfect lens, has grown rapidly in the last five years and now sees around 3000 publications a year. This accelerating volume of research is impossible for scientists and technologists to navigate, which prompted Nature Photonics to commission a review from leaders in meta-optics research.

They found the field was on the verge of industrial disruption.

The biggest driver for the meta-optics field comes from integrating meta-optical elements and devices into optical systems, offering consumer optoelectronics applications. Importantly, meta-optical systems enable novel applications not conceivable before, adding to so-called Industry 4.0. Such applications include the Internet of Things, autonomous cars, wearable devices, augmented reality and remote sensing. The importance of the technology is shown by the large-scale investment from big industry players such as Apple, Google, and Samsung, who have been hiring graduates and investing in the field, especially to develop vision applications.

But the authors note that beyond vision, the non-traditional characteristics of meta-optics could also be used for light sails, LiFi and thermal management. These characteristics come from meta-optics' use of surfaces patterned with regular nanoscale structures, in contrast with the traditional optics of mirrors and lenses. The result is miniature components that scatter and manipulate light in ways that would have astounded Isaac Newton. The first commercial components using these properties are already on the market, with companies such as Metalenz, NILT technologies and Meta Materials Inc delivering flat metalenses, polarization imaging, microscopy and biosensing. These devices also enable access to properties of light that the human eye cannot detect—polarization and phase, for example, and even can be used to engineer, manipulate and quantum states of light, that could be employed for quantum imaging, sensing and communications.

Dragomir Neshev, Enabling smart vision with metasurfaces, Nature Photonics (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41566-022-01126-4. www.nature.com/articles/s41566-022-01126-4

https://phys.org/news/2022-12-meta-optics-disruptive-technology-did...

Microplastics deposited on the seafloor have tripled in 20 years

The total amount of microplastics deposited on the bottom of oceans has tripled in the past two decades with a progression that corresponds to the type and volume of consumption of plastic products by society.

This is the main conclusion of a recent study.

Despite the seafloor being considered the final sink for microplastics floating on the sea surface, the historical evolution of this pollution source in the sediment compartment, and particularly the sequestration and burial rate of smaller microplastics on the ocean floor, is unknown. This new study, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, shows that microplastics are retained unaltered in marine sediments, and that the microplastic mass sequestered in the seafloor mimics the global plastic production from 1965 to 2016.

Specifically, the results show that, since 2000, the amount of plastic particles deposited on the seafloor has tripled and that, far from decreasing, the accumulation has not stopped growing mimicking the production and global use of these materials.

Researchers explains that the sediments analyzed have remained unaltered on the seafloor since they were deposited decades ago. This has allowed them to see how, since the 1980s, but especially in the past two decades, the accumulation of polyethylene and polypropylene particles from packaging, bottles and food films has increased, as well as polyester from synthetic fibers in clothing fabrics.

The amount of these three types of particles reaches 1.5mg per kilogram of sediment collected, with polypropylene being the most abundant, followed by polyethylene and polyester. Despite awareness campaigns  on the need to reduce single-use plastic, data from annual marine sediment records show that we are still far from achieving this. Policies at the global level in this regard could contribute to improving this serious problem.

The degradation status of the buried particles was investigated, and it was found that, once trapped in the seafloor, they no longer degrade, either due to lack of erosion, oxygen, or light.

Laura Simon-Sánchez et al, Can a Sediment Core Reveal the Plastic Age? Microplastic Preservation in a Coastal Sedimentary Record, Environmental Science & Technology (2022). DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.2c04264

Are elephants afraid of mice?

Mythbusters explore the myth of whether elephants are afraid of mice.

Male and Female Stem Cells Derived from One Donor in Scientific First

Studying otherwise identical XY, XX, X0, and XXY pluripotent stem cells will allow researchers to investigate sex-based differences in greater depth.

Scientists have developed a new line of stem cells—all derived from the same person—that can be used to study sex differences without the confounds of interpersonal genetic differences.

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), which are cells taken from a person that are then reprogrammed to abandon their current roles and return to a stem cell–like state, have become valuable tools not only for therapeutic purposes but also for probing the genetic mechanisms underlying cell behavior and disease. However, findings drawn from stem cell studies may not be broadly applicable, as the fact that all cells in a given line share the same genetic sequence makes it difficult to generalize discoveries, especially when it comes to investigating potential sex differences.

That’s why a team of scientists set out to create a new platform for studying genetic sex differences. 

To develop such a model, the team obtained cells from a repository that had been taken from someone with an unusual case of Klinefelter syndrome, a rare genetic condition that affects roughly 1 in 500 boys in which they’re born with an extra copy of the X chromosome, resulting in an XXY genetic makeup. What made this person even more unusual—and ideal for Reubinoff’s vision—is that, in addition to the 47XXY cells characteristic of the condition, they also had a large number of 46XY cells, a phenomenon known as a mosaic phenotype. As the study, published on November 24 in Stem Cell Reports, describes, the variety of cells taken from the Klinefelter patient allowed the team to generate 46XX, 46XY, 45X0, and 47XXY hiPSCs that are otherwise genetically identical. This means that any observable differences among them—related, for example, to disease risk factors or response to a pharmaceutical—can almost definitely be attributed to genetic sex differences.

When you study individuals, and you compare males to females and you find differences, you cannot differentiate whether they stem from the chromosomal differences or hormonal differences. This model is unique because it allows you to differentiate between chromosomal effects and hormonal effects.

https://www.cell.com/stem-cell-reports/fulltext/S2213-6711(22)00513-6?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS2213671122005136%3Fshowall%3Dtrue#%20

https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/male-and-female-stem-cel...

Identifying pathways to slow cardiac aging

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, and is caused in part by age-related cardiac structural dysfunction. A team of bioengineers published a paper in Nature Aging on Dec. 22 that helps advance our understanding of how hearts age, and sheds light on a possible pathway to slow cardiac aging.

The researchers used fruit flies to show that Lamin C, a protein responsible for maintaining the structural integrity of heart cells' nuclei, declines as flies age. This study uncovered that Lamin decline is responsible for the age-induced structural remodeling in fruit fly hearts, and it could be a potential target to slow down, or even help reverse, cardiac aging in humans.

The team then quantified this change by segmenting and measuring nuclear stiffness with atomic force microscopy. This is when they discovered that cardiomyocyte nuclei stiffen during natural aging; after running a genetic anlysis, the researchers found that the expression of nuclear lamins decreases as flies age.

The team was able to verify that these results also applied to mice and primates. This indicates that a role for Lamins may apply to human heart aging as well, which could have tremendous therapeutic value, as targeting lamin-stimulating pathways could potentially help avoid this cardiac aging-related mechanical change.

Natalie J. Kirkland et al, Age-dependent Lamin changes induce cardiac dysfunction via dysregulation of cardiac transcriptional programs, Nature Aging (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s43587-022-00323-8

Researchers use quantum mechanics to see objects without looking at them

We see the world around us because light is being absorbed by specialized cells in our retina. But can vision happen without any absorption at all—without even a single particle of light? Surprisingly, the answer is yes.

Imagine that you have a camera cartridge that might contain a roll of photographic film. The roll is so sensitive that coming into contact with even a single photon would destroy it. With our everyday classical means there is no way  to know whether there's film in the cartridge, but in the quantum world it can be done. Anton Zeilinger, one of the winners of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics, was the first to experimentally implement the idea of an interaction-free experiment using optics.

Now, in a study exploring the connection between the quantum and classical worlds,  researchers have discovered a new and much more effective way to carry out interaction-free experiments. They used transmon devices—superconducting circuits that are relatively large but still show quantum behavior—to detect the presence of microwave pulses generated by classical instruments. Their research was recently published in Nature Communications.

Quantum coherence refers to the possibility that an object can occupy two different states at the same time—something that quantum physics allows for. However, quantum coherence is delicate and easily collapses, so it wasn't immediately obvious that the new protocol would work. To the research  team's pleasant surprise, the first runs of the experiment showed a marked increase in detection efficiency. They went back to the drawing board several times, ran theoretical models confirming their results, and double-checked everything. The effect was definitely there. They also also demonstrated that even very low-power microwave pulses can be detected efficiently using their protocol.

The experiment also showed a new way in which quantum devices can achieve results that are impossible for classical devices—a phenomenon known as quantum advantage. Researchers generally think that achieving quantum advantage will require quantum computers with many qubits, but this experiment demonstrated genuine quantum advantage using a relatively simpler setup.

Shruti Dogra et al, Coherent interaction-free detection of microwave pulses with a superconducting circuit, Nature Communications (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-35049-z

Using an ethylene carbonate solvent with a sodium iodide salt to create a new kind of refrigerator

A pair of researchers  used a commonly known, naturally occurring phenomenon to build a new kind of environmentally safe refrigerator.

In their paper published in the journal Science, they describe how expanding on the idea of using salt to melt road ice to design and build a new kind of refrigerator.

For many years, people around the world have used salt to melt road ice to make travel easier. Though technically, the salt does not melt the ice, its dark color attracts heat, allowing the ice below it to melt, which than allows the salt to mix with the water. And it does not refreeze because the salt dramatically lowers the freezing point of the water.

It was on this part of the process that the researchers focused. They noted that a similar process could result in cooling a material simply by mixing it with sodium iodide (NaI) salt due to the phase transition. The second material in this case was an ethylene carbonate (EC) solvent. They further noted that repeatedly cooling a material should also cool the environment in which it is contained. And to make that happen, all they had to do was remove the salt, and then add it again.

The researchers call their process "ionocaloric" refrigeration, and built such a refrigerator to prove that it was viable. They started with a box and then added a mixing device to mix their two ingredients and another device that performed electrodialysis to remove the salt. Then tested the resulting device to determine if it would keep the temperature inside the box at a steady cool temperature, and if so, if it was more or less efficient than other refrigeration devices.

Their testing showed that their refrigerator was able to maintain a cool temperature and that it was approximately as efficient as refrigerators now on the market. The big advantage of the approach is that it does not emit any hydrofluorocarbons or other pollutants. They acknowledge that it does have one drawback—it takes quite a while for the mixed solution to cool.

Drew Lilley et al, Ionocaloric refrigeration cycle, Science (2022). DOI: 10.1126/science.ade1696

Emmanuel Defay, Cool it, with a pinch of salt, Science (2022). DOI: 10.1126/science.adf5114

Brown algae removes carbon dioxide from the air and stores it in slime

Brown algae take up large amounts of carbon dioxide from the air and release parts of the carbon contained therein back into the environment in mucous form. This mucus is hard to break down for other ocean inhabitants, thus the carbon is removed from the atmosphere for a long time, according to a new study.

Researchers reveal that the algal mucus called fucoidan is particularly responsible for this carbon removal and estimate that brown algae could thus remove up to 550 million tons of carbon dioxide from the air every year.

Algae take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and use the carbon to grow. They release up to a third of the carbon they absorb back into the seawater, for example in the form of sugary excretions. Depending on the structure of these excretions, they are either quickly used by other organisms or sink toward the seafloor.

Fucoidan made up about half of the excretions of the brown algae species the researchers studied, the so-called bladderwrack.

Fucoidan is a recalcitrant molecule. The fucoidan is so complex that it is very hard for other organisms to use it. No one seems to like it. As a result, the carbon from the fucoidan does not return to the atmosphere quickly. "This makes the brown algae particularly good helpers in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in the long term—for hundreds to thousands of years.

Buck-Wiese, Hagen et al, Fucoid brown algae inject fucoidan carbon into the ocean, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2210561119. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2210561119

New bacterial therapy approach to treat lung cancer

Lung cancer is one of the deadliest cancers  around the world. Many of the currently available therapies have been ineffective, leaving patients with very few options. A promising new strategy to treat cancer has been bacterial therapy, but while this treatment modality has quickly progressed from labouratory experiments to clinical trials in the last five years, the most effective treatment for certain types of cancers may be in combination with other drugs.

Researchers report that they have developed a preclinical evaluation pipeline for characterization of bacterial therapies in lung cancer models. Their new study, published December 13, 2022, by Scientific Reports, combines bacterial therapies with other modalities of treatment to improve treatment efficacy without any additional toxicity. This new approach was able to rapidly characterize bacterial therapies and successfully integrate them with current targeted therapies for lung cancer.

The team used RNA sequencing to discover how cancer cells were responding to bacteria at the cellular and molecular levels. They built a hypothesis on which molecular pathways of cancer cells were helping the cells to be resistant to the bacteria therapy. To test their hypothesis, the researchers blocked these pathways with current cancer drugs and showed that combining the drugs with bacterial toxins is more effective in eliminating lung cancer cells. They validated the combination of bacteria therapy with an AKT-inhibitor as an example in mouse models of lung cancer.

This new study describes an exciting drug development pipeline that has been previously unexplored in lung cancer—the use of toxins derived from bacteria.

The preclinical data presented in the manuscript provides a strong rationale for continued research in this area, thereby opening up the possibility of new treatment options for patients diagnosed with this lethal disease.

 Dhruba Deb et al, Design of combination therapy for engineered bacterial therapeutics in non-small cell lung cancer, Scientific Reports (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-26105-1

Spontaneous baby movements are important for development of coordinated sensorimotor system

Some guts are better than others at harvesting energy, study shows

New research from the University of Copenhagen suggests that a portion of the Danish population has a composition of gut microbes that, on average, extracts more energy from food than do the microbes in the guts of their fellow Danes. The research is a step towards understanding why some people gain more weight than others, even when they eat the same.

Unfair as it, some of us seem to put on weight just by looking at a plate of Christmas cookies, while others can munch away with abandon and not gain a gram. Part of the explanation could be related to the composition of our gut microbes. This is according to new research conducted at the University of Copenhagen's Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports.

The research is published in the journal Microbiome.

Researchers studied the residual energy in the feces of 85 Danes to estimate how effective their gut microbes are at extracting energy from food. At the same time, they mapped the composition of gut microbes for each participant.

The results show that roughly 40% of the participants belong to a group that, on average, extracts more energy from food compared to the other 60%. The researchers also observed that those who extracted the most energy from food also weighed 10% more on average, amounting to an extra nine kilograms.

The results indicate that being overweight might not just be related to how healthily one eats or the amount of exercise one gets. It may also have something to do with the composition of a person's gut microbes.

Following the study, the researchers suspect that a portion of the population may be disadvantaged by having gut bacteria that are a bit too effective at extracting energy. This effectiveness may result in more calories being available for the human host from the same amount of food.

Jos Boekhorst et al, Stool energy density is positively correlated to intestinal transit time and related to microbial enterotypes, Microbiome (2022). DOI: 10.1186/s40168-022-01418-5

About gut bacteria:

• Everyone has a unique composition of gut bacteria—shaped by genetics, environment, lifestyle and diet.
• The collection of gut bacteria, called the gut microbiota, is like an entire galaxy in our gut, with a staggering 100 billion of them per gram of stool.
• Gut bacteria in the colon serve to break down food parts that our body's digestive enzymes can't, e.g., dietary fiber.
• Humans can be divided into three groups based on the presence and abundance of three main groups of bacteria that most of us have: B-type (Bacteroides), R-type (Ruminococcaceae) and P-type (Prevotella).