There's just one problem: alkali metals are highly reactive with liquid water, sometimes even to the point of explosivity.

The research team found a very nifty way to solve this problem. What if, rather than adding the metal to water, water was added to the metal?

In a vacuum chamber, the team started by extruding from a nozzle a small blob of sodium-potassium alloy, which is liquid at room temperature, and very carefully added a thin film of pure water using vapor deposition.

Upon contact, the electrons and metal cations (positively charged ions) flowed into the water from the alloy.

Not only did this give the water a golden shine, it turned the water conductive – just like we should see in metallic pure water at high pressure.

Monkey Study Reveals 91 Changes in Virtually Every Body Organ During Pregnancy

Scientists have mapped out the drastic changes pregnancy makes to the body's metabolic pathways in a closely related primate, and it could guide the way to better understanding pregnancy problems like recurrent miscarriage, pre-eclampsia, and gestational diabetes.

Little is known about this major disruption to the body's metabolic flow, but now a team of biologists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing has studied crab-eating macaques (Macaca fascicularis) to create a map that charts at least some of the changes that occur during pregnancy.
These monkeys are one of the primates most closely related to humans, so they're often used as a proxy in experiments that can't be done on humans.

The researchers collected 273 tissue samples from 12 captive-bred monkeys – three each that were not pregnant, in early pregnancy (5–8 weeks), in mid-pregnancy (12–15 weeks) and in late pregnancy (18–20 weeks).

This included a blood serum sample taken from each monkey before they were euthanized, when a further 22 tissue samples were collected from different body systems, including the uterus, liver, spinal cord, skin, blood, and five different heart regions.

The metabolism is made up of thousands of different chemical pathways, like a bustling port city where a log of imports and exports wouldn't suffice to capture the complex ecosystem of logistics.

It's business as usual for the myriad cells, tissues, and organs that trade the raw materials of life until, as always, a baby comes along and changes everything.

The researchers were able to identify the full set of small-molecule chemicals within each sample, which is known as a 'metabolome'.

Part 1

The samples from the non-pregnant monkeys provided a reference point for how certain metabolic pathways interact prior to pregnancy, with the other samples revealing the drastic extent to which these 'trade routes' changed course as the monkey's pregnancies progressed.

In fact, during pregnancy, 91 metabolites changed consistently across all 23 tissues sampled.

In non-pregnant monkeys, the metabolomes of skeletal muscles were highly correlated with tissues from the heart, spinal cord, adrenal gland, and uterus. But in the first and second trimesters, their coupling with heart tissues decreased.

In early pregnancy, the samples indicated that the uterus backs off from its ongoing metabolic 'agreement' with the heart and skeletal muscles, coupling with the developing placenta instead.

Fully formed by the second trimester, the placenta appeared to be sending metabolites to the pregnant monkey's heart, ovaries, and liver. Weirdly, the uterus, seemingly done with getting the placenta established, shifts its focus to a metabolic exchange with scalp skin tissue, of all things.

And for those monkeys in their third trimester, the samples showed the skeletal muscles had developed a significant exchange with the spinal cord.
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The team says they weren't expecting this evolution and decrease in metabolic coupling, and it's far from clear as to why these changes occur in the way they do.

But it's easy to see why they think this drastic reprogramming could go awry, perhaps leading to some of the metabolic conditions that arise during pregnancy. The roles of all 91 pregnancy-adaptive metabolites were verified in human cell models and in 32 pregnant human's blood serum samples.

Those pregnant women with pre-eclampsia – a dangerous natal condition characterized by high blood pressure, severe swelling, and protein-laden urine – had a huge drop in levels of the metabolite corticosterone, which is involved in maturing the placenta.

Another key metabolite during pregnancy appears to be palmitoylcarnitine, which regulates immunity and is involved in processing fatty acids. Levels were up in the tissues of early- and mid-pregnant monkeys, across a range of organs including the liver, pancreas, heart, and kidney.

The researchers think that this metabolic shift may have some link to gestational diabetes, but more research is needed to confirm this. 

This research was published in Cell.

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(23)01329-6?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867423013296%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

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Study finds that microglia could regulate sleep via the modulation of norepinephrine transmission

Sleep is known to play a key role in facilitating various physiological processes, while also contributing to the healthy functioning of the brain. Lack of sleep and poor sleep quality have been linked to various chronic health and mental health issues, including high blood pressure, depression, stroke, obesity, and heart disease.

Sleep disturbances have also been implicated in the development of neurodegenerative diseases. Interestingly, neurodegenerative diseases have also been associated with the dysfunction of microglia, the primary mammalian immune cells, yet the link between microglia and sleep has not been thoroughly studied yet.

Researchers recently carried out a study exploring the potential role of microglia in regulating sleep. Their findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, suggest that microglia regulate sleep by modulating the transmission of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine, which is known to contribute to arousal, attention and stress reactions.

These initial observations could soon pave the way for further studies investigating the role of microglia in sleep regulation, focusing on norepinephrine transmission.

As microglia dysfunction and sleep disturbances have been linked to Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases, this work may also broaden neuroscientists' understanding of these diseases, potentially aiding the future development of new therapeutic strategies.

 Chenyan Ma et al, Microglia regulate sleep through calcium-dependent modulation of norepinephrine transmission, Nature Neuroscience (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-023-01548-5.

Can an experimental cell phone app screen coughs for TB? Scientists say 'yes'

What telltale features—many inaudible to the human ear—separate one kind of cough from another? Scientists are on the verge of finding out with a new machine learning tool aimed at identifying the signature sounds of tuberculosis.

Cough is a leading symptom of respiratory infections. And because the pattern and frequency of cough episodes differ from one disease to the next, an effort is underway to develop a smartphone app that is sensitive enough to accurately discern coughs associated with TB.

An international team of researchers is testing the hypothesis that TB's unique pattern and frequency of coughing can provide sufficient data to screen for the highly infectious bacterial disease using technology engineered into a smartphone app.

Currently in the investigational phase, the app is not yet ready for distribution. At present it is a machine-learning tool called TBscreen, but given the rising numbers of TB cases around the globe, its development couldn't have arrived at a more opportune time.

The research team includes engineers and computer scientists as well as physicians and experts in infectious diseases.

When they entered audio of coughs through various microphones into TBscreen, the team found that TBscreen—the investigational app—and a smartphone mic identified active TB more accurately than when cough audio was fed through expensive microphones.

The machine-learning tool is being "trained" to recognize pattern and frequency in coughs caused by TB. The investigational app also is being trained to distinguish TB-related coughs from those caused by other respiratory disorders.

Researchers have found that there are numerous factors affecting the basic patterns of coughing, nuances—some inaudible to the human ear—that the tool must discern as a way to accurately screen for TB.

The mechanism of cough production varies according to mucus properties, respiratory muscle strength, mechanosensitivity, chemosensitivity of airways, and other factors resulting in diverse cough sounds.

Manuja Sharma et al, TBscreen: A passive cough classifier for tuberculosis screening with a controlled dataset, Science Advances (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adi0282

Chronic jet lag leads to human liver cancer in a mouse model

When asked about what could cause cancer, people most likely think of chemicals like tobacco or radiation such as UV light in sunshine, but chronic jet lag probably does not come to mind. Human epidemiological studies have linked chronic jet lag, also known as chronic circadian dysfunction, to increased liver cancer risk. However, direct evidence that it leads to liver cancer has been lacking.

A recent study  by researchers  published in the Journal of Hepatology is the first to experimentally demonstrate that chronic circadian dysfunction is indeed a human carcinogen.

They worked with a humanized mouse model that was developed by one of the researchers. This animal model has both human and mouse liver cells in the animals' livers, which allowed them to study the effect of disrupting the circadian rhythm on cancer development in human cells.  

Circadian rhythm is the 24-hour internal timekeeper in our brain that regulates cycles of alertness, sleepiness and practically all functions of the body by being in sync with the planet's day-and-night cycle. Recent studies have uncovered that when the internal clock goes out of sync, disease has a better chance of developing.

Humanized mice were exposed to two different conditions. One group of animals was maintained in sync with the natural day-and-night cycle. For the other group, the researchers changed the light and dark periods the animals were exposed to, to create the equivalent of the changes a person experiences when flying back and forth from San Francisco to London every week for many weeks.

 They found that compared to mice kept in normal light/dark cycles, mice in the jet-lagged group had a shorter lifespan as well as increased cirrhosis, jaundice (when skin or the white of the eyes turns yellow) and also developed cancer in both mouse and human liver cells. Importantly, chronic jet lag also induced metastasis from humanized livers.

Blood analyses and microscopy studies of the livers revealed multiple commonalities between humanized mice and patients with liver cancer, including glucose intolerance, abnormal fat accumulation in the liver, inflammation and fibrosis. This supports the validity of this model to study the human condition.

The study showed that as the tumor progresses, biomarker profile and genetic expression patterns in the cells change.

Chronic jet-lagged humanized mice spontaneously developed liver cancer in human liver cells following the same process and molecular pathways as those in humans. Gene expression studies reveal that spontaneous cancer development in this model is driven by changes in the expression of thousands of genes which depend on cell type, time and disease stage.

One of the important findings of the paper is that once the tumors spontaneously develop in response to chronic circadian disruption, returning the mice to a normal circadian clock slows tumor development and prevents metastasis.

When the animals reenter normal circadian rhythm, the gene expression pattern is restored to what it was before.

Jennifer Padilla et al, Circadian dysfunction induces NAFLD-related human liver cancer in a mouse model, Journal of Hepatology (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.jhep.2023.10.018

Patterns of brain connectivity found to differ between pre-term and term babies

A new scanning study of 390 babies has shown distinct patterns between term and pre-term babies in the moment-to-moment activity and connectivity of brain networks.

This is the first study to analyze how the communication between brain areas changes moment-to-moment in the first few weeks of life.

Published in Nature Communications, the study also found that these dynamic patterns of brain connectivity in babies were linked to developmental measures of movement, language, cognition, and social behavior 18 months later.

There is increasing awareness that conditions such as ADHD, autism, and schizophrenia have their origins early in life and that the development of these conditions may be linked to neonatal brain connectivity and its fluctuations over time.

The study identified six different brain states: three of these were across the whole brain, and three were constrained to regions of the brain (occipital, sensorimotor, and frontal regions). By comparing term and pre-term babies, the researchers showed that different patterns of connectivity are linked to pre-term birth; for example, pre-term babies spent more time in frontal and occipital brain states than term babies. They also demonstrated that brain state dynamics at birth are linked to various developmental outcomes in early childhood.

Dafnis Batallé et al, Neonatal brain dynamic functional connectivity: impact of preterm birth and association with early childhood neurodevelopment, Nature Communications (2024). www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-44050-z

Researchers identify potential way to treat genetic epilepsy by replacing 'lost' enzyme

Scientists  have found a new treatment target for CDKL5 deficiency disorder (CDD), one of the most common types of genetic epilepsy.

CDD causes seizures and impaired development in children, and medications are limited to managing symptoms rather than tackling the root cause of the disease. The disorder involves losing the function of a gene producing the CDKL5 enzyme, which phosphorylates proteins, meaning it adds an extra phosphate molecule to alter their function.

Following recent research from the same lab showing that a calcium channel could be a target for therapy for CDD, the team has now identified a new way to potentially treat CDD by boosting another enzyme's activity to compensate for the loss of CDKL5.

In research published in Molecular Psychiatry, the scientists studied mice that don't make the CDKL5 enzyme. These mice show similar symptoms to people with CDD, such as impaired learning or social interaction.

The researchers first identified that CDKL5 is active in nerve cells in mice but not in another type of brain cell called an astrocyte. In the nerve cells, they measured the level of phosphorylation of EB2, a molecule known to be targeted by CDKL5, to understand what happens when CDKL5 isn't produced.

Interestingly, even in mice that don't produce CDKL5, there was still some EB2 phosphorylation taking place, which suggested that another similar enzyme must also be able to phosphorylate it.

By looking at enzymes similar to CDKL5, the researchers identified that one called CDKL2 also targets EB2 and is present in human neurons. In mice without both CDKL5 and CDKL2, the remaining EB2 phosphorylation almost fully dropped off.

The researchers concluded that although most activity comes from CDKL5, about 15% is from CDKL2, and the remaining < 5% from another enzyme yet to be identified.

Their research suggests that increasing the level of CDKL2 in people who are deficient in CDKL5 could potentially treat some of the effects on the brain in early development.

Margaux Silvestre et al, Cell-type specific expression, regulation and compensation of CDKL5 activity in mouse brain. Molecular Psychiatry. (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41380-024-02434-7

Telescopes Show the Milky Way's Black Hole is Ready for a Kick

Astronomers found the giant black hole in the Milky Way is spinning very fast. NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the VLA show that it is warping spacetime. As the black hole spins, it pulls matter and spacetime with it. This leads to the black hole looking more like a football from some angles.

Common Plastic Chemicals Linked to 10% of Premature Births, Major Study Finds

One in 10 premature births in the United States have been linked to pregnant women being exposed to chemicals in extremely common plastic products, a large study sowed recently. The chemicals, called phthalates, are used to soften plastic and can be found in thousands of consumer items including plastic containers and wrapping, beauty care products and toys. Phthalates have been known for decades to be "hormone disruptors" which affect a person's endocrine system and have been previously linked to obesity, heart disease, some cancers and fertility problems. Because they affect hormones, these chemicals "can precipitate early labour and early birth. By analysing the level of phthalates in the urine of more than 5,000 pregnant women in the United States, the researchers were able to examine how exposure to the chemicals could have affected how early the babies were born. The 10 percent of mothers with the highest levels of phthalates had a 50-percent increased risk of giving birth before week 37 compared to the lowest 10 percent, according to the study in The Lancet Planetary Health. Extrapolating their findings across the US, the researchers said that nearly 56,600 preterm births could have been linked to phthalate exposure in 2018 alone, roughly 10 percent of the country's premature births that year. Babies born prematurely or at a lower weight tend to have more health problems later in life. Researchers say that more than three quarters of exposure to phthalates was due to plastic.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(23)00270-X/fulltext

Ocean Color Countdown

The color of our oceans, lakes and rivers can tell us a lot about what's going on just beneath the surface. With the new hyperspectral capabilities of the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission, we'll know more about the health of aquatic ecosystems and those impacts on human health and climate studies. Scientists explore just five different ocean colours around the globe and find out what those colours tell us.

Industrial pollutants found in Mediterranean corals for the first time

Pollutants from burning fossil fuels have been found embedded in corals, for the first time, offering scientists a potential new tool to track the history of pollution, finds a new study by researchers.

The study, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, identified carbon particles emitted by burning fossil fuels embedded in the corals of Illa Grossa Bay, off the Columbretes Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Finding this type of pollution—known as fly-ash or spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCPs)—contaminating natural deposits is seen as an indicator of the presence of human influence on the environment, and an historical marker of the beginning of the proposed Anthropocene epoch.

Corals are a commonly used natural archive for paleoclimate studies because of their measurable growth rates. Akin to tree rings, their long life and slow and regular growth can provide scientists with annual, monthly or even weekly, environmental data going back years.

Up to now, they've largely been used to gauge past climatic conditions like water teperatures and chemistries, but this is the first time that pollutant particles—other than microplastics—have been recovered from corals.

The discovery of these pollutants embedded in coral skeletons extend over decades and paint a clear picture of how extensive human influence is on the environment. It's the first time we've been able to see this kind of contaminant in corals, and its appearance in these deposits parallels the historic rate of fossil fuel combustion in the region.

Corals, which are small invertebrates that tend to dwell in expansive colonies, ingest the SCP pollutants from the surrounding waters, incorporating them as they grow their calcium carbonate skeletons.

As it becomes clearer that humans have altered the natural environment to an unprecedented level, these pollutants act as indelible markers, indicating the start of the Anthropocene epoch. This is valuable to researchers trying to better understand the history of human impact on the natural world and serves as a powerful reminder of how extensive human influence is over the environment.

L.R. Roberts et al, First recorded presence of anthropogenic fly-ash particles in coral skeletons, Science of The Total Environment (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170665

Study visually captures a hard truth: Walking home at night is not the same for women

An eye-catching new study shows just how different the experience of walking home at night is for women versus men.

The study provides clear visual evidence of the constant environmental scanning women conduct as they walk in the dark, a safety consideration the study shows is unique to their experience.

Researchers showed pictures of campus areas at four Utah universities—Utah Valley University, Westminster, Brigham Young University and University of Utah—to participants and asked them to click on areas in the photos that caught their attention. Women focused significantly more on potential safety hazards—the periphery of the images—while men looked directly at focal points or their intended destination.

The resulting heat maps represent perhaps what people are thinking or feeling or doing as they are moving through these spaces.

While men tended to focus on the path or a fixed object (like a light, the walking path or a garbage can), the women's visual pattern represented a scanning of the perimeter (bushes, dark areas next to a path).

The researchers say the findings provide some insight into what it is like to walk home as a woman, which could be multiplied through years or a lifetime of experiences.

The researchers said the data suggests that because environment is perceived and experienced differently by women and men, decision-makers in building campus and community environments should consider the varied experiences, perceptions and safety of both. Why can't we live in a world where women don't have to think about these things? , they ask!

Yes, why?!

Robert A. Chaney et al, Gender-Based Heat Map Images of Campus Walking Settings: A Reflection of Lived Experience, Violence and Gender (2023). DOI: 10.1089/vio.2023.0027

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Gender-based heat map images show where men tend to look and where women tend to look on a path at night. Women focused significantly more on potential safety hazards—the periphery of the images—while men looked directly at focal points or their intended destination. Credit: Violence and Gender (2023). DOI: 10.1089/vio.2023.0027

Part 2

New research finds that young planets are flattened structures rather than spherical

Astrophysicists  have found that planets have flattened shapes like smarties just after they form rather than being spherical as previously thought.

The research, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters, shows that protoplanets, which are very young planets recently formed around stars, are flattened structures called oblate spheroids. The paper can currently be accessed on the arXiv preprint server.

The researchers used computer simulations to model the formation of planets according to the theory of disk-instability, which suggests that protoplanets form in short timescales from the breaking up of large rotating disks of dense gas orbiting around young stars.

Taking this approach, the team determined planet properties, compared them with observations and examined the formation mechanism of gas giant planets. They focused on investigating the shapes of young planets and on how these planets may grow to become large gas giant planets, even larger than Jupiter. They also examined the properties of planets forming in a variety of physical conditions, such as ambient temperature and gas density.

Observational confirmation of the flattened shape of young planets may answer the critical question about how planets form, pointing towards the currently less-favored disk-instability model rather than the standard planet formation theory of core accretion.

The researchers also discovered that new planets grow as material falls onto them, predominately from their poles rather than their equators.

These findings have important implications for observations of young planets as they suggest that the way planets appear through a telescope depends on the viewing angle. Such observations of young planets are important in order to understand the planet formation mechanism.

The researchers are following up this discovery with improved computational models to examine how the shape of these planets is affected by the environment in which they form, and to determine their chemical composition to compare with future observations from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Observations of young planets have become possible in the last few years with observing facilities such as the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) and the Very Large Telescope (VLT).

 Adam Fenton et al, The 3D structure of disc-instability protoplanets, arXiv (2024). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2402.01432

Nearly half of the world's migratory species are in decline, UN report says

Nearly half of the world's migratory species are in decline, according to a new United Nations report released recently. 

Many songbirds, sea turtles, whales, sharks and other migratory animals move to different environments with changing seasons and are imperiled by habitat loss, illegal hunting and fishing, pollution and climate change.

About 44% of migratory species worldwide are declining in population, the report found. More than a fifth of the nearly 1,200 species monitored by the U.N. are threatened with extinction. These are species that move around the globe. They move to feed and breed and also need stopover sites along the way.

Habitat loss or other threats at any point in their journey can lead to dwindling populations. 

Migration is essential for some species. If you cut the migration, you're going to kill the species.

The report relied on existing data, including information from the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List, which tracks whether a species is endangered.

Participants of the U.N. meeting plan to evaluate proposals for conservation measures and also whether to formally list several new species of concern.

One country alone cannot save any of these species. In 2022, governments pledged to protect 30% of the planet's land and water resources for conservation at the U.N. Biodiversity Conference.

But these results don't reflect that!

Source: AP and other news agencies.

Global deforestation leads to more mercury pollution, finds study

About 10% of human-made mercury emissions into the atmosphere each year are the result of global deforestation, according to a new MIT study.

The world's vegetation, from the Amazon rainforest to the savannahs of sub-Saharan Africa, acts as a sink that removes the toxic pollutant from the air. However, if the current rate of deforestation remains unchanged or accelerates, the researchers estimate that net mercury emissions will keep increasing.

The researchers' model shows that the Amazon rainforest plays a particularly important role as a mercury sink, contributing about 30% of the global land sink. Curbing Amazon deforestation could thus have a substantial impact on reducing mercury pollution.

The team also estimates that global reforestation efforts could increase annual mercury uptake by about 5%. While this is significant, the researchers emphasize that reforestation alone should not be a substitute for worldwide pollution control efforts.

Aryeh Feinberg et al, Deforestation as an Anthropogenic Driver of Mercury Pollution, Environmental Science & Technology (2024). DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.3c07851

New light on Black holes

Black holes not only existed at the dawn of time, they birthed new stars and supercharged galaxy formation, a new analysis of James Webb Space Telescope data suggests.

The insights upend theories of how black holes shape the cosmos, challenging classical understanding that they formed after the first stars and galaxies emerged. Instead, black holes might have dramatically accelerated the birth of new stars during the first 50 million years of the universe, a fleeting period within its 13.8 billion-year history.

We know these monster black holes exist at the center of galaxies near our Milky Way, but the big surprise now is that they were present at the beginning of the universe as well and were almost like building blocks or seeds for early galaxies.

They really boosted everything, like gigantic amplifiers of star formation, which is a whole turnaround of what we thought possible before—so much so that this could completely shake up our understanding of how galaxies form.

Conventional wisdom holds that black holes formed after the collapse of supermassive stars and that galaxies formed after the first stars lit up the dark early universe. But the analysis by researchers suggests that black holes and galaxies coexisted and influenced each other's fate during the first 100 million years.

Researchers now think  that black hole outflows crushed gas clouds, turning them into stars and greatly accelerating the rate of star formation. Otherwise, it's very hard to understand where these bright galaxies came from because they're typically smaller in the early universe. Why on earth should they be making stars so rapidly?

Black holes are regions in space where gravity is so strong that nothing can escape their pull, not even light. Because of this force, they generate powerful magnetic fields that make violent storms, ejecting turbulent plasma and ultimately acting like enormous particle accelerators.

We can't quite see these violent winds or jets far, far away, but we know they must be present because we see many black holes early on in the universe. These enormous winds coming from the black holes crush nearby gas clouds and turn them into stars. That's the missing link that explains why these first galaxies are so much brighter than we expected.

Part 1

The work is newly published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Researchers predict the young universe had two phases. During the first phase, high-speed outflows from black holes accelerated star formation, and then, in a second phase, the outflows slowed down. A few hundred million years after the big bang, gas clouds collapsed because of supermassive black hole magnetic storms, and new stars were born at a rate far exceeding that observed billions of years later in normal galaxies. The creation of stars slowed down because these powerful outflows transitioned into a state of energy conservation reducing the gas available to form stars in galaxies.

The future has more secrets to reveal!

Joseph Silk et al, Which Came First: Supermassive Black Holes or Galaxies? Insights from JWST, The Astrophysical Journal Letters (2024). DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad1bf0

Part 2

Researchers develop eco-friendly 'magnet' to battle microplastics

Plastic pollution is a pressing environmental issue, and  researchers are leading the charge with an innovative solution.

Their research, published in Scientific Reports, centers on an intriguing solution: using natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES) to capture and remove these miniature particles from water.

Plastics don't break down easily, leading to massive piles of waste. Over time, these plastics break into smaller fragments. The smallest, nano-plastics, are so tiny they can't be seen without a microscope. Their size makes them a significant hazard, as they can be ingested by marine life and enter the human food chain.

These minute particles, often invisible to the naked eye, are the remnants of larger plastic pieces broken down by sunlight and physical stress. Their size makes them notoriously difficult to remove using conventional methods like centrifugation or filtration, which are either inefficient or too costly.

Now think of NADES as a kind of 'magnet' that specifically attracts and holds onto these small plastic pieces. Basically, the NADES mix with the water and 'stick' to the plastics, pulling them out of the water.

The molecules in the NADES can form bonds with the molecules in the plastics, a bit like how Velcro works: one side sticks to the other. This property makes NADES particularly good at grabbing onto and holding these plastic particles. NADES are also unique because they are effective and environmentally friendly. They're made from natural materials, meaning they don't add more pollutants to the environment while cleaning up the existing ones.

Derived from natural sources like plants and coconuts, these solvents transform from solid to liquid when mixed, creating an effective medium to extract these tiny plastic particles from water.

The researchers focused on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) like that found in plastic bottles, polystyrene (PS) used for materials such as packaging peanuts and polylactic acid (PLA) used for plastic films and food containers. Using computer simulations, they could see how these interactions work on a minute scale.

Their experiments revealed that certain NADES are particularly good at extracting these types of plastic from water. This discovery was crucial, offering a targeted approach to removing plastics.

Jameson R. Hunter et al, Green solvent mediated extraction of micro- and nano-plastic particles from water, Scientific Reports (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-37490-6

Air pollution turns moths off flowers
Air pollution makes the scent of a night-blooming plant less enticing to pollinating moths. Researchers discovered that nitrate radicals severely degrade key odour components that attract pollinating insects to the pale evening primrose (Oenothera pallida). Nitrate radicals, which can come from various sources including vehicle emissions, are particularly abundant when there’s no sunlight to break them down. Artificial flowers spiked with the pollution-degraded scent received 70% fewer visits from wild hawkmoths than fake flowers with intact odour. Because hawkmoths are some of the primrose’s main pollinators this could reduce the plant’s fruit production by almost 30%.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi0858

Vibrio natriegens: Low-cost microbe could speed biological discovery

 Researchers have created a new version of a microbe to compete economically with E. coli—a bacteria commonly used as a research tool due to its ability to synthesize proteins—to conduct low-cost and scalable synthetic biological experiments.

As an inexpensive multiplier—much like having a photocopier in a test tube—the bacteria Vibrio natriegens could help labs test protein variants for creation of pharmaceuticals, synthetic fuels and sustainable compounds that battle weeds or pests. The microbe can work effectively without costly incubators, shakers or deep freezers and can be engineered within hours.

 Efficient Natural Plasmid Transformation of Vibrio natriegens Enables Zero-capital Molecular Biology, PNAS Nexus (2024). DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad444

A car powered by ammonia?

Ammonia is combustible, and holds promise as a relatively low-effort way to decarbonize the internal combustion engine – but the devil’s in the details.

Altermagnetism: A new type of magnetism, with broad implications for technology and research

There is now a new addition to the magnetic family: thanks to experiments at the Swiss Light Source SLS, researchers have proved the existence of altermagnetism. The experimental discovery of this new branch of magnetism is reported in Nature and signifies new fundamental physics, with major implications for spintronics.

Magnetism is a lot more than just things that stick to the fridge. This understanding came with the discovery of antiferromagnets nearly a century ago. Since then, the family of magnetic materials has been divided into two fundamental phases: the ferromagnetic branch known for several millennia and the antiferromagnetic branch.
The experimental proof of a third branch of magnetism, termed altermagnetism, was made at the Swiss Light Source SLS, by an international collaboration led by the Czech Academy of Sciences together with Paul Scherrer Institute PSI.

The fundamental magnetic phases are defined by the specific spontaneous arrangements of magnetic moments—or electron spins—and of atoms that carry the moments in crystals.

Ferromagnets are the type of magnets that stick to the fridge: here spins point in the same direction, giving macroscopic magnetism. In antiferromagnetic materials, spins point in alternating directions, with the result that the materials possess no macroscopic net magnetization—and thus don't stick to the fridge. Although other types of magnetism, such as diamagnetism and paramagnetism have been categorized, these describe specific responses to externally applied magnetic fields rather than spontaneous magnetic orderings in materials.

Altermagnets have a special combination of the arrangement of spins and crystal symmetries. The spins alternate, as in antiferromagnets, resulting in no net magnetization. Yet, rather than simply canceling out, the symmetries give an electronic band structure with strong spin polarization that flips in direction as you pass through the material's energy bands—hence the name altermagnets. This results in highly useful properties more resemblant to ferromagnets, as well as some completely new properties.

Part 1

This third magnetic sibling offers distinct advantages for the developing field of next-generation magnetic memory technology, known as spintronics. Whereas electronics makes use only of the charge of the electrons, spintronics also exploits the spin-state of electrons to carry information.

Juraj Krempaský, Altermagnetic lifting of Kramers spin degeneracy, Nature (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06907-7. www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06907-7

Part2

Pesticides to help protect seeds can adversely affect earthworms' health

While pesticides protect crops from hungry animals, pesky insects, or even microbial infections, they also impact other vital organisms, including bees and earthworms. Now, research published in Environmental Science & Technology Letters reveals that worms are affected by the relatively small amounts of chemicals that can leach out of pesticide-treated seeds. Exposure to nonlethal amounts of these insecticides and fungicides resulted in poor weight gain and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) damage in the worms.

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Pesticide treatment can be introduced at several different stages of a plant's life, either by covering seeds before they're sown or spraying already grown crops. Oftentimes, different chemicals are applied at the same time to maximize their efficiency. Neonicotinoids, also known as neonics, are one common class of insecticides used today in the U.S. and other countries, though many of them are banned in the European Union.

Recent research has shown that these insecticides and many fungicides persist in groundwater and soil, where earthworms may encounter them. One method to monitor the health of the impacted worms is through changes to the organisms' weight and mtDNA damage. Unlike DNA held in a cell's nucleus, mtDNA can't repair itself as well, and thus can help indicate less obvious, "off target" effects of a particular environmental toxin.

Part 1

In laboratory experiments, the researchers exposed groups of juvenile earthworms (Eisenia fetida) to individual pesticides, and combinations of neonics and DIF, in concentrations that mimicked residues left behind by pesticide-treated seeds. After 30 days, the worms were weighed and their mtDNA damage was examined. While all the worms survived, the earthworms in single pesticide-treated soil gained 30 to 80% less weight during that period than a control group living in untreated soil.

Additionally, the worms exposed to one of the four tested neonicotinoids and DIF at the same time gained considerably less weight than those exposed to a single compound. Pesticide exposure also resulted in a significant increase in mtDNA damage. Because mitochondria generate most of the energy within cells, damage to their DNA could interrupt cellular functions and other metabolic processes.

The researchers say that these findings establish a link between neonics and fungicide mixtures that are likely present in the environment and earthworm health, which could inform the unexpected risks of using neonics in seed treatments.

Mitochondrial DNA Damage in Earthworms: A Hazard Associated with Sublethal Systemic Pesticide Exposures, Environmental Science & Technology Letters (2024). DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett.3c00914. pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.estlett.3c00914

Part 2

 Chemicals responsible for 'black ice' on railway lines

A new insight into how leaves transform into slippery layers on railway lines, causing delays for passengers and costing the rail industry millions  every year, has been revealed by engineers.

The research has revealed the chemical mechanisms that take place when leaves on the line are crushed between the wheels of a train and the railhead, forming slippery layers that make it difficult for trains to start and stop.

Findings from the study could be used to develop more effective solutions to the long-running problem that affects rail travel every autumn and winter.
Leaves on train tracks have long caused chaos for both commuters and rail companies, often leading to significant, costly delays. The problem arises when leaves are crushed against the tracks, forming a layer that dramatically reduces the friction between the train wheels and the rails, a situation described by Network Rail as the "black ice of the railway."
Part 1

In the study, "Pressure induced transformation of biomass to a highly durable, low friction film on steel" published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, researchers from the Universities of Sheffield and York have focused on the friction and chemical aspects of leaves on the line, which provides a new, detailed understanding of the processes that happen when leaves are present between train wheels and the rails.

The analysis reveals that certain chemicals, like polyphenols, including tannins (the chemicals present in wine and tea), play a crucial role in forming a strong, thin film on these surfaces. Under high pressures and heat, this film contains compounds that stick to the metal surface of the railhead.

This new understanding of the leaf-derived layer's composition is expected to guide the development of innovative solutions to the issue.

Since phenolics play a crucial role, remediation efforts targeting these molecules, such as enzymatic digestion or using next generation cleaning agents that effectively dissolve aromatic species, should be explored, according to the study's findings. The potential for cleaning agents to be used as tools for restoring friction to safe levels could ultimately enhance the operational performance and safety of rail transport for both passengers and operators.

 Joseph L. Lanigan et al, Pressure induced transformation of biomass to a highly durable, low friction film on steel, Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences (2024). DOI: 10.1098/rspa.2023.0450

AI-powered ‘eye’ for visually impaired people to ‘see’ objects

Space surgery: Doctors on ground operate robot on ISS for first time

Earth-bound surgeons remotely controlled a small robot aboard the International Space Station over the weekend, conducting the first-ever such surgery in orbit—albeit on rubber bands.

The experiment, deemed a "huge success" by the participants, represents a new step in the development of space surgery, which could become necessary to treat medical emergencies during multi-year manned voyages, such as to Mars.

The technology could also be used to develop remote-control surgery techniques on Earth, to serve isolated areas.

The robot, developed by Virtual Incision (VIC) and the University of Nebraska, is called spaceMIRA.

It took off for the International Space Station at the end of January, aboard a payload carried by a SpaceX rocket.

Stored inside a compact box the size of a microwave oven, the robot was installed last Thursday by NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, who has been in space since last September.

The experiment then took place on Saturday, conducted from Virtual Incision's headquarters in Lincoln, Nebraska.

It lasted around two hours, with six surgeons taking a go at operating the robot, which is equipped with a camera and two arms.

The experiment tested standard surgical techniques like grasping, manipulating and cutting tissue. The simulated tissue is made up of rubber bands," Virtual Incision said in a statement.

In a video shared by the company, one arm equipped with pincers can be seen gripping the band and stretching it, while the other arm equipped with scissors makes a cut—mimicking a dissection.

A key difficulty is the time lag—about 0.85 seconds—between the operation center on Earth and the ISS.

For a control experiment, the same process will take place with the same equipment, but on Earth.

"The experiment was deemed a huge success by all surgeons and researchers, and there were little to no hiccups," Virtual Incision said in a statement, claiming it will "change the future of surgery."

Source: AFP and other news agencies

Why sugar-free candy and gum give some people gas

Researchers   have identified changes in the gut microbiome that can result in an inability to digest sorbitol. Sorbitol, a sugar alcohol, is used in sugar-free gum, mints, candy and other products. It is also found naturally in apricots, apples, pears, avocadoes and other foods. At high levels, sorbitol can cause bloating, cramps and diarrhea. For some people, even a small amount causes digestive upset, a condition known as sorbitol intolerance.

A new study with mice found that taking antibiotics, combined with a high-fat diet, reduced the number of Clostridia gut microbes, which can break down sorbitol. The findings were published in the journal Cell.

Microbial sorbitol degradation normally protects the host against sorbitol intolerance. However, an impairment in the microbial ability to break down sorbitol causes sorbitol intolerance.

The researchers used metagenomic analysis to identify which gut bacteria have genes that make the enzyme that breaks down sorbitol. They also identified which of those gut bacteria were plentiful before—but not after—antibiotic treatment.

This analysis allowed them to zero in on gut microbes belonging to the class Clostridium. Clostridium are anaerobic, meaning they don't like environments with oxygen.

The researchers found that after the mice were given antibiotics and fed a diet high in saturated fat, the cells lining the gut used less oxygen. This created a higher level of oxygen in the gut, decreasing Clostridia. Without enough Clostridia, sorbitol was not broken down in the gut.

The researchers performed several experiments to try to restore the gut bacteria so it could break down sorbitol again.

In one, they fed the mice Anaerostipes caccae, a gut bacterium that produces butyrate. Butyrate is a short-chain fatty acid produced as part of the normal fermentation process in the gut. It enhances oxygen usage by the cells that line the gut, the epithelial lining, which reduces oxygen levels in the large intestine.

Regulating the oxygen level with Anaerostipes caccae restored the normal levels of Clostridia, which protected the mice from sorbitol-induced diarrhea, even after the butyrate-producing bacteria had been cleared from the mouse's digestive system.

Part 1

The researchers suggest that a drug used to treat ulcerative colitis, Crohn's disease and other inflammatory bowel diseases, mesalazine (5-aminosalicylate), may be a treatment for sorbitol intolerance in humans. Mesalazine, also known as mesalamine, functions similarly to the butyrate-producing bacteria, restoring the low oxygen levels in the intestine preferred by Clostridia.

 High fat intake sustains sorbitol intolerance after antibiotic-mediated Clostridia depletion from the gut microbiota, Cell (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.01.029. www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(24)00066-7

Part 2

Researchers discover that a rare fat molecule helps drive cell death

Researchers have found that a rare type of lipid is a key driver of ferroptosis, a form of cell death discovered by  professor Brent Stockwell.

Stockwell first discovered ferroptosis in 2012, when he found that certain cells were dying because their lipid layers were collapsing—an unusual form of  cell death that differs from the most common kind, which begins with the cell forming blisters on its outer surface.

Since that discovery, researchers in Stockwell's lab and elsewhere have continued to investigate ferroptosis, discovering that it can occur naturally in aging cells, in pathological contexts, and can be induced to treat disease.

The findings, appearing in Cell, provide new detail on how cells die during ferroptosis and could improve understanding of how to stop ferroptosis in contexts where it is harmfully occurring—in neurodegenerative diseases, for example—or induce it in contexts where it could be useful, such as using it to kill dangerous cancer cells.

The new research found that a rare type of lipid with two polyunsaturated fatty acyl tails, called a diPUFA phospholipid, was present in a range of contexts where ferroptosis was occurring, including in aging brains and Huntington disease-affected brain tissue. The finding indicates that the lipid is efficient at promoting ferroptosis.

Another paper out in February 2024 with several co-authors found that a gene named PHLDA2 can sometimes promote ferroptosis by attacking a different lipid, and that this gene can block some tumors from forming. Together, these papers show that specific lipids promote ferroptosis, so defining the driver lipids in specific cancers is important.

The discovery that these diPUFA lipids are important drivers of ferroptosis deepens our understanding of this form of cell death, and these lipids' role in controlling a cell's homeostasis in general.

Harnessing these lipids may eventually help us identify where ferroptosis has occurred and deliberately manipulate them to either induce cell death or stop it. This can begin to give us both understanding and the power to control cell death.

Phospholipids with two polyunsaturated fatty acyl tails promote ferroptosis, Cell (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.01.030. www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(24)00067-9

Ancient retroviruses played a key role in the evolution of vertebrate brains, suggest researchers

Researchers report in the journal Cell that ancient viruses may be to thank for myelin—and, by extension, our large, complex brains.

The team found that a retrovirus-derived genetic element or "retrotransposon" is essential for myelin production in mammals, amphibians, and fish. The gene sequence, which they dubbed "RetroMyelin," is likely a result of ancient viral infection, and comparisons of RetroMyelin in mammals, amphibians, and fish suggest that retroviral infection and genome-invasion events occurred separately in each of these groups.

Retroviruses were required for vertebrate evolution to take off. If we didn't have retroviruses sticking their sequences into the vertebrate genome, then myelination wouldn't have happened, and without myelination, the whole diversity of vertebrates as we know it would never have happened.

Myelin is a complex, fatty tissue that ensheathes vertebrate nerve axons. It enables rapid impulse conduction without needing to increase axonal diameter, which means nerves can be packed closer together. It also provides metabolic support to nerves, which means nerves can be longer.
Myelin first appeared in the tree of life around the same time as jaws, and its importance in vertebrate evolution has long been recognized, but until now, it was unclear what molecular mechanisms triggered its appearance.
The researchers noticed RetroMyelin's role in myelin production when they were examining the gene networks utilized by oligodendrocytes, the cells that produce myelin in the central nervous system.

A retroviral link to vertebrate myelination through retrotransposon RNA-mediated control of myelin gene expression, Cell (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.01.011. www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(24)00013-8

Scientists report first look at electrons moving in real-time in liquid water

In an experiment akin to stop-motion photography, scientists have isolated the energetic movement of an electron while "freezing" the motion of the much larger atom it orbits in a sample of liquid water.

The findings, reported in the journal Science, provide a new window into the electronic structure of molecules in the liquid phase on a timescale previously unattainable with X-rays. The new technique reveals the immediate electronic response when a target is hit with an X-ray, an important step in understanding the effects of radiation exposure on objects and people.

 Shuai Li et al, Attosecond-pump attosecond-probe x-ray spectroscopy of liquid water, Science (2024). DOI: 10.1126/science.adn6059. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adn6059

How do oceans start to close? New study suggests the Atlantic may 'soon' enter its declining phase

A new study, resorting to computational models, predicts that a subduction zone currently below the Gibraltar Strait will propagate further inside the Atlantic and contribute to forming an Atlantic subduction system—an Atlantic ring of fire. This will happen 'soon' in geological terms—in approximately 20 million years.

Oceans seem eternal to our lifespan, but they are not here for long: they are born, grow, and one day close. This process, which takes a few hundred million years, is called Wilson Cycle. The Atlantic, for example, was born when Pangea broke up around 180 million years ago and will one day close. And the Mediterranean is what remains from a big ocean—the Tethys– that once existed between Africa and Eurasia.

For an ocean like the Atlantic to stop growing and start closing, new subduction zones—places where one tectonic plate sinks below another—have to form. But subduction zones are hard to form, as they require plates to break and bend, and plates are very strong. A way out of this "paradox" is to consider that subduction zones can migrate from a dying ocean in which they already exist—the Mediterranean—into pristine oceans—such as the Atlantic. This process was dubbed subduction invasion.

This study shows for the first time how such a direct invasion can happen. The computational, gravity-driven 3D model predicts that a subduction zone currently below the Gibraltar Strait will propagate further inside the Atlantic and contribute to forming an Atlantic subduction system—an Atlantic ring of fire, in an analogy to the already existing structure in the Pacific. This will happen 'soon' in geological terms—but not before approximately 20 million years.

João C. Duarte et al, Gibraltar subduction zone is invading the Atlantic, Geology (2024). DOI: 10.1130/G51654.1

New study finds little-known toxic crop chemical in four out of five people tested

A new Environmental Working Group study has found chlormequat, a little-known pesticide, in four out of five people tested. Because the chemical is linked to reproductive and developmental problems in animal studies, the findings suggest the potential for similar harm to humans.

EWG's research, published February 15 in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, tested the urine of 96 people for the presence of chlormequat, finding it in 77 of them.

The ubiquity of this little-studied pesticide in people raises alarm bells about how it could potentially cause harm without anyone even knowing they've consumed it.

Environmental Protection Agency regulations allow the chemical to be used on ornamental plants only—not food crops. But now some governments have made concessions that have resulted in these alarming consequences!

 A pilot study of chlormequat in food and urine from adults in the United States from 2017 to 2023, Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41370-024-00643-4

Why Is It So Hard to Swat a Fly?

Earth Receives First Beams of Solar Power From Space!

For the first time ever, Earth has received a tangible zap of solar energy beamed directly from space, marking a historic moment in our quest for clean, limitless power thanks to the Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD).

SSPD's MAPLE experiment has used a satellite called DOLCE and beamed 100 milliwatts of power from space, with 1 milliwatt reaching Earth — a small but mighty first step.

Unlike here on Earth, solar energy in space is unencumbered by factors like day and night, or obstruction by clouds and weather on our planet. This makes space-based solar harvesters ideal as they could potentially yield roughly eight times more power than even the most efficient solar panels on the Earth’s surface.

https://www.space.com/space-solar-power-satellite-beams-energy-1st-...

These microbes, or extremophiles, were found inside SURF located in the former Black Hills mining town of Lead, SD. The team has spent years hunting for these extremophiles that grow thousands of feet below ground inside water-filled rock fractures with unique properties that enable them to thrive in extreme environments.

Researchers were able to isolate four types of microbes found at SURF and show, through a series of laboratory experiments, that they can turn large quantities of carbon dioxide into rocks that will remain stable and out of atmospheric circulation for thousands of years. 

The findings may lead to new ways to permanently capture CO₂ emissions, reducing the impacts of climate change.

The team has presented this research at multiple scientific conferences in the United States and Europe, including the Dec. 2023 meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Chicago and the July 2023, Goldschmidt Conference in Lyon, France.

https://sanfordlab.org/article/university-researchers-discover-micr...

Part 2

New theory for gravastars

The interior of black holes remains a conundrum for science. In 1916, German physicist Karl Schwarzschild outlined a solution to Albert Einstein's equations of general relativity, in which the center of a black hole consists of a so-called singularity, a point at which space and time no longer exist. Here, the theory goes, all physical laws, including Einstein's general theory of relativity, no longer apply; the principle of causality is suspended.

This constitutes a great nuisance for science—after all, it means that no information can escape from a black hole beyond the so-called event horizon. This could be a reason why Schwarzschild's solution did not attract much attention outside the theoretical realm—that is, until the first candidate for a black hole was discovered in 1971, followed by the discovery of the black hole in the center of our Milky Way in the 2000s, and finally the first image of a black hole, captured by the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration in 2019.

In 2001, Pawel Mazur and Emil Mottola proposed a different solution to Einstein's field equations that led to objects that they called gravitational condensate stars, or gravastars. Contrary to black holes, gravastars have several advantages from a theoretical astrophysics perspective.

On the one hand, they are almost as compact as black holes and also exhibit a gravity at their surface that is essentially as strong as that of a black hole, hence resembling a black hole for all practical purposes. On the other hand, gravastars do not have an event horizon, that is, a boundary from within which no information can be sent out, and their core does not contain a singularity.

Instead, the center of a gravastar is made up of an exotic (dark) energy that exerts a negative pressure to the enormous gravitational force compressing the star. The surface of a gravastar is represented by a wafer-thin skin of ordinary matter, the thickness of which approaches zero.

Theoretical physicists Daniel Jampolski and Prof. Luciano Rezzolla of Goethe University Frankfurt have now presented a solution to the field equations of general realtivity that describes the existence of a gravastar inside another gravastar. They have given this hypothetical celestial object the name "nestar" (from the English "nested"). The study is published in Classical and Quantum Gravity.

The nestar is like a matryoshka doll. The solution to the field equations allows for a whole series of nested gravastars. It's a little easier to imagine that something like this could exist.

It's great that even 100 years after Schwarzschild presented his first solution to Einstein's field equations from the general theory of relativity, it's still possible to find new solutions. It's a bit like finding a gold coin along a path that has been explored by many others before. Unfortunately, we still have no idea how such a gravastar could be created. But even if nestars don't exist, exploring the mathematical properties of these solutions ultimately helps us to better understand black holes.

 Daniel Jampolski et al, Nested solutions of gravitational condensate stars, Classical and Quantum Gravity (2024). DOI: 10.1088/1361-6382/ad2317

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https://youtube.com/shorts/OGsK_whhaeE?si=jxpopKFLQJmPw5aR

https://www.youtube.com/source/OGsK_whhaeE/shorts?bp=8gVDCjYSJwoLT0...

New study on decomposing microbes could help transform forensic science

For the first time, researchers have identified what appears to be a network of approximately 20 microbes that universally drive the decomposition of animal flesh. The findings have significant implications for the future of forensic science, including the potential to provide crime scene investigators with a more precise way to determine a body's time of death.

Decomposition of dead biological material is one of Earth's most fundamental processes. Organic plant waste accounts for the vast majority of matter that is decomposed, a process that is relatively well understood. Comparatively little, however, is known about the ecology of vertebrate decomposition, including humans, and better understanding how humans decompose has the potential to advance forensic science.

This new study, a multi-year undertaking, involved decomposing 36 cadavers at three different forensic anthropological facilities.

The bodies were decomposed in different climates and during all four seasons. The research team then collected skin and soil samples during the first 21 days for each decomposing body.

Researchers generated a significant amount of molecular and genomic information from the samples. They then used that information to construct an overall picture of the "microbial community," or microbiome, present at each site. They are also collected other details like what microbes are there, how did they get there, how does that change over time and what are they doing.

Regardless of climate or soil type, researchers found the same set of approximately 20 specialist decomposing microbes on all 36 bodies. What's more, those microbes arrived like clockwork at certain points throughout the 21-day observation period, and insects played a key role in their arrival.

They saw similar microbes arrive at similar times during decomposition, regardless of any number of outdoor variables you can think of.

Identifying the decomposing microbiome's consistent makeup and timing has important implications for forensic science. So researchers built a tool that can accurately predict a body's time since death, also known as the postmortem interval.

 Jessica Metcalf, A conserved interdomain microbial network underpins cadaver decomposition despite environmental variables, Nature Microbiology (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41564-023-01580-y. www.nature.com/articles/s41564-023-01580-y

"FDA approved"  means a product's benefits have been found to outweigh its risks for a specific purpose – not that it's of high quality or low risk in general.

Study discovers link between high levels of niacin and heart disease

Clinic researchers have identified a new pathway that contributes to cardiovascular disease associated with high levels of niacin, a common B vitamin previously recommended to lower cholesterol.

The researchers discovered a link between 4PY, a breakdown product from excess niacin, and heart disease. Higher circulating levels of 4PY were strongly associated with development of heart attack, stroke and other adverse cardiac events in large-scale clinical studies. The researchers also showed in preclinical studies that 4PY directly triggers vascular inflammation which damages blood vessels and can lead to atherosclerosis over time.

The study, published in Nature Medicine, also details genetic links between 4PY and vascular inflammation. The findings provide a foundation for potential new interventions and therapeutics to reduce or prevent that inflammation.

What's exciting about these results is that this pathway appears to be a previously unrecognized yet significant contributor to the development of cardiovascular disease. What's more, we can measure it, meaning there is potential for diagnostic testing. These insights set the stage for developing new approaches to counteract the effects of this pathway.

 Stanley Hazen, A terminal metabolite of niacin promotes vascular inflammation and contributes to cardiovascular disease risk, Nature Medicine (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41591-023-02793-8. www.nature.com/articles/s41591-023-02793-8

The antibiotic that evades bacterial resistance

Scientists have developed an antibiotic that could give medicine a new weapon to fight drug-resistant bacteria and the diseases they cause.

The antibiotic, cresomycin, described in Science, effectively suppresses pathogenic bacteria that have become resistant to many commonly prescribed antimicrobial drugs.

In developing the new antibiotic, the researchers focused on how many antibiotics interact with a common cellular target—the ribosome—and how drug-resistant bacteria modify their ribosomes to defend themselves.

More than half of all antibiotics inhibit growth of pathogenic bacteria by interfering with their protein biosynthesis—a complex process catalyzed by the ribosome, which is akin to a 3D printer that makes all the proteins in a cell. Antibiotics bind to bacterial ribosomes and disrupt this protein-manufacturing process, causing bacterial invaders to die.

But many bacterial species evolved simple defenses against this attack. In one defense, they interfere with antibiotic activity by adding a single methyl group of one carbon and three hydrogen atoms to their ribosomes. Scientists speculated that this defense was simply bacteria physically blocking the site where drugs bind to the ribosome, like putting a push pin on a chair.

But the researchers found a more complicated story, as they described in a paper published last month in Nature Chemical Biology.

By using a method called X-ray crystallography to visualize drug-resistant ribosomes with nearly atomic precision, they discovered two defensive tactics. The methyl group, they found, physically blocks the binding site, but it also changes the shape of the ribosome's inner "guts," further disrupting antibiotic activity.

Part 1

They then used X-ray crystallography to investigate how certain drugs, including one published in Nature by the UIC/Harvard collaboration in 2021, circumvent this common form of bacterial resistance.

By determining the actual structure of antibiotics interacting with two types of drug-resistant ribosomes, the researchers saw what could not have been predicted by the available structural data or by computer modeling.

Cresomycin, the new antibiotic, is synthetic. It's preorganized to avoid the methyl-group interference and attach strongly to ribosomes, disrupting their function. This process involves locking the drug into a shape that is pre-optimized to bind to the ribosome, which helps it get around bacterial defenses.

It simply binds to the ribosomes and acts as if it doesn't care whether there was this methylation or not. It overcomes several of the most common types of drug resistance easily.

In animal experiments conducted at Harvard, the drug protected against infections with multidrug-resistant strains of common disease drivers including Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Based on these promising results, the next step is to assess the effectiveness and safety of cresomycin in humans.

But even at this early stage, the process demonstrates the critical role that structural biology plays in designing the next generation of antibiotics and other life-saving medicines.

Elena V. Aleksandrova et al, Structural basis of Cfr-mediated antimicrobial resistance and mechanisms to evade it, Nature Chemical Biology (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41589-023-01525-w

Part 2