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

Expansion Rate: The Hubble Tension

Selective removal of aging cells opens new possibilities for treating age-related diseases

A research team  has achieved a significant breakthrough in the treatment of age-related diseases. Their cutting-edge technology offers a promising new approach by selectively removing aging cells, without harming normal healthy cells. This groundbreaking development is poised to redefine the future of health care and usher in a new era of targeted therapeutic interventions.

Aging cells, known as senescent cells, contribute to various inflammatory conditions and age-related ailments as humans age. To address this issue, the research team focused on developing a technology that could precisely target and eliminate aging cells, while sparing normal healthy cells. In their study, the team designed organic molecules that selectively target receptors overexpressed in the membranes of aging cells. By leveraging the higher levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) found in aging cells, these molecules promote the formation of disulfide bonds and create oligomers that bind together. The research is published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Through self-assembly of these oligomers, the researchers successfully created artificial proteins with a stable α-helix secondary structure. These protein-like nanoassemblies exhibited strong binding affinity to the mitochondrial membranes of aging cells, leading to membrane disruption and subsequent cell self-destruction.

"The selective removal of aging cells by targeting the mitochondria and inducing dysfunction has been successfully demonstrated in their experiments. This approach represents a new paradigm for treating age-related diseases.

This innovative technology offers several advantages, including minimal toxicity concerns and a wide therapeutic window by specifically targeting organelles within cells. It opens up exciting possibilities for designing preclinical and clinical trials in the future.

Sangpil Kim et al, Supramolecular Senolytics via Intracellular Oligomerization of Peptides in Response to Elevated Reactive Oxygen Species Levels in Aging Cells, Journal of the American Chemical Society (2023). DOI: 10.1021/jacs.3c06898

Rivers are rapidly warming, losing oxygen: Aquatic life at risk, study finds

Rivers are warming and losing oxygen faster than oceans, according to a  study published in the journal Nature Climate Change. The study shows that of nearly 800 rivers, warming occurred in 87% and oxygen loss occurred in 70%.

The study also projects that within the next 70 years, river systems, especially in the American South, are likely to experience periods with such low levels of oxygen that the rivers could "induce acute death" for certain species of fish and threaten aquatic diversity at large.

Scientists know that a warming climate has led to warming and oxygen loss in oceans, but did not expect this to happen in flowing, shallow rivers. They found that rivers are warming up and deoxygenating faster than oceans, which could have serious implications for aquatic life—and the lives of humans. 

Widespread deoxygenation in warming rivers, Nature Climate Change (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41558-023-01793-3

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Electrons from Earth may be forming water on the moon

A team of researchers, led by a University of Hawai'i (UH) at Mānoa planetary scientist, discovered that high energy electrons in Earth's plasma sheet are contributing to weathering processes on the moon's surface and, importantly, the electrons may have aided the formation of water on the lunar surface. The study was published in Nature Astronomy.

Skepticism about claim human ancestors nearly went extinct

Could the lives of the eight billion people currently on Earth have depended on the resilience of just 1,280 human ancestors who very nearly went extinct 900,000 years ago?

That is the finding of a recent study which used genetic analysis modeling to determine that our ancestors teetered on the brink of annihilation for nearly 120,000 years.

However, scientists not involved in the research have criticized the claim, one telling AFP there was "pretty much unanimous" agreement among population geneticists that it was not convincing.
None denied that the ancestors of humans could have neared extinction at some point, in what is known as a population bottleneck.

But experts expressed doubts that the study could be so precise, given the extraordinarily complicated task of estimating population changes so long ago, and emphasized that similar methods had not spotted this massive population crash.

It is extremely difficult to extract DNA from the few fossils of human relatives dating from more than a couple of hundred thousand years ago, making it hard to know much about them.

But advances in genome sequencing mean that scientists are now able to analyze genetic mutations in modern humans, then use a computer model that works backwards in time to infer how populations changed—even in the distant past.

The study, published in the journal Science earlier this month, looked at the genomes of more than 3,150 modern-day humans.

The Chinese-led team of researchers developed a model to crunch the numbers, which found that the population of breeding human ancestors shrank to about 1,280 around 930,000 years ago.

99 percent of ancestors wiped out?
"About 98.7 percent of human ancestors were lost" at the start of the bottleneck.
Part 1

The bottleneck, potentially caused by a period of global cooling, continued until 813,000 years ago, the study said.

Then there was a population boom, possibly sparked by a warming climate and "control of fire", it added.

The researchers suggested that inbreeding during the bottleneck could explain why humans have a significantly lower level of genetic diversity compared to many other species.

The population squeeze could have even contributed to the separate evolution of Neanderthals, Denisovans and modern humans, all of which are thought to have potentially split from a common ancestor roughly around that time, the study suggested.

It could also explain why so few fossils of human ancestors have been found from the period.

However, archaeologists have pointed out that some fossils dating from the time have been discovered in Kenya, Ethiopia, Europe and China, which may suggest that our ancestors were more widespread than such a bottleneck would allow.
The hypothesis of a global crash does not fit in with the archaeological and human fossil evidence.
In response, the study's authors said that hominins then living in Eurasia and East Asia may not have contributed to the ancestry of modern humans.

"The ancient small population is the ancestor of all modern humans. Otherwise we would not carry the traces in our DNA.
Some experts are "extremely skeptical" that the researchers had accounted for the statistical uncertainty involved in this kind of analysis. They said it will "never be possible" to use genomic analysis of modern humans to get such a precise number as 1,280 from that long ago, emphasizing that there are normally wide ranges of estimations in such research.

The authors of the paper said their range was between 1,270 and 1,300 individuals—a difference of just 30.
But sceptics say that the paper was unconvincing".

Our ancestors may have neared extinction at some point but the ability of modern genomic data to infer such an event was "very weak"they say.

"It's probably one of those questions that we're not going to answer in the near future."
Source: AFP

Part 2

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Notorious fungus Aspergillus fumigatus completely scrambles its genome after just one bout of sex

 Researchers have found that Aspergillus fumigatus produces more meiotic crossovers than any other organism. This means that the fungus can establish its complex resistance mechanism after just one cycle of sexual reproduction. The discovery uncovers a possible cause of the rapid spread of hard-to-treat fungal infections.

It also makes it difficult to identify the source of an infection with a resistant fungus. 

Aspergillus fumigatus is naturally widespread in our environment. In fact, we inhale the spores of this fungus every day. For healthy people, this causes no problems. But it can be dangerous for seriously ill patients.

For example, it's risky for people who are in the ICU, or receiving chemotherapy, or those who have undergone an organ transplant. Infections caused by Aspergillus fumigatus are therefore treated medically with azoles, which are antifungal agents. The problem is that the fungus is increasingly resistant to this treatment, and this can be fatal to patients.

One of the causes of the resistance mechanism in the fungus is believed to be the frequent use of azoles in agriculture. Farmers and horticulturists may not use azoles specifically to combat Aspergillus fumigatus, but they do use them to tackle other fungi. Exposure to azoles has enabled Aspergillus fumigatus to develop a resistance mechanism. Compost heaps, where the fungus naturally thrives, are particular hotspots for resistance selection. And that eventually works its way into hospitals. Even patients who have never been treated with an azole can already be carrying an azole-resistant fungus.

There are isolates that have many  genetic differences to those of the fungus at the farm, but also many similarities. This may be due to the sexual reproduction of the fungus, which the researchers looked at in their PLoS Biology study.

The researchers  focused on the number of crossovers per chromosome. In humans, that would be three to four on average. This results in combinations of genes from either parent remaining strongly linked. But in Aspergillus fumigatus, they detected up to 30 crossovers. That's the highest number ever found in an organism.

This means that a single act of sexual reproduction leads to a 'complete reshuffling' of the genome—the genetic makeup of the organism. "This causes enormous variation in the population, even within a relatively limited environment.

It makes it very difficult to identify the transmission route of an infection, from the environment to a patient. The fungus can also efficiently reproduce asexually as well as sexually. So you could simultaneously find the fungus with identical genomes in isolates located thousands of kilometers apart. That makes it very challenging to figure out the transmission of this fungus.

Ben Auxier et al, The human fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus can produce the highest known number of meiotic crossovers, PLOS Biology (2023). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002278

Why bats carry viruses that have higher fatality rates in humans than those from other mammals

A small team of biologists and evolutionists reports why bats carry viruses that cause higher fatality rates when jumping to humans than those that come from any other mammal. In their study, reported on the open-access site PLOS Biology, the group used data from past research efforts to model the growth of viruses within bat populations as well as their spread to other animals.

Prior research has shown that when a virus jumps from bats to humans, the results can be deadlier for humans than when viruses jump from other mammals. The reason has been a matter of debate.

In this new effort, the team used data from prior research efforts, along with mathematics and modeling, to show that it is due to an innate tolerance for inflammation in bats, which, the researchers suggest, arose with their ability to fly.

To come to this conclusion, the research team first obtained data from other studies about the impact of several viruses on the immune systems of bats that had also jumped to humans. They then used that data in a mathematical model to show how a virus optimizes its chances of survival (by spreading from host to host before a host dies) by balancing transmission gains with degree of virulence. They found that a key feature of bat physiology—its ability to fly—was related to its tolerance for inflammation. This was pertinent because it made the bat more tolerant of viruses when infected. That allowed for a high growth rate of viruses in bats. And that, the researchers point out, is why the same virus would be more deadly in humans—we have a lower tolerance for inflammation. A lower tolerance, they note, leads to more grave symptoms, such as lungs that are no longer able to process enough air.

The research team extended their study to include 19 other mammals as a way to predict viral growth and the likely impact of a jump to humans in a general sense. They found reason to think that there is a low probability of a lethal virus that spreads easily from bats or other mammals to humans.

 Cara E. Brook et al, Reservoir host immunology and life history shape virulence evolution in zoonotic viruses, PLOS Biology (2023). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002268

World falling dangerously short of climate goals: UN

A world facing catastrophic climate change is perilously off course in meeting goals for slashing carbon pollution and boosting finance for the developing world, according to the UN's first official progress report out Friday.

The 2015 Paris treaty has successfully driven climate action, but "much more is needed now on all fronts," said the report, which will underpin a crucial climate summit in Dubai at the end of the year.

"The world is not on track to meet the long-term goals of the Paris Agreement," including capping global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius above mid-19th century levels, the report said.

Achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050—another Paris goal—will also require phasing out the burning of all fossil fuels whose emissions cannot be captured or compensated.

The stocktake report also says that clean power must be dramatically ramped up, according to the first UN scorecard of the world's progress in meeting Paris Agreement climate goals.

"Scaling up renewable energy and phasing out all unabated fossil fuels are indispensable elements of just energy transitions to net zero emissions," it said.

"Unabated" refers to the absence of any technology that removes carbon emissions, either at the source or from the atmosphere.

Emissions have already peaked in developed and a few developing countries, but are continuing to rise in many of the world's largest economies.

The global stocktake report is a call for radical and immediate action to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. 

The stocktake also highlights the need to rapidly and radically scale up financial support to developing nations so they can adapt to climate amplified weather disasters that are already eating away at their economies.

Source: News Agencies

Matter found to comprise 31% of the total amount of matter and energy in the universe

One of the most interesting and important questions in cosmology is, "How much matter exists in the universe?" An international team of scientists has now succeeded in measuring the total amount of matter for the second time. Reporting in The Astrophysical Journal, the team determined that matter makes up 31% of the total amount of matter and energy in the universe, with the remainder consisting of dark energy.

Cosmologists think that only about 20% of the total matter is made of regular or 'baryonic' matter, which includes stars, galaxies, atoms, and life. About 80% is made of dark matter, whose mysterious nature is not yet known but may consist of some as-yet-undiscovered subatomic particles.

The team used a well-proven technique to determine the total amount of matter in the universe, which is to compare the observed number and mass of galaxy clusters per unit volume with predictions from numerical simulations.

The number of clusters observed at the present time, the so-called 'cluster abundance,' is very sensitive to cosmological conditions and, in particular, the total amount of matter. A higher percentage of the total matter in the universe would result in more clusters being formed. But it is difficult to measure the mass of any galaxy cluster accurately as most of the matter is dark, and we cannot see it directly with telescopes.

To overcome this difficulty, the team was forced to use an indirect tracer of cluster mass. They relied upon the fact that more massive clusters contain more galaxies than less massive clusters (mass richness relation: MRR). Because galaxies consist of luminous stars, the number of galaxies in each cluster can be utilized as a way of indirectly determining its total mass.

By measuring the number of galaxies in each cluster in their sample from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the team was able to estimate the total mass of each of the clusters. They were then able to compare the observed number and mass of galaxy clusters per unit volume against predictions from numerical simulations.

The best-fit match between observations and simulations was with a universe consisting of 31% of the total matter, a value that was in excellent agreement with that obtained using cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations from the Planck satellite. Notably, CMB is a completely independent technique.

They have succeeded in making the first measurement of matter density using the MRR, which is in excellent agreement with that obtained by the Planck team using the CMB method.

This work further demonstrates that cluster abundance is a competitive technique for constraining cosmological parameters and complementary to non-cluster techniques such as CMB anisotropies, baryon acoustic oscillations, Type Ia supernovae, or gravitational lensing.

 Mohamed H. Abdullah et al, Constraining Cosmological Parameters Using the Cluster Mass–Richness Relation, The Astrophysical Journal (2023). DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ace773

Something Is Suppressing The Growth of The Universe, Physicists Say

Seen through a giant's eyes, our Universe's galaxies cling like foam to the surface of an eternal ocean, drawing into clumps and strings around inky voids. This sparkling web has taken eons to come together, congealing gradually under gravity's guidance out of what was, billions of years ago, an evenly-spread fog of white-hot particles fresh out of the Big Bang's oven.

Slow as this growth seems to us mere mortals, University of Michigan physicists Nhat-Minh Nguyen, Dragan Huterer, and Yuewei Wen want to slow it down even further, fixing one of science's most vexing problems in the process.
Their suggested tweak to the model that currently best describes our Universe could resolve a significant conflict in observations of space's expanding waistline.

Complain as you might that you can't get something for nothing these days, there's more empty space up there today than there was yesterday. Something is causing nothingness to grow, squeezing its way into the gaps between galaxies to gently push the large scale structure of the Universe apart at an ever increasing rate.
Since we don't know what is behind this mysterious shoving, we refer to it as dark energy.

"If gravity acts like an amplifier enhancing matter perturbations to grow into large-scale structure, then dark energy acts like an attenuator damping these perturbations and slowing the growth of structure," says Nguyen, the lead author of an investigation into the large-scale structure's growth.

"By examining how cosmic structure has been clustering and growing, we can try to understand the nature of gravity and dark energy."

The precise rate of expansion, known as the Hubble constant (H0), isn't at all clear. Measure the way certain kinds of exploding stars retreat into the distance, you might get an acceleration of 74 kilometers per second per megparsec. Using the 'light echo' of stretched radiation still bouncing about after the Big Bang – the cosmic microwave background (CMB) – H0 is closer to around 67 kilometers per second.

That might not seem like much of a difference, but the discrepancy has persisted through enough investigations that it can no longer be dismissed as some trivial error.
part1

Researchers took a fresh look at the flat ΛCDM concordance cosmology model as a potential source of mistaken assumptions. If cosmology was a game of chess, this would be the board and pieces as laid out on general relativity's tiles, moved by dark energy's push, and aligned by dark matter's gravitational influences.

Rewinding the chess pieces we see today, we can effectively see how the game began, from a momentary blink of rapid inflation to a time where the first stars collapse, to the formation of galaxies and their eventual emergence into gargantuan, interconnected threads.
If for some reason this process deviated from what's predicted by the concordance model, impeding the growth of the Universe's large-scale structure, the tension between the different measures of the Universe's accelerating expansion would vanish.

The researchers used a combination of measurements involving ripples in the cosmic web, gravitational lensing events, and details in the cosmic microwave background to come to a statistically convincing conclusion that the cosmic web is growing slower than the flat ΛCDM concordance cosmology model predicts.

"The difference in these growth rates that we have potentially discovered becomes more prominent as we approach the present day," says Nguyen.

"These different probes individually and collectively indicate a growth suppression. Either we are missing some systematic errors in each of these probes, or we are missing some new, late-time physics in our standard model."

While there are no obvious contenders for what might put the brakes on the growth of the cosmic web, future measurements of the Universe's large scale structure might at least hint at whether there's a need to explore the idea further.
The Universe has taken 13.7 billion years to look this good. We can stand to wait a few more years to work out the secrets to such fine looking cosmological wrinkles.

https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.111001

Part 2

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Can a vitamin transform natural killer cells into a cancer therapy? Scientists think the answer is yes

Cancer patients appeared to benefit from natural killer cells obtained from donors in an experimental method of treating cancer that involved an aggressive army of immune system fighters endowed with the ability to home in on malignant cells and destroy them.

The natural killer cells were pre-treated with nicotinamide, a compound widely known to most people as niacin, or vitamin B₃. It's a substance with a special affinity for natural killer cells, enhancing their capacity to annihilate cancers. Once primed in the laboratory, these natural killers are ready to be unleashed against formidable targets. The evolving methodology has shown promise in a preliminary study aimed at forcing hard-to-treat cancers of the blood into remission.

Prior to the new research, which is published in Science Translational Medicine, attempts by other teams to use natural killer cell infusions as a therapeutic for leukemias, lymphomas and other blood malignancies, weren't always effective. Doctors were confronted with a problem: some people simply didn't respond to the investigational treatment, which was offered after standard therapy failed.

Now, in a unique take on this emerging form of cancer treatment, medical scientists have devised a way to boost the effectiveness of natural killer cells, enhancing their role as a therapeutic. The innovative approach boosted the impact of natural killer cells and brought about remissions in patients with otherwise recalcitrant cancers.

The combination of nicotinamide-enhanced natural killer cells and monoclonal antibody treatment was safe in 30 patients, including 20 with relapsed or difficult-to-treat non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Among 19 patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, 11 demonstrated a complete response and three had a partial response within 28 days of treatment. Nicotinamide appears to protect the natural killer cells from oxidative stress, while enhancing their ability to home in on lymph nodes, the scientists found.

Frank Cichocki et al, Nicotinamide enhances natural killer cell function and yields remissions in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Science Translational Medicine (2023). DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.ade3341

 The energy costs of information processing in biological systems

The behaviors, physiology and existence of living organisms is supported by countless biological processes, which entail the communication between cells and other molecular components. These molecular components are known to transmit information to each other in various ways, for instance via processes know as diffusion and electrical depolarization or by exchanging mechanical waves.

Researchers recently carried out a study aimed at calculating the energetic cost of this transfer of information between cells and molecular components. Their paper, published in Physical Review Letters, introduces a new tool that could be used to study cellular networks and better understand their function.

 They had tried to experimentally determine how much energy neurons spend when sending information. They  found that this energy expenditure ranged between 10⁴-10⁷ K_BT/bit depending on details, which is far higher than the 'fundamental' bound of ~ K_BT/bit, sometimes called the the Landauer bound which must be paid to erase a bit of information.

A further objective of the recent study was to determine whether optimizing these energetic costs could shed light on the reasons why molecular systems communicate with each other using distinct physical mechanisms in different situations. For instance, while neurons typically communicate with each other via electrical signals, other types of tells can communicate via the diffusion of chemicals.

They wanted to understand in what regime each of these (and others) would be best in terms of an energy cost per bit.

 Samuel J. Bryant et al, Physical Constraints in Intracellular Signaling: The Cost of Sending a Bit, Physical Review Letters (2023). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.068401

Q: Why are the climate activists vandalizing art and museums?

Answer: "How do you feel when you see something beautiful and priceless art work apparently being destroyed before your eyes? Do you feel outraged? Good. Where is that feeling when you see the planet being destroyed?"

• A statement by a Just Stop Oil activist, who had taken part in vandalizing a work by Vermeer in The Hague

Lily Kinyon et al, When, where, and which climate activists have vandalized museums, npj Climate Action (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s44168-023-00054-5

Study finds significant chemical exposures in women with cancer

In a sign that exposure to certain endocrine-disrupting chemicals may be playing a role in cancers of the breast, ovary, skin and uterus, researchers have found that people who developed those cancers have significantly higher levels of these chemicals in their bodies.

While it does not prove that exposure to chemicals like PFAS (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) and phenols (including BPA) led to these cancer diagnoses, it is a strong signal that they may be playing a role and should be studied further.

The study showed that particularly for women, higher exposure to PFDE, a long-chained PFAS compound, had double the odds of a previous melanoma diagnosis; women with higher exposure to two other long-chained PFAS compounds, PFNA and PFUA, had nearly double the odds of a prior melanoma diagnosis.

The study showed a link between PFNA and a prior diagnosis of uterine cancer; and women with higher exposure to phenols, such as BPA (used in plastics) and 2,5-dichlorophenol (a chemical used in dyes and found as a by-product in wastewater treatment), had higher odds of prior ovarian cancer diagnoses.

The study concludes that Since PFAS make up thousands of chemicals, one way to reduce exposures is for EPA to regulate PFAS as a class of chemicals, rather than one at a time.

Cathey, A.L et al, Exploratory profiles of phenols, parabens, and per- and poly-fluoralkyl substances among NHANES study participants in association with previous cancer diagnoses, Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41370-023-00601-6

Scientists Invented a Super-Slippery Toilet That Nothing Sticks to

The traditional porcelain and ceramic toilet bowls could be on the way out, if a new3D printed design from scientists  catches on – with the key benefit being the ultra slippery surface.

Poop that clings to the toilet bowl is not only unpleasant for bathroom visitors and cleaners alike, it actually wastes a significant amount of water as more flushes are required to dislodge the stuff.

It was this problem that the scientists wanted to tackle by making a non-stick toilet bowl. They used a mixture of plastic and hydrophobic sand grains for their material, fused together with laser-based 3D printing techniques, in a design that was around a tenth the size of a standard toilet bowl.

The abrasion-resistant super-slippery flush toilet, or ARSFT, was shown to repel synthetic feces, as well as multiple substances that the scientists tested. Nothing was able to get a grip on the surface, and everything slid straight down, much like the slippery pitcher plants that inspired the toilet design.

The as-prepared ARSFT remains clean after contacting with various liquids such as milk, yogurt, highly sticky honey, and starch gel mixed congee, demonstrating excellent repellence to complex fluids," write the researchers in their published paper.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/adem.202300703

Research finds ponds release more greenhouse gas than they store

Though human-made ponds both sequester and release greenhouse gases, when added up, they may be net emitters, according to two related studies by  researchers.

The studies begin to quantify the significant effects that both human-made and natural ponds have on the global greenhouse gas budget, measurements that aren't well understood. Global climate models and predictions rely on accurate accounting of greenhouse gas emissions and carbon storage.

In the study, the researchers examined the past management activities, while also taking sediment cores and measurements of sediment thickness for each of the 22 study ponds. They measured the amount of carbon in the sediment, extrapolated those measurements to the overall pond, and divided that number by the age of the pond to arrive at the amount of carbon sequestered annually per square meter, a number on the same order of magnitude as wetlands and mangroves, and more than lakes. They also found that carbon burial rates were influenced by aquatic plants (those large enough to be seen), fish and additions of high nitrogen levels relative to phosphorus, nutrients that may not get renewed in a static pond and become limited. The right kinds and ratios of added nutrients promote plant growth, which use carbon for cells, and are deposited on the pond floor when plants die.

The  researchers also measured gas emissions from the ponds approximately every two weeks over the course of ice-free period in 2021.

The researchers found that methane—a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide—accounted for most of the gas emitted annually, and carbon dioxide and methane emissions varied greatly by season.

Ponds absorbed CO2 during early summer months when plants were growing, and emitted it later in the year, when plants decomposed. Methane was emitted throughout warm months, but week-to-week shifts in emissions were high, pointing to the need for frequent sampling for accurate accounting.

Part 1

The researchers found that when water was stratified (a layer of warm water sitting on top of cold bottom waters), methane built up and led to overall higher emissions than when water was mixed by wind or sudden cooling. That's because micro-organisms on the pond bed that produce methane require low-oxygen conditions that is disrupted by mixing.

When the results from the all the present studies are considered together, ponds are net emitters of greenhouse gases, due to methane release overwhelming the amount of carbon stored in the sediments. But the findings also offer the possibility of reducing methane emissions with bubblers or underwater circulators. If we could reduce that methane number, we could potentially flip these ponds from being net emitters to net sinks, but we have to get a handle on that methane.

Meredith A. Holgerson et al, High rates of carbon burial linked to autochthonous production in artificial ponds, Limnology and Oceanography Letters (2023). DOI: 10.1002/lol2.10351

Nicholas E. Ray et al, High Intra‐Seasonal Variability in Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Temperate Constructed Ponds, Geophysical Research Letters (2023). DOI: 10.1029/2023GL104235

Part 2

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Yogurt may be the next go-to garlic breath remedy

It turns out yogurt may have a previously unknown benefit: eliminating garlic odors.

A new study conducted in a lab—with follow-up human breath tests being planned—showed that whole milk plain yogurt prevented almost all of the volatile compounds responsible for garlic's pungent scent from escaping into the air.

Researchers tested the garlic deodorizing capacity of yogurt and its individual components of water, fat and protein to see how each stood up to the stink. Both fat and protein were effective at trapping garlic odors, leading the scientists to suggest high-protein foods may one day be formulated specifically to fight garlic breath.

For each treatment experiment, the researchers placed equal amounts of raw garlic in glass bottles and confirmed the cluster of offending sulfur-based volatiles were released in concentrations that would be detected by the human nose. They used mass spectrometry to measure levels of the volatile molecules in gaseous form present before and after each treatment.

Results showed that yogurt alone reduced 99% of the major odor-producing raw garlic volatiles. When introduced separately, the fat, water and protein components of yogurt also had a deodorizing effect on raw garlic, but fat and protein performed better than water.

In the case of fat, a higher quantity of butter fat was more effective at deodorization. The proteins studied included different forms of whey, casein and milk proteins, all of which were effective at deodorizing garlic—likely because of their ability to trap the volatile molecules before they were emitted into the air. A casein micelle-whey protein complex performed the best.

Additional experiments involving changing the pH of the yogurt to make it less acidic—from 4.4 pH to 7 pH—reduced the yogurt's deodorization effect on the garlic. Changing the pH of water, on the other hand, did not make any difference in water's deodorization effect.

Manpreet Kaur et al, Effect of Yogurt and Its Components on the Deodorization of Raw and Fried Garlic Volatiles, Molecules (2023). DOI: 10.3390/molecules28155714

How brain cells die in Alzheimer’s

Entire Branches on Tree of Life Are Dying, Scientists Warn

Like the comet striking the dinosaurs – in slower motion, but just as deadly – human activity is hacking off entire branches from the tree of life, a new study confirms.

"It is changing the trajectory of evolution globally and destroying the conditions that make human life possible," ecologists warn in their new paper.

"It is an irreversible threat to the persistence of civilization and the livability of future environments for Homo sapiens."

This rate is 35 times higher than previous genus-level extinctions.

Without human influence, it would have taken 18,000 years for the same number of genera to have met their end. Other studies have also found similarly high extinction rates for plant, fungi, and invertebrate life as well.

"[The sixth mass extinction] is causing rapid mutilation of the tree of life, where entire branches (collections of species, genera, families, and so on) and the functions they perform are being lost," explain the researchers.

The biosphere we live within is extremely interconnected, so loss of species groups that play particular functions within their interconnected-living web can have severe cascading consequences.

What's more, this rate of genera loss is set to increase, they calculate. If we continue on our current trajectory and all current endangered genera are snuffed from existence by 2100, the equivalent 300-year-loss since 1800 would have taken 106,000 years at normal background levels of extinction.

The most vulnerable species are usually the most unique, yet overlooked on the planet. Along with them we'll lose millions of years of evolutionary history, which can never be repeated, as well as the loss of critical functions they performed that helped keep all the surrounding biological cycles chugging on like a well oiled machine.

Climate change alone is creating a massive destabilization across these systems, scattering critical timing of ecosystem services like pollination, reducing the types of species and allowing new ones to invade more easily.

From plastics, to pesticides, habitat loss and poaching, we're not allowing the life around us to catch a break.

"Immediate political, economic, and social efforts of an unprecedented scale are essential if we are to prevent these extinctions and their societal impacts. What happens in the next two decades will very likely define the future of biodiversity

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2306987120

Part 2

Spider silk is spun by silkworms for the first time, offering a green alternative to synthetic fibers

Scientists  have synthesized spider silk from genetically modified silkworms, producing fibers six times tougher than the Kevlar used in bulletproof vests.

The study, published September 20 in the journal Matter, is the first to successfully produce full-length spider silk proteins using silkworms. The findings demonstrate a technique that could be used to manufacture an environmentally friendly alternative to synthetic commercial fibers such as nylon.

Silkworm silk is presently the only animal silk fiber commercialized on a large scale, with well-established rearing techniques. Consequently, employing genetically modified silkworms to produce spider silk fiber enables low-cost, large-scale commercialization.

Scientists have eyed spider silk as an enticingly sustainable alternative to synthetic fibres, which can release harmful microplastics into the environment and are often produced from fossil fuels that generate greenhouse gas emissions. But turning to nature for alternatives isn't without challenges.

Previously developed processes for spinning artificial spider silk have struggled to apply a surface layer of glycoproteins and lipids to the silk to help it withstand humidity and exposure to sunlight—an anti-aging "skin layer" that spiders apply to their webs.

Genetically modified silkworms offer a solution to this problem, say the researchers  since silkworms coat their own fibers with a similar protective layer.

The exceptionally high mechanical performance of the fibers produced in this study holds significant promise in this field. This type of fiber can be utilized as surgical sutures, addressing a global demand exceeding 300 million procedures annually.

The spider silk fibers could also be used to create more comfortable garments and innovative types of bulletproof vests and they may have applications in smart materials, the military, aerospace technology, and biomedical engineering.

 Qing Meng, High-strength and ultra-tough whole spider silk fibers spun from transgenic silkworms, Matter (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.matt.2023.08.013. www.cell.com/matter/fulltext/S2590-2385(23)00421-6

Researchers make sand that flows uphill

Engineering researchers  have discovered that sand can actually flow uphill.

The team's findings were published recently in the journal Nature Communications. A corresponding video shows what happens when torque and an attractive force  is applied to each grain—the grains flow uphill, up walls, and up and down stairs.

"After using equations that describe the flow of granular materials,"  say the authors of the paper, "we were able to conclusively show that these particles were indeed moving like a granular material, except they were flowing uphill."

The researchers say the highly unusual discovery could unlock many more lines of inquiry that could lead to a vast range of applications, from health care to material transport and agriculture.

Uphill granular flow of microrobotic microrollers

But to understand how these grains are flowing uphill, the researchers calculated what the stresses are that cause them to move in that direction. If you have a negative angle of repose, then you must have cohesion to give a negative coefficient of friction. These granular flow equations were never derived to consider these things, but after calculating it, what came out is an apparent coefficient of friction that is negative.

Increasing the magnetic force increases the cohesion, which gives the grains more traction and the ability to move faster. The collective motion of all those grains, and their ability to stick to each other, allows a pile of sand particles to essentially work together to do counterintuitive things—like flow up walls, and climb stairs. The team is now using a laser cutter to build tiny staircases, and is taking videos of the material ascending one side and descending the other. A single microroller couldn't overcome the height of each step. But working together, they can.

 Samuel R. Wilson-Whitford et al, Microrollers flow uphill as granular media, Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41327-1

How bats evolved to avoid cancer

A new paper titled "Long-read sequencing reveals rapid evolution of immunity and cancer-related genes in bats" in Genome Biology and Evolution shows that rapid evolution in bats may account for the animals' extraordinary ability to both host and survive infections as well as avoid cancer.

Bats are exceptional among mammals for not only their ability to fly, but also for their long lives, low cancer rates, and robust immune systems. The ability of bats to tolerate viral infections may stem from unusual features of their innate immune response.

These characteristics make bats an interesting animal to investigate, because they may have implications for human health. For example, by better understanding the mechanisms of the bat immune system that allow bats to tolerate viral infections, researchers may be better able to prevent disease outbreaks from animals to people. Comparative genomic analyses of bats and cancer-susceptible mammals may eventually provide new information on the causes of cancer and the links between cancer and immunity.

Studies of bats and other organisms complement studies based on mouse models; mice are more amenable than bats to experimental manipulation but exhibit fewer characteristics with implications for human disease.

So researchers sequenced the genomes of two bat species, the Jamaican fruit bat and the Mesoamerican mustached bat, and carried out a comprehensive comparative genomic analysis with a diverse collection of bats and other mammals.

The researchers found genetic adaptations in six DNA repair-related proteins and 46 proteins in bats that were cancer-related, meaning that researchers have previously found that such proteins suppress cancer. Notably, the study found that these altered cancer-related genes were enriched more than two-fold in the bat group compared to other mammals.

By generating these new bat genomes and comparing them to other mammals scientists continue to find extraordinary new adaptations in antiviral and anticancer genes. These investigations are the first step towards translating research on the unique biology of bats into insights relevant to understanding and treating aging and diseases, such as cancer, in humans.

Armin Scheben et al, Long-read sequencing reveals rapid evolution of immunity and cancer-related genes in bats, Genome Biology and Evolution (2023). DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evad148