Radioactive elements may be crucial to the habitability of rocky planets

The amount of long-lived radioactive elements incorporated into a rocky planet as it forms may be a crucial factor in determining its future habitability, according to a new study by an interdisciplinary team of scientists.

 That's because internal heating from the radioactive decay of the heavy elements thorium and uranium drives plate tectonics and may be necessary for the planet to generate a magnetic field. Earth's magnetic field protects the planet from solar winds and cosmic rays.

Convection in Earth's molten metallic core creates an internal dynamo (the "geodynamo") that generates the planet's magnetic field. Earth's supply of radioactive elements provides more than enough internal heating to generate a persistent geodynamo.

Different planets accumulate different amounts of these radioactive elements that ultimately power geological activity and the magnetic field. I

if the radiogenic heating is more than the Earth's, the planet can't permanently sustain a dynamo, as Earth has done. That happens because most of the thorium and uranium end up in the mantle, and too much heat in the mantle acts as an insulator, preventing the molten core from losing heat fast enough to generate the convective motions that produce the magnetic field.

With more radiogenic internal heating, the planet also has much more volcanic activity, which could produce frequent mass extinction events. On the other hand, too little radioactive heat results in no volcanism and a geologically "dead" planet.

It has long been speculated that internal heating drives plate tectonics, which creates carbon cycling and geological activity like volcanism, which produces an atmosphere. And the ability to retain an atmosphere is related to the magnetic field, which is also driven by internal heating.

The heavy elements crucial to radiogenic heating are created during mergers of neutron stars, which are extremely rare events. 

 Francis Nimmo et al. Radiogenic Heating and Its Influence on Rocky Planet Dynamos and Habitability, The Astrophysical Journal (2020). DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/abc251

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-radioactive-elements-crucial-habitabi...

Researchers isolate and decode brain signal patterns for specific behaviours

Brain signals contain dynamic neural patterns that reflect a combination of  activities simultaneously. A standing challenge has been isolating those patterns in brain signals that relate to a specific behaviour, such as finger movements. Further, developing brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) that help people with neurological and mental disorders requires the translation of brain signals into a specific behaviour, a problem called decoding. This decoding also depends on our ability to isolate neural patterns related to specific behaviours. These neural patterns can be masked by patterns related to other activities and can be missed by standard algorithms.

Researchers have developed a machine learning algorithm that resolved the above challenge. The algorithm  uncovered neural patterns missed by other methods and enhanced the decoding of behaviours that originated from signals in the brain. This algorithm is a significant advance in modeling and decoding of complex brain activity which could both enable new neuroscience discoveries and enhance future brain-machine interfaces.

Modeling behaviorally relevant neural dynamics enabled by preferential subspace identification, Nature Neuroscience (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-020-00733-0 , www.nature.com/articles/s41593-020-00733-0

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-11-isolate-decode-brain-pattern...

Chemicals in your living room cause diabetes

A new  study shows flame retardants  in  homes cause mice to give birth to offspring that become diabetic.

PBDEs are common household chemicals added to furniture, upholstery, and electronics to prevent fires. They get released into the air people breathe at home, in their cars, and in airplanes because their chemical bond to surfaces is weak.

"PBDEs are everywhere in the home. They're impossible to completely avoid

These flame retardants, called PBDEs, have been associated with diabetes in adult humans. This study demonstrates that PBDEs cause diabetes in mice only exposed to the chemical through their mothers.

The mice received PBDEs from their mothers while they were in the womb and as young babies through mother's milk. Remarkably, in adulthood, long after the exposure to the chemicals, the female offspring developed diabetes.

Elena V. Kozlova et al, Maternal transfer of environmentally relevant polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) produces a diabetic phenotype and disrupts glucoregulatory hormones and hepatic endocannabinoids in adult mouse female offspring, Scientific Reports (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-74853-9

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-11-chemicals-room-diabetes.html...

Nanomedicine crosses into brain, eradicates recurring brain cancer in mice

A new synthetic protein nanoparticle capable of slipping past the nearly impermeable blood-brain barrier could deliver cancer-killing drugs directly to malignant brain tumours, new research  shows.

The study is the first to demonstrate an intravenous medication that can cross the blood-brain barrier.

The discovery, demonstrated in mice, could enable new clinical therapies for treating glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer in adults, and one whose incidence is rising in many countries.T oday's median survival for patients with glioblastoma is around 18 months; the average 5-year survival rate is below 5%.

In combination with radiation, the U-M team's intravenously-injected therapy led to long-term survival in seven out of eight mice. When those seven mice experienced a recurrence of glioblastoma, their immune responses kicked in to prevent the cancer's regrowth—without any additional therapeutic drugs or other clinical treatments.

The findings suggest that the U-M team's combination of therapeutic drugs and nanoparticle delivery methods not only eradicated the primary  tumour but resulted in immunological memory, or the ability to more quickly recognize—and attack—remaining malignant cancer cells.

Jason V. Gregory et al. Systemic brain tumor delivery of synthetic protein nanoparticles for glioblastoma therapy, Nature Communications (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19225-7

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-nanomedicine-brain-eradicates-recurri...

Scientists use bacteria as micro-3-D printers

A team at Aalto University has used bacteria to produce intricately designed three-dimensional objects made of nanocellulose. With their technique, the researchers are able to guide the growth of bacterial colonies through the use of strongly water repellent—or superhydrophobic—surfaces. The objects show tremendous potential for medical use, including supporting tissue regeneration or as scaffolds to replace damaged organs.

Unlike fibrous objects made through current 3-D printing methods, the new technique allows fibers, with a diameter a thousand times thinner than a human hair, to be aligned in any orientation, even across layers, and various gradients of thickness and topography, opening up new possibilities for application in tissue regeneration. These kinds of physical characteristics are crucial for support materials in the growth and regeneration of certain types of tissues found in muscles as well as in the brain.

Luiz G. Greca et al, Guiding Bacterial Activity for Biofabrication of Complex Materials via Controlled Wetting of Superhydrophobic Surfaces, ACS Nano (2020). DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.0c03999

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-scientists-bacteria-micro-d-printers....

Scientists have discovered an ancient lake bed deep beneath the Greenland ice

Scientists have detected what they say are the sediments of a huge ancient lake bed sealed more than a mile under the ice of northwest Greenland—the first-ever discovery of such a sub-glacial feature anywhere in the world. Apparently formed at a time when the area was ice-free but now completely frozen in, the lake bed may be hundreds of thousands or millions of years old, and contain unique fossil and chemical traces of past climates and life. 

Guy J.G. Paxman et al. A fault-bounded palaeo-lake basin preserved beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116647

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-scientists-ancient-lake-bed-deep.html...

Study identifies new 'hidden' gene in COVID-19 virus

Researchers have discovered a new "hidden" gene in SARS-CoV-2—the virus that causes COVID-19—that may have contributed to its unique biology and pandemic potential. In a virus that only has about 15 genes in total, knowing more about this and other overlapping genes—or "genes within genes"—could have a significant impact on how we combat the virus.

Overlapping genes may be one of an arsenal of ways in which coronaviruses have evolved to replicate efficiently, thwart host immunity, or get themselves transmitted. Knowing that overlapping genes exist and how they function may reveal new avenues for corona virus control, for example through antiviral drugs.

The research team identified ORF3d, a new overlapping gene in SARS-CoV-2 that has the potential to encode a protein that is longer than expected by chance alone. They found that this gene is also present in a previously discovered pangolin coronavirus, perhaps reflecting repeated loss or gain of this gene during the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and related viruses. In addition, ORF3d has been independently identified and shown to elicit a strong antibody response in COVID-19 patients, demonstrating that the new gene's protein is manufactured during human infection.

Chase W Nelson et al, Dynamically evolving novel overlapping gene as a factor in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, eLife (2020). DOI: 10.7554/eLife.59633

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-hidden-gene-covid-virus.html

Why bats fly into walls

Bats excel in acoustic perception and detect objects as tiny as mosquitoes using sound waves. Echolocation permits them to calculate the three-dimensional location of both small and large objects, perceiving their shape, size and texture. To this end, a bat's brain processes acoustic dimensions such as frequency, spectrum and intensity from the echoes returning from the object.

But sometimes bats collide with large walls even though they detect these walls with their sonar system. Researchers from Tel Aviv University (TAU) have concluded that these collisions do not result from a sensory limitation but rather from an error in acoustic perception.

 The researchers discovered that the bats collided with large sponge walls that produce a weak echo as if they did not exist. The bats' behaviour suggested that they did this even though they had detected the wall with their sonar system, indicating that the collision did not result from a sensory limitation, but rather from an acoustic misperception.

The researchers hypothesize that the unnatural combination of a large object and a weak echo disrupts the bats' sensory perception and causes them to ignore the obstacle, much like people who bump into transparent walls.

The researchers then methodically changed the features of the objects along the corridor, varying their size, texture and echo intensity. They concluded that the bats' acoustic perception depends on a coherent, typical correlation of the dimensions with objects in nature—that a large object should produce a strong echo and a small object a weak echo.

By presenting the bats with objects whose acoustic dimensions are not coherent, we were able to mislead them, creating a misconception that caused them to repeatedly try to fly into a wall even though they had identified it with their sonar. The experiment gives us a peek into how the world is perceived by these creatures, whose senses are so unique and different from ours.

Sasha Danilovich et al, Echolocating bats detect but misperceive a multidimensional incongruent acoustic stimulus, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2020). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2005009117

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-walls.html

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Fruit bats can transform echoes into images

https://phys.org/news/2019-06-fruit-echoes-images.html

A new candidate material for Quantum Spin Liquids

 In 1973, physicist and later Nobel laureate Philip W. Anderson proposed a bizarre state of matter: the quantum spin liquid (QSL). Unlike the everyday liquids we know, the QSL actually has to do with magnetism – and magnetism has to do with spin.

What makes a magnet? It was a long-lasting mystery, but today we finally know that magnetism arises from a peculiar property of sub-atomic particles, like electrons. That property is called “spin”, and the best – yet grossly insufficient – way to think of it is like a child’s spinning-top toy.

What is important for magnetism is that spin turns every one of a material’s billions of electrons into a tiny magnet with its own magnetic “direction” (think north and south pole of a magnet). But the electron spins aren’t isolated; they interact with each other in different ways until they stabilize to form various magnetic states, thereby granting the material they belong to magnetic properties.

In a conventional magnet, the interacting spins stabilize, and the magnetic directions of each electron align. This results in a stable formation.

But in what is known as a “frustrated” magnet, the electron spins can’t stabilize in the same direction. Instead, they constantly fluctuate like a liquid – hence the name “quantum spin liquid.”

What is exciting about QSLs is that they can be used in a number of applications. Because they come in different varieties with different properties, QSLs can be used in quantum computing, telecommunications, superconductors, spintronics (a variation of electronics that uses electron spin instead of current), and a host of other quantum-based technologies.

But before exploiting them, we first have to gain a solid understanding of QSL states. To do this, scientists have to find ways to produce QSLs on demand.

 Scientists have successfully produced and studied a QSL in a highly original material known as EDT-BCO.

The structure of EDT-BCO is what makes it possible to create a QSL. The electron spins in the EDT-BCO form triangularly organized dimers, each of which has a spin-1/2 magnetic moment which means that the electron must fully rotate twice to return to its initial configuration. The layers of spin-1/2 dimers are separated by a sublattice of carboxylate anions centred by a chiral bicyclooctane. The anions are called “rotors” because they have conformational and rotational degrees of freedom.

The unique rotor component in a magnetic system makes the material special amongst QSL candidates, representing a new material family. “The subtle disorder provoked by the rotor components introduces a new handle upon the spin system.

The scientists and their collaborators employed an arsenal of methods to explore the EDT-BCO as a QSL material candidate: density functional theory calculations, high-frequency electron spin resonance measurements, nuclear magnetic resonance, and muon spin spectroscopy. All of these techniques explore the magnetic properties of EDT-BCO from different angles.

All the techniques confirmed the absence of long-range magnetic order and the emergence of a QSL. In short, EDT-BCO officially joins the limited ranks of QSL materials and takes us a step further into the next generation of technologies.

https://actu.epfl.ch/news/a-new-candidate-material-for-quantum-spin...

https://researchnews.cc/news/3511/A-new-candidate-material-for-Quan...

Researchers discover two key events that turn normal cells into cancer

More than 100 different cancers can arise all over the body, but two universal metabolic pathways may tie them all together, researchers report in a new study published today online in Cell Metabolism. Researchers have long believed all cancers are governed by a common set of fundamental processes. Exactly what those were, however, has remained elusive.

Having a unifying mechanism could inform new therapeutic approaches to prevent normal cells from transforming into any type of tumour, be it breast, prostate, or colon, for example.

The team discovered how the transformation from a phenotypically normal cell to a cancerous one involves the enhancement of two key elements: antioxidant defense and nucleotide synthesis. Genes associated with cancer, they found, are super charging some cells to fight off oxidative stress and synthesize nucleotides, which cells need to survive and rapidly grow, respectively.

The researchers first overexpressed the gene G6PD, which makes the enzyme glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, in mice and human cells. That enzyme is active in nearly all cells in the body and involved in the normal processing of carbohydrates. They showed that this overexpression alone turned human cells cancerous and led to tumors in the mice.

Next, they analyzed the mechanisms involved in that overexpression to pinpoint what pathways were critical to the transformation. They found that G6PD stimulates production of new NADPH, a crucial co-enzyme for maintaining redox balance (which keeps the cell from being damaged and dying off), as well as more nucleotide precursors to keep them multiplying. Under conditions that elicit oxidative stress, which are often encountered by cancer cells due to their relentless proliferation, often in a wrong place, a normal cell would buckle, but a cancer cell armed with these additions presses on.

The findings also lend further evidence shown in clinical trials and other studies that antioxidants in fact support tumor growth, not decrease it. For a tumor to form, it needs a robust antioxidant defense; giving it more antioxidants provides an ideal environment for it to do that. The findings also provide an explanation for the observation that compounds interfering with nucleotide biosynthesis are among the most successful chemotherapeutic drugs for cancer.

Importantly, the study reveals a molecular framework to better understand the process of oncogenesis and a potential road map for new approaches to treat cancer, the authors said.

Now we can say that the oncogenic transformation comes from two fundamental steps. “Our study also suggests that combining therapeutics that affect both events, some which are already in clinics, would be more effective at preventing normal cells from becoming cancerous.

https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-releases/2020/november/penn-...

https://researchnews.cc/news/3504/Penn-researchers-discover-two-key...

How do we reduce the risk of animal viruses jumping to humans?

Radioactive: new Marie Curie biopic inspires, but resonates uneasily for women in science

https://theconversation.com/radioactive-new-marie-curie-biopic-insp...

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How memorable melodies can make your research sing

What Happens When You Overcharge A Battery Understanding what causes dendrites in lithium-ion batteries could help make the ubiquitous technology safer. https://www.asianscientist.com/2020/11/tech/battery-overcharge-lith...

Scientists Just Discovered  over 12,000 New Species of Microbes

Growing microbes in a petri dish is pretty simple – swab basically anything, wipe it on an agar plate, let it sit for a few days in a warm room and presto! You've grown some new furry friends.

But the microbial species you can cultivate in a petri dish are only a tiny fraction of the bacteria, archaea and other microorganisms that would have been picked up by the swab - only the ones suited to the conditions you grew them in.

The overwhelming majority of them do not like the environments we can provide, and therefore won't obediently grow in a petri dish.

Now, an international team of researchers has found 12,556 new species of bacteria and archaea that have never been grown in a lab, using an incredibly cool technique called metagenomics.

"We were able to reconstruct thousands of metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) directly from sequenced environmental samples without needing to cultivate the microbes in the lab," said DOE Joint Genome Institute geneticist and first author, Stephen Nayfach.

"What makes this study really stand out from previous efforts is the remarkable environmental diversity of the samples we analysed."

https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-just-uncovered-12-000-...

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-020-0718-6

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-scientists-genomes-birds-avian-famili...

Tableware made from sugarcane and bamboo breaks down in 60 days

Scientists have designed a set of "green" tableware made from sugarcane  and bamboo that doesn't sacrifice on convenience or functionality and could serve as a potential alternative to plastic cups and other disposable plastic containers. Unlike traditional plastic or biodegradable polymers—which can take as long as 450 years or require high temperatures to degrade—this non-toxic, eco-friendly material only takes 60 days to break down and is clean enough to hold your morning coffee or dinner takeout.

To find an alternative for plastic-based food containers, researchers turned to bamboos and one of the largest food-industry waste products: bagasse, also known as sugarcane pulp. Winding together long and thin bamboo fibers with short and thick bagasse fibers to form a tight network, the team molded containers from the two materials that were mechanically stable and biodegradable. The new green tableware is not only strong enough to hold liquids as plastic does and cleaner than biodegradables made from recycled materials that might not be fully de-inked, but also starts decomposing after being in the soil for 30-45 days and completely loses its shape after 60 days.

The researchers added alkyl ketene dimer (AKD), a widely used eco-friendly chemical in the food industry, to increase oil and water resistance of the molded tableware, ensuring the sturdiness of the product when wet. With the addition of this ingredient, the new tableware outperformed commercial biodegradable food containers, such as other bagasse-based tableware and egg cartons, in mechanical strength, grease resistance, and non-toxicity.

The tableware the researchers developed also comes with another advantage: a significantly smaller carbon footprint. The new product's manufacturing process emits 97% less CO2 than commercially available plastic containers and 65% less CO2 than paper products and biodegradable plastic. 

 Matter, Liu, Luan, and Li et al.: "Biodegradable, Hygienic, and Compostable Tableware from Hybrid Sugarcane and Bamboo Fibers as Plastic Alternative" www.cell.com/matter/fulltext/S2590-2385(20)30558-0 , DOI: 10.1016/j.matt.2020.10.004

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-tableware-sugarcane-bamboo-days.html?...

Evolution favours new diseases of 'intermediate' severity

New epidemic diseases have an evolutionary advantage if they are of "intermediate" severity, research shows.

Scientists tested the theory that pathogens (disease-causing organisms) that inflict intermediate levels of harm on their host are the most evolutionarily successful.

found that natural selection favors pathogens of intermediate virulence (how much harm a pathogen causes) at the point the disease emerges in a new host species.

This occurs because virulence and transmission are linked, with virulence arising because pathogens need to exploit hosts to persist, replicate and transmit.

While too-low virulence will be detrimental for pathogens if they cannot transmit, virulence that is too high will also be a disadvantage if infection kills hosts so fast that the pathogen does not have time to transmit.

Over time, pathogens that show intermediate levels of virulence should therefore have an evolutionary advantage.

Camille Bonneaud et al, Experimental evidence for stabilizing selection on virulence in a bacterial pathogen, Evolution Letters (2020). DOI: 10.1002/evl3.203

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-evolution-favors-diseases-intermediat...

Researchers find connection between household chemicals and gut microbiome

A team of researchers for the first time has found a correlation between the levels of bacteria and fungi in the gastrointestinal tract of children and the amount of common chemicals found in their home environment.

The work could lead to better understanding of how these semi-volatile organic compounds may affect human health.

The microbes in our gut, which include a large variety of bacteria and fungi, are thought to affect many processes, from nutrient absorption to our immunity, and an unhealthy microbiome has been implicated in diseases ranging from obesity to asthma and dementia.

In the study, the researchers measured levels of ubiquitous semi-organic compounds in the blood and urine of 69 toddlers and preschoolers and then, using fecal samples, studied the children's gut microbiomes. The semi-volatile organic compounds they measured included phthalates that are used in detergents, plastic clothing such as raincoats, shower curtains, and personal-care products, such as soap, shampoo, and hair spray, as well as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), which are used in stain- and water-repellent fabrics, coatings for carpets and furniture, nonstick cooking products, polishes, paints, and cleaning products. People are exposed daily to such chemicals in the air and dust in their homes, especially young children who might ingest them by crawling on carpets or frequently putting objects in their mouths.

When the researchers looked at the levels of fungi and bacteria in the gut, they found that children who had higher levels of the chemicals in their bloodstream showed differences in their gut microbiome.

Children with higher levels of PFASs in their blood had a reduction in the amount and diversity of bacteria, while increased levels of phthalates were associated with a reduction in fungi populations.

The correlation between the chemicals and less abundant bacterial organisms was especially pronounced and potentially most concerning.

The researchers also found, surprisingly, that the children who had high levels of chemical compounds in their blood also had in their gut several types of bacteria that have been used to clean up toxic chemicals. Dehalogenating bacteria have been used for bioremediation to degrade persistent halogenated chemicals like dry cleaning solvents from the environment. These bacteria are not typically found in the human gut.

"Finding the increased levels of these type of bacteria in the gut means that, potentially, the gut microbiome is trying to correct itself.

 Courtney M. Gardner et al, Exposures to Semivolatile Organic Compounds in Indoor Environments and Associations with the Gut Microbiomes of Children, Environmental Science & Technology Letters (2020). DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett.0c00776

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-11-household-chemicals-gut-micr...

A potential game-changer to reverse alcohol intoxication

A staggering 3 million deaths occur every year as result from harmful use of alcohol, according to the World Health Organization.

Present in alcoholic drinks, ethanol, normally referred to as 'alcohol', affects every part of the human body. Brain function, circulation and even nail growth are impacted. When a certain level of blood alcohol concentration is reached, the intoxication can damage organs and lead to death.

Now a team of researchers  presents a proof of concept of a simple method that could become a game-changer in rescue therapy for severe alcohol intoxication, as well as just "sobering up."

Normally, 90% of the alcohol in the human body is cleared exclusively by the liver at constant rate that can't be increased. Currently there is no other method, short of dialysis, whereby alcohol can be removed from the blood. This leaves as the only options to treat life-threatening alcohol levels supportive measures such as giving oxygen, intravenous fluids, breathing assistance, and treating any heart issues with drugs.

The principle behind UHN team's approach is simply to recruit the lungs to breathe out the alcohol. The harder the breathing, it was reasoned, the more alcohol is eliminated. The team found that indeed, hyperventilation eliminated the alcohol at least three times faster than through the liver alone. But you can't just hyperventilate, because in a minute or two you would become light-headed and pass out.

When hyperventilating—breathing deeper and more rapidly than normal—the body eliminates carbon dioxide from the blood along with the alcohol. The decrease of this gas in the blood is the cause of symptoms such as light-headedness, tingling or numbness on hands and feet, and fainting.

The device used in this study allows the patient to hyperventilate off the alcohol while returning precisely the amount of carbon dioxide to the body to keep it at normal levels in the blood—regardless of the extent of hyperventilation. The equipment is the size of a small briefcase and uses a valve system, some connecting tubes, a mask, and a small tank with compressed carbon dioxide.

Scientific Reports (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-76233-9

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-11-potential-game-changer-rever...

At the moment the quickest superbug diagnosis time is around 24 hours. Now new research has identified a way of completing the whole blood sampling and analysis process in the space of just one hour.

Researchers from across the fields of molecular biology, chemistry, integrated optics and chemical processing put their heads together to come up with the new process, which can look out for three different superbugs in one go.

Through a process of blood spinning, the bacteria are isolated from the samples so their DNA can be analysed. The researchers used fluorescent molecules designed to bind specifically to segments of bacterial DNA that contain known antibiotic resistant genes. If these genes were present in the sample, they could then be detected by a microchip.

Every hour the disease is untreated, survivability drops by about 7 percent. You want to know what you're fighting immediately so you can apply the right treatments. 

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2020/lc/d0lc00640h#!...

 https://www.sciencealert.com/new-test-can-spot-superbugs-in-your-bl...

New device puts music in your head—no headphones required

Imagine a world where you move around in your own personal sound bubble. You listen to your favorite tunes, play loud computer games, watch a movie or get navigation directions in your car—all without disturbing those around you.

That's the possibility presented by "sound beaming," a new futuristic audio technology from Noveto Systems. On Friday it  debuted a desktop device that beams sound directly to a listener without the need for headphones.

The listening sensation is straight out of a sci-fi movie. The 3-D sound is so close it feels like it's inside your ears while also in front, above and behind them.

Noveto expects the device will have plenty of practical uses, from allowing office workers to listen to music or conference calls without interrupting colleagues to letting someone play a game, movie or music without disturbing their significant others.

The lack of headphones means it's possible to hear other sounds in the room clearly.

The technology uses a 3-D sensing module and locates and tracks the ear position sending audio via ultrasonic waves to create sound pockets by the user's ears. Sound can be heard in stereo or a spatial 3-D mode that creates 360 degree sound around the listener, the company said.

The demo includes nature video clips of swans on a lake, bees buzzing and a babbling brook, where the listener feels completely transported into the scene.

You don't believe it because it sounds like a speaker, but no one else can hear it…it's supporting you and you're in the middle of everything. It's happening around you."

By changing a setting, the sound can follow a listener around when they move their head. It's also possible to move out of the beam's path and hear nothing at all, which creates a surreal experience.

It follows you wherever you go. So it's personally for you—follows you, plays what you want inside your head.

https://techxplore.com/news/2020-11-device-music-headno-headphones-...

Scientists race for hail collection for research

COVID-19 vaccines are coming – how will we know they work and are safe?

https://theconversation.com/covid-19-vaccines-are-coming-how-will-w...

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why do older adults get shorter?

It's not just older adults who get shorter. You start shrinking, the moment you get out of bed in the morning.

https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-do-older-adults-get-sh...

In-utero exposure to coronavirus pandemic could cause developmental difficulties, accelerated aging in the century ahead

Exposure to COVID-19 could pose a risk to the health and aging of individuals who aren't even born yet, according to a newly published analysis by USC researchers.

by the end of 2020, approximately 300,000 infants could be born to mothers infected by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Millions more will be born into families who have experienced tremendous stress and upheaval due to the pandemic even if they haven't been infected themselves, the authors added.

While the longer-term effects of COVID-19 on infants is yet to be seen, researchers can find some insight from the past, including the 1918 flu pandemic and previous coronavirus illnesses such as SARS in 2002 and MERS in 2012, Finch said.

"The 1918 influenza pandemic had long-term impacts on the cohort exposed in utero, which experienced earlier adult mortality and more diabetes, ischemic heart disease and depression after age 50," he said. "It is possible that the COVID-19 pandemic will also have long-term impacts on the cohort that was in utero during the pandemic, from exposure to maternal infection and/or the stress of the pandemic environment."

Maternal viral infections can affect fetuses through multiple pathways, from direct transmission through the placenta to inflammatory responses that disturb in-utero metabolism a

nd negatively affect growth. While direct maternal-fetal transmission of the virus and severe birth defects appear to have been rare during previous coronavirus outbreaks, there were increases in preterm delivery and low birth weight during both the 2002 SARS and 2009 H1N1 influenza outbreaks, which are possible consequences of increased inflammation.

While studies on COVID-19 and pregnancy are still in their early stages, there have already been some concerning results that merit a closer look in ongoing studies, the authors wrote. Increased rates of preterm birth may be linked to maternal SARS-CoV-2 infections, and other studies indicate that severe illness is correlated with a higher risk of stillbirth. Other potential dangers, including the increased risk of blood clots presented by both pregnancy and severe COVID-19, also need further study.

Molly Crimmins Easterlin et al, Will prenatal exposure to SARS-CoV-2 define a birth cohort with accelerated aging in the century ahead?, Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (2020). DOI: 10.1017/S204017442000104X

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-11-in-utero-exposure-coronaviru...

Scientists discover new family of quasiparticles in graphene-based materials

A group of researchers have discovered and characterized a new family of quasiparticles named 'Brown-Zak fermions' in graphene-based superlattices.

The team achieved this breakthrough by aligning the atomic lattice of a graphene layer to that of an insulating boron nitride sheet, dramatically changing the properties of the graphene sheet.

In a graphene layer which has been aligned with the boron nitride, electrons also start to bend—but if you set the magnetic field at specific values, the electrons move in straight line trajectories again, as if there is no magnetic field anymore! Such behaviour is radically different from textbook physics.

Researchers attribute this fascinating behaviour to the formation of novel quasiparticles at high magnetic field. Those quasiparticles have their own unique properties and exceptionally high mobility despite the extremely high magnetic field.

Nature Communications (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19604-0

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-scientists-family-quasiparticles-grap...

Microbes feeding on methane release arsenic into groundwater

Arsenic is a toxin now widely present in rivers and groundwater in countries such as Bangladesh and Vietnam. It is released by the activity of microorganisms. Yet for a long time it was unclear what the microorganisms ate to release the arsenic. A team of geomicrobiologists led by Professor Andreas Kappler from the University of Tübingen has shown that the microbes break down arsenic-bearing sediments using organic compounds from deep layers as food, disproving theories that the fuel for their activity was drawn from plants or algae on the surface. Now the team has also shown that along with the organic materials in the sediments, methane gas is an important source of food for the bacteria and also plays a key role in their release of arsenic. This new mechanism responsible for arsenic mobilization can explain elevated concentration of arsenic in many aquifers and will help to more precisely predict future drinking water contamination.

 Arsenic mobilization by anaerobic iron-dependent methane oxidation, Nature Communications Earth & Environment (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s43247-020-00037-y

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-microbes-methane-arsenic-groundwater....

Organoids produce embryonic heart

 stem cell biology and tissue engineering are turning fiction into reality with the advent of organoids: tiny lab-grown tissues and organs that are anatomically correct and physiologically functional.

The appeal of organoids is obvious. Essentially, they can provide us with an on-demand production of tissues and mini-organs for pharmaceutical and medical research, without constantly having to rely on donors. And although that goal might still be a long way off, we’re slowly getting closer.

Now, researchers have successfully produced a mouse heart organoid in its early embryonic stages.  The researchers grew their organoids from mouse embryonic stem cells, which, under the right conditions, can self-organize into structures that “mimic aspects of the architecture, cellular composition, and function of tissues found in real organs”. Placed in cell-culture under specific conditions, the embryonic stem cells form a three-dimensional aggregate called a “gastruloid”, which can follow the developmental stages of the mouse embryo.

Armed with this, the researchers exposed mouse embryonic stem cells to a “cocktail” of three factors known to promote heart growth. After 168 hours, the resulting gastruloids showed signs of early heart development: they expressed several genes that regulate cardiovascular development in the embryo, and they even generated what resembled a vascular network.

But more importantly, the researchers found that the gastruloids developed what they call an “anterior cardiac crescent-like domain”. This structure produced a beating heart tissue, similar to the embryonic heart. And much like the muscle cells of the embryonic heart, the beating compartment was also sensitive to calcium ions.

https://actu.epfl.ch/news/organoids-produce-embryonic-heart/

https://researchnews.cc/news/3583/Organoids-produce-embryonic-heart...

Anti-ageing therapy against metastases

Scientists discovered a genetic factor that determines whether ageing prostate cancer cells either die or become more aggressive. This finding provides important information for personalised therapy of patients.

Aging tumour cells stop proliferating. This cell ageing process is called senescence. In cancer therapy, it is deliberately induced with drugs to slow down tumour growth. However, such senescent tumour cells can, in certain conditions, also take the opposite path, which is undesirable in therapy: they become more aggressive and form metastases.

An international team of researchers was studying the senescence processes in prostate cancer. They have now found the genetic switch that determines the fate of senescent cells: the gene TIMP1. If this gene is inactive or absent in patients, factors are released in the tumour cell which reprogramme the cell and make it more aggressive and invasive.

Based on clinical data and genetic studies of prostate cancer patients, the scientists were also able to show that an inactive TIMP1 gene frequently occurs and correlates with lack of responsiveness to chemotherapy and a more severe clinical outcome.

The results of this research once again direct us towards personalised cancer therapy. Genetic factors of the patient can in fact determine whether senescence has a positive effect on tumour growth or a negative effect in stimulating the formation of metastases. In the latter case it is important to administer chemotherapeutic drug that induce senescence with caution. Instead, senolytic drugs that kill the senescent cells should be administered.

https://ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2020/11/anti-agein...

https://researchnews.cc/news/3571/Anti-ageing-therapy-against-metas...

Rosetta Comet Mission 

How to make a fake supernova

Powerful, mysterious stellar explosions are difficult to understand from afar, so researchers have figured out how to re-create supernovas' extreme physics in the lab and study how outbursts seed the cosmos with elements and energetic particles.

Compounds block stress-enhanced nicotine intake in rats
Stress is a major cause of relapse after people quit smoking. Worrying situations, such as money or relationship problems, can affect neurotransmitter levels in the brain, leading former smokers to reach for a cigarette. Now, researchers reporting in ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science have discovered that compounds that activate γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors in the brain can keep rats from self-administering increased levels of nicotine during stressful conditions in an animal model for relapse.

GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that decreases nerve signaling in the brain. When a person experiences stress, their GABA levels can decrease, causing some neurons to become hyperactive. Using an animal model, Burt Sharp and colleagues wanted to find out if giving rats compounds that stimulate GABAA, a specific type of GABA receptor, on certain neurons, called basolateral amygdala principal output neurons, could lessen the rats’ relapse to nicotine during stressful conditions.

In the animal model, rats were taught to press a lever to self-administer nicotine. After a week, the animals were withdrawn from nicotine for 8 days. To cause stress, the researchers confined the rats in a small space. After releasing the rodents, the team injected one of three compounds, called positive allosteric modulators of GABAA, or PAMs, into a specific region of the stressed rats’ brains, and then gave them access to the nicotine-administering levers. Untreated stressed rats pressed the levers about 1.5 times more frequently than they had before the abstinence period, while rats treated with any of the PAMs reduced nicotine intake to levels seen in unstressed rats before the abstinence period. If similar effects are confirmed in humans, novel, selective PAMs could be helpful in alleviating the stress-induced relapse to smoked tobacco, with potentially fewer side effects than GABA administration, the researchers say.
https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/presspacs/2020/acs-pre...
https://researchnews.cc/news/3588/Compounds-block-stress-enhanced-n...

Diagnostic imaging may increase risk of testicular cancer

Early and repeated exposures to diagnostic imaging, such as X-rays and CT scans, may increase the risk of testicular cancer, suggests a new study from Penn Medicine researchers published online in PLOS ONE. “The steady rise in testicular germ cell tumor (TGCT) cases over the past three or four decades suggests there is an environmental exposure risk at play, but no definitive risk factor has ever been identified.

The data suggests that the increased use of diagnostic radiation below the waist in men over that same time may contribute to the increase in incidence.

In this latest research, the authors conducted an observational study of 1,246 men between the ages of 18 and 55 with and without testicular cancer at Penn Medicine. The participants were invited to complete a questionnaire that elicited information on known and presumptive risk factors for testicular cancer and diagnostic imaging during their lifetime, including location on the body and number of exposures, prior to their diagnosis. Tumor samples were also collected.

After adjusting for known risks of testicular cancer, including cryptorchidism and family history, race, age, and other factors, the researchers found that there was a statistically significant increased risk of testicular cancer among those reporting at least three exposures to X-ray, including a colon X-ray, and CT below the waist, compared to men with no such exposure.

Individuals with three or more exposures to diagnostic radiation had a 59 percent increased risk of having TGCT compared to individuals with no exposures to diagnostic radiation. The risk was also elevated for those exposed to diagnostic radiation during the first decade of their life, compared to those first exposed at age 18 years or later.

https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-releases/2020/november/diagn....

https://researchnews.cc/news/3586/Diagnostic-imaging-may-increase-r...

Building blocks of life can form long before stars

An international team of scientists have shown that glycine, the simplest amino acid and an important building block of life, can form under the harsh conditions that govern chemistry in space.

The results, published in Nature Astronomy, suggest that glycine, and very likely other amino acids, form in dense interstellar clouds well before they transform into new stars and planets.

Comets are the most pristine material in our Solar System and reflect the molecular composition present at the time our Sun and planets were just about to form. The detection of glycine in the coma of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and in samples returned to Earth from the Stardust mission suggests that amino acids, such as glycine, form long before stars. However until recently, it was thought that glycine formation required energy, setting clear constraints to the environment in which it can be formed.

In the new study the international team of astrophysicists and astrochemical modelers have shown that it is possible for glycine to form on the surface of icy dust grains, in the absence of energy, through 'dark chemistry'. The findings contradict previous studies that have suggested UV radiation was required to produce this molecule.

Dark chemistry refers to chemistry without the need of energetic radiation. In the laboratory researchers were able to simulate the conditions in dark interstellar clouds where cold dust particles are covered by thin layers of ice and subsequently processed by impacting atoms causing precursor species to fragment and reactive intermediates to recombine.

The scientists first showed methylamine, the precursor species of glycine that was detected in the coma of the comet 67P, could form. Then, using a unique ultra-high vacuum setup, equipped with a series of atomic beam lines and accurate diagnostic tools, they were able to confirm glycine could also be formed, and that the presence of water ice was essential in this process.

Further investigation using astrochemical models confirmed the experimental results and allowed the researchers to extrapolate data obtained on a typical laboratory timescale of just one day to interstellar conditions, bridging millions of years.

Once formed, glycine can also become a precursor to other complex organic molecules . Following the same mechanism, in principle, other functional groups can be added to the glycine backbone, resulting in the formation of other amino acids, such as alanine and serine in dark clouds in space. In the end, this enriched organic molecular inventory is included in celestial bodies, like comets, and delivered to young planets, as happened to our Earth and many other planets.

A non-energetic mechanism for glycine formation in the interstellar medium, Nature Astronomy (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-020-01249-0 , www.nature.com/articles/s41550-020-01249-0

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-blocks-life-stars.html?utm_source=nwl...

Fish carcasses deliver toxic mercury pollution to the deepest ocean trenches

The sinking carcasses of fish from near-surface waters deliver toxic mercury pollution to the most remote and inaccessible parts of the world's oceans, including the deepest spot of them all: the 36,000-foot-deep Mariana Trench in the northwest Pacific.

And most of that mercury began its long journey to the deep-sea trenches as atmospheric emissions from coal-fired power plants, mining operations, cement factories, incinerators and other human activities.

Joel D. Blum el al., "Mercury isotopes identify near-surface marine mercury in deep-sea trench biota," PNAS (2020). www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2012773117

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-fish-carcasses-toxic-mercury-pollutio...

New technology allows more precise view of the smallest nanoparticles

Current state-of-the-art techniques have clear limitations when it comes to imaging the smallest nanoparticles, making it difficult for researchers to study viruses and other structures at the molecular level.

Scientists from the University of Houston and the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center have reported in Nature Communications a new optical imaging technology for nanoscale objects, relying upon unscattered light to detect nanoparticles as small as 25 nanometers in diameter. The technology, known as PANORAMA, uses a glass slide covered with gold nanodiscs, allowing scientists to monitor changes in the transmission of light and determine the target's characteristics.

PANORAMA takes its name from Plasmonic Nano-aperture Label-free Imaging (PlAsmonic NanO-apeRture lAbel-free iMAging), signifying the key characteristics of the technology. PANORAMA can be used to detect, count and determine the size of individual dielectric nanoparticles.

Nareg Ohannesian et al. Plasmonic nano-aperture label-free imaging (PANORAMA), Nature Communications (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19678-w

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-technology-precise-view-smallest-nano...

Excess consumption of eggs linked to diabetes

The health benefits of the humble egg might not be all they're cracked up to be as new research from the University of South Australia shows that excess egg consumption can increase your risk of diabetes. It found that people who regularly consumed one or more eggs per day (equivalent to 50 grams) increased their risk of diabetes by 60 percent.

It was discovered  that higher long-term egg consumption (greater than 38 grams per day) increased the risk of diabetes among Chinese adults by approximately 25 percent.

The effect was also more pronounced in women than in men.

Yue Wang et al, Higher egg consumption associated with increased risk of diabetes in Chinese adults – China Health and Nutrition Survey, British Journal of Nutrition (2020). DOI: 10.1017/S0007114520003955

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-11-easy-eggs-egg-cess-consumpti...

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Baking Soda Boosts T Cells’ Ability to Fight Leukemia

 Math shows diverse thinkers equal better results

The exchange of information is key in making everyday decisions. But new  research shows that the group decision-making process may work best when members process information a bit differently.

Researchers published a new study today that tackles how groups make decisions and the dynamics that make for fast and accurate decision making. They found that networks that consisted of both impulsive and deliberate individuals made, on average, quicker and better decisions than a group with homogenous thinkers.

Bhargav Karamched et al. Heterogeneity Improves Speed and Accuracy in Social Networks, Physical Review Letters (2020). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.125.218302

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-decision-math-diverse-thinkers-equal....

New optical method paves way to breath test for cancer biomarker

Researchers have developed an extremely sensitive, yet simple optical method for detecting formaldehyde in a person's breath. Because formaldehyde is being studied as a potential biomarker for lung and breast cancer, the new method could one day lead to an inexpensive and fast way to screen for cancer.

Measuring biomarkers in exhaled breath is noninvasive, painless and fast and could be used to screen for cancer even at very early disease stages, which is crucial for successful treatment.

This new optical sensing method based on multipass spectroscopy can detect the presence of 1 molecule of formaldehyde in a million air particles, or 1 part per million, even in the presence of gasses that can interfere with optical measurement.

Mateusz Winkowski et al, Optical detection of formaldehyde in air in the 36 µm range, Biomedical Optics Express (2020). DOI: 10.1364/BOE.405384

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-optical-method-paves-cancer-biomarker...

Cancer researchers discover new human salivary glands

Scientists Discover New Human Salivary Glands

The findings may have implications for radiotherapy, a cancer treatment that can cause damage to salivary glands and leave lasting complications.

https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/scientists-discover-new-...

New study could help predict which individuals are more susceptible to cancer-causing agents

New insights into the mechanisms behind how cancer-causing agents in the environment activate genetic recombination in DNA could help to explain some of the effects of exposure as well as predicting which individuals may be more susceptible to developing the disease, a new study has suggested.

Everyone is exposed to low levels of carcinogens (substances or radiation that promote the formation of cancer) in the environment. One of the most widely found is benzopyrene—a general chemical pollutant found in smoke from stoves such as wood burners, exhaust fumes and barbequed meat and fish. One active ingredient of benzopyrene, BPDE, directly damages the DNA sequence forming what is known as adducts which in turn promote cancer-causing mutations.

While models exist showing how BPDE causes these mutations, some of the pathways are still not understood. It is currently believed that a BPDE adducts cause mutations during DNA synthesis because they activate a process called translesion synthesis—where cells copy the DNA despite the presence of unrepaired damage to allow progression of the replication fork—and this induces mutations. However, evidence also suggests the involvement of another process called homologous recombination (HR) which works by copying other undamaged parts of the genome. HR proteins repair complex DNA damage such as breaks in the DNA strands and interstrand cross-links, and protect and recover stalled or broken replication forks.

This latest study treated human cell lines with BPDE before using molecular biology methods, such as microscopy, to characterize the homologous recombination pathway in detail. Results have offered new insights showing that HR proceeds by an unusual mechanism at BPDE adducts and the process can be activated even when there are no stalled or collapsed replication forks. Instead, it is activated at single-stranded gaps in the DNA that are generated by the re-priming activity of PrimPol—a protein encoded by the PRIMPOL gene in humans.

The findings also address longstanding questions by showing that at bulky DNA adducts, the exchanges between the sister chromatids (the identical copies formed by the DNA replication of a chromosome), products of HR that have been traditionally connected with replication fork collapse and DSB repair, are associated with the repair of post-replicative gaps. Furthermore, these post-replicative gaps are produced by PrimPol, shedding light on the function of PrimPol during DNA damage tolerance.

Ann Liza Piberger, Akhil Bowry, Richard D. W. Kelly, Alexandra K. Walker, Daniel González-Acosta, Laura J. Bailey, Aidan J. Doherty, Juan Méndez, Joanna R. Morris, Helen E. Bryant, Eva Petermann. PrimPol-dependent single-stranded gap formation mediates homologous recombination at bulky DNA adducts. Nature Communications, 2020; 11 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19570-7

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-11-individuals-susceptible-canc...

Unexpectedly, The Universe Is Getting Hotter And Hotter as It Expands

The Universe is in a state of expansion and  the rate of expansion has been speeding up.

As this progresses, and the galaxy clusters and filaments of the Universe move farther apart, scientists theorize that the mean temperature of the Universe will gradually decline.

But according to new research led by the Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics (CCAPP) at Ohio State University, it appears that the Universe is actually getting hotter as time goes on.

After probing the thermal history of the Universe over the last 10 billion years, the team concluded that the mean temperature of cosmic gas has increased more than 10 times and reached about 2.2 million K (~2.2 °C; 4 million °F) today.

Explanation by scientists for this heating:  As the Universe evolves, gravity pulls dark matter and gas in space together into galaxies and clusters of galaxies. The drag is violent - so violent that more and more gas is shocked and heated up.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/abb403

https://www.sciencealert.com/the-universe-is-getting-hotter-and-hot...

Solar device can sterilize medical tools in off-grid areas without the need for electricity

Autoclaves, the devices used to sterilize medical tools in hospitals, clinics, and doctors' and dentists' offices, require a steady supply of pressurized steam at a temperature of about 125 degrees Celsius. This is usually provided by electrical or fuel-powered boilers, but in many rural areas, especially in the developing world, power can be unreliable or unavailable, and fuel is expensive.

Now, a team of researchers at MIT and the Indian Institute of Technology has come up with a way to generate the needed steam passively, using just the power of sunlight, with no need for fuel or electricity. The device, which would require a solar collector of about 2 square meters (or yards) to power a typical small-clinic autoclave, could maintain safe, sterile equipment at low cost in remote locations. A prototype was successfully tested in Mumbai, India.

The key to the new system is the use of optically transparent aerogel, a material developed over the last few years by Wang and her collaborators. The material is essentially a lightweight foam made of silica, the material of beach sand, and consists mostly of air. Light as it is, the material provides effective thermal insulation, reducing the rate of heat loss by tenfold.

This transparent insulating material is bonded onto the top of what is essentially off-the-shelf equipment for producing solar hot water, which consists of a copper plate with a heat-absorbing black coating, bonded to a set of pipes on the underside. As the sun heats the plate, water flowing through the pipes underneath picks up that heat. But with the addition of the transparent insulating layer on top, plus polished aluminum mirrors on each side of the plate to direct extra sunlight at the plate, the system can generate high-temperature steam instead of just hot water. The system uses gravity to feed water from a tank into the plate; the steam then rises to the top of the enclosure and is fed out through another pipe, which carries the pressurized steam to the autoclave. A steady supply of steam must be maintained for 30 minutes to achieve proper sterilization.

Joule, Zhao et al.: "A passive high-temperature high-pressure solar steam generator for medical sterilization" DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2020.10.007,
www.cell.com/joule/fulltext/S2542-4351(20)30496-7

https://techxplore.com/news/2020-11-solar-device-sterilize-medical-...

How giant viruses fuel the evolution of algae

Viruses are tiny invaders that cause a wide range of disease. But viruses can do more than elicit sickness—and not all viruses are tiny.

Large viruses, especially those in the nucleo-cytoplasmic large DNA virus family, can integrate their genome into that of their host—dramatically changing the genetic makeup of that organism. This family of DNA viruses, otherwise known as "giant" viruses, has been known within scientific circles for quite some time, but the extent to which they affect eukaryotic organisms has been shrouded in mystery—till now.

Viruses play a central role in the evolution of life on Earth. One way that they shape the evolution of cellular life is through a process called endogenization, where they introduce new genomic material into their hosts. When a giant virus endogenizes into the genome of a host algae, it creates an enormous amount of raw material for evolution to work with.

Researchers discovered that 24 of the 65 genomes they analyzed had some kinds of viral signatures in their genomes, which originated from repeated endogenization of distinct viruses. In one algal organism, Tetrabaena socialis, researchers found that around 10 percent of its genes originated from a virus in the nucleo-cytoplasmic large DNA virus family.

Although the endogenization of viruses have been well studied, studies have mostly been limited to small RNA viruses, such as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the retrovirus that is responsible for causing acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

Widespread endogenization of giant viruses shapes genomes of green algae, Nature (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2924-2 , www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2924-2

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-lurking-genomic-shadows-giant-viruses...

The magic of science: Making diamonds in minutes!

An international team of scientists has defied nature to make diamonds in minutes in a laboratory at room temperature—a process that normally requires billions of years, huge amounts of pressure and super-hot temperatures.

The scientific team made two types of diamonds: the kind found on an engagement ring and another type of diamond called Lonsdaleite, which is found in nature at the site of meteorite impacts such as Canyon Diablo in the US.

Natural diamonds are usually formed over billions of years, about 150 kilometres deep in the Earth where there are high pressures and temperatures above 1,000 degrees Celsius.

This new unexpected discovery shows both Lonsdaleite and regular diamond can also form at normal room temperatures by just applying high pressures—equivalent to 640 African elephants on the tip of a ballet shoe.

The twist in the story is how researchers  applied the pressure. As well as very high pressures, they allowed the carbon to also experience something called 'shear' - which is like a twisting or sliding force. This might allow the carbon atoms to move into place and form Lonsdaleite and regular diamond.

Dougal G. McCulloch et al. Investigation of Room Temperature Formation of the Ultra‐Hard Nanocarbons Diamond and Lonsdaleite, Small (2020). DOI: 10.1002/smll.202004695

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-scientists-insta-bling-room-temperatu...

A DNA-based nanogel for targeted chemotherapy

Current chemotherapy regimens slow cancer progression and save lives, but these powerful drugs affect both healthy and cancerous cells. 

Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Nano Letters have designed DNA-based nanogels that only break down and release their chemotherapeutic contents within cancer cells, minimizing the impacts on normal ones and potentially eliminating painful and uncomfortable side effects.

Once ingested or injected, chemotherapy medications move throughout the body, indiscriminately affecting healthy cells along with those that are responsible for disease. Since many of these drugs are toxic to all cells, the desired tumor shrinkage can be accompanied by undesirable side effects, such as hair loss, gastrointestinal issues and fatigue. Nanogels made of DNA are one way that these drugs could be delivered, but they would still enter all cells. Tianhu Li, Teck-Peng Loh and colleagues reasoned that biomarkers—proteins or other components that are present in differing amounts in cancer cells and their healthy counterparts—could play a role in breaking down a nanogel, causing it to release its contents only in those that are cancerous. A biomarker called FEN1, a repair enzyme that cuts certain types of DNA, is present in larger amounts in cancer cells compared with healthy ones. The researchers wanted to see whether they could design a DNA nanogel that would specifically be degraded in cancer cells by FEN1.

To make DNA nanogels, the researchers used special DNA structures that FEN1 could recognize and cut. With cell-free systems, the researchers observed that the DNA-based nanogels were broken down by FEN1 but not by other DNA repair enzymes or compounds. When live cells were incubated with the DNA-based nanogels, healthy ones did not have enough FEN1 to break them down, but cancer cells did. When the chemotherapeutic drugs doxorubicin and vinorelbine were incorporated into the nanogel, human breast cancer cells died at higher rates than normal, healthy breast cells.

These findings indicate DNA-based nanogels can introduce drugs into cancer cells with a high specificity, reducing the risk of side effects. The researchers say that the nanogels also could be used as probes for the biomarker enzyme, helping physicians more directly diagnose cancer compared with current methods.

Hao Zhang et al. Cancer Biomarker-Triggered Disintegrable DNA Nanogels for Intelligent Drug Delivery, Nano Letters (2020). DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c03671

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-dna-based-nanogel-chemotherapy.html?u...

SCI-COM: Time for scientists to speak up and be heard

https://www.scidev.net/asia-pacific/governance/columns/time-for-sci...

Strange Case : Kids Develop Coronavirus Antibodies Without Ever Testing Positive

New effective and safe antifungal isolated from sea squirt microbiome

By combing the ocean for antimicrobials, scientists have discovered a new antifungal compound that efficiently targets multi-drug-resistant strains of deadly fungi without toxic side effects in mice.

The new molecule was discovered in the microbiome of a sea squirt from the Florida Keys as part of an effort to identify novel antimicrobials from understudied ecosystems. Scientists named the antifungal turbinmicin, after the sea squirt from which it was isolated, Ecteinascidia turbinate.

The researchers tested purified turbinmicin against a slate of 39 fungi isolated from patients. These strains both represented diverse species and encompassed all the known ways that fungi have evolved resistance to existing drugs. In lab experiments, turbinmicin halted or killed nearly all fungal strains at low concentrations, indicating a potent effect.

Similar experiments in mice infected with drug-resistant strains of Candida auris and Aspergillus fumigatus also demonstrated turbinmicin's ability to attack resistant fungi. Because fungi and animals are closely related, and thus share similar cellular machinery, antifungals can prove toxic to animals as well. Yet, turbinmicin did not show toxic side effects in mice, even at concentrations 1000 times higher than the minimum dose. The effective dose would work out to tens of milligrams for an average-weight adult, less than for many other antibiotics.

F. Zhang el al., "A marine microbiome antifungal targets urgent-threat drug-resistant fungi," Science (2020). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi … 1126/science.abd6919

"Drugs from bugs in creatures of the sea," Science (2020). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi … 1126/science.abf1675

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-effective-safe-antifungal-isolated-se...

Disease-causing fungi continue to evolve resistance to the small number of drugs available to thwart them. As a result, more people are dying from previously treatable diseases, such as candidiasis or aspergillosis, which are caused by common fungi that sometimes turn virulent. Identifying compounds like turbinmicin is key to developing new and effective drugs. However, while turbinmicin is a promising drug candidate, additional study of the molecule and extensive preclinical research must be performed before a new drug can become available.