Scientists find water microdroplets can transform into hydrogen peroxide when condensing on cold surfaces

In its bulk liquid form, whether in a bathtub or an ocean, water is a relatively benign substance with little chemical activity. But down at the scale of tiny droplets, water can turn surprisingly reactive,  researchers have discovered.

In microdroplets of water, just millionths of a meter wide, a portion of the H₂O molecules present can convert into a close chemical cousin, hydrogen peroxide, H₂O₂, a harsh chemical commonly used as a disinfectant and hair bleaching agent.

Stanford scientists first reported this unexpected behavior in forcibly sprayed microdroplets of water last year. Now in a new study, the research team has shown the same Jekyll-and-Hyde transformation happens when microdroplets simply condense from the air onto cold surfaces. The new results suggest that water's hydrogen peroxidetransformation is a general phenomenon, occurring in fogs, mists, raindrops and wherever else microdroplets form naturally.

The surprising discovery could lead to greener methods for disinfecting surfaces or promoting chemical reactions.

Jae Kyoo Lee et al. Condensing water vapor to droplets generates hydrogen peroxide, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2020). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2020158117

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-scientists-microdroplets-hydrogen-per...

Oxford vaccine: How did they make it so quickly?

Ten years' vaccine work achieved in about 10 months. Yet no corners cut in designing, testing and manufacturing.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-55041371

Scientists Detect 'Superbolts' 1,000 Times Brighter Than Typical Lightning Strikes

scientists have just detected a new extreme in hotspots of lightning activity called 'superbolts': intense lightning strikes that shine up to 1,000 times brighter than typical lightning strikes. 

The observations come from researchers at the US Los Alamos National Laboratory, who used satellites to measure the extreme lightning events. The results force a rethink on what constitutes a superbolt, and shed new light on how and where superbolts originate. Unlike ground-based monitoring systems, which detect radio waves, the GLM measures the total brightness (optical energy) of lightning bolts within clouds, between clouds, plus lightning that strikes the ground.

There's also the question of whether superbolts are supercharged by some unique phenomenon, or if they're just bigger, brighter strikes of the usual lightening variety.

Understanding these extreme events is important because it tells us what lightning is capable of.

The researchers combed two years of data for lightning strikes that shone 100 times brighter than a typical bolt detected from space, and found about 2 million events intense enough to be called a superbolt – roughly one in every 300 lightning events. When the researchers raised the bar to lightning events at least 1,000 times brighter than an ordinary lightning strike, they identified key hotspots of energetic superbolt activity.

Scientists found one lightning stroke that exceeded 3 terawatts of power – thousands of times stronger than ordinary lightning detected from space.

The most powerful superbolts (producing more than 350 gigawatts of power) resulted from rare positively charged cloud-to-ground events, rather than negatively charged cloud-to-ground events, which characterises most lightning strikes.

The results also showed that superbolts often occur over the ocean and tend to spark from megaflashes, which stretch hundreds of miles horizontally from tip to tail.

Oceanic storm systems, particularly during the winter, and especially those located around Japan are shown to produce these intense superbolts.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2020JD033378

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2020JD033377

https://www.sciencealert.com/study-finds-superbolts-shine-1000-time...

A pocket cooling device based on a cascade mechanism

Recent technological advances have enabled the development of increasingly compact and flexible devices. This includes wearable or portable technology.

Researchers  have recently devised a strategy that could enable the fabrication of portable, compact and flexible electrocaloric cooling devices. This strategy, outlined in a paper published in Nature Energy, is based on a four-layer cascade mechanism that enables a significant temperature lift in a user's surroundings.

This pocket cooling device designed is made of an electrocaloric polymer film. When voltage is applied to the polymer, the device heats up due to a significant entropy reduction. Conversely, when the voltage is removed, the device's temperature drops.

Yuan Meng et al. A cascade electrocaloric cooling device for large temperature lift, Nature Energy (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41560-020-00715-3

https://techxplore.com/news/2020-11-pocket-cooling-device-based-cas...

Tunable coating allows hitch-hiking nanoparticles to slip past the immune system to their target

Nanoparticles are promising drug delivery tools, offering the ability to administer drugs directly to a specific part of the body and avoid the awful side effects so often seen with chemotherapeutics.

But there's a problem. Nanoparticles struggle to get past the immune system's first line of defense: proteins in the blood serum that tag potential invaders. Because of this, only about 1 percent of nanoparticles reach their intended target.

A team of researchers have now  developed an ionic forcefield that prevents proteins from binding to and tagging nanoparticles.

In mouse experiments, nanoparticles coated with the ionic liquid survived significantly longer in the body than uncoated particles and, surprisingly, 50 percent of the nanoparticles made it to the lungs. It's the first time that ionic liquids have been used to protect nanoparticles in the blood stream.

"The fact that this coating allows the nanoparticles to slip past serum proteins and hitch a ride on red blood cells is really quite amazing because once you are able to fight the immune system effectively, lots of opportunities open up.

"Protein-avoidant ionic liquid (PAIL)–coated nanoparticles to increase bloodstream circulation and drive biodistribution" Science Advances (2020). advances.sciencemag.org/lookup … .1126/sciadv.abd7563

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-tunable-coating-hitch-hiking-nanopart...

Waste fishing gear threatens Ganges wildlife

Waste fishing gear in the River Ganges poses a threat to wildlife including otters, turtles and dolphins, new research shows.

The study says entanglement in fishing gear could harm species including the critically endangered three-striped roofed turtle and the endangered Ganges river dolphin.

Surveys along the length of the river, from the mouth in Bangladesh to the Himalayas in India, show levels of waste fishing gear are highest near to the sea.

Fishing nets—all made of plastic—were the most common type of gear found. local fishers revealed high rates of fishing equipment being discarded in the river—driven by short gear lifespans and lack of appropriate disposal systems.

"Ingesting plastic can harm wildlife, but our threat assessment focussed on entanglement, which is known to injure and kill a wide range of marine species."

The researchers used a list of 21 river species of "conservation concern" identified by the Wildlife Institute for India.

Sarah E. Nelms et al, Riverine plastic pollution from fisheries: Insights from the Ganges River system, Science of The Total Environment (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.143305

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-fishing-gear-threatens-ganges-wildlif...

Scientists discover potential method to starve the bacteria that cause tuberculosis

The infectious disease Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide.

Researchers have known for some time that the bacteria that causes TB (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) uses our body's cholesterol—a steroid—as a food source. Other relatives of the bacteria that do not cause disease share its ability to break down steroids. In this study scientists identified the structure of an enzyme (acyl CoA dehydrogenase) involved in steroid degradation in another member of the same bacteria family, called Thermomonospora curvata.

Determining the structure of enzymes that metabolize steroids moves scientists and pharmaceutical companies one step closer to creating drugs that can inhibit a similar enzyme found in M. tuberculosis, which would effectively starve TB of its food source. 

Alexander J. Stirling et al. A Key Glycine in Bacterial Steroid-Degrading Acyl-CoA Dehydrogenases Allows Flavin-Ring Repositioning and Modulates Substrate Side Chain Specificity, Biochemistry (2020). DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.0c00568

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-scientists-potential-method-starve-ba...

Researchers uncover the unique way stem cells protect their chromosome ends

Telomeres are specialized structures at the end of chromosomes which protect our DNA and ensure healthy division of cells. According to a new study from researchers at the Francis Crick Institute published in Nature, the mechanisms of telomere protection are surprisingly unique in stem cells.

For the last 20 years, researchers have been working to understand how telomeres protect chromosome ends from being incorrectly repaired and joined together because this has important implications for our understanding of cancer and aging.

In healthy cells, this protection is very efficient, but as we age our telomeres get progressively shorter, eventually becoming so short that they lose some of these protective functions. In healthy cells, this contributes to the progressive decline in our health and fitness as we age. Conversely, telomere shortening poses a protective barrier to tumor development, which cancer cells must solve in order to divide indefinitely.

In somatic cells, which are all the cells in the adult body except stem cells and gametes, we know that a protein called TRF2 helps to protect the telomere. It does this by binding to and stabilizing a loop structure, called a t-loop, which masks the end of the chromosome. When the TRF2 protein is removed, these loops do not form and the chromosome ends fuse together, leading to "spaghetti chromosomes" and killing the cell.

However, in this latest study, Crick researchers have found that when the TRF2 protein is removed from mouse embryonic stem cells, t-loops continue to form, chromosome ends remain protected and the cells are largely unaffected.

As embryonic stem cells differentiate into somatic cells, this unique mechanism of end protection is lost and both t-loops and chromosome end protection become reliant on TRF2. This suggests that somatic and stem cells protect their chromosome ends in fundamentally different ways.

Phil Ruis et al. TRF2-independent chromosome end protection during pluripotency, Nature (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2960-y

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-uncover-unique-stem-cells-chromosome....

Covid-19 pandemic could be stopped if at least 70% public wore face...
The Covid-19 pandemic could be stopped if at least 70 per cent of the public wore face masks consistently, according to research published in the journal Physics of Fluids. The study suggests that the type of material used and the duration of mask use play key roles in their effectiveness. While surgical masks were said to be more efficient, cloth masks could also slow transmission.

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Humans are polluting the environment with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and scientists are  finding them everywhere

https://theconversation.com/humans-are-polluting-the-environment-wi...

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** Keyhole wasps may threaten aviation safety

Over a period of 39 months, invasive keyhole wasps (Pachodynerus nasidens) at the Brisbane Airport were responsible for 93 instances of fully blocked replica pitot probes—vital instruments that measure airspeed—according to a study published November 25 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Alan House of Eco Logical Australia and colleagues. As noted by the authors, the results underscore the importance of risk-mitigating strategies, such as covering pitot probes when aircraft arrive and setting up additional traps to intercept the wasps.

**Study revealing the secret behind a key cellular process refutes biology textbooks

New research has identified and described a cellular process that, despite what textbooks say, has remained elusive to scientists until now—precisely how the copying of genetic material that, once started, is properly turned off.

The finding concerns a key process essential to life: the transcription phase of gene expression, which enables cells to live and do their jobs.

During transcription, an enzyme called RNA polymerase wraps itself around the double helix of DNA, using one strand to match nucleotides to make a copy of genetic material—resulting in a newly synthesized strand of RNA that breaks off when transcription is complete. That RNA enables production of proteins, which are essential to all life and perform most of the work inside cells.

Just as with any coherent message, RNA needs to start and stop in the right place to make sense. A bacterial protein called Rho was discovered more than 50 years ago because of its ability to stop, or terminate, transcription. In every textbook, Rho is used as a model terminator that, using its very strong motor force, binds to the RNA and pulls it out of RNA polymerase. But a closer look by these scientists showed that Rho wouldn't be able to find the RNAs it needs to release using the textbook mechanism.

Researchers started studying Rho, and realized it cannot possibly work in ways people tell us it works!

The research determined that instead of attaching to a specific piece of RNA near the end of transcription and helping it unwind from DNA, Rho actually "hitchhikes" on RNA polymerase for the duration of transcription. Rho cooperates with other proteins to eventually coax the enzyme through a series of structural changes that end with an inactive state enabling release of the RNA.

The team used sophisticated microscopes to reveal how Rho acts on a complete transcription complex composed of RNA polymerase and two accessory proteins that travel with it throughout transcription.

It answers a fundamental question—transcription is fundamental to life, but if it were not controlled, nothing would work. RNA polymerase by itself has to be completely neutral. It has to be able to make any RNA, including those that are damaged or could harm the cell. While traveling with RNA polymerase, Rho can tell if the synthesized RNA is worth making—and if not, Rho releases it.

"Steps toward translocation-independent RNA polymerase inactivation by terminator ATPase ρ" Science (2020). science.sciencemag.org/lookup/ … 1126/science.abd1673

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-revealing-secret-key-cellular-refutes...

Scientists develop new gene therapy for eye disease

Scientists  have developed a new gene therapy approach that offers promise for one day treating an eye disease that leads to a progressive loss of vision and affects thousands of people across the globe.

The study also has implications for a much wider suite of neurological disorders associated with aging.

Characterized by degeneration of the optic nerves, DOA typically starts to cause symptoms in patients in their early adult years. These include moderate vision loss and some color vision defects, but severity varies, symptoms can worsen over time and some people may become blind. There is currently no way to prevent or cure DOA.

A gene (OPA1) provides instructions for making a protein that is found in cells and tissues throughout the body, and which is pivotal for maintaining proper function in mitochondria, which are the energy producers in cells.

Without the protein made by OPA1, mitochondrial function is sub-optimal and the mitochondrial network which in healthy cells is well interconnected is highly disrupted.

For those living with DOA, it is mutations in OPA1 and the dysfunctional mitochondria that are responsible for the onset and progression of the disorder. 

The scientists, led by Dr. Daniel Maloney and Professor Jane Farrar from Trinity's School of Genetics and Microbiology, have developed a new gene therapy, which successfully protected the visual function of mice who were treated with a chemical targeting the mitochondria and were consequently living with dysfunctional mitochondria.

The scientists also found that their gene therapy improved mitochondrial performance in human cells that contained mutations in the OPA1 gene, offering hope that it may be effective in people.

They used a clever lab technique that allows scientists to provide a specific gene to cells that need it using specially engineered non-harmful viruses. This allowed them to directly alter the functioning of the mitochondria in the cells theytreated, boosting their ability to produce energy which in turn helps protects them from cell damage.

These results  demonstrate that this OPA1-based gene therapy can potentially provide benefit for diseases like DOA, which are due to OPA1 mutations, and also possibly for a wider array of diseases involving mitochondrial dysfunction

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2020.571479/full

https://www.tcd.ie/news_events/articles/scientists-develop-new-gene...

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-11-scientists-gene-therapy-eye-...

Study is the first to link microbiota to dynamics of the human immune system

Researchers have uncovered an important finding about the relationship between the microbiota and the immune system, showing for the first time that the concentration of different types of immune cells in the blood changes in relation to the presence of different bacterial strains in the gut.

In recent years, the microbiota—the community of bacteria and other microorganisms that live on and in the human body—has captured the attention of scientists and the public, in part because it's become easier to study. It has been linked to many aspects of human health.

A multidisciplinary team from Memorial Sloan Kettering has shown for the first time that the gut microbiota directly shapes the makeup of the human immune system. Specifically, their research demonstrated that the concentration of different types of immune cells in the blood changed in relation to the presence of different bacterial strains in the gut. The results of their study, which used more than ten years of data collected from more than 2,000 patients, is being published November 25, 2020, in Nature.

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The data that were used in the study came from people receiving allogeneic stem cell and bone marrow transplants (BMTs). After strong chemotherapy or radiation therapy is used to destroy cancerous blood cells, the patient's blood-forming system is replaced with stem cells from a donor. For the first few weeks until the donor's blood cells—including the white blood cells that make up the immune system—have established themselves, the patients are extremely vulnerable to infections. To protect them during this time, patients are given antibiotics.

But many of these antibiotics have the unwanted side effect of destroying healthy microbiota that live in the gut, allowing dangerous strains to take over. When the patient's immune system has reconstituted, the antibiotics are discontinued, and the gut microbiota slowly starts to grow back.

The parallel recoveries of the immune system and the microbiota, both of which are damaged and then restored, gives us a unique opportunity to analyze the associations between these two systems.

Jonas Schluter et al. The gut microbiota is associated with immune cell dynamics in humans, Nature (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2971-8

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-11-link-microbiota-dynamics-hum...

Foreign vs. own DNA: How an innate immune sensor tells friend from foe

How do molecules involved in activating our immune system discriminate between our own DNA and foreign pathogens? Researchers deciphered the structural and functional basis of a DNA-sensing molecule when it comes in contact with the cell's own DNA, providing crucial insights into the recognition of self vs. non-self DNA.

DNA within our cells is compacted and stored in the nucleus in the form of chromatin (DNA wraped around histone proteins, forming nucleosomes, the basic unit of chromatin). DNA found outside the nucleus, in the cytoplasm, is an important signal that triggers immune responses indicating the presence of an intracellular pathogen or a potentially cancerous cell. DNA sensing is carried out by cGAS, an enzyme responsible for recognizing and binding naked DNA. When activated, cGAS synthesizes cyclic GMP-AMP, which in turn initiates the body's so-called "innate" immune system—the first-line-of-defense part of our immune system.

Until now, cGAS was thought to function predominantly in the cytoplasm, detecting foreign, non-self, DNA such as viruses. But recent studies suggested that cGAS is also present inside the nucleus. This was puzzling given the possibility that the enzyme is activated by its own DNA triggering an unwanted inflammatory response against its own DNA. Intrigued by this observation, researchers used structural biology as a discovery tool and found that cGAS is present in the nucleus in an inactive state. They teamed up with the Ablasser lab at the EPFL to decipher the mechanism of cGAS inactivation by chromatin in cells.

Taking advantage of  cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), the researchers derived the structure of cGAS bound to a nucleosome. They found that cGAS directly engages the histone proteins of nucleosomes. Once bound to the nucleosome, cGAS is "trapped" in a state in which it is unable to engage or sense naked DNA. It is then also unable to synthesize GMP-AMP and remains inactivated. cGAS, when present in the nucleus of healthy cells, is thus inactivated by chromatin, and does not participate in innate immune signaling in response to its own DNA.

 Ganesh R. Pathare et al. Structural mechanism of cGAS inhibition by the nucleosome, Nature (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2750-6

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-foreign-dna-innate-immune-sensor.html...

Ancient Earth had a thick, toxic atmosphere like Venus—until it cooled off and became liveable

A rocky planet like Earth is born through a process called "accretion", in which initially small particles clump together under the pull of gravity to form larger and larger bodies. The smaller bodies, called "planetesimals", look like asteroids, and the next size up are "planetary embryos". There may have been many planetary embryos in the early Solar System, but the only one that still survives is Mars, which is not a fully fledged planet like Earth or Venus.

The late stages of accretion involve giant impacts that release enormous amounts of energy. We think the last impact in Earth's accretion involved a Mars-sized embryo hitting the growing Earth, spinning off our Moon, and melting most or all of what was left.

The impact would have left Earth covered in a global sea of molten rock called a "magma ocean". The magma ocean would have leaked hydrogen, carbon, oxygen and nitrogen gases, to form Earth's first atmosphere.

This ratio of CO₂ to N₂ is strikingly like the present atmosphere on Venus. So why did Venus, but not Earth, retain the hellishly hot and toxic environment we observe today?

The answer is that Venus was too close to the Sun. It simply never cooled down enough to form water oceans. Instead, the H₂O in the atmosphere stayed as water vapour and was slowly but inexorably lost to space.

On the early Earth, the water oceans instead slowly but steadily drew down CO₂ from the atmosphere by reaction with rock – a reaction known to science for the past 70 years as the “Urey reaction”, after the Nobel prizewinner who discovered it – and reducing atmospheric pressure to what we observe today.

So, although both planets started out almost identically, it is their different distances from the Sun that put them on divergent paths. Earth became more conducive to life while Venus became increasingly inhospitable.

Paolo A. Sossi et al. Redox state of Earth's magma ocean and its Venus-like early atmosphere, Science Advances (2020). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abd1387

https://theconversation.com/ancient-earth-had-a-thick-toxic-atmosph...

New Hubble data explains missing dark matter

New data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope provides further evidence for tidal disruption in the galaxy NGC 1052-DF4. This result explains a previous finding that this galaxy is missing most of its dark matter. By studying the galaxy's light and globular cluster distribution, astronomers have concluded that the gravity forces of the neighbouring galaxy NGC 1035 stripped the dark matter from NGC 1052-DF4 and are now tearing the galaxy apart.

The galaxy "missing dark matter" NGC1052-DF4 is undergoing tidal disruption arXiv:2010.09719 [astro-ph.GA] arxiv.org/abs/2010.09719

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-hubble-dark.html?utm_source=nwletter&...

High blood pressure in midlife is linked to increased brain damage in later life

Higher than normal blood pressure is linked to more extensive brain damage in the elderly, according to a new study published.

In particular, the study found that there was a strong association between diastolic blood pressure (the blood pressure between heart beats) before the age of 50 and brain damage in later life, even if the diastolic blood pressure was within what is normally considered to be a healthy range.

The findings come from a study of 37,041 participants enrolled in UK Biobank, a large group of people recruited from the general population aged between 40 and 69 years, and for whom medical information, including MRI brain scans was available.

Karolina Agnieszka Wartolowska et al, Midlife blood pressure is associated with the severity of white matter hyperintensities: analysis of the UK Biobank cohort study, European Heart Journal (2020). DOI: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehaa756

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-11-high-blood-pressure-midlife-...

**Climate change is making autumn leaves change colour earlier – here’s why

research shows that deciduous trees can only absorb a set amount of carbon each year and once that limit is reached, no more can be absorbed. At that point, leaves begin to change colour. This limit is set by the availability of nutrients, particularly nitrogen, and the physical structure of the plant itself, particularly the inner vessels which move water and dissolved nutrients around. Nitrogen is a key nutrient which plants need in order to grow, and it’s often the amount of available nitrogen that limits total growth. This is why farmers and gardeners use nitrogen fertilisers, to overcome this limitation.

Together, these constraints mean that carbon uptake during the growing season is a self-regulating mechanism in trees and herbaceous plants. Only so much carbon can be taken up.

In a world with increasing levels of carbon in the atmosphere, these new findings imply that warmer weather and longer growing seasons will not allow temperate deciduous trees to take up more carbon dioxide. The study’s predictive model suggests that by 2100, when tree growing seasons are expected to be between 22 and 34 days longer, leaves will fall from trees between three and six days earlier than they do now.

with the prospect of some trees losing their leaves earlier and others losing them at the time they do now, there might be the prospect of prolonged autumnal colours – and more time for us to kick through the leaves.

https://theconversation.com/climate-change-is-making-autumn-leaves-...

https://researchnews.cc/news/3819/Which-factors-trigger-leaf-die-of...

Moth wings sport acoustic camouflage

Moths draped in stealth acoustic cloak evade bat sonar

Moths can hide from the sonar of feeding bats using their acoustically camouflaged wings. Their evolved stealth adaptation is the result of an array of scales attached to their wing membranes that absorb ultrasound frequencies emitted by hunting bats, and are the first acoustic metamaterials found in nature.

A University of Bristol team discovered that sound waves from bats that hit the fork-shaped scales found on two species of moth cause them to bend and twist, dissipating the energy. ‘Less sound is reflected back to the bat, and the moth thereby disappears or partially disappears from the bat’s sonar screen

Z Shen et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2018, 115, 12200 (DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1810025115)

https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/moths-draped-in-stealth-acousti...

Scales on the wings of moths form acoustic camouflage that hides the insects from the sonar of bats. Researchers examined the Chinese tusar moth (Antheraea pernyi) and Dactyloceras lucina, a large African moth. These species have no ears to hear approaching predators. Instead, they defend themselves using a dense array of tiny, thin scales that each resonate at a particular frequency. Together, the scales absorb at least three octaves of sound — the first known natural acoustic metamaterial. The intricate arrangement and structure of the scales could inspire ultrathin sound-absorbing materials: think sound-absorbing wallpaper instead of panels, say researchers.

**   Pregnancy stress may shape baby brain

Stress levels in mothers – measured by a hormone linked to anxiety and other health problems – is related to changes in areas of the infant brain associated with emotional development, the study suggests. Doctors say the findings highlight the urgent need for women to be better supported with their mental and physical health before and during pregnancy, and could help them spot mums and babies who need help. The experts add that pregnant women who feel stressed or unwell should seek help from their midwife or consultant and that with support, most health issues can be well managed in pregnancy. Maternal stress is known to influence the development of the child’s behaviour and ability to regulate its emotions as it grows. This is usually measured by questionnaires, which are not always reliable. The new study is the first time that scientists have used an objective measure – levels of the hormone cortisol – in the mother to study links with baby brain development.

https://researchnews.cc/news/3791/Pregnancy-stress-may-shape-baby-b...

Miniscule robots of metal and plastic

Understanding Skull Base Tumors

https://www.uhhospitals.org/health-information/health-and-wellness-....

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Periodic table: scientists propose new way of ordering the elements

https://theconversation.com/periodic-table-scientists-propose-new-w...

Immune responses during embryo development could increase risk of schizophrenia

 Research has often highlighted the effects that immune activation in pregnant women can have on the development of human embryos, for instance increasing the risk of a child developing psychiatric disorders later in life. The neural mechanisms underpinning these effects, however, remained largely unclear till now.

Researchers  have recently carried out a study investigating the impact that the activation of microglia (i.e., a specialized cell population that removes damaged neurons or infections) can have on an embryo's development of a specific class of neurons that regulates information processing, known as cortical interneurons. Their findings, published in Nature Neuroscience, suggest that activated microglia can cause metabolic disruptions that adversely impact the development of cortical interneurons. Interestingly, in individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia these disruptions could persist when the microglia are no longer activated.

They found found that the metabolism of cortical interneurons is compromised under inflammatory condition during development, which showed prolonged impact in cortical interneurons derived from schizophrenia iPSCs but not healthy control iPSCs. These findings highlight the existence of interactions between schizophrenia genetic backgrounds and environmental risk factors.

Activated microglia cause metabolic disruptions in developmental cortical interneurons that persist in interneurons from individuals with schizophrenia. Nature Neuroscience(2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-020-00724-1

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-11-immune-responses-embryo-schi...

Gut microbes: The key to normal sleep

A detailed study in mice revealed the extent to which bacteria can change the environment and contents of the intestines, which ultimately impacts behaviours like sleep.

Researchers gave a group of mice a powerful cocktail of antibiotics for four weeks, which depleted them of intestinal microorganisms. Then, they compared intestinal contents between these mice and control mice who had the same diet.

Digestion breaks food down into bits and pieces called metabolites. The researchers found significant differences between metabolites in the microbiota-depleted mice and the control mice. They found more than 200 metabolite differences between mouse groups. About 60 normal metabolites were missing in the microbiota-depleted mice, and the others differed in the amount, some more and some less than in the control mice.

The team next set out to determine what these metabolites normally do. Using metabolome set enrichment analysis, they found that the biological pathways most affected by the antibiotic treatment were those involved in making neurotransmitters, the molecules that cells in the brain use to communicate with each other. For example, the tryptophan–serotonin pathway was almost totally shut down; the microbiota-depleted mice had more tryptophan than controls, but almost zero serotonin. This shows that without important gut microbes, the mice could not make any serotonin from the tryptophan they were eating. The team also found that the mice were deficient in vitamin B6 metabolites, which accelerate production of the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine. The team also analyzed how the mice slept by looking at brain activity in EEGs. They found that compared with the control mice, the microbiota-depleted mice had more REM and non-REM sleep at night—when mice are supposed to be active—and less non-REM sleep during the day—when mice should be mostly sleeping. The number of REM sleep episodes was higher both during the day and at night, whereas the number of non-REM episodes was higher during the day. In other words, the microbiota-depleted mice switched between sleep/wake stages more frequently than the controls.

So blame your gut microbes if you can't sleep properly and thank them if you can!

Yukino Ogawa et al. Gut microbiota depletion by chronic antibiotic treatment alters the sleep/wake architecture and sleep EEG power spectra in mice, Scientific Reports (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-76562-9

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-11-gut-microbes-key.html?utm_so...

Physicists invent printable superconducting device

Superconducting devices such as SQUIDS (Superconducting Quantum Interferometry Device) can perform ultra-sensitive measurements of magnetic fields. Leiden physicsts invented a method to 3-D-print these and other superconducting devices in minutes.

How to Print a Quantum Device in Less than 30 Minutes

Novel magnetic spray transforms objects into millirobots for biomedical applications

The Health Risks of Space: Scientists Just Unveiled The Biggest Study Yet

Space is a hostile place. We may have developed the technology to launch astronauts into orbit and get them home safely, but scientists are still figuring out how space travel affects human health, especially over the long haul. 

That's essential before any planned missions to Mars go ahead, to assure the health and safety of the astronauts aboard those momentous flights.

We already know from astronaut studies – perhaps most famously, NASA's Twins Study co-starring identical twins Scott and Mark Kelly – that extended space time affects blood flow to the brain, alters the gut microbiome, increases inflammation and causes blurred vision, brittle bones, and muscle wasting. 

Mouse studies simulating spaceflight have also suggested that heading into space ages the immune system and damages the brain.

Now, in a huge collective effort, scientists have published a giant trove of almost 30 papers investigating the health risks associated with space travel.

The collection amounts to the largest set of space biology data ever produced, and features some hefty analyses of observations from space-going flies, worms, mice, and of course, astronauts.  Some of the results reaffirm what we knew about space-related health problems, while other studies provide new insights, clarify previous results, or have found ways to improve future experiments.

The health perils of space travel start with the G forces felt by astronauts on lift-off, and continue with the exposure to hazardous space radiation and microgravity while in space.

On the treacherous journey to Mars, for example, astronauts will go far beyond Earth's protective magnetosphere and be exposed to cosmic radiation during the significant stretch of time it will take for them to venture out to our nearest planetary neighbour and return. Many of the studies published in this collection have pooled or re-analysed data from previous experiments made available to researchers through open-access data portals 

https://www.cell.com/c/the-biology-of-spaceflight

https://www.sciencealert.com/a-mass-dump-of-30-new-papers-explores-...

Is Origin Of Life All About Energy?

What is the origin of life? It’s a question scientists, philosophers and theologians have debated for centuries. If you believe one widely accepted scientific theory, life on Earth was one big happy accident, overcoming the astronomical odds against it. But a new notion is rocking the scientific world, claiming that's not the case at all.

Thermodynamics of evolution and Darwinism According to thermodynamic theory, evolution (1978) is a spontaneous process that develops within living systems in accordance with the second law of thermodynamics. However, this process takes place against the background of non-spontaneous changes in the same systems - processes that are initiated by the environment. These non-spontaneous processes cannot be predicted by thermodynamics. Thus, Darwinism, the physical foundation of which is hierarchical thermodynamics, only partially determines the direction of the evolution of living beings. Evolution tends to develop according to the second law of thermodynamics, when the environment has relatively little effect on this evolutionary development. In the event of abrupt changes in the environment, evolutionary changes are unpredictable. Thermodynamics sets the trend of evolutionary changes only at certain stages of evolution. In this regard, in general, the theory of Darwinism, as a theory that establishes the direction of evolution, has limited application. This explanation does not require the use of the concept of artificial intelligence. The presented considerations make it possible to assert that life in the universe is characterized by practically infinite biological diversity, including the diversity of civilizations, in appropriate conditions within the framework of thermodynamics. Gladyshev G.P. J Thermodyn Catal, 2017, 8: 2 DOI: 10,4172 / 2157-7544.100018, Life - A Complex Spontaneous Process Takes Place against the Background of Non-Spontaneous Processes Initiated by the Environment P. S. It is interesting to note that in the work “On Growth and Form,” D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson argued that organisms are shaped less by adaptive evolutionary function and more by deep mathematical laws. To understand his argument, you need only look at the combs made by bees. One gets the impression that D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson argued that mathematical laws (thermodynamics) and environment (adaptation) determine evolution.

Virtual reality helps measure vulnerability to stress

Sestrin makes fruit flies live longer

Reduced food intake, known as dietary restriction, leads to a longer lifespan in many animals and can improve health in humans. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the positive effects of dietary restriction are still unclear. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing have now found one possible explanation in fruit flies: they identified a protein named Sestrin that mediates the beneficial effects of dietary restriction. By increasing the amount of Sestrin in flies, researchers were able to extend their lifespan and at the same time these flies were protected against the lifespan-shortening effects of a protein-rich diet. The researchers could further show that Sestrin plays a key role in stem cells in the fly gut thereby improving the health of the fly. The health benefits of dietary restriction have long been known. Recently, it has become clear that restriction of certain food components.

The results in flies revealed Sestrin as a novel potential anti-ageing factor.

https://www.age.mpg.de/public-relations/news/detail/positive-effect...

https://researchnews.cc/news/3854/Sestrin-makes-fruit-flies-live-lo...

Adaptive structures cut down buildings and infrastructures carbon footprint

Fingerprints' moisture-regulating mechanism strengthens human touch: study

Human fingerprints have a self-regulating moisture mechanism that not only helps us to avoid dropping things, but could help scientists to develop better prosthetic limbs, robotic equipment and virtual reality environments, a new study reveals.

Primates—including humans, monkeys and apes—have evolved epidermal ridges on their hands and feet with a higher density of sweat glands than elsewhere on their bodies. This allows precise regulation of skin moisture to give greater levels of grip when manipulating objects.

Fingerprints help to increase friction when in contact with smooth surfaces, boost grip on rough surfaces and enhance tactile sensitivity. Their moisture-regulating mechanism ensures the best possible hydration of the skin's keratin layer to maximize friction.

Primates have evolved epidermal ridges on their hands and feet. During contact with solid objects, fingerprint ridges are important for grip and precision manipulation. They regulate moisture levels from external sources or the sweat pores so that friction is maximized and we avoid 'catastrophic' slip and keep hold of objects. Understanding the influence of finger pad friction will help us to develop more realistic tactile sensors—for example, applications in robotics and prosthetics and haptic feedback systems for touch screens and virtual reality environments.

Ultrasonic lubrication is commonly used in touch screen displays that provide sensory 'haptic' feedback, but its effectiveness is reduced when a user has dry compared with moist finger pads. Moreover, being able to distinguish between fine-textured surfaces, such as textiles, by touch relies on the induced lateral vibrations but the absence of sliding friction inhibits our ability to identify what we are actually touching.

Fingerprints are unique to primates and koalas—appearing to have the dual function of enhancing evaporation of excess moisture whist providing a reservoir of moisture at their bases that enables grip to be maximized.

The researchers have discovered that, when finger pads are in contact with impermeable surfaces, the sweat from pores in the ridges makes the skin softer and thus dramatically increases friction. However, the resulting increase in the compliance of the ridges causes the sweat pores eventually to become blocked and hence prevents excessive moisture that would reduce our ability to grip objects.

Using hi-tech laser-based imaging technology, the scientists found that moisture regulation could be explained by the combination of this sweat pore blocking and the accelerated evaporation of excessive moisture from external wetting as a result of the specific cross-sectional shape of the epidermal furrows when in contact with an object.

These two functions result in maintaining the optimum amount of moisture in the fingerprint ridges that maximizes friction whether the finger pad is initially wet or dry.

Seoung-Mok Yum el al., "Fingerprint ridges allow primates to regulate grip," PNAS (2020). www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2001055117

https://phys.org/news/2020-11-fingerprints-moisture-regulating-mech...

Scientists develop 'more accurate, fast Covid test' method to detect single virus particles

How Bats Can Transmit Viruses | Virus Hunters

New device offers faster way to detect antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Bacterial infections have become one of the biggest health problems worldwide, and a recent study shows that COVID-19 patients have a much greater chance of acquiring secondary bacterial infections, which significantly increases the mortality rate.

Combatting the infections is no easy task, though. When antibiotics are carelessly and excessively prescribed, that leads to the rapid emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistant genes in bacteria—creating an even larger problem. 

One factor slowing down the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria is the amount of time needed to test for it. The conventional method uses extracted bacteria from a patient and compares lab cultures grown with and without antibiotics, but results can take one to two days, increasing the mortality rate, the length of hospital stay and overall cost of care.

To effectively treat the infections, we need to select the right antibiotics with the exact dose for the appropriate duration. There's a need to develop an antibiotic-susceptibility testing method and offer effective guidelines to treat these infections.

A new technique 's developed now that relies on the same principles as the batteries: Bacterial electron transfer, a chemical process that certain microorganisms use for growth, overall cell maintenance and information exchange with surrounding microorganisms. Researchers leverage this biochemical event for a new technique to assess the antibiotic effectiveness against bacteria without monitoring the whole bacterial growth.

A medical team would extract a sample from a patient, inoculate the bacteria with various antibiotics over a few hours and then measure the electron transfer rate. A lower rate would mean that the antibiotics are working.

"The hypothesis is that the antiviral exposure could cause sufficient inhibition to the bacterial electron transfer, so the readout by the device would be sensitive enough to show small variations in the electrical output caused by changes in antibiotic effectiveness. The device could provide results about antibiotic resistance in just five hours, which would serve as an important point-of-care diagnostic tool, especially in areas with limited resources.

Yang Gao et al, A simple, inexpensive, and rapid method to assess antibiotic effectiveness against exoelectrogenic bacteria, Biosensors and Bioelectronics (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2020.112518

https://phys.org/news/2020-12-device-faster-antibiotic-resistant-ba...

AI predicts which drug combinations kill cancer cells

When healthcare professionals treat patients suffering from advanced cancers, they usually need to use a combination of therapies. In addition to cancer surgery, the patients are often treated with radiation therapy, medication or both.

Medication can be combined with drugs selected for specific cancer cells. Combinatorial drug therapies often improve the effectiveness of the treatment and can reduce the harmful side-effects if the dosage of individual drugs can be reduced. However, experimental screening of drug combinations is very slow and expensive, and therefore, often fails to discover the full benefits of combination therapy. With the help of a new machine-learning method, it is possible to identify the best combinations that selectively kill cancer cells with specific genetic or functional makeup.

developed a machine learning model that accurately predicts how combinations of cancer drugs kill various types of cancer cells. The new AI model was trained with a large set of data obtained from previous studies that investigated the association between drugs and cancer cells. "The model learned by the machine is actually a polynomial function familiar from school mathematics, but a very complex one. The model gives very accurate results. 

Heli Julkunen et al. Leveraging multi-way interactions for systematic prediction of pre-clinical drug combination effects, Nature Communications (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19950-z

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-ai-drug-combinations-cancer-...

Discovery shines light on how cancer cells could protect themselves

Researchers have found cancer cells can repair their DNA by using 'cables' in their nucleus. The findings open new possibilities for designing future cancer treatments. They  have made an unexpected discovery about cancer cells and how they harness 'cables' in a cell's nucleus to aid DNA repair and replication.

This discovery  revealed an unexpected function for the protein actin. Actin is well known as the protein that interacts with another protein called myosin to make muscles contract. Actin also forms cables inside cells that connect up and function like girders in a building, contributing to the structure and shape of cells.

While scientists have known for decades that actin plays this critical role in the main body of the cell, its role in the cell's control center, the nucleus, has been controversial.

For cancers to grow, cancer cells need to make many new copies of themselves. Every time this happens, the DNA in the cancer cells' nuclei must be replicated.

DNA replication in a cancer cell is like an old car traveling at its top speed—it frequently breaks down and has to get restarted. Cancer chemotherapy exploits this weakness in cancer cells by making the process break down even more frequently in an attempt to destroy them.

Researchers found that when cancer cells encounter problems replicating their DNA, actin cables form inside the nucleus. This allows the nucleus to change shape and increases the ability of the cancer cell to repair its DNA and restart the replication process.

Using advanced super resolution microscopy, the researchers showed that damaged DNA slides along the actin network to move to areas in the nucleus where repair occurs most efficiently. Scientists were previously unaware that cancer cells protected themselves in this way. Critically, this research found that actin performed these unexpected functions in response to treatment with chemotherapy and helped cancer cells resist the treatment.

Noa Lamm et al. Nuclear F-actin counteracts nuclear deformation and promotes fork repair during replication stress, Nature Cell Biology (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41556-020-00605-6

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-12-discovery-cancer-cells.html?...

Breaking the rules of chemistry unlocks new reaction

Scientists have broken the rules of enzyme engineering to unlock a new method for creating chemical reactions that could unlock a wide range of new applications—from creating new drugs to food production. They show a new method to produce chemical molecules more efficiently through a new one step reaction in the enzyme.

They have demonstrated how a very simple mutation in one of the key residues of a useful enzyme has dramatically expanded its synthetic scope, enabling the use of the mutant variant in the preparation of challenging chemical molecules, as well as natural metabolites that are vital in many biological processes in the body."

Any textbook on enzymes will report on how the catalytic amino acids in any given enzyme family are highly conserved, they are in fact a signature of the type of chemistry an enzyme can do. Variations do occur and in some cases, if the replacing amino acid is similar, both can be found in significant proportion in Nature, but others can be much less common and are found only in a limited number of species.

"In this study theyhave explored an untouched area of enzyme engineering and modified the a key catalytic residue in the active site of an enzyme. Previously it was thought that doing this would cause a loss of activity of the enzyme but we have found this is not the case when this biocatalyst is used in a synthetic direction and in fact challenging but very useful molecules can now be made under mild conditions which could be easily scaled up and replicated commercially for use in a wide range of products.

Martina L. Contente et al, A strategic Ser/Cys exchange in the catalytic triad unlocks an acyltransferase-mediated synthesis of thioesters and tertiary amides, Nature Catalysis (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41929-020-00539-0

https://phys.org/news/2020-12-chemistry-reaction.html?utm_source=nw...

Continents prone to destruction in their infancy, study finds

Geologists have shed new light on the early history of the Earth through their discovery that continents were weak and prone to destruction in their infancy.

The Earth is our home and over its 4,500,000,000 (4.5 billion) year history has evolved to form the environment we live in and the resources on which we depend.

However, the early history of Earth, covering its first 1.5 billion years remains almost unknown and, consequently, poorly understood.

This was the time of formation of the first continents, the emergence of land, the development of the early atmosphere, and the appearance of primordial life—all of which are the result of the dynamics of our planet's interiors.

Reproducing the conditions of the early Earth in computer-generated numerical models, scientists showed that the release of internal primordial heat, three to four times that of the present-day, caused large melting in the shallow mantle, which was then extruded as magma (molten rock) onto the Earth's surface.

According to the researchers, the shallow mantle left behind by this process was dehydrated and rigid and formed the keels of the first continents.

These results explain that continents remained weak and prone to destruction in their infancy, ~4.5 to ~4.0 billion years ago, and then progressively differentiated and became rigid over the next billion years to form the core of our modern continents. The emergence of these rigid early continents resulted in their weathering and erosion, changing the composition of the atmosphere and providing nutrients to the ocean seeding the development of life.

Thermochemical lithosphere differentiation and the origin of cratonic mantle, Nature (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2976-3 , www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2976-3

https://phys.org/news/2020-12-continents-prone-destruction-infancy....

Flightless birds more common globally before human-driven extinctions

There would be at least four times as many flightless bird species on Earth today if it were not for human influences, finds a study by researchers. The study, published in Science Advances, finds that flightlessness evolved much more frequently among birds than would be expected if you only looked at current species. 

Researchers say their findings show how human-driven extinctions have biased our understanding of evolution. 

Human impacts have substantially altered most ecosystems worldwide, and caused the extinction of hundreds of animal species. This can distort evolutionary patterns, especially if the characteristics being studied, such as flightlessness in birds, make species more vulnerable to extinction. We get a biased picture of how evolution really happens.

For the study, the researchers compiled an exhaustive list of all bird species known to have gone extinct since the rise of humans. They identified 581 bird species that went extinct from the Late Pleistocene (126,000 years ago) to the present, almost all of which were likely due to human influences.

The fossils or other records show that 166 of these extinct species lacked the ability to fly. Only 60 flightless bird species survive today.

Birds that cannot fly were much more diverse than previous studies had assumed, the study shows. The findings also confirm that flightless species were also much more likely to go extinct than species that could fly.

"Anthropogenic extinctions conceal widespread evolution of flightlessness in birds" Science Advances (2020). advances.sciencemag.org/lookup … .1126/sciadv.abb6095

https://phys.org/news/2020-12-flightless-birds-common-globally-huma...

Cancer cells 'remove blindfold' to spread

Cunning ways of cancer cells

Cancer cells spread by switching on and off abilities to sense their surroundings, move, hide and grow new tumours, a new study has found.

This sensitivity to their surroundings is the key ability that makes small numbers of cancer cells better at spreading than other cells in a tumour, scientists  discovered.

The researchers developed a new method combining evolutionary biology and artificial intelligence techniques to study the movement and shape of cancer cells in more detail than ever, to learn why some can move more easily to different parts of the body and grow new tumours.

They found some cells displayed an apparent 'awareness' and ability to react to their surroundings, that was previously thought to be lost in of cancer. This means they may be able to adapt their shape to navigate barriers like blood vessel walls or other competing cells far more efficiently in order to replicate elsewhere.

 A phenotypic switch in the dispersal strategy of breast cancer cells selected for metastatic colonisation, Proceedings of the Royal Society B (2020). rspb.royalsocietypublishing.or … .1098/rspb.2020.2523

https://phys.org/news/2020-12-cancer-cells-blindfold.html?utm_sourc...

How microorganisms can produce renewable energy for us

Scientists have been studying the ability of microorganisms - the smallest living things on Earth—to produce energy other than for their natural activities for more than a century. This transformation is what scientists call a bioelectrochemical system.

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is one form of bioelectrochemical system.

This system generally has one anode chamber (negative electrode) and one cathode chamber (positive electrode). MFC works in a similar way to batteries.

Microorganisms decompose organic or inorganic matters (or substrates) in the anode chamber to produce electrons. These electrons flow from anode to cathode via an external circuit made of conductive materials, such as copper-based wires, to generate electricity.

Deciding on the types of microorganism to generate the energy is an influential factor.

To date, the groups of microorganisms that demonstrate the ability to transfer electrons from their cells to the electrodes—called exoelectrogens – are in particular Geobacter and Shewnella.

Geobacter sulfurreducens KN400 can generate up to 3.9 Watts of electricity per square meter (W/m²) of anode area. Shewanella putrefaciens produces up to 4.4 W/m².

For its spaceship, NASA generates energy from Shewanella oneidensis bacteria.

Other microorganisms such as Rhodopseudomonas palustris DX1, Candida melibiosica, Saccharomyces ... also demonstrate exoelectrogenic capabilities.

A new exoelectrogenic microorganism is Desulfuromonas acetexigens.

Exoelectrogens can be obtained from various environments, such as waste water, compost, manure, dirt, river or lake sediments, swamps and marine ecosystems.

https://theconversation.com/this-is-how-microorganisms-can-produce-...

Plant-generated electricity

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Protein molecules in cells function as miniature antennas

Researchers led by Josef Lazar of the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences (IOCB Prague) have demonstrated that molecules of fluorescent proteins act as antennas with optical properties (i.e. the ability to absorb and emit light) dependent on their spatial orientation. First discovered in jellyfish, fluorescent proteins are nowadays widely used in studies of molecular processes in living cells and organisms. The newly described properties of these molecules will find applications in basic biological research as well as in novel drug discovery. A team of researchers from IOCB Prague, the Institute of Microbiology, and the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Czech Academy of Sciences has published the findings in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Carbon dioxide converted to ethylene—the 'rice of the industry'

In recent times, electrochemical conversion (e-chemical) technology—which converts carbon dioxide to high-value-added compounds using renewable electricity—has gained research attention as a carbon capture utilization (CCU) technology. This green carbon resource technology employs electrochemical reactions using carbon dioxide and water as the only feedstock chemical to synthesize various compounds, instead of conventional fossil fuels. Electrochemical CO2 conversion can produce value-added and important molecules in the petrochemical industry such as carbon monoxide and ethylene. Ethylene, referred to as the 'rice of the industry,' is widely used to produce various chemical products and polymers, but it is more challenging to produce from electrochemical CO2 reduction. The lack of understanding of the reaction pathway by which carbon dioxide is converted to ethylene has limited development of high-performance catalyst systems and in advancing its application to produce more valuable chemicals.

Reversal of biological clock restores vision in old mice

anti-ageing treatment restores sight in mice

Scientists recently have restored sight in mice using a "milestone" treatment that returns cells to a more youthful state and could one day help treat glaucoma and other age-related diseases.

The process offers the tantalising possibility of effectively turning back time at the cellular level, helping cells recover the ability to heal damage caused by injury, disease and age.

The treatment is based on the properties that cells have when the body is developing as an embryo. At that time, cells can repair and regenerate themselves, but that capacity declines rapidly with age.

The scientists reasoned that if cells could be induced to return to that youthful state, they would be able to repair damage.

To turn back the clock, they modified a process usually used to create the "blank slate" cells known as induced pluripotent stem cells.

Those cells are created by injecting a cocktail of four proteins that help reprogramme a cell.

The team did not want to reprogramme cells all the way back to that blank-slate status, but to restore them to a more youthful condition.

So they tweaked the cocktail, using just three of the "youth-restoring" proteins -- dubbed OSK -- in the hope they could turn the clock back to just the right point.

They targeted the retinal ganglion cells in the eye, which are linked to the brain through connections called axons.

These axons form the optic nerve -- and damage to them caused by injury, ageing or disease causes poor vision and blindness.

To test the effects of the cocktail, they first injected OSK into the eyes of mice with optic nerve injuries.

They saw a twofold increase in the number of surviving retinal ganglion cells and a fivefold increase in nerve regrowth.

The treatment allowed the nerves to grow back towards the brain. Normally they would simply die.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03403-0#:~:text=Research....

https://researchnews.cc/news/3916/-Milestone--anti-ageing-treatment...

Engineering a viral solution to cancer

Virotherapy is a treatment using biotechnology to convert viruses into therapeutic agents by reprogramming viruses to treat diseases. There are three main branches of virotherapy: anti-cancer oncolytic viruses,

While doctors can successfully treat some types of skin cancer at the surface with human-engineered viruses, scientists have yet to find a way to inject these types of viruses to seek and destroy other cancers in the body, such as lung cancer.

But medical researchers at Case Western Reserve University and Emory University are reporting remarkable success in eliminating human cancer cells in mouse models by injecting a modified strain of adenovirus into the bloodstream.

Oncolytic viruses, some found in nature and others modified in the laboratory, are a class of viruses that can infect and kill tumor cells, reproducing efficiently in the tumor without harming healthy cells.

These Scientists performed cryo-electron microscopy and structural modeling to visualize the engineered adenovirus generated by other scientists. Each change in the engineered virus allowed it to evade a particular defense by the body.

 tweaked the adenovirus (named the Ad5-3M virus, indicating three different engineered mutations) to successfully skirt three antiviral immune responses.

Those three responses were:

• Binding: Factors in the blood itself bind the virus and try to clear it through the liver.

• Cytokine storm: Flexible loops on the structure of the virus interact with the body’s host cells, triggering a massive and possibly deadly release of a group of proteins or peptides called cytokines.

• Pathogen clearance: Multiple components of the immune system act in a concerted way to clear pathogens from the body.

https://thedaily.case.edu/engineering-a-viral-solution-to-cancer/

https://researchnews.cc/news/3902/Engineering-a-viral-solution-to-c...

Peer Review: Implementing a "publish, then review" model of publishing

From July 2021 eLife will only review manuscripts already published as preprints, and will focus its editorial process on producing public reviews to be posted alongside the preprints.

https://elifesciences.org/articles/64910?utm_source=content_alert&a...

Organic Molecules