How the 'treadmill conveyor belt' ensures proper cell division

Researchers at the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG) have discovered how proteins work in tandem to regulate "treadmilling," a mechanism used by the network of microtubules inside cells to ensure proper cell division. The findings are published in the Journal of Cell Biology.

Microtubules are long tubes made of proteins that serve as infrastructure to connect different regions inside of a cell. Microtubules are also critical for cell division, where they are key components of the spindle, the structure which attaches itself to chromosomes and pulls them apart into each new cell.

For the spindle to function properly, cells rely on microtubules to "treadmill." This involves one end of the microtubule (known as the minus end) to lose components while the other (the plus end) adds components. The effect is like that of a treadmill conveyor belt, where the microtubules appear to be moving continuously without changing their overall length.

Treadmilling is crucial for cell division. The most likely theory is that treadmilling helps the cell regulate its attachments to chromosomes by maintaining tension. Because microtubules are often growing from their plus ends, this tension can be provided by constant shrinking from the minus end.

The authors of the study used various isolated proteins known to play a central role in microtubule biology, putting them together in a test tube and visualizing them using a microscope.

Three proteins were found to be critical for regulating treadmilling: KIF2A, a protein belonging to a larger family of proteins that dismantles microtubules, the γ-tubulin ring complex (γ-TuRC), a scaffold for microtubules to grow from, and spastin, an enzyme that acts like a scissor cutting microtubules.

The researchers found that the correct control of treadmilling requires the coordinated action of all three proteins. 

Gil Henkin et al, The minus end depolymerase KIF2A drives flux-like treadmilling of γTuRC-uncapped microtubules, Journal of Cell Biology (2023). DOI: 10.1083/jcb.202304020

Science and non-English-speaking scientists

Most journals offer minimal support for scientists who don't speak fluent English. An analysis of 736 biological-science journals found that only 2 stated that manuscripts would not be rejected solely on the .... A survey of the editors-in-chief of 262 of these journals found that only 6% instructed reviewers not to base their assessments solely on language proficiency. Less than 10% of journals offered author guidelines in at least one language other than English or allowed authors to publish articles in other languages.

Abstract

Nature 
Reference: EcoEvoRxiv preprint (not peer reviewed)

https://ecoevorxiv.org/repository/view/5475/

Paper drinking straws may be harmful and may not be better for the environment than plastic versions, researchers warn

"Eco-friendly" paper drinking straws contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals, a new study has concluded.

Researchers tested 39 brands of straws for the group of synthetic chemicals known as poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

PFAS were found in the majority of the straws tested and were most common in those made from paper and bamboo, found the study, published in Food Additives & Contaminants.

PFAS are used to make everyday products, from outdoor clothing to non-stick pans, resistant to water, heat and stains. However, they are potentially harmful to people, wildlife and the environment. They break down very slowly over time and can persist over thousands of years in the environment, a property that has led to them being known as "forever chemicals."

They have been associated with a number of health problems, including lower response to vaccines, lower birth weight, thyroid disease, increased cholesterol levels, liver damage, kidney cancer and testicular cancer.

Straws made from plant-based materials, such as paper and bamboo, are often advertised as being more sustainable and eco-friendly than those made from plastic. However, the presence of PFAS in these straws means that's not necessarily true.

The most commonly found PFAS, perfluorooctanoic acid  (PFOA), has been banned globally since 2020.

Also detected were trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) and trifluoromethanesulfonic acid (TFMS), "ultra-short chain" PFAS which are highly water soluble and so might leach out of straws into drinks.

The PFAS concentrations were low, and bearing in mind that most people tend to only use straws occasionally, pose a limited risk to human health. However, PFAS can remain in the body for many years and concentrations can build up over time. Small amounts of PFAS, while not harmful in themselves, can add to the chemical load already present in the body.

The presence of the chemicals in almost every brand of paper straw means it is likely that it was, in some cases, being used as a water-repellent coating, say the researchers.

The presence of PFAS in paper and bamboo straws shows they are not necessarily biodegradable. As they did not detect any PFAS in stainless steel straws, the researchers are advising consumers to use this type of straw—or just avoid using straws at all.

Assessment of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in commercially available drinking straws using targeted and suspect screening approaches, Food Additives & Contaminants (2023). DOI: 10.1080/19440049.2023.2240908. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/1 … 9440049.2023.2240908

Burning Forever Chemicals With Water

Forever Chemicals, also known as PFAS, are extremely useful industrial chemicals, but they can also leak into the environment, your drinking water, and your blood. And they last (practically) forever. But now chemists have a new way to destroy them: burning them with water.

Penguin Breeding Colonies Catastrophically Failing as Ice Vanishes in Antarctica

For most of the year, there is a "skirt" of stable sea ice around Antarctica, attached to the land. This fast ice, as it is known, forms in April, during the Southern Hemisphere's autumn, and persists until January, or high summer. Emperor penguins make their breeding ground on this fast ice, laying their eggs in May and June. The incubation period for emperor penguins is around 65 days, but the chicks are pretty helpless until they fledge – that is, they grow out of their baby fluff into suitable plumage for swimming and diving in the gelid Antarctic waters. This usually happens between December and January. The breeding season of 2022 started off normally; the penguins laid their eggs in the autumn, and incubated and hatched them into the winter. Come spring, disaster struck. The fast ice retreated and broke up early. By the beginning of summer, the extent of the Antarctic sea ice was consistent with the all-time low recorded the previous year, in summer 2021. The region most impacted was the Bellingshausen Sea, towards the west of the Antarctic peninsula, where some regions saw a 100 percent loss in sea ice extent. Every year, emperor penguins return to the same five sites in the Bellingshausen Sea to lay their eggs and raise their chicks. These five colonies range in size from an average of around 650 breeding pairs to 3,500 breeding pairs. By December 2022, four of those five sites disappeared as the ice on which they relied melted into the waves. At only one site, Rothschild Island, with 650 breeding pairs, did chicks manage to fledge successfully. Researchers found no sign of the rest of the babies. Emperor penguin colonies can be found around the entire perimeter of the Antarctic continent, but the breeding failure of these select few in the Bellingshausen Sea represent the first of what is likely to be many.

An early sign of extinction? Maybe!

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-023-00927-x

Scientists Design a Colourful New Paint That Could Cut Your Electricity Bill!

Scientists  have designed a new paint that could help reduce our growing reliance on air conditioners and heaters. It comes in an array of colors, and if used properly, it could seriously slash electricity bills and emissions.

The paint is capable of reflecting up to 80 percent of mid-infrared light from the Sun, which is 10 times more reflection than conventional colored paints.

Acne-Causing Bacteria May Actually Be Vital For Healthy Skin:Experts

The skin is the largest organ of the body, and it plays a crucial role as the first line of defense against pathogens and insults from the external environment. It provides important functions like temperature regulation and moisture retention. And despite the misconception that lipids harm your skin by causing oiliness and acne, they actually play a vital role in maintaining the skin barrier.

Lipids – organic compounds that include fats, oils, waxes and other types of molecules – are essential components of the outermost layer of skin. Changes to the skin's lipid composition can disrupt its ability to function as a protective barrier, leading to a range of skin diseases, including eczema and psoriasis. Human skin is colonized by thousands of species of bacteria. One of the most common microbes on the skin, Cutibacterium acnes, or C. acnes, is well known for its potential involvement in causing acne, but its broader effects on skin health are less understood.

Recently researchers found that C. acnes triggers certain skin cells to significantly increase production of lipids that are important to maintaining the skin barrier.

They found that  found that C. acnes induced this increase in lipid production by producing a type of short-chain fatty acid called propionic acid. Propionic acid creates an acidic skin environment that provides a number of benefits, including limiting pathogen growth, reducing staph infections and contributing to anti-inflammatory effects in the gut.

They also identified the specific gene and receptor  that regulate lipid synthesis through C. acnes. Blocking these components also blocked C. acnes-induced lipid synthesis.

New ancient ape from Türkiye challenges the story of human origins

A new fossil ape from an 8.7-million-year-old site in Türkiye is challenging long-accepted ideas of human origins and adding weight to the theory that the ancestors of African apes and humans evolved in Europe before migrating to Africa between nine and seven million years ago.

Analysis of a newly identified ape named Anadoluvius turkae recovered from the Çorakyerler fossil locality near Çankırı with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Türkiye, shows Mediterranean fossil apes are diverse and are part of the first known radiation of early hominines—the group that includes African apes (chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas), humans and their fossil ancestors.

The findings are described in a study published today in Communications Biology authored by an international team of researchers.

These findings further suggest that hominines not only evolved in western and central Europe but spent over five million years evolving there and spreading to the eastern Mediterranean before eventually dispersing into Africa, probably as a consequence of changing environments and diminishing forests.

The members of this radiation to which Anadoluvius belongs are currently only identified in Europe and Anatolia. The conclusion is based on analysis of a significantly well-preserved partial cranium uncovered at the site in 2015, which includes most of the facial structure and the front part of the brain case.

Ayla Sevim-Erol et al, A new ape from Türkiye and the radiation of late Miocene hominines, Communications Biology (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-05210-5

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The first observation of neutrinos at CERN's Large Hadron Collider

Neutrinos are tiny and neutrally charged particles accounted for by the Standard Model of particle physics. While they are estimated to be some of the most abundant particles in the universe, observing them has so far proved to be highly challenging, as the probability that they will interact with other matter is low.

To detect these particles, physicists have been using detectors and advanced equipment to examine known sources of neutrinos. Their efforts ultimately led to the observation of neutrinos originating from the sun, cosmic rays, supernovae and other cosmic objects, as well as particle accelerators and nuclear reactors. A long-standing goal in this field of study was to observe neutrinos inside colliders, particle accelerators in which two beams of particles collide with each other. Two large research collaborations, namely FASER (Forward Search Experiment) and SND (Scattering and Neutrino Detector)@LHC, have observed these collider neutrinos for the very first time, using detectors located at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Switzerland. The results of their two studies were recently published in Physical Review Letters.

The FASER and SND@LHC collaboration are two distinct research efforts, both utilizing the LHC at CERN. Recently, these two efforts independently observed the first collider neutrinos, which could open important new avenues for experimental particle physics research.

The FASER collaboration is a large research effort established with the goal of observing light and weakly interacting particles. FASER was the first research group to observe neutrinos at the LHC, using the FASER detector, which is positioned over 400m away from the renowned ATLAS experiment, in a separate tunnel. FASER (and SND@LHC) observe neutrinos produced in the same "interaction region" inside the LHC as ATLAS.

Henso Abreu et al, First Direct Observation of Collider Neutrinos with FASER at the LHC, Physical Review Letters (2023). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.031801

R. Albanese et al, Observation of Collider Muon Neutrinos with the SND@LHC Experiment, Physical Review Letters (2023). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.031802

Researchers find key for transforming cancer cells to muscle in rhabdomyosarcoma

For six years,  some researchers  have been on a mission to transform sarcoma cells into regularly functioning tissue cells. Sarcomas are cancers that form in connective tissues such as muscle. Treatment often involves chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation—procedures that are especially tough on kids. If doctors could transform cancer cells into healthy cells, it would offer patients a whole new treatment option—one that could spare them and their families a great deal of pain and suffering.

A devastating and aggressive type of pediatric cancer, rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) resembles children's muscle cells. No one knew whether this proposed treatment method, called differentiation therapy, might ever work in RMS. It could still be decades out. But now, thanks to some scientists, it seems like a real possibility.

To carry out their mission, these researchers created a new genetic screening technique. Using genome-editing technology, they hunted down genes that, when disrupted, would force RMS cells to become muscle cells. That's when a protein called NF-Y emerged. With NF-Y impaired, the scientists witnessed an astonishing transformation.

The cells literally turn into muscle. The tumor loses all cancer attributes. They're switching from a cell that just wants to make more of itself to cells devoted to contraction. Because all its energy and resources are now devoted to contraction, it can't go back to this multiplying state. The research is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

This newfound relationship between NF-Y and RMS may set off the chain reaction needed to bring differentiation therapy to patients. And the mission doesn't stop at RMS. The technology could be applicable to other cancer types. If so, scientists may someday work out how to turn other tumors into healthy cells.

 Sroka, Martyna W. et al, Myo-differentiation reporter screen reveals NF-Y as an activator of PAX3–FOXO1 in rhabdomyosarcoma, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2303859120. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2303859120

How much heat can a human body bear?
There is a fundamental limit to the body's coping ability: it is a fixed goalpost.

Research in 2010 demonstrated that a 'wet-bulb' temperature of 35° Celsius or higher would make it impossible for humans to exhaust metabolic heat, due to our fixed core body temperature.

It proposed this was an effective survivability limit.

The wet-bulb temperature measures the ability to cool by evaporation; it equals normal temperature if relative humidity is 100 percent, and otherwise is lower. 35C is extreme—most places on Earth never experience wet bulbs above 30°C.

But enough global warming could push heat waves in many areas past 35° C. This upended the widely held assumption at the time that humans could adapt to any amount of increased heat, i.e., that the goalposts would move. This goalpost will not.

Wet-bulb temperature is used by meteorologists and climatologists to quantify heat stress. It is a combination of heat and humidity: a high wet bulb can occur in humid places at lower temperatures, as well as in dry places at extremely high temperatures.

New studies are beginning to chart out the road to 35° C.

One study in the US last year found that young, healthy subjects exposed to very hot conditions started to enter hyperthermia (inability to regulate core body temperature) well below 35°C wet bulb, closer to 32° C or less.

This is an important reminder that 35° C was a theoretical upper limit, not a practical one.

On the other hand they would undoubtedly have found a higher tolerance had they done the study in India or Brazil, because physiology does adjust to heat over time (up to a point).

The heat will force us to change how we live, for example shifting outdoor summertime activities to nighttime or just eliminating them.

It remains challenging to measure or predict extreme heat's overall cost to the community in terms of health, work and quality of life.

To do this, climate and health researchers need to develop models that factor in human behavior and adaptation along with physiology, weather, and climate information. We also need to understand what will happen to nature, and seek ways to protect wildlife.

Above all we need to reach net zero carbon emissions as soon as we possibly can to arrest the continuing rise in heat.

India's moon rover confirms sulfur and detects several other elements near the lunar south pole

India's moon rover confirmed the presence of sulfur and detected several other elements near the lunar south pole as it searches for signs of frozen water nearly a week after its historic moon landing, India's space agency said recently. 

The rover's laser-induced spectroscope instrument also detected aluminum, iron, calcium, chromium, titanium, manganese, oxygen and silicon on the lunar surface, the Indian Space Research Organization, or ISRO, said in a post on its website.

The lunar rover had come down a ramp from the lander of India's spacecraft after last Wednesday's touch down near the moon's south pole. The Chandrayan-3 Rover is expected to conduct experiments over 14 days, the ISRO has said.

The rover "unambiguously confirms the presence of sulfur," ISRO said. It also is searching for signs of frozen water that could help future astronaut missions, as a potential source of drinking water or to make rocket fuel.

The rover also will study the moon's atmosphere and seismic activity.

Source: ISRO

Watch this cosmic spectacle:

The cosmic curtain rises Wednesday night with the second full moon of the month - the reason it's considered blue. It's dubbed a super-moon because it's closer to Earth than usual, appearing especially big and bright.

This will be the closest full moon of the year, just 222,043 miles (357,344 kilometers) or so away. That's more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) closer than the Aug. 1 supermoon.

As a bonus, Saturn will be visible as a bright point 5 degrees to the upper right of the moon at sunset in the east-southeastern sky. The ringed planet will appear to circle clockwise around the moon as the night wears on.

If you missed the month's first spectacle, better catch this one. There won't be another blue super-moon until 2037. The first super-moon of 2023 was in July. The fourth and last will be in September.

Enhancing cancer therapy using functionalized photosynthetic bacteria

Targeting malignant tumors with high precision is challenging for biomedical researchers. However, this scenario is likely to witness a paradigm shift in the near future through the use of specially engineered bacteria that can eliminate malignant cells efficiently.

Using bacteria to target cancer cells, or bacterial therapy, can be further enhanced through genetic engineering and nanotechnology. However, its efficacy may be hindered due to technical constraints and the potential development of antibiotic resistance. Hence, it is crucial to achieve the moderate yet effective chemical modification of bacteria for improved biocompatibility and functionality, such that their medical abilities are not compromised.

Recently, certain types of purple photosynthetic bacteria (PPSB) have come into limelight for their potential to address the challenges of bacterial therapy. Exploring this further, researchers published a study in Nano Today that reports the use of chemically modified PPSB for detecting and eliminating hard-to-eradicate cancerous cells in a mouse model.

Researchers selected Rhodopseudomonas palustris (RP) as the optimal bacterium for conducting the studies. "RP demonstrated excellent properties, such as near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence, photothermal conversion, and low cytotoxicity. It absorbs NIR light and produces free radicals—a property that can be utilized to kill cancer cells.

In an attempt to improve the therapeutic efficacy of the isolated strain, the team sought chemical modifications to alter the bacterial membranes. First, they performed membrane PEGylation, or the attachment of polyethylene glycol derivatives to the bacterial cell walls. Prior research indicates that bacterial PEGylation helps in evading host immune response and converts light energy into heat, which can then be utilized to selectively eliminate cancerous cells.

Initial results were encouraging.

 Sheethal Reghu et al, Cancer immunotheranostics using bioactive nanocoated photosynthetic bacterial complexes, Nano Today (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.nantod.2023.101966

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Sea sponge tissue found to hold bits of DNA from fish living around them

A team of environmental and marine biologists  has found that studying sea sponge tissue can reveal the nature of the fish community living around them. 

Sea sponges live on the ocean floor—once they pick a spot to call home, they anchor themselves to a base and remain fixed in that place for the rest of their existence. They survive by filtering nutrients and oxygen from ocean water as it moves through their porous tissue. They also emit waste.

In this new effort, the researchers  found that the water passing through sea sponge pores also carries DNA from fish that live in the area and that it becomes trapped in the sea sponges' tissues. This DNA provides a record of local biodiversity.

By classifying the fish that shed the DNA via sequencing, researchers were able to create a map of a given underwater ecosystem. They were able to discriminate assemblages by region of the ocean (from Svalbard to Western Greenland, for example) and the depth of the habitat and even the level of protection.

The researchers note that there is generally a high cost associated with conducting ocean biodiversity studies—collecting and studying sea sponges could offer a much cheaper option.

Trapped DNA fragments in marine sponge specimens unveil north Atlantic deep-sea fish diversity, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.0771. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi … .1098/rspb.2023.0771

Newly-engineered versions of bacterial enzyme reveal how antibiotics could be more potent

Modern medicine depends on antibiotics to treat infections by disabling targets inside bacterial cells. Once inside these cells, antibiotics bind to certain sites on specific enzyme targets to stop bacterial growth. Randomly occurring changes (mutations) in the genes for these targets occur naturally, in some cases making the target harder for the antibiotic to attach to, and that bacterial version resistant to treatment.

For this reason, the more antibiotics have been used over time, the greater the chances that bacterial populations will evolve to have mutants resistant to existing antibiotics, and the more urgent the call for new approaches to keep the treatments from becoming obsolete.

Researchers have for decades studied resistant mutants in hopes that related mechanisms would guide the design of new treatments to overcome resistance. The effort has been limited, however, because naturally occurring resistant mutants represent a small fraction of the mutations that could possibly occur (the complete mutational space), with most drug binding-site mutations to date having been overlooked.

To address this challenge, a new study by researchers to generate the full inventory of mutations in the bacterial species Escherichia coli where the antibiotic rifampicin attaches to and disables an essential bacterial enzyme known as RNA polymerase (RNAP).

The study authors created 760 unique RNAP mutants by replacing each of the 38 amino acid building blocks that make up the rifampicin binding site on E. coli with each of the 20 amino acid options present in nature. Growth of this mutant pool was then tested under different conditions, including treatment with rifampicin.

Published online August 30 in the journal Nature, the study found two mutants, L521Y and T525D, that are hyper-sensitive to rifampicin. Not only does the antibiotic prevent these mutants from growing, it nearly obliterates the mutant bacterial populations. This is a remarkable finding, say the authors, because rifampicin normally does not kill E. coli, or many other bacterial pathogens, but only stops their growth.

This work provides a map of antibiotic-bacterial RNAP interactions that will be of value to chemists working to build on the study effects by changing, not bacterial binding site residues, but instead the structure of rifampicin and other antibiotics so that they bind tighter for increased potency.

These techniques could be applied to map the binding sites of other drug types, and especially to those vulnerable to resistance.

Evgeny Nudler, High-resolution landscape of an antibiotic binding site, Nature (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06495-6. www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06495-6

What mummies reveal: The scents ancient Egyptians used

In an innovative endeavor to create a sensory bridge to the ancient past, a team of researchers has recreated one of the scents used in the mummification of an important Egyptian woman more than 3,500 years ago.

The research team found that the balms contained a blend of beeswax, plant oil, fats, bitumen, Pinaceae resins (most likely larch resin), a balsamic substance, and dammar or Pistacia tree resin.

Coined "the scent of the eternity," the ancient aroma will be presented at the Moesgaard Museum in Denmark in an upcoming exhibition, offering visitors a unique sensory experience to encounter firsthand an ambient smell from antiquity—and catch a whiff of the ancient Egyptian process of mummification.

The team's research centered on the mummification substances used to embalm the noble lady Senetnay in the 18th dynasty, circa 1450 BCE. The researchers utilized advanced analytical techniques—including gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, high-temperature gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry—to reconstruct the substances that helped to preserve and scent Senetnay for eternity. Their research has been published in Scientific Reports.

Researchers analyzed balm residues found in two canopic jars from the mummification equipment of Senetnay that were excavated over a century ago by Howard Carter from Tomb KV42 in the Valley of the Kings.

These complex and diverse ingredients, unique to this early time period, offer a novel understanding of the sophisticated mummification practices and Egypt's far-reaching trade-routes.

The ingredients in the balm make it clear that the ancient Egyptians were sourcing materials from beyond their realm from an early date.

Among those imported ingredients were larch tree resin, which likely came from the northern Mediterranean, and possibly dammars, which come exclusively from trees in Southeast Asian tropical forests. If the presence of dammar resin is confirmed, as in balms recently identified from Saqqara dating to the 1st millennium BCE, it would suggest that the ancient Egyptians had access to this Southeast Asian resin via long-distant trade almost a millennium earlier than previously known.

 Barbara Huber, Biomolecular characterization of 3500-year-old ancient Egyptian mummification balms from the Valley of the Kings, Scientific Reports (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-39393-y. www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-39393-y

Scientists devise new way to eliminate cancer cells' evasion of immune system

Tumour cells are notoriously skilled masters of immune disguise and, in many ways, real-life versions of what it's like hiding under the fictional invisibility cloak.

But new research suggests that cancer cells can be forced to lose their invisibility and reveal their presence, factors that can help boost anti-cancer therapeutic activity and guarantee the death of tumor cells.

The new research, conducted by an international collaboration of scientists,  involved an elegant series of experiments in both human and animal cell lines. The research, still in the laboratory phase, is aimed at forcing cancer cells to reveal their antigens, the biomarkers on their surfaces. Once the antigens are revealed, aggressive immune forces can locate and destroy the cancer.

Cancer cells downregulate their antigen presentation molecules to maintain their invisibility—avoiding detection by immune cells. Prior research has focused on how to help immune cells better recognize tumor cells. The new investigation demonstrates that there might be another way to aid the immune system in overcoming cancer cell evasion: targeting the cancer cells themselves.

Decreased antigen presentation contributes to the ability of cancer cells to evade the immune system. So researchers  reprogrammed cancer cells in the lab, a change that transformed the cells into tumour-derived antigen-presenting cells—APCs. Once transformed, the cells were visible to the immune system. They used the minimal gene regulatory network of type 1 conventional dendritic cells to reprogram cancer cells into professional antigen-presenting cells, tumor-APCs.

The study lays the foundation for the development of immunotherapies that would allow reprogramming of cancer cells to antigen-presenting cells in situ.

The team of scientists borrowed a page from Mother Nature to arrive their unique way to peel away the invisibility cloak of tumor cells. In the blood exists a trio of cell types known as antigen presenting cells, or APCs. But this trio is not just any old group of three, they are known in the official biological nomenclature as professional APCs, and they include macrophages, B cells and dendritic cells. Their job as a professional APC (each has other important duties) is to present potentially dangerous antigens to T cells.

The multinational group of scientists demonstrated that cancer cells can be reprogrammed and made to cooperate in the business of making tumour antigens visible to killer T cells. Using transcription factors associated with antigen-presenting conventional type 1 dendritic cells, the team created tumor antigen-presenting cells in both mouse and human cancer cell lines. Once reprogrammed by way of transcription factors, these transformed cells were able to induce effective killer T cell activity. Reprogramming restored the expression of antigen presentation complexes and costimulatory molecules on the surfaces of tumour cells, allowing the presentation of endogenous tumour antigens on MHC-I [major histocompatibility complex-1] and facilitating targeted killing by CD8+ T cells.

Part 1

Functionally, tumor-APCs engulfed and processed proteins and dead cells, secreted inflammatory cytokines, and cross-presented antigens to naïve CD8⁺ T cells. Human primary tumor cells could also be reprogrammed to increase their capability to present antigen and to activate patient-specific tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes.

What the team actually developed was a new way to lift the cloak of invisibility from cancer cells, which are infamously adept masters of disguise. When the researchers injected lab-treated tumor-APCs directly into established melanoma tumors in mice, they observed decreased tumor growth, improved responsiveness to immune checkpoint inhibition therapy, and increased survival rates among the animals.

 Olga Zimmermannova et al, Restoring tumor immunogenicity with dendritic cell reprogramming, Science Immunology (2023). DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.add4817

Part 2

Boys who smoke in their early teens found to risk passing on harmful epigenetic traits to future children

A new study suggests boys who smoke in their early teens risk damaging the genes of their future children, increasing their chances of developing asthma, obesity and low lung function.

Research published in Clinical Epigenetics is the first human study to reveal the biological mechanism behind the impact of fathers' early teenage smoking on their children. Researchers  investigated the epigenetic profiles of 875 people, aged 7 to 50, and the smoking behaviours of their fathers.

They found epigenetic changes at 19 sites mapped to 14 genes in the children of fathers who smoked before the age of 15. These changes in the way DNA is packaged in cells (methylation) regulate gene expression (switching them on and off) and are associated with asthma, obesity and wheezing.

These studies have shown that the health of future generations depends on the actions and decisions made by young people today—long before they are parents—in particular for boys in early puberty and mothers/grandmothers both pre-pregnancy and during pregnancy.

Changes in epigenetic markers were much more pronounced in children whose fathers started smoking during puberty than those whose fathers had started smoking at any time before conception. Early puberty may represent a critical window of physiological changes in boys. This is when the stem cells are being established which will make sperm for the rest of their lives.

 Negusse Kitaba et al, Fathers' preconception smoking and offspring DNA methylation., Clinical Epigenetics (2023). DOI: 10.1186/s13148-023-01540-7

COVID infection risk rises the longer you are exposed — even for vaccinated people

Scientists Warn 1 Billion People on Track to Die From Climate Change

The fossil fuels that humanity burns today will be a death sentence for many lives tomorrow.

A recent review of 180 articles on the human death rate of climate change has settled on a deeply distressing number. Over the next century or so, conservative estimates suggest a billion people could die from climate catastrophes, possibly more.

One is a rough rule of thumb called the '1000-ton rule'. Under this framework, every thousand tons of carbon that humanity burns is said to indirectly condemn a future person to death.

Groundwater depletion rates in India could triple in coming decades as climate warms, study warns

A new  study finds that farmers in India have adapted to warming temperatures by intensifying the withdrawal of groundwater used for irrigation. If the trend continues, the rate of groundwater loss could triple by 2080, further threatening India's food and water security.

Reduced water availability in India due to ground water depletion and climate change could threaten the livelihoods of more than one-third of the country's 1.4 billion residents and has global implications. India recently overtook China to become the world's most populous nation and is the second-largest global producer of common cereal grains including rice and wheat.

This is of concern, given that India is the world's largest consumer of groundwater and is a critical resource for the regional and global food supply.

Without policies and interventions to conserve groundwater, we find that warming temperatures will likely amplify India's already existing groundwater depletion problem, further challenging India's food and water security in the face of climate change.

 Nishan Bhattarai, Warming temperatures exacerbate groundwater depletion rates in India, Science Advances (2023). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adi1401. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adi1401

Human ancestors nearly went extinct
Roughly 900,000 years ago, climate changes sweeping the globe might have pushed our distant ancestors to the brink of extinction. The unknown human-like species was reduced to just 1,280 breeding individuals, creating a genetic bottleneck that is still detectable in the DNA of modern-day humans. The population didn’t expand for more than 100,000 years, after which it bloomed again and the progenitors of our species and of our extinct relatives, the Denisovans and the Neanderthals, emerged.

The work, published in Science, suggests a drastic reduction in the population of our ancestors well before our species, Homo sapiens, emerged. The population of breeding individuals was reduced to just 1,280 and didn’t expand again for another 117,000 years.

About 98.7% of human ancestors were lost then.

The fossil record in Africa and Eurasia between 950,000 and 650,000 years ago is patchy and that “the discovery of this bottleneck may explain the chronological gap.

The researchers’ method allowed them to reconstruct ancient population dynamics on the basis of genetic data from present-day humans. By constructing a complex family tree of genes, the team was able to examine the finer branches of the tree with greater precision, identifying significant evolutionary events.

The technique put the spotlight on the period 800,000 to one million years ago — for which there is much unknown — in a way that hasn’t been done before.

Around 813,000 years ago, the population of pre-humans began to swell again. How our ancestors managed to survive, and what allowed them to flourish once more, remains unclear, though.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq7487?utm_source=Natu...

Study discovers mechanism that inhibits a wide variety of viruses, similar to one already found in cancer drug
Researchers recently described a mechanism that inhibits virus replication and protects cells from damage. Interestingly, a drug that has already been approved could prove useful in combating various viruses.

AIDS, the flu, COVID-19—time and again, viral infections overtake entire regions of the world and cost human lives. To date, there are no drugs with a broad antiviral effect. Researchers want to change that.

In the journal PLOS Pathogens, they described a way to effectively inhibit the multiplication of a wide variety of viruses.

The fact that it is so tricky to fight viruses is partly due to their simple structure. They offer only a few points of attack for inhibiting agents. In addition, they repeatedly change in such a way that active agents no longer recognize their target.

Viruses, which consist of only a few components, use the body's own structures of their host, e.g. humans, for their reproduction. Also because severe effects of a viral infection are often due to an excessive reaction of the body's defense system, researchers are increasingly focusing their attention on the interaction between virus, human physiology and the defense system.

The goal is to find mechanisms in the body that can be therapeutically inhibited or enhanced to slow down a viral infection and alleviate its effects. Researchers  have now succeeded in influencing two mechanisms in human cells simultaneously so that both happen.

They are researching the body's own molecule itaconic acid. Some time ago, they discovered that a pharmacologically optimized variant of it, 4-octyl itaconate, is particularly efficient in activating a signaling pathway that controls various protective and defense mechanisms of human cells.

The switch for this signaling pathway is a protein called NRF2. However, their experiments repeatedly revealed evidence that 4-octyl itaconate directly impairs virus replication—independently of the NRF2 signaling pathway. To investigate these indications, they produced cells in the laboratory without NRF2 protein.

When the protective switch was missing, influenza viruses actually multiplied better. To their surprise, however, the researchers found that even without NRF2, 4-octyl itaconate inhibited the proliferation of influenza viruses just as strongly as in unmodified cells.

The researchers suspected that 4-octyl itaconate obstructed the transport of proteins and nucleic acids from the cell nucleus, which many viruses depend on.

To test their assumption, they compared the effect of 4-octyl itaconate with that of a cancer drug (selinexor) that blocks a transport channel from the cell nucleus. Both the cancer drug and the itaconic acid variant inhibited replication of an influenza virus. They prevented precursors of the newly formed virus particles from being transported out of the nucleus of the host cell. The unfinished viruses remained stuck in the cell nucleus, so to speak.

The authors of the current study also provide an explanation for their observation: In the structure of the transport channel, they found a site to which both 4-octyl itaconate and the anticancer drug bind. It is similar to the site where 4-octyl itaconate interacts with the protein that controls the NRF2 switch.

Using biochemical methods, the researchers proved that 4-octyl itaconate actually binds to the nuclear transporter in human cells, thereby blocking it. 

The now published findings open up new perspectives for the development of antiviral therapies.

Fakhar H. Waqas et al, NRF2 activators inhibit influenza A virus replication by interfering with nucleo-cytoplasmic export of viral RNPs in an NRF2-independent manner, PLOS Pathogens (2023). DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1011506

Fake world is not good!

'Smart' glasses skew power balance with non-wearers, say researchers

Someone wearing augmented reality (AR) or "smart" glasses could be Googling your face, turning you into a cat or recording your conversation—and that creates a major power imbalance, say researchers.

Currently, most work on AR glasses focuses primarily on the experience of the wearer. Researchers  explored how this technology affects interactions between the wearer and another person. Their explorations showed that, while the device generally made the wearer less anxious, things weren't so rosy on the other side of the glasses.

AR glasses superimpose virtual objects and text over the field of view to create a mixed-reality world for the user. Some designs are big and bulky, but as AR technology advances, smart glasses are becoming indistinguishable from regular glasses, raising concerns that a wearer could be secretly recording someone or even generating deepfakes with their likeness.

According to the wearers, the fun filters reduced their anxiety and put them at ease during the exercise. The non-wearers, however, reported feeling disempowered because they didn't know what was happening on the other side of the lenses. They were also upset that the filters robbed them of control over their own appearance. The possibility that the wearer could be secretly recording them without consent—especially when they didn't know what they looked like—also put the non-wearers at a disadvantage.

The non-wearers weren't completely powerless, however. A few demanded to know what the wearer was seeing, and moved their faces or bodies to evade the filters—giving them some control in negotiating their presence in the invisible mixed-reality world. 

Another issue is that, like many AR glasses, Spectacles have darkened lenses so the wearer can see the projected virtual images. This lack of transparency also degraded the quality of the social interaction, the researchers reported.

To create more positive experiences for people on both sides of the lenses, the study participants proposed that smart glasses designers add a projection display and a recording indicator light, so people nearby will know what the wearer is seeing and recording.

Ji Won Chung et al, Negotiating Dyadic Interactions through the Lens of Augmented Reality Glasses, Proceedings of the 2023 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (2023). DOI: 10.1145/3563657.3595967

Evidence shows that, in love, opposites don't actually attract

Despite some conventional wisdom to the contrary, opposites don't actually attract.

That's the takeaway from a sweeping research  analysis of more than 130 traits and including millions of couples over more than a century.

The findings demonstrate that birds of a feather are indeed more likely to flock together.

The study, published today in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, confirms what individual studies have hinted at for decades, defying the age-old adage that "opposites attract."

It found that for between 82% and 89% of traits analyzed—ranging from political leanings to age of first intercourse to substance use habits—partners were more likely than not to be similar.

For only 3% of traits, and only in one part of their analysis, did individuals tend to partner with those who were different than them.

Aside from shedding light on unseen forces that may shape human relationships, the research has important implications for the field of genetic research. A lot of models in genetics assume that human mating is random. This study shows this assumption is probably wrong, noting that what is known as "assortative mating"—when individuals with similar traits couple up—can skew findings of genetic studies.

Part 1

For the new paper, the authors conducted both a review, or meta-analysis, of previous research and their own original data analysis.

For the meta-analysis, they looked at 22 traits across 199 studies including millions of male-female co-parents, engaged pairs, married pairs or cohabitating pairs. The oldest study was conducted in 1903.

In addition, they used a dataset called the UK Biobank to study 133 traits, including many that are seldom studied, across almost 80,000 opposite-sex pairs in the United Kingdom.

Across both analyses, traits like political and religious attitudes, level of education, and certain measures of IQ showed particularly high correlations.

Traits around substance use also showed high correlations, with heavy smokers, heavy drinkers and teetotalers tending strongly to partner up with those with similar habits. Meanwhile, traits like height and weight, medical conditions and personality traits showed far lower but still positive correlations. For instance, the correlation for neuroticism was .11. For some traits, like extroversion, there was not much of a correlation at all. People have all these theories that extroverts like introverts or extroverts like other extroverts, but the fact of the matter is that it's about like flipping a coin: Extroverts are similarly likely to end up with extroverts as with introverts.

In the meta-analysis, the researchers found "no compelling evidence" on any trait that opposites attract. In the UK Biobank sample, they did find a handful of traits in which there seemed to be a negative correlation, albeit small.

Those included: chronotype (whether someone is a "morning lark" or "night owl"), tendency to worry and hearing difficulty.

More research must be done to unpack those findings.

These findings suggest that even in situations where we feel like we have a choice about our relationships, there may be mechanisms happening behind the scenes of which we aren't fully aware.

The authors note that couples share traits for a variety of reasons: Some grow up in the same area. Some are attracted to people who are similar to them. Some grow more similar the longer they are together.

Horwitz, T.B. et al, Evidence of correlations between human partners based on systematic reviews and meta-analyses of 22 traits and UK Biobank analysis of 133 traits. Nature Human Behavior (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01672-z www.nature.com/articles/s41562-023-01672-z

Part 2

Eye movements decrease while effortfully listening to speech: study

After a certain age, approximately 40% of people experience some degree of hearing loss. While age-related hearing loss is most prevalent in adults over the age of 65, it can start occurring far earlier than that, when people are in their 40s or 50s.

Despite their widespread use, existing diagnostic techniques might be unable to detect earlier signs of hearing loss, such as the loss of the ability to hear speech in crowded or noisy environments. Some researchers have thus been trying to devise viable techniques to detect subtler forms of hearing loss, so that they can be addressed early, before they are irreparable. To this end, neuroscientists have recently been exploring the relationship between effortful listening and eye movements. Their most recent paper, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, suggests eye movements tend to decrease while young adults are placing greater effort in trying to hear speech.

Past studies highlighted several different physiological responses that occur while one is effortfully listening. One that is commonly mentioned in existing literature is a change in pupil size, which can be measured using pupillometry, a technique that relies on a camera to record eyes and calculate the diameter of pupils at different points in time.

 Research investigating the auditory cortex in animals—that is, the brain region responding to sound—found that when animals reduce their movements, the auditory cortex becomes more sensitive to sound.  so researchers thought that reduced eye movements could also be associated with higher auditory sensitivity to speech.

When researchers tested this,  they found that under the more effortful listening conditions, that is, when the degree of speech masking through background noise was high, individuals' eye movements decreased as reflected in longer fixation durations and reduced gaze dispersion, compared to more favorable listening conditions.

M. Eric Cui et al, Eye Movements Decrease during Effortful Speech Listening, The Journal of Neuroscience (2023). DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0240-23.2023

Why are male kidneys more vulnerable to disease than female kidneys? Mouse study points to testosterone

Female kidneys are known to be more resilient to disease and injury, but males need not despair. A new  study published in Developmental Cell describes not only how sex hormones drive differences in male and female mouse kidneys, but also how lowering testosterone can "feminize" this organ and improve its resilience.

By exploring how differences emerge in male and female kidneys during development, we can better understand how to address sex-related health disparities for patients with kidney diseases.

Researchers identified more than 1,000 genes with different levels of activity in male and female mouse kidneys. The differences were most evident in the section of the kidney's filtering unit known as the proximal tubule, responsible for reabsorbing most of the nutrients such as glucose and amino acids back into the blood stream. Most of these sex differences in gene activity emerged as the mice entered puberty and became even more pronounced as they reached sexual maturity. Because female kidneys tend to fare better in the face of disease or injury, the researchers were interested how the gene activity of kidneys becomes "feminized" or "masculinized"—and testosterone appeared to be the biggest culprit. 

To feminize the kidneys of male mice, two strategies worked equally well: castrating males before puberty and thus lowering their natural testosterone levels, or removing the cellular sensors known as androgen receptors that respond to male sex hormones. Intriguingly, three months of calorie restriction—which is an indirect way to lower testosterone—produced a similar effect. Accordingly, calorie restriction has already been shown to mitigate certain types of kidney injuries in mice. To re-masculinize the kidneys of the castrated males, the researchers only needed to inject testosterone. Similarly, testosterone injection masculinized the kidneys of females who had their ovaries removed before puberty. The scientists performed some similar experiments with mouse livers. Although this organ also displays sex-related differences, the hormones and underlying factors driving these differences are very different than those at play in the kidney. This suggests that these sex-related organ differences emerged independently during evolution. To test whether the same genes are involved in sex-related kidney differences in humans, the scientists analyzed a limited number of male and female donor kidneys and biopsies. When it came to genes that differed in their activity between the sexes, there was a modest overlap of the human genes with the mouse genes.

Andrew P McMahon & colleagues, Direct androgen receptor control of sexually dimorphic gene expression in the mammalian kidney, Developmental Cell (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2023.08.010. www.cell.com/developmental-cel … 1534-5807(23)00406-9

Synchronizing your internal clocks may help mitigate jet lag, effects of aging

Traveling to faraway places is a great way to seek out new experiences, but jet lag can be an unpleasant side effect. Adjusting to a new time zone is often accompanied by fatigue, difficulty sleeping, and a host of other problems that can turn an otherwise exciting adventure into a miserable trip.

Jet lag is caused by a difference between the circadian system—the body's internal clock—and the surrounding environment. Around the turn of the century, scientists began to recognize that the body has multiple internal clocks, calibrated in different ways, and that jet lag-like symptoms can result when these clocks drift out of sync with each other. This can happen in several ways and grows more prevalent with age.

A team of scientists  developed a theoretical model to study the interactions between multiple internal clocks under the effects of aging and disruptions like jet lag. The article, "A minimal model of peripheral clocks reveals differential circadian re-entrainment in aging," appeared in the journal Chaos on Sept. 5, 2023.

Modern research has shown that circadian clocks are present in almost every cell and tissue in the body. Each relies on its own set of cues to calibrate; the brain's clock depends on sunlight, for instance, while the peripheral organs calibrate at mealtime.

Conflicting signals, such as warm weather during a short photoperiod or nighttime eating—eating when your brain is about to rest—can confuse internal clocks and cause desynchrony.

At this point, little is known about how the body's various internal clocks affect each other. The added complexity of accounting for multiple clocks means researchers tend to use simplified models. Most studies primarily focus on one particular time cue or a single clock. Important gaps remain in our understanding of the synchronization of multiple clocks under conflicting time cues.

Researchers now took a different approach, building a mathematical framework that accounts for this complex interplay between systems. Their model features two populations of coupled oscillators that mimic the natural rhythms of circadian cycles. Each oscillator influences the others while simultaneously adjusting based on unique external cues.

Using this model, the team was able to explore how such a coupled system could be disrupted and what makes the effect worse. They found that common symptoms of aging, such as weaker signals between circadian clocks and a lower sensitivity to light, result in a system that is more vulnerable to disruptions and slower to recover.

They also landed on a new method to speed up recovery from jet lag and similar disruptions. According to their results, the way to better sleep is through the stomach.

Having a larger meal in the early morning of the new time zone can help overcome jet lag. Constantly shifting meal schedules or having a meal at night is discouraged, as it can lead to misalignment between internal clocks. 

The authors plan to investigate the other side of the equation and identify the factors that result in more resilient internal clocks. Such discoveries could result in recommendations to prevent jet lag in the first place, or to keep the circadian system healthy into old age.

A minimal model of peripheral clocks reveals differential circadian re-entrainment in aging, Chaos An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science (2023). DOI: 10.1063/5.0157524

Microplastics from tires are polluting our waterways

Urban storm water particles from tire wear were the most prevalent microplastic a new  study has found. Published in Environmental Science & Technology, the study showed that in storm water runoff during rain approximately 19 out of every 20 microplastics collected were tire wear particles with anywhere from 2 to 59 particles per liter of water.

Pollution of our waterways by microplastics is an emerging environmental concern due to their persistence and accumulation in aquatic organisms and ecosystems.

Storm water runoff which contains a mixture of sediment, chemical, organic and physical pollutants, is a critical pathway for microplastics to washed off from urban environments during rain and into local aquatic habitats.

Tire rubber contains up to 2,500 chemicals with the contaminants that leach from tires considered more toxic to bacteria and microalgae than other plastic polymers.

Sediment samples collected from the inlet and outlet of a constructed storm water wetland contained between 1,450 to 4,740 particles in every kilogram of sediment, with more microplastics in the sediment at the inlet than the outlet, indicating the wetland's ability to remove them from storm water.

Microplastics that enter constructed wetlands for storm water drainage systems settle in the sediment and form a biofilm, leading to their accumulation over time, removing them from storm water runoff.

These  findings show that both constructed wetlands and the storm water capture device are strategies that could be potentially used to prevent or at least decrease the amount of microplastics tire wear particles being transported from storm water into our waterways.

Shima Ziajahromi et al, Microplastics and Tire Wear Particles in Urban Stormwater: Abundance, Characteristics, and Potential Mitigation Strategies, Environmental Science & Technology (2023). DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.3c03949

Researchers issue warning over Chrome extensions that access private data

Google Chrome browser extensions expose users to hackers who can easily tap into their private data, including social security numbers, passwords and banking information, according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-M).

The researchers further uncovered vulnerabilities involving passwords that are stored in plain text within HTML source code on web sites of some of the world's largest corporate giants, including Google, Amazon, Citibank, Capital One and the Internal Revenue Service.

The problem stems from the manner in which extensions access internal web page code. 

Google offers thousands of extensions that users install to handle calendar events, password management, ad blocking, email access, bookmark storage, translation and search activities.

While such extensions help expand upon browser capabilities and make browsing easier, they also expose stored data to intruders.

In the absence of any protective measures, as seen on websites like IRS.gov, Capital One, USENIX, Google, and Amazon, sensitive data such as SSNs and credit card information are immediately accessible to all extensions running on the page. This presents a significant security risk, as private data is left vulnerable

The threat remains despite protective measures introduced by Google this year that have been embraced by most browsers. The protocol placed stricter limits on what kinds of information extensions can access.

But there remains no protective layer between web pages and browser extensions, so bad actors can still evade detection.

The researchers described "the alarming discovery" of passwords stored in plain text HTML web page source files.

A significant percentage of extensions possess the necessary permissions to exploit these vulnerabilities and researchers have  identified 190 extensions "that directly access password fields."

The extension faults stemmed from two key procedural violations in coding: least privilege and complete mediation.

Least privilege refers to the principle that users and systems should be granted only the lowest level of access privilege required to complete tasks. Any unnecessary privilege should be barred. Default access states should be on "deny" and not "allow."

Complete mediation refers to evaluation of each and every access request, with no deviations or exceptions.

Asmit Nayak et al, Exposing and Addressing Security Vulnerabilities in Browser Text Input Fields, arXiv (2023). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2308.16321

The researchers proposed two means to address the problem. The first is a JavaScript add-on for all extensions that provide solid cover for sensitive input fields.

The second proposal is to add a browser feature that alerts users when an attempt is made to access sensitive data.

Plant biology discovery is ‘like a switch between life and death’

What Was the First Animal to Evolve a Brain?

In the absence of a precise definition of brain, pinning down its origins is difficult. But scientists have a theory.

Having a brain is so necessary to human experience that it’s almost impossible to imagine any life without it. However, many living organisms don’t have brains, and going back far enough in time will lead to an ancestor of our own that was equally brainless. So, when exactly did brains evolve?

Scientists home in on the brain’s evolutionary origins by sorting out the animals without brains. Sponges have no neurons, so they are easy to discount, and while the more sophisticated jellyfish and sea anemones have a network of neurons, they have no central neural “headquarters” characteristic of a brain. 

About 600 million years ago, another group of animals evolved that had bilateral symmetry, meaning that they had a front and a back. “The front is where the nervous system crystallizes because that’s the bit of the animal that’s meeting the environment head on”. The first brain-like mass of neurons likely evolved at the front end of a long, thin, worm-like animal. Everything else that descended from that has a descendent of that neutral structure.

Today, there are many species, including some invertebrates such as the octopus, with brains that work similar to ours. These brains control perception, behaviour, and higher functions like memory. They are complex and wondrous, and they all evolved from a clump of neurons in the head of a worm.

India's Lunar Lander Has Detected 'Movement' on The Moon: But Is It Seismic Activity?

India's Chandrayaan-3 mission may have just recorded the first seismic data on the Moon since the 1970s. If confirmed to be natural seismic data, it could finally help scientists understand how the Moon's insides are arranged. The rumblings were recorded by the Vikram lander's onboard Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA). It's the first Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology-based instrument on the Moon and it was was able to record the seismic rumbles of the mission's Pragyan rover moving around on the surface. But it also picked up what could be a natural event, such as a quake or an impact.

ILSA's primary objective is to measure ground vibrations generated by natural quakes, impacts, and artificial events. The vibrations recorded during the rover's navigation on August 25, 2023, are depicted in the figure," the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) wrote in a statement.

Additionally, an event, seemingly natural, recorded on August 26, 2023, is also shown. The source of this event is currently under investigation.

This is tremendously exciting; to date, the best seismic data we have for the Moon was that collected by the Apollo program in the late 1960s and 1970s. Scientists have been itching to get their hands on more since we still don't know how the Moon's inner layers are arranged . Seismic data would go a long way to resolving that.

Vikram and Pragyan, like other lunar missions before them, are solar powered, which means they "sleep" at night, when their batteries can't recharge.
Vikram and Pragyan will emerge from slumber on 22 September, when they will recommence their explorations of the mysterious south pole of the Moon.

Source: ISRO

Device to monitor transplanted organs detects early signs of rejection

Researchers have developed the first electronic device for continuously monitoring the health of transplanted organs in real time.

Sitting directly on a transplanted kidney, the ultrathin, soft implant can detect temperature irregularities associated with inflammation and other body responses that arise with transplant rejection. Then, it alerts the patient or physician by wirelessly streaming data to a nearby smartphone or tablet.

In a new study, the researchers tested the device on a small animal model with transplanted kidneys and found the device detected warning signs of rejection up to three weeks earlier than current monitoring methods. This extra time could enable physicians to intervene sooner, improving patient outcomes and well-being as well as increasing the odds of preserving donated organs, which are increasingly precious due to rising demand amid an organ-shortage crisis.

Surabhi R. Madhvapathy et al, Implantable bioelectronic systems for early detection of kidney transplant rejection, Science (2023). DOI: 10.1126/science.adh7726. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adh7726

Chitin from crustaceans, insects, mushrooms engages the immune system during digestion

Digesting a crunchy critter starts with the audible grinding of its rigid protective covering—the exoskeleton. Unpalatable as it may sound, the hard cover might be good for the metabolism, according to a new study in mice.

The researchers found in mice that digesting chitin, an abundant dietary fiber in insect exoskeletons and also mushrooms and crustacean shells, engages the immune system. An active immune response was linked to less weight gain, reduced body fat and a resistance to obesity. 

The researchers found that a particular arm of the immune system also is involved in chitin digestion. Stomach distention after chitin ingestion activates an innate immune response that triggers stomach cells to ramp up production of enzymes, known as chitinases, that break down chitin. Of note, chitin is insoluble—incapable of being dissolved in liquid—and thus requires enzymes and harsh acidic conditions to digest.

The study  results show that chitin activates immune responses in the absence of bacteria.

The stomach cells change their enzymatic output through a process we refer to as adaptation. But it is surprising that this process is happening without microbial input, because bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract are also sources of chitinases that degrade chitin.

The research team found that the greatest impact on obesity in mice occurred when chitin activated the immune system but was not digested. Mice fed a high fat diet also were given chitin. Some mice lacked the ability to produce chitinases to break down chitin. The mice that ate chitin but couldn't break it down gained the least amount of weight, had the lowest body fat measurements and resisted obesity, compared with mice that didn't eat chitin and with those that did but could break it down.

If the mice could break down chitin, they still benefited metabolically, but they adapted by overproducing chitinases to extract nutrients from chitin.

 Do-Hyun Kim et al, A type 2 immune circuit in the stomach controls mammalian adaptation to dietary chitin, Science (2023). DOI: 10.1126/science.add5649. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.add5649

Mysterious shiny orb seen on seafloor off Alaska

Using a robotic arm, the researchers gently nudged the object, determining that it was quite soft, before collecting it via suction for further study. DNA analysis will be conducted to pin down the organism responsible for its creation.

What is maternal morbidity?

The World Health Organization defines maternal morbidity as any health condition attributed to and/or aggravated by pregnancy and childbirth that has negative outcomes to the woman’s well-being.

Increasing severe maternal morbidity linked to heat exposure

Research provides strong evidence linking maternal heat exposure during pregnancy to an increased risk of severe maternal morbidity, with potential implications for public health strategies and interventions.

In a paper, "Analysis of Heat Exposure During Pregnancy and Severe Maternal Morbidity," published in JAMA Network Open, researchers explored the potential association between maternal environmental heat exposure and severe maternal morbidity (SMM).

The study included 403,602 pregnancies, with a mean age of 30.3 years, with data collected from Kaiser Permanente Southern California, a large integrated health care organization. Within the cohort, there were 3,446 cases of SMM (0.9%) over 10 years (2008 to 2018). Temperature values during pregnancy were assigned to individuals based on their geocoded home addresses.

Long-term heat exposure was measured by the proportions of heat days during pregnancy, categorized as moderate, high, and extreme heat days. The study observed significant associations between long-term heat exposure during pregnancy and SMM, particularly related to environmental heat exposure in the third trimester.

Short-term heat wave exposure during the last gestational week was assessed using nine different heat wave definitions based on temperature thresholds and durations. Short-term associations were significant under different heat wave definitions. The magnitude of associations generally increased from the least severe to the most severe heat wave exposure, with more significant associations observed with more severe heat exposure.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, SMM "...includes unexpected outcomes of labor and delivery that result in significant short- or long-term consequences to a woman's health. Using the most recent list of indicators, SMM has been steadily increasing in recent years."

The researchers found an association between when pregnancies begin (the season of conception) and severe maternal morbidity (SMM). The authors mention that mothers who started pregnancy in the cold season (November through April) were more vulnerable to heat exposure and had higher associations between heat exposure and SMM compared to those who started pregnancy in the warm season (May to October).

This suggests that the timing of conception, leading to the stage of pregnancy during the hottest months, may influence the relationship between heat exposure and SMM.

The study concludes that both long-term and short-term maternal heat exposure during pregnancy is associated with a higher risk of severe maternal morbidity. These results have important implications for SMM prevention, especially considering climate change's current and future impacts.

The study also highlights the health disparities among mothers with different education levels. This suggests the need for targeted interventions to reduce SMM risk, particularly among mothers with low socioeconomic status.

Anqi Jiao et al, Analysis of Heat Exposure During Pregnancy and Severe Maternal Morbidity, JAMA Network Open (2023). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.32780

Researchers create optical device that can kill pathogens on surfaces while remaining safe for humans

While it has long been known that ultraviolet (UV) light can help kill disease-causing pathogens, the COVID-19 pandemic has put a spotlight on how these technologies can rid environments of germs. However, the excimer lamps and LEDs that can directly emit light in the required deep-UV wavelengths generally have low efficiency or suffer from short lifetimes. Moreover, UV light of the wrong wavelength can actually be harmful to human cells.

Now, researchers  have shown how an optical device made of aluminum nitride can be used to generate deep-UV light in a method wholly different from previous approaches. The team made use of a process called "second harmonic generation," which relies on the fact that the frequency of a photon, or particle of light, is proportional to its energy. The study is published in the journal Applied Physics Express.

Most transparent materials are considered "linear" with respect to their response to light, i.e., photons cannot interact with each other. However, inside certain "nonlinear" materials, two photons can be combined into a single photon with twice the energy, and thus, twice the frequency. In this case, two visible photons can be merged into a single deep-UV photon inside an aluminum nitride waveguide less than one micron wide. A waveguide is a channel of transparent material with physical dimensions chosen so that light of desired frequencies can travel easily. The waveguide helps take advantage of the nonlinear optical properties of the material, so that second harmonic generation can occur with the highest efficiency.

The wavelength of UV light created by the prototype device is within a very narrow range that has enough energy to kill germs but remains mostly harmless to humans.

 Hiroto Honda et al, 229 nm far-ultraviolet second harmonic generation in a vertical polarity inverted AlN bilayer channel waveguide, Applied Physics Express (2023). DOI: 10.35848/1882-0786/acda79

Bioengineered E. coli generates electricity from wastewater

In a breakthrough for the field of bioelectronics, researchers  have enhanced the ability of E. coli bacteria to generate electricity. The innovative approach offers a sustainable solution for organic waste processing while outperforming previous state-of-the-art technologies, opening new horizons for versatile microbial electricity production.

E. coli bacteria, a staple of biological research, have been harnessed to create electricity through a process known as extracellular electron transfer (EET). The  researchers engineered E. coli bacteria to exhibit enhanced EET, making them highly efficient "electric microbes." Unlike previous methods that required specific chemicals for electricity generation, the bioengineered E. coli can produce electricity while metabolizing a variety of organic substrates.

. By integrating components from Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, a bacterium famous for generating electricity, the researchers successfully constructed an optimized pathway that spans the inner and outer membranes of the cell. This novel pathway surpassed previous partial approaches, and led to a three-fold increase in electrical current generation compared to conventional strategies.

Importantly, the engineered E. coli exhibited remarkable performance in various environments, including wastewater collected from a brewery. While exotic electric microbes faltered, the modified E. coli thrived, showcasing its potential for large-scale waste treatment and energy production.

The implications of the study extend beyond waste treatment. Being able to generate electricity from a wide range of sources, the engineered E. coli can be utilized in microbial fuel cells, electrosynthesis, and biosensing—to name a few applications. In addition, the bacterium's genetic flexibility means that it can be tailored to adapt to specific environments and feedstocks, making it a versatile tool for sustainable technology development.

Mohammed Mouhib, Melania Reggente, Lin Li, Nils Schuergers, Ardemis A. Boghossian. Extracellular electron transfer pathways to enhance the electroactivity of modified Escherichia coli. Joule, 2023; DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2023.08.006

Breast cancer recurrence may be triggered by chemotherapy injury to non-cancer cells

A standard chemotherapy drug injures surrounding non-cancer cells, which can then awaken dormant cancer cells and promotes cancer growth, according to a new study published September 12 in the open access journal PLoS Biology. The finding is important for understanding cancer recurrence and may point to important new targets to prevent it.

Advances in cancer treatment, including chemotherapy, have dramatically reduced mortality for many types of cancer, including breast cancer. Nonetheless, up to 23% of breast cancer patients experience recurrence within the first five years. Treatment is meant to kill all cancer cells, but often, some cells enter a state of dormancy, in which they stop dividing and become unresponsive to chemotherapeutic agents. Recurrence occurs when dormant cells re-awaken and start dividing again.

Some studies have indicated that chemotherapy itself may promote escape from dormancy, but the mechanism of this effect has not been clear.

To explore that question, the authors worked with both a cell model and a mouse model of breast cancer. Importantly, the cell model contained both cancer cells and non-cancer stromal cells, connective tissue cells that are found in breast and other tissue. They administered the chemotherapy drug docetaxel at physiologically relevant concentrations, and found that even at very low doses, stromal cells were injured, while cancer cells were not, and that treatment induced cell-cycle reentry in cancer cells.

The driver of this reawakening of dormant cells, the authors showed, was release of two key cell signaling molecules, granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) by the injured stromal cells, which acted on the dormant cells to promote their growth, both in vitro and in vivo.

That provided the team with potential anti-cancer targets, and they showed that antibodies that neutralized either G-CSF or IL-6, or a drug that blocked the mediator of those signals within cancer cells, inhibited awakening from dormancy due to docetaxel treatment.

These findings have several important implications. First, they highlight the importance of surrounding cells, not just the cancer cells themselves, in determining the response to chemotherapy. Second, they provide a possible mechanistic foundation for the observation that high serum levels of IL-6 are associated with early recurrence in breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, potentially strengthening the utility of that biomarker in planning treatment. Third, they provide new targets for preventing recurrence.

Ganesan R, Bhasin SS, Bakhtiary M, Krishnan U, Cheemarla NR, Thomas BE, et al. (2023) Taxane chemotherapy induces stromal injury that leads to breast cancer dormancy escape. PLoS Biology (2023). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002275

Paleontologists May Have Found A Missing Branch Between Dinosaurs And Birds

Amidst remains of turtles and fish preserved in a southeastern China fossil bed, scientists have uncovered the skeleton of a dinosaur with curious bird-like features. Estimated to be roughly 30 million years older than any confirmed bird fossil, the finding could tell us a thing or two about the first critical steps into their evolution.

Researchers compared the new fossil, named Fujianvenator prodigiosus, with the remains of other dinosaurs from that time and more modern ones to identify the animal's place within the dino-bird family tree. The researchers determined the pheasant-sized and likely feathered Fujianvenator prodigiosus belonged to the ancestral group avialae which includes modern birds and their most closely related dinosaur ancestors. Remains of early bird ancestors like this are hard to come by, so they each hold important clues to the evolution of birds and the environment of Earth they experienced. 

For decades, the preserved 150-million-year-old remains of a dinosaur called Archaeopteryx defined a critical early moment in the evolution of modern birds.

Now, researchers aren't so sure, finding the famously feathered creature has more in common with a group called Deinonychosauria than Avialae. With few other convincing bird-like fossils from this time, researchers can only guess at what such an early bird might have looked like. Appearing just a few million years after Archaeopteryx, Fujianvenator might have at least a few answers, straddling the line between ancient dinosaur and more modern birds. The pelvis of Fujianvenator has features that are more similar to the less-bird-like dinosaurs, including the strange four-winged Anchiornis. This means that the morphological transition from arms to wings started really early on in bird ancestors, while legs were still doing different things, and suggests Fujianvenator branched off in a different direction than the one that led to birds.

This is the first time a potential swamp avialan has been identified. All the other avialans paleontologists have discovered so far have features of being tree dwellers.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06513-7

'Hybrid' Brain Cells Have Been Discovered Hiding Inside Our Heads

An international team of scientists has found a whole new brand of brain cell hiding amongst neurons and their supporting units.

Surprisingly, the new cell type has characteristics of both, allowing it to serve an active role in neurological functions while still providing assistance to the nervous tissues around it.

Astrocytes are abundant cells in the brain that wrap around neuronal connections like 'glue'. For many years, neuroscientists assumed these cells were wholly passive, present only to protect neurons. The field was revolutionized when evidence arose that astrocytes may contribute to neuronal 'firing' by secreting glutamate, the brain's main neurotransmitter. But while studies in the lab suggest astrocytes are capable of releasing and absorbing glutamate, their role in a living, healthy brain is still being investigated. In exploring that hypothesis further, researchers from various institutions in the United Kingdom and Europe have stumbled upon a radical hybrid cell in the brains of mice. In between neurons and astrocytes, we now have a new kind of cell .

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06502-w

Exploit steals passwords by tapping into keystrokes

Add one more threat to the list of risks you take when you use your phone to conduct business at a local shop.

Researchers from universities in China and Singapore uncovered a security gap that permits snoops to lift your password by identifying your keystrokes.

Researchers are calling Wiki-Eve "the first WiFi-based hack-free keystroke eavesdropping system."

The cyberattack demonstrated by the researchers is made possible thanks to a feature in wireless communications called BFI, beamforming feedback information. BFI permits devices to more accurately transmit feedback about their location, sending signals specifically towards the routers that are to receive them, instead of dispersing them omnidirectionally. But one vulnerability of BFI, a component of the 802.11ac WiFi standard (also known as WiFi 5), is that it transmits data in cleartext. That means there is no need for physical hacking or cracking of an encryption key. The researchers devised a means of identifying a user's device and capturing the cleartext transmissions. Unlike older side-channel attacks, Wiki-Eve does not require planting rogue programs that trick a user into logging on to an illegitimate site. It also does not require setting up additional links to sense a target user's keystrokes. "Since BFI is transmitted from a smartphone to an AP [access point] in cleartext," the researchers said, "it can be overheard by any other Wi-Fi devices switching to monitor mode." Researchers said Wiki-Eve "achieves 88.9% inference accuracy for individual keystrokes and up to 65.8% top-10 accuracy for stealing passwords of mobile applications." Keystroke inference is the determination of what key is being pressed based on BFI data. As a user glides over keys on a keypad, the variations in wireless signals between device and base station can be tracked and identified with the aid of a deep-learning model. The team ran tests using numerical passwords since they are easier to decipher than alphanumeric passwords. They demonstrated Wiki-Eve by successfully lifting WeChat Pay passwords from a subject in a nearby conference room. Wiki-Eve joins a long list of side-channel attack methods. Such methods include acoustic cryptanalysis that interprets sounds produced by a device during transmission, cache attacks that probe access patterns, electromagnetic analysis that uses radiation to decipher information, and thermal attacks that track temperature variations to reveal activities. The study assumed users were engaging in activity over an unprotected network, common in public spaces such as coffeeshops, airports, train stations and other gathering places offering free WiFi.

Jingyang Hu et al, Password-Stealing without Hacking: Wi-Fi Enabled Practical Keystroke Eavesdropping, arXiv (2023). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2309.03492

Six of nine planetary boundaries now exceeded

A new study updates the planetary boundary framework and shows human activities are increasingly impacting the planet and, thereby, increasing the risk of triggering dramatic changes in overall Earth conditions.

For over 3 billion years, the interaction between life (represented by the planetary boundary, Biosphere Integrity) and climate have controlled the overall environmental conditions on Earth. Human activities, for example replacing nature with other land uses, changing the amount of water in rivers and in soil, the introduction of synthetic chemicals to the open environment, and the emission of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere all influence these interactions.

Respecting and maintaining interactions in the Earth system so that they remain similar to those that have controlled Earth conditions over the past ~12,000 years are critical for ensuring human activities do not trigger dramatic changes in Earth conditions—changes that likely would decrease the Earth's ability to support modern civilizations.

The nine "planetary boundaries" represent components of the global environment that regulate that stability and livability of the planet for people. The degree of breaching of the safe boundary levels is caused by human-driven activities impacting the components.

The planetary boundaries framework applies the newest scientific understanding of the functioning of the Earth system to identify a "safe operating space" for humanity by proposing limits for the extent to which human activities can be allowed to impact critical processes without risk of potentially triggering irreversible changes in the Earth conditions that support us.

For the first time, metrics for all boundaries are presented. Six of the boundaries are found to be transgressed, and transgression is increasing for all boundaries except the degradation of the Earth's ozone layer. A global focus on climate is not enough. Development of Earth system models that accurately reproduce interactions between boundaries, especially Climate and Biosphere Integrity, is an urgent priority.

The trend of increasing transgression of the boundaries is worrying.

Crossing six boundaries in itself does not necessarily imply a disaster will ensue but it is a clear warning signal. We can regard it as we do our own blood pressure. A BP over 120/80 is not a guarantee of a heart attack but it increases the risk of one. Therefore, we try to bring it down. For our own—and our children's—sakes we need to reduce the pressure on these six planetary boundaries.

The study, published in Science Advances, represents the third update of the framework carried out by 29 scientists from eight different countries.

Katherine Richardson, Earth beyond six of nine Planetary Boundaries, Science Advances (2023). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adh2458. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adh2458

Exposure to One Metal May Cause More Heart Disease Than Smoking or Cholesterol

Lead poisoning has a far greater impact on global health than previously thought, potentially contributing to over five million deaths a year and posing a similar threat to air pollution, modelling research suggested recently. The study, described as "a wake-up call", also estimated that exposure to the toxic metal causes young children in developing countries to lose an average of nearly six IQ points each. Lead pollution has been shown to cause a range of serious health problems, particularly relating to heart disease and the brain development of small children, resulting in leaded gasoline being banned worldwide. But people can still be exposed to the potent neurotoxin via food, soil, cookware, fertilisers, cosmetics, lead–acid car batteries and other sources. The researchers' model estimates that 5.5 million adults died from heart disease in 2019 because of lead exposure, 90 percent of them in low- and middle-income countries. That is six times higher than the previous estimate, and represents around 30 percent of all deaths from cardiovascular disease – the leading cause of death worldwide. It would mean that lead exposure is a bigger cause of heart disease than smoking or cholesterol.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230911634611/en/Pure-Earth....

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(23)00166-3/fulltext