Newly discovered antibody protects against all COVID-19 variants

Researchers have discovered an antibody able to neutralize all known variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, as well as distantly related SARS-like coronaviruses that infect other animals.

As part of a new study on hybrid immunity to the virus, the large, multi-institution research team discovered and isolated a broadly neutralizing plasma antibody, called SC27, from a single patient. Using technology developed over several years of research into antibody response, the research team obtained the exact molecular sequence of the antibody, opening the possibility of manufacturing it on a larger scale for future treatments.

The discovery of SC27, and other antibodies like it in the future, will help us better protect the population against current and future COVID variants.

Protective antibodies bind to a part of the virus called the spike protein that acts as an anchor point for the virus to attach to and infect the cells in the body. By blocking the spike protein, the antibodies prevent this interaction and, therefore, also prevent infection.

Scientists after verifying  the properties of SC27 found that it recognized the different characteristics of the spike proteins in the many COVID variants.

In addition to the discovery of this antibody, the research found that hybrid immunity—a combination of both infection and vaccination—offers increased antibody-based protection against future exposure compared with infection or vaccination alone.

The researchers have filed a patent application for SC27.

William N. Voss et al, Hybrid immunity to SARS-CoV-2 arises from serological recall of IgG antibodies distinctly imprinted by infection or vaccination, Cell Reports Medicine (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2024.101668

Scientists provided evidence for long-standing wave amplification theory

Physicists  have tested and provided evidence for  a 50-year-old theory for the first time using electro-magnetic waves. They have shown that the energy of waves can be increased by bouncing "twisted waves"—those with angular momentum—off of an object which is rotating in a specific way.

This is known as the "Zel'dovich effect," named after Soviet physicist Yakov Zel'dovich who developed a theory based on this idea in the 1970s. Until now, it was believed to be unobservable with electromagnetic fields.

The Zel'dovich effect works on the principle that waves with angular momentum, that would usually be absorbed by an object, actually become amplified by that object instead, if it is rotating at a fast enough angular velocity. In this case, the object is an aluminum cylinder and it must rotate faster than the frequency of the incoming radiation.

Although physicists successfully tested this theory in sound waves a few years ago, but until this most recent experiment it hadn't been proven with electromagnetic waves. Using relatively simple equipment—a resonant circuit interacting with a spinning metal cylinder—and by creating the specific conditions required, they have now been able to do this.

M. C. Braidotti et al, Amplification of electromagnetic fields by a rotating body, Nature Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49689-w

Newly identified biomarkers could reveal risk factors for sudden infant death syndrome

Researchers  are getting closer to being able to predict sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS.

In a study appearing in JAMA Pediatrics, they have identified signals in the metabolic system of infants who died of SIDS.

This study suggests that metabolic factors may play a crucial role in SIDS. These patterns could help identify children at higher risk, potentially saving lives in the future.

Each year about 1,300 infants under the age of 1 die from SIDS, and researchers still aren't sure what causes these unexpected deaths. What they do know is that there are likely multiple factors that play a role, including inadequate prenatal care, smoking and alcohol use during pregnancy, structural racism and air pollution. Male babies have a higher rate of SIDS than girls.

Researchers are turning to biology to look for a cause of SIDS that can be screened for at birth or targeted with medication. Investigators in this study knew from previous research that the metabolic system—how bodies process and store energy—might play a part in SIDS. They decided to examine the role of the metabolic system more closely, and compare metabolic data taken from infants as part of a routine newborn screening.

They compared the data of infants who eventually died from SIDS with similar infants who lived.

In the 354 infants who died from SIDS, they found that there were some metabolic biomarkers that may be associated with increased risk. For example, infants with lower levels of C-3 and elevated levels of C-14OH appear to have a higher risk of dying from SIDS. These findings are in line with previous research that has found an association between enzymes of fatty acid oxidation, like these, and SIDS.

The scientists also found several other biomarkers that--when elevated--seemed to lead to a reduced risk of SIDS.

JAMA Pediatrics (2024). jamanetwork.com/journals/jamap … pediatrics.2024.3033

A patient tests positive for bird flu despite no known exposure to animals

A hospitalized patient in Missouri was infected with bird flu despite having had no known contact with dairy cows or other animals associated with an ongoing outbreak, health officials said last week.

The person tested positive for influenza A, and CDC officials later confirmed it to be bird flu. The person received antiviral medication and has since recovered and gone home, health officials said. It's not clear whether the hospitalization was caused by the bird flu infection or the person's existing health conditions.

The case raises questions about how the person was exposed to the virus. All the previous U.S. infections were among people who worked around cows and poultry.

The investigation is continuing, officials said.

It's the first case detected through routine influenza surveillance rather than through targeted efforts to identify people infected with bird flu through exposure to infected cows and poultry, officials said.

Source: News agencies

Nanoscale silver exhibits intrinsic self-healing abilities without external intervention

As an innovative concept in materials science and engineering, the inspiration for self-healing materials comes from living organisms that have the innate ability to self-heal. Along this line, the search for self-healing materials has been generally focused on "soft" materials like polymers and hydrogels. For solid-state metals, one may intuitively imagine that any form of self-healing will be much more difficult to achieve.

While a few past studies have showcased the self-healing behavior in metals that more or less requires the assistance of external triggers (e.g., by heating, mechanical stimulus, or electron beam irradiation), whether the autonomous self-healing can occur in metal solids without any external intervention remains a scientific curiosity.

Now in a new study published in Matter, researchers from the Institute of Physics (IOP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have discovered that such an intrinsic and autonomous self-healing phenomenon can occur in nanoscale silver (Ag).

This study, which combines advanced in-situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, reveals that nanoscale Ag can autonomously repair itself from structural damage, such as nanocracks and nanopores, without external intervention.

This remarkable ability is observed not only at room temperature but also at frigid temperatures as low as 173 K. Notably, over the same damaging area, the repeated reversible self-healing cycles can also be achieved with the same level of efficiency.

Jianlin Wang et al, Direct observation of autonomous self-healing in silver, Matter (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.matt.2024.07.009

The earliest blacksmiths in the Bronze and Iron Ages figured out that when they deformed metal through bending or hammering, it became stronger. This process, known as work or strain hardening, is still used widely in metallurgy and manufacturing today to increase the strength of everything from car frames to overhead power wires. But materials scientists have never been able to watch this essential process unfold in real time—until now.

A team of scientists  have observed, for the first time, the detailed mechanisms driving the fundamental process of work hardening.

It's been impossible to observe work hardening in metals in real time because the atomic structures can only be observed through an electron microscope. Researchers can compare the structure before and after deformation but have had only a limited view into what happens during the process. Previous research has revealed that imperfections in the structure, known as dislocations, form a network of defects which cause the work hardening.

Part 1

To understand that critical part of the process, the research team turned to colloidal crystals—particles that are about 10,000 times larger than atoms and spontaneously form a crystal structure at high concentrations. These crystals are used to mimic atomic systems because they have the same structures, undergo the same phase transitions, and possess the same types of defects. Colloidal crystals, however, are very soft—even 100,000 times softer than Jell-O.

The researchers grew these colloidal crystals composed of millions of particles and observed each particle using a confocal optical microscope. When they applied a strain to these crystals, they could measure the motion of each and every particle.

Surprisingly, these colloidal crystals experience significant work hardening—even more strongly than any other material. In fact, when the difference in particle size is taken into account, these ultra-soft materials become much stronger than most metals.
It is the first time that work hardening has been observed in colloidal crystals; it reveals that the process is governed primarily by the geometry of the particles and the defects. The crystals became stronger because of the dislocation defects, how they interact and entangle with one another.

These observations reveal the universal mechanisms of work hardening which will also apply more generally to all materials.

Seongsoo Kim et al, Work hardening in colloidal crystals, Nature (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07453-6

Part 2

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Global study shows that most cities receive more rainfall than surrounding rural areas

The effect of urbanization on temperature is relatively well-known: cities are often measurably warmer than their surrounding rural areas. This is called the urban heat island effect. What fewer people know is that the urban heat island has a twin counterpart with similarly important consequences: the urban precipitation anomaly, where the presence of urban development measurably affects the amount of rainfall in an area.

In a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers looked for evidence of precipitation anomalies in 1,056 cities across the globe and found that more than 60% of those cities receive more precipitation than their surrounding rural areas.

In some cases, the difference can be significant. For instance, researchers found that Houston, on average, will receive almost 5 inches more rain per year than its surrounding rural areas.

This could have wide-ranging implications, the most serious of which is worsened flash flooding in densely built urban areas.

Variation in urban rainfall is something scientists have known about for several decades, but never at a global scale. Previous studies only looked at certain cities and storm cases.

Urban areas tend to take rain from one location and concentrate it in another, much like a sponge that is being squeezed. If you were to pinch one part of the sponge, you would have water coming down more forcefully from one side. The amount of water you have in the sponge is the same, but because now you have that dynamic sort of squeezing the atmosphere, you have more ability to take the water out from that location.

Although it's less common, some urban areas actually receive less rainfall than their surrounding rural counterparts. This typically occurs in cities situated in valleys and lowlands, where precipitation patterns are controlled by nearby mountains. The cities where this is most pronounced include Seattle, Washington; Kyoto, Japan; and Jakarta, Indonesia.

Part1

There are several reasons why most cities receive more rainfall than their rural neighbors.
One key factor is the presence of tall buildings, which block or slow down wind speeds. This leads to a convergence of air toward the city center.
The buildings further enhance this convergence by slowing the winds, resulting in a stronger upward motion of air. This upward motion promotes the condensation of water vapor and cloud formation, which are critical conditions for producing rainfall and precipitation.
Researchers found that population has the largest correlation with urban precipitation anomalies compared to other environmental and urbanization factors. This is because larger populations typically create denser and taller urban areas, along with more greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore more pronounced heat.
This phenomenon has implications for all cities heading into a future of climate change.
the increased chances of rainfall in cities combined with the impervious surfaces that make up their urban environments can be a recipe for flash flooding.

Niyogi, Dev, Global scale assessment of urban precipitation anomalies, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2024). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2311496121. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2311496121

Part2

Iron was life's 'primeval' metal, say scientists

Every living organism uses tiny quantities of metals to carry out biological functions, including breathing, transcribing DNA, turning food into energy, or any number of essential life processes.

Life has used metals in this way since single-celled organisms floated in Earth's earliest oceans. Nearly half of the enzymes—proteins that carry out chemical reactions in cells—within organisms require metals, many of which are transition metals named for the space they occupy in the periodic table.

Now, a team of scientists argue that iron was life's earliest, and sole, transition metal. Their study, titled "Iron: Life's primeval transition metal," is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

They argue that life only relied on metals that it could interact with, and the iron-rich early ocean would make other transition metals essentially invisible.

Early oceans were rich in iron—specifically, an ion of iron called Fe(II). Fe(II) can be readily dissolved in water and would have been the primary metal found in oceans during the Archean Eon, a geologic time period that began about 4 billion years ago and ended about 2.5 billion years ago.

The end of the Archean Eon was marked by something called the Great Oxygenation Event. At this time, life evolved the ability to perform oxygen-producing photosynthesis. Over the next billion years, Earth's ocean transformed from an iron-rich, anoxic sea to today's oxygenated body of water, according to the researchers. This also oxidized Fe(II) into Fe(III), rendering it insoluble.

Geologists knew of iron's ubiquity on Earth during this time, it wasn't until they began talking with Valentine that they realized how great an impact iron might have had on early life.

Life, in the face of orders of magnitude more iron than other metals, couldn't know to evolve toward such a sophisticated way of managing them. The fall of the abundance of iron forced life to manage these other metals to survive, but that also enabled new functions and the diversity of life we have today.

Johnson, Jena E., Iron: Life's primeval transition metal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2024). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2318692121. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2318692121

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Plastic pollution hotspots pinpointed in new research—India ranks top due to high levels of uncollected waste

Researchers have used machine learning to identify the biggest plastic pollution hotspots across more than 50,000 towns, cities and rural areas worldwide. Their new global model reveals the most detailed picture of plastic pollution ever created with the highest environmental concentrations in India, predominantly because so much of its waste isn't collected.

Open burning of waste is prolific, accounting for 57% of all plastic pollution worldwide by weight. This involves burning waste on open fires without any controls to prevent hazardous emissions from reaching the environment or harming our health. This practice is popular, possibly because it seems to make the waste disappear, reducing the burden on waste management authorities and reducing the unsightliness of waste dumped on land.
India has emerged as the largest plastic polluter, emitting 9.3 million tons of plastic into the environment each year—one fifth of the total. That's 2.7 times more than the next two largest polluters, Nigeria and Indonesia.

India comes top because only 81% of its waste is collected. But, it also generates a lot more waste than some previous models have assumed. Official government sources estimate 0.12kg per person per day, but these estimates exclude many rural areas, so the real number is closer to 0.54kg per person per day. The combination of such a large amount of waste, large population and low collection rate creates the conditions under which plastic pollution flourishes.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07758-6

The Calls of Amazon Parrots are changing!

Some parrots in the Amazon no longer sound like they used to when they call out to each other through the trees.

Scientists studying the yellow-naped amazon (Amazona auropalliata) have noticed in the last few decades that these Pacific coast parrots are changing their 'accents'. While it could interfere with mating and reproduction, the researchers speculate it might actually be a positive sign of the birds adapting.

Like many other birds, yellow-naped parrots are known to have regional dialects. This means that different communities shriek, whistle, and screech in slightly different ways, depending on where they live.

Scientists have noticed this about the species since 1994, but between 2005 and 2016, researchers from New Mexico State University and the University of Pittsburgh (UPJ) at Johnstown have noticed a significant geographic shift.

The types of calls these parrots are making in different regions seem to be bleeding into one another.

Some calls that were recently heard in the north region, for instance, had only previously been heard in the south. In fact, some birds in the north were capable of producing both accents, researchers found, what they call a 'bilingual' skill.

This could possibly give the parrots a survival advantage. Birds that can communicate with more groups may be able to share more information, access foraging areas, or gain roosting privileges.

And that may be more important now than ever.

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2024.0659

New Zealand's kākāpō developed different feather colors to evade predatory birds, genome sequencing shows

Evolution: Aotearoa New Zealand's flightless parrot, the kākāpō, evolved two different color types to potentially help them avoid detection by a now-extinct apex predator , researchers report in the open-access journal PLOS Biology.

The kākāpō (Strigops habroptilus) is a nocturnal, flightless parrot endemic to New Zealand. It experienced severe population declines after European settlers introduced new predators. By 1995 there were just 51 individuals left, but intense conservation efforts have helped the species rebound to around 250 birds. Kākāpō come in one of two colors—green or olive—which occur in roughly equal proportions.

To understand how this color variation evolved and why it was maintained despite population declines, researchers analyzed genome sequence data for 168 individuals, representing nearly all living kākāpō at the time of sequencing. They identified two genetic variants that together explain color variation across all the kākāpō they studied.

Scanning electron microscopy showed that green and olive feathers reflect slightly different wavelengths of light because of differences in their microscopic structure. The researchers estimate that olive coloration first appeared around 1.93 million years ago, coinciding with the evolution of two predatory birds: Haast's eagle and Eyles' harrier.

Computer simulations suggest that whichever color was rarer would have been less likely to be detected by predators, explaining why both colors persisted in the kākāpō population over time.

The results suggest that kākāpō coloration evolved due to pressure from apex predators that hunted by sight. This variation has remained even after the predators went extinct, around 600 years ago.

The authors argue that understanding the origins of kākāpō coloration might have relevance to the conservation of this critically endangered species. They show that without intervention, kākāpō color variation could be lost within just 30 generations, but it would be unlikely to negatively impact the species today.

Urban L, Santure AW, Uddstrom L, Digby A, Vercoe D, Eason D, et al. (2024) The genetic basis of the kākāpō structural color polymorphism suggests balancing selection by an extinct apex predator. PLoS Biology (2024). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002755

Paleontologists discover fossil birds with teeth had seeds in their stomachs, indicating that they ate fruit

For paleontologists who study animals that lived long ago, fossilized remains tell only part of the story of an animal's life. While a well-preserved skeleton can provide hints at what an ancient animal ate or how it moved, irrefutable proof of these behaviors is hard to come by. But sometimes, scientists luck out with extraordinary fossils that preserve something beyond the animal's body.

In a study published in the journal Current Biology, researchers found fossilized seeds in the stomachs of one of the earliest birds. This discovery shows that these birds were eating fruits, despite a long-standing hypothesis that this species of bird feasted on fish (and more recent hypotheses it ate insects) with its incredibly strong teeth.

Longipteryx chaoyangensis lived 120 million years ago in what's now northeastern China. It's among the earliest known birds, and one of the strangest.

This bird is weird. It had a  long skull, and teeth only at the tip of its beak. 

Tooth enamel is the hardest substance in the body, and Longipteryx's tooth enamel is 50 microns thick. That's the same thickness of the enamel on enormous predatory dinosaurs like Allosaurus that weighed 4,000 pounds, but Longipteryx is the size of a bluejay. 

Longipteryx was discovered in 2000, and at the time, scientists suggested that its kingfisher-like elongated skull meant that it too hunted fish. However, this hypothesis has been challenged by a number of scientists.

There are other fossil birds, like Yanornis, that ate fish, and scientists know because specimens have been found with preserved stomach contents, and fish tend to preserve well. Plus, these fish-eating birds had lots of teeth, all the way along their beaks, unlike how Longipteryx only has teeth at the very tip of its beak.

However, no specimens of Longipteryx had been found with fossilized food still in their stomachs for scientists to confirm what it ate— until now.

Since Longipteryx lived in a temperate climate, it probably wasn't eating fruits year-round;  scientists suspect that it had a mixed diet which included things like insects when fruits weren't available.

Part 1

Longipteryx is part of a larger group of prehistoric birds called the enantiornithines, and this discovery marks the first time that scientists have found any stomach contents from an enantiornithine in China's Jehol Biota despite thousands of uncovered fossils.

"It's always been weird that we didn't know what they were eating, but this study also hints at a bigger picture problem in paleontology, that physical characteristics of a fossil don't always tell the whole story about what the animal ate or how it lived.
Since Longipteryx apparently wasn't hunting for fish, that leaves a question: what was it using its long, pointy beak and crazy-strong teeth for? The thick enamel is overpowered, it seems to be weaponized.
Weaponized beaks in hummingbirds have evolved at least seven times, allowing them to compete for limited resources. Clark suggested the hypothesis that perhaps Longipteryx's teeth and beak also served as a weapon, perhaps evolving under social or sexual selection.

Direct evidence of frugivory in the Mesozoic bird Longipteryx contradicts morphological proxies for diet, Current Biology (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.08.012. www.cell.com/current-biology/f … 0960-9822(24)01124-2

Part 2

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Researchers find live fungi, bacteria and viruses high in the Earth's atmosphere

A team of climate, health and atmospheric specialists  has found abundant live fungi, bacteria and viruses high in the Earth's atmosphere. In their study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group collected air samples from altitudes of 1,000–3,000 meters.

Prior research has shown that dust can travel thousands of miles in the atmosphere—large amounts of dust from Africa are carried to both North and South America, for example. Prior research has also shown that microbes that attach to dust can be carried equally far.

For this new study, the researchers wondered how high in the atmosphere microbes might be found and whether they could survive the trip. To learn more, they chartered a small plane that carried them aloft over parts of Japan, where they collected air samples at altitudes of 1,000–3,000 meters near the planetary boundary. They also gathered weather data related to the air column in areas where they had flown.
In an air-controlled lab, they conducted a DNA analysis on the microbes found in the samples as a way to identify what they were and also which types. They found examples of fungi, bacteria and viruses, many of which, the team noted, are hazardous to human health.

They also found that many of the microbes were still viable—they grew cultures of them in lab dishes. In all, the team found 266 types of fungi and 305 types of bacteria.

The researchers noted that many of both types were of the kind that are often found in soil or plants. They suspect that due to the geographic location of the microbes, the height at which they were found and the speed of the winds carrying them, that the majority of them came from China, which meant they had traveled at least 2,000 kilometers.

The research team suggests that bio-pathogens are capable of traveling thousands of kilometers at high altitudes, possibly representing a way to spread diseases.

Xavier Rodó et al, Microbial richness and air chemistry in aerosols above the PBL confirm 2,000-km long-distance transport of potential human pathogens, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2024). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2404191121

Psychologists argue conscientiousness outshines willpower in predicting success

According to some psychologists, the field of psychological science has a problem with the concept of self-control. It has named self-control both a "trait"—a key facet of personality involving attributes like conscientiousness, grit and the ability to tolerate delayed gratification—and a "state," a fleeting condition that can best be described as willpower. These two concepts are at odds with one another and are often confused, the authors report.

Conscientiousness  is the quality of wishing to do one's work or duty well and thoroughly.

Self-control is a cherished quality. People who have lots of it are celebrated and seen as morally righteous. 

Many studies find that people who score highly on various measures of conscientiousness do better than their peers academically and financially and tend to live healthier lives.

This led psychologists to conflate momentary will power with the other characteristics that make conscientious people successful, the researchers said.

People assumed that highly conscientious people simply engage their willpower more often than their less-conscientious peers. But this is not the case. Conscientious people do not control themselves more than others. In fact, studies have shown that they spend less time restraining wayward desires. This was a surprise when it was discovered more than a decade ago.

The misguided emphasis on willpower led to interventions designed to increase it, with the goal of also strengthening conscientiousness. This approach occasionally yielded some positive short-term results, the researchers said. But in the long term, such changes tend to erode.

People usually revert to their baseline levels of willpower and conscientiousness Willpower is generally fragile, unreliable and weak.

The science strongly suggests that other aspects of "trait self-control" are more likely to contribute to the lifelong benefits associated with this trait.

Perhaps it's their industriousness or organizational skills. Or maybe it's their ability to persist in pursuit of a goal.

Success in life might be the result of engaging less in day-to-day willpower and more in cold calculation before a temptation is ever met, the researchers said. Maybe conscientiousness is explained not by exerting willpower, but by avoiding the need to exert it in the first place.

Michael Inzlicht et al, The fable of state self-control, Current Opinion in Psychology (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2024.101848

Researchers bend DNA strands with light, revealing a new way to study the genome

With the flick of a light, researchers have found a way to rearrange life's basic tapestry, bending DNA strands back on themselves to reveal the material nature of the genome.

Scientists have long debated about the physics of chromosomes—structures at the deepest interior of a cell that are made of long DNA strands tightly coiled around millions of proteins. Do they behave more like a liquid, a solid, or something in between?

Much progress in understanding and treating disease depends on the answer.

A research team has now developed a way to probe chromosomes and quantify their mechanical properties: how much force is required to move parts of it around and how well it snaps back to its original position.

The answer to the material question, according to their findings, is that in some ways the chromosome acts like an elastic material and in other ways it acts like a fluid. By leveraging that insight in exacting detail, the team was able to physically manipulate DNA in new and precisely controlled ways.

They published their findings in the journal Cell on August 20.

The key to the new method lies in the researchers' ability to generate tiny liquid-like droplets within a cell's nucleus. The droplets form like oil in water and grow larger when exposed to a specific wavelength of blue light.

Because the droplets are initiated at a programmable protein—a modified version of the protein used in the gene editing tool known as CRISPR—they can also attach the droplet to DNA in precise locations, targeting genes of interest.

With their ability to control this process using light, the team found a way to grow two droplets stuck to different sequences, merge the two droplets together, and finally shrink the resulting droplet, pulling the genes together as the droplet recedes. The entire process takes about 10 minutes.

Physically repositioning DNA in this way represents a completely new direction for engineering cells to improve health and could lead to new treatments for disease, according to the researchers. For example, they showed that they could pull two distant genes toward each other until the genes touch.

Established theory predicts this could lead to greater control over gene expression or gene regulation—life's most fundamental processes.

Amy R. Strom et al, Condensate interfacial forces reposition DNA loci and probe chromatin viscoelasticity, Cell (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.07.034

Long-term exercisers have 'healthier' belly fat, study reveals

People with obesity who are long-time exercisers have healthier belly fat tissue and can store fat there more effectively than nonexercisers with obesity, according to a new study from a team of researchers.

The study, "Long-term exercise training has positive effects on adipose tissue ...," appears Sept. 10 in Nature Metabolism.

The research team also grew fat tissue in the lab from cells collected from both exercisers and nonexercisers, and cells from the exercisers developed into a tissue that stored fat more effectively.

The findings indicate that in addition to being a means to expend calories, exercising regularly for several months to years seems to modify your fat tissue in ways that allows you to store your body fat more healthfully if or when you do experience some weight gain––as nearly everyone does as we get older.

They found that the exercisers had distinct structural and biological characteristics in their fat tissue that increased the capacity to store fat there. The nonexercisers did not have those characteristics. Specifically, the exercisers had more blood vessels, mitochondria and beneficial proteins, and less of a type of collagen that can interfere with metabolism and fewer cells that cause inflammation.

This matters because the healthiest place to store fat is the fat tissue just under the skin where the samples were taken, called subcutaneous adipose tissue. Increasing the capacity to store fat here through exercise reduces the need to store fat in unhealthy places, like in the fat tissue around the organs or in the organs themselves.

Cheehoon Ahn et al, Years of endurance exercise training remodel abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue in adults with overweight or obesity, Nature Metabolism (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s42255-024-01103-x

Archaeologists discover an ancient Neanderthal lineage that remained isolated for over 50,000 years

A fossilized Neanderthal discovered in a cave system in the Rhône Valley, France, represents an ancient and previously undescribed lineage that diverged from other currently known Neanderthals around 100,000 years ago and remained genetically isolated for more than 50,000 years.

Genomic analysis indicates that the Neanderthal, nicknamed "Thorin" in reference to the Tolkien character, lived between 42,000–50,000 years ago in a small, isolated community.

The discovery, published September 11 in the journal Cell Genomics, could shed light on the still-enigmatic reasons for the species' extinction and suggests that late Neanderthals had more population structure than previously thought.

Until now, the story has been that at the time of the extinction there was just one Neanderthal population that was genetically homogeneous, but now we know that there were at least two populations present at that time.

The Thorin population spent 50,000 years without exchanging genes with other Neanderthal populations.

We thus have 50 millennia during which two Neanderthal populations, living about ten days' walk from each other, coexisted while completely ignoring each other. This would be unimaginable for a Sapiens and reveals that Neanderthals must have biologically conceived our world very differently from us Sapiens.

 Long genetic and social isolation in Neanderthals before their extinction, Cell Genomics (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.xgen.2024.100593. www.cell.com/cell-genomics/ful … 2666-979X(24)00177-0

Scientists cool positronium to near absolute zero for antimatter research

Most atoms are made from positively charged protons, neutral neutrons and negatively charged electrons. Positronium is an exotic atom composed of a single negative electron and a positively charged antimatter positron. It is naturally very short-lived, but researchers  successfully cooled and slowed down samples of positronium using carefully tuned lasers.

The findings are published in the journal Nature. They hope this research will help others explore exotic forms of matter, and that such research might unlock the secrets of antimatter.

Some of our universe is missing. You may have heard such a bizarre statement if you've read much about cosmology in the last few decades. The reason scientists say this is because almost all the stuff we see in the universe is made from matter, including you and the planet you're standing on.

However, for a long time we've known about antimatter, which, as the name suggests, is sort of the opposite of regular matter, in that antimatter particles share the same mass and other properties of their matter counterparts, but have an opposite charge. When matter and antimatter particles collide, they annihilate, and it's widely believed they were created in equal amounts at the dawn of time. But that's not what we see now.

Modern physics only accounts for a part of the total energy of the universe. The study of antimatter might help us account for this discrepancy, and we've just taken a big step in this direction with our latest research.

Researchers have successfully slowed and cooled down exotic atoms of positronium, which is 50% antimatter. This means that, for the first time, it can be explored in ways previously impossible, and that will necessarily include a deeper study of antimatter.

Positronium is one of the few atoms made up entirely of only two elementary particles, which allows for such exact calculations.

Kosuke Yoshioka, Cooling positronium to ultralow velocities with a chirped laser pulse train, Nature (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07912-0. www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07912-0

Using this bone in a new way could have helped early humans, like Australopithecus, go from walking on all fours to walking upright, the researchers say.

In the new study, scientists used statistical modeling to examine the presence of three sesamoid bones in the knee—the cyamella, medial fabella and lateral fabella—using research published over the last one hundred years.

The scientists discovered that primates with faballae were 50 times more likely to have ancestors who also had them. The team also found that the medial and lateral fabella almost always develop in pairs, except in rare cases like humans, who only have a lateral fabella.

Further analyses suggest hominoids may have evolved a way to grow fabellae different from other primates, which could explain why humans can grow a lateral fabella without a medial one, but other primates cannot. This could unite over a century of research, where scientists have debated how these bones evolved.

The distinct evolutionary pathway of the fabella 're-emerging' in humans could point to an evolutionary change that helped the ancestors of humans walk upright.

The evolution of the knee sesamoids in Primates: A systematic review and phylogenetic meta-analysis, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2024). DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2024.0774. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi … .1098/rspb.2024.0774

Cleaner wrasse check their body size in mirror before deciding whether to fight, research demonstrates

Consciousness: Being aware of your body and environment

Self-awareness: Recognizing your consciousness, and understanding your own character, feelings, motives, and desires.

 A research team has demonstrated that bluestreak cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus) check their body size in a mirror before choosing whether to attack fish that are slightly larger or smaller than themselves.

The study, published in Scientific Reports, suggests that bluestreak cleaner wrasse possess some mental states (e.g., mental body image, standards, intentions, goals), that are elements of private self-awareness.

Researchers reported the cleaner wrasse could identify photographs of itself as itself, based on its face through mirror self-recognition.
The cleaner wrasse's behaviour of going to look in the mirror installed in a tank when necessary indicated the possibility that the fish were using the mirror to check their own body size against that of other fish and predict the outcome of fights.

The results that fish can use the mirror as a tool can help clarify the similarities between human and non-human animal self-awareness and provide important clues to elucidate how self-awareness has evolved.

 Cleaner fish with mirror self-recognition capacity precisely realize their body size based on their mental image, Scientific Reports (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-70138-7

Four plants eaten by gorillas, also used in traditional medicine, provide clues for new drug discovery

Four plants consumed by wild gorillas in Gabon and used by local communities in traditional medicine show antibacterial and antioxidant properties, find researchers.

Wild great apes often consume medicinal plants that can treat their ailments. The same plants are often used by local people in traditional medicine.
To investigate, researchers observed the behavior of western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) in Moukalaba-Doudou National Park in Gabon and recorded the plants they ate. Next, they interviewed 27 people living in the nearby village of Doussala, including traditional healers and herbalists, about the plants that were used in local traditional medicine.

The team identified four native plant species that are both consumed by gorillas and used in traditional medicine: the fromager tree (Ceiba pentandra), giant yellow mulberry (Myrianthus arboreus), African teak (Milicia excelsa) and fig trees (Ficus). They tested bark samples of each plant for antibacterial and antioxidant properties and investigated their chemical composition.

The researchers found that the bark of all four plants had antibacterial activity against at least one multidrug-resistant strain of the bacterium Escherichia coli. The fromager tree showed "remarkable activity" against all tested E.coli strains. All four plants contained compounds that have medicinal effects, including phenols, alkaloids, flavonoids, and proanthocyanidins. However, it's not clear if gorillas consume these plants for medicinal or other reasons.

But Zoopharmacognosy* is one of these new approaches, aimed at discovering new drugs.

*  the study of how animals self-medicate by selecting and consuming plants, soils, and insects with medicinal properties.

Here are some examples of animals that self-medicate:

Pregnant lemurs: Nibble on tamarind leaves to help with milk production

Chacma baboons: Eat small amounts of leaves from specific plants that have stimulant properties

Dogs and cats: May eat grass to relieve nausea, even though they can't digest it because they lack the necessary enzymes.

Antibacterial and antioxidant activities of plants consumed by western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) in Gabon, PLoS ONE (2024). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0306957

The 'crystal balls' that can predict eruptions of volcanoes: Crystals hold a secret history of volcanoes—and clues about future eruptions

Imagine you had a crystal ball that revealed when a volcano would next erupt. For the hundreds of millions of people around the world who live near active volcanoes, it would be an extremely useful device. As it turns out, certain crystals really can help us forecast volcanic eruptions. These crystals are produced in molten rock as it travels from deep inside Earth to the surface.

With increasingly sophisticated scientific methods, we can extract a secret history of volcanoes from these crystals—the why, where and when of past eruptions.

These historical records can help us interpret if signs of volcano unrest, such as earthquakes tracking the movement of magma towards the surface, may lead to an eruption. So, as I explain in a new column in Nature Geoscience, we are getting closer to having crystal balls (for volcanoes, at least).

Teresa Ubide, Volcanic crystal balls, Nature Geoscience (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41561-024-01509-y

Smart mouthguard allows users to control devices with their tongue and teeth

Recent technological advances have enabled the development of a wide range of electronic devices designed to improve people's quality of life and assist them in completing their everyday activities. Most existing devices are operated via touch screens, keyboards, mouse pads and other hand-based interfaces.

Researchers at the National University of Singapore have developed a smart mouthguard that could allow people to operate their devices using their mouth, instead of their fingers. This new device, introduced in a paper in Nature Electronics, could also allow dentists to collect medical data from inside their patients' mouths and help to monitor the recovery of athletes or enhance their performance.

Bo Hou et al, A tactile oral pad based on carbon nanotubes for multimodal haptic interaction, Nature Electronics (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41928-024-01234-9.

Climate change-triggered landslide unleashes a 650-foot mega-tsunami

In September 2023, scientists around the world detected a mysterious seismic signal that lasted for nine straight days. An international team of scientists, including seismologists Alice Gabriel and Carl Ebeling of UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography came together to solve the mystery.

A study published in Science provides the stunning solution: In an East Greenland fjord, a mountaintop collapsed into the sea and triggered a mega-tsunami about 200 meters (650 feet) tall. The giant wave rocked back and forth inside the narrow fjord for nine days, generating the seismic waves that reverberated through Earth's crust, baffling scientists around the world.

This rhythmic sloshing is a phenomenon known as a seiche. Fortunately, no people were hurt, but the waves destroyed some $200,000 in infrastructure at an unoccupied research station on Ella Island.

Climate change set the stage for the landslide by melting the glacier at the base of the mountain, destabilizing the more than 25 million cubic meters (33 million cubic yards) of rock and ice—enough to fill 10,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools—that ultimately crashed into the sea. As climate change continues to melt Earth's polar regions it could lead to an increase in large, destructive landslides such as this one.

Climate change is shifting what is typical on Earth, and it can set unusual events like this into motion.

When seismic monitoring networks first detected this signal in September 2023, it was puzzling for two main reasons. First, the signal looked nothing like the busy squiggle that earthquakes produce on seismographs. Instead, it oscillated with a 92-second-interval between its peaks, too slow for humans to perceive. Second, the signal stayed strong for days on end, where more common seismic events weaken more rapidly.

Part 1

The global community of Earth scientists started buzzing with online discussion of what could be causing the strange seismic waves. The discussion turned up reports of a huge landslide in a remote Greenland fjord that occurred on Sept. 16, around the time the seismic signal was first detected.

To figure out if and how these two phenomena might be connected, scientists combined seismic recordings from around the world, field measurements, satellite imagery and computer simulations to reconstruct the extraordinary events.

The team, comprised of 68 scientists from 41 research institutions, analyzed satellite and on-the-ground imagery to document the enormous volume of rock and ice in the landslide that triggered the tsunami. They also analyzed the seismic waves to model the dynamics and trajectory of the rock-ice avalanche as it moved down the glacial gully and into the fjord.

To understand the tsunami and resulting seiche, the researchers used supercomputers to create high-resolution simulations of the events.
Ultimately, these simulations were able to closely match the real-world tsunami's height as well as the long-lasting seiche's slow oscillations.

By integrating these diverse data sources, the researchers determined that the nine-day seismic signal was caused by the massive landslide and resulting seiche within Greenland's Dickson Fjord.
The study's findings demonstrate the complex, cascading hazards posed by climate change on Earth.

The essence of science is trying to answer a question we don't know the answer to—that's why this was so exciting to work on, say the scientists who found this.

Kristian Svennevig, A rockslide-generated tsunami in a Greenland fjord rang the Earth for 9 days, Science (2024). DOI: 10.1126/science.adm9247. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adm9247

Ozone pollution reduces yearly tropical forest growth by 5.1%, study finds

Ozone gas is reducing the growth of tropical forests—leaving an estimated 290 million tonnes of carbon uncaptured each year, new research shows.

The ozone layer in the stratosphere shields our planet from harmful ultraviolet radiation—and protecting it is one of the major successes of environmental action.

But ozone at ground level—formed by the combination of pollutants from human activities in the presence of sunlight—interferes with plants' ability to absorb carbon dioxide. Ozone is also harmful to human health.

The new study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, calculates that ground-level ozone reduces new yearly growth in tropical forests by 5.1% on average.

The effect is stronger in some regions—with Asia's tropical forests losing 10.9% of new growth.

Tropical forests are vital "carbon sinks"—capturing and storing carbon dioxide that would otherwise stay in the atmosphere and contribute to global warming.

Tropical forests play a crucial role in mopping up our carbon dioxide emissions.

This study shows that air pollution can jeopardize this critical ecosystem service.

Urbanization, industrialization, burning fossil fuels and fires have led to an increase in "precursor" molecules—such as nitrogen oxides—that form ozone.

Reduced productivity and carbon drawdown of tropical forests from ground-level ozone exposure, Nature Geoscience (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41561-024-01530-1

Personal carbon footprint of the rich is vastly underestimated by rich and poor alike, study finds

The personal carbon footprint of the richest people in society is grossly underestimated, both by the rich themselves and by those on middle and lower incomes, no matter which country they come from. At the same time, both the rich and the poor drastically overestimate the carbon footprint of the poorest people.

An international group of researchers surveyed 4,000 people from Denmark, India, Nigeria and the United States about inequality in personal carbon footprints—the total amount of greenhouse gases produced by a person's activities—within their own country.

Although it is well-known that there is a large gap between the carbon footprint of the richest and poorest in society, it's been unclear whether individuals were aware of this inequality. The four countries chosen for the survey are all different in terms of wealth, lifestyle and culture. Survey participants also differed in their personal income, with half of participants belonging to the top 10% of income in their country.

The vast majority of participants across the four countries overestimated the average personal carbon footprint of the poorest 50% and underestimated those of the richest 10% and 1%.

However, participants from the top 10% were more likely to support certain climate policies, such as increasing the price of electricity during peak periods, taxing red meat consumption or subsidizing carbon dioxide removal technologies such as carbon capture and storage.

The researchers say that this may reflect generally higher education levels among high earners, a greater ability to absorb price-based policies or a stronger preference for technological solutions to the climate crisis. The results are reported in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Due to their greater financial and political influence, most climate policies reflect the interests of the richest in society and rarely involve fundamental changes to their lifestyles or social status.

Greater awareness and discussion of existing inequality in personal carbon footprints can help build political pressure to address these inequalities and develop climate solutions that work for all, say the researchers. 

Underestimation of personal carbon footprint inequality in four diverse countries, Nature Climate Change (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41558-024-02130-y

Five key factors that predict response of cancer patients to immunotherapy

A team of researchers  has identified five independent factors that predict cancer patients' response to checkpoint inhibitors (CPIs). The study, which has been published in Nature Genetics, validates these factors in more than 1,400 patients and diverse types of cancer. These findings provide a framework to interpret biomarkers of response to CPIs and suggest a future pathway to improve personalized cancer medicine.

Immunotherapy has transformed cancer treatment in recent years by enabling the immune system to attack tumor cells. However, only 20–40% of patients respond positively to immunotherapy, and these rates vary across different types of cancer.

Predicting which patients will respond to immunotherapy and which will not is currently a highly active area of research. Numerous studies conducted so far have focused on the specific characteristics of tumors, their microenvironment, or the patient's immune system. As a result, which of the proposed biomarkers represent the same underlying factors or how many independent factors influence the effectiveness of this therapy remains unclear.
Researchers have identified five key, independent factors that determine patients' response and survival after receiving checkpoint inhibitors (CPIs), a type of immunotherapy widely used in cancer treatment. These findings provide a reference framework for current and future biomarkers of immunotherapy response.

They could also, in the future, entail a pathway to a significant advancement in the personalization of cancer treatments, helping to more accurately identify those patients who are likely to benefit from immunotherapy. The results suggest that patients with certain types of tumors who are currently not considered candidates for immunotherapy (such as those with liver or kidney carcinomas) might benefit from this type of treatment.

Part 1

The five factors identified are tumor mutational burden; effective T cell infiltration; the activity of transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) in the tumor microenvironment; previous treatment received by the patient; and tumor proliferative potential. These factors in different types of cancer are associated with the response to CPIs and have been validated by the authors in six independent cohorts, covering a total of 1,491 patients.

Tumor mutational burden (TMB): Tumors with a high number of mutations tend to produce more neoantigens, making it easier for the immune system to recognize and attack them. TMB has been one of the most studied biomarkers for predicting response to CPIs.
Effective T-cell infiltration: The presence of cytotoxic T-cells in the tumor is essential for the effectiveness of CPIs. This study has confirmed that a higher infiltration of these cells is directly related to a better response to the therapy.
TGF-β activity in the tumor microenvironment: This factor influences the behavior of some cells in the tumor microenvironment. High TGF-β activity can suppress the immune response, which is reflected in a tendency for patients to have poorer survival after immunotherapy treatment.
Previous treatment: Patients who have received previous treatments tend to show a poorer response to immunotherapy.
Tumor proliferative potential: Patients with tumors that have a high proliferative index, which tend to be more aggressive, generally show poorer survival after treatment.
These five factors provide a framework for organizing the vast current knowledge about biomarkers of immunotherapy response.
Furthermore, the researchers demonstrated that a multivariate model combining these five factors allows for more accurate patient classification than using tumor mutational burden alone ( as is frequently done in clinical practice), predicting the probability of patients to respond to immunotherapy.

Five latent factors underlie response to immunotherapy, Nature Genetics (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41588-024-01899-0

Part 2

 Printing 3D photonic crystals that completely block light

Photonic crystals are materials with repeating internal structures that interact with light in unique ways. We can find natural examples in opals and the vibrant colored shells of some insects. Even though these crystals are made of transparent materials, they exhibit a "photonic bandgap" that blocks light at certain wavelengths and directions.

A special type of this effect is a "complete photonic bandgap," which blocks light from all directions. This complete bandgap allows for precise control of light, opening up possibilities for advancements in telecommunications, sensing, and quantum technologies. As a result, scientists have been working on different methods to create these advanced photonic crystals.

While 1D and 2D photonic crystals have been used in various applications, unlocking the secret to producing 3D photonic crystals with a complete photonic bandgap in the visible range has been fraught with challenges due to the need to achieve nanoscale precise control of all three dimensions in the fabrication process.

This is all set to change. In a study, "Printing of 3D photonic crystals in titania with complete bandgap across the visible spectrum" published in Nature Nanotechnology, researchers across institutions in Singapore and China have achieved an unprecedented feat. Led by Professor Joel Yang from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), the team has developed a revolutionary method to print 3D photonic crystals using a customized titanium resin.

Unlike in previous attempts, this new method has resulted in crystals that are of high resolution, possess a high refractive index, and feature a complete bandgap across the range of visible light. The innovation holds immense potential for transforming industries.

Wang Zhang et al, Printing of 3D photonic crystals in titania with complete bandgap across the visible spectrum, Nature Nanotechnology (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41565-024-01780-5

Fluorescent nanomaterial could transform how we visualize fingerprints

Researchers created a fluorescent nanoparticle using a combination of materials (MCM-41, chitosan and dansylglycine) to examine latent fingerprints. These nanoparticles have special properties that make them adhere well to fingerprint residues, even old ones.

The nanoparticles work on various surfaces, including metal, plastic, glass and complex objects such as polymer banknotes. They have the potential to be used directly at crime scenes without lab facilities, which is a significant advantage over some previous reagents. They produce high-quality fingerprint images for successful identification. 

This new method captures the finer details of a fingerprint, making it easier to identify individuals and is expected greatly to aid in forensic investigations. The research was published in a RSC Advances paper, highlighting that the new nanomaterial has proven to be a versatile and effective tool for visualizing fingerprint evidence. Small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) techniques at Diamond provided useful data to validate these results.

Lais F. A. M. Oliveira et al, Dansyl fluorophore functionalized hierarchically structured mesoporous silica nanoparticles as novel latent fingerprint development agents, RSC Advances (2024). DOI: 10.1039/D4RA03074E

Quantum researchers cause controlled 'wobble' in the nucleus of a single atom

Researchers have been able to initiate a controlled movement in the very heart of an atom. They caused the atomic nucleus to interact with one of the electrons in the outermost shells of the atom. This electron could be manipulated and read out through the needle of a scanning tunneling microscope.

The research, published in Nature Communications, offers prospects for storing quantum information inside the nucleus, where it is safe from external disturbances.

Lukas M. Veldman et al, Coherent spin dynamics between electron and nucleus within a single atom, Nature Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-52270-0

Geoscientists detect rapid uplift at a volcano in Tanzania

When a volcano is about to erupt, the surrounding land puffs up like a squeezed balloon. The technical term is "transient deformation," and  researchers have detected and tracked this short-lived movement for the first time using satellite observations of Ol Doinyo Lengai, an active Tanzanian volcano.

Their results appeared in a paper published earlier this summer in Geophysical Research Letters.

According to the study, increasing pressure inside a volcano's magma reservoir can cause the land to bulge. When the pressure decreases, the reservoir deflates again and the land falls back.

Researchers have been able to detect transient motion in volcanic activity, and this is a precursor for any kind of eruption.

This research could help  authorities have a better idea of what is happening with the volcano and take precautionary measures. 

Ntambila Daud et al, Detecting Transient Uplift at the Active Volcano Ol Doinyo Lengai in Tanzania With the TZVOLCANO Network, Geophysical Research Letters (2024). DOI: 10.1029/2023GL108097

Dams built to prevent coastal flooding can worsen it

The common practice of building dams to prevent flooding can actually contribute to more intense coastal flood events, according to a new study.

The study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, studied the effects of dams built in coastal estuaries, where rivers and ocean tides interact. Those massive infrastructure projects are surging in popularity globally, in part to help offset intensifying storms, salt intrusion and sea-level raise fueled by climate change.

By analyzing data and measurements from Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, dating back more than a century, researchers determined that coastal dams don't necessarily mitigate flooding. Dams can either increase or decrease flood risks, depending on the duration of a surge event and friction from the flow of water.

We usually think about storm surges becoming smaller as you go inland, but the shape of the basin can actually cause it to become larger.

Estuaries are typically shaped like a funnel, narrowing as they go inland. Introducing a dam shortens the estuary with an artificial wall that reflects storm surge waves moving inland. The narrowing channel shape also makes small reflections that change with the surge duration. Researchers  compared those storm-fueled waves to splashes in a bathtub, with certain wave frequencies causing water to slosh over the sides.

After using Charleston Harbor as a case study, researchers used computer modeling to gauge the flood response at 23 other estuaries in diverse geographic areas. Those encompassed both dammed and naturally occurring estuary systems, including Cook Inlet in Alaska.

The models confirmed that the basin shape and alterations that shorten it with a dam are the key component in determining how storm surges and tides move inland. At the right amplitude and duration, waves in dammed environments grow instead of diminishing.

The study also determined that areas far from coastal dams could still be directly influenced by human-created infrastructure.

Steven L. Dykstra et al, Reflection of Storm Surge and Tides in Convergent Estuaries With Dams, the Case of Charleston, USA, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans (2024). DOI: 10.1029/2023JC020498

How the immune system fails as cancer arises

Cancer has been described as "a wound that does not heal," implying that the immune system is unable to wipe out invading tumor cells. A new discovery confirms that a key molecule can reprogram immune cells that normally protect against infection and cancer, turning them into bad guys that promote cancer growth.

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How genes shape personality traits: New links discovered

Your DNA has long been known to play a role in shaping your personality. Now, researchers at Yale School of Medicine (YSM) have taken another step in determining exactly how by identifying a number of new genetic sites associated with specific personality traits. They published their findings in Nature Human Behaviour.

Social media became a storefront for deadly fake pills

Fentanyl overdoses have become a leading cause of death for minors in the last five years or so, even as overall drug use has dropped slightly. In a 2022 analysis of fentanyl-laced prescription pills, the DEA found that six out of 10 contained a potentially lethal dose of the drug.

And social media, where tainted, fake prescription drugs can be obtained with just a few clicks, is a big part of the problem. Experts, law enforcement and children's advocates say companies like Snap, TikTok, Telegram and Meta Platforms, which owns Instagram, are not doing enough to keep children safe.

The stories of these victims often play out similarly: The kids hear you can get pills on social media. A few taps later and then a package arrives. They retreat to the sanctity of their bedroom and take a pill. Fifteen minutes later, they're dead. No one even knows until the next morning.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-09-dealers-paradise-social-medi...

Flowers use adjustable 'paint by numbers' petal designs to attract pollinators

Flowers like hibiscus use an invisible blueprint established very early in petal formation that dictates the size of their bullseyes—a crucial pre-pattern that can significantly impact their ability to attract pollinating bees.

The study also found that bees prefer larger bullseyes over smaller ones and fly 25% faster between artificial flower disks with larger bullseyes—potentially boosting efficiency for both bees and blossoms. The findings are published in Science Advances.

Patterns on the flowers of plants guide insects, like bees, to the center of the flower, where nectar and pollen await, enhancing the plant's chances of successful pollination. 

Finding out how these petal patterns form and how they have evolved into the vast diversity we see today, including spots, stripes, veins, and bullseyes is an interesting subject. 

: Researchers compared the relative success of the bullseye patterns in attracting pollinators using artificial flower discs that mimicked the three different bullseye dimensions. The bees not only preferred the medium and larger bullseyes over the small bullseye, they were also 25% quicker visiting these larger flower discs. Credit: Lucie Riglet

Using a small hibiscus plant as a model, researchers compared closely related plants with the same flower size but three differently sized bullseye patterns featuring a dark purple center surrounded by white—H. richardsonii (small bullseye covering 4% of the flower disk), H. trionum (medium bullseye covering 16%) and a transgenic line (mutation) of H. trionum (large bullseye covering 36%).

They found that a pre-pattern is set up on the petal surface very early in the flower's formation, long before the petal shows any visible color. The petal acts like a 'paint-by-numbers' canvas, where different regions are predetermined to develop specific colors and textures long before they start looking different from one another.

Part 1

Lucie Riglet et al, Hibiscus bullseyes reveal mechanisms controlling petal pattern proportions that influence plant-pollinator interactions, Science Advances (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adp5574. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adp5574

Part 2

Potential cause of vascular disease

Researchers have identified a key driver of a blood vessel disorder known as fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) which affects up to 5% of the adult population and can lead to high blood pressure, heart attack, or stroke.

In a study published September 13 in Nature Cardiovascular Research, the team said changes in the gene UBR4 played an important role as a key driver of FMD. They suggested the discovery could be an important step toward developing a therapeutic approach for the disorder.

Fibromuscular dysplasia involves abnormal cell growth in the walls of the arteries, including the carotid, renal, and coronary arteries. Though anyone can develop the condition, it has a distinct sexual bias, affecting women in about 90% of cases. Unlike other vascular diseases such as atherosclerosis, FMD is not caused by a build-up of plaque, and many people are unaware they have the disorder.

Among the serious medical conditions it can lead to—depending on which artery is affected—are aneurysm (bulging and weakening of the artery), dissection (tearing of the arterial wall), stroke, and heart attack. Restricted blood flow from FMD can also result in high blood pressure, pulsatile tinnitus (whooshing sound in the ears that occurs with each heart beat), and migraine headaches.

Researchers used skin biopsies from 83 women with FMD as well as from 71 healthy female controls to obtain and grow fibroblast cells, which then underwent gene sequencing to pinpoint the genetic differences between patients and the matched healthy controls.

Applying advanced statistical methods known as "systems biology" enabled the scientists to create the first-ever mouse models that recapitulated certain aspects of the disease in humans, and to uncover important insights into its causal pathways and disease drivers.

"These insights included the finding that changes in UBR4 levels—which cause significant changes in the expression levels of other genes in the FMD-associated supernetwork—collectively led to major changes in vascular cell function.

These alterations in turn led to a demonstrable widening of the arteries in mice, which is one of the features of FMD in humans.

By identifying a gene and its gene regulatory network that appear to account for a significant portion of FMD heritability, scientists think they have taken a major step toward a therapeutic solution.

 Integrative Gene Regulatory Network Analysis Discloses Key Driver Genes of Fibromuscular Dysplasia, Nature Cardiovascular Research (2024).

Earth to have new mini-moon for two months

A pair of asteroid dynamics researchers  have found that a small asteroid will make one orbit around the Earth starting this month before departing back into other parts of the solar system.

In their paper published in the journal Research Notes of the AAS, the researchers describe how the Earth tends to capture asteroids on a regular basis and outline their calculations showing the path of 2024 PT₅ as it comes close to Earth.

Prior research has shown that many asteroids fall into partial or full elliptical paths around the Earth before eventually being flung away. Back in 2006, for example, a small asteroid circled the Earth for approximately a year—and another one did so for several years before leaving in 2020.
In this new effort, the researchers were looking at a small asteroid that was discovered last month as part of the Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System. Prior research had shown that the asteroid was not on a collision course with Earth, and the researchers suspected it might instead become bound by the planet's gravity for a while.

The researchers noted that the asteroid is small, only 10 meters across. By noting its current size, speed and path, the pair were able to calculate its path over the next few months. They found that it was going to come close enough to the Earth to become bound by its gravity, if only for a couple of months.

Their work shows that it will circle the Earth one time, taking 53 days, starting at the end of this month and then leaving near the middle of November.
The researchers  found that it likely came from the Arjuna asteroid belt, which is made up of many asteroids with orbits around the sun similar to Earth's. 

Carlos de la Fuente Marcos et al, A Two-month Mini-moon: 2024 PT₅ Captured by Earth from September to November, Research Notes of the AAS (2024). DOI: 10.3847/2515-5172/ad781f

Swallowing triggers a release of serotonin, research reveals

Why do you eat and what makes you eat more?

Researchers have identified an important control circuit involved in the eating process. The study has revealed that fly larvae have special sensors, or receptors, in their esophagus that are triggered as soon as the animal swallows something. If the larva has swallowed food, they tell the brain to release serotonin. This messenger substance—which is often also referred to as the feel-good hormone—ensures that the larva continues to eat.

The researchers assume that humans also have a very similar control circuit. The results were published in the journal Current Biology.

 It's the good feeling you have after swallowing that is largely responsible for you continuing to eat.

Researchers  identified a sort of "stretch receptor" in the esophagus. It is wired to a group of six neurons in the larva's brain that are able to produce serotonin. This neuromodulator is also sometimes called the "feel-good hormone." It ensures, for example, that we feel rewarded for certain actions and are encouraged to continue doing them.

The serotonin neurons receive additional information about what the animal has just swallowed. They can detect whether it is food or not and also evaluate its quality.

This mechanism is of such fundamental importance that it probably also exists in humans. If it is defective, it could potentially cause eating disorders such as anorexia or binge eating. It may therefore be possible that the results of this basic research could also have implications for the treatment of such disorders.

Andreas Schoofs et al, Serotonergic modulation of swallowing in a complete fly vagus nerve connectome, Current Biology (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.08.025

Ingredient in hair dye led to a woman's vision loss

An ingredient in the hair dye a French woman used caused her to develop a vision-robbing retinopathy, researchers report.

When she switched to a dye without these ingredients, called aromatic amines, her vision troubles resolved, according to a team led by Dr. Nicolas Chirpaz, an ophthalmologist at Edouard Herriot Hospital, in Lyon.

Such cases could be rare, the researchers said, but spreading awareness of the danger "may allow prompt consideration to remove exposure to such hair dye" so eyes aren't permanently damaged, Chirpaz and colleagues said.

They published their case report Sept. 12 in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology.

As the French team noted, this isn't the first time hair dye has been linked to retinopathy: Three prior cases were reported in 2022 among "middle-aged women following exposure to hair dyes containing aromatic amines."

In the latest case, a 61-year-old woman with no prior history of vision trouble came to doctors with progressively blurry vision in both eyes "a few days after dyeing her hair with hair dye containing aromatic amines," Chirpaz' group said. The aromatic amine in the dye used in this case was para-phenylenediamine.

Upon examination, the woman was found to have multiple retinal detachments that resembled the damage that can occur in retinopathies that are tied to certain enzymes found in the eye, called MEK1 or MEK2.

The woman's eyes also displayed an unhealthy "thickening of the neurosensory retina," the French team found.

Tests were conducted to rule out a host of possible causes, including infections and even cancer. In the end, retinal damage caused by the ingredient in hair dye was "diagnosed based on the temporal association between symptoms and hair dye exposure," the team said.

The woman soon switched her brand of hair dye, and her vision returned to 20/20 within a month. "Four years later, the patient reported using aromatic amines–free hair dye and has not experienced any recurrence," the study authors said.

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Aromatic amine chemicals such as para-phenylenediamine "disrupt" a neurochemical pathway that's essential to the health of what are known as retinal pigment epithelial cells.

Cases of "retinopathy associated with the use of hair dye aromatic amines [RAHDAA]" remain rare, but doctors should be on the alert to the possibility when people show up with any retinopathy that doesn't have an easy explanation, the French team said.

Nicolas Chirpaz et al, Retinopathy Associated With Hair Dye, JAMA Ophthalmology (2024). DOI: 10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2024.3453

Part 2

The perils of space walk

A tech billionaire has become the first layperson to perform a space walk. Hundreds of miles above Earth, Jared Isaacman took part in an intricate performance of science and engineering that often comes with some serious health risks, even for professional astronauts.

At one point during the spacewalk, you're going to be hot, you're going to be cold, your hands are going to hurt.

During a space walk in 2013, Parmitano's ( Italian astronaut) cooling system suffered a major malfunction—his helmet was filling with water, creeping up his skin and over his head because of the capillary pressure at zero G.

"It covered my eyes, it covered my ears, it went inside my nose," he said. Then, his radio stopped working.

"I was on my own, isolated," he continued. "I couldn't see anything, I couldn't hear, I couldn't talk."

Major, potentially dangerous, malfunctions during a spacewalk were not pioneered by Parmitano though. Astronauts have been overcoming similar dangers for years.

Of the nine space walks (EVAs) that took place during project Gemini, three of them actually ended early due to concerns over health and safety.

Gene Cernan found himself nearly unable to move during a venture into the void during Gemini 9. The metallic coating on his suit restricted his movement more than anticipated, and the suit's interior was quickly heating up.

He started to sweat profusely and the moisture in the suit started to fog his visor.

But that was decades ago. How dangerous are spacewalks today?

Roughly 20% of spacewalks encounter problems.

But will laypeople, those with no experience or proper training in space walking, be able to correct major malfunctions as well as tried-and-tested astronauts like Parmitano?

To safely return to his shuttle after his helmet began filling with water, blinding him, he had to retrace his steps back to his airlock from memory!

He doesn't take any specific credit for keeping his cool because he'd been trained his whole adult life to perform in relatively risky situations (he is an Italian Air Force colonel and test pilot)

Could you die during a space walk? It's not likely, according to NASA, because adventures outside the craft are often canceled on a moment's notice over technical malfunctions and health scares.

Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Chia (Salvia hispanica) and basil (Ocimum basilicum) seeds have the intrinsic ability to form a hydrogel concomitant with moisture-retention, slow releasing capability and proposed health benefits such as curbing diabetes and obesity by delaying digestion process.

Basil seeds absorb water by expanding into a gum-like substance called basil seed gum (BSG). The seeds' exocarp contains a layer of polysaccharides that quickly expand into BSG when the seeds are soaked in water. BSG is a natural plant-based colloid with strong hydration capabilities.

Basil seeds, also known as Sabja or Tukmaria seeds, swell up when soaked in water and develop a gelatinous outer layer. This gel-like coating helps to keep the body hydrated for longer periods, making it an excellent choice for combating dehydration during hot weather.

Ignore antifungal resistance in fungal disease at your peril, warn scientists

Without immediate action, humanity will potentially face further escalation in resistance in fungal disease, a group of scientists from across the world has warned.

According to scientists, most fungal pathogens identified by the World Health Organization—accounting for around 3.8 million deaths a year—are either already resistant or rapidly acquiring resistance to antifungal drugs. The authors argue that the currently narrow focus on bacteria will not fully combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

September's United Nations meeting on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) must, they demand, include resistance developed in many fungal pathogens.

Resistance is nowadays the rule rather than the exception for the four currently available antifungal classes, making it difficult—if not impossible—to treat many invasive fungal infections. Fungicide resistant infections include Aspergillus, Candida, Nakaseomyces glabratus, and Trichophyton indotineae, all of which can have devastating health impacts on older or immunocompromised people.

Most people agree that resistant bacterial infections constitute a significant part of the AMR problem. However, many drug resistance problems over the past decades have also been the result of invasive fungal diseases largely underrecognized by scientists, governments, clinicians and pharmaceutical companies. The threat of fungal pathogens and antifungal resistance, even though it is a growing global issue, is being left out of the debate.

Unlike bacteria, the close similarities between fungal and human cells which, say the experts, means it is hard to find treatments that selectively inhibit fungi with minimal toxicity to patients.

Despite the huge difficulties in developing them, several promising new agents, including entirely new classes of molecules, have entered clinical trials in recent years.

But even before they reach the market after years of development, fungicides with similar modes of action are developed by the agrochemical industry, resulting in cross-resistance. That sets us back to square one again. It is true many essential crops are affected by fungi, so antifungal protection is required for food security. But the question is, at what price?

The scientists recommend:

Worldwide agreement on restricting the use of certain classes of antifungal molecules for specific applications.

Collaboration on solutions and regulations that ensure food security and universal health for animals, plants, and humans.

Adding priority to AMR to fungal infections at the UN's meeting in September.

Norman van Rhijn et al, Beyond bacteria: the growing threat of antifungal resistance, The Lancet (2024). DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(24)01695-7

New Blood Cell 'Coats' Could Allow Cross-Species Transfusions

Chronic blood shortages are driving a search for a universal blood system that would allow doctors to save more lives. Researchers may have just brought us a step closer, by creating miniscule silicon coats for donated blood cells to wear. Incredibly, the new nanotechnology allowed biomedical engineers to successfully transfuse blood between species.

Silicified red blood cells not only escape immune activation in different species, but also function perfectly for oxygen transport," the research team writes in their paper.

By building a silicon coating for blood cells, Lei and team were able to cover the surface proteins that our bodies use to recognize blood types. This allows a different blood type to be safely used, including blood from another species.

The team successfully transfused these silicon clothed human blood cells into mice.

The best part: in every test so far, the cloaked cells otherwise act just like naked red blood cells. Their membrane remains intact, they can still float through blood plasma, produce their usual cellular fuel, and carry vital oxygen to where it's needed.

"The silicified blood retains all essential functions of red blood cells, has superior mechanical properties, is resistant to adverse environmental conditions, can be stored for extended periods, and is highly effective in preventing immune system activation," the research team explains.

The authors have identified an opportunity to reduce blood usage by providing an alternative fluid to store donor organs in.

Artificially pumping blood through these organs keeps them alive for long enough to be transplanted, but it uses a lot of blood. With the silicon coat strategy, it might be possible to tap into animal sources instead of using limited human blood supplies.

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