Over 3,600 food packaging chemicals found in human bodies

More than 3,600 chemicals used in food packaging or preparation have been detected in human bodies, some of which are hazardous to health, while little is known about others, a study said this week.

Around 100 of these chemicals are considered to be of "high concern" to human health.

Some of these chemicals are relatively well-studied and have already been found in human bodies, such as PFAS "forever chemicals" and bisphenol A—both of which are the target of bans.

But little is known about the health effects of others.

The researchers had previously catalogued around 14,000 food contact chemicals (FCCs), which are capable of "migrating" into food from packaging made of plastic, paper, glass, metal or other materials.

They can also come from other parts of the food-making process, such as from conveyer belts or kitchen utensils.

The researchers then searched for these chemicals in existing biomonitoring databases, which track chemicals in human samples.

The team was expecting to find a few hundred FCCs. Instead, they were surprised to find 3,601—a quarter of all the known FCCs.

However, this study could not show that all these chemicals necessarily ended up in bodies from food packaging, as "other exposure sources are possible".

Among the "high concern" chemicals were numerous PFAS, also known as forever chemicals, which have been detected in many parts of the human body in recent years and linked to a range of health problems.

Also detected was bisphenol A, a hormone-disrupting chemical used to make plastics that has already been banned from baby bottles in many countries.

Another hormone-disrupting chemical was phthalates, which has been linked to infertility.

Less is known about oligomers, which are also byproducts of plastic production.

When it comes to toxicology, an old saying is that "the dose makes the poison".

A limitation of the study was that it could not say whether there were particularly high concentrations of any of the chemicals.

Experts warned that  these chemicals can interact with each other, pointing to a single sample that had up to 30 different PFAS.

They recommended that people reduce their contact time with packaging—and to avoid heating up food in the packaging it came in.

This work is to raise awareness that the way we package our food is... going in a direction which is not good for the environment and human health.

Evidence for widespread human exposure to food contact chemicals, Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41370-024-00718-2

How bacteria age

Any organism that lives, grows and reproduces must also age. People often think of aging in the physical sense—gray hair, slowed movements and wrinkles—but aging fundamentally occurs on a molecular level, inside of cells.

As organisms age, their cells accumulate damage that impairs functioning. Molecular damage is implicated in many age-related conditions in humans and is equally relevant for single-celled organisms. While they may not "look" their age, bacteria feel the passage of time too.

Bacteria differ from us in many ways, including in their modes of growth and reproduction. Unlike humans and other animals, single-celled organisms, such as bacteria and some fungi, can undergo a process called binary fission to reproduce, meaning that they duplicate their DNA and then split in two. Replication via binary fission can be very fast—the fastest-growing bacterium we know of can divide in less than 10 minutes.

Considering our very different ways of life, it might seem difficult to apply the concept of aging to bacteria. Indeed, it was long thought that bacteria and other organisms that reproduce via binary fission do not age at all. This was because binary fission was thought to be a symmetrical division, producing a parent and offspring identical in age, thus leading to what scientists call 'functional immortality' for the population.

On the other hand, asymmetric division, whereby the parent is older than the offspring, was thought to be required for an organism to be able to age at all.

Evidence against the accepted immortality paradigm first came in 2005, when scientists showed that Escherichia coli actually exhibits differences between "old" and "new" in parent and offspring cells, respectively. By following dividing cells with a microscope, the researchers could show that the older cells' growth rate and offspring production decline over time, and that they die more frequently than their younger offspring cells. Thus, despite looking the same, the cells undergo divisions that leave them functionally asymmetric, causing cells to age over time.

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Asymmetric division does damage control
Using mathematical models and data from the 2005 study, other scientists later showed that asymmetry is important for the whole population, as it elevates the population's fitness by maintaining variance. Variance is what natural selection acts upon, and more variation in a population generally equates with a better chance of survival in changeable conditions.

This study was important for reconciling previously conflicting views about bacterial aging and showing how important aging can be on an evolutionary level.

But how does asymmetric division help to keep populations fit? Part of the answer lies in protein aggregation, a contributor to aging in both bacteria and eukaryotic cells. Protein aggregation is implicated in many age-related diseases in humans, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, as these aggregates can be toxic and cause cells to die.
Proteins also aggregate in E. coli, as researchers showed using fluorescent molecules that attach to aggregates, but are cleverly dealt with to minimize damage. As a feature of asymmetric division, older cells accumulate proteins to segregate the age-related damage, keeping their offspring looking "younger," molecularly speaking.
Stress ages bacteria and humans alike
Stress is another factor that is thought to contribute to aging in humans, and a 2024 paper suggests that the same is true for our bacterial companion, E. coli. Like any kind of cells, E. coli cells accumulate mutations throughout their lifetimes.
Some of these mutations may be nonlethal but still negatively impact the cell's fitness, for example, causing an important protein to lose its function. Such deleterious loss-of-function mutations can kickstart a stress state inside the cell that ultimately helps it to survive the mutation.

The researchers analyzed the effects of over 60 different nonlethal loss-of-function mutations in E. coli, focusing on mutants with non-functional ATP synthases, large protein complexes that allow cells to generate energy in the form of ATP.

These mutants were found to increase their metabolic activity to compensate for the mutation, which comes at a cost—they grow slower, and some enter a purgatory-like, "postreplicative" state faster than non-mutants, especially if their surroundings are nutrient-poor.
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Considering their findings, the researchers suggested that there is an "aging cost" that comes with maintaining resistance to stress on a population level. Besides shedding light on a potentially ancient mechanism of aging, the factors that contribute to bacterial aging could be investigated as new antibiotic targets.

Additionally, some human diseases are also perpetuated through cellular stress states, and understanding how these work on a molecular level could lead to the development of new treatments.

Time waits for no one, not even bacteria—and that's a good thing. Far from immortal beings beyond the reaches of aging, bacteria are an interesting system in which to study the molecular mechanisms that contribute to age-related decline.

Their rapid and robust growth means we can observe many generations in a relatively short experiment and test the effects of all kinds of environmental and genetic factors on the complex process of aging.

Source:  American Society for Microbiology
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Why some organs age faster than others: Scientists discover hidden mutations in non-coding DNA

The accumulation of mutations in DNA is often mentioned as an explanation for the aging process, but it remains just one hypothesis among many. A team of researchers has identified a mechanism that explains why certain organs, such as the liver, age more rapidly than others.

The mechanism reveals that damages to non-coding DNA, which are often hidden, accumulate more in slowly proliferating tissues, such as those of the liver or kidneys. Unlike in organs that regenerate frequently, these damages remain undetected for a long time and prevent cell division. These results, published in the journal Cell, open new avenues for understanding cellular aging and potentially slowing it down.

Our organs and tissues do not all age at the same rate. Aging, marked by an increase in senescent cells—cells that are unable to divide and have lost their functions—affects the liver or kidneys more rapidly than the skin or intestine.

The mechanisms that contribute to this process are the subject of much debate within the scientific community. While it is widely accepted that damage to the genetic material (DNA), which accumulates with age, is at the root of aging, the link between the two phenomena remains unclear.

DNA molecules contain coding regions—the genes that code for proteins—and non-coding regions that are involved in the mechanisms that regulate or organize the genome. Constantly damaged by external and internal factors, the cell has DNA repair systems that prevent the accumulation of errors.

Errors located in the coding regions are detected when genes are transcribed, i.e. when they are activated. Errors in non-coding regions are detected during cell renewal, which requires the creation of a new copy of the genome each time, via the process of DNA replication. However, cell renewal does not occur with the same frequency depending on the type of tissue or organ.

Tissues and organs that are in constant contact with the outside environment, such as the skin or intestine, renew their cells (and therefore replicate their DNA) more often—once or twice a week—than internal organs, such as the liver or kidneys, whose cells proliferate only a few times per year.

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By mapping for the first time the sites at which DNA replication starts in liver cells that regenerate after ablation, the scientists discovered that these are always located in non-coding regions. It was also observed that replication initiation was much more efficient in young mice than in old mice.

"These non-coding regions are not subject to regular error checking and therefore accumulate damage over time. After removal of the liver in young mice there is still little damage and DNA replication is possible. On the contrary, when the experiment is carried out in old mice, the excessive number of errors accumulated over time triggers an alarm system that prevents DNA replication.

This block of DNA replication prevents cells from proliferating, leading to degradation of cell functions and tissue senescence.

These observations could help explain why slowly proliferating tissues, such as the liver, age faster than rapidly proliferating tissues, such as the intestine. In cells that have remained dormant for long periods, too many cryptic DNA lesions have accumulated in the non-coding regions, which contain the origins of replication, and prevent replication from being triggered. In rapidly proliferating tissues, on the other hand, little damage accumulates thanks to frequent cell renewal, and the origins of replication retain their efficiency.

 In vivo DNA replication dynamics unveil aging-dependent replication stress, Cell (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2024.08.034. www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(24)00963-2

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Surprising sounds could cause riskier decision-making

When you make a decision, certain neurons in your brain emit short bursts of the neurotransmitter dopamine. A new  study shows that when other factors wholly unrelated to the decision at hand—such as an unexpected sound—trigger these dopamine bursts it can lead to riskier decision-making.

The findings demonstrate how sounds around us may affect our choices and could also help researchers better understand dopamine systems in the brain and how they contribute to conditions like schizophrenia and depression.

Gloria W. Feng et al, Surprising sounds influence risky decision making, Nature Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-51729-4

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Why petting your cat leads to static electricity

Anyone who has ever pet a cat or shuffled their feet across the carpet knows that rubbing objects together generates static electricity. 

Scientists  have  uncovered the mechanics at play now. 

When an object slides, the front and back parts of that object experience different forces, researchers found. This difference in forces causes different electrical charges to build up on the front and back parts of the object. And the difference in electrical charges creates a current, leading to a light zap.

The study was published in the journal Nano Letters.

The  answer is surprisingly simple. Just having different deformations—and therefore different charges—at the front and back of something sliding leads to current.

Karl P. Olson et al, What Puts the "Tribo" in Triboelectricity?, Nano Letters (2024). DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c03656

Earth may once have had a ring like Saturn

The rings of Saturn are among the most famous and spectacular features in the solar system. Earth may once have had something similar, say researchers.

The existence of such a ring, forming around 466 million years ago and persisting for a few tens of millions of years, could explain several puzzles in our planet's past.

Around 466 million years ago, a lot of meteorites started hitting Earth. We know this because many impact craters formed in a geologically brief period.
In the same period we also find deposits of limestone across Europe, Russia and China containing very high levels of debris from a certain type of meteorite. The meteorite debris in these sedimentary rocks show signs that they were exposed to space radiation for much less time than we see in meteorites that fall today.

Many tsunamis also occurred at this time, as can be seen from other unusual jumbled up sedimentary rocks.

We think all these features are likely related to one another. But what links them together?
Part 1

Using models of how Earth's tectonic plates moved in the past, researchers mapped out where all these craters were when they first formed. We found all of the craters are on continents that were close to the equator in this period, and none are in places that were closer to the poles.
They measured how much of Earth's land surface suitable for preserving a crater was near the equator at that time. Only about 30% of the suitable land was close to the equator, with 70% at higher latitudes.
Under normal circumstances, asteroids hitting Earth can hit at any latitude, at random, as we see in craters on the moon, Mars and Mercury.

So it's extremely unlikely that all 21 craters from this period would form close to the equator if they were unrelated to one another. We would expect to see many other craters at higher latitudes as well.

The researchers think the best explanation for all this evidence is that a large asteroid broke up during a close encounter with Earth. Over several tens of millions of years, the asteroid's debris rained down onto Earth, creating the pattern of craters, sediments and tsunamis described above.
You may know that Saturn isn't the only planet with rings. Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus have less obvious rings, too. Some scientists have even suggested that Phobos and Deimos, the small moons of Mars, may be remnants of an ancient ring.

So we know a lot about how rings form. Here's how it works.
Part 2

When a small body (like an asteroid) passes close to a large body (like a planet), it gets stretched by gravity. If it gets close enough (inside a distance called the Roche limit), the small body will break apart into lots of tiny pieces and a small number of bigger pieces.

All those fragments will be jostled around and gradually evolved into a debris ring orbiting the equator of the larger body. Over time, the material in the ring will fall down to the larger body, where the larger pieces will form impact craters. These craters will be located close to the equator.

So if Earth destroyed and captured a passing asteroid around 466 million years ago, it would explain the anomalous locations of the impact craters, the meteorite debris in sedimentary rocks, craters and tsunamis, and the meteorites' relatively brief exposure to space radiation.
Back then, the continents were in different positions due to continental drift. Much of North America, Europe and Australia were close to the equator, whereas Africa and South America were at higher southern latitudes.

The ring would have been around the equator. And since Earth's axis is tilted relative to its orbit around the sun, the ring would have shaded parts of Earth's surface.

This shading in turn might have caused global cooling, as less sunlight reached the planet's surface.

This brings us to another interesting puzzle. Around 465 million years ago, our planet began cooling dramatically. By 445 million years ago it was in the Hirnantian Ice Age, the coldest period in the past half a billion years.

Was a ring shading Earth responsible for this extreme cooling? The next step in our scientific sleuthing is to make mathematical models of how asteroids break up and disperse, and how the resulting ring evolves over time. This will set the scene for climate modeling that explores how much cooling could be imposed by such a ring.

 Andrew G. Tomkins et al, Evidence suggesting that earth had a ring in the Ordovician, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2024.118991

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Metals in the body from pollutants associated with progression of harmful plaque buildup in the arteries

Metal exposure from environmental pollution is associated with increased buildup of calcium in the coronary arteries at a level that is comparable to traditional risk factors like smoking and diabetes, according to a study.

The findings support the fact that metals in the body are associated with the progression of plaque buildup in the arteries and potentially provide a new strategy for managing and preventing atherosclerosis. The results are published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

These findings highlight the importance of considering metal exposure as a significant risk factor for atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease

Atherosclerosis is a condition where the arteries become narrowed and hardened due to a buildup of plaque, which can restrict blood flow and cause clots to form. It's an underlying cause of heart attacks, strokes and peripheral artery disease (PAD), the most common forms of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Atherosclerosis causes coronary artery calcium (CAC), which can be measured non-invasively over time to predict future cardiac events.

Widespread cadmium, tungsten, uranium, cobalt, copper, and zinc pollution occurs from agricultural and industrial uses such as fertilizers, batteries, oil production, welding, mining, and nuclear energy production. Tobacco smoke is the main source of cadmium exposure.

Results provided evidence that metal exposure may be associated with atherosclerosis over 10 years by increasing coronary calcification.

Urinary Metal Levels and Coronary Artery Calcification: Longitudinal Evidence in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, Journal of the American College of Cardiology (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.jacc.2024.07.020

Ocean waves grow way beyond known limits, new research finds

Scientists have discovered that ocean waves may become far more extreme and complex than previously imagined.

The new study, published in Nature recently, reveals that under specific conditions, where waves meet each other from different directions, waves can reach heights four times steeper than what was once thought possible.

It has often been assumed that waves are two-dimensional and understanding of wave breaking to-date has been based on these assumptions. Yet in the ocean, waves can travel in many directions and rarely fit this simplified model.

This new research  reveals that three-dimensional waves, which have more complex, multidirectional movements, can be twice as steep before breaking compared to conventional two-dimensional waves, and even more surprisingly, continue to grow even steeper even after breaking has occurred.

The findings could have implications for how offshore structures are designed, weather forecasting and climate modeling, while also affecting our fundamental understanding of several ocean processes.

 Mark McAllister, Three-dimensional wave breaking, Nature (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07886-z. www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07886-z

"Scuba-diving'' lizards use bubble to breathe underwater and avoid predators

Presenting the world's smallest (and scrappiest) scuba diver: A species of semi-aquatic lizard produces a special bubble over its nostrils to breathe underwater and avoid predators, according to new research.

Water anoles is a type of semi-aquatic lizard found in the tropical forests of southern Costa Rica.

They can stay underwater for a really long time. We also know that they're pulling oxygen from this bubble of air.

“Scuba diving” lizard can stay underwater for 16 to 20 minutes

Lizard skin is hydrophobic. Typically, that allows air to stick very tightly to the skin and permits this bubble to form. But when you cover the skin with an emollient, air no longer sticks to the skin surface, so the bubbles can't form.

This is really significant because this is the first experiment that truly shows the adaptive significance of bubbles. Rebreathing bubbles allows lizards to stay underwater longer.

Part 1

The study confirmed that the bubble helps lizards stay underwater for longer periods, providing them with a refuge from predators.

So by jumping in the water, they can escape a lot of their predators, and they remain very still underwater. They're pretty well camouflaged underwater as well, and they just stay underwater until that danger passes. We know that they can stay underwater at least about 20 minutes, but probably longer.

Novel rebreathing adaptation extends dive time in a semi-aquatic lizard, Biology Letters (2024). DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0371. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi … .1098/rsbl.2024.0371

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Highly-sensitive beaks could help albatrosses and penguins find their food

Researchers have discovered that seabirds, including penguins and albatrosses, have highly-sensitive regions in their beaks that could be used to help them find food. This is the first time this ability has been identified in seabirds.

An international team of researchers, led by the University of Cambridge, studied over 350 species of modern birds and found that seabirds have a high density of sensory receptors and nerves at the tip of their beaks, which has been previously identified in specialized tactile foragers such as ducks.

The researchers say this touch-sensitive region could have come from a common ancestor, and further work is needed to determine whether it serves a specific function in modern birds. Further study of their beaks and food-gathering behavior could help conserve some of these birds, many of which are at threat of extinction. The results are reported in the journal Biology Letters.

Tactile bill-tip organs in seabirds suggests conservation of a deep avian symplesiomorphy, Biology Letters (2024). DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0259. royalsocietypublishing.org/doi … .1098/rsbl.2024.0259

Discarding the placenta after birth leads to loss of valuable information, pathologists say

In an article published September 18 in Trends in Molecular Medicine, physician-scientists argue that with most placentas discarded after birth, placental pathology is underutilized clinically, should be a routine part of obstetric and neonatal care, and also deserves more research attention.

Placentas should not be considered a waste tissue, they say, because they can teach us a lot about not just what went wrong in a pregnancy, but also inform about subsequent pregnancies for the health of the pregnant person and baby.

The placenta is critical for the exchange of nutrients and waste products between the developing offspring and the pregnant person. If the placenta becomes diseased, it can impact the parent and offspring, both during pregnancy and later in life.

At its most severe, placental pathology can cause stillbirths, and this is the medical scenario in which placentas are most often examined clinically. However, different types of placental pathology are also associated with small birth size and neurological issues in infants, and with hypertension (preeclampsia) and other cardiovascular issues in the parent.

Placental pathology can potentially identify not just the cause of an adverse outcome in the baby, but also insight into why something happened in the mom, and what that means for their health in the future.

Incorporating placental pathology into clinical care and research, Trends in Molecular Medicine (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.molmed.2024.08.002

Iron given through the vein found to correct anemia in pregnant women faster than iron taken orally

A sizable proportion of pregnant women in proceed to give birth while still anemic despite taking iron tablets for prevention during pregnancy. Some reasons for this are that some women do not tolerate the tablets because of side effects like diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting, or they forget to take the tablets.

Available iron preparations given through drip in some countries like iron dextran have been associated with high risk of severe side effects, while iron sucrose needs repeat dosing. There is a need for an effective and safer alternative to overcome these problems.

Anemia (low blood level) is a common cause of ill-health or death in mothers and their babies, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia where more than four out of 10 pregnant women have the condition.

Researchers found that a medicine called ferric carboxymaltose given in drip through the vein works faster and better than an iron tablet taken by mouth for the treatment of anemia—and it is as safe as the tablet. The findings were published in Lancet Global Health in a paper titled "Intravenous versus oral iron for anemia among pregnant Nigerian women (IVON): an open label randomised controlled trial."

 Intravenous versus oral iron for anaemia among pregnant Nigerian women (IVON): an open label randomised controlled trial, The Lancet Global Health (2024). DOI: 10.1016/S2214-109X(24)00239-0. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan … (24)00239-0/fulltext

How AI can help researchers make esophageal cancer less deadly

Approximately 600 times a day, the esophagus ferries whatever is in your mouth down to your stomach. It's usually a one-way route, but sometimes acid escapes the stomach and travels back up. That can damage the cells lining the esophagus, prompting them to grow back with genetic mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes culminate in cancer.

Esophageal cancer can be cured if it's discovered and treated before it burrows in deep or spreads to other organs. But that's rarely the case.

To improve on that situation, doctors say they don't necessarily need better medicines. What they need are better ways to find the cancer while it's still in its earliest, highly treatable stages.

And to do that, they need a breakthrough in screening for the disease.

Screening someone for esophageal cancer is not a trivial procedure.

The standard method involves inserting an endoscope—a flexible tube with a camera on one end—into a patient's throat and threading it down to the stomach. The camera allows doctors to inspect the esophagus up close and check for abnormal cells that could become cancerous.

The tube also serves as a conduit for tools that can collect tissue samples, which can be sent to a pathology lab for diagnostic analysis. If a doctor sees a growth that looks like early-stage cancer, it can be removed on the spot.

Part 1

It sounds straightforward, but patients must be sedated for the procedure, which means they lose a day of work. Endoscopy is also expensive, and there's a shortage of doctors who can do it.

We're only catching 7% of cancers through endoscopy.

Doctors are turning to  artificial intelligence to identify additional characteristics that can improve their ability to identify those most likely to have Barrett's and esophageal cancer.

Researchers are developing an AI tool that scours the electronic medical records of  patients to find those who should be screened for Barrett's. The tool considers more than 7,500 distinct data points, including past medical procedures, lab test results, prescriptions and more. (Among the surprises: A patient's triglycerides and electrolytes had predictive value.)

This is probably something a human would not be able to do efficiently.

In tests, the overall accuracy of the tools was 84%. While those are substantial improvements, the team would like to bump that up to 90% .

Source: LA times

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Bacterial infections could be trigger for type 1 diabetes, new research suggests

For the first time, scientists have found that proteins from bacteria can trigger the immune system to attack insulin-producing cells, leading to the development of type 1 diabetes.

The new research showed that killer T-cells—a type of white blood cell that's involved in tackling bacterial infections—can cause type 1 diabetes when activated by bacteria. The researchers showed that proteins from bacterial species known to infect humans could generate killer T-cells that could kill insulin-producing cells.

This research expands on their previous studies, which demonstrated that killer T-cells play a major role in initiating type 1 diabetes by killing insulin producing cells. 

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that usually affects children and young adults, where the cells that produce insulin are attacked by the patient's own immune system. This leads to a lack of insulin, meaning that people living with type 1 diabetes need to inject insulin multiple times a day to control their blood sugar levels.

There is currently no cure for type 1 diabetes and patients require life-long treatment. People living with type 1 diabetes may also develop medical complications later in life, so there is an urgent need to understand the underlying causes of the condition to help us find better treatments.

In laboratory experiments, the researchers introduced bacterial proteins into cell lines from healthy donors and monitored the reaction of killer T-cells from these donors. They found that strong interaction with the bacterial proteins triggered killer T-cells to attack cells that make insulin.

The research, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, provides the first evidence of how proteins from bacterial germs can trigger the type of killer T-cells seen in patients with type 1 diabetes. The team hopes that knowing more about this process, will allow new ways to diagnose, prevent, or even halt the development of type 1 diabetes.

 Garry Dolton et al, HLA A*24:02–restricted T cell receptors cross-recognize bacterial and preproinsulin peptides in type 1 diabetes, Journal of Clinical Investigation (2024). DOI: 10.1172/JCI164535

What is the microbiome?

The hidden health risks of styrene and ethylbenzene exposure

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a critical public health issue, with its prevalence expected to rise sharply worldwide. Recent evidence points to environmental pollution, specifically exposure to hazardous chemicals like styrene and ethylbenzene, as a contributing factor for the disease.

Found in plastics, synthetic rubbers, and resins, these pollutants are pervasive in the environment and pose significant health threats. Addressing these challenges requires a deeper understanding of how environmental and genetic factors combine to influence T2DM risk.

A new study,  published  in Eco-Environment & Health, followed 2,219 adults from the Wuhan-Zhuhaicohort over six years to investigate the effects of styrene and ethylbenzene exposure on T2DM development. Using urinary biomarkers and genetic risk scores, the study assessed the combined impact of environmental exposure and genetic predisposition.

The findings demonstrate that exposure to styrene and ethylbenzene significantly elevates the risk of T2DM. The research highlights that individuals with high exposure levels had a substantially increased risk, which was further intensified by genetic susceptibility. Participants with both high exposure and high genetic risk faced the greatest likelihood of developing T2DM, illustrating a potent additive interaction.

This suggests that the joint impact of environmental pollutants and genetic factors on T2DM is more severe than their individual contributions, underscoring the need to control environmental exposures, particularly for those with genetic vulnerabilities.

Linling Yu et al, Styrene and ethylbenzene exposure and type 2 diabetes mellitus: A longitudinal gene-environment interaction study, Eco-Environment & Health (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.eehl.2024.07.001

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Brain region that controls eye movements found to also play important role in higher cognitive functions

The superior colliculus is a midbrain region that is traditionally thought to help animals orient themselves toward important locations in space, like directing their eyes and head toward a bright flash of light. New research shows that this part of the brain also plays a role in complex cognitive tasks like visual categorization and decision making.

In the study, published in Nature Neuroscience, scientists measured the information contained in patterns of brain cell activity across multiple brain regions involved in visual category decisions. The researchers monitored activity in the superior colliculus (SC) and part of the posterior parietal cortex (PPC), a region of the cerebral cortex that is important for visual categorical decisions.

The researchers saw that activity in the SC was even more involved than the PPC in guiding the subjects' category decisions, suggesting that it helps coordinate higher-order cognitive processes traditionally thought to take place in the neocortex.

This evolutionarily ancient brain structure that seems to be even more involved in complex cognitive decisions than the cortical areas the researchers studied in their experiments.

All animals, from fish and reptiles to mammals like primates and humans, need to quickly distinguish and categorize objects in their field of vision. Is the object moving toward them an obstacle or a threat? Is that thing darting by a predator or prey?

The SC is a region in the brain that is evolutionarily conserved across all vertebrates, even those without a more sophisticated neocortex. It helps orient movements of the head and eyes toward visual stimuli, and it was traditionally believed to kick off reflexive motor actions by relaying inputs from upstream brain regions.

However, recent research has shown that it is also involved in complex tasks like selecting an orientation point and paying attention to stimuli at different spatial locations.

Part 1

It's not just surprising to find this activity in the SC; it could mean something about why this brain region is being recruited to solve such complex tasks. Since it is present across all vertebrates, from primitive sharks to modern humans, it was one of the earliest brain regions that evolved to help process visual inputs and generate corresponding movements.

But in this new study, it's also involved in decidedly non-spatial functions. Could this be a sign that spatial processing provides a special "oomph" to problem-solving?

The researchers pointed out the kind of eye movements and hand gestures that humans make when we're asked to recall something or make decisions. If someone asks what you had for dinner last night, for example, your eyes often drift upward, as if the answer were written on the ceiling. Or when weighing a decision between two choices, you might move your hands up and down like two sides of a balance scale.
Some of this data might be telling us is that the reason we're making these kinds of spatial gestures and eye movements is because the spatial parts of the brain are getting recruited into helping us perform these non-spatial cognitive functions,
We've all had the experience of struggling to understand something written in text—like a long press release about a neuroscience study—but having it instantly click into place when the same information is presented in a graphic.
They say a picture is worth 1,000 words—even a very simple spatial diagram can rapidly convey so much more information than you can possibly describe. It's like the brain has created this beautiful mental graph paper which it can use to solve both spatial and non-spatial problems.

 Barbara Peysakhovich et al, Primate superior colliculus is causally engaged in abstract higher-order cognition, Nature Neuroscience (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-024-01744-x

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The mystery of human wrinkles

A research team successfully recreated the structure of wrinkles in biological tissue in vitro, uncovering the mechanisms behind their formation. Their findings were published on August 19 in the journal Nature Communications.

While wrinkles are often associated with skin aging, many organs and tissues, including the brain, stomach, and intestines, also have distinct wrinkle patterns. These structures play a key role in regulating cellular states and differentiation, contributing to the physiological functions of each organ.

Understanding how biological tissues fold and form wrinkles is vital for understanding the complexity of living organisms beyond cosmetic concerns. This knowledge can be central to advancing research in areas such as skin aging, regenerative therapies, and embryology.

Researchers tried  to replicate both the hierarchical deformation of a single deep wrinkle caused by a strong compressive force and the formation of numerous small wrinkles under lighter compression.

In the process the team also discovered that factors such as the porous structure of the underlying ECM, dehydration, and the compressive force applied to the epithelial layer are crucial to the wrinkle formation process. Their experiments revealed that compressive forces deforming the epithelial cell layer caused mechanical instability within the ECM layer, resulting in the formation of wrinkles.

Additionally, they found that dehydration of the ECM layer was a key factor in the wrinkle formation process. These observations closely mirrored the effects seen in aging skin where dehydration of the underlying tissue layer leads to wrinkle development, providing a mechanobiological model for understanding wrinkle formation.

 Jaeseung Youn et al, Tissue-scale in vitro epithelial wrinkling and wrinkle-to-fold transition, Nature Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-51437-z

Human genome stored on 'everlasting' memory crystal

Scientists have stored the full human genome on a 5D memory crystal—a revolutionary data storage format that can survive for billions of years.

 They hope that the crystal could provide a blueprint to bring humanity back from extinction thousands, millions or even billions of years into the future, should science allow.

The technology could also be used to create an enduring record of the genomes of endangered plant and animal species faced with extinction.

The 5D memory crystal was developed by the University of Southampton's Optoelectronics Research Center (ORC).

Unlike other data storage formats that degrade over time, 5D memory crystals can store up to 360 terabytes of information (in the largest size) without loss for billions of years, even at high temperatures. It holds the Guinness World Record (awarded in 2014) for the most durable data storage material.

The crystal is equivalent to fused quartz, one of the most chemically and thermally durable materials on Earth. It can withstand the high and low extremes of freezing, fire and temperatures of up to 1,000°C. The crystal can also withstand direct impact force of up to 10 tons per cm² and is unchanged by long exposure to cosmic radiation.

The longevity of the crystals means they will outlast humans and other species.

The crystal is stored in the Memory of Mankind archive—a special time capsule within a salt cave in Hallstatt, Austria.

Symmetry in nature: 

there is symmetry in nature, especially in Biology, and it's present in many forms:

• Animals: The right and left halves of butterflies and elephants are mirror images of each other.
• Flowers: The petals of flowers repeat in a pattern.
• Starfish: The arms of starfish repeat around a central point.
• Leaves: Plant leaves are considered symmetrical, but they rarely match up exactly when folded in half.
• Proteins and RNA: The structures of these tiny things exhibit symmetry.
• Snowflakes: Snowflakes are symmetrical.
• Sunflowers: Sunflowers are symmetrical.

Some scientists believe that nature prefers symmetry and simplicity. For example, a simulation of 13,079,255 different possible protein cluster shapes found that only five had the symmetry of a square.

Symmetry is important in biology, and is used to define and classify groups of animals. For example, animals with radial symmetry are classified as Radiata, and animals with embryonic bilateral symmetry are classified as Bilateria.

And AI told me this: ( I am not a physicist and therefore, cannot confirm or deny this)

Symmetry is an important concept in physics that helps us understand the universe and matter:

Definition

Symmetry is how particles behave when space, time, or quantum numbers are reversed. It can also refer to changes in the mathematical descriptions of nature.

Types

There are three types of symmetry: charge (C), parity (P), and time (T).

Importance

Symmetry is important for understanding the physical properties of matter and the universe. It also helps derive the general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics.

Applications

Symmetry is used in particle physics to derive conservation laws and determine which particle interactions can occur. It's also used to classify crystals and define types of entities.

Symmetry breaking

Symmetry can be exact, approximate, or broken. Exact symmetry is always valid, while approximate symmetry is only valid under certain conditions. Broken symmetry can have different meanings depending on the object and its context.

Why communication is becoming difficult: 

Harassment and  Intimidation

Intimidation and harassment have become an occupational hazard for scholars studying phenomena linked to politics, including climate change, disinformation and virology. Now, researchers have united to create a defence playbook that offers tactics for dealing with this reality. Their message is clear: scientists can take steps to protect themselves, but their institutions also need to have a support plan in place.

Climate scientists have been grappling with harassment and threats over their work for more than a decade. In recent years, however, attacks have spread more widely, to biomedical researchers and social scientists. For instance, in 2021 Nature surveyed 300 scientists who had given media interviews about the COVID-19 pandemic and found that two-thirds of respondents had negative experiences because of their public interactions; 22% had received threats of physical or sexual violence. And within the past two years, researchers who study the spread of election and vaccine misinformation on social media have been at the centre of US congressional investigations and laws....

The consortium’s advice for researchers who think they are at risk starts with simple steps such as removing personal contact information and office locations from publicly available websites. But the organization also points to more sophisticated strategies, such as applying for a ‘Certificate of Confidentiality’.

Now should science communicators use incognito mode?
No, I won’t. Even If I get death threats like it happened before.
Why should we be afraid of these morons?

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03104-y

Anti-vaxxers: Even ants take precautions. Why can't some human beings?

Black garden ants modify the structure of their nests to mitigate fungal infection spread

A small team of biologists  has found that black garden ants modify the physical structure of their nests to mitigate infection spread. The group has written a paper describing the experiments they conducted with black garden ants and fungal infections in their lab and posted it on the bioRxiv preprint server.

Prior research has shown that some animals change their behaviour to avoid spreading infections, whether they be viral, bacterial or fungal. Among those, only humans have been found to alter their surroundings as a way to further protect themselves— smart people might close off parts of their house, for example, or establish quarantine zones within hospital areas.

In this new study, the research team found an instance of an insect altering its nest to deter the spread of an infecting fungus.

To learn more about how insects, such as ants, attempt to prevent the spread of an infection among members of a nest, the research team went into the field and collected black garden ants—enough to set up 20 colonies in their lab, each in its own glass enclosure. After giving the ants a single day to acclimate themselves to their new environment, the researchers added 20 more ants to each colony—half of which were infected with a fungus known to spread among the ants. The research team then set up cameras to record the behavior of the ants and micro-CT scanners to study the nature of the nest tunnels that the ants dug beneath the soil.

The team found that in the colonies with the infected ants, new tunnels were dug faster than in those not infected. After six days, the spacing between the tunnels was farther apart in the infected nest as well.

The ants in the exposed colonies also placed their queen, food and brooding area in a less central location. And finally, those ants that were infected tended to spend most of their time on the surface, rather than underground with their nestmates.

The researchers next used disease transmission simulations to speed up the process of disease spread and found that the techniques used by the ants did indeed reduce the fungal load in the colony, helping the nest survive.

Luke Leckie et al, Architectural Immunity: ants alter their nest networks to fight epidemics, bioRxiv (2024). DOI: 10.1101/2024.08.30.610481. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.110 … /2024.08.30.610481v1

Oceanic life found to be thriving thanks to Saharan dust blown from thousands of kilometers away

Iron is a micronutrient indispensable for life, enabling processes such as respiration, photosynthesis, and DNA synthesis. Iron availability is often a limiting resource in today's oceans, which means that increasing the flow of iron into them can increase the amount of carbon fixed by phytoplankton, with consequences for the global climate.

Iron ends up in oceans and terrestrial ecosystems through rivers, melting glaciers, hydrothermal activity, and especially wind. But not all its chemical forms are "bioreactive," that is, available for organisms to take up from their environment.

Researchers have now shown that iron bound to dust from the Sahara blown westward over the Atlantic has properties that change with the distance traveled: the greater this distance, the more bioreactive the iron.

This relationship suggests that chemical processes in the atmosphere convert less bioreactive iron to more accessible forms.

 The results suggest that during long distance atmospheric transport, the mineral properties of originally non-bioreactive dust-bound iron change, making it more bioreactive. This iron then gets taken up by phytoplankton, before it can reach the bottom of the oceans.

The researchers conclude that dust that reaches regions like the Amazonian basin and the Bahamas may contain iron that is particularly soluble and available to life, thanks to the great distance from North Africa, and thus a longer exposure to atmospheric chemical processes.

The transported iron seems to be stimulating biological processes much in the same way that iron fertilization can impact life in the oceans and on continents. This study is a proof of concept confirming that iron-bound dust can have a major impact on life at vast distances from its source.

 Long-range transport of dust enhances oceanic iron bioavailability, Frontiers in Marine Science (2024). DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2024.1428621. www.frontiersin.org/journals/m … rs.2024.1428621/full

Fever drives enhanced activity and mitochondrial damage in a subset of T cells, study finds

Fever temperatures rev up immune cell metabolism, proliferation and activity, but they also—in a particular subset of T cells—cause mitochondrial stress, DNA damage and cell death,  researchers have discovered.

The findings, published in the journal Science Immunology, offer a mechanistic understanding of how cells respond to heat and could explain how chronic inflammation contributes to the development of cancer.

Researchers' cultured immune system T cells at 39 degrees Celsius (about 102 degrees Fahrenheit). showed  that heat increased helper T cell metabolism, proliferation and inflammatory effector activity and decreased regulatory T cell suppressive capacity.

 The researchers also made an unexpected discovery—that a certain subset of helper T cells, called Th1 cells, developed mitochondrial stress and DNA damage, and some of them died. The finding was confusing, the researchers said, because Th1 cells are involved in settings where there is often fever, like viral infections. Why would the cells that are needed to fight the infection die?

The researchers discovered that only a portion of the Th1 cells die, and that the rest undergo an adaptation, change their mitochondria, and become more resistant to stress.

There's a wave of stress, and some of the cells die, but the ones that adapt and survive are better—they proliferate more and make more cytokine (immune signaling molecules).

Par t1

The molecular events of the cell response to fever temperatures: The researchers found that heat rapidly impaired electron transport chain complex 1 (ETC1), a mitochondrial protein complex that generates energy. ETC1 impairment set off signaling mechanisms that led to DNA damage and activation of the tumor suppressor protein p53, which aids DNA repair or triggers cell death to maintain genome integrity. Th1 cells were more sensitive to impaired ETC1 than other T cell subtypes.

The researchers found Th1 cells with similar changes in sequencing databases for samples from patients with Crohn's disease and rheumatoid arthritis, adding support to the molecular signaling pathway they defined.
Scientists think this response is a fundamental way that cells can sense heat and respond to stress.
The findings suggest that heat can be mutagenic—when cells that respond to mitochondrial stress don't properly repair the DNA damage or die.
Chronic inflammation with sustained periods of elevated tissue temperatures could explain how some cells become tumorigenic and that 's why up to 25% of cancers are linked to chronic inflammation.
'Is fever good or bad?'The short answer is: A little bit of fever is good, but a lot of fever is bad. We already knew that, but now we have a mechanism for why it's bad."

Darren Heintzman et al, Subset-specific mitochondrial stress and DNA damage shape T cell responses to fever and inflammation, Science Immunology (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.adp3475. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciimmunol.adp3475

Part 2

The first known outbreak of rabies in seals

Scientists in South Africa say they have identified an outbreak of rabies in seals that is thought to be the first time the virus has spread in sea mammals.

At least 24 Cape fur seals that were found dead or euthanized in various locations on South Africa's west and south coast had rabies.

Rabies, which affects mammals and can be passed to people, is almost always fatal once symptoms appear. Rabies spreads via saliva, usually through bites but also sometimes when animals lick and groom each other.

The virus has long been seen in wild animals such as raccoons, coyotes, foxes, jackals and in domestic dogs. But it had never been recorded spreading among marine mammals until now.

The only other known case of rabies in a sea mammal was in a ringed seal in Norway's Svalbard islands in the early 1980s. That seal had likely been infected by a rabid arctic fox, researchers said, and there was no evidence of rabies spreading among seals there.

Authorities in South Africa first discovered rabies in Cape fur seals in June after a dog was bitten by a seal on a Cape Town beach. The dog became infected with rabies, prompting rabies tests on brain samples from 135 seal carcasses that researchers had already collected since 2021. Around 20 new samples also were collected and more positives have come back on subsequent tests.

Scientists are trying to work out how rabies was passed to the seals, whether it is spreading widely among their large colonies and what can be done to contain it.

Source : NEWS agencies

Microplastics in coral skeletons

Researchers investigating microplastics in coral have found that all three parts of the coral anatomy—surface mucus, tissue, and skeleton—contain microplastics. The findings were made possible thanks to a new microplastic detection technique developed by the team and applied to coral for the first time.

These findings may also explain the "missing plastic problem" that has puzzled scientists, where about 70% of the plastic litter that has entered the oceans cannot be found. The team hypothesizes that coral may be acting as a "sink" for microplastics by absorbing it from the oceans. Their findings were published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

 Suppakarn Jandang et al, Possible sink of missing ocean plastic: Accumulation patterns in reef-building corals in the Gulf of Thailand, Science of The Total Environment (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.176210

Researchers discover the deadly genetics of cholera, which could be key to its prevention

Experts have used a cutting-edge computational approach to discover the genetic factors that make the bacteria behind cholera so dangerous—which could be key to preventing this deadly disease.

The innovative research combines machine learning, genomics, genome-scale metabolic modeling (GSMM), and 3D structural analysis to uncover the genetic secrets of Vibrio cholerae—the bacteria behind cholera.

Cholera is a deadly diarrheal disease that continues to threaten millions worldwide, with up to 4 million cases and as many as 143,000 deaths each year.

Vibrio cholerae, is evolving in ways that make the disease more severe and harder to control.

There is even less knowledge about the genomic traits responsible for the severity of cholera resulting from these lineages. About 1 in 5 people with cholera will experience a severe condition owing to a combination of symptoms (primarily diarrhea, vomiting, and dehydration).

In this new study the  research team analyzed bacterial samples from cholera patients across six regions in Bangladesh, collected between 2015 and 2021. They identified a set of unique genes and mutations in the most recent and dominant strain of Vibrio cholerae responsible for the devastating 2022 outbreak.

These genetic traits are linked to the bacteria's ability to cause severe symptoms like prolonged diarrhea, intense abdominal pain, vomiting, and dehydration—symptoms that can lead to death in severe cases.

The findings of the study also revealed that some of these disease-causing traits overlap with those that help the bacteria spread more easily. The findings show how these genetic factors enable Vibrio cholerae to survive in the human gut, making it more resilient to environmental stress and more efficient at causing disease. This research highlights the complex interactions between the bacteria's genetic makeup and its ability to cause severe illness.

This new computational framework is a major step forward in the fight against cholera. By identifying the key genetic factors that make Vibrio cholerae more dangerous, scientists can develop better treatments and more targeted strategies to control and prevent future outbreaks.

 Nature Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-52238-0. www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-52238-0

 Experts suggest possibility of updating fundamental physics concepts

An unexpected finding about how our universe formed is again raising the question: do we need new physics? The answer could fundamentally change what physics students are taught in classes around the world.

A study from SMU and three other universities, available on the arXiv preprint server, delved into the possibility of updating fundamental physics concepts.

SMU played a significant part in the analysis, using the university's high-performance computing capabilities to explore different scenarios that could explain the findings.

The data from what's known as DESI, or Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, combined with what we already had, is the most precise data we've seen so far, and it is hinting at something unlike what we would have expected.

DESI is creating the largest, most accurate 3D map of our universe, providing a key measurement that enables cosmologists to calculate what they call the absolute mass scale of neutrinos. This absolute mass scale was determined based on new measurements from the so-called baryonic acoustic oscillations from DESI, plus information physicists already had from the "afterglow" of the Big Bang—when the universe was created—known as the cosmic microwave background.

Part 1

Throughout the evolution of the universe, the behavior of neutrinos impacted the growth of large-scale structures, such as clusters of galaxies across vast reaches of space that we see today. Neutrinos are one of the most abundant subatomic particles in the universe, but they're as mysterious as they are ubiquitous. One reason physicists want to know the mass scale of neutrinos is that it can help them get a better understanding of how matter clustered as the universe evolved.

Cosmologists—those who study the origin and development of the universe—have long thought that massive neutrinos kept matter in the universe from clustering as much as it otherwise might have over 13.8 billion years of cosmic evolution.

But rather than the expected suppression of matter clustering, the data instead favors enhanced matter clustering, meaning matter in the cosmos is more clumped than one would expect.

Explaining this enhancement may point toward some problem with the measurements, or it could require some new physics not included in the Standard Model of particle physics and cosmology.

The Standard Model of particle physics—the one that students likely learned in physics class—has long been scientists' best theory to explain how the basic building blocks of matter interact. This finding of neutrinos is the latest measurement, similar to what's referred to as "the Hubble tension," to hint that we might not know our universe as well as we think we do, say these experts.

In their study, Meyers and his colleagues looked into scenarios where physicists might need to tweak the Standard Model, but not throw it out entirely. They also examined introducing new concepts of physics. And they also explored whether systematic errors of key measures could account for the surprising DESI finding.

It will likely take years to know which of the researchers' theories is correct. But the study gives a blueprint for future research.

Nathaniel Craig et al, No νs is Good News, arXiv (2024). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2405.00836

Part 2

**

High-pressure reactions can turn nonporous rocks into sponges

In deep Earth, rocks take up and release water all the time, and the effects can be wide reaching. Dehydration can cause rocks to crack and trigger earthquakes, and over geologic timescales, this water cycling can influence plate tectonics and move continents.

Researchers asked how water can move through impermeable rocks, such as those found in mantle wedges, the deep lithosphere, and the lower crust. They hypothesize that certain reactions can cause temporary porosity in these rocks. By mathematically modeling the hydration and dehydration of rock at high pressure, they derived equations to estimate how the porosity of rock changes as water cycles through it. 

The research is published in the journal Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems.

Previous work suggested that at very high temperatures, minerals can react with each other to form denser minerals, squeezing water out of the minerals and generating less dense, more porous rocks in the process.

As the reaction progresses, a "dehydration front" moves through the rock. On the other hand, some reactions cause rocks to act like dry sponges, soaking up surrounding water and becoming denser. The progression of this reaction is known as a hydration front.

In the study, the researchers presented 1D simulations for three scenarios (one for a hydration front and two for dehydration fronts) in which a rock with no porosity becomes temporarily porous.

Stefan M. Schmalholz et al, (De)hydration Front Propagation Into Zero‐Permeability Rock, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems (2024). DOI: 10.1029/2023GC011422

World's oceans near critical acidification level: Report

The world's oceans are close to becoming too acidic to properly sustain marine life or help stabilize the climate, a new report said this week.

The report by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) details nine factors that are crucial for regulating the planet's ability to sustain life.

In six of these areas, the safe limit has already been exceeded in recent years as a result of human activity.

The crucial threshold for ocean acidification could soon become the seventh to be breached, according to the PIK's first Planetary Health Check.

The safe boundaries that have already been crossed concern crucial—and related—factors including climate change; the loss of natural species, natural habitat and freshwater; and a rise in pollutants, including plastics and chemical fertilizers used in agriculture.

The sustainable level of ocean acidification is now also set to be exceeded, largely as a result of ever-increasing emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) created by burning fossil fuels like oil, coal and gas.

As CO2 emissions increase, more of it dissolves in sea water... making the oceans more acidic.

Even with rapid emission cuts, some level of continued acidification may be unavoidable due to the CO₂ already emitted and the time it takes for the ocean system to respond.

Therefore, breaching the ocean acidification boundary appears inevitable within the coming years.

Part 1

Acidic water damages corals, shellfish and the phytoplankton that feeds a host of marine species.

This means it also disrupts food supplies for billions of people, as well as limiting the oceans' capacity to absorb more CO2 and thus help limit global warming.

The only one of the nine planetary boundaries that is not close to being crossed concerns the state of the planet's protective ozone layer.

Man-made chemicals have damaged this shield, causing acid rain, but it has started recovering since a number of these chemicals were banned in 1987.

A ninth threshold—concerning concentrations of minute particles in the atmosphere that can cause heart and lung diseases -– is close to the danger limit.

But the researchers said the risk showed signs of receding slightly due to efforts by several countries to improve air quality, such as banning the most pollutant petrol and diesel cars.
They warned, however, that concentrations of fine particles could still soar in countries that are rapidly industrializing.

The PIK set these nine planetary danger levels to warn humans against tipping Earth's natural systems past points of no return.

"These tipping points... if crossed, would lead to irreversible and catastrophic outcomes for billions of people and many future generations on Earth", experts say.
All nine planetary boundaries are "interconnected" so breaching one crucial limit can destabilize Earth's entire life system.

Source: AFP and other news agencies

Part 2

COVID origin at Wuhan market, says study
The hunt for the origins of COVID-19 has circled back to an animal market in Wuhan, China that was linked to many of the earliest cases of the disease. Researchers reanalysed genomes collected from the market shortly after it was shut down on 1 January 2020. They identified several animal species that could have passed SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, to people. The study establishes the presence of animals and the virus at the market, although it does not confirm whether the animals themselves were infected with the virus. The researchers argue that their reanalysis adds weight to the market being the site of the first spillover events, in which animals infected humans.

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(24)00901-2?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867424009012%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03026-9?utm_source=Live+...

Indoor vertical farming could future-proof food demand

To make sure everyone eats well in our crowded world, we need to innovate. Vertical farming systems, which grow plants intensively in an indoor setting, could be part of the answer—but to use them on a large scale we need to overcome key problems, especially the management of the energy-intensive, expensive light the plants need to grow.

Now scientists show how manipulating light according to the needs of specific crops could make them grow stronger and healthier while minimizing energy use.

The biggest benefit of vertical farming systems is that healthy food  can be grown much more closely to consumers in places where this is impossible otherwise: in mega-cities, in deserts, and in places that are cold and dark during large parts of the year. But the biggest challenge is the costs associated with electricity use.

  Many vertical farming systems are run using constant environmental conditions, which require lots of expensive electricity for maintenance. The scientists' analysis shows that these demanding conditions are unnecessary: using dynamic environmental control, they suggest, we can achieve vertical farming which is more cost-effective and which raises healthier plants.

Scientists were motivated by the rhythms that plants show on diurnal as well as on developmental timescales, which require their growing environment to be adjusted regularly in order to steer their growth perfectly.

They outlined a strategy that makes use of plant physiology knowledge, novel sensing and modeling techniques, and novel varieties specifically bred for vertical farming systems.

Because plants' biological functions are heavily influenced by environmental conditions like temperature changes, light wavelengths, and the amount of CO₂ in the atmosphere, manipulating the environment allows a vertical farming system to manipulate plant development.

Lighting is a critical variable; all plants need it to photosynthesize, and different light wavelengths have different effects on different plants. This variable is also particularly sensitive to electricity pricing, so offers opportunities to make efficiency gains.

Part 1

The scientists created a model for testing smart lighting that aims to keep plants' ability to photosynthesize steady over the course of a day, while still lowering electricity costs. They found that an optimization algorithm could cut electricity costs by 12% without compromising plants' carbon fixation, just by varying the intensity of the light.

They then tested whether varying light intensity affected the growth of leafy plants like spinach which are often grown in vertical farms, and found that there was no negative effect. This remained true even when the plants were subject to irregularly changing light intensity, rather than a predictable, regular pattern.

Vertical farming goes dynamic: optimizing resource use efficiency, product quality, and energy costs, Frontiers in Science (2024). DOI: 10.3389/fsci.2024.1411259

Part 2

Extinct volcanoes a 'rich' source of rare earth elements, research suggests

A mysterious type of iron-rich magma entombed within extinct volcanoes is likely abundant with rare earth elements and could offer a new way to source these in-demand metals, according to new research.

Rare earth elements are found in smartphones, flat screen TVs, magnets, and even trains and missiles. They are also vital to the development of electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies such as wind turbines.

The iron-rich magma that solidified to form some extinct volcanoes is up to a hundred times more efficient at concentrating rare earth metals than the magmas that commonly erupt from active volcanoes.

The findings suggest that these iron-rich extinct volcanoes across the globe, such as El Laco in Chile, could be studied for the presence of rare earth elements." The researchers simulated volcanic eruptions in the lab by sourcing rocks similar to those from iron-rich extinct volcanoes. They put these rocks into a pressurized furnace and heated them to extremely high temperatures to melt them and learn more about the minerals inside the rocks.

This is how they discovered the abundance of rare earth elements contained in iron-rich volcanic rocks. 

Silicate and iron phosphate melt immiscibility promotes REE enrichment, Geochemical Perspectives Letters (2024). DOI: 10.7185/geochemlet.2436

Bottled water has a huge and growing toll on human and planetary health, experts warn

The huge and growing toll bottled water is taking on human and planetary health warrants an urgent rethink of its use as 1 million bottles are bought every minute around the globe, with that figure set to rise further still amid escalating demand, warn population health experts in a commentary published in the open access journal BMJ Global Health.

Some 2 billion people around the world with limited or no access to safe drinking water rely on bottled water. But for the rest of us, it's largely a matter of convenience and the unshaken belief—aided and abetted by industry marketing—that bottled water is safer and often healthier than tap water.

It isn't, insist the experts!

That's because bottled water often isn't subject to the same rigorous quality and safety standards as tap water, and it can carry the risk of harmful chemicals leaching from the plastic bottles used for it, especially if it's stored for a long time, and/or exposed to sunlight and high temperatures, they explain (the same is true for cold drinks).

Between an estimated 10% and 78% of bottled water samples contain contaminants, including microplastics, often classified as hormone (endocrine) disruptors, and various other substances including phthalates (used to make plastics more durable) and bisphenol A (BPA).

Microplastic contamination is associated with oxidative stress, immune system dysregulation, and changes in blood fat levels. And BPA exposure has been linked to later-life health issues, such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity, they add.

Part 1

Tap water is also a greener option. Plastic bottles make up the second most common ocean pollutant, accounting for 12% of all plastic waste. Globally, just 9% of these bottles are recycled, meaning that most end up in landfill or incinerators, or are 'exported' to low and middle income countries, to deal with, begging the question of social justice, they say.

Apart from the waste generated, the process of extracting the raw materials and manufacturing plastic bottles significantly contributes to greenhouse gas emissions, they add.

While some efforts have been made to facilitate the use of drinking water in restaurants and public spaces, and to curb the prevalence of single-use plastics, much more needs to be done, argue the authors.
The reliance on [bottled water] incurs significant health, financial and environmental costs, calling for an urgent re-evaluation of its widespread use.

 Rethinking bottled water in public health discourse, BMJ Global Health (2024). DOI: 10.1136/bmjgh-2024-015226

Part 2

Who's to blame when climate change turns the lights off?

Deadly Storms have flooded recently large areas of central Europe and the UK, destroying homes and displacing thousands of people.

With the flooding of sub-stations, the scouring of the foundations of pylons and river embankment failures, the rainstorm has also caused power outages many miles away. This will create yet more disruption as sewage pumping stations stall, train and tram services halt and vehicle charging points fail.

The UK saw this ripple of infrastructure failure in the 2007 summer floods.

India too saw this ripple effect  in this monsoon season.

 All systems fail occasionally. But infrastructure is increasingly vulnerable to disruptions caused by extreme weather, which is being made more severe and frequent as a result of climate change.

Your home may not be in the path of the next storm but the infrastructure it relies on might be.

Source:  original article.

**

Ant queens cannibalize their sick offspring and 'recycle' them, new study reveals

Instead of nurturing their sick young, ant queens eat their infected offspring at the first sign of illness then "recycle" them into energy to produce new eggs, a new study led by the University of Oxford has shown. The findings have been published in Current Biology.

Eek!  Nature and Universe don’t care what happens to which mass of atoms!

Ant queens typically found new colonies on their own, and at the early stages are highly vulnerable to their brood being wiped out by disease. Researchers at Oxford's Department of Biology theorized that killing off sick larvae before they become infectious could be a strategy used by queens to combat this threat.

To test this, the researchers presented founding queens of the black garden ant (Lasius niger) with larvae that had been infected with a fungal pathogen Metarhizium for 24 hours. At this point, the infection was lethal, but not yet transmissible. The queens cannibalized 92% of the infected larvae—leaving no remains—but only 6% of control larvae which had not been infected.

Once the queens find a sick larva in the brood pile they get to work immediately and spend several hours chewing them up until they're all consumed.

Despite the potential risk of infection, all queens survived after eating the infected larvae. The researchers suggest the queens may protect themselves by swallowing an acidic, antimicrobial venom which they produce from a special gland at the end of their abdomen. Indeed, some of the queens were seen massaging the opening of this gland during and after cannibalism.

The queens who cannibalized their infected larvae went on to lay 55% more eggs than non-cannibalizing control queens, indicating that the nutrients from the ingested offspring were recycled for reproduction.

Flynn Bizzell et al, Ant queens cannibalise infected brood to contain disease spread and recycle nutrients, Current Biology (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.07.062