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

Slow, silent 'scream' of epithelial cells detected for first time

It has long been thought that only nerve and heart cells use electric impulses to communicate, while epithelial cells—which compose the linings of our skin, organs and body cavities—are mute, serving mostly as protective barriers that can absorb and secrete various substances.

But  researchers  have upended the status quo by showing that epithelial cells do indeed "talk" to each other, albeit with slow electrical signals.

 The discovery, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could enable new applications for everything from wearable bioelectric sensors to wound healing.

Epithelial cells do things that no one has ever thought to look for. When injured, they 'scream' to their neighbors, slowly, persistently and over surprising distances. It's like a nerve's impulse, but 1,000 times slower. 

The researchers' curiosity-driven approach, blending polymer science and biology, unveiled this hidden cellular signaling.

They used an epithelial-cell-coated chip with 60 precisely placed electrodes to eavesdrop. They grew a single layer of human epithelial cells on the chip, which detected minute electric shifts.

Using a precise laser to produce "sting" patterns of individual cells, they watched as signals rippled outward. They tracked how cells coordinated their response. "It's a slow-motion, excited conversation."

Unlike the swift neurotransmitter bursts of nerve cells, epithelial cells rely on ion flows—of calcium, especially—that produce signals that are far slower than those in nerve cells, but with similar voltages. These signals can be long-lived: The researchers observed cells that "talked" for over five hours across distances nearly 40 times their own length.

They showed that calcium ions are necessary for epithelial conversation, they have yet to test what else might contribute to the conversation. And though the immediate applications of their new discovery remain to be seen, the implications are vast. Wearable sensors, implantable devices and faster wound healing could grow from this .

Granick, Steve, Electric spiking activity in epithelial cells, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2025). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2427123122. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2427123122

Mimicry: Baby birds behaving like caterpillars to escape predators

Even hummingbird chick acts like a caterpillar to survive

Even hummingbird chick acts like a caterpillar to survive

Jay J. Falk et al, Potential caterpillar mimicry in a tropical hummingbird, Ecology (2025). DOI: 10.1002/ecy.70060

Kids under eight shouldn't drink slushies, researchers warn

Children under eight should not drink slushy ice drinks containing glycerol, researchers have warned after a string of hospitalizations in the UK and Ireland.

The brightly colored drinks marketed towards children often use glycerol as a sweetener and anti-freezing agent. But high levels can be harmful, especially to children—glycerol intoxication can cause shock, low blood sugar and loss of consciousness.

In a peer-reviewed medical review published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood journal this week, researchers looked into a "recent apparent surge in cases" in the UK and Ireland, and suggested children under eight should avoid the drinks entirely. They studied the medical records of 21 children aged two to seven who needed emergency treatment after drinking slushies.

Most cases took place between 2018 and 2024 and many of the children became acutely ill within an hour, the researchers said. Most of the children lost consciousness and showed signs of high blood acidity and low sugar, while four needed brain scans and one had a seizure.

The children all recovered swiftly, the researchers said.

Food safety agencies in the two countries already advise that children aged four and under should not have slushies containing glycerol.

But the researchers said the age should be raised further.

"Younger children, especially those under eight years of age, should avoid slush ice drinks containing glycerol," they said.

"Clinicians and parents should be alert to the phenomenon, and public health bodies should ensure clear messaging."

The review's authors also said there could be cases where children have suffered less serious illness and not been taken to hospital.

 Glycerol intoxication syndrome in young children, following the consumption of slush ice drinks, Archives of Disease in Childhood (2025). DOI: 10.1136/archdischild-2024-328109

Discovery shows how cells use telomeres to avoid cancer

Cancer researchers at Children's Medical Research Institute have discovered an "unexpected mechanism" that our cells use to avoid cancer.

Telomeres are the protective caps at chromosome ends and are involved in aging and cancer. As we age, telomere length naturally decreases. Over the course of a lifetime, telomere shortening instructs aging cells to stop dividing. This normally functions as a critical barrier to stop cancer.

Most people think of telomeres as a passive entity that shorten with cell division; this is a passive fail-safe used during aging.

The new  data shows telomeres are much more active. They can acutely respond to stress and actively open up to turn on a cellular response that looks like aging. They do this to avoid cancer.

This can lead to cell cycle arrest, or death, to prevent these damaged cells with chromosome errors from dividing further. This suggests telomeres have another anti-cancer mechanism that was previously unknown.

Diana Romero-Zamora et al, A CPC-shelterin-BTR axis regulates mitotic telomere deprotection, Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-57456-8

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria more vulnerable under body-like fluid flow conditions, study finds

Some notoriously difficult-to-treat infections may not be as resistant to antibiotics as has been thought, according to new research using a microfluidic device that more closely duplicates the fluid flow found in the body than standard cultures.

Researchers tested antibiotic agents against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, considered one of the most highly resistant pathogens. They introduced the drugs at varying rates of fluid flow and found that, while the bacteria thrived at no or low fluid flow, the antibiotics killed the bacteria at higher flow rates.

Anytime you take an antibiotic orally or by IV, it's not immediately in the place it is supposed to be. It will get there by flowing in the bloodstream. Other fluids move throughout the body as well: in the lungs, the urinary tract, the digestive tract.

So it is important to know the impact of fluid flow. By using the microfluidic technology, often used in engineering, in a biology setting, the researchers found that fluid flow is very important for antibiotic activity. 

Whether in a biology lab or a clinical lab, the standard way to study pathogenic bacteria is in plates, tubes or wells—settings not representative of the dynamics found in the body. The microfluidic devices the present group used allow for precise control of the rate of fluid flowing.

The researchers tested three different antibiotic agents against which the Pseudomonas was supposedly resistant. They saw a gradient of antibiotic activity that was dependent on the flow rate. At no to low flow, the antibiotics affected only the bacteria at the very start of the fluid track. As the flow rate increased, so did the reach of the antibiotic activity, until the entire culture sample was wiped out at the highest tested flow rates.

The findings highlight how we could do a better job of characterizing antibiotic resistance. If you get an infection, a clinician might take a sample and test it to see which drugs will work against it. But they're testing it without flow. So they may not give you a drug that actually could be effective because their tests don't show how effective the drugs are in flow conditions like in the body.

  When researchers try to develop a new drug, it's the same thing; they might be wrong in interpreting whether the drug is working or not, because the testing conditions aren't like the body.

Next, the research team plans to test other antibiotic-resistant pathogens and other antibiotic drugs in their microfluidic devices. They also hope to more deeply study the mechanisms behind why the antibiotics were more effective in flowing fluid.

That is why I wrote several times that lab conditions will be different from actual conditions. Several factors affect the outcomes and until we test all of them, we cannot say our results are hundred percent correct.

 Alexander M. Shuppara et al, Shear flow patterns antimicrobial gradients across bacterial populations, Science Advances (2025). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ads5005

 The mysterious 'red sprite' lightning strikes over the Himalayas

Have you ever heard of—or even seen—red lightning? These are not animated characters but real atmospheric phenomena known as electrical discharges that occur high above thunderstorms. Scientists refer to them as "red sprites," named for their jellyfish-like appearance and vivid red flashes. Now, imagine witnessing these mesmerizing displays over the world's highest mountain range—the Himalayas.

On the night of May 19, 2022, two Chinese astrophotographers, Angel An and Shuchang Dong, captured a spectacular display of over one hundred red sprites over the Himalayas. The observation site, located on the southern Tibetan Plateau near Pumoyongcuo Lake—one of the region's three sacred lakes—revealed a breathtaking celestial event.

Among the phenomena captured were dancing sprites, rare secondary jets, and the first-ever recorded case in Asia of green airglow at the base of the nighttime ionosphere, dubbed "ghost sprites." This extraordinary event attracted global attention and was widely covered by major media outlets.

A recent study published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences by Professor Gaopeng Lu and his team at the University of Science and Technology of China sheds light on the driving force behind this grand "sprite fireworks"—lightning and thunderstorms.

By analyzing the parent lightning discharges, they discovered that the sprites were triggered by high-peak current positive cloud-to-ground lightning strikes within a massive mesoscale convective system. This suggests that thunderstorms in the Himalayan region have the potential to produce some of the most complex and intense upper-atmospheric electrical discharges on Earth.

Lacking precise timestamps for detailed analysis, the research team developed an innovative method to synchronize video time using satellite trajectories and star field analysis. This innovative approach allowed them to determine the exact occurrence times of the sprites and link them to their parent lightning discharges. One of the anonymous reviewers praised the technique, highlighting its potential as a reliable timing tool for citizen scientists contributing to scientific observations.
The study revealed that the parent lightning discharges occurred within stratiform precipitation regions of a mesoscale convective complex stretching from the Ganges Plain to the southern foothills of the Tibetan Plateau. This event recorded the highest number of sprites during a single thunderstorm in South Asia, suggesting that thunderstorms in this region possess upper-atmospheric discharge capabilities comparable to those in the U.S. Great Plains and offshore European storms.

Moreover, the findings indicate that these storms may generate even more complex discharge structures, potentially influencing atmospheric coupling processes with significant physical and chemical effects.

Hailiang Huang et al, Massive Outbreak of Red Sprites in South Asia Observed from the Tibetan Plateau, Advances in Atmospheric Sciences (2025). DOI: 10.1007/s00376-024-4143-5

Genetic study reveals hidden chapter in human evolution

Modern humans descended from not one, but at least two ancestral populations that drifted apart and later reconnected, long before modern humans spread across the globe.

Using advanced analysis based on full genome sequences, researchers  have found evidence that modern humans are the result of a genetic mixing event between two ancient populations that diverged around 1.5 million years ago. About 300,000 years ago, these groups came back together, with one group contributing 80% of the genetic makeup of modern humans and the other contributing 20%.

For the last two decades, the prevailing view in human evolutionary genetics has been that Homo sapiens first appeared in Africa around 200,000 to 300,000 years ago, and descended from a single lineage. However, these latest results, reported in the journal Nature Genetics, suggest a more complex story.

For a long time, it's been assumed that we evolved from a single continuous ancestral lineage, but the exact details of our origins are uncertain. 

This new  research work  shows clear signs that our evolutionary origins are more complex, involving different groups that developed separately for more than a million years, then came back to form the modern human species.

While earlier research has already shown that Neanderthals and Denisovans—two now-extinct human relatives—interbred with Homo sapiens around 50,000 years ago, this new research suggests that long before those interactions—around 300,000 years ago—a much more substantial genetic mixing took place.

Unlike Neanderthal DNA, which makes up roughly 2% of the genome of non-African modern humans, this ancient mixing event contributed as much as 10 times that amount and is found in all modern humans.

The team's method relied on analyzing modern human DNA, rather than extracting genetic material from ancient bones, and enabled them to infer the presence of ancestral populations that may have otherwise left no physical trace. The data used in the study are from the 1000 Genomes Project, a global initiative that sequenced DNA from populations across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
The team developed a computational algorithm called cobraa that models how ancient human populations split apart and later merged back together. They tested the algorithm using simulated data and applied it to real human genetic data from the 1000 Genomes Project.

While the researchers were able to identify these two ancestral populations, they also identified some striking changes that happened after the two populations initially broke apart.
Part 1

Immediately after the two ancestral populations split, we see a severe bottleneck in one of them—suggesting it shrank to a very small size before slowly growing over a period of one million years.
This population would later contribute about 80% of the genetic material of modern humans, and also seems to have been the ancestral population from which Neanderthals and Denisovans diverged.
However, some of the genes from the population which contributed a minority of our genetic material, particularly those related to brain function and neural processing, may have played a crucial role in human evolution.
The study also found that genes inherited from the second population were often located away from regions of the genome linked to gene functions, suggesting that they may have been less compatible with the majority genetic background. This hints at a process known as purifying selection, where natural selection removes harmful mutations over time.
The fact that we can reconstruct events from hundreds of thousands or millions of years ago just by looking at DNA today is astonishing.

A structured coalescent model reveals deep ancestral structure shared by all modern humans, Nature Genetics (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41588-025-02117-1

Part 2

Scientists see the first steps of DNA unwinding

For the first time, scientists have witnessed the very moment DNA begins to unravel, revealing a necessary molecular event for DNA to be the molecule that codes all life.

A new study published in Nature, captures the moment DNA begins to unwind, allowing for all the events that follow in DNA replication.

This direct observation sheds light on the fundamental mechanisms that allow cells to faithfully duplicate their genetic material, a cornerstone for growth and reproduction.

Using cryo-electron microscopy and deep learning to observe the helicase Simian Virus 40 Large Tumor Antigen interacting with DNA, the work  provides the most detailed description yet of the very first steps of DNA replication: 15 atomic states that describe how the enzyme helicase forces the unwinding of DNA.

The achievement is not only a milestone in helicase research, but also a milestone in observing the dynamics of any enzyme at atomic resolution.

 For DNA to replicate, the helix must first unwind and break the DNA from a double strand into two single strands.

Upon binding, helicases melt the DNA, breaking the chemical bonds holding the double helix together. They then pull the two strands apart, allowing other enzymes to complete the replication. Without this first step, no DNA can be replicated. In this way, helicases are machines or, because of their size, nanomachines.

Part 1

If helicases are nanomachines, then "ATP," or adenosine trisphosphate, is the fuel. Much like how burning gas drives the pistons of a car engine, burning ATP, the same fuel used to flex your muscles, causes the six pistons of a helicase to unwind DNA.

The study found that as ATP is consumed, it reduces physical constraints that allow the helicase to proceed along the DNA, unwinding more and more of the double strand. Thus, ATP consumption acts as a switch that increases the amount of entropy—or disorder—in the system, freeing the helicase to move along the DNA.
The helicase uses ATP not to pry DNA apart in one motion, but to cycle through conformational changes that progressively destabilize and separate the strands. ATP burning, or hydrolysis, functions like the spring in a mouse trap, snapping the helicase forward and pulling the DNA strands apart.
Among the many discoveries made by the scientists was that two helicases melt the DNA at two sites at the same time to initiate the unwinding. The chemistry of DNA is such that nanomachines move along a single DNA strand in one direction only. By binding at two sites simultaneously, the helicases coordinate so that the winding can happen in both directions with an energy efficiency unique to natural nanomachines.

 Taha Shahid et al, Structural dynamics of DNA unwinding by a replicative helicase, Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-08766-w. www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08766-w

Part 2

Trees awaken to spring at their own pace—even within the same species in the same forest

Climatic stress events, such as extreme temperatures and prolonged droughts, are increasingly affecting tree growth and phenology—the timing of developmental stages like leaf burst and senescence.

To better understand these processes, researchers set up a long-term experiment with a permanent laser scanning station located at SMEAR II research station.

 The findings are published in the journal Agricultural and Forest Meteorology.

The scanner uses laser light to create centimeter-precise 3D models of individual trees, enabling scientists to track growth and structural changes with unprecedented detail.

Laser scanning time series enable the observation of tree changes over time without interfering with their natural growth. For the first time, scientists were able to accurately measure day-level differences in the phenology of trees in an automated manner. Subsequently, they could study the factors influencing and the effects of these phenological variations within one growth season.

The study focused on silver birch trees and found that species richness and competitive pressure for light in the immediate vicinity influenced the timing of spring leaf burst, while water availability shaped the timing of fall leaf senescence. Additionally, the timing of growth proved critical; for example, early leaf burst was linked to increased crown area growth later in the season. There was a difference of up to 12 days in the time when leaf senescence occurred in the observed trees.

This research highlights how individual trees differ in the timing and duration of their growth period due to the local growth environment, even in a relatively small and homogenous forest area. These insights, like the impact of local water availability on leaf senescence, also help us to understand how changing climate impacts tree phenology and growth within a forest stand.

The experiment provides a better understanding of how local factors drive tree growth.

Mariana Batista Campos et al, Factors and effects of inter-individual variability in silver birch phenology using dense LiDAR time-series, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2024.110253

Experimental antifungal compound kills multidrug-resistant fungi

The discovery of a new preclinical compound with strong antifungal activity against multidrug-resistant pathogens is described in Nature. The drug, named mandimycin, is a member of a known family of bacterial products with antifungal properties, the polyene macrolides. Unlike known compounds in this family, mandimycin binds to a novel target in the fungal cell membrane and is therefore active against a range of pathogens that are resistant to related compounds.

Mandimycin, does not bind to ergosterol in the cell membrane, the typical target of polyene macrolides. Instead, mandimycin was shown to bind various phospholipids in the fungal cell membrane. This mode of action means that it is effective against fungal pathogens that have evolved resistance to existing antifungal agents that target ergosterol, such as the clinically used agent amphotericin B.

The authors used animal models of infection to test mandimycin against a range of fungal pathogens, including multidrug-resistant Candida auris (a species listed as a priority fungal threat by the WHO), and found that the compound had increased efficacy and reduced nephrotoxicity, as compared with amphotericin B.

Zongqiang Wang, A polyene macrolide targeting phospholipids in the fungal cell membrane, Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-08678-9. www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08678-9

Probiotic boosters shorten fever duration in pediatric trial

A clinical trial  by researchers found a probiotic mixture that significantly shortened fever duration in children with upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs). Children who received a probiotic mixture containing Bifidobacterium breve M-16V, Bifidobacterium lactis HN019, and Lactobacillus rhamnosus HN001 experienced a median fever reduction of two days compared to those given a placebo.

The research is published in the journal JAMA Network Open.

Upper respiratory tract infections are among the most common illnesses affecting young children. Reports indicate that children typically experience five to eight URTIs per year, particularly in the first five years of life. Fever is a frequent symptom and a leading cause of health care visits, often contributing to inappropriate antibiotic use. Antibiotics provide no benefit for viral infections, which account for the majority of cases.

Current symptom management through antipyretics, such as acetaminophen (paracetamol), can temporarily lower body temperature without reducing fever duration. Probiotics have shown potential in modulating immune responses, yet limited clinical evidence exists regarding their role in treating respiratory infections in children.

In the study titled "Probiotics and Fever Duration in Children With Upper Respiratory Tract Infections: A Randomized Clinical Trial," researchers conducted a triple-blind, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial to evaluate whether a probiotic mixture could reduce fever duration in children with URTIs.

Primary outcome focused on fever duration, defined as the number of days between the first and last recorded febrile day. Secondary outcomes included antibiotic prescription rates after discharge and the incidence of antibiotic-associated diarrhea. Fever duration was recorded by caregivers, with follow-up conducted via telephone to assess compliance and adverse events.

Results indicated that children in the probiotic group experienced a significantly shorter fever duration than those in the placebo group. The median fever duration was 3 days in the probiotic group compared to 5 days in the placebo group.

Poisson regression analysis, adjusted for age, sex, and antibiotic intake, demonstrated that probiotic supplementation was associated with a fever duration risk ratio of 0.64. Adverse events, including constipation and abdominal pain, were infrequent and similar between both groups. No significant effects were observed on antibiotic prescription rates or the incidence of antibiotic-associated diarrhea, and no meaningful safety concerns were identified.

Authors acknowledge the limitations, including the single-center design and reliance on caregiver-reported temperature measurements. The trial did not distinguish between bacterial and viral URTIs, and participants may have received the probiotic at different stages of illness.

Investigators noted that while previous studies on probiotics have primarily focused on prevention rather than treatment, this trial provides evidence supporting their potential therapeutic role as an adjunct treatment for pediatric URTIs.

Silvia Bettocchi et al, Probiotics and Fever Duration in Children With Upper Respiratory Tract Infections, JAMA Network Open (2025). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.0669

**

Dark energy seems to be changing

Dark energy, the mysterious force thought to be driving the ever-faster expansion of the universe, appears to be changing over time, according to new observations released this week.

If dark energy is in fact weakening, it would likely mean that science's understanding of how the universe works will need to be rewritten.

The new findings come from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), which sits on a telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in the U.S. state of Arizona.

What we are seeing now is deeply intriguing, say the scientists. It is exciting to think that we may be on the cusp of a major discovery about dark energy and the fundamental nature of our universe.

The DESI instrument's thin optical fibers can simultaneously observe 5,000 galaxies or quasars—blazing monsters with a black hole at their heart—for 20 minutes.

This allows scientists to calculate the age and distance of these objects, and create a map of the universe so they can detect patterns and trace its history.

Scientists have known for a century that the universe is expanding, because massive clusters of galaxies have been observed moving away from each other.

In the late 1990s, scientists shocked the field by discovering that the universe's expansion has been speeding up over time.

The name dark energy was given to the phenomenon driving this acceleration, the effects of which seem to be partially offset by ordinary matter—and an also unknown thing called dark matter.

The universe is thought to be made of 70% dark energy, 25% dark matter—and just 5% normal matter.

Science's best understanding of how the universe works, which is called the standard cosmological model, refers to dark energy as being constant—meaning it does not change.

The idea was first introduced by Albert Einstein in his theory of relativity.

Part 1

Now some physicists are saying, 'the standard model is "satisfactory" but some "tensions" are emerging between observations'.

There are several different ways of measuring the expansion of the universe, including looking at the lingering radiation from after the Big Bang, exploding stars called supernovae and how gravity distorts the light of galaxies.

When the DESI team combined their new data with other measurements, they found "signs that the impact of dark energy may be weakening over time," according to a statement.
When we combine all the cosmological data, it favors that the universe's expansion was accelerating at a slightly higher rate around seven billion years ago
But for the moment there is "absolutely not certainty" about this.
Scientists are confident that "evolving dark energy" theory would be a "revolution on the level of the discovery of accelerated expansion,"
The standard cosmological model would have to be different.
The DESI research, which involved three years' worth of observations of 15 million galaxies and quasars, was presented at a conference of the American Physical Society in California.

https://summit.aps.org/events/APR-R08/1

Part 2

**

Uniquely shaped, fast-heating nanoparticles halt ovarian tumor growth

New magnetic nanoparticles in the shape of a cube sandwiched between two pyramids represent a breakthrough for treating ovarian tumors and possibly other types of cancer, according to  researchers who developed them.

The scientists say the study underscores the importance of shape in magnetic nanoparticle design and that the findings will potentially revolutionize treatments that use heat to damage or kill cancer cells.

Made of iron oxide and doped with cobalt, the nanoparticles show exceptional heating efficiency when exposed to an alternating magnetic field. Doping refers to adding something as a means of tailoring characteristics.

When the particles accumulate in cancerous tissue after intravenous injection, they're able to quickly rise to temperatures that weaken or destroy cancer cells.

This is the first time systemically injected nanoparticles have been shown to heat tumors beyond 50° C, significantly surpassing the therapeutic threshold of 44° C for effective treatment at a clinically relevant dose.

Prem Singh et al, Precision‐Engineered Cobalt‐Doped Iron Oxide Nanoparticles: From Octahedron Seeds to Cubical Bipyramids for Enhanced Magnetic Hyperthermia, Advanced Functional Materials (2025). DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202414719

Even Galapagos birds are exhibiting 'road rage' due to noise!

A new study has discovered that birds in the Galápagos Islands are changing their behavior due to traffic noise, with those frequently exposed to vehicles showing heightened levels of aggression.

Published in the journal Animal Behaviour the research examined the impact of vehicle noise pollution on Galápagos yellow warblers (Setophaga petechia aureola), a songbird widespread on the archipelago.

The Galápagos Islands, located over 500 miles off the coast of Ecuador, are considered a natural living laboratory due to the large number of unique, endemic species. The Galápagos yellow warbler is genetically distinct from other yellow warblers found in the Americas and is classified as a subspecies.

A visit to the Galápagos Islands in 1835 helped inspire Charles Darwin to develop the theory of evolution by natural selection. However, recent decades have seen significant human population growth. Alongside a rise in tourism, the permanent population is increasing by over 6% per year, leading to more vehicles on the islands' roads.

The new study involved researchers playing bird songs from a speaker, simulating an intruder, accompanied by recorded traffic noise at 38 locations populated by Galápagos yellow warblers on the islands of Floreana and Santa Cruz—20 sites were within 50 meters of the nearest road and 18 were over 100 meters away.

The researchers then measured song, typically used to ward off intruders, and physical, aggressive behaviors such as approaching the speaker closely and making repeated flights across it.

During trials with traffic noise, the researchers found that Galápagos yellow warblers living in roadside territories showed increased aggression, but those living away from the roads showed decreased aggression relative to trials without noise.

Importantly, the effect of living on a roadside territory was present even on Floreana Island, with only about 10 vehicles present on the island, suggesting even minimal experience of traffic affects responses to noise.

Additionally, Galápagos yellow warblers on the more populous island of Santa Cruz increased the duration of their song when confronted by traffic noise. These findings support the idea that long-term selection based on noise experience, or an individual bird's previous experience of noise, allows them to adapt and adjust the features of their songs.

Finally, the birds increased the minimum frequencies of their songs during the noise experiments, regardless of their territory's proximity to the road, helping to reduce any overlap of their songs with the low-frequency traffic noise.

The  results show that the change in aggressive responses in yellow warblers occurred mainly near roads. Birds occupying roadside territories on both islands, and therefore having regular experience of traffic noise, may have learned to increase physical aggression when the territorial intrusion was accompanied by traffic noise.

The study shows the importance of considering behavioral plasticity in conservation efforts and developing strategies to mitigate the effects of noise pollution on wildlife. It also highlights the significant impact of human activities on wildlife behavior, even in relatively remote locations such as the Galápagos Islands.

Reference: 20 March 2025, Animal Behaviour.

Part of the genetic risk for schizophrenia acts through the placenta, research reveals

An international research team reveals the relationship between placental DNA methylation and certain neuropsychiatric disorders.

The  has identified associations between modifications in the placenta and the risk of developing schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder.

The study was published in Nature Communications.

The study, which involved 28 researchers from 18 institutions across Europe and the United States, highlights the placenta as a key element in neuropsychiatric development. The research has demonstrated that specific epigenetic modifications in the placenta, particularly DNA methylation, can influence the expression of genes associated with psychiatric disorders. These findings suggest that genetic risk may already manifest during the prenatal stage.

Epigenetic modifications are chemical changes in DNA and its associated proteins that regulate gene activity without altering their sequence. One of the most studied modifications is DNA methylation, a process in which methyl groups—small molecules composed of one carbon and three hydrogen atoms—are added to specific regions of the DNA.

This mechanism, essential for development, environmental adaptation, and disease predisposition, is influenced by genetics and responds to factors such as diet, stress, and exposure to pollutants.

The study results indicate that schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder are the neuropsychiatric disorders most strongly linked to DNA methylation in the placenta. Other conditions, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or autism, show some potentially causal associations, although to a lesser extent, while no visible effects were found in other analyzed pathologies.

These findings reinforce the hypothesis that schizophrenia and other disorders have a neurodevelopmental origin and that the placenta plays a fundamental role in this process.

The discovery that genetic risk may be linked to placental DNA methylation opens new avenues for preventing and treating psychiatric disorders. If we could identify risk factors at the prenatal stage, we could intervene before symptoms appear, adjusting treatments or designing personalized preventive strategies, the researchers say.

This research represents a significant advance in understanding the biological basis of neuropsychiatric disorders and opens new lines of investigation for early detection, as well as for the development of more effective therapies.

Scientists witness living plant cells generate cellulose and form cell walls for the first time

In a groundbreaking study on the synthesis of cellulose—a major constituent of all plant cell walls—a team of researchers have captured images of the microscopic process of cell-wall building continuously over 24 hours with living plant cells, providing critical insights that may lead to the development of more robust plants for increased food and lower-cost biofuels production.

The discovery, published in the journal Science Advances, reveals a dynamic process never seen before and may provide practical applications for everyday products derived from plants, including enhanced textiles, biofuels, biodegradable plastics, and new medical products.

The research is also expected to contribute to the fundamental knowledge while providing a new understanding of the formation of cell walls, the scientists said.

This work is the first direct visualization of how cellulose synthesizes and self-assembles into a dense fibril network on a plant cell surface.

This study also provides entirely new insights into how simple, basic physical mechanisms such as diffusion and self-organization may lead to the formation of complex cellulose networks in cells.

The microscope-generated video images show protoplasts—cells with their walls removed—of cabbage's cousin, the flowering plant Arabidopsis, chaotically sprouting filaments of cellulose fibers that gradually self-assemble into a complex network on the outer cell surface.

Hyun Huh et al, Time-resolved tracking of cellulose biosynthesis and assembly during cell wall regeneration in live Arabidopsis protoplasts, Science Advances (2025). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ads6312. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ads6312

Deadly bacteria have developed the ability to produce antimicrobials and wipe out competitors, scientists discover

A drug-resistant type of bacteria that has adapted to health care settings evolved in the past several years to weaponize an antimicrobial genetic tool, eliminating its cousins and replacing them as the dominant strain. Scientists made this discovery when combing through local hospital data—and then confirmed that it was a global phenomenon.

The finding, published in Nature Microbiology, may be the impetus for new approaches in developing therapeutics against some of the world's deadliest bacteria.

After analyzing the genomic sequences of 710 VREfm infection samples from hospitalized patients entered into EDS-HAT over a six-year time span, researchers discovered that the variety of VREfm strains had shrunk from about eight fairly evenly distributed types in 2017 to two dominant strains that began to emerge in 2018 and, by the end of 2022, were the culprit in four out of every five patient VREfm samples.

Upon closer examination,  they found that the dominant strains had acquired the ability to produce a bacteriocin, which is an antimicrobial that bacteria use to kill or inhibit one another. They'd weaponized this new capability to destroy the other VREfm strains, giving them unfettered access to nutrients for easier reproduction.

They also observed that what had happened locally had also been happening on a global scale.

It does not appear that the bacteriocin-wielding VREfm are making patients any sicker than their predecessors did.

But it could point to potential avenues for the development of new therapies.

: 'Bacteriocin production facilitates nosocomial emergence of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium', Nature Microbiology (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41564-025-01958-0

Boosting brain's waste removal system improves memory in old mice

As aging bodies decline, the brain loses the ability to cleanse itself of waste, a scenario that scientists think could be contributing to neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, among others.

Now, researchers  report they have found a way around that problem by targeting the network of vessels that drain waste from the brain. Rejuvenating those vessels, they have shown, improves memory in old mice.

The study,  published online in the journal Cell, lays the groundwork to develop therapies for age-related cognitive decline that overcome the challenges faced by conventional medications that struggle to pass through the blood-brain barrier to reach the brain.

The physical blood-brain barrier hinders the efficacy of therapies for neurological disorders. 

By targeting a network of vessels outside of the brain that is critical for brain health, we see cognitive improvements in mice, opening a window to develop more powerful therapies to prevent or delay cognitive decline, say the researchers.

 Kim K, et al. Meningeal lymphatics-microglia axis regulates synaptic physiology, Cell (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2025.02.022. www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(25)00210-7. www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(25)00210-7

Insecticides may contribute to bigger problems with certain weeds

Insecticides may help growers hoping to protect their crops from harmful insects, but they also may contribute to a larger amount of some weeds, according to a study led by researchers.

 The study—published in the journal PeerJ—compared using insecticides preventively at planting versus using an integrated pest management (IPM) approach, which calls for insecticides only when a known insect problem exists.  

The team also investigated the effects of using cover crops—a crop used to cover and protect soil after harvesting the cash crop—when combined with these treatment plans. The researchers found that by the third year, some fields that were treated with insecticides and didn't have a cover crop ended up with slightly more weeds—especially marestail.

However, planting a cover crop prevented this issue, even in fields that were treated with insecticides.

The most likely explanation may be that the preventative insecticides limited the activity of insects that typically eat weeds or weed seeds, allowing the weeds to be more abundant.

 Elizabeth K. Rowen et al, Insecticides may facilitate the escape of weeds from biological control, PeerJ (2025). DOI: 10.7717/peerj.18597

A possible way to generate electricity using Earth's rotational energy

A trio of physicists from  is proposing the possibility of generating electricity using energy from the rotation of the Earth. In their study, published in the journal Physical Review Research, they tested a theory that electricity could be generated from the Earth's rotation using a special device that interacts with the Earth's magnetic field.

Over the past decade, members of the team have been toying with the idea of generating electricity using the Earth's rotation and its magnetic field, and they even published a paper describing the possibility back in 2016. That paper was met with criticism because prior theories have suggested that doing so would be impossible because any voltage created by such a device would be canceled as the electrons rearrange themselves during the generation of an electric field.

The researchers wondered what would happen if this cancelation was prevented and the voltage was instead captured. To find out, they built a special device consisting of a cylinder made of manganese-zinc ferrite, a weak conductor, which served as a magnetic shield. They then oriented the cylinder in a north-south direction set at a 57° angle. That made it perpendicular to both the Earth's rotational motion and the Earth's magnetic field.

Next, they placed electrodes at each end of the cylinder to measure voltage and then turned out the lights to prevent photoelectric effects. They found that 18 microvolts of electricity were generated across the cylinder that they could not attribute to any other source, strongly suggesting that it was due to the energy from the Earth's rotation.

The researchers note that they accounted for the voltage that might have been caused by temperature differences between the ends of the cylinder. They also noted that no such voltage was measured when they changed its angle or used control cylinders. The results will have to be verified by others running the same type of experiment under different scenarios to ensure that there were no other sources of electricity generation that they failed to account for. But the researchers note that if their findings turn out to be correct, there is no reason the amount produced could not be increased to a useful level.

Christopher F. Chyba et al, Experimental demonstration of electric power generation from Earth's rotation through its own magnetic field, Physical Review Research (2025). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevResearch.7.013285

Eco-friendly detergent made from wood and corn shows promise

From laundry detergent to dishwasher tablets, cleaning products are an indispensable part of life. Yet the chemicals that make these products so effective can be difficult to break down or could even trigger ecosystem-altering algal blooms. Now, researchers reporting in ACS' Langmuir have addressed those challenges with an environmentally compatible detergent made of tiny wood fibers and corn protein that removes stains on clothes and dishes just as well as commercial products.

Increased public concern about household products' impact on the environment has spurred interest in replacing traditional cleaners containing ingredients such as alkylphenol polyethoxylates and phosphates with natural alternatives. Efforts to date have produced mixed results because these cleaners are difficult to make and hard to rinse off, resulting in high manufacturing and retail costs, as well as potential damage to surfaces and fabrics. Therefore, there is a desire for low-cost, easily produced, effective alternatives that are gentle on the environment and the items they are designed to clean. To address this need, some researchers developed an eco-friendly detergent from ingredients found in abundant renewable sources.

The researchers combined cellulose nano fibres from wood with zein protein from corn to create an emulsion. Cellulose can attract and repel water, so it is effective at forming such emulsions and attracting different types of stains. The zein protein, on the other hand, helps stabilize the emulsion and trap oils. They then tested the cleaning capacity of the cellulose/zein detergent on cotton fabrics and dishes stained with ink, chili oil and tomato paste. They compared the performance of their new detergent to laundry powder and commercial dish soap solutions with deionized water.

The cellulose/zein detergent was slightly less effective at cleaning the cotton cloth compared to a laundry powder solution of equal dilution (1% detergent or powder by weight). At a 5% concentration, however, the researchers' product was more effective than the 1% laundry powder solution at cleaning each of the stains from the fabric. Microscopic examination showed that the cellulose/zein detergent left no residue on cotton fabric after washing and rinsing, which suggests it would not damage the cloth.

The researchers also tested their detergent's capacity to remove chili oil stains from plates made of ceramic, stainless steel, glass and plastic. Again, the cellulose/zein detergent cleaned almost as well as the commercial dish soap of equal dilution, and at a 5% concentration, their product was superior. On the stainless-steel plates, for example, a 5% solution of cellulose/zein removed 92% of the stain compared to 87% with a 1% solution of commercial dish soap.

The researchers suggested that these results show that their natural detergent could be an efficient, cost-effective and sustainable alternative to synthetic cleaning agents currently on the market.

 Wenli Liu et al, Physical Cross-Linking of Cellulose Nanofibrils with Zein Particles as an Eco-Friendly Detergent, Langmuir (2025). DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.4c04398

Biologists discover ancient neurohormone that controls appetite

A team of biologists has discovered that a neurohormone controlling appetite in humans has an ancient evolutionary origin, dating back over half a billion years. The findings, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , reveal that this satiety-inducing molecule, known as bombesin, is not only present in humans and other vertebrates but also in starfish and their marine relatives.

Bombesin, a small peptide, plays a key role in regulating hunger by signaling when we've had enough to eat. But its story doesn't start with humans or even mammals. New research shows that bombesin-like neurohormones have been controlling appetite in animals since long before the first vertebrates evolved on Earth.

The name, bombesin, comes from the fire-bellied toad (Bombina bombina), from whose skin the peptide was first isolated in 1971. When injected into mammals, bombesin was found to reduce meal size and increase the time between meals.

This led scientists to think that bombesin-like neurohormones, produced in the brain and gut, are part of the body's natural system for controlling food intake. Furthermore, alongside weight-loss-inducing drugs such as Ozempic, compounds that mimic the action of bombesin are in development for the treatment of obesity.

By analyzing the genomes of invertebrate animals, the researchers discovered genes encoding bombesin-like neurohormones in the common starfish (Asterias rubens) and other echinoderms, such as sea urchins and sea cucumbers.

This research not only deepens our understanding of the evolutionary history of neurohormones but also highlights the unexpected connections between humans and the strange, stomach-everting world of starfish.

Elphick, Maurice R., Discovery and functional characterization of a bombesin-type neuropeptide signaling system in an invertebrate, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2025). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2420966122. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2420966122

Triggering parasitic plant 'suicide' to help farmers

Parasitic weeds are ruthless freeloaders, stealing nutrients from crops and devastating harvests. But what if farmers could trick these invaders into self-destructing? Scientists  think they've found a way.

Across sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia, places already struggling with food insecurity, entire fields of staples like rice and sorghum can be lost to a group of insidious weeds that drain crops of their nutrients before they can grow. Farmers battle these parasites with few effective tools, but researchers may be able to turn the weeds' own biology against them.

This trick is detailed in the journal Science, and at its heart lies a class of hormones called strigolactones—unassuming chemicals that play dual roles. Internally, they help control growth and the plants' response to stresses like insufficient water. Externally, they do something that is unusual for plant hormones.

Most of the time, plant hormones do not radiate externally—they aren't exuded. But these do. Plants use strigolactones to attract fungi in the soil that have a beneficial relationship with plant roots.

The parasitic weeds have learned to hijack the strigolactone signals, using them as an invitation to invade. Once the weeds sense the presence of strigolactones, they germinate and latch on to a crop's roots, draining them of essential nutrients.

These weeds are waiting for a signal to wake up. We can give them that signal at the wrong time—when there's no food for them—so they sprout and die.

It's like flipping their own switch against them, essentially encouraging them to commit suicide.

This has been seen in lab conditions.

But scientists still have questions about whether the weed suicide strategy will work in real-world fields. They are  testing whether they can fine-tune the chemical signal to be even more effective. If they can, this could be a game-changer for farmers battling these weeds.

Anqi Zhou et al, Evolution of interorganismal strigolactone biosynthesis in seed plants, Science (2025). DOI: 10.1126/science.adp0779

Why Is It Painful To Bite Aluminum Foil?

Half ice, half fire': Physicists discover new phase of matter in a magnetic material

Scientists  have discovered a new phase of matter while studying a model system of a magnetic material.

The phase is a never-before-seen pattern of electron spins—the tiny "up" and "down" magnetic moments carried by every electron. It consists of a combination of highly ordered "cold" spins and highly disordered "hot" spins, and it has thus been dubbed "half ice, half fire." The researchers discovered the new phase while studying a one-dimensional model of a type of magnetic material called a ferrimagnet.

"Half ice, half fire" is notable not only because it has never been observed before, but also because it is able to drive extremely sharp switching between phases in the material at a reasonable, finite temperature. This phenomenon could one day result in applications in the energy and information technology industries.

The researchers describe their work in the Dec. 31, 2024, edition of the journal Physical Review Letters.

 Weiguo Yin et al, Phase Switch Driven by the Hidden Half-Ice, Half-Fire State in a Ferrimagnet, Physical Review Letters (2024). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.266701. On arXiv: arxiv.org/html/2401.00948v2

This Electronics-free Robot Can Walk Right Off the 3D-Printer

Scientists uncover how enzymes evolved to function at low temperatures

Life has evolved over billions of years, adapting to the changing environment. Similarly, enzymes—proteins that speed up biochemical reactions (catalysis) in cells—have adapted to the habitats of their host organisms. Each enzyme has an optimal temperature range where its functionality is at its peak.

For humans, this is around normal body temperature (37 °C). Deviating from this range causes enzyme activity to slow down and eventually stop. However, some organisms, like bacteria, thrive in extreme environments, such as hot springs or freezing polar waters. These extremophiles have enzymes adapted to function in harsh conditions.

For instance, enzymes from thermophiles, organisms that thrive in high-temperature environments, are heat resistant and show good catalytic activity at high temperatures; declining significantly at lower temperatures. In contrast, enzymes from mesophiles and psychrophiles, organisms that inhabit moderate and cold environments, lack thermostability and show high catalytic activity at lower temperatures.

Evidence suggests that the earliest life forms were thermophiles, which gradually adapted to lower temperatures as Earth cooled. An enzyme's ability to remain catalytically active at lower temperatures is linked to the flexibility of its molecular structure.
However, the precise molecular mechanisms behind this adaptation remain unclear. Understanding how enzymes from thermophilic organisms evolved to function at lower temperatures could not only provide insights into evolutionary biology but also aid in bioengineering enzymes optimized for different temperature conditions.
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Since ancestral enzymes no longer exist, scientists use a technique called ancestral sequence reconstruction (ASR) to study their evolution.

ASR combines molecular phylogenetics with genetic and protein engineering to infer and reconstruct the genetic or protein sequences of extinct organisms using phylogenetically related sequences from living species.

3-Isopropylmalate dehydrogenase (IPMDH), an enzyme involved in leucine biosynthesis (the metabolic pathway that synthesizes leucine, one of the 20 proteinogenic amino acids), is an excellent candidate for studying thermostability and cold adaptation due to its extensive evolutionary history.
Researchers traced its evolution from the enzyme of the most ancient thermophilic common ancestor to the mesophilic bacterium Escherichia coli using ASR.
They reconstructed 11 intermediate ancestral enzymes along the evolutionary trajectory connecting the last common bacterial ancestor and E. coli IPMDH (EcIPMDH).
After that, they analyzed changes in enzyme activity at each evolutionary stage, especially improvements in catalytic activity at low temperatures.
They observed a notable increase in catalytic activity at 25 °C, which did not follow a gradual, linear pattern. Instead, a dramatic improvement occurred between the fifth (Anc05) and sixth (Anc06) intermediate ancestors.
To find the underlying molecular mechanisms, the researchers compared the amino acid sequences of the ancestral enzymes and used site-directed mutagenesis, a technique that allows precise alterations to DNA and protein sequences.

They identified three key amino acid substitutions that significantly enhanced catalytic activity at 25 °C. Surprisingly, these mutations occurred far from the active site, challenging the previous belief that temperature adaptation is primarily driven by active-site modifications.

Molecular dynamics simulations revealed a key structural shift between Anc05 and Anc06. While Anc05 remained in an open conformation, Anc06 could adopt a partially closed conformation, reducing activation energy and enhancing enzymatic efficiency at low temperatures.

This transition occurred 2.5–2.1 billion years ago, coinciding with the Great Oxidation Event, which led to a sharp decline in atmospheric methane and global cooling. The researchers suggest that this climate shift may have driven the adaptation of enzymes to lower temperatures.
By identifying key mutations that enhance enzyme efficiency, ASR provides valuable insights into how life evolved in response to Earth's changing environment. Applying this approach to various enzymes is expected to reveal how organisms and their enzymes have evolved in response to Earth's environmental changes over the past four billion years.
Beyond fundamental research, these findings could aid in bioengineering enzymes for applications in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and environmental science.

Shuang Cui et al, Insights into the low‐temperature adaptation of an enzyme as studied through ancestral sequence reconstruction, Protein Science (2025). DOI: 10.1002/pro.70071

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 New research suggests plants, fungi and even viruses use venom

A new study reveals plants, fungi, bacteria, protists, and even some viruses deploy venom-like mechanisms, similar to that of venomous snakes, scorpions and spiders.

The study is published in the journal Toxins.

The definition of venom is a biological toxin introduced into the internal milieu of another organism through a delivery mechanism such as a sting or bite that inflicts a wound.

 The new findings show that reliance on venom for solving problems like predation, defense, and competition is far more widespread than previously recognized.

Until now, our understanding of venom, venom delivery systems, and venomous organisms has been based entirely on animals, which represents only a tiny fraction of the organisms from which we could search for meaningful tools and cures.

According to the study, plants inject toxins into animals through spines, thorns, and stinging hairs, and some also co-exist with stinging ants by providing living spaces and food in exchange for protection. Even bacteria and viruses have evolved mechanisms, like secretion systems or contractile injection systems, to introduce toxins into their targets through host cells and wounds.

We've only scratched the surface in understanding the evolutionary pathways of venom divergence, which include gene duplication, co-option of existing genes, and natural selection.

William K. Hayes et al, It's a Small World After All: The Remarkable but Overlooked Diversity of Venomous Organisms, with Candidates Among Plants, Fungi, Protists, Bacteria, and Viruses, Toxins (2025). DOI: 10.3390/toxins17030099

Brains might eat myelin during marathons

Brain scans of marathon runners suggest that myelin — a fatty substance that insulates the electrical signals transmitted by nerve cells — might also be a source of energy for the brain. After a race, runners’ levels of myelin are lower in areas involved in motor control and sensory and emotional processing than before they set off. The loss doesn’t seem to affect cognitive function, and levels bounced back after a couple of months. The experience might even be beneficial because it “exercises the brain’s metabolic machinery”.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s42255-025-01244-7?utm_source=Live+...

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00864-z?utm_source=Live+...

Tadpoles try to flee dangerous virus in their pond by growing much faster than normal, research shows

The world's amphibians are in trouble. Because of their sensitivity to climate change, habitat loss, and pollution, they may be the canary in the coal mine for the nascent anthropogenic mass extinction. Approximately 200 amphibian species have become extinct since the 1970s, and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature estimates that 34% of the 7,296 known remaining species are likewise at risk.

Another reason why amphibians are vulnerable is their susceptibility to disease. An emerging, potentially deadly disease of frogs and salamanders is ranavirus, a genus of at least seven species within the family Iridoviridae. Ranavirus can rapidly jump from host to host among fish, amphibians, and reptiles: a flexibility that can have catastrophic consequences if new host species haven't yet evolved any immunity.

But as a new study in Frontiers in Amphibian and Reptile Science has now shown, amphibians aren't entirely defenseless against ranavirus.

In response to ranavirus, wood frog tadpoles change their growth, development, and resource allocation. This may help tadpoles tolerate the energetic demands of infection or escape risky environments to avoid infection entirely.

Ranavirus has been implicated in 40% to 60% of amphibian die-offs in some parts of the world. Infected larvae stop feeding and become lethargic, while swimming abnormally and bleeding internally. An outbreak often leads to the death of all larvae in a pond, and there is evidence that outbreaks are becoming more frequent due to climate change.

The authors of the paper studied the growth and development of the wood frog Rana sylvatica in a forest. 

They compared three pond types: 35 which remained free from ranavirus over an entire season; seven which contained some infected tadpoles but saw little or no mortality; and five with an outbreak that killed off the entire cohort.

From mid-April to mid-July, the researchers regularly visited ponds to estimate the number of live and dead individuals. They collected up to 20 tadpoles from each and humanely euthanized them. In the laboratory, they determined the presence or absence of ranavirus in the liver of 1,583 of these with quantitative real-time PCR.

They also measured the total length of 4,299 tadpoles and determined their developmental stage—the so-called Gosner stage, which ranges from zero for embryos to 42 for tadpoles on the brink of metamorphosis.

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Because of the life-history plasticity common to many amphibians, growth and development can vary independently: for example, tadpoles may grow slowly and thus be smaller than average, yet relatively large for their Gosner stage due to lagging development.

The results showed that tadpoles in 'die-off' ponds at first grew significantly faster, which led to a larger body size over the first month of life. Tadpoles also matured faster in die-off ponds, being on average 0.38 stages ahead in their development.

But once mass mortality started, the rate of growth and development in these pools crashed, so that they were overtaken in body size and stage by those in uninfected or uninfected ponds, and ended up small for their stage at their death from the disease.

Similarly, in infected ponds that ultimately saw no die-off, tadpoles grew significantly faster and developed precociously over the first month of life, so that they were larger in body size as well as on average 1.7 Gosner stages ahead of tadpoles in uninfected ponds.
The authors conclude that tadpoles respond to the presence of ranavirus by speeding up their growth rate and progressing through successive developmental stages faster early in life.

Accelerating growth and resource allocation early on may allow tadpoles to improve their physical condition, and thus the strength of their immunity, in anticipation of infection. They might also metamorphose and move onto land earlier, potentially reducing their exposure to ranavirus.
These responses are likely to give tadpoles a survival advantage.

Logan Scott Billet, et al. Sublethal effects of a mass mortality agent: pathogen-mediated plasticity of growth and development in a widespread North American amphibian, Frontiers in Amphibian and Reptile Science (2025). DOI: 10.3389/famrs.2025.1529060