The digestive system of cows influences human's vitamin B12 intake

What a cow eats determines how much vitamin B12 you get from milk!

Milk is the main source of vitamin B12 consumption for many people around the world. A glass of cow’s milk contains about 46% of the daily-recommended dietary intake of vitamin B12 for adults. But what factors influence the concentration of B12 in a glass of milk? Turns out, what cows eat and how they digest it can impact human’s B12 intake.

Many plants that grow on our planet cannot be used directly by humans as food. But cows have the ability to convert these plants into proteins and vitamins humans can consume through milk. Vitamin B12 comes from animal products, produced by microorganisms in the digestive tract of cows, sheep, and goats. Cow’s milk is an excellent natural source of B12, because of the abundance of bacteria in their digestive tract capable of producing the vitamin.

Specifically, cows have a digestive system that is uniquely different from our own. Instead of a single compartment to the stomach they have four. Of the four compartments, the rumen is the largest and the main digestive center filled with billions of microorganisms that are able to break down grass and other vegetation that animals with one stomach, including humans, cannot digest.

This research has found that certain microorganisms in the rumen of cows are linked to vitamin B12 abundance. Diets higher in acid detergent fibre, such as grass, tended to encourage increased vitamin B12 concentrations in milk. Alternativity, diets higher in starch and energy concentration, based feed tended to result in lower vitamin B12 concentrations. When the pH in the rumen is lower there tends to be higher production of vitamin B12. However, we do not know at this time if vitamin B12 concentration is driving changes in the microbiome or if the microbiome is driving changes in the concentration of vitamin B12.

Animals 2021, 11(2), 532; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11020532

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/2/532

https://researchnews.cc/news/7168/The-digestive-system-of-cows-infl...

Physicists dream big with an idea for a particle collider on the moon

A lunar particle accelerator could reach 1,000 times the energy of Earth’s largest collider

A very high energy hadron collider on the Moon

A particle collider encircling the moon could reach an energy of 14 quadrillion electron volts, physicists report June 6 at arXiv.org. That’s about 1,000 times the energy of the world’s biggest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider, or LHC, at CERN near Geneva.

Such a fantastical machine would probably be buried under the moon’s surface to avoid wild temperature swings, the researchers say, and could be powered by a ring of solar panels around the moon.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2106.02048

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/moon-particle-collider-accelera...

The mere sight of illness may kick-start a canary’s immune system

Simply seeing another bird get sick is enough to trigger an immune response in healthy birds

For canaries, just seeing their feathered friends get sick may be enough to preemptively rev up their immune systems.

Healthy birds housed within view of fellow fowl infected with a common pathogen mounted an immune response, despite not being infected themselves, researchers report online June 9 in Biology Letters. 

It’s fascinating that some sort of visual cue could alter immune function.

one experiment in humans found that a mere photo of a sick person increases the activity of inflammation-stimulating chemicals called cytokines. But no one had ever looked to see whether being within eyeshot of an actually sick individual could compel the immune system to preemptive action.

In the experiments researchers conducted,  as healthy birds witnessed neighbors becoming visibly sick, their immune systems stirred. A measure of the birds’ ability to burst foreign cells, called CH50 complement activity, rose in conjunction with how sick the infected birds appeared. White blood cell counts were also significantly different in birds exposed to sick individuals, rather than healthy ones. Cytokine levels did not differ between the two groups.

Blood tests showed that no healthy birds caught MG during the experiment, suggesting that some sort of external cue altered immune function. That cue was likely visual.

A.C. Love et al. Perception of infection: disease-related social cues influence immu.... Biology Letters. Published online June 9, 2021. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2021.0125.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/canary-immune-system-sight-illn...

Bodies May Treat Fast Food Like a Dangerous Infection

The immune system can respond to a fast food diet in much the same way it does to a bacterial infection, according to a 2018 study on mice, raising new questions about just how damaging regular trips to burger and pizza chains could be to our health.

Mice fed the equivalent of a "Western diet" high in saturated fats, sugar, and salt for a month, with nothing in the way of fresh fruit, vegetables, or fibre, were shown to increase the number of immune cells in their blood, just as they would if they'd been hit by a microbial infection.

What's more, this aggressive state of alarm that fast food triggers could stick around for the long term, said the international team of researchers – that's based on recent research into the way our immune systems can remember aspects of past battles they've fought.

Those white blood cells pointed the scientists towards certain genes that were activated by the mouse diets, genes containing progenitor cells – the types of cells responsible for raising up an immune cell army.

That genetic breadcrumb trail matters, because it's these progenitor cells that have previously been found to have a kind of memory in dealing with biological attack.

In other words, once the body has started to react to a fast food diet, returning to a healthy eating regime may not be enough to completely undo the changes, and that's got some implications for our overall health.

Indeed, when the mice went back to their regular cereal diet after a month, the inflammation disappeared – but the genetic reprogramming that kept the mice more sensitive to a future attack stuck around.

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(17)31493-9

https://www.sciencealert.com/bodies-may-treat-a-western-diet-like-a...

https://www.sciencealert.com/bodies-may-treat-a-western-diet-like-a...

New discovery shows human cells can write RNA sequences into DNA

Cells contain machinery that duplicates DNA into a new set that goes into a newly formed cell. That same class of machines, called polymerases, also build RNA messages, which are like notes copied from the central DNA repository of recipes, so they can be read more efficiently into proteins. But polymerases were thought to only work in one direction DNA into DNA or RNA. This prevents RNA messages from being rewritten back into the master recipe book of genomic DNA. Now, researchers provide the first evidence that RNA segments can be written back into DNA, which potentially challenges the central dogma in biology and could have wide implications affecting many fields of biology.

Polθ reverse transcribes RNA and promotes RNA-templated DNA repair, Science Advances (2021). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abf1771

https://phys.org/news/2021-06-discovery-human-cells-rna-sequences.h...

South African worker honeybees reproduce by making near-perfect clones of themselves

A team of researchers  has found that workers in a species of honeybee found in South Africa reproduce by making near-perfect clones of themselves.

Prior research has found that some creatures reproduce through parthenogenesis, in which individuals reproduce without mating. This form of reproduction has the advantage of not wasting time and energy on mating and the gene pool remains undiluted. The downside, of course, is loss of genetic diversity, which helps species survive in changing conditions. Prior research has also shown that for most species, parthenogenesis is a less-than-perfect way to produce offspring. This is because some tiny bit of genetic material is generally mixed wrong—these mistakes, known as recombinations, can lead to birth defects or non-productive eggs. In this new effort, the researchers have found a kind of honeybee that has developed a way to avoid recombinations.

The researchers found that South African Cape honeybee queens reproduce sexually, but the workers reproduce asexually.

They then conducted a small experiment—they affixed tape to the reproductive organs of a queen, preventing males from mating with her, and then allowed both her and the worker bees in the same hive to reproduce asexually. They then tested the degree of recombination in both. They found that offspring of the queen had approximately 100 times as much recombination as the worker bees. Even more impressive, the offspring of the worker bees were found to be nearly identical clones of their parent. More testing showed that one line of worker bees in the hive had been cloning themselves for approximately 30 years—a clear sign that workers in the hive were not suffering from birth defects or an inability to produce viable offspring. It also showed that they have evolved a means for preventing recombination when they reproduce. The researchers note that despite their unique abilities, the bees are still in line with evolutionary theory—they are simply doing what works best for their continued existence.

 Benjamin P. Oldroyd et al, Adaptive, caste-specific changes to recombination rates in a thelytokous honeybee population, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2021). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.0729

https://phys.org/news/2021-06-south-african-worker-honeybees-near-p...

Russel's Tea pot and the thought experiment

A quick explanation of Russell's Teapot, a thought experiment demonstrating that the burden of proof rests on the claimant.

A 36-year-old woman in South Africa with HIV carried Covid for 216 days, during which Covid viruses accumulated 32 mutations - 13 to the spike protein (could help Covid viruses escape immune responses).

If more such cases are found, it raises the prospect that HIV infection could be a source of new variants simply because the patients could carry the virus for longer.

Scientists only spotted this case because she was enrolled in a study of 300 people with HIV looking at their immune response to Covid.

The researchers also found that four other people with HIV had carried the coronavirus for longer than a month.

…there have been reported cases of people with kidney transplants testing positive for almost a year.

The finding could be of particular importance for Africa, which had about 26 million people living with HIV in 2020. The WHO on Friday warned that a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases could turn into a continentwide third wave of Covid.

https://www.krisp.org.za/publications.php?pubid=336

https://www.businessinsider.in/science/news/a-woman-with-hiv-had-th...

Dark matter is slowing the spin of the Milky Way's galactic bar

The spin of the Milky Way's galactic bar, which is made up of billions of clustered stars, has slowed by about a quarter since its formation, according to a new study by researchers.

For 30 years, astrophysicists have predicted such a slowdown, but this is the first time it has been measured.

The researchers say it gives a new type of insight into the nature of dark matter, which acts like a counterweight slowing the spin.

Researchers analysed Gaia space telescope observations of a large group of stars, the Hercules stream, which are in resonance with the bar—that is, they revolve around the galaxy at the same rate as the bar's spin.

These stars are gravitationally trapped by the spinning bar. The same phenomenon occurs with Jupiter's Trojan and Greek asteroids, which orbit Jupiter's Lagrange points (ahead and behind Jupiter). If the bar's spin slows down, these stars would be expected to move further out in the galaxy, keeping their orbital period matched to that of the bar's spin.

The researchers found that the stars in the stream carry a chemical fingerprint—they are richer in heavier elements (called metals in astronomy), proving that they have traveled away from the galactic center, where stars and star-forming gas are about 10 times as rich in metals compared to the outer galaxy.

Using this data, the team inferred that the bar—made up of billions of stars and trillions of solar masses—had slowed down its spin by at least 24% since it first formed.

The counterweight slowing this spin must be dark matter. Until now, researchers  have only been able to infer dark matter by mapping the gravitational potential of galaxies and subtracting the contribution from visible matter.

This new research provides a new type of measurement of dark matter—not of its gravitational energy, but of its inertial mass (the dynamical response), which slows the bar's spin.

 Rimpei Chiba et al, Tree-ring structure of Galactic bar resonance, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (2021). DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stab1094

https://phys.org/news/2021-06-dark-milky-galactic-bar.html?utm_sour...

Microbes in ocean play important role in moderating Earth's temperature

Methane is a strong greenhouse gas that plays a key role in Earth's climate. Anytime we use natural gas, whether we light up our kitchen stove or barbeque, we are using methane.

Only three sources on Earth produce methane naturally: volcanoes, subsurface water-rock interactions, and microbes. Between these three sources, most is generated by microbes, which have deposited hundreds of gigatons of methane into the deep seafloor. At seafloor methane seeps, it percolates upwards toward the open ocean, and microbial communities consume the majority of this methane before it reaches the atmosphere. Over the years, researchers are finding more and more methane beneath the seafloor, yet very little ever leaves the oceans and gets into the atmosphere. Where is the rest going?

A team of researchers now discovered that microbial communities that rapidly consume the methane, preventing its escape into Earth's atmosphere. The study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences collected and examined methane-eating microbes from seven geologically diverse seafloor seeps and found, most surprisingly, that the carbonate rocks from one site in particular hosts methane-oxidizing microbial communities with the highest rates of methane consumption measured to date.

The microbes in these carbonate rocks are acting like a methane bio filter consuming it all before it leaves the ocean.

Jeffrey J. Marlow el al., "Carbonate-hosted microbial communities are prolific and pervasive methane oxidizers at geologically diverse marine methane seep sites," PNAS (2021). www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2006857118

https://phys.org/news/2021-06-microbes-ocean-important-role-moderat...

Deposits of Copper And Magnetic Iron Found in Alzheimer's Patients'...

Scarce as they are,  copper and iron metals are necessary for our survival, playing essential roles in human growth and metabolism. But one place we wouldn't expect to find either is clumped inside our brain cells.

However, for people with the neurodegenerative disorder Alzheimer's disease, something seems to be turning these elements into microscopic ingots.

A team of researchers from the US and UK spotted the tell-tale glint of copper and iron in their elemental forms using a form of X-ray microscopy (STXM) on samples of neural plaques taken from the frontal and temporal lobes of Alzheimer's patients.

Plaques are a typical feature of this particular form of dementia, made up of proteins broken down into what's known as beta-amyloid.

Yet therapies focused on clearing clumps of beta-amyloid from the brain haven't led us much closer to a treatment for Alzheimer's, leaving researchers wondering what role – if any – they play in the disease's progress.

Ongoing research has continued to build a picture surrounding the biology that could be responsible for the plaques, with researchers looking at their formation and taste for destruction from every angle.

One angle that hasn't been fully explored is the toxic effect of biomineralization, or the accumulation of minerals such as hematite in brain cells.

Trapped as a charged ionic form inside hemoglobin, iron is a handy way to transport oxygen around the body. And few places are as desperate for oxygen as the human brain.

Once released from its protein shackles, however, iron shows its nasty side as what's known as its labile form, generating reactive species of oxygen that wreak havoc on delicate biochemistry and destroying cells.

High levels of labile iron have been linked to neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's before. Similarly, copper is another mineral typically shielded safely in a protein, yet thoroughly capable of making a mess of our brains in labile form.

https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/24/eabf6707

https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-identify-deposits-of-copper...

New treatment stops progression of Alzheimer's disease in monkey brains

A new therapy prompts immune defense cells to swallow misshapen proteins, amyloid beta plaques and tau tangles, whose buildup is known to kill nearby brain cells as part of Alzheimer's disease, a new study shows.

Led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, the investigation showed that elderly monkeys had up to 59 percent fewer plaque deposits in their brains after treatment with CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (CpG ODN), compared with untreated animals. These amyloid beta plaques are protein fragments that clump together and clog the junctions between nerve cells (neurons).

Brains of treated animals also had a drop in levels of toxic tau. This nerve fiber protein can destroy neighboring tissue when disease-related changes to its chemical structure causes it to catch on other cells.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-06-treatment-alzheimer-disease-...

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Study finds association between head impacts and imaging changes in youth football players

A new study shows that head impacts experienced during practice are associated with changes in brain imaging of young players over multiple seasons.

A group of 16 youth athletes who participated in non-contact sports, such as swimming, tennis and track, served as the control group in the study.

Pre- and post-season MRIs were completed for both groups of study participants using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), a type of neuroimaging that can be used to assess the integrity of the brain's white matter, indicating possible sites of injury.

In addition, the research team gathered biomechanical data of linear and rotational head accelerations of head impacts from the football group during all practice and games via the Riddell Head Impact Telemetry System in the helmets. That information was transmitted in real time to a sideline data collection field unit for later analysis.

In 19 of the 47 youth football athletes, brain images were obtained pre- and post-season for two consecutive football seasons. Using data from the DTIs and the head impact telemetry system, the researchers found variations in head impact exposures (i.e., the number and severity of head impacts measured) from year-to-year and between athletes. For example, in an examination of data from three consecutive seasons, some youths experienced more impacts in their second year of play than in their first, while other youths experienced fewer impacts in later years of play.

They observed variability in the amount and direction of imaging changes in the brain related to the amount of exposure that the players experienced on the field. If  efforts are taken to reduce that exposure on-field,  changes in brain imaging can be potentially mitigated.

These findings further support ongoing efforts to reduce the number of head impacts in football practices.

Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics, thejns.org/doi/full/10.3171/2021.1.PEDS20586

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-06-association-impacts-imaging-...

Combining classical and quantum computing opens door to new discoveries

Researchers have discovered a new and more efficient computing method for pairing the reliability of a classical computer with the strength of a quantum system.

This new computing method opens the door to different algorithms and experiments that bring quantum researchers closer to near-term applications and discoveries of the technology.

In the future, quantum computers could be used in a wide variety of applications including helping to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, developing artificial limbs and designing more efficient pharmaceuticals.

The research team  is the first to propose the measurement-based approach in a feedback loop with a regular computer, inventing a new way to tackle hard computing problems. Their method is resource-efficient and therefore can use small quantum states because they are custom-tailored to specific types of problems.

Hybrid computing, where a regular computer's processor and a quantum co-processor are paired into a feedback loop, gives researchers a more robust and flexible approach than trying to use a quantum computer alone.

While researchers are currently building hybrid, computers based on quantum gates, this research team was interested in the quantum computations that could be done without gates. They designed an algorithm in which a hybrid quantum-classical computation is carried out by performing a sequence of measurements on an entangled quantum state.

The team's theoretical research is good news for quantum software developers and experimentalists because it provides a new way of thinking about optimization algorithms. The algorithm offers high error tolerance, often an issue in quantum systems, and works for a wide range of quantum systems, including photonic quantum co-processors.

 R. R. Ferguson et al, Measurement-Based Variational Quantum Eigensolver, Physical Review Letters (2021). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.220501

https://phys.org/news/2021-06-combining-classical-quantum-door-disc...

Scientists discover unreported plant body part

A previously unreported anatomical structure named the 'cantil' has been described in the popular plant model, Arabidopsis thaliana. Scientists reveal that the cantil forms between the stem and flower-bearing stalk when flowering is delayed. Published in the journal Development, this study highlights that there are still discoveries to be made, even in some of the most meticulously studied species, and provides new clues for understanding conditional growth in plants.

Cantils are rare; they only develop under certain conditions that cause the plant to delay flowering, such as short day lengths, and cantils only form at the precise point at which the plant begins to flower.

However, some popular Arabidopsis strains have genetic mutations that make them incapable of producing cantils at all.

Gookin, T. E. and Assmann, S. M. (2021). Cantil: a previously unreported organ in wild-type Arabidopsis regulated by FT, ERECTA and heterotrimeric G proteins. Development, 148, dev195545. DOI: 10.1242/dev.195545

https://phys.org/news/2021-06-scientists-unreported-body.html?utm_s...

The electron merry-go-round: Researchers find new mechanism for cla...

Photoemission is a property of metals and other materials that emit electrons when struck by light. Electron emission after light absorption was already explained by Albert Einstein. But since this effect is a highly complex process, scientists have still not been able to fully elucidate its details. Prof. Dr. Bernd von Issendorff and his team at the University of Freiburg's Institute of Physics have now succeeded in detecting a previously unknown quantum effect in the angular distributions of photoelectrons from cryogenic mass-selected metal clusters. The angular distributions resemble those of classical particles, a behavior that is surprisingly explainable by the strong electron-electron interaction in these many-electron systems. The researchers published this finding in the current issue of Physical Review Letters.

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Use of PFAS in cosmetics 'widespread,' new study finds

Many cosmetics sold in the United States and Canada likely contain high levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a potentially toxic class of chemicals linked to a number of serious health conditions, according to new research from the University of Notre Dame.

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Study: Half of US cosmetics contain toxic chemicals

More than half the cosmetics sold in the United States and Canada likely contain high levels of a toxic industrial compound linked to serious health conditions, including cancer and reduced birth weight, according to a new study.

Use of PFAS in cosmetics 'widespread,' new study finds

Many cosmetics sold in the United States and Canada likely contain high levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a potentially toxic class of chemicals linked to a number of serious health conditions, according to new research from the University of Notre Dame.

Scientists tested more than 200 cosmetics including concealers, foundations, eye and eyebrow products and various lip products. According to the study, 56 percent of foundations and eye products, 48 percent of lip products and 47 percent of mascaras tested were found to contain high levels of fluorine, which is an indicator of PFAS use in the product. The study was recently published in the journal of Environmental Science and Technology Letters.

There's the individual risk—these are products that are applied around the eyes and mouth with the potential for absorption through the skin or at the tear duct, as well as possible inhalation or ingestion. PFAS is a persistent chemcial—when it gets into the bloodstream, it stays there and accumulates. There's also the additional risk of environmental contamination associated with the manufacture and disposal of these products, which could affect many more people.

Studies have linked certain PFAS to kidney cancer, testicular cancer, hypertension, thyroid disease, low birth weight and immunotoxicity in children.

Heather D. Whitehead et al, Fluorinated Compounds in North American Cosmetics, Environmental Science & Technology Letters (2021). DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett.1c00240

https://phys.org/news/2021-06-pfas-cosmetics-widespread.html?utm_so...

Surprise volcanic eruption: Lessons from Kilauea 2018

New material could remove respiratory droplets from air

Although plexiglass barriers are seemingly everywhere these days—between grocery store lanes, around restaurant tables and towering above office cubicles—they are an imperfect solution to blocking virus transmission.

Instead of capturing virus-laden respiratory droplets and aerosols, plexiglass dividers merely deflect droplets, causing them to bounce away but remain in the air. To enhance the function of these protective barriers, Northwestern University researchers have developed a new transparent material that can capture droplets and aerosols, effectively removing them from air.

The material is a clear, viscous liquid that can be painted onto any surface, including plastic, glass, wood, metal, stainless steel, concrete and textiles. When droplets collide with the coated surface, they stick to it, get absorbed and dry up. The coating also is compatible with antiviral and antimicrobial materials, so sanitizing agents, such as copper, could be added to the formula.

Chem, Huang et al.: "Droplet-capturing Coatings on Environmental Surfaces Based on Cosmetic Ingredients" DOI: 10.1016/j.chempr.2021.05.017 , www.cell.com/chem/fulltext/S2451-9294(21)00266-7

https://phys.org/news/2021-06-material-respiratory-droplets-air.htm...

Genetically engineered nanoparticle delivers dexamethasone directly to inflamed lungs

Nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego have developed immune cell-mimicking nanoparticles that target inflammation in the lungs and deliver drugs directly where they're needed. As a proof of concept, the researchers filled the nanoparticles with the drug dexamethasone and administered them to mice with inflamed lung tissue. Inflammation was completely treated in mice given the nanoparticles, at a drug concentration where standard delivery methods did not have any efficacy.

What's special about these nanoparticles is that they are coated in a cell membrane that's been genetically engineered to look for and bind to inflamed lung cells. They are the latest in the line of so-called cell membrane-coated nanoparticles.

But while these previous cell membranes were naturally derived from the body's cells, the cell membranes used to coat this dexamethasone-filled nanoparticle were not.

"In this paper, researchers used a genetic engineering approach to edit the surface proteins on the cells before we collected the membranes. This significantly advanced our technology by allowing us to precisely overexpress certain functional proteins on the membranes or knockout some undesirable proteins.

"Genetically engineered cell membrane–coated nanoparticles for targeted delivery of dexamethasone to inflamed lungs" Science Advances (2021). advances.sciencemag.org/lookup … .1126/sciadv.abf7820

https://phys.org/news/2021-06-genetically-nanoparticle-dexamethason...

Giant Rats Are Sniffing Out Landmines and Tuberculosis

These 2-foot giant pouched rats are giving rats a good name. Referred to as 'Hero Rats', they have a superpower that's saving thousands of lives: a powerful nose that can detect unexploded landmines and Tuberculosis. And now, they're being trained to sniff out just about anything, from illegal wildlife trafficking to humans trapped under rubble after a natural disaster.

Physicists bring human-scale object to near standstill, reaching a quantum state

To the human eye, most stationary objects appear to be just that—still, and completely at rest. Yet if we were handed a quantum lens, allowing us to see objects at the scale of individual atoms, what was an apple sitting idly on our desk would appear as a teeming collection of vibrating particles, very much in motion.

In the last few decades, physicists have found ways to super-cool objects so that their atoms are at a near standstill, or in their "motional ground state." To date, physicists have wrestled small objects such as clouds of millions of atoms, or nanogram-scale objects, into such pure quantum states.

Now for the first time, scientists at MIT and elsewhere have cooled a large, human-scale object to close to its motional ground state. The object isn't tangible in the sense of being situated at one location, but is the combined motion of four separate objects, each weighing about 40 kilograms. The "object" that the researchers cooled has an estimated mass of about 10 kilograms, and comprises about 1x10²⁶, or nearly 1 octillion, atoms.

The researchers took advantage of the ability of the Laser Interfrometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) to measure the motion of the masses with extreme precision and super-cool the collective motion of the masses to 77 nanokelvins, just shy of the object's predicted ground state of 10 nanokelvins.

Their results, appearing today in Science, represent the largest object to be cooled to close to its motional ground state. The scientists say they now have a chance to observe the effect of gravity on a massive quantum object.

C. Whittle el al., "Approaching the motional ground state of a 10-kg object," Science (2021). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi … 1126/science.abh2634

https://phys.org/news/2021-06-physicists-human-scale-standstill-qua...

Giant spider webs blanket Australian landscape after heavy rainfall

Stunning photographs of vast, ghostly spider webs blanketing the flood-affected region of Gippsland in Victoria have gone viral online, prompting many to muse on the wonder of nature.

But what's going on here? Why do spiders do this after floods and does it happen everywhere?

The answer is: these webs have nothing to do with spiders trying to catch food. Spiders often use silk to move around and in this case are using long strands of web to escape from waterlogged soil.

When these flood events happen, they need evacuate quickly up out of holes they live in underground. They come out en masse and use their silk to help them do that.

You'll often see juvenile spiders let out a long strand of silk which is caught by the wind and lifted up. The web catches onto another object such as a tree and allows the spider to climb up. 

That's how baby spiders (spiderlings!) disperse when they emerge from their egg sacs – it's called ballooning. They have to disperse as quickly as possible because they are highly cannibalistic so they need to move away from each other swiftly and find their own sites to hunt or build their webs.

https://www.sciencealert.com/spiders-have-cloaked-an-australian-cou...

Bacteria can recover precious metals from electric vehicle batteries

Bioleaching, also called biomining, employs microbes which can oxidise metal as part of their metabolism. It has been widely used in the mining industry, where microorganisms are used to extract valuable metals from ores. More recently, this technique has been used to clean up and recover materials from electronic waste, particularly the printed circuit boards of computers, solar panels, contaminated water and even uranium dumps.

All metals present in EV batteries can be recovered using bioleaching. Bacteria like Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans and other non-toxic species target and recover the metals individually without the need for high temperatures or toxic chemicals. These purified metals constitute chemical elements, and so can be recycled indefinitely into multiple supply chains.

Scaling up bioleaching involves growing bacteria in incubators at 37°C, often using carbon dioxide. Not a lot of energy is needed, so the process has a much smaller carbon footprint than typical recycling plants, while also contributing less pollution. While reducing EV battery waste, bioleaching facilities mean manufacturers can recover these precious metals locally, and rely less on the few producer countries.

EV batteries are a technology still in their infancy. The reuse of their components should be considered as part of their design. Rather than remaining an afterthought, recycling can become both the beginning and end of an EV battery’s life cycle with bioleaching, producing high-quality raw materials for new batteries at low environmental cost.

https://theconversation.com/bacteria-can-recover-precious-metals-fr...

Universal coronavirus vaccine is highly effective in monkeys

UFOs, Aliens & Science

Tree pollen carries SARS-CoV-2 particles farther, facilitates virus spread

Most models explaining how viruses are transmitted focus on viral particles escaping one person to infect a nearby person. A study on the role of microscopic particles in how viruses are transmitted suggests pollen is nothing to sneeze at.

Researchers investigated how pollen facilitates the spread of an RNA virus like the COVID-19 virus. The study draws on cutting-edge computational approaches for analyzing fluid dynamics to mimic the pollen movement from a willow tree, a prototypical pollen emitter. Airborne pollen grains contribute to the spread of airborne viruses, especially in crowded environments.

This is the first time researchers have  shown through modeling and simulation how airborne pollen micrograins are transported in a light breeze, contributing to airborne virus transmission in crowds outdoors

"On pollen and airborne virus transmission," Physics of Fluids (2021). aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0055845

https://phys.org/news/2021-06-tree-pollen-sars-cov-particles-virus....

Worrying insights into the chemicals in plastics

Plastic is practical, cheap and incredibly popular. Every year, more than 350 million tons are produced worldwide. These plastics contain a huge variety of chemicals that may be released during their lifecycles—including substances that pose a significant risk to people and the environment. However, only a small proportion of the chemicals contained in plastic are publicly known or have been extensively studied.

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Is dark matter real, or have we misunderstood gravity?

For many years now, astronomers and physicists have been in a conflict. Is the mysterious dark matter that we observe deep in the Universe real, or is what we see the result of subtle deviations from the laws of gravity as we know them? In 2016, Dutch physicist Erik Verlinde proposed a theory of the second kind: emergent gravity. New research, published in Astronomy & Astrophysics this week, pushes the limits of dark matter observations to the unknown outer regions of galaxies, and in doing so re-evaluates several dark matter models and alternative theories of gravity. Measurements of the gravity of 259,000 isolated galaxies show a very close relation between the contributions of dark matter and those of ordinary matter, as predicted in Verlinde's theory of emergent gravity and an alternative model called Modified Newtonian Dynamics. However, the results also appear to agree with a computer simulation of the Universe that assumes that dark matter is 'real stuff'.

Memory helps us evaluate situations on the fly, not just recall the past

Birthdays might have helped to spread COVID

Assessing the Association Between Social Gatherings and COVID-19 Risk Using Birthdays

Birthday celebrations might have boosted the spread of COVID-19. Researchers looked at data from almost three million households in the United States, where public-health mandates did not ban people from meeting up at home. In areas with a lot of cases, households in which someone had a birthday saw a 31% increase in the prevalence of infection in the following two weeks, compared with households that did not have a birthday. If it was a child’s birthday, that went up to 57%. “It is a big endorsement, in retrospect, of the gains among those who skipped all sorts of social gatherings.

Researchers conclude:

“During a pandemic, it is okay to be a party pooper.”( Party Pooper: a person who refuses to join in the fun of a party broadly : one who refuses to go along with everyone else.)

 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2...

Scientific American | 5 min read

Low-cost imaging technique shows how smartphone batteries could charge in minutes

Researchers have developed a simple lab-based technique that allows them to look inside lithium-ion batteries and follow lithium ions moving in real time as the batteries charge and discharge, something which has not been possible until now.

Using the low-cost technique, the researchers identified the speed-limiting processes which, if addressed, could enable the batteries in most smartphones and laptops to charge in as little as five minutes.

Operando optical tracking of single-particle ion dynamics in batteries, Nature (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-03584-2 , www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03584-2

https://techxplore.com/news/2021-06-low-cost-imaging-technique-smar...

How engineered bacteria could clean up oilsands pollution and minin...

Rampant industrialization has caused our planet to warm at an unprecedented rate. Glaciers are melting away and sea levels are rising. Droughts last longer and are more devastating. Forest fires are more intense. Extreme, once-in-a-generation weather events—such as Category 5 hurricanes—seem to be occurring on an annual basis.

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Cosmic dawn occurred 250 to 350 million years after Big Bang

Cosmic dawn, when stars formed for the first time, occurred 250 million to 350 million years after the beginning of the universe, according to a new study led by researchers at University College London (UCL) and the University of Cambridge.

Almost Unbelievable': Gruesome Encounters Show Spiders Feasting on Snakes

Venomous spiders prey upon snakes many times their size, a new study finds – and often emerge victorious against snakes as venomous as they are.

The study researchers found 319 records of spiders killing and feasting upon snakes, 297 of which were naturally occurring events in the wild. (The remaining 22 were staged in captivity.) About a third of those examples came from scientific observations published in journals, while the rest were found on news or social media sites.

Snacking on snakes was remarkably widespread, with more than 30 spider species engaging in the practice in natural conditions, and another 11 taking the opportunity in captivity, Nyffeler and University of Georgia herpetologist J. Whitfield Gibbons reported this month in the Journal of Arachnology

Widow spiders were the most frequent spiders involved, responsible for about half of the snake deaths.

https://www.sciencealert.com/almost-unbelievable-gruesome-encounter...

Spiders Feast On Deadly Snakes

Stress really does turn hair grey – but it can be reversed

Stress can turn your hair prematurely grey. A study by researchers  has provided the first quantitative evidence that this is in fact the case – and not only that, but hair can go back to its original colour if the stress is removed.

The new data add to a growing body of evidence demonstrating that human ageing is not a linear, fixed biological process but may, at least in part, be halted or even temporarily reversed.

It was found that  some hairs had regained their pigmentation when the stress was lifted. 

Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean that all greying is reversible. Scientists don’t think that reducing stress in a 70-year-old who’s been grey for years will darken their hair or increasing stress in a 10-year-old will be enough to tip their hair over the grey threshold.

https://elifesciences.org/articles/67437

https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/stress-really-does-turn-hair-grey...

Genome study reveals East Asian coronavirus epidemic 20,000 years ago

No lab required: New technology can diagnose infections in minutes

Engineering, biochemistry and medical researchers have combined their skills to create a hand-held rapid test for bacterial infections that can produce accurate, reliable results in less than an hour, eliminating the need to send samples to a lab.

Their proof-of-concept research, published today in the journal Nature Chemistry, specifically describes the test's effectiveness in diagnosing urinary tract infections from real clinical samples. The researchers are adapting the test to detect other forms of bacteria and for the rapid diagnosis of viruses, including COVID-19. They also plan to test its viability for detecting markers of cancer.

The new DNA-based technology uses a handheld device similar to a blood-glucose monitor. A microchip analyzes a droplet of bodily fluid such as blood, urine or saliva, using molecules that can detect the specific protein signature of an infection. The device, about the size of a USB stick, plugs into a smartphone, which displays the result.

Integrating programmable DNAzymes with electrical readout for rapid and culture-free bacterial detection using a handheld platform, Nature Chemistry (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41557-021-00718-x , www.nature.com/articles/s41557-021-00718-x

https://phys.org/news/2021-06-lab-required-technology-infections-mi...

Scientists can predict and design single atom catalysts for important chemical reactions

Researchers have demonstrated that a catalyst can indeed be an agent of change. In a study published today in Science, they used quantum chemical simulations run on supercomputers to predict a new catalyst architecture as well as its interactions with certain chemicals, and demonstrated in practice its ability to produce propylene—currently in short supply—which is critically needed in the manufacture of plastics, fabrics and other chemicals. The improvements have potential for highly efficient, "greener" chemistry with a lower carbon footprint.

 "First-principles design of a single-atom–alloy propane dehydrogenation catalyst" Science (2021). science.sciencemag.org/cgi/doi … 1126/science.abg8389

https://phys.org/news/2021-06-scientists-atom-catalysts-important-c...

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Cosmic Hand Hitting a Wall

The gift of the short-sleep gene

For the last 16 years, the Johnson family has been studied for their tendency to get by happily on very little sleep. “If you paid me a million dollars to sleep eight hours tonight, I couldn’t,” says Brad Johnson. “I'd get five hours and be done… just ready to roll.” Research revealed that many members of the family have a mutation in the gene DEC2, which seems to regulate sleep length in mammals. Short sleepers tend to also be particularly lively when they’re awake, with marathons being a popular hobby among them. “I've run a lot of marathons,” says Brad Johnson. “Reading, studying, correspondence, writing — all those things are great to do early in the morning or late at night.” It’s been “a true gift”.

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Continuous activity of small earthquakes makes mountains grow

From a human perspective, earthquakes are natural disasters—in the past hundred years, they have caused more than 200,000 deaths and enormous economic damage. Mega-earthquakes with a magnitude of nine or higher on the Richter scale are considered a particular threat. Yet the inconceivable energy released in these events doesn't seem to affect the uplift of mountains, according to a new study by geoscientists at the University of Tübingen. The energy of small earthquakes that work steadily in the background appears to play a far greater role in shaping the landscape. In Chile and Japan, Professor Todd Ehlers and Dr. Andrea Madella found parallels between seismic activity and the pattern and rate of mountain uplift. The results have been published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

'Dragon man' fossil may replace Neanderthals as our closest relative

A near-perfectly preserved ancient human fossil known as the Harbin cranium sits in the Geoscience Museum in Hebei GEO University. The largest of known Homo skulls, scientists now say this skull represents a newly discovered human species named Homo longi or "Dragon Man." Their findings, appearing in three papers publishing June 25 in the journal The Innovation, suggest that the Homo longi lineage may be our closest relatives—and has the potential to reshape our understanding of human evolution.

The Harbin fossil is one of the most complete human cranial fossils in the world. This fossil preserved many morphological details that are critical for understanding the evolution of the Homo genus and the origin of Homo sapiens.

The cranium was reportedly discovered in the 1930s in Harbin City of the Heilongjiang province of China. The massive skull could hold a brain comparable in size to modern humans' but had larger, almost square eye sockets, thick brow ridges, a wide mouth, and oversized teeth. "While it shows typical archaic human features, the Harbin cranium presents a mosaic combination of primitive and derived characters setting itself apart from all the other previously-named Homo species leading to its new species designation of Homo longi. 

This reconstruction of the human tree of life also suggests that the common ancestor we share with Neanderthals existed even further back in time. "The divergence time between H. sapiens and the Neanderthals may be even deeper in evolutionary history than generally believed, over one million years. findings gathered from the Harbin cranium have the potential to rewrite major elements of human evolution. Their analysis into the life history of Homo longi suggest they were strong, robust humans whose potential interactions with Homo sapiens may have shaped our history in turn. 

The Innovation, Shao et al.: "Geochemical provenancing and direct dating of the Harbin archaic human cranium" www.cell.com/the-innovation/fu … 2666-6758(21)00056-4 DOI: 10.1016/j.xinn.2021.100131

The Innovation, Ji et al.: "Late Middle Pleistocene Harbin cranium represents a new Homo species" www.cell.com/the-innovation/fu … 2666-6758(21)00057-6 DOI: 10.1016/j.xinn.2021.100132

The Innovation, Ni et al.: "Massive cranium from Harbin in northeastern China establishes a new Middle Pleistocene human lineage" www.cell.com/the-innovation/fu … 2666-6758(21)00055-2 DOI: 10.1016/j.xinn.2021.100130

https://phys.org/news/2021-06-dragon-fossil-neanderthals-closest-re...

Study shows potential dangers of sweeteners

New research has discovered that common artificial sweeteners can cause previously healthy gut bacteria to become diseased and invade the gut wall, potentially leading to serious health issues.

The study, published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences, is the first to show the pathogenic effects of some of the most widely used artificial sweeteners—saccharin, sucralose, and aspartame—on two types of gut bacteria, E. coli (Escherichia coli) and E. faecalis (Enterococcus faecalis).

Previous studies have shown that artificial sweeteners can change the number and type of bacteria in the gut, but this new molecular research, led by academics from Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), has demonstrated that sweeteners can also make the bacteria pathogenic. It found that these pathogenic bacteria can attach themselves to, invade, and kill Caco-2 cells, which are epithelial cells that line the wall of the intestine.

It is known that bacteria such as E. faecalis which cross the intestinal wall can enter the blood stream and congregate in the lymph nodes, liver, and spleen, causing a number of infections including septicaemia.

This new study discovered that at a concentration equivalent to two cans of diet soft drink, all three artificial sweeteners significantly increased the adhesion of both E. coli and E. faecalis to intestinal Caco-2 cells, and differentially increased the formation of biofilms.

Bacteria growing in biofilms are less sensitive to antimicrobial resistance treatment and are more likely to secrete toxins and express virulence factors, which are molecules that can cause disease.

Additionally, all three sweeteners caused the pathogenic gut bacteria to invade Caco-2 cells found in the wall of the intestine, with the exception of saccharin which had no significant effect on E. coli invasion.

Aparna Shil et al, Artificial Sweeteners Negatively Regulate Pathogenic Characteristics of Two Model Gut Bacteria, E. coli and E. faecalis, International Journal of Molecular Sciences (2021). DOI: 10.3390/ijms22105228

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-06-potential-dangers-sweeteners...

SARS-CoV-2 virus can find alternate route to infect cells

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists identified how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, gets inside cells to cause infection. All current COVID-19 vaccines and antibody-based therapeutics were designed to disrupt this route into cells, which requires a receptor called ACE2.

Now researchers have found that a single mutation gives SARS-CoV-2 the ability to enter cells through another route—one that does not require ACE2. The ability to use an alternative entry pathway opens up the possibility of evading COVID-19 antibodies or vaccines, but the researchers did not find evidence of such evasion. However, the discovery does show that the virus can change in unexpected ways and find new ways to cause infection. The study is published June 23 in Cell Reports.

This mutation occurred at one of the spots that changes a lot as the virus circulates in the human population. Most of the time, alternative receptors and attachment factors simply enhance ACE2-dependent entry. But in this case, it was discovered an alternative way to infect a key cell type—a human lung cell—and that the virus acquired this ability via a mutation that  arises in the population. 

Maritza Puray-Chavez et al, Systematic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 infection of an ACE2-negative human airway cell, Cell Reports (2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109364

https://phys.org/news/2021-06-sars-cov-virus-alternate-route-infect...

A sweet solution to plastic pollution

Can you actually boost your immune system? Here's the truth

Take vitamin C supplements when you feel a cold coming on? The problem is, you can't actually "strengthen" your immune system, says Dr. Jen Gunter. Diving into the elegant network of cells, tissues and organs that protect us every day, she introduces two kinds of immunity that specialize in recognizing and fighting off bad bacteria, viruses, fungi and toxins -- and shares what you can do to keep your immune system healthy. Think you know how your body works? Think again! Dr. Jen Gunter is here to shake up everything you thought you knew -- from how much water you need to drink to how often you need to poop and everything in between.

Muon g-2 experiment finds strong evidence for new physics

Muscle's smallest building blocks disappear after stroke

After suffering a stroke, patients often are unable to use the arm on their affected side. Sometimes, they end up holding it close to their body, with the elbow flexed.

In a new study, Northwestern University and Shirley Ryan AbilityLab researchers have discovered that, in an attempt to adapt to this impairment, muscles actually lose sarcomeres—their smallest, most basic building blocks.

Stacked end to end (in series) and side to side (in parallel), sarcomeres make up the length and width of muscle fibers. By imaging biceps muscles with three noninvasive methods, the researchers found that stroke patients had fewer sarcomeres along the length of the muscle fiber, resulting in a shorter overall muscle structure.

The research was published today (June 25) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences.

This finding is consistent with the common patient experience of abnormally tight, stiff muscles that resist stretching, and it suggests that changes in the muscle potentially amplify existing issues caused by stroke, which is a brain injury. The team hopes this discovery can help improve rehabilitation techniques to rebuild sarcomeres, ultimately helping to ease muscle tightening and shortening.

Amy N. Adkins et al, Serial sarcomere number is substantially decreased within the paretic biceps brachii in individuals with chronic hemiparetic stroke, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2008597118

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-06-muscle-smallest-blocks.html?...

Study identifies heart block cause in athletes
An international team of scientists has identified why some endurance athletes experience a heart rhythm disturbance called ‘heart block’.

The study found that long-term exercise in retired racehorses – the best available model of the athlete’s heart - and in mice, triggered molecular changes in a part of the heart known as the atrioventricular (or AV) node.

The work is the latest in a series of studies conducted by the team, showing that endurance exercise directly impacts the electrical wiring system of the heart.

Despite well-recognised cardiovascular benefits, sustained endurance exercise in athletes, footballers and other sportspeople can lead to the development of abnormal heart rhythms - known as cardiac arrhythmias, including heart block.

While benign for many people, heart block - also known as AV block - can be a precursor to more serious heart problems.
The heart’s AV node is part of its electrical conduction system controlled by the autonomic nervous system and electrically connects the atria and ventricles.

It’s well known that athletes are predisposed to heart block which in itself is often benign. But clinical research suggests that this may be ‘a canary in a coalmine’: it can flag up the risk of abnormal heart rhythms which may for example necessitate the implantation of a pacemaker in some individuals.For the first time this research highlights the fundamental adaptations taking place.

The study, published in the leading journal Circulation Research, found that long-term training in both horses and mice caused a reduction in key proteins, known as ion channels, that control AV node conduction.
Training-induced heart block and underlying ion channel changes were reversible when the exercise was stopped or when mice were given a compound known as an anti-microRNA.
It must be stressed that exercise is good for you – and its benefits far outweigh the risks.
Understanding the physiology of the athlete’s heart is incredibly helpful: it could help us develop new interventions for heart block as well as help doctors more effectively monitor heart rhythm disturbances in top-flight professional athletes
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.119.316386
https://researchnews.cc/news/7491/Study-identifies-heart-block-caus...