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...

**

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”.

**

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...

Sneeze Cam Reveals Best Types of Masks

Study explores how the perception of internal bodily signals influences the concept of self

In contrast with other animal species on Earth, over the course of their life, humans can develop a fairly clear idea of who they are as individuals and what sets them apart from others. This abstract concept of self is known to be fragmented and fuzzy in individuals with certain psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder and dissociative identity disorder.

Researchers recently authored a review paper examining experimental evidence suggesting that the birth, maintenance and loss of this abstract concept of self is deeply tied to what is known as interoception. This refers to an individual's sense of his/her internal physiological signals.

A couple of years ago, researchers discovered a new bodily illusion. This 'embreathment' illusion, as they called it, suggests that your concept of yourself (i.e., who you think you are) is partly shaped by feelings that come from your viscera, particularly from the heart and the lungs.

They realized that the concept of self has several dimensions, ranging from mundane and material to social and spiritual. They thus decided to investigate the illusion more in depth and try to better understand what it suggested about people's concept of self.

The inside of me: interoceptive constraints on the concept of self in neuroscience and clinical psychology. Psychological Research(2021). DOI: 10.1007/s00426-021-01477-7.

The "embreathment" illusion highlights the role of breathing in corporeal awareness. Journal of Neurophysiology(2020). DOI: 10.1152/jn.00617.2019.

Gut markers of bodily self-consciousness. bioRxiv. DOI: 10.1101/2021.03.05.434072.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-06-explores-perception-internal...

**

Broken Heart Syndrome Linked to the Brain

A chronically stressed amygdala can prime the heart to overreact to acute stress events, a new study shows.

Takotsubo syndrome, also known as broken heart syndrome, is a rare, reversible condition with symptoms mimicking a mild heart attack. A disease that disproportionately affects women, TTS is triggered by stressful events such as bankruptcy, the death of a loved one, or divorce, and results in a weakening of the heart’s left ventricle such that it becomes temporarily misshapen.

Previous work has shown that TTS patients have elevated activity in their amygdala, a brain region involved in stress response. What has never been clear, however, is whether this activity in the brain happens as a result of the syndrome or whether it began many years before.

Higher amygdala activity was associated with an increased risk for TTS, and among those with the condition, patients with higher ratios had developed TTS roughly two years earlier following the imaging than those with lower ratios. “We can now show that this syndrome happens as a result of chronic stress over years that makes you vulnerable to developing the syndrome more easily and sooner than [less stressed] people.

This study confirms our suspicion that there’s a relationship between amygdala activity and future risk of Takotsubo.

A. Radfar et al., “Stress-associated neurobiological activity associates with the risk for and timing of subsequent Takotsubo syndrome,” Eur Heart J, ehab029, 2021

https://www.the-scientist.com/the-literature/broken-heart-syndrome-...

Researchers discover unique 'spider web' mechanism that traps, kills viruses

Immunologists  have discovered a previously unknown mechanism which acts like a spider web, trapping and killing pathogens such as influenza or SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19.

The researchers have found that neutrophils, the most abundant white blood cells in the human body, explode when they bind to such pathogens coated in antibodies and release DNA outside of the cell, creating a sticky tangle which acts as a trap.

The findings, published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, are significant because little is understood about how antibodies neutralize viruses in the respiratory tract.

The discovery has implications for vaccine design and delivery, including aerosol and nasal spray technologies that could help the body head off infections before they have a chance to take hold.

Researchers caution that while the body's spider-web mechanism has the potential to be hugely beneficial, it can cause harm too, including inflammation and further illness when the web formation is uncontrollable.

Hannah D. Stacey et al, IgA potentiates NETosis in response to viral infection, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2101497118

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-06-unique-spider-web-mechanism-...

Scientists discover new type of quasiparticle

Russian scientists have experimentally proved the existence of a new type of quasiparticle - previously unknown excitations of coupled pairs of photons in qubit chains. This discovery could be a step towards disorder-robust quantum metamaterials. The study was published in Physical Review B.

Superconducting qubits are a leading qubit modality today that is currently being pursued by industry and academia for quantum computing applications. However, the performance of quantum computers is largely affected by decoherence that contributes to a qubits extremely short lifespan and causes computational errors. Another major challenge is low controllability of large qubit arrays.

Metamaterial quantum simulators provide an alternative approach to quantum computing, as they do not require a large amount of control electronics. The idea behind this approach is to create artificial matter out of qubits, the physics of which will obey the same equations as for some real matter. Conversely, you can program the simulator in such a way as to embody matter with properties that have not yet been discovered in nature.

Arrays of superconducting qubits are generally described by the Bose-Hubbard model. An interesting feature of the Bose-Hubbard model is the emergence of bound boson pairs (doublons) caused by the strong quantum nonlinearity. The topological physics of doublons has been extensively explored in a series of recent theoretical works. However, the experimental investigation of topological properties of bound photon pairs is still lacking.

the scientists were able to demonstrate for the first time that a new type of quasiparticles - doublon topological excitations - can arise in qubit chains.

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-06/nuos-sdn062921.php

**

Delhi: New virus, Cytomegalovirus, found in Covid patients

As the world prepares itself against the new and emerging Delta Plus strain of the coronavirus, India has reported a new type of virus in people who have already suffered COVID-19.

Delhi’s Ganga Ram Hospital has reported five cases of Cytomegalovirus (CMV) in Covid patients, the hospital reported in a written statement

COVID-19 Makes Lasting Changes to Blood Cells
Why does long COVID last for so long, leaving long-haulers with symptoms that persist for months after initial infection?

New evidence suggests the enduring imprint of COVID-19 could be due to the virus making significant alterations to people's blood – yielding lasting changes to blood cells that are still evident several months after infection is diagnosed.

While the pathology is not yet fully understood, hyper-inflammatory response and coagulation disorders leading to congestions of microvessels are considered to be key drivers of the still increasing death toll.

The results showed that red blood cells (erythrocytes) in COVID-19 patients varied more in size than those from healthy people, and showed signs of stiffness in their physical structure, exhibiting less deformability, which could affect their ability to deliver oxygen through the body.

"The physical properties of erythrocytes are crucial for microcirculatory flow and as such, these changes could impair circulation and promote hypoxemia.

The effect could persist in COVID-19 patients long after the infection is not active anymore; we found that in recovered patients phenotype alterations were not as prominent, but still present. In contrast, the researchers discovered that a form of white blood cells (leukocytes) called lymphocytes showed decreased stiffness in COVID-19 patients, while other white blood cells, known as monocytes, were significantly larger than in cells from the control group.

Meanwhile, neutrophils – another type of white blood cell – showed numerous changes in COVID-19 patients, seen in higher volume, with greater deformation.

the observed changes could arise due to cytoskeletal alterations of immune cells. Mechanical properties of cells can be directly related to the cytoskeleton, an important supportive structure which also determines cellular function."

https://www.cell.com/biophysj/pdf/S0006-3495(21)00454-9.pdf

https://www.sciencealert.com/covid-19-is-making-lingering-changes-t...

**

Solving a murder case with physics

In 2009, famed music producer Phil Spector was found guilty of the murder of actress Lana Clarkson, who was found dead from a single gunshot to her mouth at close range in Spector's California mansion.

During the trial, the attorney argued that Spector couldn't have been the shooter because his white dinner jacket only had a handful blood droplets on it. If he shot Clarkson, the jacket would be covered with blood.

After watching a film about the trial, UIC Distinguished Professor Alexander Yarin was intrigued by the scientific questions it raised. Yarin and his colleagues from Iowa State University—Assistant Professor James Michael and Associate Professor Daniel Attinger— started researching blood spatter, and their recent papers show how Spector could be the shooter and remain relatively free of blood droplets.

The researchers discovered that the gases released from a gun's muzzle brakes escape in a series of turbulent vortex rings, which causes a phenomenon called "blood back spatter"—the blood that travels back toward the shooter—to reverse direction away from the shooter.

At shortrange shooting, the muzzle gasses interfere with the blood back spatter and deflect droplets. Researchers did simulations  and found that there are scenarios where droplets can be turned around completely and land behind the victim. Experiments confirmed that prediction.

In addition, the researchers noted that a shooter could stand in a certain position or at a specific angle and all backward blood spatter would be turned around, keeping the shooter clean.

Gen Li et al, Blood backspatter interaction with propellant gases, Physics of Fluids (2021). DOI: 10.1063/5.0045214

https://phys.org/news/2021-06-case-physics.html?utm_source=nwletter...

Lowering Blood Pressure in 5 Minutes

Physicists observationally confirm Hawking's black hole theorem for the first time

There are certain rules that even the most extreme objects in the universe must obey. A central law for black holes predicts that the area of their event horizons—the boundary beyond which nothing can ever escape—should never shrink. This law is Hawking's area theorem, named after physicist Stephen Hawking, who derived the theorem in 1971.

Fifty years later, physicists at MIT and elsewhere have now confirmed Hawking's area theorem for the first time, using observations of gravitational waves. Their results appear yesterday (2nd July,2021) in Physical Review Letters.

In the study, the researchers take a closer look at GW150914, the first gravitational wave signal detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), in 2015. The signal was a product of two inspiraling black holes that generated a new black hole, along with a huge amount of energy that rippled across space-time as gravitational waves.

If Hawking's area theorem holds, then the horizon area of the new black hole should not be smaller than the total horizon area of its parent black holes. In the new study, the physicists reanalyzed the signal from GW150914 before and after the cosmic collision and found that indeed, the total event horizon area did not decrease after the merger—a result that they report with 95 percent confidence.

Their findings mark the first direct observational confirmation of Hawking's area theorem, which has been proven mathematically but never observed in nature until now. The team plans to test future gravitational-wave signals to see if they might further confirm Hawking's theorem or be a sign of new, law-bending physics.

Testing the black-hole area law with GW150914, Physical Review Letters (2021). journals.aps.org/prl/accepted/ … 4336d883136eb53c122b

https://phys.org/news/2021-07-physicists-observationally-hawking-bl...

Scientists discover a new class of memory cells in the brain

Scientists have long searched in vain for a class of brain cells that could explain the visceral flash of recognition that we feel when we see a very familiar face, like that of our grandmothers. But the proposed "grandmother neuron"—a single cell at the crossroads of sensory perception and memory, capable of prioritizing an important face over the rabble—remained elusive.

Now, new research reveals a class of neurons in the brain's temporal pole region that links face perception to long-term memory. It's not quite the apocryphal grandmother neuron—rather than a single cell, it's a population of cells that collectively remembers grandma's face. The findings, published in Science, are the first to explain how our brains inculcate the faces of those we hold dear.

"A fast link between face perception and memory in the temporal pole" Science (2021). science.sciencemag.org/lookup/ … 1126/science.abi6671

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-07-scientists-class-memory-cell...

Russia races Tom Cruise and Musk for first movie in space

Six decades after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit Earth, earning Moscow a key win in the Cold War, Russia is again in a space race with Washington.

This time though the stakes are somewhat glitzier.

On October 5, one of Russia's most celebrated actresses, 36-year-old Yulia Peresild is blasting off to the International Space Station (ISS) with film director Klim Shipenko, 38.

Their mission? Shoot the first film in orbit before the Americans do.

If their plan falls into place, the Russians are expected to beat Mission Impossible star Tom Cruise and Hollywood director Doug Liman, who were first to announce their project together with NASA and Space X, the company of billionaire Elon Musk.

Its plot, which has been kept under wraps by the crew and Russia's space agency, has been revealed by Russian media outlets to feature a doctor dispatched urgently to the ISS to save a cosmonaut.

In preparation for this 21st-century space race, Peresild has since late May been undergoing intensive training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Star City outside Moscow.

https://phys.org/news/2021-07-russia-tom-cruise-musk-movie.html?utm...

Scientists identify long-sought marker for COVID vaccine success

Groundbreaking methane synthesis discovery

An interdisciplinary team of scientists recently published research casting new light on a previously unknown element of the carbon cycle, thanks to data collected from Yellowstone National Park over more than a decade.

The study is the subject of a new paper published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science titled "Aerobic Bacterial Methane Synthesis."

They began studying the microbiology of Yellowstone Lake in 2007. While collecting data to analyze the lake's chemistry and the interaction of various microbes in the lake with the park's underlying thermal features, they noticed something seemed off. They came across some lake water gas chemistries that didn't make  sense.

That discrepancy illustrated what has been termed the "methane paradox." For years, scientists have understood that when microorganisms produce methane, they do it anaerobically, meaning they don't use oxygen. But in the surface waters of the lake where the team was seeing methane, none of those organisms were found.

Methane is a naturally occurring gas made up of carbon and hydrogen atoms. It is the byproduct of a number of biological processes, though human activities like mining coal and refining natural gas also produce methane. It is a greenhouse gas known to be much more potent when trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, which is why many researchers are interested in identifying where in the biosphere it is created and where it goes.

When they did the DNA extraction from the lake water, they couldn't find the anaerobic organisms that are usually responsible for the presence of methane. Instead, they discovered aerobic bacteria were involved, isolating a bacterium called Acidovorax, which then allowed them to begin understanding this process.

Thye used analytical equipment to identify the presence of methylamine and glycine betaine in the lake water, biochemicals the team hypothesized to be key in the process of methane production. To test the theory, they narrowed down which gene the Acidovorax bacteria needed to convert methylamine or glycine betaine into methane.

They could break this down to a basic discovery about methylamine conversion to methane under aerobic conditions

Through a series of microbial experiments and extensive analysis of the wider biological community present in the lake samples, scientists identified a known gene that encodes aspartate aminotransferase, or AAT, that seemed to be catalyzing the methane synthesis.

This is a fundamentally different process from anaerobic methane synthesis

Qian Wang et al, Aerobic bacterial methane synthesis, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2021). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2019229118

https://phys.org/news/2021-07-team-publishes-groundbreaking-methane...

Microbes in cow stomachs can break down plastic

Plastic is notoriously hard to break down, but researchers  have found that bacteria from a cow's rumen—one of the four compartments of its stomach—can digest certain types of the ubiquitous material, representing a sustainable way to reduce plastic litter.

The scientists suspected such bacteria might be useful since cow diets already contain natural plant polyesters.

Thye  looked at three kinds of polyesters. One, polyethylene terephthalate, commonly known as PET, is a synthetic polymer commonly used in textiles and packaging. The other two consisted of a biodegradable plastic often used in compostable plastic bags (polybutylene adipate terephthalate, PBAT), and a biobased material (Polyethylene furanoate, PEF) made from renewable resources.

They obtained rumen liquid from a slaughterhouse in Austria to get the microorganisms they were testing. They then incubated that liquid with the three types of plastics they were testing (which were tested in both powder and film form) in order to understand how effectively the plastic would break down.

According to their results, which were recently published in Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, all three plastics could be broken down by the microorganisms from cow stomachs, with the plastic powders breaking down quicker than plastic film. 

Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2021.684459a , www.frontiersin.org/articles/1 … ioe.2021.684459/full

https://phys.org/news/2021-07-microbes-cow-stomachs-plastic.html?ut...

Proving The Impossible

Antimicrobial Resistance, HAIs and the Environment!

New species of ‘fairy lantern’ from Malaysian rainforests

The shape of nanoparticles in body fluids may reveal the type of ca...

A recent study by scientists from Japanese universities has shown that the shape of cell-derived nanoparticles, known as "extracellular vesicles" (EVs), in body fluids could be a biomarker for identifying types of cancer. In the study, the scientists successfully measured the shape distributions of EVs derived from liver, breast, and colorectal cancer cells, showing that the shape distributions differ from one another. The findings were recently published in the journal Analytical Chemistry.

Certain fish skin can be grafted onto burns and diabetic wounds. The material recruits the body's own cells and is converted eventually into living tissue.

Climate changed the size of our bodies 

An interdisciplinary team of researchers has gathered measurements of body and brain size for over 300 fossils from the genus Homo found across the globe. By combining this data with a reconstruction of the world's regional climates over the last million years, they have pinpointed the specific climate experienced by each fossil when it was a living human.

The study reveals that the average body size of humans has fluctuated significantly over the last million years, with larger bodies evolving in colder regions. Larger size is thought to act as a buffer against colder temperatures: less heat is lost from a body when its mass is large relative to its surface area.

Nature Communications (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24290-7

---

Our species, Homo sapiens, emerged around 300,000 years ago in Africa. The genus Homo has existed for much longer, and includes the Neanderthals and other extinct, related species such as Homo habilis and Homo erectus.

https://phys.org/news/2021-07-climate-size-bodies-extent-brains.htm...

Stem cells can use same method as plants and insects to protect against viruses

Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute have found a vital mechanism, previously thought to have disappeared as mammals evolved, that helps protect mammalian stem cells from RNA viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 and Zika virus. The scientists suggest this could one day be exploited in the development of new antiviral treatments.

On infecting a host, a virus enters cells in order to replicate. For most cells in mammals the first line of protection are proteins, called interferons. Stem cells, however, lack the ability to trigger an interferon response and there has been uncertainty about how they protect themselves.

In their study, published in Science today the scientists analyzed genetic material from mouse stem cells and found it contains instructions to build a protein, named antiviral Dicer (aviD), which cuts up viral RNA and so prevents RNA viruses from replicating. This form of protection is called RNA interference, which is the method also used by cells in plants and invertebrates.

In laboratory experiments which exposed engineered human cells to SARS-CoV-2, the virus infected three times fewer stem cells when aviD was present in the cells compared to when the researchers removed this protein.

An isoform of Dicer protects mammalian stem cells against multiple RNA viruses" Science (2021). science.sciencemag.org/lookup/ … 1126/science.abg2264

--

It's fascinating to learn how stem cells protect themselves against RNA viruses. The fact this protection is also what plants and invertebrates use suggests it might be something that goes far back in mammalian history, right up to when the evolutionary tree spilt. For some reason, while all mammalian cells possess the innate ability to trigger this process, it seems to only be relied upon by stem cells.

By learning more about this process, and uncovering the secrets of our immune system we are hoping to open up new possibilities for drug development as we strive to harness our body's natural ability to fight infection

The scientists also grew mini brain organoids from mouse embryonic stem cells and found that, when infected with Zika virus, the organoids with aviD grew more quickly and less viral material was produced than in organoids without this protein. Similarly, when organoids were infected with SARS-CoV-2, there were fewer infected stem cells in the organoids with aviD.

https://phys.org/news/2021-07-stem-cells-method-insects-viruses.htm...

More cell phone data use is negatively affecting Wi-Fi performance, study finds

If service becomes slow when you're trying to send a quick email on your smartphone, you might scroll through your network options and discover how many Wi-Fi networks there are. In fact, this plethora of options is itself the problem. These networks are in competition with one another, limiting the speed at which each can operate.

Hidden-nodes in coexisting LAA & Wi-Fi: a measurement study of real deployments. arxiv.org/abs/2103.15591

Biological fireworks show 300 million years in the making

Five years ago, researchers  discovered that human eggs, when fertilized by sperm, release billions of zinc ions, dubbed "zinc sparks."

They now found out that these same sparks fly from highly specialized metal-loaded compartments at the egg surface when frog eggs are fertilized. This means that the early chemistry of conception has evolutionary roots going back at least 300 million years, to the last common ancestor between frogs and people.

And the research has implications beyond this shared biology and deep-rooted history. It could also help shape future findings about how metals impact the earliest moments in human development. This work may help inform our understanding of the interplay of dietary zinc status and human fertility.

They also discovered that fertilized frog eggs eject another metal, manganese, in addition to zinc. It appears these ejected manganese ions collide with sperm surrounding the fertilized egg and prevent them from entering.

These breakthroughs support an emerging picture that transition metals are used by cells to regulate some of the earliest decisions in the life of an organism.

John F. Seeler et al, Metal ion fluxes controlling amphibian fertilization, Nature Chemistry (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41557-021-00705-2

https://phys.org/news/2021-07-biological-fireworks-million-years.ht...

Scientists reveal how cauliflowers develop their unique shape

 Have you ever wondered how a cauliflower grows into its strange shape? - The mystery of how this peculiar shaped vegetable forms has now been solved by a team of mathematicians and plant scientists.

Now a new study revealed that cauliflowers, and Romanescos in particular, are in fact buds that are designed to become flowers but which never reach their goal. The findings have been published in Science.

The research combines mathematical modelling and plant biology to show that instead of reaching flowering stage cauliflowers develop into stems, which in turn continue trying to produce flowers. The cauliflower is born from this chain reaction, resulting in a succession of stems upon stems.

This study shows that the brief incursion of buds into a flowering state profoundly affects their functioning and allows them, unlike normal stems, to grow without leaves and to multiply almost infinitely. The atypical shape of the Romanesco is explained by the fact that its stems produce buds more and more rapidly (whereas the production rate is constant in other cauliflowers). This acceleration gives each floret a pyramidal appearance, making the fractal aspect of the structure clear. The study highlights how the selection of mutations in plants during the process of domestication has changed their shape, sometimes drastically, into the fruits and vegetables on our shelves.

https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/news/scientists-reveal-how-cauliflower...

Although most plants present a geometric organisation in spirals along main and secondary axes (called "phyllotaxis"), cauliflowers present an unusual phyllotaxis with a multitude of spirals, nested over a wide range of scales. How such a fractal self-similar organization emerges from developmental mechanisms has, until now, remained elusive.

Combining experimental analyses in Arabidopsis thaliana cauliflower-like mutant with mathematical modelling, researchers found that curd self-similarity arises because growing plant tissues fail to form flowers but keep the “memory” of their transient passage in a floral state. Understanding this genetic mutation could help plant scientists optimise growth of related plants.

https://researchnews.cc/news/7684/Scientists-reveal-how-cauliflower...

Scientists Have Created a New Bendy And Flexible Form of Ice

Water ice isn't exactly known for its flexibility. In fact, it's quite the opposite: rigid and brittle, easily fracturing and snapping. It's why avalanches and sea ice fragmentation occur.

It's also why new research is so fascinating. Scientists have just grown microfibers of water ice that can bend in a loop – breaking the previous maximum strain by a significant percentage and opening up new opportunities for the exploration of ice physics.

Ice doesn't always behave the way we expect, and its elasticity – or rather, lack thereof – is a perfect example. Theoretically, it should have a maximum elastic strain of around 15 percent. In the real world, the maximum elastic strain ever measured was less than 0.3 percent. The reason for this discrepancy is that ice crystals have structural imperfections that drive up their brittleness.

So a team of researchers led by nanoscientist Peizhen Xu of Zhejiang University in China sought to create ice with as few structural imperfections as possible.

The experiment consisted of a tungsten needle in an ultracold chamber, sitting at around minus 50 degrees Celsius, much colder than has been previously attempted. Water vapor was released into the chamber, and an electric field was applied. This attracted water molecules to the tip of the needle, where they crystallized, forming a microfiber with a maximum width of around 10 micrometers,  smaller than the width of a human hair.

The next step was to lower the temperature to between minus 70 and minus150 degrees Celsius. Under these low temperatures, the researchers tried bending the ice fibers.

At minus 150 degrees Celsius, they found that a microfiber 4.4 micrometers across was able to bend into a nearly circular shape, with a radius of 20 micrometers. This suggests a maximum elastic strain of 10.9 percent – much closer to the theoretical limit than previous attempts.

Even better, when the researchers released the ice, it sprang back into its previous shape.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/373/6551/187

https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-created-a-new-bendy-an...

Sulfhemoglobinemia

Heritable Epigenetics: The right combination of parents can turn a gene off indefinitely

Evidence suggests that what happens in one generation—diet, toxin exposure, trauma, fear—can have lasting effects on future generations. Scientists think these effects result from epigenetic changes that occur in response to the environment and turn genes on or off without altering the genome or DNA sequence.

But how these changes are passed down through generations has not been understood, in part, because scientists have not had a simple way to study the phenomenon. A new study by researchers at the University of Maryland provides a potential tool for unraveling the mystery of how experiences can cause inheritable changes to an animal's biology. By mating nematode worms, they produced permanent epigenetic changes that lasted for more than 300 generations. The research was published on July 9, 2021, in the journal Nature Communications.

With their new findings, the researchers now think  some genes could be more vulnerable to permanent epigenetic change while other genes recover within a few generations. Although studies in worms are not the same as in humans, the research provides a window into biological processes that are likely shared, at least in part, by all animals.

"Mating can initiate stable RNA silencing that overcomes epigenetic recovery," Nature Communications (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24053-4

--

The research team found while breeding nematode worms that some matings led to epigenetic changes in offspring that continued to be passed down through as many generations as the scientists continued to breed them. This discovery will enable scientists to explore how epigenetic changes are passed to future generations and what characteristics make genes susceptible to permanent epigenetic changes.

They found that there are these RNA-based signals controlling gene expression. Some of these signals silence the gene and some of them are protective signals that prevent silencing. These signals are duking it out as the offspring develop. When the gene comes from the mother, the protective signal always wins, but when the gene comes from the father, the silencing signal almost always wins.

When the silencing signal wins, the gene is silenced for good, or for at least 300 generations, which is how long these researchers followed their laboratory-bred worms. Previous examples of epigenetic changes were more complex or they did not last more than a couple of generations. The researchers don't yet know why the silencing signal only wins some of the time, but this new finding puts them in a much better position to explore the details of epigenetic inheritance than ever before.

While they've found a set of genes that can be silenced almost permanently, most other genes are not affected the same way.

https://phys.org/news/2021-07-combination-parents-gene-indefinitely...

Resistance to last-resort antibiotic may be passing between pet dogs and their owners

The dangerous mcr-1 gene, which provides resistance to the last-resort antibiotic colistin, has been found in four healthy humans and two pet dogs. In two cases, both dog and owner were harbouring the gene, according to new research being presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) held online this year.

Since first being reported in China in 2015, the mcr-1 gene has been found in various people and animals around the world. It confers resistance to colistin, an antibiotic of last resort used to treat infections from some bacteria resistant to all other antibiotics. The nightmare scenario that could emerge is mcr-1 combining with already drug-resistant bacteria to create a truly untreatable infection.

The study showed that eight dogs out of the 102 pets (7.8%) and four humans out of 126 (3.2%) harboured bacteria with the mcr-1 gene. Three of the dogs were healthy, four had SSTIs and one had a UTI. None of the cats were carrying the gene.

Further analysis showed that the bacteria isolated from all 12 samples that were mcr-1 positive were resistant to multiple antibiotics.

In two households with dogs with SSTIs, the mcr-1 gene was found in both dog and owner. Genetic analysis of the samples suggested that in one of these two cases, the gene had been transmitted between pet and owner.While transmission in both directions is possible, it is thought that in this case the gene passed from dog to human, say the researchers.

The owners did not have infections and so did not need treatment. The sick dogs were successfully treated.

The researchers say their results show that the mcr-1 gene can be transmitted between dogs and their owners. This raises concerns that pets can act as reservoirs of the gene and so aid the spread of resistance to precious last-line antibiotics.

The study was presented at the ongoing European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) taking place online between July 9 and 12.

Source: EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-07-resistance-last-resort-antib...

90-year-old woman infected with UK and South African COVID-19 variants at the same time

Researchers in Belgium report on the case of a 90-year-old woman who was simultaneously infected with two different variants of concern (VOCs) of COVID-19, in a Case Report being presented at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) held online this year.

On March 3 2021, the woman, whose medical history was unremarkable, was admitted to the OLV Hospital in the Belgian city of Aalst after a spate of falls. She tested positive for COVID-19 on the same day. She lived alone and received nursing care at home, and had not been vaccinated against COVID-19.

Initially, there were no signs of respiratory distress and the patient had good oxygen saturation. However, she developed rapidly worsening respiratory symptoms, and died five days later.

When the patient's respiratory sample was tested for VOCs with PCR, they discovered that she had been infected by two different strains of the virus—one which originated in the UK, known as B.1.1.7 (Alpha), and another that was first detected in South Africa (B.1.351; Beta).

The presence of both strains was confirmed by PCR on a second respiratory sample, by sequencing of the S-gene and by whole genome sequencing.

"This is one of the first documented cases of co-infection with two SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern.

Both these variants were circulating in Belgium at the time, so it is likely that the lady was co-infected with different viruses from two different people. 

In January 2021, scientists in Brazil reported that two people had been simultaneously infected with two different strains of the coronavirus—the Brazilian variant known as B.1.1.28 (E484K) and a novel variant VUI-NP13L, which had previously been discovered in Rio Grande do Sul. But the study has yet to be published in a scientific journal [1]. Previous research has reported people infected with different influenza strains [2].

Whether the co-infection of the two variants of concern played a role in the fast deterioration of the patient is difficult to say.

 [1] Pervasive transmission of E484K and emergence of VUI-NP13L with evidence of SARS-CoV-2 co-infection events by two different lineages in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil | medRxiv www.medrxiv.org/content/10.110 … 021.01.21.21249764v1

[2] Natural co-infection of influenza A/H3N2 and A/H1N1pdm09 viruses resulting in a reassortant A/H3N2 virus - ScienceDirect www.sciencedirect.com/science/ … ii/S1386653215007404

ECCMID ABSTRACT 04978: Case report: a 90-year-old lady infected with two CoVID-19 VoCs: 20I/501Y.V1 and 20H/501Y.V2

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-07-year-old-woman-infected-uk-s...