Using Light To Revolutionize Medical Imaging

Simply speaking while infected can potentially spread COVID-19

COVID-19 can spread from asymptomatic but infected people through small aerosol droplets in their exhaled breath. Most studies of the flow of exhaled air have focused on coughing or sneezing, which can send aerosols flying long distances.

However, speaking while near one another is also risky since the virus can be ejected by merely talking.

In Physics of Fluids, scientists in Japan use smoke and laser light to study the flow of expelled breath near and around two people conversing in various relative postures commonly found in the service industry, such as in hair salons, medical exam rooms, or long-term care facilities.

In this study, electronic cigarettes were used to produce artificial smoke consisting of droplets about one-tenth micron in diameter, similar to the size of a virus particle. The liquid used in these vaping devices, a mixture of glycerin and propylene glycol, produces a cloud of tiny droplets that scatter light from a laser, allowing visualization of airflow patterns.

To study the effect of speech on exhalation, the word "onegaishimasu," a typical Japanese greeting in a business setting. The experiments revealed the exhaled air from an unmasked person who is speaking tends to move downward under the influence of gravity. If a customer or patient is lying below, they could be infected. When a mask is worn while standing or sitting, the vapor cloud tends to attach to that person's body, which is warmer than the surrounding air and flows upward along the body. If the technician is leaning over, however, the aerosol cloud tends to detach from that person's body and fall onto the client below.

The investigators also experimented with face shields and found it can prevent any aerosols that leak from around the technician's mask from traveling down to the customer.

"The face shield promoted the rise of the exhaled breath," said Ishii. "Hence, it is more effective to wear both a mask and a face shield when providing services to customers."

"Relationship between human exhalation diffusion and posture in face-to-face scenario with utterance" Physics of Fluids (2021). DOI: 10.1063/5.0038380

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-simply-infected-potentially-covid-.ht...

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Researchers are turning kitchen waste into biofuels

When we eat, our bodies convert food into energy that fuels our lives. But what happens to the energy stored in the several billion pounds of food thrown away annually?

As part of advancing sustainable energy solutions, scientists are converting food waste into clean, renewable fuel that could power our planes, trains and automobiles. Researchers successfully converted food waste  into an energy-dense biofuel that could help replace today's fossil fuels. Early results suggest food waste might deliver a trifecta of efficiency, economic and environmental benefits.

scientists pursuing this  begin by blending the waste, often with the help of customized equipment known as the Muffin Monster that grinds up everything from bones and gristle to seeds, wrappers and packaging. The resulting mush is warmed so it can be continuously pumped into a reactor and converted into fuel.

The researchers are testing different types of food waste to see if they can achieve consistent outcomes. During experiments, they address numerous chemical and process engineering challenges as they arise. They fine-tune the heat exchange design, resolve pumping issues and develop continuous separation techniques.

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-kitchen-biofuels.html?utm_source=nwle...

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Can we regenerate damaged organs in the lab?

Scientists are trying to do just that!

More than 87,000 scientific papers on coronavirus since pandemic

Study finds "astonishing" growth even as partnerships shrink

 Scientists from around the world have published more than 87,000 papers about coronavirus between the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and October 2020, a new analysis shows.

Even given the importance of the pandemic, researchers were surprised by the huge number of studies and other papers that scientists produced on the subject in such a short time.

Nearly all of the scientific community around the world turned its attention to this one issue.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-02/osu-mt8022221.php

Physicists Just Reached a New Speed Limit For Moving Quantum Information

This latest research answers a fundamental question – how fast can a quantum process be? It's a useful piece of information to know if you want to build a quantum computer or a quantum network, as it tells you some of the limitations inherent in the system.

https://journals.aps.org/prx/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevX.11.011035

https://www.sciencealert.com/a-new-quantum-speed-limit-discovery-sh...

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Scientists begin building highly accurate digital twin of our planet

A digital twin of our planet is to simulate the Earth system in future. It is intended to support policy-makers in taking appropriate measures to better prepare for extreme events. A new strategy paper by European scientists and ETH Zurich computer scientists shows how this can be achieved.

How to improve your life using science

https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/improve-your-life-with-science...

Asteroid dust found in crater closes case of dinosaur extinction

Researchers think they have closed the case of what killed the dinosaurs, definitively linking their extinction with an asteroid that slammed into Earth 66 million years ago by finding a key piece of evidence: asteroid dust inside the impact crater.

Death by asteroid rather than by a series of volcanic eruptions or some other global calamity has been the leading hypothesis since the 1980s, when scientists found asteroid dust in the geologic layer that marks the extinction of the dinosaurs. This discovery painted an apocalyptic picture of dust from the vaporized asteroid and rocks from impact circling the planet, blocking out the sun and bringing about mass death through a dark, sustained global winter—all before drifting back to Earth to form the layer enriched in asteroid material that's visible today.

Researchers collected nearly 3,000 feet of rock core from the crater buried under the seafloor. Research from this mission has helped fill in gaps about the impact, the aftermath and the recovery of life.

The telltale sign of asteroid dust is the element iridium—which is rare in the Earth's crust, but present at elevated levels in certain types of asteroids. An iridium spike in the geologic layer found all over the world is how the asteroid hypothesis was born. In the new study, researchers found a similar spike in a section of rock pulled from the crater. In the crater, the sediment layer deposited in the days to years after the strike is so thick that scientists were able to precisely date the dust to a mere two decades after impact.

"Globally distributed iridium layer preserved within the Chicxulub impact structure" Science Advances (2021). advances.sciencemag.org/lookup … .1126/sciadv.abe3647

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-asteroid-crater-case-dinosaur-extinct...

New study suggests supermassive black holes could form from dark matter

A new theoretical study has proposed a novel mechanism for the creation of supermassive black holes from dark matter. The international team find that rather than the conventional formation scenarios involving 'normal' matter, supermassive black holes could instead form directly from dark matter in high density regions in the centers of galaxies. The result has key implications for cosmology in the early Universe, and is published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

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Exactly how supermassive black holes initially formed is one of the biggest problems in the study of galaxy evolution today. Supermassive black holes have been observed as early as 800 million years after the Big Bang, and how they could grow so quickly remains unexplained.

Standard formation models involve normal baryonic matter—the atoms and elements that that make up stars, planets, and all visible objects—collapsing under gravity to form black holes, which then grow over time. However the new work investigates the potential existence of stable galactic cores made of dark matter, and surrounded by a diluted dark matter halo, finding that the centers of these structures could become so concentrated that they could also collapse into supermassive black holes once a critical threshold is reached.

According to the model this could have happened much more quickly than other proposed formation mechanisms, and would have allowed supermassive black holes in the early Universe to form before the galaxies they inhabit, contrary to current understanding.

Carlos R. Argüelles, the researcher at Universidad Nacional de La Plata and ICRANet who led the investigation comments: "This new formation scenario may offer a natural explanation for how supermassive black holes formed in the early Universe, without requiring prior star formation or needing to invoke seed black holes with unrealistic accretion rates."

Another intriguing consequence of the new model is that the critical mass for collapse into a black hole might not be reached for smaller dark matter halos, for example those surrounding some dwarf galaxies. The authors suggest that this then might leave smaller dwarf galaxies with a central dark matter nucleus rather than the expected black hole. Such a dark matter core could still mimic the gravitational signatures of a conventional central black hole, whilst the dark matter outer halo could also explain the observed galaxy rotation curves.

Carlos R Argüelles et al, On the formation and stability of fermionic dark matter haloes in a cosmological framework, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2020). DOI: 10.1093/mnras/staa3986

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-supermassive-black-holes-dark.html?ut...

World's first video of a space-time crystal

A research  team has succeeded in creating a micrometer-sized space-time crystal consisting of magnons at room temperature. With the help of the scanning transmission X-ray microscope Maxymus at Bessy II at Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin, they were able to film the recurring periodic magnetization structure in a crystal.

Superstructures formed by 'walking' molecules could help create neu...

Superstructures formed by 'walking' molecules could help create neurons for regenerative medicine

If surgeons could transplant healthy neurons into patients living with neurodegenerative diseases or brain and spinal cord injuries?! And imagine if they could grow these neurons in the laboratory from a patients own cells using a synthetic, highly bioactive material that is suitable for 3D printing. By discovering a new printable biomaterial that can mimic properties of brain tissue, Northwestern University researchers are now closer to developing a platform capable of treating these conditions using regenerative medicine. A key ingredient to the discovery is the ability to control the self-assembly processes of molecules within the material, enabling the researchers to modify the structure and functions of the systems from the nanoscale to the scale of visible features.

 A research group  has demonstrated that these superstructures can enhance neuron growth, an important finding that could have implications for cell transplantation strategies for neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, as well as spinal cord injury.

This is the first example where researchers have been able to take the phenomenon of molecular reshuffling we reported in 2018 and harness it for an application in regenerative medicine.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/advs.202004042

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/advs.202004042

Low educational attainment is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, suggesting that high educational attainment is associated with fostering neuroanatomical conditions that protect our brain from the pathophysiologic changes of Alzheimer’s disease. This remarkable scientific finding supports the idea that high quality education and science literacy physiologically and functionally strengthen the brain, protecting us from the threat of false beliefs during times of uncertainty and crisis.

Could comedy offer a way to communicate science more effectively?

Conference to explore adapting science communication to new challenges

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/could-comedy-offer-a-way-to...

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How wildfires may have larger effects on cloud formation than previ...

As the frequency and size of wildfires continues to increase worldwide, new research from Carnegie Mellon University scientists shows how the chemical aging of the particles emitted by these fires can lead to more extensive cloud formation and intense storm development in the atmosphere. The research was published online today in the journal Science Advances.

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Titan's atmosphere recreated in an Earth laboratory

Beyond Earth, the general scientific consensus is that the best place to search for evidence of extraterrestrial life is Mars. However, it is by no means the only place. Aside from the many extrasolar planets that have been designated as "potentially-habitable," there are plenty of other candidates right here in our solar system. These include the many icy satellites that are thought to have interior oceans that could harbor life.

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How plant stem cells renew themselves—a cytokinin story

The mechanism by which the plant hormone cytokinin controls cell division has been discovered—a breakthrough that significantly improves our understanding of how plants grow.

How obesity affects skin infections

The list of diseases and conditions complicated by obesity is a long one; it includes heart disease, cancer, diabetes and impaired wound healing, as well as skin infections. It is not always clear, however, in what way this complication is caused. New research published last month in Science Translational Medicine, has uncovered the mechanisms that link obesity and skin infections, and identified a treatment option that will soon be tested in a Phase 2 clinical trial.

The work is focused on discovering links between disease and the epithelial microbiome—that is, the normal bacteria that live on our skin—and how the skin's defense system can be optimized to treat or prevent disease. In this study, the goal was to identify how obesity contributes to higher rates of atopic dermatitis.

During the studies it was found that when mice 're fed a high fat diet and became obese as result, skin adipocytes (or fat cells) become enlarged and lost the ability to fight against bacterial invasion during a skin infection. The findings revealed that an increased number of mature adipocytes (fat cells) increases TGFβ signaling, which in turn decreases the number dermal adipocyte progenitors that produce an antimicrobial peptide called cathelicidin. This absence leaves the epidermis vulnerable to infection from common culprits like Staphylococcus aureus. In lean subjects (both mice and human in this study), the skin microbiome was successful in preventing Staph infections, as the number of mature fat cells was insufficient to disrupt the normal dermal fat functions that keep such infections at bay.

 Ling-juan Zhang et al. Diet-induced obesity promotes infection by impairment of the innate antimicrobial defense function of dermal adipocyte progenitors, Science Translational Medicine (2021). DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abb5280

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-02-obesity-infection-link-treat...

Forests' long-term capacity to store carbon is dropping in regions with extreme annual fires

Researchers have analyzed decades' worth of data on the impact of repeated fires on ecosystems across the world. Their results, published today in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, show that repeated fires are driving long-term changes to tree communities and reducing their population sizes.

Savannah ecosystems, and regions with extreme wet or dry seasons were found to be the most sensitive to changes in fire frequency. Trees in regions with moderate climate are more resistant. Repeated fires also cause less damage to tree species with protective traits like thicker bark.

These effects only emerge over the course of several decades: the effect of a single fire is very different from repeated burning over time. The study found that after 50 years, regions with the most extreme annual fires had 72% lower wood area—a surrogate for biomass—with 63% fewer individual trees than in regions that never burned. Such changes to the tree community can reduce the forest's long-term ability to store carbon, but may buffer the effect of future fires.

Pellegrini, A.F.A. et al: 'Decadal changes in fire frequencies shift tree communities and functional traits.' Nature Ecology & Evolution, February 2021. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-021-01401-7

• More intense and frequent fires are reducing the size of tree communities in many regions of the world.
• Slower-growing tree species are better at surviving fires, but these may capture less atmospheric carbon and reduce nutrient availability in the soil.
• Not all regions are suitable for planting trees to tackle climate change; schemes must consider local wildfire frequency, vegetation cover and climate, and how these might change over time.

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-forests-long-term-capacity-carbon-reg...

Nanobodies could help CRISPR turn genes on and off

The genetic tool CRISPR has been likened to molecular scissors for its ability to snip out and replace genetic code within DNA. But CRISPR has a capability that could make it useful beyond genetic repairs. CRISPR can precisely locate specific genes.

Scientists now attached CRISPR to nanobodies to help it perform specific actions when it reached the right spot on DNA. They used this combo technique to transform CRISPR from a gene-editing scissors into a nanoscale control agent that can toggle specific genes on and off, like a light switch, to start or stop the flow of some health-related protein inside a cell.

This  could enable researchers to explore new therapeutic applications in the field of epigenetics—which is the study of how genes behave inside cells.

Mike V. Van et al, Nanobody-mediated control of gene expression and epigenetic memory, Nature Communications (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-20757-1

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-nanobodies-crispr-genes.html?utm_sour...

Scientists achieve breakthrough in culturing corals and sea anemones cells

Researchers have perfected the recipe for keeping sea anemone and coral cells alive in a petri dish for up to 12 days. The new study has important applications to study everything from evolutionary biology to human health.

Cnidarians are emerging model organisms for cell and molecular biology research. Yet, successfully keeping their cells in a laboratory setting has proved challenging due to contamination from the many microorganisms that live within these marine organisms or because the whole tissue survive in a culture environment.

Researchers used two emerging model organisms in developmental and evolutionary biology—the starlet sea anemone (Nematostella vectensis) and cauliflower coral (Pocillopora damicornis)—to find more successful way to grow these cell cultures in a laboratory setting. They tested 175 cell cultures from the two organisms and found that their cells can survive for on average 12 days if they receive an antibiotic treatment before being cultured.

James D. Nowotny et al, Novel methods to establish whole-body primary cell cultures for the cnidarians Nematostella vectensis and Pocillopora damicornis, Scientific Reports (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-83549-7

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-scientists-breakthrough-culturing-cor...

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 How reliable are existing studies on microplastics in table salt?

Just as environmentally conscious scientists predicted, our excessive use of plastics is coming back to bite us. Microplastics (MPs), plastic particles smaller than a few millimeters, can now be found everywhere, but more so in seawater. As expected, MPs are harmful to both environment and health, although their exact effects are unclear.

To get a better grasp of the extent of the MP problem, it is necessary to quantify how much we are exposed to them. Table salt has been shown to contain MPs, making it an ideal study target to gauge human exposure to MPs. Although many studies have measured the concentration of MPs in different edible salts, each research group used vastly different methodologies of quantification, causing much variability between the results, and calling into question their validity.

To address this problem, in a study published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, scientists from Incheon National University, Korea, conducted a systematic review of all published papers on MPs in table salt and analyzed the differences between their methodologies and results in detail.

They found that the concentration of MPs in edible salt according to the literature varied quite a bit, and that measurement and sample-preparation procedures of each study were causing these differences. However, the largest differences were caused by the methods used to identify MPs, the minimum cut-off size and the criteria for the selection of particles. 

When not corrected by different measured minimum MP cutoff sizes, MP content differed from 10 to 600 times among different MP identification methods, with greatest values originating from visual observation and followed by spectroscopy methods

Scientists also found a notable correlation between logarithmic mean abundances of MPs and minimum cut-off size used, regardless of the identification method.

Hee-Jee Lee et al, Variation and Uncertainty of Microplastics in Commercial Table Salts: Critical Review and Validation, Journal of Hazardous Materials (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.123743

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-salt-reliable-microplastics-table.htm...

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Dancing Roots

Microscopic Wrinkles in Leaves Ward Off Bugs

Crops have advanced a formidable vary of methods to beat back hungry, leaf-chomping bugs. Properly-known defenses embrace foul-tasting toxins, sticky resins and sharp thorns, and now scientists have recognized one more instance: microscopic wrinkles that make leaves more durable to stroll on.

Wrinkles kind in lots of leaves’ cuticles—coatings that restrict water evaporation, mediate gasoline alternate, and shield the plant from pathogens. The brand new analysis, revealed in Royal Society Open Science, finds that together with the cuticle’s inherently slippery floor, its tiny wrinkles additionally assist discourage bugs. The wrinkles most certainly grow to be extra pronounced because the leaf matures and its cuticle builds up, ultimately increasing and buckling.

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.201319

Were it not for humans, woolly mammoths would have lived for 4,000 more years, simulation shows

An international team of researchers has used computer simulations to show that it was likely a combination of climate change and human hunting that led to the extinction of the woolly mammoth. They have written a paper describing their findings, available on the bioRxiv preprint server—in it, they suggest that were it not for human hunters, the mammoths would have lasted another 4,000 years.

the researchers created a simulation showing wooly mammoth populations from approximately 21,000 years ago, to 4,000 years ago—the time when the last of the mammoths died out. To recreate conditions the mammoths faced, the researchers added climate data as well as known human hunting data. They ran their simulation over 90,000 times with slight changes to the factors that might have led to their demise. The simulations showed that the most likely scenario involved climate change pushing the mammoths into smaller environments and hunters finishing them off. Interestingly, the researchers also found that if they removed human hunters from the simulations, the majority of the mammoths held on for another 4,000 years.

 Damien A. Fordham et al. Humans hastened the range collapse and extinction of woolly mammoth, bioRxiv (2021). DOI: 10.1101/2021.02.17.431706

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-humans-woolly-mammoths-years-simulati...

Scientists use Doppler to peer inside cells

Doppler radar improves lives by peeking inside air masses to predict the weather. A Purdue University team is using similar technology to look inside living cells, introducing a method to detect pathogens and treat infections in ways that scientists never have before.

In a new study, the team used Doppler to sneak a peek inside cells and track their metabolic activity in real time, without having to wait for cultures to grow. Using this ability, the researchers can test microbes found in food, water, and other environments to see if they are pathogens, or help them identify the right medicine to treat antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Researchers worked with immortalized cell lines—cells that will live forever unless you kill them. They exposed the cells to different known pathogens, in this case salmonella and E. coli. They then used the Doppler effect to spy out how the cells reacted. These living cells are called "sentinels," and observing their reactions is called a biodynamic assay.

This strategy is broadly applicable when scientists have isolated an unknown microbe and want to know if it is pathogenic—harmful to living tissues—or not. Such cells may show up in food supply, water sources or even in recently melted glaciers.

Another benefit is the ability to quickly and directly diagnose which bacteria respond to which antibiotics.

 Honggu Choi et al, Doppler imaging detects bacterial infection of living tissue, Communications Biology (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s42003-020-01550-8

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-scientists-doppler-peer-cells.html?ut...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwr-wF_IMeU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nzkF0hmy04

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1Bdp2tMFsY

Study suggests habitat loss is leading to inbreeding of Indian tigers

While Indian tigers have the highest genetic variation compared to other subspecies of the feline across the world, their populations continue to be fragmented by loss of habitat, leading to inbreeding and potential loss of this diversity, says a new study.

 Habitat loss from human activities leads to tigers being "hemmed into their own protected area. Now, they can only mate with the other tigers in their own population. Over time, this will result in inbreeding, they will end up mating with their relatives. This  inbreeding might compromise their fitness and their ability to survive.

While genetic diversity across a population improves their chances of survival in the future, the study said population fragmentation of tigers can decrease this variation, and endanger them further.

https://academic.oup.com/mbe/advance-article/doi/10.1093/molbev/msa...

In the study, the scientists sequenced whole genomes from 65 individual tigers from four subspecies of the feline, and conducted a variety of population genomic analyses that quantify genetic variability. They investigated the partitioning of genetic variation, possible impacts of inbreeding, and demographic history, and possible signatures of local adaptation.

While the total genomic variation in Indian tigers was higher than in other subspecies, the study found that several individual tigers in the country had low variation, suggesting possible inbreeding.

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/study-sugg...

How an ancient virus spread the ability to remember

A protein in your brain behaves like a virus, infecting your cells with memories

Forming a protective shell, Arc moves from neuron to neuron

X-factor to help antibiotics regain their spark

Researchers find a single-celled slime mold with no nervous system that remembers food locations

Having a memory of past events enables us to take smarter decisions about the future. Researchers now identified the basis for forming memories in the slime mold Physarum polycephalum—despite its lack of a nervous system.

The ability to store and recover information gives an organism a clear advantage when searching for food or avoiding harmful environments, and has been traditionally linked to organisms that have a nervous system. A new study challenges this view by uncovering the surprising abilities of a highly dynamic,single-celled organism to store and retrieve information about its environment.

The slime mold Physarum polycephalum has been puzzling researchers for many decades. Existing at the crossroads between the kingdoms of animals, plants and fungi, this unique organism provides insight into the early evolutionary history of eukaryotes. Its body is a giant single cell made up of interconnected tubes that form intricate networks. This single amoeba-like cell may stretch several centimeters or even meters, featuring as the largest cell on earth in the Guinness Book of World Records.

The striking abilities of the slime mold to solve complex problems such as finding the shortest path through a maze earned it the attribute "intelligent," intrigued the research community and kindled questions about decision making on the most basic levels of life. The decision-making ability of Physarum is especially fascinating given that its tubular network constantly undergoes fast reorganization—growing and disintegrating its tubes—while completely lacking an organizing center. The researchers discovered that the organism weaves memories of food encounters directly into the architecture of the network-like body and uses the stored information when making future decisions.

Researchers followed the migration and feeding process of the organism and observed a distinct imprint of a food source on the pattern of thicker and thinner tubes of the network long after feeding. Given P. polycephalum's highly dynamic network reorganization, the persistence of this imprint sparked the idea that the network architecture itself could serve as memory of the past.

The researchers combined microscopic observations of the adaption of the tubular network with theoretical modeling. An encounter with food triggers the release of a chemical that travels from the location where food was found throughout the organism and softens the tubes in the network, making the whole organism reorient its migration towards the food.

The gradual softening is where the existing imprints of previous food sources come into play and where information is stored and retrieved. Past feeding events are embedded in the hierarchy of tube diameters, specifically in the arrangement of thick and thin tubes in the network. For the softening chemical that is now transported, the thick tubes in the network act as highways in traffic networks, enabling quick transport across the whole organism. Previous encounters imprinted in the network architecture weigh into the decision about the future direction of migration.

Mirna Kramar et al. Encoding memory in tube diameter hierarchy of living flow network, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2007815118

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-single-celled-slime-mold-nervous-food...

Caterpillar silences tomato's cry for help, scientists find

"Silencing the alarm."

Scientists found that a caterpillar called the tomato fruit worm not only chomps on tomatoes and their leaves, but also deposits enzyme-laden saliva on the plant, interfering with its ability to cry for help.

 It has been shown time and time again that when under attack, plants can emit chemical distress signals, causing their peers to mount some sort of defense. A classic example is the smell of a freshly mown lawn, which prompts the release of protective compounds in nearby blades of grass that have yet to be cut.

In some cases, plant distress signals can even summon help from other species. That's what happens with the tomato. When caterpillars nibble on the plant's leaves, the leaf pores release volatile chemicals that are detected by a type of parasite: a wasp that lays eggs inside caterpillars. 

So can the caterpillars strike back? In a series of experiments, researchers found that the answer was yes, illustrating a previously unknown strategy in nature's age-old contest between predator and prey.

The key is the enzyme in the caterpillar's saliva, which inhibits the opening of pores in tomato-plant leaves. That means the leaves are less able to release the distress signals, and presumably less able to attract wasps that could come to the rescue.

 Po‐An Lin et al. Silencing the alarm: an insect salivary enzyme closes plant stomata and inhibits volatile release, New Phytologist (2021). DOI: 10.1111/nph.17214

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-horror-movie-caterpillar-silences-tom...

Swift Links Neutrino to Star-destroying Black Hole

https://fb.watch/3Yp8kldIDt/

A single male lyrebird can mimic the sound of an entire flock

The masters of imitation appear to have vocal talents more profound than previously appreciated

Coronavirus transmission through the placenta: Baby infected with coronavirus in the womb

A pregnant woman with suspected COVID-19 was rushed by ambulance to Skåne University Hospital, in Malmo, Sweden, suffering from sudden severe abdominal pain. The doctors noticed that the unborn infant had an abnormally low heart rate, which can be a sign that the baby is not getting enough oxygen.

The doctors performed an emergency caesarean section and delivered the baby within minutes. Blood tests from the baby confirmed it had severely low oxygen, and throat swabs showed that both mother and baby were suffering from COVID.

Using throat swabs from the mother and the newborn, the genome of the virus was sequenced to confirm the possibility that the infant had been infected with COVID while still in the womb.

 a few days later, new genetic sequencing showed that the baby’s virus population had changed and contained a mutated version of the virus along with the original virus strain from the mother. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of a genetic change of the coronavirus in the unique setting of mother-to-foetus transmission before birth.

Although it is common for viruses to mutate, this mutation (called A107G) happened just five days after the baby was delivered. The genetic changes may have been stimulated by the baby coming in contact with the external environment outside the mother’s womb. However, it was surprising how quickly this single mutation occurred.

The most important findings were the changes seen in the placenta. The placenta takes blood and nutrients to the foetus and takes away waste and is critical for the growth and wellbeing of the foetus. Half the tissue was damaged. There was widespread inflammation, and  coronavirus protein was found on both the mother’s and foetus’s side of the placenta. Also found was coronavirus protein in all areas that were damaged by inflammation.

 with thousands of pregnant women infected worldwide, mother-to-baby transmission in the womb seems to be a rare complication of COVID during pregnancy.

Scientists think that this is because of the placental barrier that protects the baby in the womb from most infections. Also, the vital receptor needed for coronavirus entry into cells, called an ACE-2 receptor, only exists in low levels in the placenta.

In rare cases, coronavirus can damage the placenta – leading to a lack of oxygen in the unborn child – even if the mother has a mild case of COVID in late pregnancy. 

we should rethink how we monitor pregnant women who have COVID, and they should be considered a more important risk group than we do today.

https://theconversation.com/baby-infected-with-coronavirus-in-the-w...

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Carbon Capture Research 

Huge, Global Study of Plastic Toys Finds Over 100 Substances That May Harm Children

The potential health risks of chemicals used in plastic toys have had scientists concerned for years, but new research reveals just how widespread the risk of harm to children remains.

In an international study, researchers assessed the chemical compositions of toys and estimated levels of human exposure to the substances, ultimately finding over 100 "Chemicals of Concern" in plastic toy materials that could pose a non-negligible health risk to children.

Out of 419 chemicals found in hard, soft, and foam plastic materials used in children toys, researchers identified 126 substances that can potentially harm children's health either via cancer or non-cancer effects, including 31 plasticisers, 18 flame retardants, and 8 fragrances.

According to the researchers, while laws in many countries regulate the use of certain potentially toxic chemicals in plastic toys, there is no consistent approach internationally, and current protections don't adequately prohibit the vast extent of potentially harmful substances that toys are made from

In addition, some toxic and banned additives are still found in plastic toys also on regulated markets, for example in case of recycling contaminated plastics, unawareness by producers, or absence of regulations in the producing country.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412020321498

https://www.sciencealert.com/plastic-toy-study-finds-over-100-subst...

Biomass-based plastics

The Oldest Known Mummification 'Recipe' Has Been Unearthed, And It's Intense

In an exciting discovery, researchers have discovered an original 'how to' manual, hidden inside an ancient text, which explains the crucial steps to embalming and creating a mummy.

The guide to mummification has been found on a 3,500-year-old piece of papyrus called the Papyrus Louvre-Carlsberg manuscript, so called because half of it, primarily containing medical information.

Among the details that Schiødt has teased out of the document is a list of instructions for embalming the face of the deceased person, which was done with a piece of red linen coated in a special plant-based solution.

The solution included aromatic substances as well as binders for holding the mixture together, and the saturated cloth was intended to keep the face protected from insects and bacteria while also smelling sweet. This process hasn't been documented before, but does match up with some of the mummified remains that have been found.

This manuscript also lays out the full 70-day schedule for embalming, split into two halves: a 35-day drying period and a 35-day wrapping period, which were themselves divided into four-day intervals. Common treatments to the body included applying a mixture called natron, after the removal of the organs and the brain. 

https://news.ku.dk/all_news/2021/02/ancient-egyptian-manual-reveals...

https://www.sciencealert.com/the-oldest-known-mummification-recipe-...

People Are Accidentally Poisoning Themselves Trying to Treat COVID With a Horse Drug

People are trying to treat and prevent COVID-19 by taking ivermectin, a medication commonly used to de-worm horses – and they are poisoning themselves in the process.

The buzz around ivermectin has been generated by the FLCCC, the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC), which formed at the start of the pandemic. It comprises critical care workers who previously bonded over the controversial use of vitamin C for sepsis, MedPage Today reported.

US regulators say there is not enough robust evidence or safety data to recommend ivermectin as a cure, treatment, or preventative medicine for COVID-19.

While the FLCCC has held press conferences saying studies show the drug could fight against the novel coronavirus, public health agencies and many experts say the research is lacking. 

Ivermectin can be tolerated in small doses but can poison an adult in large quantities 

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/coronavirus-people-are-accidenta...

Structure and dynamics of key receptor in migraine pain determined, paving way for better treatment options

A research team determined the shape and kinetics of an important cell surface (membrane) receptor called calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), which has long been implicated in migraine. The researchers  determined the structure of the receptor alone and in combination with its natural target molecule (CGRP). This gives us a clear understanding of how the receptor works during its normal function in the body. The work has been published in the journal Science.

Future studies will expand the investigations towards potential drug targets.

Tracy M. Josephs et al. Structure and dynamics of the CGRP receptor in apo and peptide-bound forms, Science (2021). DOI: 10.1126/science.abf7258

Migraine is more than a simple headache; more than 3 million migraineurs—more than 60% of whom are women—have at least one attack per year. A smaller subset experience chronic migraine, defined by migraine pain that occurs 15 days or more per month, for three or months in a row. While sufferers experience many different symptoms of varying intensity—usually nausea, dizziness, sensitivity to light and sound, and intense pain on one or both sides of the head—the physiological process of migraine onset and pain is different from other types of headache, such as muscle tension or sinus pain. While migraine was long believed to be a neurovascular disorder that involved dilation of vessels in the skull, face and cerebral membrane, research has excluded vasodilation as a factor in this type of pain. More recent work has identified increased CGRP in the trigeminal se... that results in headache.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-03-dynamics-key-receptor-migrai...

Animals fake death for long periods to escape predators

Many animals feign death to try to escape their predators, with some individuals in prey species remaining motionless, if in danger, for extended lengths of time.

Charles Darwin recorded a beetle that remained stationary for 23 minutes—however the University of Bristol has documented an individual antlion larvae pretending to be dead for an astonishing 61 minutes. Of equal importance, the amount of time that an individual remains motionless is not only long but unpredictable. This means that a predator will be unable to predict when a potential prey item will move again, attract attention, and become a meal.

Predators are hungry and cannot wait indefinitely. Similarly, prey may be losing opportunities to get on with their lives if they remain motionless for too long. Thus, death-feigning might best be thought of as part of a deadly game of hide and seek in which prey might gain most by feigning death if alternative victims are readily available.

The study, published today in science journal Biology Letters, involved evaluating the benefits of death-feigning in terms of a predator visiting small populations of conspicuous prey. Researchers used computer simulations that utilise the marginal value theorem, a classical model in optimization.

 Hide-and-seek strategies and post-contact immobility, Biology Letters (2021). royalsocietypublishing.org/doi … .1098/rsbl.2020.0892

https://phys.org/news/2021-03-animals-fake-death-periods-predators....

Color blindness-correcting contact lenses

Imagine seeing the world in muted shades—gray sky, gray grass. Some people with color blindness see everything this way, though most can't see specific colors. Tinted glasses can help, but they can't be used to correct blurry vision. And dyed contact lenses currently in development for the condition are potentially harmful and unstable. Now, in ACS Nano, researchers report infusing contact lenses with gold nanoparticles to create a safer way to see colors.

Color blindness-correcting contact lenses

Imagine seeing the world in muted shades—gray sky, gray grass. Some people with color blindness see everything this way, though most can't see specific colors.

Now researchers report infusing contact lenses with gold nanoparticles to create a safer way to see colors.

Some daily activities, such as determining if a banana is ripe, selecting matching clothes or stopping at a red light, can be difficult for those with colour blindness. Most people with this genetic disorder have trouble discriminating red and green shades, and red-tinted glasses can make those colors more prominent and easier to see. However, these lenses are bulky and the lens material cannot be made to fix vision problems. Thus, researchers have shifted to the development of special tinted contact lenses. Although the prototype hot-pink dyed lenses improved red-green color perception in clinical trials, they leached dye, which led to concerns about their safety. Gold nanocomposites are nontoxic and have been used for centuries to produce "cranberry glass" because of the way they scatter light. 

To make the contact lenses, the researchers evenly mixed gold nanoparticles into a hydrogel polymer, producing rose-tinted gels that filtered light within 520-580 nm, the wavelengths where red and green overlap. The most effective contact lenses were those with 40 nm-wide gold nano particles, because in tests, these particles did not clump or filter more color than necessary. In addition, these lenses had water-retention properties similar to those of commercial ones and were not toxic to cells growing in petri dishes in the lab. Finally, the researchers directly compared their new material to two commercially available pairs of tinted glasses, and their previously developed hot-pink dyed contact lens. The gold nanocomposite lenses were more selective in the wavelengths they blocked than the glasses. The new lenses matched the wavelength range of the dyed contact lenses, suggesting the gold nanocomposite ones would be suitable for people with red-green color issues without the potential safety concerns. The researchers say that the next step is to conduct clinical trials with human patients to assess comfort.

Ahmed E. Salih et al. Gold Nanocomposite Contact Lenses for Color Blindness Management, ACS Nano (2021). DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.0c09657

https://phys.org/news/2021-03-blindness-correcting-contact-lenses.h...

How 'green' are environmentally friendly fireworks?

Fireworks are used in celebrations around the world, including Independence Day in the U.S., the Lantern Festival in China and the Diwali Festival in India. However, the popular pyrotechnic displays emit large amounts of pollutants into the atmosphere, sometimes causing severe air pollution. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology have estimated that, although so-called environmentally friendly fireworks emit 15-65% less particulate matter than traditional fireworks, they still significantly deteriorate air quality.

Environmentally friendly fire works aren’t really that friendly!

Fireworks are used in celebrations around the world. However, the popular pyrotechnic displays emit large amounts of pollutants into the atmosphere, sometimes causing severe air pollution. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Environmental Science & Technology have estimated that, although so-called environmentally friendly fireworks emit 15-65% less particulate matter than traditional fireworks, they still significantly deteriorate air quality.

Fireworks displays can cause health problems, such as respiratory ailments, because they release high levels of air pollutants, including particulate matter (PM), sulfur dioxide, heavy metals and perchlorates. As a result, some cities have banned their use. But because the displays are an important aspect of many traditional celebrations, researchers and manufacturers have tried to develop more environmentally friendly pyrotechnics, including those with smokeless charges and sulfur-free propellants. Although research suggests that these fireworks emit less pollutants, their impact on air quality has not been evaluated.

Now researchers wanted to see how green these fire works are.

The researchers estimated emissions of PM2.5, which is PM with a diameter of 2.5 μm and smaller, from the 160,000 environmentally friendly fireworks set off during the display, as well as emissions from traditional fireworks. They used information on the wind direction, wind speed, temperature and chemical composition of the fireworks to simulate the size, trajectory and peak PM2.5 values for the smoke plume resulting from the event. Then, they compared their simulated values with actual data on PM2.5 concentrations measured at 75 monitoring stations throughout the city following the fireworks display.

In agreement with the team's predictions, the data showed that the fireworks smoke plume began as a narrow band that traveled northward before being fully dispersed, with peak PM2.5 levels similar to the predictions. The researchers used their validated simulation to estimate that the use of environmentally friendly fireworks produces a much smaller, shorter-lasting plume, with 15-65% of the PM2.5 emissions of a display using traditional fireworks. However, the peak concentration of PM2.5 still greatly exceeds WHO guidelines.

This led the researchers to conclude that the number of "green" fireworks used at one time should be restricted.

"Are Environmentally Friendly Fireworks Really "Green" for Air Quality? A Study from the 2019 National Day Fireworks Display in Shenzhen" Environmental Science & Technology (2021). pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.0c03521

Expect more extreme short-duration thunderstorms caused by global w...

Climate experts have revealed that rising temperatures will intensify future rainfall extremes at a much greater rate than average rainfall, with largest increases to short thunderstorms.

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How do you know where volcanic ash will end up?

When the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland erupted in April 2010, air traffic was interrupted for six days and then disrupted until May. Until then, models from the nine Volcanic Ash Advisory Centres (VAACs) around the world, which aimed at predicting when the ash cloud interfered with aircraft routes, were based on the tracking of the clouds in the atmosphere.

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New approach to removing toxins from wastewater

The New York State Center for Clean Water Technology (CCWT) at Stony Brook University has made a series of critical discoveries regarding a new approach to protecting Long Island's drinking water, groundwater, and surface waters. Some of the discoveries involve the likely human carcinogen, 1,4-dioxane, which has been found at higher levels in Long Island drinking water than anywhere else in the U.S.

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Think all your plastic is being recycled? New research shows it can...

We all know it's wrong to toss your rubbish into the ocean or another natural place. But it might surprise you to learn some plastic waste ends up in the environment, even when we thought it was being recycled.

Think all your plastic is being recycled? New research shows it can end up in the ocean

Some plastic waste ends up in the environment, even when we thought it was being recycled. Plastic waste most commonly leaks into the environment at the country to which it's shipped. Plastics which are of low value to recyclers, such as lids and polystyrene foam containers, are most likely to end up polluting the environment.

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Plastic waste collected for recycling is often sold for reprocessing in Asia. There, the plastics are sorted, washed, chopped, melted and turned into flakes or pellets. These can be sold to manufacturers to create new products.

The global recycled plastics market is dominated by two major plastic types:

polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which in 2017 comprised 55% of the recyclable plastics market. It's used in beverage bottles and takeaway food containers and features a "1" on the packaging

high-density polyethylene (HDPE), which comprises about 33% of the recyclable plastics market. HDPE is used to create pipes and packaging such as milk and shampoo bottles, and is identified by a "2."

The next two most commonly traded types of plastics, each with 4% of the market, are:

• polypropylene or "5," used in containers for yoghurt and spreads
• low-density polyethylene known as "4," used in clear plastic films on packaging.

The remaining plastic types comprise polyvinyl chloride (3), polystyrene (6), other mixed plastics (7), unmarked plastics and "composites." Composite plastic packaging is made from several materials not easily separated, such as long-life milk containers with layers of foil, plastic and paper.

This final group of plastics is not generally sought after as a raw material in manufacturing, so has little value to recyclers.

https://theconversation.com/think-all-your-plastic-is-being-recycle...

Coronavirus: what happens when a person is simultaneously infected with two variants?

Scientists in Brazil recently reported that two people were simultaneously infected with two different variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. This co-infection seemed to have no effect on the severity of patients’ illness, and both recovered without needing to be hospitalised.

Although this is one of the few such cases recorded with SARS-CoV-2 – and the study is yet to be published in a scientific journal – scientists have observed infections with multiple strains with other respiratory viruses, such as influenza. This has raised questions about how these viruses may interact in an infected person, and what it could mean for generating new variants.

The detection of multiple variants in a person could be the result of co-infection by the different variants, or the generation of mutations within the patient after the initial infection. One way to discriminate these two scenarios is by comparing the sequences of the variants circulating in the population with those in the patient. In the Brazilian study mentioned above, the variants identified corresponded to different lineages that had been previously detected in the population, implying co-infection by the two variants.

It is important to note that this requires the two viruses to infect the same cell. Even if a person is infected with several variants, if they replicate in different parts of the body, they will not interact with each other. Indeed, this was seen in patients, where different quasi-species of coronaviruses were found in the upper and lower respiratory tracts, suggesting that viruses in these sites were not directly mixing with each other.

The evidence so far does not suggest that infection with more than one variant leads to more severe disease. And although possible, very few cases of co-infection have been reported. More than 90% of the infections in the UK currently are by B117 – the so-called Kent variant. With such a high prevalence of one variant in the population, co-infections are not likely to occur. Still, monitoring this landscape allows scientists to track the emergence of these new variants of concern and understand and respond to any changes in their transmission or vaccine efficacy.

https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-what-happens-when-a-person-...

Velcro-like cellular proteins key to tissue strength

 Where do bodily tissues get their strength? New CU Boulder research provides important new clues to this long-standing mystery, identifying how specialized proteins called cadherins join forces to make cells stick and stay stuck together. The findings, publishing this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could lead to more life-like artificial tissues and tumor busting drugs. Better understanding these proteins allows for the design of more effective engineered tissues that better mimic biological materials as well as cancer therapeutics that are more efficient and target-specific.

For example: If a cancer treatment could block a specific interaction of these cadherin proteins, it could potentially slow tumor growth by stopping or slowing the formation of new blood vessels in tumors.

Cadherin proteins are important in our bodies because they facilitate the binding and adhesion of cells in neural, cardiac, placental and skin tissues, among others, helping them maintain their function and shape.

These large, rod-like proteins in the cell membrane mediate information between the inside and outside of the cell. Where they stick out, they can bond with other cadherin proteins from the same cell, as well as those from other cells.

Like Velcro, the study found, the more pieces stick together, the stronger the bond and the longer it lasts. This amplified strength not only between proteins which exist on the same cell, but between proteins located on different cells—creating bonds 30 times stronger than the sum of their individual strengths. And once the bonding begins, these bonds become progressively stronger and stronger.

https://www.pnas.org/content/118/10/e2019845118

https://www.colorado.edu/today/2021/03/01/velcro-cellular-proteins-...

Researchers discover new way to halt excessive inflammation

Researchers have discovered a new way to 'put the brakes' on excessive inflammation by regulating a type of white blood cell that is critical for our immune system. The discovery has the potential to protect the body from unchecked damage caused by inflammatory diseases.

Excessive inflammation is a prominent feature of many diseases such as multiple sclerosis, arthritis and inflammatory bowel diseases.

When immune cells (white blood cells) in our body called macrophages are exposed to potent infectious agents, powerful inflammatory proteins known as cytokines are produced to fight the invading infection. However, if these cytokine levels get out of control, significant tissue damage can occur.

The researchers have found that a protein called Arginase-2 works through the energy source of macrophage cells, known as mitochondria, to limit inflammation. Specifically they have shown for the first time that Arginase-2 is critical for decreasing a potent inflammatory cytokine called IL-1.

This discovery could allow researchers to develop new treatments that target the Arginase-2 protein and protect the body from unchecked damage caused by inflammatory diseases.

Nature Communications (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21617-2

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-03-halt-excessive-inflammation....

'Fungal ghosts' protect skin, fabric from toxins, radiation

The idea of creating selectively porous materials has captured the attention of chemists for decades. Now, new research from Northwestern University shows that fungi may have been doing exactly this for millions of years.

When scientists set out to synthesize melanin that would mimic that which was formed by certain fungi known to inhabit unusual, hostile environments including spaceships, dishwashers and even Chernobyl, they did not initially expect the materials would prove highly porous— a property that enables the material to store and capture molecules.

 Journal of the American Chemical Society 

https://phys.org/news/2021-03-fungal-ghosts-skin-fabric-toxins.html...

An intelligent soft material that curls under pressure or expands when stretched

This is a fact!

Many women complain that they 're not being considered or overlooked for awards and prizes including the Nobel prize (1) in science just because of their gender. I recently found an interesting thing. I got a national award for science communication. During the award giving ceremony, Indian science and Tech secretary told us an interesting story.

Department of Science and Technology, India, gives prizes for the best PhD write up to train and make the budding scientists better at science communication. This year, they removed the names before sending the articles for assessment. And magic, magic, magic, magic. All the prize winners are women! Not even a single man got it.

What did we learn from it? Patriarchal mindsets are definitely impeding womens' chances of winning awards and prizes in science! Once you change the situation where there is no way to learn for the judge whether the person who is being judged is male or female, there is a better chance for women to win!

Footnotes:

1. Why more women don’t win Nobel prizes in science

Eyeless roundworms sense color
Roundworms don't have eyes or the light-absorbing molecules required to see. Yet, new research shows they can somehow sense color. The study, published on March 5 in the journal Science, suggests worms use this ability to assess the risk of feasting on potentially dangerous bacteria that secrete blue toxins. The researchers pinpointed two genes that contribute to this spectral sensitivity and are conserved across many organisms, including humans.
So a 1 mm tiny worm, Caenorhabditis elegans, with neither eyes nor the molecular machinery used by eyes to detect colors can identify and avoid a toxic bacterium based, in part, on its blue color! They can smell, taste, sense touch, react to temperature, and even escape or change their feeding patterns in response to bright, blue light.

https://news.mit.edu/2021/eyeless-roundworms-sense-color-0304

Scientists read 300-year-old letters without opening them

The letters had been folded using a mysterious technique.

Unopened letters more than 300 years old that were folded using mysterious techniques have now been read for the first time without opening them, a new study finds.

For centuries, before mass-produced envelopes started proliferating in the 1830s, most letters across the globe were sent using letterlocking, a method of folding letters to become their own envelopes. These intricate techniques also often served to help recipients detect if mail had been tampered with.

For example, during research in the Vatican Secret Archives, conservator Jana Dambrogio at the MIT Libraries unearthed Renaissance letters with odd slits and sliced-off corners. She discovered these were signs these documents were originally locked with a slice of paper slid through a slit and closed with a wax seal. Such letters could not be opened without ripping the paper, which would reveal to intended recipients if someone else had read the letters first.

After studying 250,000 historical letters, Dambrogio and her colleagues devised the first system to categorize letterlocking techniques, a kind of periodic table based on how these strategies creased sheets. "Letterlocking is a 10,000-year-old technology -- as long as people have tried to build security into their correspondences, you've had letterlocking, from cuneiform tablets all the way to bitcoin paper wallets.

Until now, scientists could only read these "letterpackets" by cutting them open, often damaging the documents. Although such work naturally focused on the letter's contents, this came at the cost of research into letterlocking itself, about which much remains unknown. "These folding sequences, they're just like a sneeze -- they're ephemeral. The minute you open them, you lose evidence of them.

Now scientists have devised a way to both read letterlocked texts without opening them and reconstruct the complex folds, tucks and slits used to secure them. 

The scientists investigated the Brienne Collection, a postmaster's trunk holding more than 3,000 undelivered letters, including 577 letterpackets that were never opened. The letters were sent from all over Europe to The Hague between 1680 and 1706, the era that saw the Salem witch trials unfold, Newton reveal his laws of motion and gravitation, and Louis XIV move his court to Versailles.

The researchers first analyzed four letterpackets with high-resolution X-ray scans to generate 3D models of the documents. Next, they used a new computational algorithm to identify and separate different layers of the folded letters and recognize text written on them. Finally, the algorithm virtually unfolded the letters, not only making the writing visible, but also recording the crease patterns so the researchers could re-create the letterlocking process step by step.

This new strategy helped the scientists read unopened letterlocked text for the first time. 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-21326-w