Mice help other mice when they are hurt

Humans may not be the only ones who aid their friends when they're hurt. Mice may do it, too, as shown by a new research study  by scientists published recently in Science.

Scientists have been trying to understand why social mammals appear to help injured members of their species. There are numerous factors that determine empathetic behavior and social bonding in mammals. But this study is the first time we're seeing a first responder-like behavior in mice.

The study shows that mice tend to help other mice they know are unconscious. Their response ranges from gentle sniffing and grooming to more forceful actions such as mouth or tongue biting, before finally escalating to pulling the tongue out of the unconscious mouse.

The behavior was especially unique due to its similarity to how humans behave in emergency responses. The urgency with which "helper mice" target the mouth and tongue of their unconscious peers appears to improve the airway of their peer and lead to a faster recovery.

 What the scientists learned the act of tongue-pulling between mice in this study cannot not be interpreted as an aggressive gesture. The social behaviors in the study were significantly more pronounced among familiar pairs of mice and were rarely seen when one of the paired mice was simply sleeping or active. Furthermore, after the unconscious mice regained consciousness, they had regular use of their tongue.

The study utilized advanced neural imaging and optogenetics to investigate the neural mechanisms behind the social behaviors of the helper mice.

 The research team's neural observations was the discovery of the activation of oxytocin neuropeptides. Oxytocin is widely known as a hormone that plays a crucial role in social bonding.

Wenjian Sun et al, Reviving-like prosocial behavior in response to unconscious or dead conspecifics in rodents, Science (2025). DOI: 10.1126/science.adq2677

No evidence for 'wind turbine syndrome' claims

A team of cognitive neuroscientists and acoustic engineers at Adam Mickiewicz University, in Poland, has found no evidence that wind turbine noise causes mental impairment. In their study, published in the journal Humanities and Social Sciences Communication, the group conducted experiments exposing human volunteers to various noises and measured a range of impacts.

Over the past several years, several groups and individuals around the world, most particularly in the U.S., have conceived of the idea of something called "wind turbine syndrome"—a theory that suggests noise from windmills can cause mental illness, or other health problems such as cancer. To date, such claims have not been backed up by research or any other type of proof. In this new effort, the research team in Poland sought to find out if there is any merit to the theory.

The researchers recruited 45 students at a local university who listened to various noises while wearing devices that measured their brainwaves. The researchers intentionally chose young volunteers because prior research has shown they are more sensitive to noise than older people.

None of the volunteers were told the purpose of the study. They were also kept in the dark regarding the source of the noises they heard. Each was exposed to normal traffic noise, silence and windmill noise. None of the volunteers could identify the source of the windmill noise; most described it as some sort of white noise.

Additionally, none of them reported the noise from the windmills as any more bothersome or stressful than the traffic noise. No evidence of mental health issues was found during testing. The researchers were also unable to detect any measurable difference in brain waves as the volunteers listened to the two types of sounds.

The research team says that listening to windmill noise in the short term does not appear to pose a mental health threat. 

 Agnieszka Rosciszewska et al, Cognitive neuroscience approach to explore the impact of wind turbine noise on various mental functions, Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1057/s41599-025-04645-x

Plastic trash dating of bird nests!

Plastic trash in bird nests documents the Anthropocene epoch

We have heard about radio carbon dating (measuring carbon-14 decay in organic materials), dendrochronology (analyzing tree-ring patterns), stratigraphy (analyzing the layers of soil and artifacts), Thermoluminescence (this method dates materials that were heated in the past by measuring the light emitted from mineral crystals), Archaeomagnetism (this method analyzes the direction and intensity of Earth's magnetic field as recorded in baked earth or clay to establish the last time the material was heated),  Potassium-Argon Dating:
This method is used to date rocks and minerals and is often used in conjunction with archaeology, especially when dealing with volcanic or igneous materials, Fission Track Dating (this method is used to date minerals and rocks by measuring the trails left by radioactive decay of Uranium in the past).

But have you ever heard about plastic trash dating?

Expiration dates could tell us more than when something goes bad! Scientists have found that dates on plastic food and beverage packaging can serve as markers of the Anthropocene, a period in Earth's history marked by the widespread impact of human activities on nature. That is what is happening now!

Here is the story:

The Eurasian coot, a round and black waterbird with a white beak, is a common sight in the Netherlands, along the canals of Amsterdam. In the wild, coots usually avoid reusing their nests, as their preferred building materials are typically fast-decaying plant matter.

The urban population, however, have started supplementing their nesting material with something much more long-lasting—plastic trash created by humans. Since plastic never truly disappears, every bit of old nesting material remains as the birds stack new layers of material, one breeding season after another.

In a study published in Ecology, a team of researchers from the Netherlands revealed that plastic waste in bird nests can serve as a time capsule, allowing biologists to determine when the nests were built by examining expiration dates on the plastic food packaging. In one case, the team traced nest materials back to 1991. 

Part 2

Archaeological finds are dated using both relative and absolute dating methods, with common techniques including stratigraphy (analyzing the layers of soil and artifacts), radiocarbon dating (measuring carbon-14 decay in organic materials), and dendrochronology (analyzing tree-ring patterns).
Here's a more detailed breakdown of these methods:
Relative Dating:
Stratigraphy:
This method examines the layers of earth or strata where artifacts are found, to understand the chronological order of past human activities. The Law of Superposition states that in undisturbed layers, the deeper a layer is, the older it is.
Seriation:
This method involves arranging artifacts in a chronological sequence based on their similarities, helping to establish a relative timeline.
Cross-dating:
This method compares artifacts from different locations with known dates to establish a timeline.
Absolute Dating:
Radiocarbon Dating:
This method measures the decay of radioactive carbon-14 (C-14) in organic materials like wood, bone, and charcoal, to determine the age of the sample.
Dendrochronology:
This method uses the annual growth rings in trees to create a precise timeline and date wooden artifacts and structures.
Thermoluminescence:
This method dates materials that were heated in the past by measuring the light emitted from mineral crystals.
Archaeomagnetism:
This method analyzes the direction and intensity of Earth's magnetic field as recorded in baked earth or clay to establish the last time the material was heated.
Potassium-Argon Dating:
This method is used to date rocks and minerals and is often used in conjunction with archaeology, especially when dealing with volcanic or igneous materials.
Fission Track Dating:
This method is used to date minerals and rocks by measuring the trails left by radioactive decay of Uranium in the past.

https://crowcanyon.org/education/learn-about-archaeology/archaeolog...

Part 1.

Scientists have previously used expiration dates to track seafloor litter and piece together extreme flood events from the Anthropocene. Building on this idea, the researchers of this study collected abandoned common coot nests from central Amsterdam on September 22, 2021, after the breeding season ended.
Each nest was then deconstructed and its contents were divided into piles of natural (twigs) and artificial (near-complete packaging) materials. Each artificial item was then carefully examined for manufacturing dates, expiration dates, or any other markings that could reveal its age. The recovered packaging ranged from items like milk and avocados to chocolate packets and fast food wrappers dating back to 1996.
The researchers discovered that two of the collected coot nests had very distinct layers of plastic, making them ideal for stratigraphy—study and interpretation of the layers. One of the nests, which the scientists named "The Rokin Nest," contained plastic waste that was over three decades old.
Nestled at the base of the nest was a candy bar wrapper promoting the 1994 FIFA World Cup while the upper more recent layers hosted discarded face masks from the COVID-19 pandemic. This process of layered accumulation of contemporary human waste is also known as technostratigraphy.

Based on the stratigraphy results and tracking of nesting activity via analysis of archived Google Street View images, the researchers arrived at the conclusion that the Rokin Nest must have been home to at least three generations of coots, as their lifespan is somewhere between 5 to 10 years.
Plastic waste has enabled coots to reuse their nests, giving them more time to forage for food and defend their territory, but this luxury comes at a cost. The researchers noted that old nesting material can be host to harmful parasites like red mites and too much plastic in the nest increases the risk of entanglement for the birds, sometimes resulting in death.

 Auke‐Florian Hiemstra et al, Birds documenting the Anthropocene: Stratigraphy of plastic in urban bird nests, Ecology (2025). DOI: 10.1002/ecy.70010

Part 3

Hibernating lemurs can turn back the clock on cellular aging

Many age-related changes start within our cells, even our DNA, which can wear and tear over time as we get older. Some creatures have come up with a way to reverse this process, at least temporarily.

Consider the fat-tailed dwarf lemur of Madagascar. This hamster-sized primate can turn back the cellular aging clock and momentarily defy time during its annual hibernation season, according to new research .

The work is published in the journal Biology Letters.

It's thanks to tiny caps on the ends of their chromosomes called telomeres. They work like the plastic tips on the ends of shoelaces that keep them from fraying.

Every time a cell divides, little chunks of its telomeres are lost in the process, such that telomeres get shorter with age.

Things like chronic stress, a sedentary lifestyle and skimping on sleep can make them dwindle even faster. Eventually, telomeres become so stubby that they no longer provide protection, and cells lose the ability to function.

But dwarf lemurs have a way of keeping their telomeres from shortening and even making them longer, effectively rejuvenating their cells, at least for a while, according to the Biology Letters study.

It all happens during hibernation. 

When winter sets in in the wild, dwarf lemurs disappear into tree holes or underground burrows, where they spend up to seven months each year in a state of suspended animation.

It's a survival tactic for making it through times when food is in short supply.

During this period of metabolic slow-motion, their heart rate slows from around 200 beats per minute to fewer than eight, they become cool to the touch, and they only take a breath every 10 minutes or so.

Hibernating dwarf lemurs can stay in this cold, standby state for about a week before they have to briefly warm up, and ironically, this is when they catch up on sleep. Then, they settle back into torpor while waiting for the season of plenty to return.

The researchers followed 15 dwarf lemurs at the Duke Lemur Center before, during, and after hibernation, testing cheek swabs to track how their telomeres changed over time.

Usually, telomere length decreases over time as each round of cell division wears away at them. But genetic sequencing revealed that during hibernation, the lemurs' telomeres weren't shortening—they actually got longer.

It's almost as if, even as the months ticked by, they walked back their cells to a more youthful state.

The results were in the opposite direction of what you'd expect.

Part 1

Overall, telomeres got longer in lemurs that experienced deeper torpor bouts.

By contrast, lemurs that "woke up" to eat had telomere lengths that remained relatively stable during the study.

The lemurs' changes were temporary. Two weeks after the animals made their way out of hibernation, the researchers noted that their telomeres returned to their pre-hibernation length.
Lengthening may be a mechanism to counteract any cell damage that might otherwise occur during their periodic rewarming phases, the researchers say.
By extending their telomeres, lemurs may effectively increase the number of times their cells can divide, thus adding new life to their cells at a stressful time.
It seems to work—dwarf lemurs can live up to twice as long as other primates their size.
figuring out how they do it may help researchers develop new ways to prevent or treat age-related diseases in humans without increasing the risks of runaway cell division that can lead to cancer, the researchers say.

Marina B. Blanco et al, Food deprivation is associated with telomere elongation during hibernation in a primate, Biology Letters (2025). DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2024.0531

Part 2

Beneficial genetic changes observed in regular blood donors

Researchers have identified genetic changes in blood stem cells from frequent blood donors that support the production of new, non-cancerous cells.

Understanding the differences in the mutations that accumulate in our blood stem cells as we age is important to understand how and why blood cancers develop and hopefully how to intervene before the onset of clinical symptoms.

As we age, stem cells in the bone marrow naturally accumulate mutations and with this, we see the emergence of clones, which are groups of blood cells that have a slightly different genetic makeup. Sometimes, specific clones can lead to blood cancers like leukemia.

When people donate blood, stem cells in the bone marrow make new blood cells to replace the lost blood and this stress drives the selection of certain clones.

In research published Blood, the research team analyzed blood samples taken from over 200 frequent donors—people who had donated blood three times a year over 40 years, more than 120 times in total—and sporadic control donors who had donated blood less than five times in total.

Samples from both groups showed a similar level of clonal diversity, but the makeup of the blood cell populations was different.

For instance, both sample groups contained clones with changes to a gene called DNMT3A, which is known to be mutated in people who develop leukemia. Interestingly, the changes to this gene observed in frequent donors were not in the areas known to be preleukemic.

To understand this better, the  researchers edited DNMT3A in human stem cells in the lab. They induced the genetic changes associated with leukemia and also the non-preleukemic changes observed in the frequent donor group.

They grew these cells in two environments: one containing erythropoietin (EPO), a hormone that stimulates red blood cell production which is increased after each blood donation, and another containing inflammatory chemicals to replicate an infection.

The cells with the mutations commonly seen in frequent donors responded and grew in the environment containing EPO and failed to grow in the inflammatory environment. The opposite was seen in the cells with mutations known to be preleukemic.

This suggests that the DNMT3A mutations observed in frequent donors are mainly responding to the physiological blood loss associated with blood donation.

Finally, the team transplanted the human stem cells carrying the two types of mutations into mice. Some of these mice had blood removed and then were given EPO injections to mimic the stress associated with blood donation.

The cells with the frequent donor mutations grew normally in control conditions and promoted red blood cell production under stress, without cells becoming cancerous. In sharp contrast, the preleukemic mutations drove a pronounced increase in white blood cells in both control or stress conditions.

The researchers believe that regular blood donation is one type of activity that selects for mutations that allow cells to respond well to blood loss, but does not select the preleukemic mutations associated with blood cancer.

Karpova, D. et al. Clonal Hematopoiesis Landscape in Frequent Blood Donors, Blood (2025). DOI: 10.1182/blood.2024027999

Microplastics could be fueling antibiotic resistance

Microplastics—tiny shards of plastic debris—are all over the planet. They have made their way up food chains, accumulated in oceans, clustered in clouds and on mountains, and been found inside human bodies at alarming rates. Scientists have been racing to uncover the unforeseen impacts of so much plastic in and around us.

One possible, and surprising, consequence: more drug-resistant bacteria.

In a startling discovery, a team of  researchers found that bacteria exposed to microplastics became resistant to multiple types of antibiotics commonly used to treat infections. They say this is especially concerning for people in high-density, impoverished areas like refugee settlements, where discarded plastic piles up and bacterial infections spread easily.

The study is published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

The fact that there are microplastics all around us, and even more so in impoverished places where sanitation may be limited, is a striking part of this observation.

There is certainly a concern that this could present a higher risk in communities that are disadvantaged, and only underscores the need for more vigilance and a deeper insight into [microplastic and bacterial] interactions.

The plastics provide a surface that the bacteria attach to and colonize. 

Once attached to any surface, bacteria create a biofilm—a sticky substance that acts like a shield, protecting the bacteria from invaders and keeping them affixed securely.

Even though bacteria can grow biofilms on any surface, researchers observed that the microplastic supercharged the bacterial biofilms so much that when antibiotics were added to the mix, the medicine was unable to penetrate the shield.

The researchers  found that the biofilms on microplastics, compared to other surfaces like glass, are much stronger and thicker, like a house with a ton of insulation.

The rate of antibiotic resistance on the microplastic was so high compared to other materials, that the researchers performed the experiments multiple times, testing different combinations of antibiotics and types of plastic material. Each time, the results remained consistent.

They conclusively demonstrated that the presence of plastics is doing a whole lot more than just providing a surface for the bacteria to stick to—they are actually leading to the development of resistant organisms.

 Effects of microplastic concentration, composition, and size on Escherichia coli biofilm- associated antimicrobial resistance, Applied and Environmental Microbiology (2025). DOI: 10.1128/aem.02282-24

Scientists discover smart way to generate energy with tiny plastic beads

An international team of researchers has discovered a new method to generate electricity using small plastic beads. By placing these beads close together and bringing them into contact, they generate more electricity than usual. This process, known as triboelectrification, is similar to the static electricity produced when rubbing a balloon against hair.

Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) generate electricity through friction between different materials. Typically, this occurs when two distinct materials move against each other. The research now shows that when a surface made up of closely packed small beads comes into contact with another surface containing the same beads, some beads gain a positive charge while others become negatively charged. The more efficiently these electric charges transfer, the more electricity is produced.

Tests with different types of beads reveal that size and material play a crucial role. Larger beads tend to acquire a negative charge, whereas smaller ones are more likely to become positively charged. The most significant effect occurs with melamine-formaldehyde (MF) beads.

This material has low elasticity, meaning it is less flexible and better at holding and transferring electric charge. Additionally, using beads provides a cost-effective alternative to the expensive technology typically used in TENGs to enhance performance. The dry fabrication of particles also makes the process more sustainable by eliminating the need for solvents.

Advancements in triboelectrification could enable new energy-harvesting applications without batteries or power outlets.

Ignaas S. M. Jimidar et al, Granular Interfaces in TENGs: The Role of Close‐Packed Polymer Bead Monolayers for Energy Harvesters, Small (2025). DOI: 10.1002/smll.202410155

How hand shape affects sound while clapping

New research work published in Physical Review Research,  elucidates the complex physical mechanisms and fluid dynamics involved in a handclap, with potential applications in bioacoustics and personal identification, whereby a handclap could be used to identify someone.

The researchers used high-speed cameras to track the hand motion, air flow and sound of 10 volunteers clapping, measuring the different frequencies when the size and shape of the cavity between hands changes: when clapping with cupped hands, flat hands or fingers to palm. They found the larger the cavity between palms, the lower the frequency of the clap, with the hands acting as a resonator—whereby the sound comes from the force of air through the hand's cavity and the opening between the thumb and index finger.

It's the air column pushed by this jet flow of air coming out of the hand cavity that causes the disturbance in the air, and that's the sound we hear.

The researchers compared the human data to that produced with simplified replicas, as well as theoretical projections of how air would move through a traditional resonator, called a Helmholtz resonator.

They confirmed both experimentally and computationally that the Helmholtz resonator can predict the frequency of the human handclap.

It's a confirmation of this unifying principle that may be helpful in other fields, especially bioacoustics, because that principle may help explain all kinds of bioacoustics phenomena, especially those involving soft material collision and jet flow.

Additionally, the researchers studied why claps are so short, compared to sound made through a traditional resonator, finding that the softness of the hands plays a role: the soft tissues of the hands vibrate after impact, absorbing energy and dampening the sound.

When there's more vibration in the material, the sound attenuates much more quickly. So, if you want to get the attention of another person very far from you, and you want the sound to last longer, you might want to choose a certain type of handclapping shape that makes your hand more rigid.

The research further opens the door to the idea of using a handclap as a personal identifier or signature.

The handclap is actually a very characteristic thing, because we have different sizes of hand, techniques, different skin textures and softness—that all results in different sound performances. Now that we understand the physics of it, we can use the sound to identify the person.

Yicong Fu et al, Revealing the sound, flow excitation, and collision dynamics of human handclaps, Physical Review Research (2025). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevResearch.7.013259

Majority of the world's population breathes dirty air, report says

Most of the world has dirty air, with just 17% of cities globally meeting air pollution guidelines, a recent report found.

Switzerland-based air quality monitoring database IQAir analyzed data from 40,000 air quality monitoring stations in 138 countries and found that Chad, Congo, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India had the dirtiest air. India had six of the nine most polluted cities with the industrial town of Byrnihat in northeastern India the worst.

Experts said the real amount of air pollution might be far greater as many parts of the world lack the monitoring needed for more accurate data.

More air quality monitors are being set up to counter the issue, the report said. This year, report authors were able to incorporate data from 8,954 new locations and around a thousand new monitors as a result of efforts to better monitor air pollution.

But last week, data monitoring for air pollution was dealt a blow when the U.S. State Department announced it would no longer make public its data from its embassies and consulates around the world.

Breathing in polluted air over a long period of time can cause respiratory illness, Alzheimer's disease and cancer. The World Health Organization estimates that air pollution kills around 7 million people each year.

Experts say that much more needs to be done to cut air pollution levels. The WHO had earlier found that 99% of the world's population lives in places that do not meet recommended air quality levels.

And the problem is if you have bad water, no water, you can tell people to wait for half an hour a day, the water will come. But if you have bad air, you cannot tell people to pause breathing.

Several cities like Beijing, Seoul, South Korea, and Rybnik in Poland have successfully improved their air quality through stricter regulations on pollution from vehicles, power plants and industry. They've also promoted cleaner energy and invested in public transportation.

Source: News agencies

How nature organizes itself, from brain cells to ecosystems

You'll see it everywhere: the way trees form branches, the way cities divide into neighborhoods, the way the brain organizes into regions. Nature loves modularity—a limited number of self-contained units that combine in different ways to perform many functions. But how does this organization arise?

In findings published in Nature, researchers report that a mathematical model called peak selection can explain how modules emerge without strict genetic instructions. The findings, which apply to brain systems and ecosystems, help explain how modularity occurs across nature, no matter the scale.

Scientists have debated how modular structures form. One hypothesis suggests that various genes are turned on at different locations to begin or end a structure. This explains how insect embryos develop body segments, with genes turning on or off at specific concentrations of a smooth chemical gradient in the insect egg.

Another idea, inspired by mathematician Alan Turing, suggests that a structure could emerge from competition—small-scale interactions can create repeating patterns, like the spots on a cheetah or the ripples in sand dunes.

Both ideas work well in some cases, but fail in others. The new research suggests that nature need not pick one approach over the other.

Part 1

The authors of the research paper propose a simple mathematical principle called peak selection, showing that when a smooth gradient is paired with local interactions that are competitive, modular structures emerge naturally. In this way, biological systems can organize themselves into sharp modules without detailed top-down instruction.

The researchers tested their idea on grid cells, which play a critical role in spatial navigation as well as the storage of episodic memories. Grid cells fire in a repeating triangular pattern as animals move through space, but they don't all work at the same scale—they are organized into distinct modules, each responsible for mapping space at slightly different resolutions.

No one knows how these modules form, but the new model shows that gradual variations in cellular properties along one dimension in the brain, combined with local neural interactions, could explain the entire structure. The grid cells naturally sort themselves into distinct groups with clear boundaries, without external maps or genetic programs telling them where to go.

The new  work explains how grid cell modules could emerge. The explanation tips the balance toward the possibility of self-organization. It predicts that there might be no gene or intrinsic cell property that jumps when the grid cell scale jumps to another module.

Part 2

The same principle applies beyond neuroscience. Imagine a landscape where temperatures and rainfall vary gradually over a space. You might expect species to be spread, and also to vary, smoothly over this region. But in reality, ecosystems often form species clusters with sharp boundaries—distinct ecological "neighborhoods" that don't overlap.

The new study suggests why local competition, cooperation, and predation between species interact with the global environmental gradients to create natural separations, even when the underlying conditions change gradually. This phenomenon can be explained using peak selection and suggests that the same principle that shapes brain circuits could also be at play in forests and oceans.

One of the researchers' most striking findings is that modularity in these systems is remarkably robust. Change the size of the system, and the number of modules stays the same—they just scale up or down. That means a mouse brain and a human brain could use the same fundamental rules to form their navigation circuits, just at different sizes.

The model also makes testable predictions. If it's correct, grid cell modules should follow simple spacing ratios. In ecosystems, species distributions should form distinct clusters even without sharp environmental shifts.

The work adds another conceptual framework to biology. "Peak selection can inform future experiments, not only in grid cell research but across developmental biology.

Mikail Khona et al, Global modules robustly emerge from local interactions and smooth gradients, Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08541-3

Part 3

Microplastics may threaten global food supply by disrupting photosynthesis

A team of environmental researchers, Earth scientists and pollution specialists  has found evidence that microplastics have a negative impact on photosynthesis in terrestrial, marine, and freshwater ecosystems.

In their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group conducted a meta-analysis of data from more than 150 studies involving the impact of microplastics on plants.

Prior research has shown that microplastics have made their way to nearly every ecosystem on the planet, and now contaminate plants and animals, including humans. For this new study, the research team wondered if microplastics might have an unknown impact on plants living in the ocean, in fresh water or growing on land, and they conducted a study of prior research to find out.

The team suspected that microplastics might have a direct impact on the ability of plants to engage in photosynthesis. To that end, they searched the literature using an AI app and found 157 studies that mentioned both microplastics and impacts on photosynthesis, which included 3,286 observations.

Combining the results, the researchers calculated that microplastics reduced photosynthetic efficiency across all three plant types by 7% to 12% and caused reductions in production of chlorophyll. Such percentages, they suggest, result in approximately 4% to 14% harvest yield losses of maize, wheat and rice around the globe. They also suggest that microplastics account for up to 7% of losses in global aquatic net primary productivity.

The research team notes that the problem appears to be worsening, which will impact crop production even more. They further suggest that if the problem is not reversed, the result could be a major increase in the number of people at risk of starvation over the next two decades.

 Ruijie Zhu et al, A global estimate of multiecosystem photosynthesis losses under microplastic pollution, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2025). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2423957122

bioRxiv and medRxiv make it official

A new chapter has begun for two of the world’s most popular preprint platforms, bioRxiv and medRxiv, with the launch of a non-profit organization that will manage them. openRxiv, which will have a board of directors and a scientific and medical advisory board, takes over from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. It has “become so important that they should have their own organization running them, which is focused on the long-term sustainability of the servers, as opposed to being a side project within a big research institution,” says Richard Sever, the co-founder of both servers.

Nature | 

Preprint sites bioRxiv and medRxiv launch new era of independence

Coma brain waves hint at who’s waking up

A pattern of brain waves that occurs during sleep might help to predict whether an unresponsive person who experienced severe brain.... Researchers recorded the electrical activity in the brains of 226 people in a coma who had experienced recent brain injury, and homed in on a specific patterns of brain activity called sleep spindles. They found that 28% of people who had well-defined sleep spindles recovered consciousness, compared with only 14% of those who lacked this pattern. “We're starting to lift the lid a little bit and find some signs of recovery as it's happening,” says neurologist and study co-author Jan Claassen.

ScienceAlert
Reference: Nature Medicine paper

A 'Yellow Brick Road' at The Bottom of The Pacific Ocean

An example of ancient active volcanic geology!

Turtle Dance
Researchers found that the turtles exhibited significantly higher levels of ‘turtle dance’ behaviour when they were in their designated feeding fields, strongly suggesting that they could distinguish between the two magnetic fields.

When somebody says 'shut up!', how do you stop speaking?

A premotor cortical network in the brain allows people to voluntarily stop speaking, study suggests

Speech is a unique human ability that is known to be supported by various motor and cognitive processes. When humans start speaking, they can decide to cease at any point; for instance, if they are interrupted by something happening or by another person speaking to them.

The ability to voluntarily stop speaking plays a central role in social interactions, as it allows people to engage in conversations with others while adaptively responding to social cues, environmental stimuli or interruptions.

Researchers  recently set out to better understand how the human brain controls the ceasing of speech using tools to record neurophysiological signals. Their paper, published in Nature Human Behaviour, unveils a previously unknown premotor cortical network that could support voluntary speech inhibition.

Researchers recruited 13 patients diagnosed with treatment-resistant epilepsy who had electrodes implanted on their brains' surfaces to better understand the brain regions that contribute to their epileptic seizures. These patients were asked to complete a speech-stopping task, which asked them to follow instructions on when to start and stop speaking, while their neural activity was recorded.

Neural recordings revealed distinct activity in the premotor frontal cortex correlated with stopping speech. This activity was found in largely separate cortical sites from regions encoding vocal tract articulatory movements. Moreover, this activity primarily occurred with abrupt stopping in the middle of an utterance, rather than naturally completing a phrase.

The findings gathered by this team of researchers hint at the existence of a specialized brain mechanism that supports the voluntary control of speech.

The researchers conducted further tests aimed at validating the existence of this mechanism by stimulating specific parts of the premotor frontal cortex.

Electrocortical stimulation at many premotor sites with inhibitory stop activity caused involuntary speech arrest, which contradicts previous clinical interpretations of this effect as evidence for critical centers of speech production," wrote the team in their paper. "Together, these results suggest a previously unknown premotor cortical network that supports the inhibitory control of speech, providing implications for understanding both natural and altered speech production."

Overall, the results of this study suggest that the human ability to voluntarily stop speech is supported by a particular inhibitory control neural network that had not been uncovered before.

Lingyun Zhao et al, Inhibitory control of speech production in the human premotor frontal cortex, Nature Human Behaviour (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41562-025-02118-4

Cells 'speed date' to find their neighbours when forming tissues

In developing hearts, cells shuffle around, bumping into each other to find their place, and the stakes are high: pairing with the wrong cell could mean the difference between a beating heart and one that falters.

A study published in the Biophysical Journal demonstrates how heart cells go about this "matchmaking" process. The researchers model the intricate movements of these cells and predict how genetic variations could disrupt the heart development process in fruit flies.

In both humans and fruit flies, the heart's tissues arise from two distinct regions of the embryo, which are initially far apart. As development progresses, these cells journey toward each other, ultimately merging into a tube-like shape that will become the heart. For the heart to develop correctly, these cells must align and pair up precisely.

As the cells come together, they jiggle and adjust, and somehow always end up pairing with a heart cell of the same type. This observation inspired researchers to explore how cells match up in the first place and how they know when they've found the right fit.

Developing heart cells have tentacle-like protrusions called filopodia, which probe and grab onto potential partners.

Earlier researchers found that proteins create waves that pull mismatched cells apart, giving them another chance to find the right match.

It's basically like cells are speed dating. They have just a few moments to determine if they're a good match, with molecular 'friends' ready to pull them apart if they're not compatible.

The researchers found that heart cells seek stability where they remain closest to stillness—like a rolling ball that eventually comes to a stop, known as energy equilibrium in physics.

In developing heart cells, this principle applies when cells find a balance between connection forces and their ability to adjust to strain—also known as adhesive energy and elasticity. Based on this observation, the team developed a model that shows how cells can self-organize.

Scientists tested their model on fruit fly hearts with mutations and misalignments. By calculating the adhesive energy between different cell types and assessing tissue elasticity, the model predicted how cells would match and rearrange.

Although rare, sometimes the heart tube ends up with one cell on one side when it should have two, or two cells when there should be four. The model produced outcomes that closely mirrored what was observed in real embryos.

This  new model not only enhances our understanding of how cells match and align during heart development but also has broader applications. Similar cell-matching processes are crucial in neuronal connections, wound repair, and facial development, where hiccups can lead to conditions like cleft lip.

Interfacial energy constraints are sufficient to align cells over large distances, Biophysical Journal (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2025.02.011

Food insecurity raises risk of heart disease over time: A 20 year study

Struggling to afford food today could mean heart problems tomorrow. Young adults experiencing food insecurity have a 41% greater risk of developing heart disease in midlife, even after accounting for demographic and socioeconomic factors, according to a new  Medicine study.

Food insecurity means struggling to get enough nutritious food to stay healthy.

That makes it a clear target for prevention—if we address food insecurity early, we may be able to reduce the burden of heart disease later."

The study was published in JAMA Cardiology.

Among the 3,616 study participants, those experiencing food insecurity were 41% more likely to develop cardiovascular disease than their food-secure counterparts. Over the study period, 11% of food-insecure individuals developed heart disease, compared to 6% of those with adequate food access.

By following people over two decades, researchers were able to show that food insecurity, on its own, significantly increases the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. 

 Food Insecurity and Incident Cardiovascular Disease Among Black and White US Individuals, 2000-2020, JAMA Cardiology (2025). DOI: 10.1001/jamacardio.2025.0109

Mosquito pain receptors found to be less sensitive during extreme heat, which could nullify some natural bug sprays

Hotter temperatures may render natural insect repellents less effective against mosquitoes, according to a new study. Researchers found that a pain receptor called TRPA1 becomes less sensitive in mosquitoes when exposed to heat, meaning that the chemical cues that typically trigger insect avoidance behaviors are prevented from activating as strongly.

TRPA1, also known as the "wasabi receptor," helps animals detect noxious heat and harmful chemicals. In humans, this receptor can induce eye and skin irritation. In mosquitoes, it influences which hosts the insects find most alluring—specifically, those unprotected by repellents that drive them away.

What the researchers now  found was that the chemicals were not able to activate the mosquito wasabi receptor as effectively when temperatures exceeded the heat activation threshold.

Typical insect repellents create a chemical barrier that discourages proximity and prevents mosquitoes from reaching their target. Yet because their receptors are desensitized in warmer temperatures, natural substances like citronellal and catnip oil, known for their repellent properties, would be less effective. Products with those ingredients may be less effective if you're using them at temperatures that are considered extreme heat events, say the researchers.

Yeaeun Park et al, Heat activation desensitizes Aedes aegypti transient receptor potential ankyrin 1 (AaTRPA1) to chemical agonists that repel mosquitoes, Pesticide Biochemistry and Physiology (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.pestbp.2025.106326

128 New Moons Found Orbiting Saturn

The race between Jupiter and Saturn for the most moons in the Solar System may have just finally come screeching to a halt.

A team of scientists has found a whopping 128 previously unknown moons hanging around Saturn, in a discovery officially recognized by the International Astronomical Union. This brings the planet's total number of known moons to 274, leaving Jupiter, with its mere 95 moons, in the dust.

https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.07081

Restored grasslands need 75+ years for full biodiversity recovery, study finds

Recovered grasslands need more than 75 years of continuous management to regain their biodiversity because specialized pollinators are slow to return. This finding underscores the importance of preserving old grasslands as reservoirs of biodiversity, even if it is just as ski slopes.

Grasslands worldwide are rapidly disappearing due to land-use conversion and abandonment, leading to a well-documented loss of grassland biodiversity. Restoring abandoned grasslands by removing woody vegetation and resuming traditional land management practices has positive effects on biodiversity.

However, it is also known that this diversity lags behind that of old grasslands that have been under continued management for up to several millennia. The reasons for this are not really clear and satisfying solutions have not been proposed, say the experts.

The results of a study   published in the Journal of Applied Ecology paint a consistent picture. It takes 75 years of continuous management for the plant diversity in recovered grasslands to finally reach levels comparable to ancient grasslands.

However, that's still not enough for the pollinator community. Even after 75 years, pollinators are still less specialized and less successful at pollinating the plants, although the community continuously shifts towards higher specialization and successful pollination as grasslands get older.

The finding shows that once valuable old grasslands are lost, their restoration cannot be achieved quickly.

Long-term management is required for the recovery of pollination networks and function in restored grasslands, Journal of Applied Ecology (2025). DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.70017

Watching nature scenes can reduce pain, neuroimaging study shows

A new neuroimaging study has revealed that viewing nature can help ease how people experience pain, by reducing the brain activity linked to pain perception.

Published in the journal Nature Communications  the research offers a promising foundation for new types of non-pharmacological pain treatments. The paper is titled "Nature exposure induces analgesic effects by acting on nociception-related neural processing."

Using an fMRI scanner, researchers monitored the brain activity of 49 participants as they received pain delivered through a series of small electric shocks. When they were watching videos of a natural scene compared to a city or an indoor office, participants not only reported feeling less pain, but scans showed the specific brain responses associated with processing pain changed too.

The study used advanced machine-learning to analyze the brain networks related to pain processing. The team discovered that the raw sensory signals the brain receives when something hurts were reduced when watching a carefully designed, high-quality, virtual nature scene.

The study confirmed previous findings that suggest nature can reduce subjective reports of pain, and also marks the first clear demonstration of how natural environments influence the brain, helping to buffer against unpleasant experiences.

Nature exposure induces analgesic effects by acting on nociception-related neural processing', Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-56870-2

How the brain makes decisions more quickly than computers in risky situations

Research inspired by the principles of quantum mechanics, researchers from Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) and the University of Oxford reveal new findings to understand why the human brain is able to make decisions quicker than the world's most powerful computer in the face of a critical risk situation. The human brain has this capacity despite the fact that neurons are much slower at transmitting information than microchips, which raises numerous unknown factors in the field of neuroscience.

The research is published in the journal Physical Review E.

It should be borne in mind that in many other circumstances, the human brain is not quicker than technological devices. For example, a computer or calculator can resolve mathematical operations far faster than a person. So, why is it that in critical situations—for example, when having to make an urgent decision at the wheel of a car—the human brain can surpass machines?

Most accurate computational model yet to analyze connections between farthest neurons

This recent research clarifies this matter thanks to the design of a new model of brain computational analysis, called CHARM (Complex Harmonics Decomposition). It is the most accurate model to date for examining the functions of long-distance brain connections, which link neurons that are far apart and play a fundamental role in the brain dynamics that are activated when making critical decisions. It is also the first model to apply quantum mechanics as an instrument for analyzing the brain.

The  researchers describe this model in their study. 

Part 1

Long-distance neural connections are comparable to those connecting computers in distant countries
To design the CHARM model, the researchers started with a paradigm of analysis of brain dynamics that we could compare to the Internet. In certain scenarios, such as risk situations, neurons distributed in different brain regions, both close to and far from each other, are joined by different connections. These connections enable pooling the information processing power of all the neurons in the network.

Thus, although groups of neurons located in different brain regions have a limited capacity to transmit information, when they pool their resources in a network, they attain far greater processing power. This paradigm has gained strength over the past decade, as opposed to the traditional approach whereby neural regions only function in a localized manner.
In a critical state, the efficiency of long-distance neural connections is enhanced
The researchers have found that the efficiency of long-distance connections is enhanced when the brain is dominated by critical dynamics, which lead it to a state of transition between order and chaos.
We could assimilate this state to a transitional phase like the process whereby water becomes ice. At this critical point, the brain has exacerbated properties, the researchers point out.
The CHARM model has enabled ascertaining precisely the functions of these long-distance connections in this or other states, for the first time integrating the principles of quantum mechanics into a system of computational brain analysis.
By adopting the Schrödinger equation we can model these interactions with a degree of precision that was previously beyond our reach.
The research findings can also have numerous applications for improving the diagnosis and treatment of various neurological diseases, such as schizophrenia or depression. Long-distance neuronal connection dysfunctions are key to understanding the origin of these diseases.

Moreover, the study opens the door to new lines of research in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). Currently, artificial neural networks are based on a localized, non-distributed model. In the future, the possible application of the distributed paradigm to AI could multiply its current capabilities, although many technical difficulties must still be overcome to enable this.

 Gustavo Deco et al, Complex harmonics reveal low-dimensional manifolds of critical brain dynamics, Physical Review E (2025). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.111.014410

Part 2

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Researchers turn skin cells directly into neurons for cell therapy

Converting one type of cell to another—for example, a skin cell to a neuron—can be done through a process that requires the skin cell to be induced into a pluripotent stem cell, then differentiated into a neuron. Researchers  have now devised a simplified process that bypasses the stem cell stage, converting a skin cell directly into a neuron.

Working with mouse cells, the researchers developed a conversion method that is highly efficient and can produce more than 10 neurons from a single skin cell. If replicated in human cells, this approach could enable the generation of large quantities of motor neurons, which could potentially be used to treat patients with spinal cord injuries or diseases that impair mobility.

As a first step toward developing these cells as a therapy, the researchers showed that they could generate motor neurons and engraft them into the brains of mice, where they integrated with host tissue.

Previously scientists in Japan showed that by delivering four transcription factors to skin cells, they could coax them to become induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Similar to embryonic stem cells, iPSCs can be differentiated into many other cell types. This technique works well, but it takes several weeks, and many of the cells don't end up fully transitioning to mature cell types.

Oftentimes, one of the challenges in reprogramming is that cells can get stuck in intermediate states. So scientists are trying direct conversion, where instead of going through an iPSC intermediate, they are going directly from a somatic cell to a motor neuron.

They have demonstrated this type of direct conversion before, but with very low yields—fewer than 1%. 

In the first of the new Cell Systems papers,  scientists now reported a way to streamline the process so that skin cells can be converted to motor neurons using just three transcription factors, plus the two genes that drive cells into a highly proliferative state.

The researchers also developed a slightly different combination of transcription factors that allowed them to perform the same direct conversion using human cells, but with a lower efficiency rate—between 10 and 30%, the researchers estimate. This process takes about five weeks, which is slightly faster than converting the cells to iPSCs first and then turning them into neurons.

Once the researchers identified the optimal combination of genes to deliver, they began working on the best ways to deliver them, which was the focus of the second  Cell Systems paper.

Part 1

They tried out three different delivery viruses and found that a retrovirus achieved the most efficient rate of conversion. Reducing the density of cells grown in the dish also helped to improve the overall yield of motor neurons. This optimized process, which takes about two weeks in mouse cells, achieved a yield of more than 1,000%.

Proliferation history and transcription factor levels drive direct conversion to motor neurons, Cell Systems (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.cels.2025.101205. www.cell.com/cell-systems/full … 2405-4712(25)00038-9

Compact transcription factor cassettes generate functional, engraftable motor neurons by direct conversion, Cell Systems (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.cels.2025.101206. www.cell.com/cell-systems/full … 2405-4712(25)00039-0

Part 2

Violent supernovae 'triggered at least two Earth extinctions,' study suggests

At least two mass extinction events in Earth's history were likely caused by the "devastating" effects of nearby supernova explosions, a new study suggests.

Researchers note that   these super-powerful blasts—caused by the death of a massive star—may have previously stripped our planet's atmosphere of its ozone, sparked acid rain and exposed life to harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

They think a supernova explosion close to Earth could be to blame for both the late Devonian and Ordovician extinction events, which occurred 372 and 445 million years ago respectively.

The Ordovician extinction killed 60% of marine invertebrates at a time when life was largely confined to the sea, while the late Devonian wiped out around 70% of all species and led to huge changes in the kind of fish that existed in our ancient seas and lakes.

Past research has failed to identify a clear cause for either event, although they are thought to have been linked to the depletion of Earth's ozone layer, which could have been triggered by a supernova.

The new study, published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, found that the rate supernovae occur near to our planet is consistent with the timings of both mass extinctions.

The authors say it is a "a great illustration for how massive stars can act as both creators and destructors of life."

That's because supernovae are also known to spread the heavy elements that help form and support life across the universe.

Supernovae occur when massive stars reach the end of their lives, run out of fuel, cool off, and then collapse under the pressure of gravity. The explosions are the biggest humans have ever seen.

Supernova explosions bring heavy chemical elements into the interstellar medium, which are then used to form new stars and planets.

But if a planet, including the Earth, is located too close to this kind of event, this can have devastating effects.

Supernova explosions are some of the most energetic explosions in the universe.

"If a massive star were to explode as a supernova close to the Earth, the results would be devastating for life on Earth. This research suggests that this may have already happened", they add.

The researchers came to their conclusion after carrying out a "census" of massive stars within a kiloparsec (around 3,260 light-years) of the sun.

Alexis L. Quintana et al, A census of OB stars within 1 kpc and the star formation and core collapse supernova rates of the Milky Way, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societyacademic.oup.com/mnras/article … 0.1093/mnras/staf083 . On arXiv (2025). DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2503.08286

Oral snakebite treatment

Researchers  have completed a Phase I clinical trial for a new oral treatment for snakebite.

The study, conducted by researchers from the Center for Snakebite Research & Interventions (CSRI) at LSTM and the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi and published in the journal eBioMedicine, shows that the drug, unithiol, is safe, well tolerated, and easy to administer in remote rural clinics, paving the way for its development as a field-ready treatment.

Unithiol is already approved for treating heavy metal poisoning but was identified for study in the treatment of snakebite envenoming due to its ability to neutralize snake venom metalloproteinases (SVMPs). These zinc-based toxin components, found in the venoms of vipers and many other snakes, are responsible for causing severe tissue damage and life-threatening bleeding in snakebite patients.

Snakebite envenoming remains a major global health challenge, causing more than 140,000 deaths a year, mainly in rural Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and Asia. Current antivenom treatments are costly, can cause severe side effects and must be administered intravenously in hospital settings, barriers that delay life-saving intervention.

The animal-derived antivenoms used today are based on 100-year-old principles.

Small molecule therapeutics, such as unithiol, have the potential to be safer and cheaper and can be taken easily as a pill.

The phase 1 trial  has shown that unithiol is safe even at the high doses that the researchers think will be needed to treat snakebite, so they could be on the cusp of bringing snakebite treatment  into the 21st century and vastly improving patient outcomes.

Preclinical research by LSTM scientists previously demonstrated that unithiol could prevent the worst effects of venom and potentially save lives. The phase 1 clinical trial assessed different doses of unithiol in oral and intravenous forms. All showed no serious side effects, even at the maximum dose, and analysis of participants' blood found that the drug was rapidly absorbed and present at levels expected to inhibit snake venom toxins.

Based on these findings, the LSTM team will advance unithiol to phase 2 clinical trials, where the drug will be tested in patients who have been bitten and envenomed by snakes. If successful, unithiol could be rapidly deployed in rural clinics and first-aid settings, buying snakebite victims valuable time to get to a hospital and reducing the severity of envenoming.

A word of caution though: While unithiol may not be a cure by itself, the scientists hope that it will prevent the worst effects of snakebite envenoming and buy victims valuable time to get to a hospital, thereby reducing their risk of death or disability.

 Michael Abouyannis et al, Development of an oral regimen of unithiol for the treatment of snakebite envenoming: a phase 1 open-label dose-escalation safety trial and pharmacokinetic analysis in healthy Kenyan adults, eBioMedicine (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2025.105600

Scientists from IOCB Prague are on track of finding a treatment for autoimmune hair loss

WORLD-FIRST: Aussie man leaves hospital with totally artificial Titanium heart

'Microlightning' in water droplets may have sparked life on Earth

Life may not have begun with a dramatic lightning strike into the ocean but from many smaller "microlightning" exchanges among water droplets from crashing waterfalls or breaking waves.

New research shows that water sprayed into a mixture of gases thought to be present in Earth's early atmosphere can lead to the formation of organic molecules with carbon-nitrogen bonds, including uracil, one of the components of DNA and RNA.

The study, published in the journal Science Advances, adds evidence—and a new angle—to the much-disputed Miller-Urey hypothesis, which argues that life on the planet started from a lightning strike. That theory is based on a 1952 experiment showing that organic compounds could form with the application of electricity to a mixture of water and inorganic gases.

In the current study, the researchers found that water spray, which produces small electrical charges, could do that work all by itself, no added electricity necessary.

Microelectric discharges between oppositely charged water microdroplets make all the organic molecules observed previously in the Miller-Urey experiment, and the researchers propose that this is a new mechanism for the prebiotic synthesis of molecules that constitute the building blocks of life.

For a couple billion years after its formation, Earth is believed to have had a swirl of chemicals but almost no organic molecules with carbon-nitrogen bonds, which are essential for proteins, enzymes, nucleic acids, chlorophyll, and other compounds that make up living things today.

How these biological components came about has long puzzled scientists, and the Miller-Urey experiment provided one possible explanation: that lightning striking into the ocean and interacting with early planet gases like methane, ammonia, and hydrogen could create these organic molecules.

Critics of that theory have pointed out that lightning is too infrequent and the ocean too large and dispersed for this to be a realistic cause.

Part 1

Scientists propose another possibility with this research. The researchers first investigated how droplets of water developed different charges when divided by a spray or splash.

They found that larger droplets often carried positive charges, while smaller ones were negative. When the oppositely charged droplets came close to each other, sparks jumped between them. The researchers call this "microlightning," since the process is related to the way energy is built up and discharged as lightning in clouds. The researchers used high-speed cameras to document the flashes of light, which are hard to detect with the human eye.

Even though the tiny flashes of microlightning may be hard to see, they still carry a lot of energy. The researchers demonstrated that power by sending sprays of room-temperature water into a gas mixture containing nitrogen, methane, carbon dioxide, and ammonia gases, which are all thought to be present on early Earth.
This resulted in the formation of organic molecules with carbon-nitrogen bonds, including hydrogen cyanide, the amino acid glycine, and uracil.

The researchers argue that these findings indicate that it was not necessarily lightning strikes, but the tiny sparks made by crashing waves or waterfalls that jump-started life on this planet.
On early Earth, there were water sprays all over the place—into crevices or against rocks, and they can accumulate and create this chemical reaction, they say. We usually think of water as so benign, but when it's divided in the form of little droplets, water is highly reactive.

Yifan Meng et al, Spraying of Water Microdroplets Forms Luminescence and Causes Chemical Reactions in Surrounding Gas, Science Advances (2025). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adt8979. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adt8979

Part 2

Genomic study indicates our capacity for language emerged 135,000 years ago

 When did human language as we know it emerge? A new survey of genomic evidence suggests our unique language capacity was present at least 135,000 years ago. Subsequently, language might have entered social use 100,000 years ago.

Our species, Homo sapiens, is about 230,000 years old. Estimates of when language originated vary widely, based on different forms of evidence, from fossils to cultural artifacts. The authors of the new analysis took a different approach. They reasoned that since all human languages likely have a common origin—as the researchers strongly think—the key question is how far back in time regional groups began spreading around the world.

The logic is simple: Every population branching across the globe has human language, and all languages are related.

Based on what the genomics data indicate about the geographic divergence of early human populations. So we can say with a fair amount of certainty that the first split occurred about 135,000 years ago, so human language capacity must have been present by then, or before.

The paper based on this argument, "Linguistic capacity was present in the Homo sapiens population 135 ...," appears in Frontiers in Psychology.

Part 1

The new paper examines 15 genetic studies of different varieties, published over the past 18 years: three used data about the inherited Y chromosome, three examined mitochondrial DNA, and nine were whole-genome studies.

All told, the data from these studies suggest an initial regional branching of humans about 135,000 years ago. That is, after the emergence of Homo sapiens, groups of people subsequently moved apart geographically, and some resulting genetic variations have developed, over time, among the different regional subpopulations.

The amount of genetic variation shown in the studies allows researchers to estimate the point in time at which Homo sapiens was still one regionally undivided group.
The studies collectively provide increasingly converging evidence about when these geographic splits started taking place.

The first survey of this type was performed by other scholars in 2017, but they had fewer existing genetic studies to draw upon. Now, there are much more published data available, which, when considered together, points to 135,000 years ago as the likely time of the first split.
This new meta-analysis was possible because quantity-wise we have more studies, and quality-wise, it's a narrower window [of time].
Many linguists think all human languages are demonstrably related to each other.
Part 2

Some scholars have proposed that language capacity dates back a couple of million years, based on the physiological characteristics of other primates. But to the researchers of this study, the question is not when primates could utter certain sounds; it is when humans had the cognitive ability to develop language as we know it, combining vocabulary and grammar into a system generating an infinite amount of rules-based expression.
Human language is qualitatively different because there are two things, words and syntax, working together to create this very complex system. No other animal has a parallel structure in their communication system. And that gives us the ability to generate very sophisticated thoughts and to communicate them to others, they argue.
This conception of human language origins also holds that humans had the cognitive capacity for language for some period of time before we constructed our first languages.

Language is both a cognitive system and a communication system. Prior to 135,000 years ago, it did start out as a private cognitive system, but relatively quickly that turned into a communications system.
So, how can we know when distinctively human language was first used? The archaeological record is invaluable in this regard. Roughly 100,000 years ago, the evidence shows, there was a widespread appearance of symbolic activity, from meaningful markings on objects to the use of fire to produce ocher, a decorative red color.
Like our complex, highly generative language, these symbolic activities are engaged in by people, and no other creatures. As the paper notes, "behaviors compatible with language and the consistent exercise of symbolic thinking are detectable only in the archaeological record of H. sapiens.
So Language was the trigger for modern human behavior. Somehow, it stimulated human thinking and helped create these kinds of behaviors. If we are right, people were learning from each other [due to language] and encouraging innovations of the types we saw 100,000 years ago.
To be sure, as the authors acknowledge in the paper, other scholars think there was a more incremental and broad-based development of new activities around 100,000 years ago, involving materials, tools, and social coordination, with language playing a role in this, but not necessarily being the central force.

Shigeru Miyagawa et al, Linguistic capacity was present in the Homo sapiens population 135 thousand years ago, Frontiers in Psychology (2025). DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1503900

Part 3

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Cancer's hidden messengers: How extracellular vesicles aid tumor spread

In recent years, extracellular vesicles have attracted attention as a carrier of intercellular signaling.

Most cells in the body send out little messengers called extracellular vesicles that carry proteins, lipids, and other bioactive molecules to other cells, playing an important role in intercellular communication. But healthy cells are not the only ones that rely on extracellular vesicles. Cancer cells do, too. Small extracellular vesicles that are shed from tumor cells contribute to how cancer spreads to healthy tissue.

These small messengers could be a key to developing new cancer-fighting drugs and therapies, but it has been unclear how exactly the recipient cells absorb the extracellular vesicles and their cargo. Recent research used state-of-the-art imaging to observe the uptake of tumor-derived small extracellular vesicles by target cells. The results were published in Nature Communications on March 12, 2025.

Researchers focused on small extracellular vesicles derived from two different tumor cell lines. Using single-particle imaging with single-molecule detection sensitivity, a high-tech imaging technique, they were able to categorize the small extracellular vesicles into distinct subtypes. They then tracked the internalization pathway of the extracellular vesicles, or how the vesicles were absorbed into their recipient cells.

Most small extracellular vesicles were internalized into their target cells through a process called endocytosis. Previously, researchers suspected that the primary mechanism was fusion. During endocytosis, the target cell's membrane completely surrounds the extracellular vesicle, creating a kind of bubble around the vesicle. This allows it to be absorbed through the membrane so its cargo can be deposited into the target cell.

Part 1

Researchers did not observe any instances of fusion, where the membrane of the cell and the membrane of the extracellular vesicle fuse together until the vesicle can enter the target cell.

Typically, endocytosis is facilitated with a protein called clathrin, but clathrin was not involved in the absorption of small extracellular vesicles into their target cells. Instead, it was a pair of proteins called galectin-3 and LAMP-2C, which are found on the membrane surface of the small extracellular vesicles.
The findings revealed that extracellular vesicles derived from several cancer cells are categorized into distinct subtypes.
All the subtypes of extracellular vesicles were primarily internalized by clathrin-independent endocytosis via galectin-3, which was facilitated by an increase in intracellular calcium concentration induced by the binding of extracellular vesicles to the target cells.
This process where a cell secretes a protein that aids in the absorption into a recipient cell from a different cell line is called paracrine binding or paracrine adhesion signaling. It is in contrast to an autocrine binding, which would be a cell secreting a protein so that it can bind to cells from the same cell line.

By better understanding the process by which small extracellular vesicles are brought into target cells, researchers are hopeful that the vesicles could be used to modify recipient cells and develop new cancer-fighting drugs.

Koichiro M. Hirosawa et al, Uptake of small extracellular vesicles by recipient cells is facilitated by paracrine adhesion signaling, Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-57617-9

Part 2

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Preventing freezer bottle explosions: New insights into ice crystallization and pressure

Have you ever left a bottle of liquid in the freezer, only to find it cracked or shattered? To save you from tedious freezer cleanups, researchers at the University of Amsterdam have investigated why this happens, and how to prevent it. They discovered that while the liquid is freezing, pockets of liquid can get trapped inside the ice. When these pockets eventually freeze, the sudden expansion creates extreme pressure—enough to break glass.

The usual explanation for frost damage is that water expands when it freezes, but this does not explain why half-filled bottles also burst in our freezers. This new work addresses how ice can break a bottle even when it has plenty of space to expand into. Part 1

To understand this process, the researchers used a special dye, methylene blue, to track freezing in open cylindrical glass containers. The dye easily dissolves in water and turns it blue. The dye becomes transparent when the water freezes, as it gets pushed out of the ice crystals. This allows the researchers to see exactly when and where ice forms.

Having filmed tens of samples of blue-dyed water freezing in a—30°C environment, the researchers cracked the case. Ice breaks glass when the top surface of the water—the one open to air—freezes first. The rest of the water naturally freezes from the outside in, creating a pocket of liquid water surrounded by ice on all sides. When this pocket freezes too, it exerts an extreme amount of pressure on its surroundings, in many cases enough to break glass.
The researchers estimate the pressure exerted by the ice in their experiments to be around 260 megapascals, enough to dent high-strength steel and four times as much as their glass vials can withstand.
By testing glass containers of different sizes and with different surface coatings, the research team discovered that there are two ways to reduce the risk of trapped pockets of water forming.

The first way is to ensure the water gets colder before it begins to freeze. While water can start freezing at 0°C, it is possible for liquid water to get "supercooled" to subzero temperatures. Freezing needs to start somewhere, and the start of the phase transition can be delayed.

Supercooled water freezes differently than water that freezes closer to the freezing point. Rather than growing as a crystalline block, it freezes along fingerlike branches ("dendrites"). In the experiments, this type of freezing turns the dyed water a darker shade of blue before it freezes completely.

The researchers discovered that this unusual ice growth results in a large amount of small air bubbles getting trapped within the ice, something which appears to relieve enough pressure to prevent fracturing.
Part 2

Supercooling and the subsequent bubble formation were seen more often in narrower bottles. Comparing two bottles of different sizes filled with the same amount of water, the water in the smaller bottle cools down faster thanks to the larger surface it has per unit volume. This increases the chance of water cooling further below 0°C before it starts to freeze.
The second way to prevent trapped liquid pockets is to make sure that not the top surface, but the bottom of the container freezes first. So long as the top surface doesn't freeze over before the rest of the water does, the ice will simply expand into the open space above.
The team found that the shape of the water's surface plays a key role. In untreated glass containers, and in those coated with a layer that attracts water (being hydrophyilic), the water surface curves up against the glass. Thanks to the water molecules at the edge having less freedom to move, this region tends to be the first to freeze.

Water in containers with water-repelling (hydrophobic) coatings instead has a flat surface. Thanks to this, it is much more likely to freeze from the bottom up, preventing trapped liquid pockets from forming and reducing the risk of breakage.
If you don't want shattered bottles in your freezer, choose smaller bottles and ones with more water-repelling surfaces. (Many plastics are more water-repelling than glass—think of the PET bottles that many soft drinks come in, or of hard plastic like the PP used for Dopper bottles.) Beyond avoiding messy kitchen disasters, these new findings will also help with understanding and preventing frost damage in other places, including buildings, roads and historical artifacts.
But I don't recommend plastic bottles at all! This is not  good advice!

Menno Demmenie et al, Damage due to ice crystallization, Scientific Reports (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-86117-5

Part 3

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East Asian human gene that allows adult humans to digest sugars in milk likely came from Neanderthals

A small team of computational and evolutionary biologists  reports that unique lactase genes carried by about 25% of East Asian people may have been inherited from Neanderthals.

In their study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group compared the genes of thousands of people of African, East Asian and European descent against one another and then against Neanderthal genes.

Prior research has shown that many people of European descent carry genes that allow them to easily digest the sugars (lactose) present in milk, in sharp contrast to people of East Asian descent, who tend to have a high percentage of lactose intolerance.

However, in this new effort, the research team found unique versions of the lactase gene in some East Asian people along with evidence that they may have come from interbreeding between humans and Neanderthals thousands of years ago.

The researchers compared thousands of genomes collected from people of known European, African or East Asian descent, looking for commonalities between people who were lactose intolerant and those who were not. They found that approximately 25% of the East Asian samples studied carried versions of lactase genes not found in the genes of African or European people.

That led them to then compare those lactase genes from East Asians with genes from Neanderthals. They found that the genes in the East Asian samples likely came from the Neanderthals. This was because the genes showed up in the early humans before they had begun to drink the milk of domesticated animals such as cows, which ruled that out as a source of selection.

Exploring how the Neanderthals might have developed the lactase genes, the team found evidence that they may have provided some degree of protection against infections, a finding that would also explain why the genes persisted in East Asians long after the disappearance of the Neanderthal.

Xixian Ma et al, Neanderthal adaptive introgression shaped LCT enhancer region diversity without linking to lactase persistence in East Asian populations, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2025). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2404393122

Lakes worldwide are changing color, possibly due to human impact

Over the last 40 years, the majority of the world's lakes have changed color, according to a new study. The research team analyzed 32 million satellite observations from over 67,000 lakes. Major changes in the lake ecosystems are thought to be the cause.

Lakes are critical components of Earth's ecosystem. They provide habitats for aquatic and terrestrial species, support biodiversity and help maintain ecological balance. Lakes are also crucial for providing drinking water, supporting agriculture and influencing the climate through their effects on temperature, humidity and atmospheric processes.

The color of lakes is an important indicator of how healthy they are. Different shades reveal the ecological state of lakes and the ongoing physical and biochemical processes.

In a study published in Water Resources Research, a team of researchers analyzed 32 million satellite images of over 67,000 lakes from 1984 onwards.

After cross-checking with climate and population data, the researchers found that only 14% of the lakes studied maintained stable colors over time. The fact that so many lakes have changed color indicates significant ecosystem disruption caused by changes in water quality, algae concentrations, the flux of dissolved organic matter, and other contributing factors.

The results show the strong correlation between changes in lake colors, climate change and human impact. 

Lakes have different colors depending on where they are located. Blue lakes are primarily located in areas at northern latitudes, while green lakes are more prevalent in densely populated mid-latitude regions, such as southern Europe. Reddish and yellowish lakes are mainly found in the Southern Hemisphere.

In the study, the researchers found that most of the lakes have shifted toward shorter wavelengths (toward blue) over the last 40 years. A lake with a bluer color generally indicates clearer water and may reflect a healthier ecological state, although this will vary depending on the natural characteristics of the lake and its surroundings.

However, significant changes in lake color can signal ecological disturbances, such as increased nutrient loads or other drivers affecting the physical and biochemical properties of lake water. The differences between regions were remarkable.

Lakes in high-latitude regions, such as North America and northern Europe, showed a more pronounced change in color compared with those at the Equator and in the Southern Hemisphere. We don't really know why this is the case. This regional variation suggests that climate change and human activity are impacting ecosystems in complex and localized ways.

By mapping lake colors globally, the new study highlights how climate change and human activity are affecting lake ecosystems, which in turn have a major impact on food production, water supply and recreation. Understanding these changes can help communities and policymakers make informed decisions about water resource management, conservation and environmental protection.

Xiaoyi Shen et al, Satellite Observations Reveal Widespread Color Variations in Global Lakes Since the 1980s, Water Resources Research (2024). DOI: 10.1029/2023WR036926

Climate change 'will accelerate' owing to decline in natural carbon storage, says study

The natural process of locking away carbon dioxide (CO₂) appears to be in decline—and climate change will accelerate as a result, a new study warns.

Researchers found that the levels of CO2 retained in vegetation through this process, which is known as sequestration, had been increasing at 0.8% per year in the 1960s, but peaked in 2008 and are now falling at 0.25% per year.

If its growth rate of the 1960s had continued, natural sequestration would have increased by 50% from 1960 to 2010, but if its current rate of decline continues, it will have reduced by half in 250 years.

Sequestration offsets some of the emissions generated by human activity, which have recently been increasing by around 1.2% a year. Canceling this out would require these emissions to fall by 0.3% annually—equivalent to around 100 million tons of CO₂.

The study is published in the journal Weather.

James C. Curran et al, Natural sequestration of carbon dioxide is in decline: climate change will accelerate, Weather (2025). DOI: 10.1002/wea.7668