Spicy perfection isn't to prevent infection: study

Do spices used in dishes  help stop infection?

We have an answer to this Q now.

The quick takeaway is: probably not.

Researchers from Australia feasted on a true smorgasbord of data, examining more the 33,000 recipes from 70 cuisines containing 93 different spices to find the answer  and this is their conclusion: 

The theory  that spicy foods helped people survive in hot climates where the risk of infection from food can have a big cost in terms of health and survival doesn't hold up. 

Spicier food is found in hotter countries, but our analysis provides no clear reason to believe that this is primarily a cultural adaptation to reducing infection risk from food.

The study instead shows that while use of spice is related to the risk of foodborne illness, it's also associated with a wide range of health outcomes. In fact, spice use is even related to causes of death that have nothing to do with infection risk, such as fatal car accidents.

So there is a significant relationship between life expectancy and spicy food. But this doesn't mean that spicy food shortens your life span or makes you crash your car. Instead, there are many socioeconomic indicators that all scale together, and many of them also scale with spice use.

because the spiciness of cuisines scales with many socio-economic factors, like gross domestic product per capita and life expectancy, it is difficult to tease apart the key causes. However, the researchers could rule out some possible explanations of why some areas use more spices in their cooking.

Spicier foods are not explained by variation in climate, human population density or cultural diversity.

And patterns of spice use don't seem to be driven by biodiversity, nor by the number of different crops grown, nor even by the number of spices growing naturally in the area.

Whatever the key drivers for the use of spice, one thing is certain—our palettes and plates are a lot better for it!

 There is little evidence that spicy food in hot countries is an adaptation to reducing infection risk, Nature Human Behaviour (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41562-020-01039-8 , www.nature.com/articles/s41562-020-01039-8

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-spicy-isnt-infection.html?utm_source=...

Part 2

The scientific community is only now starting to study the fascinating physical processes that produce respiratory droplets. We just do not much about it yet. Having no reason to discard any of these data, we set out to compare the consequent scenarios.

a major effort is needed to gain an understanding or at least a robust characterization of droplet size distribution in human expulsions. In the absence of more conclusive data, and despite the importance of social distancing, we are unable to predict what the safe distance is.

disease transmission may also depend on the relative humidity (RH) of the environment. In dry conditions (RH lower than about 45%), droplets dry out and shrink to their crystallized salt core, similar to what happens as sea water dries out leaving solid salt on our skin. This process leaves the virions trapped onto the solid salt nucleus within a fraction of a second. In contrast, in moist conditions (RH larger than 45%), droplets never evaporate entirely and remain liquid at all times. The evaporation process is highly nontrivial, as humidity fluctuates widely due to turbulence as shown in the video for a typical cough (color coded according to the value of RH).

Are dry nuclei or liquid droplets more infective? This second issue is still debated, and no consensus has been reached. Imagine that SARS-Cov-2 absolutely needs water to survive. In dry days, disease transmission would be hindered and we would be much safer than in moist conditions. The question for social distancing would then be how far liquid droplets travel before complete evaporation, and we could interrogate the model described above to find the answer. We could also imagine the opposite scenario, where virions better thrive on solid nuclei and suffer in droplets, for example, due to the large concentration of salt or saliva. In this case, we would want to pay particular attention during dry days, and potentially keep indoors environments more moist.

Conclusion 2

• Humidity in the environment dictates the final state of the exhaled saliva droplets which either remain in a liquid state or reduce to their dry residual depending on the ambient relative humidity.
• A major effort is needed to define the infectious potential of the SARS-CoV-2 virus when transported on dry nuclei versus liquid droplets.

M. E. Rosti et al. Fluid dynamics of COVID-19 airborne infection suggests urgent data for a scientific design of social distancing, Scientific Reports (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-80078-7

Duguid, J. P. The size and the duration of air-carriage of respiratory droplets and droplet-nuclei. Epidemiol. Infect. 44, 471–479 (1946).

Yang, S., Lee, G. W., Chen, C.-M., Wu, C.-C. & Yu, K.-P. The size and concentration of droplets generated by coughing in human subjects. J. Aerosol Med. 20, 484–494 (2007).

https://sciencex.com/news/2021-02-fluid-dynamics-covid-airborne-inf...

Fluid dynamics of COVID-19 airborne infection suggests urgent data ...

Part 1

Infection by COVID-19 is largely caused by airborne transmission, a phenomenon that has rapidly attracted a great deal of attention from the scientific community. The SARS-CoV-2 virus hosted in different tracts of the respiratory system is emitted as we breathe, speak or sing or through more violent expulsions like coughing or sneezing. In these common actions, people emit thousands or even millions of small droplets of saliva acting as a vector for the virus. Given that the disease travels on respiratory droplets, social distancing is of paramount importance to limit the spread. Indeed, droplets are heavier than air, and sooner or later, they fall to the ground, which will tame their infectious potential.

The reach of a droplet depends on its size. We all know from direct experience that when we speak, cough or sneeze, we often discharge large droplets: We can clearly see them and even feel them on our skin. But besides the visible droplets, we also scatter a myriad of invisible tiny droplets. This substantial variation in droplet size, from micron to millimeter, causes a great deal of uncertainty in determining the actual reach of the viral load expelled by an infected individual.

 One meter is not a sound safety distance. To be clear, it is important to keep as far apart as possible, but we should not feel safe when standing one meter apart.

 The life of a respiratory droplet is dictated by the exact same physical processes that produce clouds. As cloud droplets are carried by the wind, they often encounter moist air and grow by condensation to become rain; we know all about the equations that describe both transport and condensation in clouds because they have been studied for centuries. Respiratory droplets undergo the same two physical processes, except respiratory droplets are carried by the air emitted in the cough and encounter dry air outside the mouth; thus, instead of growing, they shrink from their original size to their final size by evaporation.

Does droplet size matter? The answer is yes, and the reason is quite intuitive: Large droplets fall quickly, whereas small droplets fall slowly. As a consequence, smaller droplets linger in air for longer and may travel several meters before they finally reach ground. On the other hand, larger droplets travel less far in air, as they promptly reach ground. To follow the erratic path and shrinkage of the many diverse droplets from emission to landing, we used the equations from cloud physics for the two key processes of droplet transport and evaporation. Importantly, we could predict the fate of a droplet given its initial size when it first exited the mouth.

 We do not really know the typical size of the emitted droplets in a cough; some studies claim that the vast majority (97%) of saliva droplets are smaller than one micron in radius; other authors report evidence that only 45% of droplets are sub-micron in size. Others yet find no evidence of sub-micron droplets. Discrepancies may be partly explained by the use of different techniques, but it is also possible that there is an intrinsic variability, with different people and conditions causing droplets to shift in size. 

Tiny 'micro' earthquakes turn groundwater acidic

Tiny earthquakes, too small to be felt on the Earth's surface, create chemical changes which turn groundwater acidic, according to newly-published research at the University of Strathclyde.

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Distant 'baby' black holes seem to be misbehaving—and experts are p...

Radio images of the sky have revealed hundreds of "baby" and supermassive black holes in distant galaxies, with the galaxies' light bouncing around in unexpected ways.

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New window system cuts sound levels by 26 decibels, achieves four t...

Home owners, especially those in noisy districts, can look forward to greater living comfort with a new invention by researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) School of Design and Environment (SDE) that reduces outdoor noise and improves indoor ventilation.

Scientists Discover an Immense, Unknown Hydrocarbon Cycle Hiding in The Oceans

In the awful wake of an oil spill, it's typically the smallest of organisms who do most of the cleaning up. Surprisingly, scientists know very little about the tools these tiny clean-up crews have at their disposal.

In  a new study, researchers have uncovered a whole new cycle of natural hydrocarbon emissions and recycling facilitated by a diverse range of tiny organisms – which could help us better understand how some microbes have the power to clean up the mess an oil spill leaves in the ocean.

Just two types of marine cyanobacteria are adding up to 500 times more hydrocarbons to the ocean per year than the sum of all other types of petroleum inputs to the ocean, including natural oil seeps, oil spills, fuel dumping and run-off from land.

But unlike more familiar human contributions of hydrocarbons into our ocean, this isn't a one-way, local dump.

These hydrocarbons, primarily in the form of pentadecane (nC15), are spread across 40 percent of Earth's surface, and other microbes feast on them. They're constantly being cycled in such a way that Love and colleagues estimate only around 2 million metric tonnes are present in the water at any one time.

Every two days you produce and consume all the pentadecane in the ocean. So it probably shouldn't be a huge surprise that traces of our own emissions drowned out our ability to see the immense hydrocarbon cycle that naturally occurs in our oceans.

The researchers were able to confirm the pentadecane in their seawater samples were of biological origin, by using a gas chromatograph. 

Analysing their data, they found concentrations of pentadecane increased with greater abundance of cyanobacteria cells, and the hydrocarbon's geographic and vertical distribution were consistent with these microbe's ecology.

Cyanobacteria Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus are responsible for around a quarter of the global ocean's conversion of sunlight energy into organic matter (primary production) and previous laboratory cultivation revealed they produce pentadecane in the process.

Valentine explains the cyanobacteria likely use pentadecane as a stronger component for highly curved cellular membranes, like those found in chloroplasts (the organelle that photosynthesise). 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-020-00859-8

https://www.sciencealert.com/we-ve-overlooked-an-immense-hydrocarbo...

How a tiny spider uses silk to lift prey 50 times its own weight

Spinning the right lines can accomplish feats of strength when muscle isn’t enough

A family of spiders can catch prey many times their own weight by hitching silk lines to their quarry and hoisting the meaty prize up into the air.

Tangle web spiders, in the Theridiidae family, are masters of using silk to amplify muscle power.

See how a tiny spider hoists massive prey into its web 

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/tiny-spider-uses-silk-lift-prey...

COVID-19 antibodies last for 6 months following infection, study finds

Coronavirus antibodies last for at least six months after infection for the majority of people who have had the virus, according to a new study.

Antibodies are produced by the body’s immune system to fight off an invading bacteria or virus. After an infection they can linger on to fend off future infections, though it’s clear not whether this is the case in COVID-19 infections.

According to the study, 99 per cent of participants who tested positive retained coronavirus antibodies for three months after being infected, while 88 per cent did so for the full six months of the study.

Researchers say this indicates antibodies produced following natural infection may provide a degree of protection for most people against getting infected again for at least six months.

https://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/media/x0nd5sul/ukb_serologystudy_report...

https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/covid-19-antibodies-last-for-6-mo...

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Science can be magic!

https://twitter.com/PhysicsVldeo/status/1357298542692376577?s=20

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https://twitter.com/WElRDPHYSICS/status/1357294888488849409?s=20

CRISPR editing of mitochondria: Promising new biotech?

Although the CRISPR/Cas9 system has seen widespread application in editing the nuclear genome, using it to edit the mitochondrial genome has been problematic. The main hurdles have been a lack of suitable editing sites in the small mtDNA, and the traditional difficulty of importing the guide RNA into the mitochondrial matrix where nucleoids can be accessed.

Two recently published papers suggest that significant progress is being made on both fronts. The first paper, published in the journal SCIENCE CHINA Life Sciences, used CRISPR techniques to induce insertion/deletion (InDel) events at several mtDNA microhomologous regions. These InDel events were triggered specifically by double-strand break (DSB) lesions. The authors found that InDel mutagenesis was significantly improved by sgRNA multiplexing and a DSB repair inhibitor called iniparib, suggesting a rewiring DSB repair mechanisms to manipulate mtDNA. In the second paper, published in the journal Trends in Molecular Medicine, the researchers give a global overview of recent advances in different forms of nuclear and mitochondrial genome editing.

Bang Wang et al. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated mutagenesis at microhomologous regions of human mitochondrial genome, Science China Life Sciences (2021). DOI: 10.1007/s11427-020-1819-8

Jiameng Dan et al. Expanding the Toolbox and Targets for Gene Editing, Trends in Molecular Medicine (2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.molmed.2020.12.005

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-crispr-mitochondria-biotech.html?utm_...

Genes for face shape identified

Genes that determine the shape of a person's facial profile have been discovered by a UCL-led research team.

The researchers identified 32 gene regions that influenced facial features such as nose, lip, jaw, and brow shape, nine of which were entirely new discoveries while the others validated genes with prior limited evidence.

The analysis of data from more than 6,000 volunteers across Latin America was published today in Science Advances.

"A GWAS in Latin Americans identifies novel face shape loci, implicating VPS13B and a Denisovan introgressed region in facial variation" Science Advances (2021). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abc6160

Study: 'Hidden' genes could be key in development of new antibiotics

A study from the Center for Phage Technology, part of Texas A&M's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Texas A&M AgriLife Research, shows how the "hidden" genes in bacteriophages—types of viruses that infect and destroy bacteria—may be key to the development of a new class of antibiotics for human health.

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Research establishes a new method to predict individual risk of cogn...

The early prognosis of high-risk older adults for amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), using noninvasive and sensitive neuromarkers, is key for early prevention of Alzheimer's disease. A recent study, published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, by researchers at the University of Kentucky establishes what they believe is a new way to predict the risk years before a clinical diagnosis. Their work shows that direct measures of brain signatures during mental activity are more sensitive and accurate predictors of memory decline than current standard behavioral testing.

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Removing microRNAs from triple-negative breast cancer cells can rev...

A new study led by the University of Westminster shows that removing small genetic parts of our genomes called microRNAs from triple negative breast cancer cells can reverse its spread.

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Phys.Org Vibrating nanodroplets may invade a tumor Phys.Org Researchers of the University of Twente now demonstrate a new phenomenon triggering droplet vaporization: It happens at the exact acoustic resonance frequency and causes fast and efficient lowering of the pressure inside the droplet, until below the ...

A new study shows that removing small genetic parts of our genomes called microRNAs from triple negative breast cancer cells can reverse its spread.

The study, published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, also identified that microRNAs could be targeted for early detection and treatment of triple negative breast cancer.

microRNAs (miRs) are small genetic materials that play important roles in cellular signaling and can have a major impact on how cancer progresses and spreads, known as metastasis.

This research study identified that the amount of a major cancer related microRNA, miR-21, is increased in triple negative breast cancer and is also linked to metastasis.

The researchers then used a genome editing method (CRISPR/Cas9) to remove the miR-21 out of the cancer cells and found that the metastatic features of the cells were reversed. In addition, these gene-edited cells released fewer extracellular vesicles, which are small lipid blobs released from cells and play important roles in cancer spread.

The team also found that less of the harmful miR-21 was carried inside the vesicles of the gene edited cells, and this may play a major role in cancer spread as these vesicles carry important disease related molecules to neighboring cells.

Elif Damla Arisan et al. MiR-21 is Required for the Epithelial–Mesenchymal Transition in MDA-MB-231 Breast Cancer Cells, International Journal of Molecular Sciences (2021). DOI: 10.3390/ijms22041557

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-02-micrornas-triple-negative-br...

Ants swallow their own acidic venom to filter their gut microbiome

Spitting formic acid isn’t just a defense mechanism, it’s also a disinfectant

A new study published in the journal eLife showed that some ants might be using a formic acid-laced venom to filter out harmful bacteria from food, helping them control which bacteria reach their guts. Formicine ants, named for the formic acid in their venom, use the substance to disinfect their food. In doing so, they also seem to allow acid-tolerant bacteria to pass through to their guts.

https://elifesciences.org/articles/60287

https://massivesci.com/articles/carpenter-ant-microbiome-formic-aci...

Got a sweet tooth? Your gut bacteria are asking for some sugar

The gut microbiome and the brain communicate on a desire for glucose (in mice)

found that the gut-brain axis (the connection between bacteria in your gut and your brain), is essential in the sugar preference of mice. The scientists directly injected either glucose or an artificial sweetener to the guts of mice, and saw an activation of different regions of the brain when glucose was present, but not with the artificial sweetener. 

Next, they genetically silenced that specific brain region, which completely took away the mice’s preference for sugar. They were also able to modify that region to induce the mice to enjoy new flavors.

One of the key things in the study is that all of the action is happening away from the tongue. This shows that there are circuits inducing our love for sugar, beyond our love for sweet tastes. This also helps explain why artificial sweeteners have not changed our consumption of sugar, since they fail to activate this new gut-brain circuit. Although we need to verify how this translates to humans, this new circuit offers new exciting insights.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2199-7

https://massivesci.com/notes/gut-brain-axis-sugar-microbiome/?utm_s...

Origami-inspired medical patch for sealing internal injuries

Cyanobacteria could revolutionize the plastic industry

Cyanobacteria produce plastic naturally as a by-product of photosynthesis—and they do it in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way. Researchers have now succeeded for the first time in modifying the bacteria's metabolism to produce this natural plastic in quantities enabling it to be used industrially. This new plastic could come to compete with environmentally harmful petroleum-based plastics.

On the one hand, petroleum based plastic can be used in a variety of ways and is inexpensive, for example as packaging for food. On the other hand, it is the cause of increasing environmental problems. More and more plastic waste ends up in the natural environment, where it pollutes the oceans or enters the food chain in the form of microplastics. Furthermore, plastic is mainly made from petroleum, which releases additional CO₂ into the atmosphere when it is burned.

A solution to these problems may lie in a strain of cyanobacteria with surprising properties. Cyanobacteria of the genus Synechocystis produce polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), a natural form of plastic. PHB can be used in a similar way to the plastic polypropylene but is rapidly degradable in the environment, as well as pollutant-free. However, the amount produced by these bacteria is usually very small. Researchers now succeeded in identifying a control system in the bacteria that limits the intracellular flow of fixed carbon towards PHB. After removing the corresponding regulator and implementing several further genetic changes, the amount of PHB produced by the bacteria increased enormously and eventually accounted for more than 80 percent of the cell's total mass. So they have created veritable plastic bacteria.

Since the blue-green bacteria only need water, CO₂ and sunlight, the researchers think they are ideal candidates for climate-friendly and sustainable production. Once this is established in industry, the entire production of plastics could be revolutionized. The long-term goal is to optimize the use of the bacteria and to increase it to the point where large-scale use becomes possible.

Tim Orthwein et al. The novel PII-interactor PirC identifies phosphoglycerate mutase as key control point of carbon storage metabolism in cyanobacteria, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2019988118

Moritz Koch et al. Maximizing PHB content in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803: a new metabolic engineering strategy based on the regulator PirC, Microbial Cell Factories (2020). DOI: 10.1186/s12934-020-01491-1

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-cyanobacteria-revolutionize-plastic-i...

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The direct observation of the Pauli principle
The Pauli exclusion principle is a law of quantum mechanics introduced by Austrian physicist Wolfgang Pauli, which offers valuable insight about the structure of matter. More specifically, the Pauli principle states that two or more identical fermions cannot simultaneously occupy the same quantum state inside a quantum system.
Researchers at Heidelberg University's Physics Institute have recently observed this principle directly in a continuous system comprised of up to six particles. Their experiment, outlined in a paper published in Physical Review Letters, could pave the way towards a better understanding of strongly interacting systems comprised of fermions.
Observation of Pauli crystals. Physical Review Letters(2021). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.020401.
https://phys.org/news/2021-02-pauli-principle.html?utm_source=nwlet...

Uncovering how some corals resist bleaching
Coral reefs are beautiful and diverse ecosystems that power the economies of many coastal communities. They're also facing threats that are driving their decline, including the planet's warming waters. This threat hit extreme levels in 2015, when high temperatures were turning corals white around the globe.
Hidden in the aftermath of this extreme event, however, were biochemical clues as to why some corals bleached while others were resistant, information that could help reefs better weather warming waters in the future. These clues have now been uncovered by researchers.
The researchers discovered chemical signatures in the corals' biology, or biomarkers, that are present in organisms that were most resistant to the bleaching. This previously hidden insight could help researchers and conservationists better restore and protect reefs around the world.

Usually, we think of biomarkers as signatures of disease, but this could be a signature of health. This could help us restore reefs with the most resistant stock.Corals are symbiotic communities where coral animal cells build homes for algae that provide them energy and create their colors. When corals bleach, however, the algae are lost and leave behind skeletons that are susceptible to disease and death.This symbiosis also plays a role in a coral's resistance and resilience to bleaching.
Neighboring corals could behave completely differently in response to high temperatures. One coral could bleach completely while its neighbor maintained a healthy golden hue.
Researchers now thoroughly analyzed the biochemicals of corals collected from this biological library using a method called metabolomics. The corals are completely different in their chemistry, but you can't tell until you run the mass spec and they did just that now.
The team found that corals that were resistant to bleaching and those that were susceptible hosted two different communities of algae. The distinguishing feature between these algal populations was found in their cells, in compounds known as lipids.
The researchers' metabolomic analysis detected two different lipid formulations. Bleaching-resistant corals featured algae that have what are known as saturated lipids. Susceptible corals had more unsaturated lipids.This knowledge can be used to protect corals in the future. Conservation biology has some of the more successful stories in modern scientific history
Metabolomic signatures of coral bleaching history, Nature Ecology & Evolution (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41559-020-01388-7 , www.nature.com/articles/s41559-020-01388-7
https://phys.org/news/2021-02-uncovering-corals-resist.html?utm_sou...

'Magnetic graphene' forms a new kind of magnetism

Researchers have identified a new form of magnetism in so-called magnetic graphene, which could point the way toward understanding superconductivity in this unusual type of material.

They were able to control the conductivity and magnetism of iron thiophosphate (FePS₃), a two-dimensional material which undergoes a transition from an insulator to a metal when compressed. This class of magnetic materials offers new routes to understanding the physics of new magnetic states and superconductivity.

Using new high-pressure techniques, the researchers have shown what happens to magnetic graphene during the transition from insulator to conductor and into its unconventional metallic state, realized only under ultra-high pressure conditions. When the material becomes metallic, it remains magnetic, which is contrary to previous results and provides clues as to how the electrical conduction in the metallic phase works. The newly discovered high-pressure magnetic phase likely forms a precursor to superconductivity so understanding its mechanisms is vital.

Their results, published in the journal Physical Review X, also suggest a way that new materials could be engineered to have combined conduction and magnetic properties, which could be useful in the development of new technologies such as spintronics, which could transform the way in which computers process information.

Matthew J. Coak et al. 'Emergent Magnetic Phases in Pressure-Tuned van der Waals Antiferromagnet FePS₃.' Physical Review X (2021). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevX.11.011024

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-magnetic-graphene-kind-magnetism.html...

Plate tectonic evolution from 1 Billion years ago to the present.

Glacier breaks in India's Himalayas linked to global warming

Indian rescue crews struggled to reach trapped victims Sunday after part of a glacier in the Himalayas broke off and released a torrent of water and debris that slammed into two hydroelectric plants. At least nine people were killed and 140 were missing in a disaster experts said appeared to point to global warming.

Video from India's northern state of Uttarakhand showed the muddy, concrete-gray floodwaters tumbling through a valley and surging into a dam, breaking it into pieces with little resistance before roaring on downstream. The flood turned the countryside into what looked like an ash-colored moonscape.

The flood was caused when a portion of Nanda Devi glacier snapped off in the morning, releasing water trapped behind it. It rushed down the mountain and into other bodies of water, forcing the evacuation of many villages along the banks of the Alaknanda and Dhauliganga rivers. A hydroelectric plant on the Alaknanda was destroyed, and a plant under construction on the Dhauliganga was damaged.

Scientists have long known that global warming is contributing to the melting and the breakup of the world's glaciers.Scientists have long known that global warming is contributing to the melting and the breakup of the world's glaciers. While data on the cause of the disaster was not yet available, "this looks very much like a climate change event as the glaciers are melting due to global warming”, according to experts.

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-glacier-india-himalayas.html?utm_sour...

Rare blast's remains discovered in Milky Way's center

Astronomers may have found our galaxy's first example of an unusual kind of stellar explosion. This discovery, made with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, adds to the understanding of how some stars shatter and seed the universe with elements critical for life on Earth.

How virally derived transposons are domesticated to evolve new forms of life

About half of our genome is made up of transposable elements (TEs), also known as transposons. These 'jumping genes' are short stretches of DNA that have the unique ability to duplicate themselves and change their position within our code. While these philanderings play an essential role in the evolution of the species, if unchecked, transposons can wreak havoc on the genome.

Although the transcription and proliferation of TEs is usually constrained by DNA methylation or other repressive chromatin amendments, TEs sometimes escape these countermeasures. For example, at certain periods of germ cell gametogenesis and early embryonic development, many epigenetic controls are wiped clean during scheduled system-wide reboots. Fortunately, cells have a backup mechanism known as the PIWI/piRNA pathway which can repress TEs. A recent paper in Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology investigates the many ways in which piRNAs can silence TEs, and defines new mechanisms by which they might also control gene expression.

Pei-Hsuan Wu et al. Defining the functions of PIWI-interacting RNAs, Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41580-021-00336-y

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-virally-derived-transposons-domestica...

Biologists uncover forests' unexpected role in climate change

New research from West Virginia University biologists shows that trees around the world are consuming more carbon dioxide than previously reported, making forests even more important in regulating the Earth's atmosphere and forever shift how we think about climate change.

In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Professor Richard Thomas and alumnus Justin Mathias (BS Biology, '13 and Ph.D. Biology, '20) synthesized published tree ring studies. They found that increases in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over the past century have caused an uptick in trees' water-use efficiency, the ratio of carbon dioxide taken up by photosynthesis to the water lost by transpiration—the act of trees "breathing out" water vapor.

We think of forests as providing ecosystem services. Those services can be a lot of different things—recreation, timber, industry. We demonstrate how forests perform another important service: acting as sinks for carbon dioxide. Our research shows that forests consume large amounts of carbon dioxide globally. Without that, more carbon dioxide would go into the air and build up in the atmosphere even more than it already is, which could exacerbate climate change. Our work shows yet another important reason to preserve and maintain our forests and keep them healthy."

Justin M. Mathias et al. Global tree intrinsic water use efficiency is enhanced by increased atmospheric CO2 and modulated by climate and plant functional types, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2014286118

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-biologists-uncover-forests-unexpected...

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The invisible killer lurking in our consumer products

Consumer products such as food, cosmetics and clothes might be filled with nanomaterials, unbeknownst to us. The use of nanomaterials remains unregulated and they do not show up in lists of ingredients. This is a cause of concern since nanomaterials can be more dangerous than COVID-19 in the long term if no safety action is taken: They are tricky to measure, they enter the food chain, and most alarmingly, they can penetrate cells and accumulate in organs.

Thanks to applications of nanotechnology, many diseases could soon be eradicated; additionally, engineers are developing materials that are 100 times stronger than steel, batteries that last 10 times longer than before, solar panels that yield twice as much energy than old ones, advanced skin care products, and self-cleaning cars, windows and clothes.

Nanotechnology has the potential to become the next industrial revolution. The global market for nanomaterials is growing.

Yet, nanomaterials and their use in consumer products can be problematic. A new study published in Nature Communications recently sheds light on possible harms and what happens to them when they enter an organism. An international team of researchers developed a sensitive method to find and trace nanomaterials in blood and tissues, and traced nanomaterials across an aquatic food chain, from microorganisms to fish, a major source of food in many countries. This method can open new horizons for taking safety actions.

nanomaterials bind strongly to microorganisms, which are a source of food for other organisms, and this is the way they can enter our food chain. Once inside an organism, nanomaterials can change their shape and size and turn into a more dangerous material that can easily penetrate cells and spread to other organs. When looking at different organs of an organism, it was found that nanomaterials tend to accumulate especially in the brain.

According to the researchers, nanomaterials are also difficult to measure: Their levels in an organism cannot be measured only by using their mass, which is the standard method for measuring other chemicals for regulations. The findings emphasize the importance of assessing the risk of nanomaterials before they are introduced to consumer products in large amounts. A better understanding of nanomaterials and their risks can help policy makers to introduce stricter rules on their use and on the way they are listed in product ingredient labels.

It could be that you are already using nanomaterials in your food, clothes, cosmetic products, etc., but you still don't see any mention of them in the ingredient list. Why? Because they are still unregulated and because they are so small that we simply can't measure them once they're in products.

Particle number-based trophic transfer of gold nanomaterials in an aquatic food chain. Nature Communications (2021). doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21164-w

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-invisible-killer-lurking-consumer-pro...

Why We Need a Volcanic Eruption of Data

Human eye beats machine in archaeological color identification test

 A ruler and scale can tell archaeologists the size and weight of a fragment of pottery - but identifying its precise color can depend on individual perception. So, when a handheld color-matching gadget came on the market, scientists hoped it offered a consistent way of determining color, free of human bias.

But a new study by archaeologists at the Florida Museum of Natural History found that the tool, known as the X-Rite Capsure, often misread colors readily distinguished by the human eye.

When tested against a book of color chips, the machine failed to produce correct color scores in 37.5% of cases, even though its software system included the same set of chips. In an analysis of fired clay bricks, the Capsure matched archaeologists' color scores only 35% of the time, dropping to about 5% matching scores when reading sediment colors in the field. Researchers also found the machine was prone to reading color chips as more yellow than they were and sediment and clay as too red.

Identifying subtle differences in color can help archaeologists compare the composition of soil and the origins of artifacts, such as pottery and beads, to understand how people lived and interacted in the past. Color can also reveal whether materials have been exposed to fire, indicating how communities used surrounding natural resources.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/fmon-heb020921.php

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Fossil mimics may be more common in ancient rocks than actual fossils

Abiotic objects that resemble microbes are much hardier than their biological brethren

Actual microbial life-forms are much less likely to become safely fossilized in rocks compared with nonbiological structures that happen to mimic their shapes, new research finds. The finding suggests that Earth’s earliest rocks may contain abundant tiny fakers — minuscule objects masquerading as fossilized evidence of early life — researchers report online January 28 in Geology..

But an even more pernicious and contentious problem is that  tiny filaments or spheres may not be biological in origin at all. Increasingly, scientists have found that nonbiological chemical processes can create similar shapes, suggesting the possibility of “false positives” in the biological record.

https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article/doi/10.1130/G4...

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/fake-fossil-biomorphs-more-comm...

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“biomorphs,” spheres and filaments made of tiny crystals but shaped like bacteria.

The birth of a lightning bolt was caught on video

Behold: the split-second collision of electric currents that creates a flash of lightning. A current reaches down from a cloud. It meets another reaching up from the ground. When a single tenuous thread of electricity bridges the gap between them, lightning flashes.

 Facebook Just Banned More COVID-19 Anti-Vax Content

In a significant move, Facebook has announced it will remove any misleading claims and misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines from both Facebook and Instagram. It's part of a broader move to help combat fake news about the pandemic. Since December, the platform has been removing claims about the coronavirus that have been debunked by health experts.

But on Monday, the company expanded this policy and are now specifically targeting common anti-vax claims.

This includes claims such as:

• COVID-19 is man-made or manufactured
• Vaccines are not effective at preventing the disease they are meant to protect against
• It's safer to get the disease than to get the vaccine
• Vaccines are toxic, dangerous or cause autism 

Facebook will also be removing fictitious claims that the vaccine will change people's DNA or make them infertile, as well as false claims about where the vaccines are made or their efficacy.

I hope more social networks will follow suit.

https://www.sciencealert.com/big-news-facebook-just-banned-anti-vax...

Scientists Invent a Machine That Generates Mathematics We've Never Seen Before

His name was Srinivasa Ramanujan, and he had a unique gift for dreaming up mathematics of a kind few, if any, had ever contemplated.

Attributing his skills to a divine goddess, the Indian mathematician introduced thousands of mathematical ideas and equations to the world, and was especially known for devising conjectures: mathematical propositions not yet proven to be true (in which case they become classified as theorems).

Such an ability – crafting mathematical statements that are both informed and yet uncertain – is rare, and relatively few mathematicians make their name on the basis of such output, let alone theorists with little in the way of formal training.

But now, a new algorithmic invention developed by researchers in Israel could help us automate the discovery of mathematical conjectures like those Ramanujan once pioneered.

Named after Ramanujan – who died in India at the age of 32 – the 'Ramanujan Machine' is a computerised system capable of self-generating conjectures involving mathematical constants: strange numbers like π and e that seem to crop up all over the place, even if entirely by coincidence.

"Fundamental mathematical constants such as e and π are ubiquitous in diverse fields of science, from abstract mathematics and geometry to physics, biology and chemistry," researchers from Technion – Israel Institute of Technology explain in a newly published study detailing the system.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03229-4

https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-invented-a-machine-that-gen...

Prolonged immaturity an evolutionary plus for human babies

Newborn horses can stand within an hour of birth. Baby wood ducks leap from a nest to splash down in a pond a day after hatching. Yet human babies, as well as the young of many other species of mammals and birds, require months or years of care before they reach full mobility and sensory function, let alone maturity.

This prolonged period of immaturity and helplessness – or altriciality – in human babies and other species, long thought to be a drain on resources, is actually an evolutionary advantage, say researchers.

Protracted immaturity and dependence on paternal care is not an unfortunate byproduct of our evolution but instead a highly adaptive trait of our species, which has enabled human infants to efficiently organize attention to social agents and learn efficiently from social output. “The evolutionary goal of altricial species is not to become highly competent as quickly as possible but rather to excel at learning over time.”

Human infants need to acquire complex social skills, including language, empathy, morality and theory of mind. Successful development of these skills depends on information from adults: “Rather than requiring hard-wired, innate knowledge of social abilities, evolution has outsourced the necessary information to parents. Ecologically, prolonged altricial development may give species the ability to adapt to changing or new environments. Humans are especially good at filling new ecological niches because we have the capacity to learn how to survive in new environments. “Once your parents learn an adaptive skill, you’ll learn from them. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel.”

https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2021/02/prolonged-immaturity-evolu...

https://researchnews.cc/news/5049/Prolonged-immaturity-an-evolution...

A new way to look for life-sustaining planets

It is now possible to capture images of planets that could potentially sustain life around nearby stars, thanks to advances reported by an international team of astronomers in the journal Nature Communications.

Using a newly developed system for mid-infrared exoplanet imaging, in combination with a very long observation time, the study's authors say they can now use ground-based telescopes to directly capture images of planets about three times the size of Earth within the habitable zones of nearby stars.

Efforts to directly image exoplanets—planets outside our solar system—have been hamstrung by technological limitations, resulting in a bias toward the detection of easier-to-see planets that are much larger than Jupiter and are located around very young stars and far outside the habitable zone—the "sweet spot" in which a planet can sustain liquid water. If astronomers want to find alien life, they need to look elsewhere.

"If we want to find planets with conditions suitable for life as we know it, we have to look for rocky planets roughly the size of Earth, inside the habitable zones around older, sun-like stars.

The method described in the paper provides more than a tenfold improvement over existing capabilities to directly observe exoplanets. Most studies on exoplanet imaging have looked in infrared wavelenghts of less than 10 microns, stopping just short of the range of wavelengths where such planets shine the brightest. There is a good reason for that because the Earth itself is shining at you at those wavelengths. Infrared emissions from the sky, the camera and the telescope itself are essentially drowning out your signal. But the good reason to focus on these wavelengths is that's where an Earthlike planet in the habitable zone around a sun-like star is going to shine brightest.

 Imaging low-mass planets within the habitable zone of Alpha; Centauri, Nature Communications (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21176-6

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-life-sustaining-planets.html?utm_sour...

Imaging Habitable-Zone Exoplanets

Scientists create liquid crystals that look a lot like their solid counterparts

A research team  has designed new kinds of liquid crystals that mirror the complex structures of some solid crystals—a major step forward in building flowing materials that can match the colorful diversity of forms seen in minerals and gems, from lazulite to topaz.

The group's findings, published today in the journal Nature, may one day lead to new types of smart windows and television or computer displays that can bend and control light like never before.

The results come down to a property of solid crystals that will be familiar to many chemists and gemologists: Symmetry

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03249-0 Wensink, H.H. et al. Thermally reconfigurable monoclinic nematic colloidal fluids. Nature 590, 268–274 (2021). doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03249-0

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-scientists-liquid-crystals-lot-solid....

Plant-based magnetic nanoparticles with antifungal properties

A team of researchers from Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University obtained magnetic nanoparticles using sweet flag (Acorus calamus). Both the roots and the leaves of this plant have antioxidant, antimicrobial, and insecticide properties. The extract of sweet flag was used as a non-toxic reagent for the manufacture of coated particles. The authors of the work also showed the efficiency of the new nanoparticles against several types of pathogenic fungi that damage cultivated plants. A technology developed by the team provides for the manufacture of nanoparticles from a cheap plant-based raw material and reduces the harmful effect of reagents on the environment.

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Scientists detect water vapour emanating from Mars

Researchers said Wednesday they had observed water vapour escaping high up in the thin atmosphere of Mars, offering tantalising new clues as to whether the Red Planet could have once hosted life.

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New wearable device turns the body into a battery

Researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have developed a new, low-cost wearable device that transforms the human body into a biological battery.

Plastic ingestion by fish a growing problem

The consumption of plastic by marine animals is an increasingly pervasive problem, with litter turning up in the bellies of wildlife as varied as mammals, birds, turtles and fish. However, according to a research review by ecologists, the problem is impacting species unevenly, with some more susceptible to eating a plastic dinner than others. With billions of people around the world relying on seafood for sustenance and financial security, this research, published Feb 9. in the journal Global Change Biology, warns that there is a growing number of species—including over 200 species of commercial importance—eating plastic.

database reveals the consumption of plastic by fish is widespread and increasing. Over the last decade, the rate of plastic consumption has doubled, increasing by 2.4 percent every year. Part of this is due to scientists' increasing ability to detect smaller particles of plastic than before. However, even when the researchers statistically controlled for improvements in methodology, they still found an overall increase in plastic consumption. Even more disconcerting, many new species of fish were discovered with plastic inside of them each year. The 210 species of fish that are caught commercially have been found to eat plastic, and this number is likely an underestimate, the researchers say.

Plastic ingestion by marine fish is widespread and increasing. Global Change Biology, doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15533

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-plastic-ingestion-fish-problem.html?u...

New wearable device turns the body into a battery

New report  about people testing +ve after 14 day quarantine period. 

Over the past week, three returned travellers — one in New South Wales and two in Victoria — have tested positive to COVID-19 shortly after leaving hotel quarantine.

The cases in Victoria appear almost certainly to have been acquired in hotel quarantine. The individuals had quarantined at the Holiday Inn, where eight staff members and guests have been now infected. Authorities are investigating.

But genomic sequencing has now indicated the NSW case was not picked up in hotel quarantine. So it’s possible either the person was still shedding virus from an earlier infection they contracted overseas, or that they incubated the virus for longer than 14 days.

The incubation period is the time between the point at which someone is exposed to the virus and the onset of symptoms (bearing in mind of course that not everyone who tests positive to COVID-19 will develop symptoms).

Theoretically, it is possible for a person to incubate the virus for longer than 14 days.

Most people who are exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, will not go on to develop an infection. Sometimes the dose is not high enough, and/or the person can mount a successful immune response to prevent the virus establishing itself in their system.

But of those who do develop an infection, the evidence suggests almost all will return a positive test within 14 days of being exposed to the virus. A review summarising data from 21 studies reported only 1% of people incubated the virus beyond two weeks.

For the small minority of people who incubate the virus beyond 14 days, this can be related to underlying conditions, especially those that weaken a person’s immune response.

https://theconversation.com/yes-a-16-day-incubation-period-for-covi...

Centipedes shown to have incorporated the weapons of bacteria and fungi into their venoms

As part of an ongoing, wider study into centipede venoms,  researchers set out to discover whether centipede venom toxins may have evolved elsewhere in the tree of life, in places other than their direct, arthropod ancestors.

They soon unveiled that centipedes have repeatedly stocked their venoms with proteins that independently evolved within bacteria and fungi. The centipedes have acquired these toxin components through a process known as 'horizontal gene transfer'.

Horizontal gene transfer is a process by which genetic material moves between distantly related organisms, in this case between bacteria and fungi, and centipedes. It is distinguished from the movement of genetic material from parents to offspring and from ancestors to direct descendants, which is known as vertical gene transfer.

This finding  reveals the largest, most diversely sourced contribution of horizontal gene transfer to the evolution of animal venom composition known to date.'

Three of the five venom protein families that centipedes have acquired by horizontal gene transfer are used by bacteria explicitly to exploit their hosts', including by damaging their cells by the formation of pores. 

Researchers also noticed "three protein families were each horizontally transferred twice which shows that horizontal gene transfer is an unexpectedly important factor in the evolution of centipede venoms." While the mechanisms behind horizontal gene transfer, especially from bacteria to animals, are not well understood, it is known to have contributed a range of adaptive benefits to different groups of animals.

https://natureecoevocommunity.nature.com/posts/phylogenetic-analyse...

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/press-office/press-releases/centipedes-shown-...

https://researchnews.cc/news/5071/Centipedes-shown-to-have-incorpor...

To find an extraterrestrial civilization, pollution could be the solution, NASA study suggests

If there's an advanced extraterrestrial civilization inhabiting a nearby star system, we might be able to detect it using its own atmospheric pollution, according to new NASA research. The study looked at the presence of nitrogen dioxide gas (NO₂), which on Earth is produced by burning fossil fuels but can also come from non-industrial sources such as biology, lightning, and volcanoes.

On Earth, most of the nitrogen dioxide is emitted from human activity—combustion processes such as vehicle emissions and fossil-fueled power plants. In the lower atmosphere (about 10 to 15 kilometers or around 6.2 to 9.3 miles), NO₂ from human activities dominate compared to non-human sources. Therefore, observing NO₂ on a habitable planet could potentially indicate the presence of an industrialized civilization.

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Astronomers have found over 4,000 planets orbiting other stars to date. Some might have conditions suitable for life as we know it, and on some of these habitable worlds, life may have evolved to the point where it produces a technological civilization. Since planets around other stars (exoplanets) are so far away, scientists cannot look for signs of life or civilization by sending spacecraft to these distant worlds. Instead, they must use powerful telescopes to see what's inside the atmospheres of exoplanets.

A possible indication of life, or biosignature, could be a combination of gases like oxygen and methane in the atmosphere. Similarly, a sign of technology on an exoplanet, called a technosignature, could be what's considered pollution here on Earth—the presence of a gas that's released as a byproduct of a widespread industrial process, such as NO₂.

This study is the first time NO₂ has been examined as a possible technosignature.

Other studies have examined chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) as possible technosignatures, which are industrial products that were widely used as refrigerants until they were phased out because of their role in ozone depletion.

CFCs are also a powerful greenhouse gas that could be used to terraform a planet like Mars by providing additional warming from the atmosphere. As far as we know, CFCs are not produced by biology at all, so they are a more obvious technosignature than NO₂. However, CFCs are very specific manufactured chemicals that might not be prevalent elsewhere; NO₂, by comparison, is a general byproduct of any combustion process.

Atmospheric NO2 strongly absorbs some colors (wavelengths) of visible light, which can be detected by observing the light reflected from an exoplanet as it orbits its star. They found that for an Earth-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star, a civilization producing the same amount of NO₂ as ours could be detected up to about 30 light-years away with about 400 hours of observing time using a future large NASA telescope observing at visible wavelengths.

Nitrogen Dioxide Pollution as a Signature of Extraterrestrial Technology. arXiv:2102.05027v1 [astro-ph.EP] arxiv.org/abs/2102.05027

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-extraterrestrial-civilization-polluti...

Tiny microorganisms in the Southern Ocean affect how the rest of the world's seas respond to carbon

In the ocean that surrounds Antarctica, deep water wells up to the surface, carrying nutrients and other dissolved materials needed by light-loving ocean life. One of these materials is calcium carbonate, which, when dissolved, raises seawater alkalinity and helps the ocean respond to increasing carbon dioxide levels. Ocean currents carry this alkalinity-enriched water northward—unless tiny organisms intercept it and trap the alkalinity in the Southern Ocean.

Plankton in the Southern Ocean capture upwelled alkalinity to make protective shells composed of calcium carbonate. When the plankton die, their calcified shells sink and break down, returning the alkalinity to deep waters, from where it can well up again. If calcifying organisms are not very active, more high-alkalinity water escapes northward, allowing the global ocean to absorb more carbon dioxide. If, on the other hand, the calcifying plankton quickly use alkalinity that rises to the surface, this cycle traps alkalinity in the Southern Ocean.

Researchers recently  demonstrated this process through model simulations, showing that calcification in the Southern Ocean affects how alkalinity spreads around the world.

In general, more calcifying activity traps alkalinity in the Southern Ocean, but certain conditions limit the main phytoplankton responsible. For instance, high levels of silicic acid and iron might favor silicon-shelled microorganisms over calcium carbonate-shelled ones, allowing more alkalinity to flow out to other oceans. High ocean acidity may also cause problems for calcifying organisms.

The researchers note that after an interruption in calcification in the Southern Ocean, increases in alkalinity reached some subtropical regions within 10 years. The alkalinity irregularity took longer to reach more northerly oceans, gradually becoming more apparent the longer that Southern Ocean calcification was suppressed. On millennial timescales, the authors say, the activity of tiny southern plankton has the potential to influence global climate.

 K. M. Krumhardt et al. Southern Ocean Calcification Controls the Global Distribution of Alkalinity, Global Biogeochemical Cycles (2020). DOI: 10.1029/2020GB006727

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-tiny-microorganisms-southern-ocean-af...

Air pollution caused 1 out of 5 deaths in 2018—that's more than 8 million, study says

Microscopic, and sometimes larger, particles of soot, smoke and dust that spew out of gas-guzzling factories, ships, cars and aircraft are responsible for 18% of total global deaths in 2018—that equals more than 8 million people, a new study found.

That number far surpasses previous estimates of the amount of people killed globally by all types of air pollution, including dust and smoke from wildfires and agricultural burns. The most widely accepted estimate stands at 4.2 million.

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-air-pollution-deaths-2018that-million...

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How microplastics in the soil contribute to environmental pollution

Plastic, with its unabated global production, is a major and persistent contributor to environmental pollution. In fact, the accumulation of plastic debris in our environment is only expected to increase in the future. "Microplastics" (MP)—plastic debris

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A new way of forming planets

In the last 25 years, scientists have discovered over 4000 planets beyond the borders of our solar system. From relatively small rock and water worlds to blisteringly hot gas giants, the planets display a remarkable variety. This variety is not unexpected. The sophisticated computer models, with which scientists study the formation of planets, also spawn very different planets. What the models have more difficulty to explain is the observed mass distribution of the planets discovered around other stars. The majority have fallen into the intermediate mass category—planets with masses of several Earth masses to around that of Neptune. Even in the context of the solar system, the formation of Uranus and Neptune remains a mystery. Scientists of the Universities of Zurich and Cambridge, associated with the Swiss NCCR PlanetS, have now proposed an alternative explanation backed up by comprehensive simulations. Their results were published in the scientific journal Nature Astronomy.

Our Milky Way galaxy is a spiral galaxy. It evolved into its flat disk shape over billions of years. But astronomers have discovered a distant and young galaxy that has a remarkably similar shape.

Reconstructing Molecules in Motion

A reeking, parasitic plant lost its body and much of its genetic blueprint

The genome of Sapria himalayana is rife with gene loss and theft

New research on the genetic instruction book of a rare plant Sapria genus reveals the lengths to which it has gone to become a specialized parasite. The findings, published January 22 in Current Biology, suggest that at least one species of Sapria has lost nearly half of the genes commonly found in other flowering plants and stolen many others directly from its hosts. 

The plant’s rewired genetics echo its bizarre biology. Sapria and its relatives in the family Rafflesiaceae have discarded their stems, roots and any photosynthetic tissue.

About 44 percent of the genes found in most flowering plants were missing in S. himalayana. Yet, at the same time, the genome is about 55,000 genes long, more than that of some other nonparasitic plants. The count is inflated by many repeating segments of DNA, the team found.

Loss of the chlorophyll pigments responsible for photosynthesis is common in parasitic plants that rely on their hosts for sustenance. But S. himalayana appears to have even scrapped all genetic remnants of its chloroplasts, the cellular structures where photosynthesis occurs. 

Chloroplasts have their own genome, distinct from the nuclear genome that runs a plant’s cells and the mitochondria that produce energy for the cells. S. himalayana seems to have lost this genome altogether, suggesting that the plant has purged the last remnants of its ancestral life that allowed it to make its own food.

even genes in S. himalayana’s nuclear genome that would regulate components of the chloroplast genome have vanished. 

Among the remaining parts of the nuclear genome, it was  also found that more than 1 percent of S. himalayana’s genome comes from genes stolen from other plants, likely its current and ancestral hosts.

The new discovery illustrates the level of commitment S. himalayana and its relatives have given to evolving a parasitic lifestyle

https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(20)31897-2?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0960982220318972%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/reeking-parasitic-sapria-plant-...

Synchronization of brain hemispheres changes what we hear

How come we don’t hear everything twice: After all, our ears sit on opposite sides of our head and most sounds do not reach both our ears at exactly the same time. While this helps us determine which direction sounds are coming from, it also means that our brain has to combine the information from both ears. Otherwise, we would hear an echo.

In addition, input from the right ear reaches the left brain hemisphere first, while input from the left ear reaches the right brain hemisphere first. The two hemispheres perform different tasks during speech processing: The left side is responsible for distinguishing phonemes and syllables, whereas the right side recognizes the speech prosody and rhythm. Although each hemisphere receives the information at a different time and processes different features of speech, the brain integrates what it hears into a unified speech sound.

The exact mechanism behind this integration process was not known until now. 

Now researchers have managed to demonstrate that the process of integrating what we hear is directly linked to synchronization by gamma waves.

During the experiments, the researchers disrupted the natural activity pattern of gamma waves by stimulating both hemispheres of the brain with electrodes attached to the head. This manipulation affected participants’ ability to correctly identify the syllable they heard. The fMRI analysis showed that there were also changes in the activity of the neural connections between the right and the left brain hemispheres: The strength of the connection changed depending on whether the rhythm of the gamma waves was influenced by electric stimulation in the two brain hemispheres synchronously or asynchronously. This disruption also impaired the integration process. Thus, synchronization of the gamma waves seems to serve to balance the different inputs from the two hemispheres of the brain, providing a unified auditory impression.

These findings could thus also find clinical application in the near future. “Previous studies show that disturbances in the connection between the two hemispheres of the brain are associated with auditory phantom perceptions such as tinnitus and auditory verbal hallucinations. Thus, electric brain stimulation may present a promising avenue for the development of therapeutic interventions.

Preisig BC, Riecke L, Sjerps M, Kösem A, Kop BR, Bramson B, Hagoort P, Hervais-Adelman A. Selective modulation of interhemispheric connectivity by transcranial alternating current stimulation influences binaural integration. PNAS, 2021 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2015488118

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/02/210208173103.htm#:~:t....

https://researchnews.cc/news/5061/Synchronization-of-brain-hemisphe...