4 women whose work won the Nobel Prize for their male colleagues

Throughout history, female scientists have made groundbreaking discoveries that have contributed to the betterment of humankind. To celebrate Women’s History Month, this Special Feature looks at some of the most influential female scientists who never received a Nobel Prize for their work. Instead, the Prize landed in the hands of their male colleagues.

Physicist Lise Meitner (1878–1968)

Physicist Chien-Shiung Wu (1912–1997)

Chemist Rosalind Franklin (1920–1958)

Microbiologist Esther Lederberg (1922–2006)

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/4-women-whose-work-won-th...

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/its-time-to-change-the-na...

New law of physics helps humans and robots grasp the friction of touch

Although robotic devices are used in everything from assembly lines to medicine, engineers have a hard time accounting for the friction that occurs when those robots grip objects—particularly in wet environments. Researchers have now discovered a new law of physics that accounts for this type of friction, which should advance a wide range of robotic technologies.

At issue is something called elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) friction, which is the friction that occurs when two solid surfaces come into contact with a thin layer of fluid between them. This would include the friction that occurs when you rub your fingertips together, with the fluid being the thin layer of naturally occurring oil on your skin. But it could also apply to a robotic claw lifting an object that has been coated with oil, or to a surgical device that is being used inside the human body.

One reason friction is important is because it helps us hold things without dropping them.

Understanding friction is intuitive for humans—even when we're handling soapy dishes. But it is extremely difficult to account for EHL friction when developing materials that controls grasping capabilities in robots.

To develop materials that help control EHL friction, engineers would need a framework that can be applied uniformly to a wide variety of patterns, materials and dynamic operating conditions. And that is exactly what the researchers have discovered.

In this context, surface patterns could be anything from the slightly raised surfaces on the tips of our fingers to grooves in the surface of a robotic tool.

The new physical principle makes use of four equations to account for all of the physical forces at play in understanding EHL friction. In the paper, the research team demonstrated the law in three systems: human fingers; a bio-inspired robotic fingertip; and a tool called a tribo-rheometer, which is used to measure frictional forces. 

It has obvious applications in the realm of telesurgery, in which surgeons remotely control robotic devices to perform surgical procedures.

Elastohydrodynamic friction of robotic and human fingers on soft micropatterned substrates, Nature Materials (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41563-021-00990-9

https://phys.org/news/2021-04-law-physics-humans-robots-grasp.html?...

Geoengineering: 'Plan B' for the planet

Dismissed a decade ago as far-fetched and dangerous, schemes to tame the effects of global warming by engineering the climate have migrated from the margins of policy debates towards centre stage.

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Humanity taking 'colossal risk' with our future: Nobels

The failure to halt climate change, the destruction of nature and other intertwined global crises poses an existential risk to humanity, ten Nobel laureates said Thursday following the first-ever Nobel Prize Summit.

Lightning may be an important source of air-cleaning chemicals

A storm-chasing airplane caught thunderstorms producing extremely high concentrations of two important oxidants

Lightning could play an important role in flushing pollutants out of the atmosphere.

Observations from a storm-chasing airplane reveal that lightning can forge lots of air-cleansing chemicals called oxidants, researchers report online April 29 in Science. Oxidants help clear the air by reacting with contaminants like methane to form molecules that are more water soluble or stickier, allowing them to more easily rain out of Earth’s atmosphere or stick to its surface.

Researchers knew lightning produces nitric oxide, which can lead to the formation of oxidants such as hydroxyl radicals. But no one had seen lightning directly create lots of these oxidants.

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In May and June 2012, a NASA jet measured two oxidants in storm clouds over Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas. One was the hydroxyl radical, OH. The other was a similar oxidant called the hydroperoxyl radical, HO₂. The combined concentration of OH and HO₂ molecules, generated by lightning and other electrified regions of air, reached up to thousands of parts per trillion in some parts of these clouds. The highest concentration of OH previously observed in the atmosphere was a few parts per trillion. The most HO₂ observed was about 150 parts per trillion.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/lightning-storm-chemicals-air-c...

The mystery of sleep: Why can’t we stay awake indefinitely?

How SARS-CoV-2 hijacks human cells to evade immune system

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have discovered one way in which SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, hijacks human cell machinery to blunt the immune response, allowing it to establish infection, replicate and cause disease. In short, the virus genome gets tagged with a special marker by a human enzyme that tells the immune system to stand down, while at the same time ramping up production of the surface proteins that SARS-CoV-2 uses as a doorknob to enter cells. The study, published April 22, 2021 in Cell Reports, helps lay the groundwork for new anti-viral immunotherapies  treatments that work by boosting a patients immune system, rather than directly killing the virus. Its very smart of this virus to use host machinery to simultaneously go into stealth mode and get inside more cells

The Wave Beneath Their Wings

These cellular clocks help explain why elephants are bigger than mice

A clock’s accuracy may be tied to the entropy it creates

A clock made from a wiggling membrane produces more disorder as it becomes more accurate

Today’s most advanced clocks keep time with an incredibly precise rhythm. But a new experiment suggests that clocks’ precision comes at a price: entropy.

Entropy, or disorder, is created each time a clock ticks. Now, scientists have measured the entropy generated by a clock that can be run at varying levels of accuracy. The more accurate the clock’s ticks, the more entropy it emitted, physicists report in a paper accepted to Physical Review X.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/clock-time-accuracy-entropy-dis...

The Evolution of Bacteria on a “Mega-Plate” Petri Dish

Three new studies suggest Z-genome is much more widespread in bacte...

Three teams working independently have found evidence that suggests the Z-genome in bacteria-invading viruses is much more widespread than thought. All three of the groups have used a variety of genomic techniques to identify parts of the pathways that lead development of the Z-genome in bacteria-invading viruses known as bacteriophages. The first team was made up of researchers from several institutions in China and one in Singapore, the second with members from several institutions in France; the third was an international effort. All three teams have published their results in the journal Science. Michael Grome and Farren Isaacs with Yale University have also published a Perspectives piece in the same journal issue outlining the work of all three teams.

In long-awaited breakthrough,  scientists harness molecules into single quantum state

 Researchers have big ideas for the potential of quantum technology, from unhackable networks to earthquake sensors. But all these things depend on a major technological feat: being able to build and control systems of quantum particles, which are among the smallest objects in the universe.

That goal is now a step closer with the publication of a new method by  scientists. Published April 28 in Nature, the paper shows how to bring multiple molecules at once into a single quantum state—one of the most important goals in quantum physics.

One of the essential states of matter is called a Bose-Einstein condensate: When a group of particles cooled to nearly absolute zero share a quantum state, the entire group starts behaving as though it were a single atom. It’s a bit like coaxing an entire band to march entirely in step while playing in tune—difficult to achieve, but when it happens, a whole new world of possibilities can open up.

Scientists have been able to do this with atoms for a few decades, but what they’d really like to do is to be able to do it with molecules. Such a breakthrough could serve as the underpinning for many forms of quantum technology.

But because molecules are larger than atoms and have many more moving parts, most attempts to harness them have dissolved into chaos. “Atoms are simple spherical objects, whereas molecules can vibrate, rotate, carry small magnets. Because molecules can do so many different things, it makes them more useful, and at the same time much harder to control.

So the scientists first  cooled the entire system down —down to 10 nanokelvins, a split hair above absolute zero. Then they packed the molecules into a crawl space so that they were pinned flat. Typically, molecules want to move in all directions, and if you allow that, they are much less stable. The researchers confined the molecules so that they are on a 2D surface and can only move in two directions.

The result was a set of virtually identical molecules—lined up with exactly the same orientation, the same vibrational frequency, in the same quantum state.

The scientists described this molecular condensate as like a pristine sheet of new drawing paper for quantum engineering. So far, they’ve been able to link up to a few thousand molecules together in such a state, and are beginning to explore its potential.

Zhang, Chen, Yao and Chin. Atomic Bose-Einstein condensate to molecular Bose-Einstein condensate transition. Nature, 2021 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03443-0

SARS-CoV-2 spike protein alone may cause lung damage

Using a newly developed mouse model of acute lung injury, researchers found that exposure to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein alone was enough to induce COVID-19-like symptoms including severe inflammation of the lungs.

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is covered in tiny spike proteins. These proteins bind with receptors on our cells, starting a process that allows the virus to release its genetic material  into a healthy cell. The study findings show that the SARS-CoV2 spike protein causes lung injury even without the presence of intact virus.

The researchers found that the genetically modified mice injected with the spike protein exhibited COVID-19-like symptoms that included severe inflammation, an influx of white blood cells into their lungs and evidence of a cytokine storm—an immune response in which the body starts to attack its own cells and tissues rather than just fighting off the virus. The mice that only received saline (control group) remained normal.

https://www.eventscribe.net/2021/EB2021/index.asp?presTarget=1644160

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-04-sars-cov-spike-protein-lung....

And the spike protein in vaccines is not dangerous. Read here why:

https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2021/05/04/spike-pro...

Bats found to have innate sense of speed of sound

A pair of researchers with Tel Aviv University's School of Zoology has found that bats have an innate sense of the speed of sound. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Eran Amichai and Yossi Yovel describe experiments they conducted with both wild and lab raised bats and what they learned from them.

Scientists have known for some time that many species of bats use echolocation to determine how far away an object is from them. They send out a signal and then measure its distance by the amount of time that it takes for the signal to bounce back to them. What is not known is whether this ability is something they are born with or if it is learned. To answer that question, the researchers conducted two kinds of experiments—one with bats reared in the lab, the other with captured wild bats.

The first experiment involved raising bats from when they were pups until they were old enough to find food on their own. Each was trained to eat from a certain target placed 130 cm away from a starting perch. Some of the bats were raised in an environment with added helium in the air—helium is thinner than air, thus sound travels faster when passing through it. Each of the bats were then tested under two scenarios. In the first, the bats were tested on their ability to reach the target under normal conditions—they were also timed. In the second scenario, the bats were tested in the same ways as they flew in helium-enriched air.

The researchers found that those flying in helium-enhanced air tended to underestimate the distance to the target—and it did not matter if they were raised in a helium-rich environment or not.

In the second experiment, the researchers caught and trained several wild bats and taught them to eat from the same target as the bats in the first experiment. They then ran the same tests as they did in the first experiment and obtained the same results. The bats flying in helium-enriched air tended to underestimate the distance to the target. The researchers therefore suggest that bats have an innate sense of the speed of sound.

Eran Amichai et al. Echolocating bats rely on an innate speed-of-sound reference, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2024352118

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-innate.html?utm_source=nwletter&u...

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'Last resort' antibiotic pops bacteria like balloons

Scientists have revealed how an antibiotic of 'last resort' kills bacteria. The findings may also reveal a potential way to make the antibiotic more powerful.

The antibiotic colistin has become a last resort treatment for infections caused by some of the world's nastiest superbugs. However, despite being discovered over 70 years ago, the process by which this antibiotic kills bacteria has, until now, been something of a mystery.

Now, researchers have revealed that colistin punches holes in bacteria, causing them to pop like balloons.

Colistin was first described in 1947, and is one of the very few antibiotics that is active against many of the most deadly superbugs, including E. coli, which causes potentially lethal infections of the bloodstream, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii, which frequently infect the lungs of people receiving mechanical ventilation in intensive care units.

These superbugs have two 'skins', called membranes. Colistin punctures both membranes, killing the bacteria. However, whilst it was known that colistin damaged the outer membrane by targeting a chemical called lipopolysaccharide (LPS), it was unclear how the inner membranewas pierced.

This work has shown that colistin also targets LPS in the inner membrane, even though there's very little of it present.

Akshay Sabnis, Katheryn LH Hagart, Anna Klöckner, Michele Becce, Lindsay E Evans, R Christopher D Furniss, Despoina AI Mavridou, Ronan Murphy, Molly M Stevens, Jane C Davies, Gérald J Larrouy-Maumus, Thomas B Clarke, Andrew M Edwards. Colistin kills bacteria by targeting lipopolysaccharide in the cytoplasmic membrane. eLife, 2021; 10 DOI: 10.7554/eLife.65836

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-resort-antibiotic-bacteria-balloons.h...

 The gateway to conscious awareness

During our waking hours, the brain is receiving a near-constant influx of sensory signals of various strengths. For decades, scientists have wondered why some signals rise to the light of conscious awareness while other signals of a similar strength remain in the dark shadows of unconsciousness. What controls the gate that separates the shadows and the light?

In a new study  published in  Cell Reports, researchers identify a key area in the cortex that appears to be the gate of conscious awareness.

Information processing in the brain has two dimensions: sensory processing of the environment without awareness and the type that occurs when a stimulus reaches a certain level of importance and enters conscious awareness.

Researchers attempted to confirm that this switch occurs in a part of the brain called the anterior insular cortex, acting as a type of gate between low level sensory information and higher level awareness.

Looking for the correlation across different states of consciousness revealed activation of the anterior insular cortex played a role in the successful switch between these activations and deactivations.

Anterior insular cortex has continuously fluctuating activity. Whether you can detect a stimulus depends upon the state of the anterior insula when the information arrives in your brain: if the insula's activity is high at the point of stimulus, you will see the image. Based on evidence from the present  experiments, researchers concluded that the anterior insular cortex could be a gate for conscious awareness. 

"Anterior insula regulates brain network transitions that gate conscious access," Cell Reports (2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109081

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-05-reveals-gateway-conscious-aw...

The anterior insular cortex (AIC) is implicated in a wide range of conditions and behaviours, from bowel distension and orgasm, to cigarette craving and maternal love, to decision making and sudden insight. Its function in the re-representation of interoception offers one possible basis for its involvement in all subjective feelings. New findings suggest a fundamental role for the AIC (and the von Economo neurons it contains) in awareness, and thus it needs to be considered as a potential neural correlate of consciousness.

https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn2555

A cold soak lowers the risk of salmonella growth on 'sprouted' foods

Soaking "sprouted" foods in cold water, rather than the more common practice of soaking at ambient temperature, lowers the risk of salmonella growth on these increasingly popular healthy snack foods, according to a new study.

Making these foods involves soaking raw ingredients—usually grains, nuts or seeds—in water overnight, often at room temperature. Soaking softens the hulls and leads to swelling that initiates the activation of enzymes and reduction of antinutrients, which are plant compounds that reduce the body's ability to absorb essential nutrients.

Following soaking, these ingredients are typically dried under low temperature and low humidity to maintain their "raw" label, then packaged as either single-ingredient snacks, incorporated into a complex snack—such as granola, bars or trail mix—or pureed into nut or seed butters or as a base for fermented non-dairy "cheeses."

The study, published in Food Protection Trends, demonstrates the risk of "sprouting" practices and presents practical strategies to improve safety of these raw foods

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-cold-lowers-salmonella-growth-foods.h...

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A few simple tricks make fake news stories stick in the brain

People are more likely to buy in if the misinformation is surprising, emotional or on repeat

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/misinformation-fake-news-storie...

Countering Science Misinformation through sci-com

Myths, false claims and reports of bad science can spread like wildfire on social media and by word of mouth, but scientists affiliated with AAAS programs are working strategically to combat science misinformation. In the video series “AAAS Voices: Countering Science Misinformation,” experts explain the challenges of misinformation on addressing timely topics such as climate change, technology and health, including the COVID-19 pandemic. Scientists share how they combat misinformation and offer strategies for how their fellow scientists can productively address and correct the inaccuracies they encounter. As a climate scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, Astrid Caldas communicates the facts about climate change to a wide range of audiences in person, on social media and through media appearances. To get the facts across and effectively clarify misinformation, Caldas recommended several strategies to fellow climate change communicators who want to best connect with their audience. For instance, tie your message to your particular audience’s values and encourage listeners to challenge their own assumptions by asking questions, said Caldas, a 2013-2014 AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow. “It’s never a lecture. It’s a conversation,” said Caldas.

https://blog.ucsusa.org/astrid-caldas/dont-let-them-fool-you-disinf...

GM grass cleanses soil of toxic pollutants left by military explosi...

GM grass cleanses soil of toxic pollutants left by military explosives, new research shows

A new study  demonstrates that genetically modified switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) can detoxify residues of the military explosive, RDX, left behind on live-fire training ranges, munitions dumps and minefields. RDX has been a major component of munitions since WW2 which are still used extensively on military training grounds. This use has now resulted in widespread pollution of groundwater. Researchers generated the plants by inserting two genes from bacteria able to breakdown RDX. The plants were then grown in RDX contaminated soil on a US military site. The genetically modified grass grew well and successfully degraded RDX to non-detectable levels in their plant tissues.

https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2021/research/gm-grass-...

If you are not making any silly mistakes, your brain is not working hard enough. 

Study sheds more light on rate of rare blood clots after Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine

A large study from Denmark and Norway published by The BMJ today sheds more light on the risk of rare blood clots in adults receiving their first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

The findings show slightly increased rates of vein blood clots including clots in the veins of the brain, compared with expected rates in the general population. However, the researchers stress that the risk of such adverse events is considered low.

Cases of rare blood clots in people who have recently received their first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine have been reported. Whether these cases represent excess events above expected rates in the general population has, however, been debated.

Both the UK and European medicine regulators say the benefits of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine still outweigh the risks.

To explore this further, researchers based in Denmark and Norway set out to compare nationwide rates of blood clots and related conditions after vaccination with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine with those in the general populations of the two countries.

Their findings are based on 280,000 people aged 18-65 who received a first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in Denmark and Norway from February 2021 through to 11 March 2021.

Using national health records, they identified rates of events, such as heart attacks, strokes, deep vein blood clots and bleeding events within 28 days of receiving a first vaccine dose and compared these with expected rates in the general populations of Denmark and Norway.

In the main analysis, the researchers found 59 blood clots in the veins compared with 30 expected, corresponding to 11 excess events per 100,000 vaccinations. This included a higher than expected rate of blood clots in the veins of the brain, known as cerebral venous thrombosis (2.5 events per 100,000 vaccinations).

However, they found no increase in the rate of arterial clots, such as heart attacks or strokes.

Arterial events, venous thromboembolism, thrombocytopenia, and bleeding after vaccination with Oxford-AstraZeneca ChAdOx1 in Denmark and Norway: population based cohort study, www.bmj.com/content/373/bmj.n1114

Opinion: Thrombosis and bleeding after the Oxford-AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccination, blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/05/05/t … covid-19-vaccination

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-05-rare-blood-clots-oxford-astr...

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Researchers find possible novel migraine therapy

By discovering a potential new cellular mechanism for migraines, researchers may have also found a new way to treat chronic migraine.

 the dynamic process of routing and rerouting connections among nerve cells, called neural plasticity, is critical to both the causes and cures for disorders of the central nervous system such as depression, chronic pain, and addiction.

The structure of the cell is maintained by its cytoskeleton which is made up of the protein, tubulin. Tubulin is in a constant state of flux, waxing and waning to change the size and shape of the cell. This dynamic property of the cell allows the nervous system to change in response to its environment.

Tubulin is modified in the body through a chemical process called acetylation. When tubulin is acetylated it encourages flexible, stable cytoskeleton; while tubulin deacetylation—induced by histone deacetylase 6, or HDAC6, promotes cytoskeletal instability.

Studies in mice models show that decreased neuronal complexity may be a feature, or mechanism, of chronic migraine. When HDAC6 is inhibited, tubulin acetylation and cytoskeletal flexibility is restored. Additionally, HDAC6 reversed the cellular correlates of migraine and relieved migraine-associated pain, according to the study.

This work suggests that the chronic migraine state may be characterized by decreased neuronal complexity, and that restoration of this complexity could be a hallmark of anti-migraine treatments. This work also forms the basis for development of HDAC6 inhibitors as a novel therapeutic strategy for migraine.

This research reveals a way to possibly reset the brain toward its pre-chronic migraine state.

 Zachariah Bertels et al, Neuronal complexity is attenuated in preclinical models of migraine and restored by HDAC6 inhibition, eLife (2021). DOI: 10.7554/eLife.63076

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-05-migraine-therapy.html?utm_so...

A new method to trigger rain where water is scarce

A new method to trigger rain in places where water is scarce is being tested in the United Arab Emirates using unmanned drones that were designed and manufactured at the University of Bath. The drones carry an electric charge that is released into a cloud, giving cloud droplets the jolt they need to clump together and fall as rain.

This is one of the first times scientists have used drones in an attempt to stimulate rainfall from clouds. Established techniques for encouraging rainfall in dry countries involve low-flying aircraft or rockets dropping or firing solid particles (such as salt or silver iodide) into clouds. This is known as cloud seeding.

The drones, which are being tested as part of the UAE's rain-enhancement science-research program, are equipped with a payload of electric-charge emission instruments and sensors. Human operators on the ground will direct them towards low-hanging clouds, where they will release their charge. Clouds naturally carry positive and negative charges. By altering the balance of these charges, it is hoped that cloud droplets can be persuaded to grow and merge, eventually producing rain.

The research, which is published in the Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology

 R. Giles Harrison et al. Demonstration of a Remotely Piloted Atmospheric Measurement and Charge Release Platform for Geoengineering, Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology (2020). DOI: 10.1175/JTECH-D-20-0092.1

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-method-trigger-scarce.html?utm_source...

Flooding might triple in the mountains of Asia due to global warming
The "Third Pole" of the Earth, the high mountain ranges of Asia, bears the largest number of glaciers outside the polar regions. A Sino-Swiss research team has revealed the dramatic increase in flood risk that could occur across Earth's icy Third Pole in response to ongoing climate change. Focusing on the threat from new lakes forming in front of rapidly retreating glaciers, a team, led by researchers from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, demonstrated that the related flood risk to communities and their infrastructure could almost triple. Important new hotspots of risk will emerge, including within politically sensitive transboundary regions of the Himalaya and Pamir. With significant increases in risk already anticipated over the next three decades, the results of the study, published in Nature Climate Change, underline the urgent need for forward-looking, collaborative, long-term approaches to mitigate future impacts in the region.

Increasing risk of glacial lake outburst floods from future Third Pole deglaciation, Nature Climate Change (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41558-021-01028-3

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-triple-mountains-asia-due-global.html...

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Physicists describe new type of aurora

The famed northern and southern lights still hold secrets. In a new study, physicists describe a new phenomenon they call “diffuse auroral erasers,” in which patches of the background glow are blotted out, then suddenly intensify and reappear.

R. N. Troyer et al, The Diffuse Auroral Eraser, Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics (2021). DOI: 10.1029/2020JA028805

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-physicists-aurora.html?utm_source=nwl...

Scientists find dangerous chemical pollutants in disposable face masks

The rise in single-use masks, and the associated waste, due to the Covid-19 pandemic has been documented as a new cause of pollution.

A robot that can help you untangle your hair

Why some people hallucinate ghosts

Scientists are developing a completely new “brain stress test” for evaluating the mental status of patients with Parkinson’s disease, the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disease worldwide. It involves awakening the “ghosts” hidden in specific networks of the brain to predict the onset of hallucinations.

Biomarker detects severe COVID-19 early on

 Most people who are infected with SARS-CoV-2 develop no or only mild symptoms. However, some patients suffer severe life-threatening cases of COVID-19 and require intensive medical care and a ventilator to help them breathe. Many of these patients eventually succumb to the disease or suffer significant long-term health consequences. To identify and treat these patients at an early stage, a kind of “measuring stick” is needed – predictive biomarkers that can recognize those who are at risk of developing severe COVID-19.

First biomarker to predict severity of disease: a research team has now discovered such a biomarker – the number of natural killer T cells in the blood. These cells are a type of white blood cell and part of the early immune response. The number of natural killer T cells in the blood can be used to predict severe cases of COVID-19 with a high degree of certainty – even on a patient’s first day in hospital.

The new biomarker test helps clinicians decide which organizational and treatment measures need to be taken for patients with COVID-19, such as transfer to the ICU, frequency of oxygen measurements, type of therapy and treatment start. Predictive biomarkers are very useful for making these decisions. They help clinicians provide patients suffering severe symptoms with the best care possible.

The rapid deterioration in the health of COVID-19 patients is caused by an overreaction of the body’s immune system. “The body produces small proteins called cytokines at a much higher rate, which leads to a ‘cytokine storm’ and triggers massive inflammation. Immune cells invade the lungs, where they disrupt gas exchange.

To detect the immune cells and cytokines in patient samples, the UZH researchers used high-dimensional cytometry. This technology enables researchers to characterize many surface and intracellular proteins in millions of individual cells and process them using computer algorithms.

https://www.media.uzh.ch/en/Press-Releases/2021/COVID-19-Biomarker....

https://researchnews.cc/news/6585/Biomarker-detects-severe-COVID-19...

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Defective epithelial barriers linked to two billion chronic diseases

Epithelial cells form the covering of most internal and external surfaces of the human body. This protective layer acts as a defense against invaders – including bacteria, viruses, environmental toxins, pollutants and allergens. If the skin and mucosal barriers are damaged or leaky, foreign agents such as bacteria can enter into the tissue and cause local, often chronic inflammation. This has both direct and indirect consequences.

Researchers  have now published a comprehensive summary of the research on epithelial barrier damage in Nature Reviews Immunology. The epithelial barrier hypothesis proposes that damages to the epithelial barrier are responsible for up to two billion chronic, non-infectious diseases.

Humans are exposed to a variety of toxins and chemicals every day. According to the epithelial barrier hypothesis, exposure to many of these substances damages the epithelium, the thin layer of cells that covers the surface of our skin, lungs and intestine. Defective epithelial barriers have been linked to a rise in almost two billion allergic, autoimmune, neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases.

Cezmi A. Akdis. Does the epithelial barrier hypothesis explain the increase in allergy, autoimmunity and other chronic conditions? Nature Reviews Immunology, 2021; DOI: 10.1038/s41577-021-00538-7

https://researchnews.cc/news/6586/Defective-epithelial-barriers-lin...

Crystal critters

Researchers have observed that when salty water evaporates from a heated, superhydrophobic surface the crystal structures that form can easily be removed or roll away on their own. This phenomenon could make it possible to use brackish or salty water, without any pretreatment, rather than relying on freshwater sources, for cooling systems in power plants.

Research finds new way to reduce scarring

 Researchers have been able to reduce scarring by blocking part of the healing process in research that could make a significant difference for burns and other trauma patients.

Scars had been reduced by targeting the gene that instructs stem cells to form them in an animal study. The body’s natural response to trauma is to make plenty of blood vessels to take oxygen and nutrients to the wound to repair it.

Once the wound has closed, many of these blood vessels become fibroblast cells which produce the collagens forming the hard materials found in scar tissue. 
Vascular stem cells determined whether a blood vessel was retained or gave rise to scar material instead.

The experimental dermatology team  identified the molecular mechanism to switch off the process by targeting a specific gene involved in scar formation known as SOX9.

Eri Shirakami, Sho Yamakawa, Kenji Hayashida. Strategies to prevent hypertrophic scar formation: a review of therapeutic interventions based on molecular evidence. Burns & Trauma, 2020; 8 (1) DOI: 10.1093/burnst/tkz003

https://researchnews.cc/news/6578/UQ-research-finds-new-way-to-redu...

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Hears Ingenuity Mars Helicopter in Flight

Wireless charging of electric cars

Cornell is pioneering an innovative approach for the wireless charging of electric vehicles, forklifts and other mobile machines, while they remain in motion.

Insect Flight | Capturing Takeoff & Flying at 3,200 FPS

Largest study to date confirms non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications do not result in worse COVID-19 outcomes

The use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen, does not lead to higher rates of death or severe disease in patients who are hospitalised with COVID-19, according to a new observational study of more than 72,000 people in the UK published in The Lancet Rheumatology journal.

NSAIDs are common treatments for acute pain and rheumatological diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthrosis. Early in the pandemic, there was debate on whether the use of such drugs increased the severity of COVID-19, which led to urgent calls for investigations between NSAIDs and COVID-19.

The ISARIC CCP-UK (International Severe Acute Respiratory and emerging Infection Consortium Clinical Characterisation Protocol United Kingdom) study, which is the largest of its kind, provides clear evidence that the continued use of NSAIDs in patients with COVID-19 is safe.

In the study, around a third of patients (30.4%. 1,279 out of 4,211) who had taken NSAIDs prior to hospital admission for COVID-19 died, a rate which was similar (31.3%. 21,256 out of 67,968) in patients who had not taken NSAIDs. In patients with rheumatological disease, the use of NSAIDs did not increase mortality.

Thomas M Drake et al, Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug use and outcomes of COVID-19 in the ISARIC Clinical Characterisation Protocol UK cohort: a matched, prospective cohort study, The Lancet Rheumatology (2021). DOI: 10.1016/S2665-9913(21)00104-1

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-05-largest-date-non-steroidal-a...

In fight against COVID variants some firms target T cell jabs

Getting COVID vaccines into the arms of the world's population is an international priority—but will today's jabs stay effective against virus variants that are spreading across the globe?

It is one of the big questions about the pandemic, with Pfizer chief Albert Bourla recently acknowledging that it is likely a booster will be needed to help extend the protection conferred by its vaccine and ward off new variants.

A recent study presented a mixed picture.

It found that the antibody response of current vaccines could fail against variants. However, a second immune response in the form of killer T cells—which attack already infected cells and not the virus itself—remained largely intact.

Several startups are working on developing shots centred on T cells in hopes of producing a jab that would not only provide protection against new virus strains already on the loose, but also variants that don't yet exist.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-05-covid-variants-firms-cell-ja...

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In the emptiness of space, Voyager 1 detects plasma 'hum'

Voyager 1—one of two sibling NASA spacecraft launched 44 years ago and now the most distant human-made object in space—still works and zooms toward infinity.

The craft has long since zipped past the edge of the solar system through the heliopause—the solar system's border with interstellar space—into the interstellar medium. Now, its instruments have detected the constant drone of interstellar gas (plasma waves), according to Cornell University-led research published in Nature Astronomy.

This work allows scientists to understand how the interstellar medium interacts with the solar wind, Ocker said, and how the protective bubble of the solar system's heliosphere is shaped and modified by the interstellar environment.

After entering interstellar space, the spacecraft's Plasma Wave System detected perturbations in the gas. But, in between those eruptions—caused by our own roiling sun—researchers have uncovered a steady, persistent signature produced by the tenuous near-vacuum of space.

Persistent plasma waves in interstellar space detected by Voyager 1, Nature Astronomy (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-021-01363-7

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-space-voyager-plasma.html?utm_source=...

Cricket bats should be made from bamboo not willow, study finds

Bamboo cricket bats are stronger, offer a better 'sweet spot' and deliver more energy to the ball than those made from traditional willow, tests conducted by the University of Cambridge show. Bamboo could, the study argues, help cricket to expand faster in poorer parts of the world and make the sport more environmentally friendly.

compared the performance of specially made prototype laminated bamboo cricket bats, the first of their kind, with that of typical willow bats. Their investigations included microscopic analysis, video capture technology, computer modelling, compression testing, measuring how knocking-in improved surface hardness, and testing for vibrations.

The study, published today in The Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology, shows that bamboo is significantly stronger—with a strain at failure more than three times greater—than willow and able to hold much higher loads, meaning that bats made with bamboo could be thinner while remaining as strong as willow. This would help batsmen as lighter blades can be swung faster to transfer more energy to the ball. The researchers also found that bamboo is 22% stiffer than willow which also increases the speed at which the ball leaves the bat.

Ben Tinkler-Davies et al, Replacing willow with bamboo in cricket bats, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part P: Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology (2021). DOI: 10.1177/17543371211016592

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During manufacture, the surface of cricket bats is compressed to create a hardened layer. When the team compared the effect of this 'knock-in' process on both materials, they found that after 5 hours bamboo's surface hardness had increased to twice that of pressed willow.

Perhaps most excitingly, they found that the sweet-spot on their prototype bamboo blade performed 19% better than that on a traditional willow bat. This sweet-spot was about 20 mm wide and 40 mm long, significantly larger than on a typical willow bat, and better still, was positioned closer to the toe (12.5 cm from the toe at its sweetest point).

Firefighting chemical found in sea lion and fur seal pups

A chemical that the NSW government has recently partially banned in firefighting has been found in the pups of endangered Australian sea lions and in Australian fur seals.

The new research—part of a long-term health study of seals and sea lions in Australia—identified the chemicals in animals at multiple colonies in Victoria and South Australia from 2017 to 2020.

As well as in pups, the chemicals (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances - 'PFAS') were detected in juvenile animals and in an adult male. There was also evidence of transfer of the chemicals from mothers to newborns.

PFAS have been reported to cause cancer, reproductive and developmental defects, endocrine disruption and can compromise immune systems. Exposure can occur through many sources including through contaminated air, soil and water, and common household products containing PFAS. In addition to being used in firefighting foam, they are frequently found in stain repellents, polishes, paints and coatings.

The researchers think the seals and sea lions ingested the chemicals through their fish, crustacean, octopus and squid diets.

Shannon Taylor et al, Per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at high concentrations in neonatal Australian pinnipeds, Science of The Total Environment (2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147446

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-firefighting-chemical-sea-lion-fur.ht...

How viruses and bacteria can reach drinking water wells

Induced bank filtration is a key and well-established approach to provide drinking water supply to populated areas located along rivers or lakes and with limited access to groundwater resources. It is employed in several countries worldwide, with notable examples in Europe, the United States, and parts of Africa. Contamination of surface waters poses a serious threat to attaining drinking water standards. In this context, human pathogenic microorganisms such as some viruses and bacteria, originating from the discharge of wastewater treatment plants, form a major contaminant group. A detailed study at an induced bank filtration site along the Rhine river in Germany has now linked transport of bacteria to seasonal dynamics. Key results of the study show that floods should be considered as particular threats, because they can reduce the purification capacity of bank filtration, thus leading to an increase in the concentrations of bacteria in groundwater. Changes in properties of the riverbed sediments over the course of a year can markedly influence the purification capacity of bank filtration and these dynamics may need to be considered in risk assessment practices.

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Hidden within African diamonds, a billion-plus years of deep-Earth ...

Diamonds are sometimes described as messengers from the deep earth; scientists study them closely for insights into the otherwise inaccessible depths from which they come. But the messages are often hard to read. Now, a team has come up with a way to solve two longstanding puzzles: the ages of individual fluid-bearing diamonds, and the chemistry of their parent material. The research has allowed them to sketch out geologic events going back more than a billion years—a potential breakthrough not only in the study of diamonds, but of planetary evolution.

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Understanding astronaut muscle wasting at the molecular level

Researchers from the University of Tsukuba have sent mice into space to explore effects of spaceflight and reduced gravity on muscle atrophy, or wasting, at the molecular level.

Targeting viral RNA: The basis for next-gen broad spectrum anti-viral drugs

A new approach to tackling viruses by targeting the 'control center' in viral RNA could lead to broad spectrum anti-viral drugs and provide a first line of defense against future pandemics, according to new research.

In a new study, published in Angewandte Chemie, researchers have shown how this approach could be effective against the SARS-CoV-2 virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier modeling and in vitro analysis by the team and published in Chemical Science has also shown effectiveness against the HIV virus.

The technique proposed by the team uses cylindrically-shaped molecules which can block the function of a particular section at one end of the RNA strand. These RNA sections, known as untranslated RNA, are essential for regulating the replication of the virus.

Untranslated RNA contain junction points and bulges—essentially small holes in the structure– which are normally recognized by proteins or other pieces of RNA—events that are critical for viral replication to occur. The cylindrical molecules are attracted to these holes, and once they slide into them, the RNA closes around them, forming a precise fit, which consequently will interfere with the virus's ability to replicate.

Lazaros Melidis et al. Supramolecular cylinders target bulge structures in the 5' UTR of the RNA genome of SARS‐CoV‐2 and inhibit viral replication, Angewandte Chemie (2021). DOI: 10.1002/ange.202104179

Lazaros Melidis et al. Targeting structural features of viral genomes with a nano-sized supramolecular drug, Chemical Science (2021). DOI: 10.1039/D1SC00933H

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-viral-rna-basis-next-gen-broad.html?u...