Scientists catch exciting magnetic waves in action in the Sun's photosphere

Researchers have confirmed the existence of magnetic plasma waves, known as Alfvén waves, in the Sun's photosphere. The study, published in Nature Astronomy, provides new insights into these fascinating waves that were first discovered by the Nobel Prize winning scientist Hannes Alfvén in 1947.

The vast potential of these waves resides in their ability to transport energy and information over very large distances due to their purely magnetic nature. The direct discovery of these waves in the solar photosphere, the lowest layer of the solar atmosphere, is the first step towards exploiting the properties of these magnetic waves.

The ability for Alfvén waves to carry energy is also of interest for solar and plasma-astrophysics as it could help explain the extreme heating of the solar atmosphere—a mystery that has been unsolved for over a century.

Alfvén waves form when charged particles (ions) oscillate in response to interactions between magnetic fields and electrical currents.

Within the solar atmosphere bundles of magnetic fields, known as solar magnetic flux tubes, can form. Alfvén waves are though to manifest in one of two forms in solar magnetic flux tubes; either axisymmetric torsional pertubations (where symmetric oscillations occur around the flux tube axis) or anti-symmetric torsional pertubations (where oscillations occur as two swirls rotating in opposite directions in the flux tube).

Despite previous claims, torsional Alfvén waves have never been directly identified in the solar photosphere, even in their simplest form of axisymmetric oscillations of magnetic flux tubes.

In this study, the researchers used high resolution observations of the solar atmosphere, made by the European Space Agency's imager IBIS, to prove the existence of anti-symmetric torsional waves first predicted almost 50 years ago.

They also found that these waves could be used to extract vast amounts of energy from the solar photosphere, confirming the potential of these waves for a wide range of research areas and industrial applications.

Marco Stangalini et al. Torsional oscillations within a magnetic pore in the solar photosphere, Nature Astronomy (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-021-01354-8

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-scientists-magnetic-action-sun-photos...

Estimation of total mortality due to COVID-19

New material to treat wounds can protect against resistant bacteria

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have developed a new material that prevents infections in wounds, a specially designed hydrogel that works against all types of bacteria, including antibiotic-resistant strains. The new material offers great hope for combating a growing global problem.

After testing the new hydrogel on different types of bacteria, researchers observed a high level of effectiveness, including against those which have become resistant to antibiotics.

The active substance in the new bactericidal material consists of antimicrobial peptides, small proteins found naturally in the immune system.

"With these types of peptides, there is a very low risk for bacteria to develop resistance against them, since they only affect the outermost membrane of the bacteria. That is perhaps the foremost reason why they are so interesting.

Researchers have long tried to find ways to use these peptides in medical applications, but so far without much success. The problem is that they break down quickly when they come into contact with bodily fluids such as blood. The current study describes how the researchers managed to overcome the problem through the development of a nanostructured hydrogel, into which the peptides are permanently bound, creating a protective environment.

Saba Atefyekta et al, Antimicrobial Peptide-Functionalized Mesoporous Hydrogels, ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering (2021). DOI: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.1c00029

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-material-wounds-resistant-bacteria.ht...

SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus spike protein under siege

This is video of a SARS-CoV-2 spike protein under siege. The little blobs buzzing around it are called lectins, and they could be the secret weapon in a new defence against COVID-19, new research has found. 

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Most COVID-19 drugs currently in clinical trials are designed to block receptor sites on our cells -- the little doors on the surface of our cells that the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein breaches to gain access. But this treatment would be different, targeting the spike protein itself. The protein hides from our immune system by covering itself with sugar molecules called glycans. These glycans are a disguise that helps the virus get in the door. What if, instead of trying to block the door, you gummed up the key instead?

Researchers developed the largest lectin library in the world to find two lectins that are particularly good at binding to glycans on the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. These lectins are the gum on the key, and could be the starting point for a lectin-based drug to combat COVID-19. The best part? The glycan sites that the spike protein uses for its disguise show up in all circulating variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Not only have the researchers learned how these lectins bind to the spike protein, they've recorded it happening.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.11...

Potentially Deadly 'Black Fungus' Keeps Showing Up in COVID-19 Patients in India

Potentially fatal 'black fungus' infections on the rise in India's COVID-19 patients

Some COVID-19 patients in India have developed a rare and potentially fatal fungal infection called mucormycosis, also known as "black fungus," according to news reports.

Mucormycosis is caused by a group of molds called mucormycetes, which grow in soil and decaying organic matter, such as rotting leaves and wood. It is ubiquitous and found in soil and air and even in the nose and mucus of healthy people.

The mold can enter the body through cuts and other abrasions in the skin, or the infection can take hold in the sinuses or lungs after people breathe in the fungal spores. Once inside the body, the fungus can sometimes spread through the bloodstream and affect other organs, such as the brain, eyes, spleen and heart.

Most commonly, mucormycosis strikes those with weakened immune systems, including those with diabetes and those taking medicines that suppress immune activity. Now, an increasing number of COVID-19 patients in India appear to be contracting the infection. 

Cases are appearing throughout India now. 

The rise in cases may be connected to the use of steroids in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, since the drugs suppress the immune system.

And those with diabetes start out at increased risk for the infection, even before taking steroids.

"Diabetes lowers the body's immune defenses, coronavirus exacerbates it, and then steroids which help fight COVID-19 act like fuel to the fire. In addition, many families have had to treat relatives for COVID-19 at home, meaning people may become exposed to the mold after receiving medicine or oxygen therapy in less-than-sterile conditions.

https://www.livescience.com/black-fungus-infection-coronavirus-indi...

How to thermally cloak an object

Do you feel the heat? To a thermal camera, which measures infrared radiation, the heat that we can feel is visible, like the heat of a traveler in an airport with a fever or the cold of a leaky window or door in the winter.

Researchers now report a theoretical way of mimicking thermal objects or making objects invisible to thermal measurements. 

The method allows for fine-tuning of heat transfer even in situations where the temperature changes in time, the researchers say. One application could be to isolate a part that generates heat in a circuit (say, a power supply) to keep it from interfering with heat sensitive parts (say, a thermal camera). Another application could be in industrial processes that require accurate temperature control in both time and space, for example controlling the cooling of a material so that it crystallizes in a particular manner.

Just as our eyes see objects if they emit or reflect light, a thermal camera can see an object if it emits or reflects infrared radiation. In mathematical terms, an object could become invisible to a thermal camera if heat sources placed around it could mimic heat transfer as if the object wasn't there.

The novelty in the team's approach is that they use heat pumps rather than specially crafted materials to hide the objects. A simple household example of a heat pump is a refrigerator: to cool groceries it pumps heat from the interior to the exterior. Using heat pumps is much more flexible than using carefully crafted materials. So at least from the perspective of thermal measurements they can make an apple appear as an orange.

The researchers carried out the mathematical work needed to show that, with a ring of heat pumps around an object, it's possible to thermally hide an object or mimic the heat signature of a different object.

The work remains theoretical

Active Thermal Cloaking and Mimicking, Proceedings of the Royal Society A (2021). royalsocietypublishing.org/doi … .1098/rspa.2020.0941

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-thermally-cloak.html?utm_source=nwlet...

How fasting diets could harm future generations

Fasting diets could impact the health of future generations according to new research .

Fasting diets have risen in popularity in recent years, however little is known about the long-term impact of these diets, particularly for future generations.

New research, published today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, reveals that reduced food intake in roundworms (Caenorhabditis elegans) has a detrimental effect on three generations of offspring—particularly when those descendants have access to unlimited food.

We know that reduced food intake increases the lifespan in many animals and can potentially improve health in humans. However, little is known about the long-term effects of reduced food intake, including time-limited fasting, on distant descendants.

The team investigated the effect of time-limited fasting on lifespan and reproduction in roundworms and across three generations of their descendants.

They studied more than 2,500 worms split across four generations. The first generation of worms were placed in one of four environments, including being able to eat as much as they liked, and being on a fasting diet.

Four generations of offspring from these parents were then placed onto either full-feeding or fasting diets.

The team then assessed the effects of different scenarios on the reproduction and longevity of future generations. These included what happens when great grandparents fast, but future generations are able to eat as much as they like, and cumulative fasting for four generations.

fasting did indeed increase their lifespan and it also improved offspring performance in terms of reproduction, when offspring themselves were fasting.

"However, we were surprised to find that fasting reduced offspring performance when the offspring had access to unlimited food.

"And this detrimental effect was evident in grand-offspring and great-grand-offspring.

This shows that fasting can be costly for descendants and this effect may last for generations.

"There has been a lot of interest in the potential benefits of fasting in promoting healthy aging in humans.

"A lot of the molecular pathways involved in the fasting response are evolutionarily conserved, which means the same pathways exist across a multitude of species including humans.

This study strongly prompts us to consider multigenerational effects of fasting in different organisms, including humans.

Edward R. Ivimey-Cook et al. Transgenerational fitness effects of lifespan extension by dietary restriction in Caenorhabditis elegans, Proceedings of the Royal Society B (2020). DOI: 10.1101/2020.06.24.168922

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-05-fasting-diets-future.html?ut...

Brand new physics of superconducting metals refuted by Lancaster physicists

Lancaster scientists have demonstrated that other physicists' recent "discovery" of the field effect in superconductors is nothing but hot electrons after all.

A team of scientists in the Lancaster Physics Department have found new and compelling evidence that the observation of the field effect in superconducting metals by another group can be explained by a simple mechanism involving the injection of the electrons, without the need for novel physics.

Dr. Sergey Kafanov, who initiated this experiment, said: "Our results unambiguously refute the claim of the electrostatic field effect claimed by the other group. This gets us back on the ground and helps maintain the health of the discipline."

The experimental team also includes Ilia Golokolenov, Andrew Guthrie, Yuri Pashkin and Viktor Tsepelin.

Their work is published in the latest issue of Nature Communications.

When certain metals are cooled to a few degrees above absolute zero, their electrical resistance vanishes—a striking physical phenomenon known as superconductivity. Many metals, including vanadium, which was used in the experiment, are known to exhibit superconductivity at sufficiently low temperatures.

For decades it was thought that the exceptionally low electrical resistance of superconductors should make them practically impervious to static electric fields, owing to the way the charge carriers can easily arrange themselves to compensate for any external field.

It therefore came as a shock to the physics community when a number of recent publications claimed that sufficiently strong electrostatic fields could affect superconductors in nanoscale structures—and attempted to explain this new effect with corresponding new physics. A related effect is well known in semiconductors and underpins the entire semiconductor industry.

The Lancaster team embedded a similar nanoscale device into a microwave cavity, allowing them to study the alleged electrostatic phenomenon at much shorter timescales than previously investigated. At short timescales, the team could see a clear increase in the noise and energy loss in the cavity—the properties strongly associated with the device temperature. They propose that at intense electric fields, high-energy electrons can "jump" into the superconductor, raising the temperature and therefore increasing the dissipation.

This simple phenomenon can concisely explain the origin of the "electrostatic field effect" in nanoscale structures, without any new physics.

Nature Communications (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22998-0

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-brand-physics-superconducting-metals-...

Higher antibiotic doses may make bacteria 'fitter': study

Using higher doses of antibiotics in a bid to tackle the growing problem of drug resistance may end up strengthening certain bacteria, according to research released recently that highlights a previously unthought-of risk.

Previous research has shown that inflicting higher antibiotic doses on bacteria can slow its ability to develop resistance, yet little attention has been paid to how those higher doses impact the overall health of microbes.

A team of Britain- and Europe-based researchers looked at how populations of E. coli reacted to varying concentrations of three common antibiotics.

They found that while higher antibiotic doses slowed the rate at which the bacteria developed resistance, they also gave rise to bacteria with "higher overall fitness"—meaning it had a higher rate of reproduction.

"We consider growth rate as a proxy for fitness, under the assumption that a strain that grows faster is more likely to take over the population and become dominant.

This 

showed how higher antibiotic doses presented a "dilemma" and could result in ultimately more-resistant bacteria.

Considering the fitness of the evolved strains adds another dimension to the problem of optimal antibiotic dosing.

Mato Lagator et al. Adaptation at different points along antibiotic concentration gradients, Biology Letters (2021). DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2020.0913

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-higher-antibiotic-doses-bacteria-fitt...

Study of ancient corals in Indonesia reveals slowest earthquake eve...

A slow-motion earthquake lasting 32 years—the slowest ever recorded—eventually led to the catastrophic 1861 Sumatra earthquake, researchers at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have found.

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Study finds 'ghost forests' contribute to greenhouse gas emissions

A new study from North Carolina State University finds that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from standing dead trees in coastal wetland forests—colloquially called "tree farts"—need to be accounted for when assessing the environmental impact of so-called "ghost forests."

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Mechanism deciphered: How organic acids are formed in the atmosphere

The acidity of the atmosphere is increasingly determined by carbon dioxide and organic acids such as formic acid. The second of these contribute to the formation of aerosol particles as a precursor of raindrops and therefore impact the growth of clouds and pH of rainwater. In previous atmospheric chemistry models of acid formation, formic acid tended to play a small role. The chemical processes behind its formation were not well understood. An international team of researchers under the aegis of Forschungszentrum Jülich has now succeeded in filling this gap and deciphering the dominant mechanism in the formation of formic acid. This makes it possible to further refine atmosphere and climate models. The results of the study have now been published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature.

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A low-cost solution to remove arsenic from drinking water

High levels of a naturally occurring chemical called arsenic have been a source of contamination of ground-based drinking water, such as well-water, for people in many countries around the world, including parts of the United States. Consuming arsenic-contaminated water is a serious public health issue, leading to severe health complications including skin, lung, bladder, kidney and liver cancers, according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Tides Under Ocean’s Surface

Food dyes may cause disease when the immune system is dysregulated, researchers report

Artificial food colorants can cause disease when the immune system has become dysregulated, researchers report. The study, published in Cell Metabolism in May, was the first to show this phenomenon.

The study, conducted in mice, found that the mice developed colitis when they consumed food with the artificial food colorants FD&C Red 40 and Yellow 6 when a specific component of their immune system, known as cytokine IL-23, was dysregulated. While it remains unclear whether food colorants have similar effects in humans, researchers plan to investigate exactly how cytokine IL-23 promotes the development of colitis after food colorant exposure.

Colitis is a form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and cytokine IL-23 dysregulation is known to be a factor in the development of IBD in humans. Medicines that block its function are now successfully used in patients. Food colorants such as Red 40 and Yellow 6 are widely used in food, drink, and medicine. These two food colorants are the most commonly used in the world.

Both genetic predisposition and environmental factors appear to play a role in whether a person develops IBD, a condition that affects millions of people worldwide, but the exact environmental factors have remained elusive.

For the study, the researchers created mouse models that had a dysregulated expression of cytokine IL-23. To their surprise, the mice with the dysregulated immune response did not develop inflammatory bowel disease spontaneously even though dysregulated IL-23 is a factor in people with the disease.

When given a diet with the food dyes Red 40 or Yellow 6, the altered mice developed colitis. However, mice that had the dye-infused diet but had a normal immune system did not develop IBD. To prove that the food colorant was indeed responsible, the researchers fed the altered mice diets without the food colorant and water containing it; in both cases, the disease developed when the mice consumed the colorant, but not otherwise. They repeated this finding for several diets and several food colorants.

The dramatic changes in the concentration of air and water pollutants and the increased use of processed foods and food additives in the human diet in the last century correlate with an increase in the incidence of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-05-food-dyes-disease-immune-dys...

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-05/tmsh-fdm050621.php#...(May%2013,first%20to%20show%20this%20phenomenon.

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Cancer has ripple effect on distant tissues

A new study with zebrafish shows that a deadly form of skin cancer—melanoma—alters the metabolism of healthy tissues elsewhere in the body. The research from Washington University in St. Louis suggests that these other tissues could potentially be targeted to help treat cancer.

Tumors rely on a constant supply of nutrients to grow. Instead of competing with tumors for nutrients, other tissues can reprogram their metabolism to be complementary. In some instances, this may even allow healthy tissues to feed the tumour. 

The scientists examined tissues in the liver, intestine, fin, muscle, brain, blood, and eye of the zebrafish that has melanoma.. They observed metabolic dysregulation across most of the tissues—indicating that melanoma broadly impacts whole-body metabolism.

Patti, Gary J. et al.: "Isotope tracing in adult zebrafish reveals alanine cycling between melanoma and liver" Cell Metabolism (2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2021.04.014 , www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/f … 1550-4131(21)00180-7

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Cancer consumes tremendous amounts of glucose, a key source of energy for cells in the body. Glucose, or blood sugar, is derived from food and transported around the body through the bloodstream after eating. Tumors actively soak up glucose as a fuel to support their rapid growth.

This trait is so well known that physicians regularly use it as a diagnostic test for cancer, where patients are administered a specific form of glucose that can be monitored with a PET scan. What is less clear is how a tumor's penchant for glucose affects other tissues.

"Glucose levels are tightly regulated," Patti said. "When glucose levels get too low, it's dangerous. We wanted to know whether a tumor with a high avidity for glucose might influence glucose levels in the blood."

Even when healthy people go a long period of time without eating, blood glucose levels are kept relatively constant. That is because glucose can be made by the liver when it cannot be obtained directly from food.

As it turns out, the liver counters the impact of the tumor by synthesizing glucose. It's very similar to what occurs during a fast.

 the scientists observed that melanoma tissues in the body consume about 15 times more glucose than the other tissues they measured. Despite this burden, the zebrafish were able to maintain circulating glucose levels, apparently by making glucose in the liver through a process that is ordinarily triggered when we go without eating.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-05-cancer-ripple-effect-distant...

New evidence for electron's dual nature found in a quantum spin liquid

A new discovery led by Princeton University could upend our understanding of how electrons behave under extreme conditions in quantum materials. The finding provides experimental evidence that this familiar building block of matter behaves as if it is made of two particles: one particle that gives the electron its negative charge and another that supplies its magnet-like property, known as spin.

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Causes of concrete and asphalt deterioration explained

Scientists have revealed that the deterioration of modern concrete and asphalt structures is due to the presence of trace quantities of organic matter in these structures.

A paradigm shift to combat indoor respiratory infection

Call for 'paradigm shift' to fight airborne spread of COVID-19 indoors

40 researchers from 14 countries in a call published in Science for a shift in standards in ventilation requirements equal in scale to the transformation in the 1800s when cities started organising clean water supplies and centralised sewage systems.

The international group of air quality researchers called on the World Health Organisation to extend the indoor air quality guidelines to include airborne pathogens and to recognise the need to control hazards of airborne transmission of respiratory infections.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/372/6543/689

 L. Morawska at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia el al., "A paradigm shift to combat indoor respiratory infection," Science (2021). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi … 1126/science.abg2025

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-paradigm-shift-airborne-covid-indoors...

Observations show marine clouds amplify warming

A new analysis of satellite cloud observations finds that global warming causes low-level clouds over the oceans to decrease, leading to further warming.

These clouds, such as the stratocumulus clouds responsible for the often gloomy conditions in summers, are widespread over the global oceans and strongly cool the planet by shading the surface from sunlight. The new study finds that, overall, this cooling effect will be modestly reduced as the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere increases. The warming initially caused by increasing CO₂ gets an extra push from reductions in clouds—an amplifying feedback.

 Timothy A. Myers et al. Observational constraints on low cloud feedback reduce uncertainty of climate sensitivity, Nature Climate Change (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41558-021-01039-0

S. C. Sherwood et al. An Assessment of Earth's Climate Sensitivity Using Multiple Lines of Evidence, Reviews of Geophysics (2020). DOI: 10.1029/2019RG000678

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-marine-clouds-amplify.html?utm_source...

Mammals can breathe through anus in emergencies

Rodents and pigs share with certain aquatic organisms the ability to use their intestines for respiration, finds a study . The researchers demonstrated that the delivery of oxygen gas or oxygenated liquid through the rectum provided vital rescue to two mammalian models of respiratory failure.

Artificial respiratory support plays a vital role in the clinical management of respiratory failure due to severe illnesses such as pneumonia or acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Several aquatic organisms have evolved unique intestinal breathing mechanisms to survive under low-oxygen conditions using organs other than lungs or gills. For example, sea cucumbers, freshwater fish called loaches, and certain freshwater catfish use their intestines for respiration. But it has been heavily debated whether mammals have similar capabilities.

In the new study, researchers provide evidence for intestinal breathing in rats, mice, and pigs. First, they designed an intestinal gas ventilation system to administer pure oxygen through the rectum of mice. They showed that without the system, no mice survived 11 minutes of extremely low-oxygen conditions. With intestinal gas ventilation, more oxygen reached the heart, and 75% of mice survived 50 minutes of normally lethal low-oxygen conditions.

Ryo Okabe et al, Mammalian enteral ventilation ameliorates respiratory failure, Med (2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.medj.2021.04.004

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Because the intestinal gas ventilation system requires abrasion of the intestinal muscosa, it is unlikely to be clinically feasible, especially in severely ill patients—so the researchers also developed a liquid-based alternative using oxygenated perfluorochemicals. These chemicals have already been shown clinically to be biocompatible and safe in humans.

The intestinal liquid ventilation system provided therapeutic benefits to rodents and pigs exposed to non-lethal low-oxygen conditions. Mice receiving intestinal ventilation could walk farther in a 10% oxygen chamber, and more oxygen reached their heart, compared to mice that did not receive intestinal ventilation. Similar results were evident in pigs. Intestinal liquid ventilation reversed skin pallor and coldness and increased their levels of oxygen, without producing obvious side effects. Taken together, the results show that this strategy is effective in providing oxygen that reaches circulation and alleviates respiratory failure symptoms in two mammalian model systems.

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-mammals-anus-emergencies.html?utm_sou...

Where do meteorites come from? We tracked hundreds of fireballs streaking through the sky to find out

If asked where meteorites come from, you might reply "from comets." But according to  new research, which tracked hundreds of fireballs on their journey through the Australian skies, you would be wrong.

In fact, it is very likely that all meteorites—space rocks that make it all the way to Earth—come not from icy comets but from rocky asteroids. Our new study found that even those meteorites with trajectories that look like they arrived from much farther afield are in fact from asteroids that simply got knocked into strange orbits.

hat means that of the tens of thousands of meteorites in collections around the world, likely none are from comets, leaving a significant gap in our understanding of the solar system.

When the solar system formed, more than 4.5 billion years ago, a disc of dust and debris was swirling around the Sun.

Over time, this material clumped together, forming larger and larger bodies—some so large they swept up everything else in their orbit, and became planets.

Yet some debris avoided this fate and is still floating around today. Scientists traditionally classify these objects into two groups: comets and asteroids.

Asteroids are rockier and drier, because they were formed in the inner solar system. Comets, meanwhile, formed further out, where ices such as frozen water, methane or carbon dioxide can remain stable—giving them a "dirty snowball" composition.

The best way to understand the origin and evolution of our solar system is to study these objects. Many space missions have been sent to comets and asteroids over the past few decades. But these are expensive, and only two (Hayabusa and Hayabusa2) have successfully brought back samples.

Another way to study this material is to sit and wait for it to come to us. If a piece of debris happens to cross paths with Earth, and is large and robust enough to survive hitting our atmosphere, it will land as a meteorite.

Most of what we know about the solar system's history comes from these curious space rocks. However, unlike space mission samples, we don't know exactly where they originated.

Meteorites have been curiosities for centuries, yet it was not until the early 19th century that they were identified as extraterrestrial. They were speculated to come from lunar volcanoes, or even from other star systems.

Today, we know all meteorites come from small bodies in our solar system. But the big question that remains is: are they all from asteroids, or do some come from comets?

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Meteorites - part 2

In total, scientists around the world have collected more than 60,000 meteorites, mostly from desert regions such as Antarctica or Australia's Nullarbor Plain.

We now know most of these come from the main asteroid belt—a region between Mars and Jupiter.

But might some of them have come not from asteroids, but from comets that originated in the outer reaches of the solar system? What would such meteorites be like, and how would we find them?

Fortunately, we can actively look for meteorites, rather than hoping to stumble across one lying on the ground. When a space rock is falling through the atmosphere (at this stage, it's known as a meteor), it begins to heat up and glow—hence why meteors are nicknamed "shooting stars."

Larger meteors (at least tens of centimeters across) glow brightly enough to be termed "fireballs." And by training cameras on the sky to spot them, we can track and recover any resulting meteorites.

The largest such network is the Desert Fireball Network, which features around 50 cameras covering more than 2.5 million square kilometers of the Australian outback.

The network's data has resulted in the recovery of six meteorites in Australia, and two more internationally. What's more, by tracking a fireball's flight through the atmosphere, we can not only project its path forwards to find where it landed, but also backwards to find out what orbit it was on before it got here.

Our research, published in the Planetary Science Journal, scoured every fireball tracked by the DFN between 2014 and 2020, in search of possible cometary meteorites. In total, there were 50 fireballs that came from comet-like orbits not associated with a meteor shower.

Unexpectedly, despite the fact that just under 4% of the larger debris was from comet-like orbits, none of the material featured the hallmark "dirty snowball" chemical composition of true cometary material.

We concluded that debris from comets breaks up and disintegrates before it even gets close to becoming a meteorite. In turn, this means cometary meteorites are not represented among the tens of thousands of objects in the world's meteorite collections.

The next question is: if all meteorites are asteroidal, how did some of them end up in such weird, comet-like orbits?

For this to be possible, debris from the main asteroid belt must have been knocked from its original orbit by a collision, close gravitational encounter, or some other mechanism.

Meteorites have given us our most profound insights into the formation and evolution of our solar system. However, it is now clear that these samples represent only part of the whole picture. It is definitely an argument for a sample-return mission to a comet. It's also testament to the knowledge we can gain from tracking fireballs and the meteorites they sometimes leave behind.

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meteorites - part 3:

COVID-19 vaccine does not damage the placenta in pregnancy

 A new  study of placentas from patients who received the COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy found no evidence of injury, adding to the growing literature that COVID-19 vaccines are safe in pregnancy. The placenta is like the black box in an airplane. If something goes wrong with a pregnancy, we usually see changes in the placenta that can help us figure out what happened.

The COVID vaccine does not damage the placenta. The study was published May 11 in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecolog.

The study authors collected placentas from 84 vaccinated patients and 116 unvaccinated patients who delivered at Prentice Women’s Hospital in Chicago and pathologically examined the placentas whole and microscopically following birth. Most patients received vaccines – either Moderna or Pfizer – during their third trimester.

Until infants can get vaccinated, the only way for them to get COVID antibodies is from their mother

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The placenta is the first organ that forms during pregnancy. It performs duties for most of the fetus’ organs while they’re still forming, such as providing oxygen while the lungs develop and nutrition while the gut is forming.

Additionally, the placenta manages hormones and the immune system, and tells the mother’s body to welcome and nurture the fetus rather than reject it as a foreign intruder.

The scientists also looked for abnormal blood flow between the mother and fetus and problems with fetal blood flow – both of which have been reported in pregnant patients who have tested positive for COVID.

The rate of these injuries was the same in the vaccinated patients as for control patients.

 The scientists also examined the placentas for chronic histiocytic intervillositis, a complication that can happen if the placenta is infected, in this case, by SARS-CoV-2. Although this study did not find any cases in vaccinated patients, it's a very rare condition that requires a larger sample size (1,000 patients) to differentiate between vaccinated and unvaccinated patients.

Elisheva D. Shanes, Sebastian Otero, Leena B. Mithal, Chiedza A. Mupanomunda, Emily S. Miller, Jeffery A. Goldstein. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Vaccination in Pregnancy. Obstetrics & Gynecology, 2021; Publish Ahead of Print DOI: 10.1097/AOG.0000000000004457

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/05/210511201116.htm

https://researchnews.cc/news/6699/COVID-19-vaccine-does-not-damage-...

Scientists decode the 'language' of immune cells

scientists have identified six “words” that specific immune cells use to call up immune defense genes — an important step toward understanding the language the body uses to marshal responses to threats.

In addition, they discovered that the incorrect use of two of these words can activate the wrong genes, resulting in the autoimmune disease known as Sjögren’s syndrome. The research, conducted in mice, is published this week in the peer-reviewed journal Immunity (Cell Press).

Immune cells in the body constantly assess their environment and coordinate their defense functions by using words — or signaling codons, in scientific parlance — to tell the cell’s nucleus which genes to turn on in response to invaders like pathogenic bacteria and viruses. Each signaling codon consists of several successive actions of a DNA binding protein that, when combined, elicit the proper gene activation, in much the same way that successive electrical signals through a telephone wire combine to produce the words of a conversation.

The researchers focused on words used by macrophages, specialized immune cells that rid the body of potentially harmful particles, bacteria and dead cells. Using advanced microscopy techniques, they “listened” to macrophages in healthy mice and identified six specific codon–words that correlated to immune threats. They then did the same with macrophages from mice that contained a mutation akin to Sjögren’s syndrome in humans to determine whether this disease results from the defective use of these words.

Scientists found defects in the use of two of these words. The findings, the researchers say, suggest that Sjögren’s doesn’t result from chronic inflammation, as long thought, but from a codon–word confusion that leads to inappropriate gene activation, causing the body to attack itself. The next step will be to find ways of correcting the confused word choices.

Many diseases are related to miscommunication in cells, but this study, the scientists say, is the first to recognize that immune cells employ a language, to identify words in that language and to demonstrate what can happen when word choice goes awry.

How are immune cells so effective at mounting a response that is specific and appropriate to each pathogen? The answer, Hoffman says, lies in “signaling pathways,” the communication channels that link immune cells’ receptor molecules — which sense the presence of pathogens — with different kinds of defense genes. The transcription factor NFκB is one of these signaling pathways and is recognized as a central regulator of immune cell responses to pathogen threats.

T he macrophage is capable of responding to different types of pathogens and mounting different kinds of defenses. The defense units — army, navy, air force, special operations — are mediated by groups of genes,” he said. “For each immune threat, the right groups of genes must be mobilized. That requires precise and reliable communication with those units about the nature of the threat. NFκB dynamics provide the communication code. 

And of course, calling up the wrong unit is not only ineffective but may do damage, as vehicles destroy roads, accidents happen and worse, as in the case of Sjogren’s and, possibly, other diseases.

https://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/ucla-scientists-decode-the-langu...

https://researchnews.cc/news/6686/UCLA-scientists-decode-the--langu...

Human Impact on Earth Is Shrinking an Entire Layer of The Atmosphere, Scientists Warn

Our world is hugged by complex layers of gases that make up the atmosphere. They protect and nurture all life as we know it. Now, we're shrinking an entire one of those layers – the stratosphere – thanks to the profound impacts we are having on our planet.

An alarming new study has found that the thickness of the stratosphere has already shrunk by 400 meters (1,312 feet) since 1980. While local decreases in the stratosphere's thickness have previously been reported, this is the first examination of this phenomenon on a global scale.

Greenhouse gas-induced warming in the troposphere is causing it to expand and squash the stratosphere above it, they explain. On top of this, the addition of CO₂ into the stratosphere itself is causing its combination of gasses to cool and huddle closer together (the opposite effect they have on the troposphere) – shrinking the entire layer.

In a plausible climate change scenario, our planet's stratosphere could lose 4 percent of its vertical extension (1.3 km [0.8 mi]) from 1980 to 2080.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abfe2b

Mothers can influence offspring's height, lifespan and disease risk through mitochondria

Mitochondria—the 'batteries' that power our cells—play an unexpected role in common diseases such as type 2 diabetes and multiple sclerosis, concludes a study of over 350,000 people.

The study, published today in Nature Genetics, found that genetic variants in the DNA of mitochondria could increase the risk of developing these conditions, as well influencing characteristics such as height and lifespan.

There was also evidence that some changes in mitochondrial DNA were more common in people with Scottish, Welsh or Northumbrian genetic ancestry, implying that mitochondrial DNA and nuclear DNA (which accounts for 99.9% of our genetic make-up) interact with each other.

Almost all of the DNA that makes up the human genome—the body's 'blueprint' - is contained within the nuclei of our cells. Among other functions, nuclear DNA codes for the characteristics that make us individual as well as for the proteins that do most of the work in our bodies.

Our cells also contain mitochondria, often referred to as 'batteries', which provide the energy for our cells to function. They do this by converting the food that we eat into ATP, a molecule capable of releasing energy very quickly. Each of these mitochondria is coded for by a tiny amount of 'mitochondrial DNA'. Mitochondrial DNA makes up only 0.1% of the overall human genome and is passed down exclusively from mother to child.

While errors in mitochondrial DNA can lead to so-called mitochondrial diseases, which can be severely disabling, until now there had been little evidence that these variants can influence more common diseases. Several small-scale studies have hinted at this possibility, but scientists have been unable to replicate their findings.

Among those factors found to be influenced by mitochondrial DNA are: type 2 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, liver and kidney function, blood count parameters, life span and height. While some of the effects are seen more extremely in patients with rare inherited mitochondrial diseases—for example, patients with severe disease are often shorter than average—the effect in healthy individuals tends to be much subtler, likely accounting for just a few millimetres' height difference, for example.

There are several possible explanations for how mitochondrial DNA exerts its influence. One is that changes to mitochondrial DNA lead to subtle differences in our ability to produce energy. However, it is likely to be more complicated, affecting complex biological pathways inside our bodies—the signals that allow our cells to operate in a coordinated fashion.

Yonova-Doing, E et al. An atlas of mitochondrial DNA genotype-phenotype associations in the UK Biobank. Nature Genetics (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41588-021-00868-1

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-mothers-offspring-height-lifespan-dis...

Collective intelligence can be predicted and quantified, new study finds

In order to address issues ranging from climate change to developing complex technologies and curing diseases, science relies on collective intelligence, or the ability of a group to work together and solve a range of problems that vary in complexity.

To better understand how to measure and predict collective intelligence, researchers used meta-analytic methods to evaluate data collected in 22 studies, including 5,349 individuals in 1,356 groups, and found strong support for a general factor of collective intelligence (CI). Furthermore, the data demonstrated that group collaboration processes were about twice as important for predicting CI than individual skill, and that group composition, including the proportion of women in a group and group member social perceptiveness, are also significant predictors of CI.

The paper, "Quantifying Collective Intelligence in Human Groups," by Christoph Riedl (Northeastern University), Young Ji Kim (University of California, Santa Barbara), Pranav Gupta (Carnegie Mellon University), Thomas W. Malone (MIT Sloan School of Management), and Williams Woolley, Anita (Carnegie Mellon University) will be published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

Christoph Riedl el al., "Quantifying collective intelligence in human groups," PNAS (2021). www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2005737118

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-intelligence-quantified.html?utm_sour...

Scientists construct first-ever synthetic DNA-like polymer

Double helical covalent polymers—which are spiraling collections of nature's building blocks—are fundamental to life itself, and yet, despite decades of research, scientists have never been able to synthesize them in their entirety like their non-helical brethren—until now.

have cracked the code, creating synthetic versions of these large DNA-like molecules for the first time. Using dynamic covalent chemistry, which is a chemistry tool pioneered by these researchers that focuses on reversible bonding interactions with self-correction capabilities, they were able to not only construct a helical covalent polymer that rivals the sophistication of those found in nature but confirm its existence with absolute certainty using single crystal X-ray diffraction (a powerful, non-destructive way to characterize single crystals using light).

Previously, scientists have only been able to solve individual parts of the puzzle. This new discovery out last week in Nature Chemistry, though, completes it, potentially opening this critical and understudied field to new research that could have implications on everything from artificial enzyme creation, which has already found success in various medical applications, to the creation of biomimetic materials (materials that mimic processes found in nature).

Yiming Hu et al. Single crystals of mechanically entwined helical covalent polymers, Nature Chemistry (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41557-021-00686-2

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-scientists-first-ever-synthetic-dna-l...

Scientists debut most efficient 'optical rectennas,' devices that harvest power from heat

Scientists have tapped into a unique property of electrons to design devices that can capture excess heat from their environment—and turn it into usable electricity.

The researchers have described their new "optical rectennas" in a paper published recently in the journal Nature Communications. These devices, which are too small to see with the naked eye, are roughly 100 times more efficient than similar tools used for energy harvesting. And they achieve that feat through a mysterious process called "resonant tunneling"—in which electrons pass through solid matter without spending any energy.

Rectennas (short for "rectifying antennas") work a bit like car radio antennas. But instead of picking up radio waves and turning them into tunes, optical rectennas absorb light and heat and convert it into power.

They're also potential game changers in the world of renewable energy. Working rectennas could, theoretically, harvest the heat coming from factory smokestacks or bakery ovens that would otherwise go to waste. Some scientists have even proposed mounting these devices on airships that would fly high above the planet's surface to capture the energy radiating from Earth to outer space.

But, so far, rectennas haven't been able to reach the efficiencies needed to meet those goals. Until now, perhaps. In the new study, researchers have designed the first-ever rectennas that are capable of generating power.

Scientists demonstrate for the first time electrons undergoing resonant tunneling in an energy-harvesting optical rectenna. Until now, it was only a theoretical possibility.

 Nature Communications (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23182-0

https://techxplore.com/news/2021-05-scientists-debut-efficient-opti...

World first concept for rechargeable cement-based batteries

The concept involves a cement-based mixture with small amounts of short carbon fibres added to increase the conductivity and flexural toughness. Embedded within the mixture is a metal-coated carbon fibre mesh—iron for the anode, and nickel for the cathode. After much experimentation, this is the prototype the researchers now present.

Emma Qingnan Zhang et al, Rechargeable Concrete Battery, Buildings (2021). DOI: 10.3390/buildings11030103

https://techxplore.com/news/2021-05-world-concept-rechargeable-ceme...

How lightning may help clean the air

Lightning may play an important role in clearing the air of pollutants.

A storm-chasing airplane has shown that lightning can forge large amounts of oxidants. These chemicals cleanse the atmosphere by reacting with pollutants such as methane. Those reactions form molecules that dissolve in water or stick to surfaces. The molecules can then rain out of the air or stick to objects on the ground.
Researchers knew lightning could produce oxidants indirectly. The bolts generate nitric oxide. That chemical can react with other molecules in the air to make some oxidants. But no one had seen lightning directly create lots of oxidants.

A NASA jet got the first glimpse of this in 2012. The jet flew through storm clouds over Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas in both May and June. Instruments on board measured two oxidants in the clouds. One was hydroxyl radical, or OH. The other was a related oxidant. It’s called the hydroperoxyl (Hy-droh-pur-OX-ul) radical, or HO2. The airplane measured the combined concentration of both in the air.
Lightning and other electrified parts of the clouds sparked the creation of OH and HO2. Levels of these molecules rose to thousands of parts per trillion. That may not sound like much. But the most OH seen in the atmosphere before was only a few parts per trillion. The most HO2 ever seen in the air was about 150 parts per trillion. Researchers reported the observations online April 29 in Science.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/372/6543/711

European fire ant chemicals may send spiders scurrying away

But don’t go adding the invasive, biting insects to your home as an arachnid repellent

To make a spider flee, bring on the fire ants. Or rather, just their chemical signals.

Some spiders common in North American homes avoid building their webs in chambers that recently housed European..., researchers report May 19 in Royal Society Open Science. The ants probably left behind chemical traces, the researchers say. That could signal danger to the arachnids because ants sometimes feast on spiders. The reaction hints that the insects might be a source of natural spider-repelling chemicals.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/european-fire-ant-chemicals-spi...

COVID-19 Insights: Will Steam Kill the SARS-COV-2 inside The Cells?

Stanford researchers make 'bombshell' discovery of an entirely new ...

Researchers have discovered a new kind of biomolecule that could play a significant role in the biology of all living things. The novel biomolecule, dubbed glycoRNA, is a small ribbon of ribonucleic acid (RNA) with sugar molecules, called glycans, dangling from it. Up until now, the only kinds of similarly sugar-decorated biomolecules known to science were fats (lipids) and proteins. These glycolipids and glycoproteins appear ubiquitously in and on animal, plant and microbial cells, contributing to a wide range of processes essential for life. The newfound glycoRNAs, neither rare nor furtive, were hiding in plain sight simply because no one thought to look for them – understandably so, given that their existence flies in the face of well-established cellular biology. A study in the journal Cell, published May 17, describes the findings. “This is a stunning discovery of an entirely new class of biomolecules.

Study shows how our brains sync hearing with vision

Every high-school physics student learns that sound and light travel at very different speeds. If the brain did not account for this difference, it would be much harder for us to tell where sounds came from, and how they are related to what we see. Instead, the brain allows us to make better sense of our world by playing tricks, so that a visual and a sound created at the same time are perceived as synchronous, even though they reach the brain and are processed by neural circuits at different speeds. One of the brain’s tricks is temporal recalibration: altering our sense of time to synchronize our joint perception of sound and vision. A new study finds that recalibration depends on brain signals constantly adapting to our environment to sample, order and associate competing sensory inputs together. Scientists at The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital) of McGill university recruited volunteers to view short flashes 

A newfound quasicrystal formed in the first atomic bomb test

‘Trinitite’ contains a material that is ordered but doesn’t repeat itself

In an instant, the bomb obliterated everything.

The tower it sat on and the copper wires strung around it: vaporized. The desert sand below: melted.

In the aftermath of the first test of an atomic bomb, in July 1945, all this debris fused together, leaving the ground of the New Mexico test site coated with a glassy substance now called trinitite. High temperatures and pressures helped forge an unusual structure within one piece of trinitite, in a grain of the material just 10 micrometers across — a bit longer than a red blood cell.

That grain contains a rare form of matter called a quasicrystal, born the moment the nuclear age began, scientists report May 17 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Normal crystals are made of atoms locked in a lattice that repeats in a regular pattern. Quasicrystals have a structure that is orderly like a normal crystal but that doesn’t repeat. This means quasicrystals can have properties that are forbidden for normal crystals. First discovered in the lab in 1980s, quasicrystals also appear in nature in meteorites .

The newly discovered quasicrystal from the New Mexico test site is the oldest one known that was made by humans.

Trinitite takes its moniker from the nuclear test, named Trinity, in which the material was created in abundance

 the trinitite the team studied was a rarer variety, called red trinitite. Most trinitite has a greenish tinge, but red trinitite contains copper, remnants of the wires that stretched from the ground to the bomb. Quasicrystals tend to be found in materials that have experienced a violent impact and usually involve metals. Red trinitite fit both criteria.

But first the team had to find some.

L. Bindi et al. Accidental synthesis of a previously unknown quasicrystal in the fi.... Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Vol 118, May 17, 2021, e2101350118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2101350118.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/new-quasi-crystal-formed-first-...

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First nuke made ‘impossible’ quasicrystals

Scientists searching for quasicrystals — so-called ‘impossible’ materials, with unusual, non-repeating structures — have identified one in remnants of the world’s first nuclear-bomb test. The previously unknown structure, made of iron, silicon, copper and calcium, probably formed from the fusion of vapourized desert sand and coppe.... Similar materials have been synthesized in the laboratory and identified in meteorites, but this is the first example of a quasicrystal with this combination of elements.

Neuroscientists Have Followed a Thought as It Moves Through The Human Brain

A study using epilepsy patients undergoing surgery has given neuroscientists an opportunity to track in unprecedented detail the movement of a thought through the human brain, all the way from inspiration to response.

The findings confirmed the role of the prefrontal cortex as the coordinator of complex interactions between different regions, linking our perception with action and serving as what can be considered the "glue of cognition".

The study recorded the electrical activity of neurons using a precise technique called electrocorticograhy (ECoG).

The results clearly emphasized the role of the prefrontal cortex in directing activity. The prefrontal cortex was seen to remain active throughout most of the thought process, as would be expected for a multitasking region of the brain.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-017-0267-2

https://www.sciencealert.com/neuroscientists-followed-a-thought-as-...

An illuminating possibility for stroke treatment: Nano-photosynthesis

Blocked blood vessels in the brains of stroke patients prevent oxygen-rich blood from getting to cells, causing severe damage. Plants and some microbes produce oxygen through photosynthesis. What if there was a way to make photosynthesis happen in the brains of patients? Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Nano Letters have done just that in cells and in mice, using blue-green algae and special nanoparticles, in a proof-of-concept demonstration.

The researchers paired S. elongatus with neodymium up-conversion nanoparticles that transform tissue-penetrating near-infrared light to a visible wavelength that the microbes can use to photosynthesize. In a cell study, they found that the nano-photosynthesis approach reduced the number of neurons that died after oxygen and glucose deprivation. They then injected the microbes and nanoparticles into mice with blocked cerebral arteries and exposed the mice to near-infrared light. The therapy reduced the number of dying neurons, improved the animals' motor function and even helped new blood vessels to start growing. Although this treatment is still in the animal testing stage, it has promise to advance someday toward human clinical trials, the researchers say.

"Oxygen-Generating Cyanobacteria Powered by Upconversion-Nanoparticles-Converted Near-Infrared Light for Ischemic Stroke Treatment" Nano Letters (2021). pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c00719

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-illuminating-possibility-treatment-na...

New technology makes tumor eliminate itself

Scientists at the University of Zurich have modified a common respiratory virus, called adenovirus, to act like a Trojan horse to deliver genes for cancer therapeutics directly into tumor cells. Unlike chemotherapy or radiotherapy, this approach does no harm to normal healthy cells. Once inside tumor cells, the delivered genes serve as a blueprint for therapeutic antibodies, cytokines and other signaling substances, which are produced by the cancer cells themselves and act to eliminate tumors from the inside out. 

Researchers tricked the tumor into eliminating itself through the production of anti-cancer agents by its own cells. The therapeutic agents, such as therapeutic antibodies or signaling substances, mostly stay at the place in the body where they’re needed instead of spreading throughout the bloodstream where they can damage healthy organs and tissues.

This technology is named SHREAD: It builds on key technologies previously engineered by another team, including to direct adenoviruses to specified parts of the body to hide them from the immune system.

With the SHREAD system, the scientists made the tumor itself produce a clinically approved breast cancer antibody, called trastuzumab (Herceptin®), in the mammary of a mouse. They found that, after a few days, SHREAD produced more of the antibody in the tumor than when the drug was injected directly. Moreover, the concentration in the bloodstream and in other tissues where side effects could occur were significantly lower with SHREAD. The scientists used a very sophisticated, high-resolution 3D imaging method and tissues rendered totally transparent to show how the therapeutic antibody, produced in the body, creates pores in blood vessels of the tumor and destroys tumor cells, and thus treats it from the inside.

SHREAD is applicable not only for the fight against breast cancer. As healthy tissues no longer come into contact with significant levels of the therapeutic agent, it is also applicable for delivery of a wide range of so-called biologics – powerful protein-based drugs that would otherwise be too toxic.

https://www.media.uzh.ch/en/Press-Releases/2021/shred.html#:~:text=....

https://researchnews.cc/news/6770/New-technology-makes-tumor-elimin...

From Avocet to Zebra Finch: big data study finds more than 50 billi...

There are roughly 50 billion individual birds in the world, a new big data study by UNSW Sydney suggests  about six birds for every human on the planet. The study  which bases its findings on citizen science observations and detailed algorithms  estimates how many birds belong to 9700 different bird species, including flightless birds like emus and penguins. It found many iconic Australian birds are numbered in the millions, like the Rainbow Lorikeet (19 million), Sulphur-crested Cockatoo (10 million) and Laughing Kookaburra (3.4 million). But other natives, like the rare Black-breasted Buttonquail, only have around 100 members left. The findings are being published this week in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Study finds link between blood sugar and liver disease progression
DURHAM, NC.- There are no approved drugs to treat nonalcoholic fatty liver disease but controlling blood sugar over time may help decrease the risk of liver scarring and disease progression. According to a new study by researchers, the average three-month blood glucose levels of patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease influenced their chance of having more severe scarring in the liver, which can lead to liver failure.

Researchers make 'bombshell' discovery of an entirely new kind of b...

researchers have discovered a new kind of biomolecule that could play a significant role in the biology of all living things. The novel biomolecule, dubbed glycoRNA, is a small ribbon of ribonucleic acid (RNA) with sugar molecules, called glycans, dangling from it. Up until now, the only kinds of similarly sugar-decorated biomolecules known to science were fats (lipids) and proteins. These glycolipids and glycoproteins appear ubiquitously in and on animal, plant and microbial cells, contributing to a wide range of processes essential for life. The newfound glycoRNAs, neither rare nor furtive, were hiding in plain sight simply because no one thought to look for them  understandably so, given that their existence flies in the face of well-established cellular biology. A study in the journal Cell, published May 17, describes the findings.

https://news.stanford.edu/2021/05/17/stanford-study-reveals-new-bio...

https://researchnews.cc/news/6751/Stanford-researchers-make--bombsh...

Study shows how our brains sync hearing with vision

Every high-school physics student learns that sound and light travel at very different speeds. If the brain did not account for this difference, it would be much harder for us to tell where sounds came from, and how they are related to what we see. Instead, the brain allows us to make better sense of our world by playing tricks, so that a visual and a sound created at the same time are perceived as synchronous, even though they reach the brain and are processed by neural circuits at different speeds. One of the brain's tricks is temporal recalibration: altering our sense of time to synchronize our joint perception of sound and vision. A new study finds that recalibration depends on brain signals constantly adapting to our environment to sample, order and associate competing sensory inputs together.

Now, white fungus, which is more dangerous than black fungus, hit India - Who are more at risk?

White Fungus infection is more dangerous than black fungus infection because it affects lungs as well as other parts of the body.

Amid the rising cases of Black Fungus infection in several states of India, four cases of White Fungus infection have been reported from Patna in Bihar. It is to be noted that White Fungus is considered more dangerous than Black Fungus. One of the infected patients is a famous doctor from Patna.

White Fungus infection is more dangerous than black fungus infection because it spreads rapidly and  affects lungs as well as other parts of the body including nails, skin, stomach, kidney, brain, private parts and mouth.

Doctors said that white fungus also infect the lungs and an infection similar to COVID-19 is detected when HRCT is performed on the infected patient.  

Patients of white fungus show Covid-like symptoms but test negative; the infection can be diagnosed through CT-Scan or X-ray.

All the four persons infected by White Fungus showed coronavirus-type symptoms but they were not COVID-19 positive. Singh added that but there lungs were found infected and after tests when they were given anti-fungal medicines then they recovered.

Just like Black Fungus, White Fungus is also more dangerous for those who have weak immunity. Diabetes patients and those who are taking steroids for a long period of time are more at risk of getting infected with White Fungus.

COVID-19 patients are more prone to white fungus as it affects the lungs and similar symptoms are created like that of coronavirus.

“Those who have weak immunity like diabetes, cancer patients, and those who are taking steroids for a long period of time must take special care as they are more at risk. It is also affecting those coronavirus patients who are on oxygen support.

Additionally, the white fungus infection may be risky for pregnant women and children, as per reports. Hence, proper emphasis should be laid on sanitization and cleaning of supplies, environment, since molds can be directly inhaled by a suspected patient.

Widely used herbicide linked to preterm births

Exposure to a chemical found in the weed killer Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides is significantly associated with preterm births, according to a new University of Michigan study.

New Coronavirus Detected In Patients At Malaysian Hospital; The Source May Be Dogs

A new coronavirus might be from dogs

Eight people hospitalized with pneumonia in Malaysia several years ago had evidence of infection with a coronavirus that might have been caugh.... A test designed to detect all coronaviruses — even unknown ones — picked up the genetic signature of a canine coronavirus in samples from the people. It’s the first time that a canine coronavirus — which the researchers have named CCoV-HuPn-2018 — has been found in a person with pneumonia. It is not known whether the virus caused the people’s illness, and there’s no evidence that it can pass from person to person. If it is confirmed that the virus causes disease in humans, it will be the eighth unique coronavirus known to do so; others include those that cause some common colds, and SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19.

Part 2:

In the past 20 years, new coronaviruses have emerged from animals with remarkable regularity. In 2002, SARS-CoV jumped from civets into people. Ten years later, MERS emerged from camels. Then in 2019, SARS-CoV-2 began to spread around the world.

For many scientists, this pattern points to a disturbing trend: Coronavirus outbreaks aren't rare events and will likely occur every decade or so.

Now, scientists are reporting that they have discovered what may be the latest coronavirus to jump from animals into people. And it comes from a surprising source: dogs.

Researchers found evidence of an entirely new coronavirus associated with pneumonia in hospitalized patients — mostly in kids. This virus may be the eighth coronavirus known to cause disease in people, the team reports  in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

The patients had what looked like regular pneumonia. But in eight out of 301 samples tested, or 2.7%,it was  found that the patients' upper respiratory tracts were infected with a new canine coronavirus, i.e., a dog virus.

That's a pretty high prevalence of a [new] virus. Canine coronaviruses were not thought to be transmitted to people. It's never been reported before.

Researchers, after thorough examination, did discover a very, very unique mutation — or deletion — in the genome .That specific deletion, isn't present in any other known dog coronaviruses, but it is found somewhere else: in human coronaviruses. It's a mutation that's very similar to one previously found in the SARS coronavirus and in [versions of] SARS-CoV-2 ... [that appeared] very soon after its introduction into the human population.

This deletion, scientists think helps the dog virus infect or persist inside humans. And it may be a key step required for coronaviruses to make the jump into people.

There's no evidence yet of transmission from human to human.

And in order to stop a future coronavirus pandemic, he says, scientists need to do more testing in people and seek out these strange, hidden infections — before they become a problem.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/05/20/996515792/a-ne...

What if The Heart of The Milky Way Isn't Actually a Black Hole?

All these years we thought there's a blackhole at the centre of our galaxy. 

Now , consider this....

What if it's not a black hole at all? What if it's a core of dark amtter? According to a new and fascinating study, those observed orbits of the galactic center, as well as the orbital velocities in the outer regions of the galaxy, might actually be easier to explain if it was a core of dark matter at the heart of the galaxy, rather than a black hole.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2105.06301

https://www.sciencealert.com/wild-new-paper-proposes-the-center-of-...