This tuna-inspired robot borrows some nifty tricks from the real fish
Lin, Z. et al. (2024).
The tuna-shaped robot harnesses the secret to the speed and agility of real fish – the ability to selectively fold and extend their fins – which could improve underwater robot design.
Tuna are one of the fastest swimming fish in the ocean, thanks in part to their ability to retract and fold their fins to reduce drag. Chung-Rok Hayashi Researchers from China's Xiamen University and their colleagues investigated how such fins could improve the agility of robots.
The researchers built a 50-centimeter-long tuna-shaped robot that can be controlled by motors attached to its head, a dorsal fin on its back, and a fluke at the end of its tail. The researchers filmed the robot swimming in a pool and tested the effects of flattening or erecting the dorsal fin on the robot's acceleration, direction changes, and steady forward motion.
They found that folding and unfolding the dorsal fin had significant effects on factors such as speed, efficiency and linear acceleration. When the robot tuna was changing direction, keeping the dorsal fin erect increased its speed by about 33%. However, keeping the fin erect when the robot was moving steadily forward reduced the efficiency of its movement by up to 13%, increasing the robot's energy consumption.
Lin says these findings are consistent with how tuna in nature raise their dorsal fin to make fast, precise movements, such as when catching prey, then fold it back to continue swimming. “By designing similar flexible control systems, underwater vehicles can improve balance, navigation, and agility at high speed,” he says.
“Understanding this high level of swimming performance in tuna is intrinsically interesting because it is something that even the best human swimmers cannot achieve.” Frank Fish At West Chester University in Pennsylvania.
But Fish adds that the tail fin may play a bigger role than the dorsal fin in a tuna's swimming ability. His own research Many of these animals have shown this to be especially true when it comes to turning, Fish says. “We measured the turning ability of Pacific bluefin tuna and found that it far surpasses the capabilities of a robot,” he says. This may mean that tuna-inspired robots could also be improved by studying their tails in more detail.
“Losing or ending a romantic relationship is one of the most painful losses an adult can experience,” begins the BAS (A Study Full of Acronyms) study by German and Iranian researchers. Journal of Psychiatry Research.
This is science at its most overtly romantic: electromagnetically stimulating the brains of volunteers who have suddenly experienced heartbreak. It's also science with the most acronyms: tDCS (transcranial direct current stimulation), DLPFC (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex), VLPFC (ventrolateral prefrontal cortex), LTS (love trauma syndrome).
For those who have suffered through heartbreak, here's a passage worth hearing out loud as a midnight rooftop monologue: “Thirty-six participants with love trauma syndrome were randomly assigned to three tDCS conditions (left DLPFC, right VLPFC, or sham stimulation). LTS symptoms, treatment-related outcome variables (depression, anxiety, emotion regulation, positive and negative affect), and cognitive functioning were assessed pre-intervention, immediately after intervention, and one month after the intervention.”
The evaluation showed that brain zapping “ameliorated symptoms of LTS,” according to the researchers, but they cautioned that, in terms of science in general, “there are significant gaps in the research on 'love trauma syndrome,' what exactly the symptoms are and what the diagnostic criteria are.”
Eliminates odors
Kevin Lee sees some causation in the actions of perhaps London's (and the world's) first celebrity pathologist.
He writes: “I'm a retired forensic scientist and, as you can imagine, I've been asked countless times how I deal with smells. Apart from the old-fashioned solution of smiling innocently and asking, 'Ouch, what's that?', I still have a keen sense of smell and can detect a range of odours, even when the smell of decay is very faint. I've trained myself to have a fairly neutral approach to these smells, so that although I still notice them well, after one good sniff, they're no longer an issue.”
“Recent articles [Feedback, 15 June] Sir Bernard Spilsbury, a very famous forensic scientist in the early 20th century, said that his sense of smell was extremely defective. If it was, it is more likely that this was because he was a heavy smoker, smoking around 50 cigarettes a day. It is also possible that he used the same techniques that I later used.”
A slice of life
This note from UK reader Gerald Legg depicts body parts that are living (elbow), dead (hair), nominal (leg) and sliced: “Your recent article, 'Parting the Hair' (July 20th) made me think of my time at Manchester University, where my PhD research involved a lot of microtome work using an old but still-functioning Cambridge rocking microtome. [a specialist cutting device].
“I was taught how to sharpen the blade using a glass plate and cerium dioxide. Before each use, the blade is sharpened and then tested under 40x magnification to make sure it is free of scratches. The test is to cut a hair. A sharp blade can cut a hair three times, lifting the little curled section that is still attached to the body of the hair and then cutting the hair straight through.
“There was a sharp knife in the lab, and I put my elbow against the knife and heard it cutting all the way to the bone, but I didn’t feel anything.
“I was rushed to the nearby Manchester Hospital, where I was quickly healed with just a few stitches and was able to return to the lab and continue serial sectioning with the same blade.”
Anonymous
When students make tangible contributions to science, some teachers find ways to publicly recognize who, what, and where they did it, especially when students make extraordinary sacrifices.
In the academic world, credits are limited: individual students are not identified by name.
Simple Happiness
“Simple, simple, simple” is an old rule of thumb, especially among scientists. In honor of this maxim, Feedback has created a document collection called “Simple, Simple, Simple.”
The first item in this assemblage is report It was published in the February 6, 1997 issue under the heading “The Uniquely Simple Personality of Politicians” NatureThe study suggests that a politician's personality can be summed up in just two or three numbers – in stark contrast to the five numbers psychologists claim are needed to judge the average person.
The study's authors were awarded the Ig Nobel Prize in Psychology in 2003.
If you have the simple pleasure of finding another good example, send it to us (with details of the citation) at Simple pleasures, Feedback.
Marc Abrahams is the founder of the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony and co-founder of the journal Annals of Improbable Research. He previously worked on unusual uses of computers. His website is Impossible.
Do you have a story for feedback?
You can submit articles for Feedback by emailing feedback@newscientist.com. Please include your home address. This week's and past Feedback can be found on our website.
Terraforming Mars would make it more similar to Earth, creating an environment capable of supporting life as we know it.
Detlef van Ravensweig/Science Photo Library
Releasing iron rods the size of glitter particles into the Martian atmosphere could raise the planet's temperature enough to melt water and support microbial life.
Making the Red Planet's surface habitable for Earth-like life – a process known as “terraforming” – will be a complex one, but a key part of it will be raising the surface temperature above the current median freezing point of -65°C (-85°F).
Some have suggested placing mirrors on the Martian surface or pumping methane into the atmosphere, but these ideas are difficult to implement because the necessary raw materials would need to be shipped from Earth.
now, Edwin Kite Researchers at the University of Chicago in Illinois found that a relatively tiny dust cloud (about 9 micrometers long and 160 nanometers wide) made from iron or aluminum rods mined from Martian rocks could warm Mars by about 30 degrees Celsius over the course of a few months to more than a decade, depending on how quickly the particles are released.
These rods, each about 9 micrometers long and 160 nanometers wide, are carried by winds from the surface into Mars' upper atmosphere, where they will remain for about 10 years, trapping heat from the surface and transmitting sunlight.
Kite and his colleagues modeled how the rods respond to light and fed that information into climate simulations, which showed that the increased temperature and pressure would be enough to support liquid water and possibly oxygen-producing bacteria in parts of Mars.
They also found that to achieve this warming, it would be enough to release the fuel rods at a rate fast enough to power about 30 garden sprinklers — a total of 700,000 cubic meters of metal per year, or about 1% of Earth's metal production.
“When we did the math, we found that the amount of man-made dust we needed would be surprisingly small — much less than we would need to create the same amount of warming with man-made greenhouse gases,” Kyte says.
While mining the Martian surface would still be difficult, Kite says this would be 5,000 times more efficient than any warming method proposed so far.
One of the big uncertainties in the simulations is how the tiny bars interact with water in the Martian atmosphere, which could have unexpected effects such as causing the water to collect around the dust and rain down back to the surface, reducing global warming.
It's an intriguing idea that might work if the particles remain in the atmosphere long enough, he said. Manoj Joshi researcher at the University of East Anglia in the U.K. But even if the amount of metal needed is small, he says it would still be an enormous amount of work to produce.
Joshi said there are also ethical questions about whether it's OK to alter the atmosphere of another planet: “Mars is so unexplored and we don't know much about it. Is it OK to alter a planet in this way?”
Microwaves heat food but don't necessarily kill bacteria
Shutterstock/Stock Photo
Microwaves in homes, offices, and laboratories harbor a surprising variety of bacteria.
Microwaves are widely used to heat food and sterilize samples, but the radiation they emit is non-ionizing and does not damage biological molecules. Microwaves heat objects by vibrating water molecules, but bacteria are only killed if a high enough temperature is reached.
However, repeated heating and drying processes meant that microwaves were considered to be a difficult environment for microorganisms to survive.
Manuel Polker Researchers from the University of Valencia in Spain sampled 30 microwaves: 10 from private kitchens, 10 from shared kitchens such as corporate centers, scientific laboratories and cafeterias, and 10 from molecular biology and microbiology laboratories.
In total, the researchers found 747 different genera of bacteria within 25 bacterial phyla, with diversity lowest in domestic microwave ovens and highest in laboratory devices.
Many of the bacteria found in shared and single-family microwaves overlapped and were similar to bacteria commonly found on people's hands and elsewhere in the kitchen, suggesting that microbes don't need special adaptations to survive in microwaves, perhaps because food particles protect them from radiation, Polker said.
However, the microbiome found in the lab, where food was not cooked, was more distinctive and resembled those found in extremely dry, hot and irradiated environments, such as solar panels.
The researchers found that some of the bacteria found in household microwave ovens include: Klebsiella, Enterococcus and Aeromonaswhich may pose a risk to human health, but the microbial populations found on microwaves do not pose any unique or elevated risk compared to other common kitchen surfaces, the researchers said.
“What's clear is that the microwave cannot be trusted to be a cleaner environment in terms of microbes than the rest of the kitchen, and it should be cleaned just like the rest of the kitchen,” Polker says.
Belinda Ferrari A researcher from the University of New South Wales in Australia says she's not at all surprised that researchers found bacteria that can live in microwaves. “Bacteria can survive almost any extreme exposure and can adapt to anything,” she says.
Ferrari recommends regularly cleaning your microwave with a disinfectant: “Some microwaves in workplaces are filthy and no one cleans them,” she says.
She would like to see more detailed information about when microwaves were last cleaned in her research: “If we were to do this experiment, we would also like to study the biome before and after cleaning,” she says.
Microwaves heat food but don't necessarily kill bacteria
Shutterstock/Stock Photo
Microwaves in homes, offices, and laboratories harbor a surprising variety of bacteria.
Microwaves are widely used to heat food and sterilize samples, but the radiation they emit is non-ionizing and does not damage biological molecules. Microwaves heat objects by vibrating water molecules, but bacteria are only killed if a high enough temperature is reached.
However, repeated heating and drying processes meant that microwaves were considered to be a difficult environment for microorganisms to survive.
Alba Iglesias Researchers from the University of Valencia in Spain sampled 30 microwaves: 10 from private kitchens, 10 from shared kitchens such as corporate centers, scientific laboratories and cafeterias, and 10 from molecular biology and microbiology laboratories.
In total, the researchers found 747 different genera of bacteria within 25 bacterial phyla, with diversity lowest in domestic microwave ovens and highest in laboratory devices.
Many of the bacteria found in shared and single-family home microwaves overlapped and were similar to bacteria commonly found on people's hands and elsewhere in the kitchen, but the bacteria found in the lab, where no food is cooked, were more unique, resembling the microbiomes found in extremely dry, hot and irradiated environments, such as solar panels.
The researchers found that some of the bacteria found in household microwave ovens include: Klebsiella, Enterococcus and Aeromonaswhich could pose a risk to human health. But the microbial populations found on microwaves do not pose any unique or increased risk compared with other common kitchen surfaces, the researchers said. The researchers did not respond to requests for an interview.
Belinda Ferrari A researcher from the University of New South Wales in Australia says she's not at all surprised that researchers found bacteria that can live in microwaves. “Bacteria can survive almost any extreme exposure and can adapt to anything,” she says.
Ferrari recommends regularly cleaning your microwave with a disinfectant: “Some microwaves in workplaces are filthy and no one cleans them,” she says.
She would like to see more detailed information about when microwaves were last cleaned in her research: “If we were to do this experiment, we would also like to study the biome before and after cleaning,” she says.
From watching to cheering, or even dreaming of competing in the Olympics, every competition is thrilling. However, the excitement can quickly fade when considering the potential illnesses one may contract from participating. Experts have cautioned that athletes involved in the marathon swimming event in the River Seine in Paris are at risk of falling ill, most likely experiencing symptoms such as diarrhea.
“I would not have chosen the Seine,” stated Professor Davy Jones, an expert in Environmental Science and Public Health at Bangor University. He highlighted the high urbanization of the area, exposing the river to various chemicals and biological agents, increasing the risk of illness for athletes.
Concerns were raised after several training sessions in the Seine were canceled due to elevated levels of fecal matter in the water. Athletes, like Austrian swimmer Felix Aubeck, expressed apprehension about the water quality and its potential impact on their health.
Virus threat
Testing has shown unsafe levels of bacteria, including E. coli, in the water, prompting the need for further assessments and precautions to ensure the safety of athletes. Illnesses such as norovirus and ear infections have been observed as common post-swimming ailments.
The presence of these harmful substances in the water poses a significant health risk, with sewage overflow contributing to the contamination. Despite treatment efforts, the discharge of sewage into rivers remains a concern, particularly during heavy rains.
Experts emphasize the challenges of cleaning the Seine effectively to eliminate the risk of pathogens. While protective gear provides some defense, swimmers remain susceptible to exposure, especially during outdoor events in contaminated water.
Although the situation raises concerns, experts consider it an opportunity for a scientific study to understand the impact of water quality on athletes’ health. Ultimately, the decision to swim in the Seine remains a personal choice, with experts urging caution and thorough risk assessment.
About our experts
Professor Davy Jones: Professor of Environmental Science and Public Health at Bangor University, with expertise in advising governments and conducting research on various environmental issues.
David Warner: Professor of Environmental Systems Modeling at Newcastle University, known for his research on water quality and environmental pollution.
Take-off is a key part of powered flight and likely constrains the size of birds, although extinct pterosaurs are known to have grown to much larger sizes. Three different hypothesized take-off movements have been proposed to allow pterosaurs to fly: a vertical burst jump using only the legs similar to those used by mostly ground-dwelling birds, a less vertical jump using only the legs similar to those used by birds that fly frequently, and a quadruped jump using the wings as well in a movement similar to the take-off jump of a bat. Palaeontologists from the University of Bristol, Liverpool John Moores University, ABC Federal University and Keele University built a computational musculoskeletal model of an avian pterosaur with a five-metre wingspan, reconstructed 34 major muscles and estimated muscle moment arms across the three hypothesized take-off movements.
One-second takeoff sequences used in the study highlighting the key phases: (A) Bipedal burst style takeoff highlighting the timing of the crouch, ankle lift, and launch phases. (B) Bipedal recoil style takeoff highlighting the timing of the countermotion and launch phases. (C) Quadrupedal recoil style takeoff highlighting the crouch, leap, and launch phases. Images courtesy of Griffin others., doi: 10.7717/peerj.17678.
“Powered flight is a form of locomotion that is restricted to only a small number of animals because it is energy-intensive, requires specialized adaptations to take off and requires lift to support thrust and weight,” Dr Benjamin Griffin from the University of Bristol and his colleagues said.
“The most energy-intensive part of powered flight is take-off from the ground. During this stage, the animal needs to get high enough into the air to be able to utilize an unimpeded flapping cycle.”
“Take-off also requires the animal to gain enough speed so that the wings can overcome drag (i.e. thrust) and generate enough lift to support the animal's weight.”
“As size increases, so do altitude and speed requirements, limiting the takeoff size of flying animals.”
“Modern flying animals do not have a mass greater than 25 kg. The heaviest flying animals were Bustard (Otis Tarda)It was recorded to have weighed 22kg.
“Despite this, many extinct animals grew large bodies and are still thought to be capable of flight. Argentavis magnificens and Pelagornis sandersi They are predicted to have masses of 70 kg and 21.8 to 40 kg, respectively.”
“Pterosaurs vary in size, with medium-sized pterosaurs predicted to have a wingspan of 2-5 metres and weigh between 20 and 30 kilograms.”
“They also reached the largest sizes among the largest animals, such as pterosaurs. Quetzalcoatlus Northropii It is predicted to have reached a much larger mass (150 kg, or more commonly 250 kg).”
“Flight at such a large mass challenges our understanding of the functional limits of flight, and understanding pterosaur take-off is crucial for establishing the functional limits of biological flight.”
This new research follows years of analysis and modeling of how muscles in other animals interact with bones to produce movement, which are beginning to be used to answer the question of how the largest known flying animals were able to take off from the ground.
The authors created the first computer model of this kind for a pterosaur analysis, to test three different ways that pterosaurs might have taken flight.
By mimicking this movement, the researchers hoped to understand the leverage principles that could be used to propel the animal into the air.
“Larger animals have to overcome greater obstacles to fly, which is why the ability of large animals like pterosaurs to fly is particularly intriguing,” Dr Griffin said.
“Our model shows that unlike birds, which rely primarily on their hind limbs, pterosaurs likely relied on all four limbs to take to the air.”
New dietary intervention studies Published in the journal Nature MedicineSwitching from a diet high in saturated animal fats to one high in unsaturated plant fats affects the composition of fats in your blood, which can affect your long-term disease risk.
Eichelmann othersThis shows that it is possible to accurately measure diet-related changes in blood fats and directly link them to the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Image courtesy of Tung Lam.
The World Health Organization (WHO) highlights the importance of a healthy diet in preventing chronic diseases and recommends replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats from plant sources to reduce cardiometabolic risk.
However, limitations in existing research mean these guidelines are of moderate certainty.
The new study addressed these limitations by conducting a detailed analysis of fats in the blood, also known as lipids, using a technique called lipidomics.
These highly detailed lipid measurements have allowed researchers to innovatively combine different types of studies to link diet and disease.
This approach combines dietary intervention studies (using highly controlled diets) with previously conducted cohort studies with long-term health follow-up.
“Our collaboration provides conclusive evidence that diets low in saturated fat and high in unsaturated vegetable fats have health benefits and may help to provide targeted dietary advice to people who would benefit most from changing their eating habits,” said Professor Julie Lovegrove, from the University of Reading.
“Our study provides further conclusive evidence that diets high in unsaturated vegetable fats, such as the Mediterranean diet, are beneficial for health,” added researcher Dr Clemens Wittenbecher from Chalmers University of Technology.
The study included 113 participants from the DIVAS trial, a single-blind, randomized, controlled, parallel trial.
For 16 weeks, one group ate a diet high in saturated animal fats and the other group ate a diet high in unsaturated vegetable fats.
The blood samples were analyzed using lipid analysis techniques to identify specific lipid molecules that reflected the different diets consumed by each participant.
“We summarized the effects on blood lipids in a Multi Lipid Score (MLS),” said Dr Fabian Eichelmann, researcher at the German Institute of Human Nutrition in Potsdam-Rehbrücke.
“A high MLS indicates a healthy blood fat profile, and such good MLS levels can be achieved by consuming more unsaturated vegetable fats and less saturated animal fats.”
“These MLS results from dietary intervention studies were statistically associated with incident cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes in previous large observational studies.”
“These large cohort studies followed initially healthy participants for several years.”
Analysis of data from both studies showed that participants with a higher MLS, indicating a beneficial dietary fat composition, had a significantly reduced risk of developing cardiometabolic diseases.
Additionally, the scientists investigated whether people with lower MLS levels, indicative of a higher saturated fat content in their diet, particularly benefited from a healthier diet.
The Mediterranean diet, which focuses on consuming more unsaturated vegetable fats, was used in one of the large intervention trials known as the PREDIMED trial.
From this study, the authors found that the diabetes prevention effect was most pronounced in individuals who had low MLS levels at the start of the study.
“Because diet is so complex, it's often difficult to draw conclusive evidence from a single study,” Dr. Wittenbecher said.
“Our approach of combining a highly controlled dietary intervention study with lipid analysis and a prospective cohort study with long-term health follow-up can overcome current limitations in nutrition research.”
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F. Eichelmann othersLipid changes through improving the quality of dietary fats can aid in cardiometabolic risk reduction and precision nutrition. National MedPublished online July 11, 2024; doi: 10.1038/s41591-024-03124-1
This article is a version of a press release provided by the University of Reading.
In a new study, paleontologists used synchrotron X-ray tomography of annual growth in dental cementum from fossil mammals belonging to three Jurassic animal groups to elucidate the origin of mammalian growth patterns that are intrinsically linked to mammals being warm-blooded.
“This is the first time we've been able to reconstruct the growth patterns of early mammals in such detail,” said Dr Elise Newnham, a postdoctoral researcher at Queen Mary, University of London and the University of Bonn.
“By studying the spacing and texture of these growth rings, we can not only tell us how fast they grew at different stages of their life, but also make inferences about their metabolism and overall lifespan.”
The study calls into question previous assumptions about the growth patterns of our mammalian ancestors and the idea that these animals may have grown in a way similar to modern mammals.
Instead, the study answers a question raised by similar recent studies of early mammalian ancestors: when did modern mammalian life cycles evolve?
The researchers found that the first signs of modern mammalian growth patterns — high growth rates in young animals that stop at puberty — began in the earliest true mammals about 130 million years ago, compared with relatively little change throughout their lives in previously evolved mammalian forms.
However, like mammals, these animals grow slower and live much longer than modern small mammals such as mice and mice, with a maximum lifespan of 8 to 14 years.
The timing of this change in growth rate, combined with changes in tree-ring structure, indicates when these animals reached puberty and possibly sexual maturity.
“These data suggest that while all living small mammals reach sexual maturity within a few months of birth, the earliest mammals took several years to reach sexual maturity, supporting the results of a recent study on one of our study animals. Cruxatodon” Dr Pam Gill, a researcher at the Natural History Museum and University of Bristol, said:
“What's more, we find that this long, drawn-out life history was common to early mammals throughout the Jurassic Period.”
“Our results suggest that distinctive mammalian life history traits, such as high metabolic rate and extended parental care, evolved gradually over millions of years,” Dr Newnham said.
“The Jurassic period appears to have been a pivotal period in this evolution.”
The researchers used a technique called synchrotron X-ray tomography to image tiny growth rings in fossilized root cementum, the bone tissue that attaches teeth to the jaw. These rings are similar to those found in trees, but on a microscopic scale.
By counting the growth rings and analysing their thickness and texture, they were able to reconstruct the growth patterns and lifespan of the extinct animals.
“This work is a great example of how new technologies are revolutionizing our understanding of the distant past,” said Professor Thomas Martin from the University of Bonn.
“By closely examining these fossilized teeth, we can gain valuable insight into the lives of organisms that lived millions of years ago.”
“We are incredibly excited to be involved in this project,” said researcher Dr Jen Bright, from the University of Hull.
“Putting Jurassic fossils in a particle accelerator (synchrotron) to reconstruct the past sounds like science fiction, but it's actually possible!”
The International Space Station (ISS) is nearing the end of its lifespan, with agencies around the world planning to decommission it around 2030. After nearly 24 years of continuous use by astronauts from the U.S., Russia, Europe, Japan, Canada, and many other regions, the giant orbiting spacecraft is showing its age, and it’s nearly time to bring it down before its aging parts are destroyed in far more dangerous ways (see Inside NASA’s Ambitious Plan to Crash the ISS to Earth).
The effort to keep such a huge research facility in orbit has been controversial, with some saying it’s a waste of money and that it should have been taken off orbit long ago. Critics claim that the facility hasn’t lived up to all expectations and that the scientific results from research on the space station don’t contribute enough to problems on Earth. These criticisms may or may not be true, but they miss the point.
The ISS has always symbolized the possibility of a better world of peace and cooperation as a global collaboration in a very challenging adventure in space. Its two major stakeholders, the United States and Russia, have long been at odds on the ground, yet their astronauts continue to work together on the space station to increase global knowledge and reach into the solar system. The ISS is a symbol of humanity working towards a common goal.
With the ISS gone, it will be nearly impossible to see the same view again. NASA and other space agencies have their eye on the Moon, where the possibility of building an international astronaut village there, while promising, remains a pipe dream for now. The ISS, a prime example of international cooperation, will burn up in the atmosphere and sink into the ocean. Its loss will have ripples that go beyond space science. It would represent a decline in the global cooperation needed to address the big challenges the world currently faces, such as climate change, and is a loss we should all mourn.
Terraforming Mars would make it more similar to Earth, creating an environment capable of supporting life as we know it.
Detlef van Ravensweig/Science Photo Library
Releasing iron rods the size of glitter particles into the Martian atmosphere could raise the planet's temperature enough to melt water and support microbial life.
Making the Red Planet's surface habitable for Earth-like life – a process known as “terraforming” – will be a complex one, but a key part of it will be raising the surface temperature above the current median freezing point of -65°C (-85°F).
Some have suggested placing mirrors on the Martian surface or pumping methane into the atmosphere, but these ideas are difficult to implement because the necessary raw materials would need to be shipped from Earth.
now, Edwin Kite Researchers at the University of Chicago in Illinois found that a relatively tiny dust cloud (about 9 micrometers long and 160 nanometers wide) made from iron or aluminum rods mined from Martian rocks could warm Mars by about 30 degrees Celsius over the course of a few months to more than a decade, depending on how quickly the particles are released.
These rods, each about 9 micrometers long and 160 nanometers wide, are carried by winds from the surface into Mars' upper atmosphere, where they will remain for about 10 years, trapping heat from the surface and transmitting sunlight.
Kite and his colleagues modeled how the rods respond to light and fed that information into climate simulations, which showed that the increased temperature and pressure would be enough to support liquid water and possibly oxygen-producing bacteria in parts of Mars.
They also found that to achieve this warming, it would be enough to release the fuel rods at a rate fast enough to power about 30 garden sprinklers — a total of 700,000 cubic meters of metal per year, or about 1% of Earth's metal production.
“When we did the math, we found that the amount of man-made dust we needed would be surprisingly small — much less than we would need to create the same amount of warming with man-made greenhouse gases,” Kyte says.
While mining the Martian surface would still be difficult, Kite says this would be 5,000 times more efficient than any warming method proposed so far.
One of the big uncertainties in the simulations is how the tiny bars interact with water in the Martian atmosphere, which could have unexpected effects such as causing the water to collect around the dust and rain down back to the surface, reducing global warming.
It's an intriguing idea that might work if the particles remain in the atmosphere long enough, he said. Manoj Joshi researcher at the University of East Anglia in the U.K. But even if the amount of metal needed is small, he says it would still be an enormous amount of work to produce.
Joshi said there are also ethical questions about whether it's OK to alter the atmosphere of another planet: “Mars is so unexplored and we don't know much about it. Is it OK to alter a planet in this way?”
What we see under an electron microscope Candidatus Nanohaloarchaeum antarctica attached to the host, Harolblum Luxpro FundyImage courtesy of Joshua N. Hamm.
“Archaea are one of three lineages of life, along with bacteria and eukaryotes (organisms whose cells have a membrane-enclosed nucleus, such as plants and animals),” said Dr Yan Liao, a microbiologist at the University of Technology Sydney.
“They are widespread and play a vital role in supporting Earth's ecosystems.”
“Compared to other lineages, archaea are less studied and understood. However, they provide clues about the evolution of life on Earth and the possible existence of life on other planets.”
“Its unique biochemistry also holds promising applications in biotechnology and bioremediation.”
“They have been found breeding in highly acidic boiling hot springs, deep-sea hydrothermal vents with temperatures well over 100 degrees, highly saline waters like the Dead Sea, and even in Antarctica.”
Candidatus Nanohaloarchaeum antarcticus was collected from a cold, saline, deep lake in Antarctica by Professor Riccardo Cavicchioli of the University of New South Wales.
This species belongs to a group called DPANN archaea, which are much smaller than other archaea, have very small genomes and limited metabolic capabilities.
Studies have revealed that they depend on host microorganisms, particularly other archaea, for survival.
“This is the first time this aggressive behaviour has been observed in archaea,” said Dr Joshua Hamm, a microbiologist at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Marine Research.
“In many ways, its activity resembles some viruses, leading us to reassess its ecological role in the Antarctic environment.”
DPANN archaea have rarely been cultivated in the laboratory, and the authors developed novel techniques, including unique sample staining, intravital fluorescence microscopy, and electron microscopy, to visualize the interior of host cells and follow the interactions between DPANN archaea and their hosts.
They stained the host archaea. Harolblum Luxpro Fundyand Candidatus Nanohaloarchaeum antarcticus, which has a non-cytotoxic dye that glows in various colors when exposed to laser light.
“This makes it possible to watch organisms together over long periods of time and identify cells by color,” Dr Liao said.
“We observed how the DPANN parasite attached and migrated inside the host cell, causing the host cell to lyse and burst.”
“Predators play a vital role in ecosystems because they not only provide food for themselves by killing their hosts, but also make the remains of the host's cells available as food for other organisms,” said Dr Ian Duggin, a microbiologist at the University of Technology Sydney.
“This allows other microbes to proliferate and prevents the host organism from storing nutrients.”
“The DPANN archaea we studied appear to play a much more important role in ecosystems than has been realized.”
“The parasitic or infectious lifestyle of these archaea may be common.”
of result Published in a journal Nature Communications.
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JN Ham others2024. Parasitic life of archaeal symbionts. Nat Community 15, 6449; doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-49962-y
NASA is considering keeping its two astronauts there until February as they make their way to the International Space Station after the Boeing spacecraft encountered problems during the flight.
NASA said Wednesday it was still considering options for how to return astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams safely to Earth and that no plans had been made yet, but officials acknowledged more openly than before that it may decide to use a SpaceX capsule instead.
“Our first option is to return Butch and Suni aboard Starliner,” Steve Stich, NASA’s commercial crew program manager, said at a press conference Wednesday. “But we are making the necessary plans to ensure we have other options and are working with SpaceX to ensure we are prepared to respond.”
Wilmore and Williams arrived at the space station on June 6 on the first crewed test flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft. The original plan was to stay in space for about a week. But a problem with five of Starliner’s thrusters caused the spacecraft’s propulsion system to leak helium, leaving the astronauts stranded in space for more than two months while engineers on the ground gather data on the problem and attempt to troubleshoot it.
The mission was planned as the final step before Boeing is approved to launch regular crewed flights to the ISS, a process whose fate is now up in the air.
NASA gave no indication of when astronauts might return in the Boeing capsule, but Stich said a final decision would need to be made by mid-August.
NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore (left) and Suni Williams before boarding the Boeing Starliner spacecraft at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on May 6. John Laux/AP File
Meanwhile, the launch of one of SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, which was scheduled to deliver a new crew of four to the space station later this month, has been postponed to give NASA and Boeing more time to address issues with the Starliner.
SpaceX mission (Crew 9) NASA officials said they could change plans to send just two crew members into space on the spacecraft instead of four, and use the capsule to bring Wilmore and Williams home.
Ken Bowersox, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate, said there had been disagreements over how to bring the astronauts home safely.
“We have to admit that when we have disagreements, it’s not fun,” Bowersox said. “Those discussions can be painful, but that’s what makes us a good organization, and it helps us make good decisions in the future when we get to that point, and I don’t think we’re that far away.”
If Wilmore and Williams were to return to Earth in a separate spacecraft, mission managers could adjust Starliner’s software to detach it from the space station and return to Earth without a crew member, Stich said.
Boeing officials did not attend the briefing, but a company representative said in a statement that “we remain confident in Starliner’s capabilities and flight principles.”
“Should NASA decide to modify the mission, we will take the necessary steps to prepare Starliner for an uncrewed return,” the statement said.
The thruster problem occurred as Starliner approached the space station in June, forcing a delay in the docking process. Meanwhile, the helium leak was already on mission managers’ radar before launch, who said at the time that the leak was unlikely to affect the mission or the safety of astronauts.
NASA and Boeing engineers have been trying to replicate on-orbit conditions with a test engine at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, and mission managers have also conducted two “hot-fire” tests in space, in which the capsule’s thrusters were briefly fired while docked to the space station.
Stich said Wednesday that tests showed that small Teflon seals expand under high temperatures, possibly contributing to the thruster failure. When the seals expand, they likely block the flow of propellant to the thrusters, he said.
Further testing is needed to understand the cause of the potential blockage and why it went undetected during the recent hot-fire test. Last week, NASA reported that the thrusters used to steer the spacecraft in orbit and guide it into position before re-entering Earth’s atmosphere appeared to be stable.
“This gives us a lot of confidence in the thruster, but we can’t prove with complete certainty that what we’re seeing in orbit is exactly what we’re replicating on the ground,” Stich said.
The recent Starliner debacle has been a blow to Boeing, especially since the program was already years behind schedule and more than $1.5 billion over budget before astronauts even launched.
Boeing and SpaceX developed the space capsule as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, an effort launched more than a decade ago to help private companies build new spacecraft to carry astronauts to low Earth orbit. The program began after NASA retired the Space Shuttle.
SpaceX has been ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station since 2020.
Dennis Chou
Dennis Chou is a science and space reporter for NBC News.
Tom Costello, Jay Blackman and Juliet Arcodia Contributed.
I'm an only child. Saying this can sometimes feel like a confession, especially when people well-meaningly respond with, “Oh, you don't see it that way!” Now, as the mother of a preschooler, I watch my daughter live with the same assumption. “Does she have any brothers or sisters?” a teacher asked recently. “She plays so well with the other kids!”
Forgive me if it seems like I am bragging about my (or my daughter's) actions. I am an only child, after all.
For over a century, we have been deemed eccentric at best, antisocial, neurotic, and narcissistic at worst. “To be an only child is a disease in itself,” declared the 19th-century child psychologist Granville Stanley Hall.
Whether there are real differences in the personality and happiness of only children and those with siblings remains a controversial issue, one that has received new impetus from the growing trend towards only-child parenting.
Eva Beaujouin, a demographer at the University of Vienna in Austria, says that in high-income countries including the United States and Britain, one-child families have become more common since the 1970s, “whether by force or choice.” In Europe, almost half of all households with children have an only child.
Despite their increasing popularity, one-child families continue to face long-held beliefs that this family form is somehow harmful. Fortunately, a closer look at modern research offers some clarity, suggesting that being an only child can have surprising consequences. The findings may offer some relief to parents of only children, or those still unsure of how many children they should have…
The Perseid meteor shower, one of the most stunning meteor showers in 2024, is currently in full swing and offering a breathtaking display of fast, bright shooting stars streaking across the night sky.
As we move closer to the middle of August, the excitement is set to increase. During the peak of the shower, if conditions are favorable, you could witness up to 100 meteors per hour, some of which might even turn into fiery fireballs.
Unlike other meteor showers this year, the moonlight is not expected to overshadow this magnificent event. Although the waxing crescent moon will be visible as we near the peak, it will have set below the horizon by the time meteor activity intensifies.
For a comprehensive list of meteor showers throughout the year, check out our meteor shower calendar. If you’re interested in astrophotography but unsure where to begin, expert Pete Lawrence has put together a beginner’s guide on capturing amazing photos of the moon.
When is the Perseid meteor shower in 2024?
The Perseid meteor shower will commence on July 17, 2024, and extend until around August 24. The optimal viewing time for the meteors is from midnight until dawn.
The peak of the meteor shower is expected on August 12, with increased meteor activity around this period. Since the peak occurs during the daytime, the best times to observe the Perseids are before and after the peak, specifically on the nights of August 11/12 and August 12/13.
You’ll have the best visibility between midnight and just before sunrise (around 5:30 am in the UK, 6 am in New York, and Los Angeles).
How many meteors can you see?
The Perseids are known for being one of the most active meteor showers of the year, but it doesn’t mean there will be a constant stream of meteors to observe. Most images capturing numerous meteors are the result of long exposure shots that can capture dozens, or even hundreds, of meteors in a single frame.
Under ideal conditions and dark skies, you could potentially see up to 100 meteors per hour. However, in reality, you’re likely to witness far fewer, possibly only a few dozen per hour. Nonetheless, the Perseid meteor shower remains a spectacular event.
The Perseid meteor shower is about to reach its peak. – Photo credit: Getty Images
Where to look in the sky
The most favorable direction to observe the Perseid meteor shower is directly overhead. Aim to have as much of the sky in your field of view as possible, as the meteors will traverse the entire sky and won’t be confined to a specific location.
It can be useful to know the radiant point, as it helps differentiate the Perseids from sporadic meteors. The radiant point of a meteor shower appears to be the origin of the meteors.
In the case of the Perseid meteor shower, the radiant point is within the constellation Perseus, hence the name “Perseid meteor shower.”
If you look towards the northeast early in the morning, you’ll spot the constellation Perseus positioned directly above the bright Jupiter. Taurus is situated to the right of Jupiter, and you might even catch a glimpse of Mars nearby.
Since the sun rises in the east, facing in that direction and slightly turning left will have you looking towards the northeast. However, don’t worry if you’re unsure of the direction – meteors can appear anywhere overhead.
Perseus lies between the prominent “W” of Cassiopeia and the Pleiades star cluster. If you’re having difficulty locating the radiant point, an astronomy app can assist you (check out our recommended astronomy apps).
* The closest conjunction of Mars and Jupiter is set to occur on August 14, 2024. This will be the closest conjunction of the two planets until 2033, potentially offering an extraordinary sight alongside the Perseid meteor shower.
What causes the Perseid meteor shower?
Meteor showers manifest when a parent object (typically a comet or asteroid) leaves behind a trail of debris in its path around the Sun. As Earth intersects with this debris stream, the particles interact with the atmosphere, creating luminous streaks known as shooting stars.
Regular meteor showers like the Perseids follow a predictable pattern, occurring at the same time each year and peaking when Earth’s orbit intersects with the densest part of the shower.
According to astronomer David Schneider, “As Earth passes through the debris stream, the density of particles increases to a maximum and then decreases again. This usually takes a few weeks, but can also take a few days. The meteor shower peaks during the period of maximum density.” Presenter Pete Lawrence further elaborates.
In the case of the Perseids, Comet Swift-Tuttle serves as the parent body, which is a sizable comet composed of dust, ice, and rock. With a nucleus diameter of approximately 26 kilometers (about 16 miles) and a 133-year orbit around the Sun, Comet Swift-Tuttle is classified as a short-period comet denoted by the “P” in its official designation, 109P/Swift-Tuttle.
The comet’s last visible appearance was in 1992, with its next anticipated return in 2125 or 2126. While it was too dim to be observed with the naked eye in 1992, a clearer view is expected a century from now.
Will the moon affect visibility?
This year, moonlight may pose a challenge as a half moon will be visible on the evenings of August 11 and 12 before and after the peak. The moon’s luminosity will gradually increase as it approaches full moon status on August 19.
If observing at night, you may have to contend with moonlight obstruction, with the Moon being 51% bright on August 12 and 61% bright on August 13.
However, as the Perseid meteor shower activity intensifies after midnight on both nights, observing in the early morning should not be hindered by the moon’s light.
The optimum viewing time for the Perseid meteor shower is before sunrise between midnight and 5:30 am in the UK and 6 am in the US. With the moon below the horizon, there will be a higher probability of witnessing more meteors.
Tips for Maximizing Your Meteor Watching Experience
You don’t need a telescope or binoculars to enjoy the Perseid meteor shower; it’s best observed with the naked eye to capture a wider expanse of the sky than through optical devices.
“For optimal visibility, watch in a dark, moonless sky and allow at least 20 minutes in complete darkness to acclimatize to your surroundings,” suggests Lawrence. “A reclining chair provides an ideal vantage point for meteor observation.”
“Spend at least 30 minutes, if not longer, watching the sky. The rest is up to chance, but witnessing a bright summer meteor streaking across the sky will leave a lasting impression,” he adds.
Here are some tips to help you maximize your meteor viewing experience.
Avoid bright lights. Choose viewing locations away from bright artificial lights and ensure that streetlights are not directly in your line of vision.
Allow your eyes to adapt. Spend about 20 minutes outside until your eyes adjust to the darkness.
Use a red light filter when looking at your phone. This can be a physical red filter or an app that maintains your night vision until your eyes acclimate.
Choose the right time: Early morning is the prime time to witness the Perseid meteor shower at its peak activity and with the Moon below the horizon.
Block out the moon. If unable to observe in the early morning, still look out for meteors in the evening. During the peak on August 11/12 and 12/13, the Moon will be about 50-60% illuminated, so position yourself where the Moon is obscured by buildings or trees for better viewing.
Keep a wide field of vision. Maximize your peripheral vision to see as much of the sky as possible.
Beware of fireballs. The larger particles from the comet fragments responsible for the Perseid meteor shower can produce bright, long-lasting bursts of light, known as fireballs.
Identifying Perseid Meteors
While other meteors might be visible during this event, they are considered sporadic meteors.
Referred to as “sporadic meteor showers,” these meteors can appear from any direction in the sky and are not linked to a specific meteor shower like the Perseids (albeit they may originate from undiscovered meteor showers).
Lawrence differentiates between sporadic and shower meteors, stating: “Sporadic meteors occur when a small rock, typically the size of a grain of sand, enters Earth’s atmosphere, vaporizes, and creates a luminous streak known as a meteor trail. These occur randomly and can appear at any time, from any direction.”
Distinguishing between a sporadic meteor and a Perseid meteor shower can be tricky, but it’s based on their apparent direction in the sky. Meteor showers typically emanate from the radiant point associated with the shower, while sporadic meteors can streak across the sky from any direction at any given time.
According to Lawrence, “Meteor showers, in contrast [to sporadics], occur when a stream of sand-sized particles in orbit around the Sun intersects Earth’s atmosphere. Associated with comets and possibly asteroids, these particles are released over time and dispersed into orbit.”
“As they follow parallel orbits around the Sun and enter the atmosphere, they appear to originate from the same region of the sky, known as the shower’s radiant point.”
Knowing the radiant point of a specific meteor shower (such as the constellation Perseus for the Perseid meteor shower) enables you to discern whether the meteor you’re witnessing belongs to that meteor shower or if it’s a sporadic meteor.
About our experts
Pete Lawrence: With extensive experience as an astronomer, astrophotographer, and BBC night sky presenter, Pete Lawrence’s expertise shines on the show aired on BBC Four and available on demand through BBC iPlayer.
This new image is High resolution stereo camera (HRSC) on board ESA's Mars Express spacecraft Calaris ChaosIt is the collapsed and dried-up remains of a vast ancient Martian lake called Lake Eridania.
This image taken by ESA's Mars Express shows Karalis Chaos, a region on Mars that is thought to have once held abundant water in the form of an ancient lake known as Lake Eridania. Image credit: ESA / DLR / Free University Berlin.
Lake Eridania once held more water than all other lakes on Mars combined, covering an area of over 1 million km.2.
The lake was larger than any known lake on Earth, containing nearly three times the volume of water as the Caspian Sea.
It probably first existed as one large body of water about 3.7 billion years ago, and then as it began to dry out, it emerged as a series of smaller, isolated lakes.
Eventually Lake Eridania disappeared entirely, along with the rest of the Red Planet's water.
“The bottom left portion of the frame reveals remnants of an ancient lake bed,” Mars Express researchers said.
“The boundary of this layer can be seen curving upward from the center of the frame, surrounding a large central crater.”
“The old lake bed is now filled with many raised banks, which are thought to have formed when ancient Martian winds blew dust across Mars.”
“This dust was then covered with water, transformed, and dried up again and broke apart.”
In addition to water, there are clear signs of volcanic activity in and around this area, known as Karalis Chaos.
“The image shows two long cracks running horizontally, crossing both the lake bed and the smoother ground above,” the scientists said.
“These are known as the Sirenum-Fossae faults, and they formed when the Tharsis region of Mars, home to the solar system's largest volcanoes, rose up, putting enormous pressure on the Martian crust.”
“A lot of the wrinkled ridges you see here are also the result of volcanic pressure.”
“These appear as wavy lines running vertically across the frame.”
“Wrinkle ridges are common in volcanic plains and form when new lava layers compress, buckle and deform while still soft and elastic.”
“Also interesting is this impact crater, created by a space rock colliding with Mars.”
Gut microbiota of racehorses may affect health and performance
Brian Lawless/PA/Alamy Stock Photo
Racehorses who have a more diverse gut microbiome as foals appear to perform better and have a lower risk of health complications.
The findings suggest that, as suspected in humans, there are critical periods in the horse’s gut microbiome for establishing a bacterial composition that may contribute to an individual’s long-term health and fitness.
Christopher Proudman Researchers from the University of Surrey in the UK analysed DNA sequences from fecal samples from 52 thoroughbred foals born at five stud farms in 2018.
The researchers took samples nine times over the first year of life: at 2, 8, 14 and 28 days of age, and at 2, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months of age. Once the animals were a year old, they were transferred to 29 racing training centres across the UK.
The researchers then measured the athletic performance of the two- and three-year-old horses during the races, and collected data on rankings and total prize money, as well as recording the horses’ respiratory systems, orthopedic health, and soft tissue health.
The team found that greater bacterial diversity at 28 days of age was associated with better performance in the race. The researchers also detected two bacterial families: Anaeroplasmataceae and Bacillaceae was associated with having a competitive advantage.
In contrast, low bacterial diversity at 1, 2 and 9 months of age was found to be associated with an increased risk of orthopedic and other problems, such as muscle strains and “hairline” fractures. The team also found that certain bacterial families, when abundant around the first week or two of life, were associated with an increased risk of respiratory and musculoskeletal diseases later in life.
Foals treated with antibiotics (which can affect gut microbiomes) during the first few weeks of life had significantly lower bacterial diversity than untreated foals at day 28, Proudman said. These animals subsequently produced fewer winnings and developed respiratory disease at 10 times the rate of untreated foals from age 6 months onwards.
The early health problems that prompted antibiotic treatment may have actually affected later performance and health. Simon Daniels Researchers from the Royal Agricultural University in Gloucestershire, UK, say it’s realistic to think that antibiotics themselves reduce bacterial diversity, leading to poorer health and performance.
“Although more evidence is needed before any firm conclusions can be drawn, it appears that how young horses are managed is particularly important for their later athletic performance,” Daniels says.
Contrails are clouds formed when water vapor condenses on the soot emitted by jet engines.
Markus Meinka/Alamy stock photo
Planes flying at higher altitudes create longer-lasting vapor trails that could cause more global warming. Because private jets and modern fuel-efficient jetliners fly at higher altitudes than other commercial airliners, these aircraft may be causing even more warming than previously thought.
The findings could help airlines decide which routes to fly to minimise contrails, he said. Edward Gryspeerdt “If we could predict the areas in the atmosphere where contrails will form accurately enough, we could fly planes around them to reduce this effect,” say researchers from Imperial College London.
In some conditions, soot particles emitted by jet engines can spew ice particles in the aircraft's wake, forming clouds called contrails, which contribute to the overall warming effect. It is estimated that half of the warming effect from aviation is due to contrails, rather than carbon dioxide emissions.
How long a contrail lasts determines how much warming it causes, but persistence is difficult to study. Gryspeerdt and his team combined flight data and satellite observations to match contrails to specific aircraft and examine how the type of aircraft is related to persistence.
Previously, studies had been done manually and only on a small scale. But using artificial intelligence, the team was able to analyze 64,000 flights. They found that private jets and other fuel-efficient jetliners, which typically cruise at altitudes of about 12 kilometers (38,000 feet), one kilometer higher than other planes, are more likely to produce longer-lasting contrails. “That was unexpected,” Grys-Pierto says.
Not all soot particles emitted by aircraft turn into ice particles, he said: The team thinks that as planes fly higher, a higher proportion of soot particles become ice seeds, but the overall size of the ice particles gets smaller.
Because the tiny ice particles fall slower, they fall into areas where the air is warmer, where it takes longer for the ice particles to sublimate back into water vapor, meaning the contrails linger longer and cause even more warming.
But the team can't say exactly how much warming contrails cause because the characteristics of high-altitude contrails are slightly different, so it's unclear whether the additional warming caused by contrails lasting longer exceeds the warming avoided by modern planes' lower fuel burn.
What's clear is that the impact of private jets has been underestimated: “The climate impact per passenger is much larger than we thought,” Griespeerdt says.
Because contrails are more visible over oceans and the researchers only had data from a single geostationary satellite, they only looked at flights over the western Atlantic around Bermuda.
Gryspeerdt said the findings may not apply to flights further north, such as over Greenland or Iceland, because the air at high altitudes is drier and contrails are less likely to form.
“This study highlights that high-altitude aircraft have a significant climate impact beyond carbon dioxide, mainly due to the persistent contrails they create,” said Christina Hentz of the European environmental group Transport and Environment.
High altitudes are primarily used for long-distance flights, which are excluded from European Union plans to reduce non-carbon-dioxide warming, and this shows the importance of switching to fuels that produce fewer soot particles, Hentz said.
Doctors are calling for a ban on artificial stone, a popular material used for kitchen worktops, following the confirmation of eight cases of artificial stone silicosis in the UK for the first time.
Also known as engineered or reconstituted stone, artificial stone has gained popularity for its aesthetics and durability over the last two decades. However, a new report published in the British Journal of Construction highlights the serious health risks posed by its high silica content, which exceeds 90% compared to 3% in marble and 30% in granite.
“Silicosis is a progressive lung disease caused by inhaling crystalline silica dust,” said Dr. Patrick Howlett, a spokesperson for BBC Science Focus. “The risk of developing silicosis is significantly higher for workers in the artificial stone industry compared to those with chronic respiratory conditions.”
“Various industries expose individuals to silicosis, including mining, pottery, cement work, and now artificial stone fabrication. Prolonged exposure to low levels of silica dust can lead to the development of silicosis over time,” added Dr. Howlett.
All eight affected individuals were male, with an average age of 34, and most worked for small businesses with fewer than 10 employees. Poor safety practices, such as inadequate respiratory protection and ventilation systems, were reported by workers during cutting and grinding operations.
The report’s authors emphasized the need for national guidelines and better enforcement to protect workers from artificial stone silicosis. They highlighted the urgent need for early detection of cases and preventative measures to avoid a potential epidemic.
Since 2010, cases of artificial stone silicosis have been reported worldwide, but the UK confirmed its first cases in mid-2023. California has identified nearly 100 cases of silicosis among countertop workers, prompting the adoption of new regulations to safeguard workers.
Australia has already banned the use of artificial stone as of July 2024, aiming to eliminate the health risks associated with its production and installation.
In related editorials, Dr. Christopher Barber and researchers from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust drew parallels between artificial stone silicosis and historical occupational health crises, urging stricter regulations and enforcement to protect workers.
Experts are currently reviewing exposure limits for crystalline silica dust in the UK, with a focus on mitigating the risks associated with artificial stone worktops. Silicosis remains a significant concern for clinicians and researchers in the occupational health field.
About our experts
Patrick Howlett: An MRC Clinical Research Fellow at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, focusing on silicosis and tuberculosis among small-scale miners in Tanzania.
Christopher Barber: A leading expert in occupational and environmental lung disease, serving as a medical advisor to the UK Health and Safety Executive and conducting extensive research in the field.
The Pyramid of Djoser, also known as the Step Pyramid, is believed to be the oldest of the seven great pyramids, built around 4,500 years ago.
Map of the Saqqara Plateau showing the waterway from the Gisr el-Mudir Dam (left) to the water treatment plant near the Pyramid of Djoser. The water is then routed to the pyramid's network of pipes to power the hydraulic elevators. Image courtesy of Landreau. others., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0306690.
The Pyramid of Djoser, built around 2680 BC at Saqqara in Egypt, is considered a major milestone in monumental architecture.
This revealed for the first time two important innovations: the pyramidal shape of the pharaoh's tomb and the use of only perfectly finished stones in the masonry.
In fact, the ability to extract, lift and precisely stack millions of stones is also revolutionary.
Such were the complex and visible achievements of King Djoser that his architect, vizier and great priest of Ra, Imhotep, was deified during the New Kingdom.
In a new interdisciplinary analysis, Dr. Xavier Landreau of the CEA Palaeotechnical Institute and his colleagues have found that hydraulic lifts may have been used in the construction of the pyramid.
Based on their mapping of nearby watersheds, the authors found that one of Saqqara's large unexplained structures, the Gisr el-Mudir Enclosure, has the characteristics of a check dam intended to capture sediment and water.
Additionally, a series of compartments dug into the ground outside the pyramid may have acted as water treatment plants, allowing sediment to settle as water passed through each compartment.
This would have allowed the water to flow into the pyramid's columns themselves, and its upward force could have carried the building stones along.
More research is needed to understand how water flowed through the tunnels and how much water was present on the land at that point in Earth's history.
However, archaeologists suggest that while other building methods such as ramps may have been used to construct the pyramids, if there was enough water a hydraulic lift system may have been used to support the building process.
“The internal structure of the step pyramid is found to be consistent with a previously unreported mechanism for hydraulic build-up,” the researchers said.
“The ancient builders may have used sediment-free water from the south side of the dry moat to raise the stones from the center of the pyramid in a volcanic fashion.”
“The ancient Egyptians are famous for being pioneers and masters of hydraulics, including irrigation canals and barges for transporting megaliths.”
“This research opens up a new field of research into the use of water power to build the massive structures erected by the Pharaohs.”
of study Published online in the journal PLoS One.
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X. Landreau others2024. On the possibility of using hydropower to aid in the construction of the Step Pyramid at Saqqara. PLoS One 19 (8): e0306690; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0306690
Two recently discovered small hominin species, Homo floresiensis and Homo luzonensisraises the question of why such extreme body size reduction occurred in extinct human species in island environments. Previous research at Mata Menge on the Indonesian island of Flores has shown that early Middle Pleistocene human ancestors Homo floresiensis The jaws and teeth were even smaller. Now, paleoanthropologists have discovered additional hominid fossils in the same deposits at Mata Menge. The adult humerus (the lower half of the upper arm bone) is estimated to be 9 to 16 percent shorter and thinner than the type specimen. Homo floresiensis It is estimated to be about 60,000 years old and is smaller than the humerus of an adult human from the Plio-Pleistocene epoch. Homo floresiensis The lineage probably evolved from early Asia. Homo erectus This was a lineage that had existed for a long time on Flores Island, with a remarkably small body size, for at least 700,000 years.
Reconstruction Homo floresiensisImage courtesy of Elisabeth Daynes.
Homo floresiensis This is a small hominin species from the Late Pleistocene discovered in a limestone cave in Liang Bua, western Flores.
Archaeological evidence suggests that this species lived in Liang Bua as recently as 50,000 years ago, around the time that our species first appeared. Homo sapienshas been established in southern Australia for a long time.
The origins of the mysterious humans from Flores have been much debated.
The first hypothesis was Homo floresiensis They were dwarf descendants of early Asians Homo erectus.
Another theory is that “Hobbits” are remnants of an earlier human race that originated in Africa around 1000 BC. Homo erectus If you are naturally short, some good candidates are: Homo habilis or Australopithecus afarensisThis species includes the famous “Lucy”.
Besides Liang Bua, hominin fossils have only been found at one other site on Flores, at the open-air site of Mata Menge, 75 km east of the cave.
Located in the sparsely populated tropical grasslands of the Soa Basin, the site has previously contained several other hominin fossils, including a jaw fragment and six teeth, unearthed in sandstone deposits near a stream some 700,000 years ago.
The Mata Menge fossils are 650,000 years older than the Liang Bua man and have been found to belong to at least three individuals, with jaws and teeth slightly smaller than those of the Liang Bua man. Homo floresiensisThis suggests that small body sizes evolved early in human history on Flores.
However, because no bones below the skull have been found in the fossil record from this site, it is not possible to confirm whether these Soar Basin hominins were at least as large, or even slightly smaller. Homo floresiensis.
Furthermore, due to a lack of diagnostic specimens, it was unclear to which species the Mata Menge fossils belonged.
However, some of the teeth are thought to be intermediate in morphology to earlier Asian teeth. Homo erectus and Homo floresiensis.
This is an artist's reproduction Homo erectusImage courtesy of Yale University.
in New paper Published in the journal Nature CommunicationsProfessor Yosuke Kaifu of the University of Tokyo and his colleagues report the discovery of three additional hominin fossils at the 700,000-year-old Mata Menge site after several on-site excavations at the site.
Most importantly, this new assemblage contains the first postcranial element, the distal shaft of the adult humerus.
The fossil limb bones discovered at the Mata Menge excavation site have been long awaited as they provide a wealth of evidence regarding the origins of our human ancestors. Homo floresiensis.
Digital microscopic examination of the microstructure revealed that the small humerus belonged to an adult individual.
Based on the estimated length of the bones, the team was able to calculate that the hominin was about 100 centimetres tall.
This is about 6cm shorter than the estimated height 60,000 years ago. Homo floresiensis Liang Bua skeleton (approximately 106cm based on femur length).
“This 700,000-year-old adult humerus is Homo floresiensis“This is the smallest humerus bone in the human fossil record anywhere in the world,” Professor Adam Blum, from Griffith University, said.
“This extremely rare specimen Homo floresiensis The body size was very small.”
“But the small size of these limb bones reveals that the hobbit's early ancestors were even smaller than we previously thought.”
Two additional hominid teeth from Mata Menge are also smaller in size, one of which is an early Homo erectus Java.
This similarity is Homo floresiensis It evolved from an older, more primitive type of hominin and has never been found anywhere else, not even in Indonesia, or anywhere else in Africa.
The Mata Menge skeleton now contains a total of 10 fossil specimens, representing at least four individuals, including two children.
They are all anatomically very similar to the Liang Bu. Homo floresiensis They are now considered to be an ancient variant of this human species.
However, this early form, although directly ancestral to the “hobbits”, had a less specialized dentition (more primitive teeth) than the descendants of Liang Bua.
Furthermore, the small arm bones indicate that extreme body size reduction occurred early in the history of Flores's population.
“The evolutionary history of humans on Flores is still largely unknown,” Professor Blum said.
“But the new fossils suggest that the story of The Hobbit Homo erectus “Maybe a million years ago, it somehow became isolated on this remote Indonesian island, and over time its body size dramatically decreased.”
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Hiroyuki Kaifu others2024. Early evolution of small body size Homo floresiensis. Nat Community 15, 6381; doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-50649-7
Göbekli Tepe, an archaeological site in southern Turkey, features several Neolithic temple-like enclosures decorated with many intricately carved symbols.
Göbekli Tepe (Turkish for “Pot-bellied Hill”) is one of the oldest known examples of an artificial megalithic structure constructed by prehistoric builders specifically for ritual purposes.
Its impressive monumental architecture was built by a group of hunter-gatherers during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period between 9600 and 8200 BC.
Göbekli Tepe was discovered towards the end of the last century in a hillside overlooking the Harran Plain.
It lies between the upper reaches of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, about 12 km northeast of the modern city of Şanlıurfa, known as Ancient Urfa and said to be the birthplace of the biblical Abraham.
Excavations at Göbekli Tepe, which began in 1994, have uncovered four large, nearly circular enclosures and a number of smaller, generally rectangular, buildings.
Each circular enclosure consists of rough stone walls with T-shaped megalithic pillars inset around two centrally located tall T-shaped pillars, which are usually fixed within stone sockets.
Archaeologists initially thought that Göbekli Tepe was merely a religious center, but recent excavations have revealed that it also contained a settlement of rectangular buildings, now thought to be homes.
The large enclosures are still considered “special” buildings, although there is debate as to whether they had a specific religious purpose or were large homes for powerful families.
In the context of this debate, it is debated whether the largest pillars represent gods or even worshipped ancestors.
In any case, it is generally believed that these large enclosures were roofed, but hard evidence is elusive.
A round-elliptical monumental structure with a distinctive T-shaped monolithic pillar at Göbekli Tepe, Turkey. Image credit: Nico Becker, Göbekli Tepe Archive, German Archaeological Institute.
“The largest complete enclosure discovered so far, Enclosure D (30 metres, 98 feet wide), has the oldest radiocarbon date yet obtained from the site, dating to 9530 BC,” said archaeologist David Schneider of the University of Edinburgh. paper Published in the journal Time and Heart.
“This date corresponds roughly to the end of the Younger Dryas period, at the boundary between the Epipaleolithic and Neolithic, when the Northern Hemisphere climate suddenly warmed after a near-glacial Younger Dryas climate that lasted for more than 1,200 years.”
“However, the date of the earliest occupation of Göbekli Tepe is unknown,” he added.
“Ground penetrating radar scans indicate that there appear to be several other large structures near the center of the main trail, waiting to be discovered.”
“Since only a small portion of the site's surface has been excavated, and even less has been excavated down to bedrock, the origins of Göbekli Tepe may ultimately be dated back to a time closer to the beginning of the Younger Dryas period, around 10,800 BC.”
“In fact, scientists have suggested it may have originated in the Paleolithic period.”
In a new analysis of the V-shaped symbols carved into the pillars at Göbekli Tepe, Dr Sweatman found that each V likely represents a day.
This interpretation allowed researchers to count a 365-day solar calendar consisting of 12 lunar months and 11 extra days on one of the pillars.
The summer solstice was considered a special day, and a V was drawn around the neck of a bird-like beast, which was thought to represent the summer solstice constellation at the time.
Other statues believed to represent gods were found nearby, all with similar V-shaped markings around their necks.
As both lunar and solar cycles are depicted, the carving may represent the world's oldest known lunisolar calendar, based on the phases of the moon and the position of the sun, predating any other known calendar of this type by thousands of years.
Detail of the center section of Pillar 43 at Göbekli Tepe. Image courtesy of Martin B. Sweatman, doi: 10.1080/1751696X.2024.2373876.
“Ancient people may have created these carvings at Göbekli Tepe to record the date when a swarm of cometary fragments hit Earth about 13,000 years ago, i.e. in 10,850 BC,” the scientists said.
“The cometary impact is thought to have caused a mini-glacial period lasting more than 1,200 years and led to the extinction of many large animal species.”
“It may also have triggered changes in lifestyle and agriculture that are associated with the emergence of civilisations in the Fertile Crescent of Western Asia shortly thereafter.”
Another pillar at the site appears to depict the Taurid meteor shower, which emanated over a 27-day period from the direction of Aquarius and Pisces, and is thought to be the source of cometary debris.
The discovery also appears to confirm that ancient peoples were able to use precession — the wobble of the Earth's axis that affects the movement of the constellations in the sky — to record dates at least 10,000 years before it was recorded by the ancient Greek Hipparchus in 150 BC.
The carvings appear to have been important to the people of Göbekli Tepe for thousands of years, suggesting that the impact event may have sparked new cults and religions that influenced the development of the civilization.
The discovery also supports the theory that Earth's orbit crosses the path of orbiting cometary debris that we normally experience as meteor showers, increasing the chances that Earth will face cometary impacts.
“The inhabitants of Göbekli Tepe are likely to have been avid skywatchers, which is not surprising given that their world was devastated by a cometary impact,” Dr Sweatman said.
“This event may have marked the beginning of a new religion and may have sparked civilization by encouraging the development of agriculture to cope with the cold climate.”
“Perhaps their attempt to record what they saw was the first step towards the development of writing thousands of years later.”
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Martin B. Sweatman. The representations of calendar and time at Göbekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe support an astronomical interpretation of their symbols. Time and HeartPublished online July 24, 2024, doi: 10.1080/1751696X.2024.2373876
AI chatbots are being rapidly adopted for a wide range of functions
Andriy Onufrienko/Getty Images
Can we get artificial intelligence to tell the truth? Probably not, but developers of large language model (LLM) chatbots should be legally required to reduce the risk of error, say a team of ethicists.
“What we’re trying to do is create an incentive structure that makes companies place a higher premium on truth and accuracy when building their systems,” he said. Brent Mittelstadt At Oxford University.
LLM chatbots such as ChatGPT generate human-like responses to user questions based on statistical analysis of vast amounts of text. But while the answers usually seem convincing, they are prone to errors, a flaw known as “hallucinations.”
“We have really amazing generative AI systems, but they make mistakes very frequently, and there’s no fundamental way to fix them based on our understanding of how the systems fundamentally work,” Mittelstadt says.
This is a “huge problem” for the LLM system, he says, because it is deployed for use in a variety of situations, such as government decisions, where it is important to give factually correct, truthful answers and be honest about the limitations of your knowledge.
To address this issue, he and his colleagues have proposed a range of countermeasures: They say that large-scale language models should respond in a way that is similar to how humans do when asked factual questions.
That means being honest about what you know and what you don’t know. “It’s about taking the steps necessary to actually pay attention to what you’re claiming,” Mittelstadt says. “If I’m not sure about something, I’m not going to make something up to sound convincing. Rather, I’d say, ‘Hey, you know? I don’t know. Let me look into it. I’ll get back to you later.'”
While this seems like a laudable goal, Ehlke Boiten A professor at Britain’s De Montfort University questions whether the ethicists’ demands are technologically feasible. Companies have tried to get law students to tell the truth, but so far that has proven too labor-intensive and impractical. “I don’t understand why you would try to mandate by legal requirement something that you think is fundamentally technologically impossible,” he says.
Mittelstadt and his colleagues suggest a more direct way to make LLMs closer to the truth: He says models should link to sources of information, as many currently do to back up their claims, and that making extensive use of a technique called search expansion generation to derive answers might help limit the chance of hallucinations.
He also argues that LLMs deployed in high-risk areas, such as government decision-making, should be scaled back or limited in the sources they can use: “If you had a language model that you wanted to use only in medicine, you might limit it to searching only academic articles published in high-quality medical journals,” he says.
Changing perceptions is also important, Mittelstadt said. [LLMs] “Rather than expecting them to be good at answering factual questions, or at least to give you reliable answers to factual questions, it’s better to see them as people who can help you with the facts you present to them,” he says.
Catalina Goanta A researcher at Utrecht University in the Netherlands says researchers are too focused on technology and not enough on the longer-term problem of falsehoods in public discourse. “Vilifying only law graduates in this context gives the impression that humans are perfectly hardworking and would never make such mistakes,” she says. “Meet any judge in any jurisdiction and you’ll hear horror stories about lawyer negligence and vice versa. This is not a machine problem.”
The Environmental Protection Agency announced on Tuesday that an emergency order has been issued. This action is the first of its kind in almost four decades and aims to halt the use of pesticides that may harm unborn babies.
The herbicide in question, dimethyltetrachloroterephthalate (DCPA or Dacthal), is commonly used to control weeds in various crops like broccoli, onions, kale, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and strawberries.
Exposure to this chemical during pregnancy can lead to changes in thyroid hormone levels in the fetus, which could result in long-term negative impacts such as low birth weight, impaired brain development, lower IQ, and diminished motor skills later in life, according to the EPA.
This risk prompted the EPA to take decisive action and suspend the use of the pesticide. Michal Friedhoff, deputy director of the Office for Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, stated, “DCPA is extremely dangerous and needs to be removed from the market immediately.” The agency emphasized this in a statement.
The emergency order is now in effect.
Friedhoff further emphasized the EPA’s role in safeguarding the public from hazardous chemicals, saying, “In this case, a pregnant woman who unknowingly encounters DCPA could give birth to a child with irreversible health issues.”
The DCPA has been banned in the European Union since 2009.
Miri Treviño Sauceda, executive director of the National Farmers Union, praised the EPA’s decision as “historic.”
The suspension follows years of dialogue between the EPA and AMVAC Chemical Corporation, the sole manufacturer of DCPA.
The company has not responded to requests for comment.
In 2013, the EPA requested data from AMVAC on the herbicide’s health effects, specifically requesting comprehensive studies on DCPA’s impact on thyroid development. Despite receiving multiple studies from AMVAC between 2013 and 2021, the EPA found the data inadequate and did not accept certain requests, including the thyroid study, until it was finally submitted in August 2022.
The EPA’s recent assessment of DCPA was part of a routine process to reassess registered pesticides. Inspections occur every 15 years to ensure there are no adverse health effects or environmental hazards.
The American Red Cross is currently dealing with a critical shortage of blood as the nation’s blood supply has decreased by more than 25% since July 1.
Extreme heat and temperatures adversely affected almost 100 blood drives last month in almost every state where the Red Cross collects blood. This weather either decreased attendance at events or led to cancellations.
Blood donations usually decrease during the summer due to travel and seasonal activities, but the Red Cross stated that the extreme heat worsened the situation, resulting in a shortfall of over 19,000 donations in July.
As a consequence, blood is being sent to hospitals faster than donations can be collected.
Donated blood is crucial for various life-saving medical procedures such as surgery, childbirth, and treatment for patients with pregnancy complications, trauma, cancer, and blood disorders, according to the Red Cross.
Nurse Melissa Destros, who works at a Detroit hospital, emphasized the importance of blood for patients in need, particularly new moms and babies. The Red Cross said in a statement that she has witnessed moms requiring massive blood transfusions after childbirth.
The Red Cross urgently requires donors of all blood types, especially type O blood, as it is always in short supply. O-positive is the most common blood type, and O-negative is crucial for emergency transfusions.
Dr. Barry Siegfried, the medical director for the Michigan Red Cross, highlighted the importance of type O blood for emergency care. He stated that donors of all blood types are essential to ensure hospitals have sufficient blood for patient care.
Similarly, Connecticut declared a statewide blood emergency last week due to supplies dropping to less than half of what is typically needed for hospital demand. The Connecticut Blood Center specifically needs emergency donations of type O negative and type O positive blood. NBC Connecticut reported.
Both the Red Cross and the Connecticut Blood Center can help individuals locate local blood drives and donation centers. Red Cross Blood Or call 1-800-RED-CROSS.
If you donate by Aug. 31, the Red Cross will give you a $20 Amazon gift card.
Dead Planets Society is a podcast that explores wild ideas for manipulating the universe and tests their impact on the laws of physics, from splitting the moon to triggering doomsday events with gravitational waves. apple, Spotify Or visit our podcast page.
The thrilling adventure begins: In the season finale of Dead Planets Society, hosts Chelsea Whyte and Leah Crane propel Earth on a cosmic journey through our solar system.
Of course, sending Earth into space without its home planet would result in a dark, frigid voyage that would extinguish all life on Earth. And without anyone to witness the wonders of the universe, the journey would be meaningless. That’s why we need to bring the Sun along. The other planets are just a bonus.
Naturally, relocating the Sun is a monumental task, especially in terms of maintaining the orbits of the planets around it. This is where astrophysicists Jay Farihi and researchers from University College London come to the rescue in the episode.
One proposed solution is to construct a colossal warp drive, a self-contained space-time bubble that moves by distorting the space ahead of it. However, these theoretical devices are known for potentially enabling faster-than-light travel, and the key to keeping all planets tethered to the Sun is moving at a slow pace. Unfortunately, we have yet to figure out how to build such a device.
Another idea involves placing a black hole just ahead of the Sun to give it a slight boost – the black hole would then need to move along with the Sun, or alternatively, a series of black holes could traverse the Solar System in a cosmic relay race.
While these notions may seem far-fetched, there are more plausible concepts – though still improbable – such as deploying giant solar sails or inserting an unbreakable tube into the Sun to release high-pressure plasma jets.
The universe offers countless destinations that our hosts would love to explore with our now navigable solar system, ranging from star clusters to nebulae to supermassive black holes – all it requires is a few technological breakthroughs to make it a reality.
Fragment of a humerus excavated at Mata Menge on the island of Flores, Indonesia
Yosuke Kaifu
700,000 years ago, humans lived on an island in Indonesia. Homo floresiensisThe so-called Hobbits lived on the same islands until much more recently, and while newly analyzed fossils may show their ancestors, the evolutionary story of these small-bodied hominins remains shrouded in mystery.
Fossil H. floresiensis Hobbit bones were first discovered in the Liang Bua cave on the island of Flores in 2003. The hobbit bones date back to between 90,000 and 50,000 years ago.
In 2016, Yosuke Kaifu Researchers from the University of Tokyo discovered hominin fossils at Mata Menge, an open-air archaeological site that was once a riverbed on the east side of Flores island. Approximately 700,000 years ago It includes part of a skull, part of a jawbone and six teeth, all of which are unusually small for a hominoid.
That the Mata Menge humans were the ancestors of hobbits was an obvious interpretation, but the fragmentary nature of the remains meant that no certainty was possible.
Kaifu and his colleagues described three new fossils from Mata Menge: two teeth and part of an important upper arm bone. This limb bone “finally allowed us to determine the body size,” Kaifu says.
Unfortunately, the humerus was not complete; it was broken along its shaft. To determine exactly where the bone broke, the team looked for key landmarks, such as grooves that support nerves and muscle attachment points. From these clues, the team determined that the bone broke about halfway through, and estimated its total length to be between 20.6 and 22.6 centimetres.
The bone microstructure shows characteristics that indicate it was from an adult. Using the humerus as a whole-body estimate, the team estimates that the Mata Menge hominin was between 93 and 121 cm tall, with the highest estimate being 100 cm. H. floresiensis The Liang Bua specimen is at least six centimetres tall, Kaifu said, making it the smallest adult hominin ever found.
This discovery H. floresiensis Kaifu says the species has long been suspected to be a descendant of a large species called a hominin. Homo erectus The Mata Menge teeth and the hominoids from the Mata Menge fossils are the first hominid species known to have lived outside of Africa, including on the Indonesian island of Java, about 1 million years ago. “I'm pretty sure they descended from those groups,” Kaifu says. This is based on the Mata Menge teeth and the hominoids from the Mata Menge fossils. Homo erectus From Java and because of the closeness of the date and location.
It has been suggested that a small number of Homo erectus They probably arrived on Flores by chance, where they lived in isolation, and then must have become smaller over the next 300,000 years, Kaifu says. “They were small early on, and they stayed small for a long time after that,” he says.
It's common for island animals to become smaller over the course of evolution because limited food resources and a lack of large predators mean there's no advantage to being large. Along these lines, Flores has been home to generations of dwarf elephants and other species.
Argus said Mata Menge's teeth were: H. floresiensis Liang Bua's molar. For example, Mata Menge's molar has five sharp “cusps” H. floresiensis They have four molars. “There's no clear indication that anyone evolved into anyone else,” she says, and it's not clear why the latter evolved. H. floresiensis It would have evolved a slightly larger body than its ancestors. Homo erectus From the island.”
For these reasons, Argue says we shouldn't assume that the Mata Menge hominins were the ancestors of hobbits: “I would consider an alternative hypothesis, that they are a new, previously unknown species.” If island life could have caused one group of humans to evolve smaller in size, she suggests, it could have happened twice.
In 2017, Argue and his colleagues H. floresiensis Compared to other hominins, the closest known relatives are Homo erectus instead It is called the old species Homo habilisThis is known only from Africa. Based on this, they proposed the following: H. floresiensis It actually evolved in Africa, HabilisSome of them then migrated east, ending up on the island of Flores. Argue says more fossils are probably needed to settle the question of the hobbit's origins.
Beyond eating floating food and introducing curious Earthlings to vacuum toilets, the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) have some serious work to do as their time on the ISS nears its end.
Since the space station opened, astronauts have conducted more than 3,000 experiments in the microgravity and high radiation of low Earth orbit. Experiments range from making sure fertility levels remain unchanged (in mice, not in the crew) to testing the feasibility of using lunar soil to make concrete that will help build a future lunar base. Here are four of the most impressive aspects of ISS research.
Artificial retina
Millions of people suffer from a degenerative disease that affects the retina (the layer of light-sensitive cells at the back of the eye), and there is no cure, only treatments that slow its progression. But implants that mimic the function of the retina could be a solution, and US-based company Lambda Vision has successfully produced them by depositing layer after layer of a light-activated protein called bacteriorhodopsin. On Earth, solutions of bacteriorhodopsin tended to clot and deposit poorly, but much better results were achieved earlier this decade. In microgravity on the International Space Station Lambda Vision is currently seeking to scale up manufacturing of its artificial retinas in space, claiming that these are among the first technologies with potential clinical use to be evaluated on the ISS.
Invisible Flame
When you light a match, the wood burns and reacts with oxygen to produce heat, light, and other substances such as carbon…
Excavation work began on a avocado orchard in Michoacan, Mexico as seen in drone footage captured by Reuters, revealing two bulldozers clearing the ground to build a reservoir without proper permits.
The increasing demand for avocados in the United States has put pressure on Mexican growers, leading to illegal activities and environmental damage. Illegal deforestation and water resource exploitation have become common practices in the region as the avocado industry expands.
To address these issues, a lawsuit has been filed against avocado importers in the U.S., accusing them of labeling Mexican avocados as “sustainable” or “responsibly sourced” when in fact they are contributing to environmental degradation and water scarcity.
While the avocado trade brings economic growth to the region, it has also attracted criminal gangs who engage in extortion and violence. The avocado industry, known as “green gold,” is causing social and environmental crises in Mexico.
Local communities are fighting back against illegal deforestation by destroying water pumps and orchards, while activists and organizations are working to hold importers and retailers accountable for their sourcing practices.
The lawsuit seeks to ensure that avocados in the U.S. market are not produced in illegally deforested areas and are sourced responsibly. It also calls attention to the impact of the avocado industry on water scarcity and biodiversity in the region.
Efforts are being made by Michoacan state authorities to curb illegal logging and ensure transparency in the avocado supply chain. A new online platform is being developed to certify avocados from orchards that are not involved in illegal deforestation.
Despite these efforts, the actual number of illegal orchards in Michoacan is believed to be much higher than reported, highlighting the challenges in controlling the environmental and social impacts of the booming avocado industry.
Social events encompass a range of activities. Whether you are moving on the dance floor or sitting at a formal dinner table, you are likely to experience various sensory inputs. Your mind might be filled with thoughts about the event, your worries, or your intentions for the interaction.
While these activities can be physically and mentally draining, extroverts are believed to gain their energy from socializing, while introverts recharge when alone. However, everyone falls on a spectrum between introversion and extroversion.
There is a genetic aspect to extraversion and introversion, but how these traits influence our behavior in different situations can vary. At times, you may be outgoing and talkative, while at other times, you may prefer solitude.
Research suggests that introversion is linked to fatigue, but it does not mean that extroverts never tire of social interactions. Everyone has their limit when it comes to socializing.
Factors that contribute to social fatigue include the duration, intensity, and difficulty of conversations, as well as the effort put into making a good impression and meeting new people. Taking breaks, engaging in relaxed encounters, and expressing feelings can help reduce the exhaustion from social interactions.
It is important to acknowledge and express your emotions, as suppressing them can lead to emotional fatigue. Socializing can be exhausting for various reasons, but finding a balance and recognizing your limits can help manage social fatigue.
This article addresses the question, “Why is socializing so exhausting?” posed by Faye Chase via email.
If you have any inquiries, feel free to reach out to the email provided below. For more information, visit:Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram (remember to include your name and location).
Ultimate Fun FactsFor more amazing science, check out this page.
Paleontologists have announced the discovery of a new genus and species of troodontid theropod dinosaur based on fossils discovered in Japan.
Reconstructing your life Hypnovenator Pinus variegatusImage provided by: Masato Hattori.
Hypnovenator Pinus variegatus They roamed the Earth during the Early Cretaceous Period, between 112 million and 106 million years ago.
The new dinosaur TroodontidaeA group of bird-like theropods including species ranging in size from kiwi to rhea.
“The Troodontidae are a family of small, slender theropod dinosaurs,” Dr. Katsuhiro KubotaPaleontologists and colleagues from the University of Hyogo, the Museum of Nature and Human Sciences, and the Hokkaido University Museum.
“The phylogenetic position of Troodontidae has traditionally been considered to be a clade together with Dromaeosauridae that forms the Deinonychosauridae, but Troodontidae has also been considered as a sister clade to Avialidae.”
“Anchiornis from the Late Jurassic of China has questionable phylogeny and is classified as either a troodontid or aves.”
“These lively discussions will greatly improve our understanding of the phylogeny and osteology of non-avian theropods, with major implications for our understanding of early bird evolution.”
“Since the discovery of the first troodontids Troodon Troodontid fossils have been found in the Late Cretaceous of Canada, and in the Middle Jurassic and Late Cretaceous of Asia, Europe, and North America.
“However, articulated troodontid specimens are extremely rare.”
Articulated skull Hypnovenator Pinus variegatus It was discovered in deposits in the lower Mt. Oyama layer in Tanba Sasayama City, Hyogo Prefecture.
“In September 2010, during construction work on a park in Nishikosa, Tanba Sasayama City, rocks in the Lower Oyama Formation were crushed and a partial theropod skeleton, including forelimbs and knees, was discovered,” the paleontologists explained.
“The discovery was made by Kaoru Matsubara and Ryuji Oe of the amateur group 'Sasayama Group Research Association.'”
“In July 2011, an articulated theropod heel was discovered at the same site during an excavation carried out by the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Nature and Human Sciences.”
These specimens are the only troodontid dinosaurs identified in Japan.
“Our position on phylogenetic analysis is Hypnovenator Pinus variegatus It is one of the oldest and most basal troodontids. Gobivenator mongoliensis” the researchers said.
“This discovery suggests that small maniraptorid dinosaurs in sleeping positions were common in fluvial systems as well as volcanic, aeolian and alluvial environments.”
“The geometric morphometric analysis of the claw phalanges shows that claw phalanges I and III are Hypnovenator Pinus variegatus They show considerable morphological variation but are functionally similar, reflecting a shift in manual action within troodontids that differs from that seen in non-troodontid troodontids.”
“Hypnovenator Pinus variegatus “The foot also displays a mosaic of running-related features,” the researchers added.
“This study reveals that asymmetric arc metatarsals appeared by the Albian, and morphological changes such as a shorter digit IV than digit III, a non-clawed phalange of digit III with a roller joint, and a weak gingival joint of digit IV occurred in the Early Late Cretaceous.”
This discovery paper In the journal Scientific Reports.
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Kenichi Kubota others2024. An Early Cretaceous troodontid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Oyamashita Formation in Japan sheds light on the early evolution of Troodontidae. Scientific Reports 14, 16392; doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-66815-2
Foraging bees carry pollen from surrounding plants back to the hive
Eric Tourneret
If you’re lucky enough to find one, dip your fingers into a jar of honey from Pitcairn Island, a remote British Overseas Territory in the South Pacific. Honey is the island’s main export and highly prized among foodies. Pure and free of pesticides and pollutants, the honey infuses the delicious subtropical scents of Pitcairn Island plants, including passionflower, mango, guava and rose apple.
Honey contains much more information, if only we knew how to look for it. Breaking a container of honey opens a gateway to an entire ecosystem. Honey contains a detailed record of everything the bee encountered while foraging – not just the flowers that provided it with nectar and pollen, but also other plants, insects, fungi, viruses and larger animals in the environment.
He explains that honeybees are “passive bioaccumulators.” Parwinder Kaur As the bees go about their day, their fluffy bodies unwittingly collect samples of whatever they come into contact with, which then mix into the honey the bees produce, says researcher David Schneider of the University of Western Australia in Perth. “It’s got everything in it,” he says. Luca Fontanesi at the University of Bologna in Italy. “Well, almost everything.”
Scientists are now realizing that they have the potential to reach into that honey pot and garner sweet morsels of information that are currently hard to come by. Using advanced DNA tools, researchers are using honey to gather data on bee health, the general state of biodiversity in the bees’ foraging areas, and disease in the broader environment. They could identify possible culprits behind the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder that is wiping out beehives, and…
On the keto diet, most of your calories come from fat.
Shutterstock/George Dolgic
The keto diet, which gets most of its calories from fat and few from carbohydrates, can certainly lead to fat loss, but it can also clog arteries and harm your gut flora.
Also known as the ketogenic diet, this diet forces your body to use a different type of fuel. Instead of relying on glucose from carbohydrates, you rely on ketones, a type of fuel your liver produces from your fat stores, which can lead to weight loss.
In previous studies, Comparing people who follow a ketogenic diet to those who don't suggests there are both advantages and disadvantages.
now, Javier Gonzalez Researchers at the University of Bath in the UK conducted the largest randomized controlled trial in medical evidence. They recruited 53 non-obese people with an average age of 34. They randomly assigned about one-third of them to a ketogenic diet, in which less than 8% of energy came from total carbohydrates and more than 70% came from fat.
The remaining third of participants were instructed to follow a low-carbohydrate diet, with 5 percent of their energy intake coming from 'free' sugars – a type of carbohydrate found in foods such as syrup, cakes and biscuits – and 45 percent and 35 percent from other carbohydrates and fat respectively.
The remaining third consumed diets with moderate amounts of free sugars, accounting for just under 20% of their energy intake, while carbohydrate and fat intakes without free sugars were around 30% and 35%, respectively. These participants acted as the control group. Protein intake was between 15-18% across all diets.
After one month, x-rays showed that participants on the ketogenic diet had lost an average of 1.6 kg of fat. The researchers verified that participants were following the diet by measuring ketone levels in their blood, urine, and breath. Food diaries also assessed adherence to the diet.
Meanwhile, those on low-carb diets lost an average of one kilogram of fat, while those on moderate diets lost nothing. By having participants intermittently wear activity monitors to estimate their energy intake, the team found that the fat loss was due to reduced calorie intake, not increased activity, something that hadn't been known before, Gonzalez says.
But despite greater fat loss, the ketogenic diet group had 16 percent higher levels of “bad” low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol than the control group, and 26 percent higher levels of apolipoprotein B, a protein that clogs arteries and increases the risk of heart-related events. In contrast, people on the low-carb diet had 10 percent lower LDL cholesterol levels than the control group, and no change in apolipoprotein B levels.
The researchers also found that people on a ketogenic diet had lower levels of a type of gut bacteria than those on a moderately low-carb diet. Bifidobacteriawhich Helps produce vitamin B and It has been shown to strengthen the immune systemThe same wasn't true for those on a low-carb diet, likely because those on the ketogenic diet consumed less fiber. Bifidobacteria Level, Gonzalez says.
However, it is unclear whether the ketogenic diet truly has a negative effect on the gut microbiome, because we do not fully know what the optimal diet is or what the full effects of the ketogenic diet are. Bifidobacteria says Natasha Scholer At Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.
Additionally, while elevated apolipoprotein B levels are a concern, the elevated cholesterol levels seen in the study aren't necessarily harmful unless they reach a dangerous threshold, Scholer said.
Longer-term studies are also needed to determine whether the weight-loss benefits of ketogenic diets outweigh potential concerns about cholesterol and gut health in obese people, Scholer said.
Ultimately, the main challenge for obese or overweight people to lose weight is following a diet, says Scholer: “Whether it's a normal carbohydrate diet, a low-calorie diet, or a calorie-for-calorie reduced-carb diet, if you stick to it, you will generally lose weight.”
Astronomers have discovered 10 new millisecond-plus stars in the globular cluster Terzan 5 using data from the MeerKAT radio telescope and NSF's Green Bank Telescope.
This Hubble Space Telescope image shows the star cluster Terzan 5. Image credit: F. Ferraro / NASA / ESA / ESO.
Star Cluster Terzan 5 It is a dense home to hundreds of thousands of different kinds of stars.
Also known as ESO 520-27 and 2MASX J17480455-2446441, it is located about 19,000 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius.
“Terzan 5 is one of the most extensively studied globular clusters in history, and has produced remarkable results across multiple wavelengths,” said Scott Ransom, an astronomer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, and his colleagues.
“It is located in the inner bulge of the Milky Way and is thought to be the remnant of a primitive structure essential for the formation of galaxies.”
“Terzan 5 is massive (1.09 million times the mass of the Sun) and has one of the highest stellar encounter rates in globular clusters.”
“This coincides with Terzan 5 holding the record for the largest number of ms-plus stars identified in a globular cluster (39 prior to this study), with over 50% of those in binary systems (20 prior to this study).”
The ten new pulsars were discovered as part of the MeerKAT (TRAPUM) Large-Scale Survey of Transients and Pulsars project.
“It's very unusual to find a new exotic pulsar,” Dr Ransom said.
“But what's really interesting is that these strange people exist in such a diverse range of forms within one group.”
Using data from the MeerKAT telescope, the authors were able to determine the approximate location of each pulsar by tracking and measuring its rotation rate.
Archived data from the Green Bank Telescope has revealed strange and unusual details about these stars.
“Without the Green Bank Telescope archives, we would never have been able to characterize these pulsars and understand their astrophysics,” Dr Ransom said.
“This data allowed us to pinpoint the pulsar's location in the sky, measure its specific motion, and see how its orbit has changed over time.”
Among their discoveries, astronomers found two binary star systems, likely neutron stars, pulled into each other's orbit.
Of the 3,600 known pulsars in the Milky Way Galaxy, only 20 have been confirmed as double neutron star binaries.
When pulsars pair up in a binary system, the gravitational attraction of one to the other can strip matter and energy away, causing one to spin even faster and become a millisecond pulsar.
The pair is a new candidate for the fastest spinning pulsar in a double neutron star system, and has the longest orbit of its kind, potentially breaking the record.
Currently, the record holder for the fastest spinning pulsar is already held by Terzan 5.
In addition to the five binary systems already known in the cluster, the researchers also observed three unusual new pulsar “spider” binary systems.
“The discovery of these strange pulsars provides a better understanding of globular clusters and neutron stars, further tests Einstein's theory of general relativity, and expands our knowledge of the pulsar category,” the researchers said.
Their work Published in a journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
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PV Padmanab others2024. Discovery and Timing of Ten New Millisecond Pulsars in the Globular Cluster Terzan 5. A&A 686, A166; doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202449303
In the new study, Dr David Hernández Uribe from the University of Illinois at Chicago used computer models to study the formation of magma, which is thought to hold clues to the origin of Earth's continents.
Hadean Earth. Image by Alec Brenner.
Magma is molten material that forms rocks and minerals as it cools.
Dr Hernández Uribe searched for magma that matched the compositional characteristics of rare mineral deposits called zircons, which date back to the Archean Era (2.5 to 4 billion years ago), when scientists believe the continents first formed.
In a recent study, researchers argued that Archean zircons could only have been formed by subduction, i.e. two crustal plates colliding under the ocean and pushing land up onto the surface.
This process still occurs today, causing earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and reshaping the coastlines of continents.
However, Dr. Hernández Uribe found that subduction was not necessary for the formation of Archean zircons.
Rather, he found that the minerals may have formed due to the high pressures and temperatures associated with the melting of Earth's thick primordial crust.
“Using my calculations and models, we can get the same characteristics in zircons and even a better match through partial melting at the base of the crust,” Dr Hernández Uribe said.
“So based on these results, we don't yet have enough evidence to say by what process the continents formed.”
The findings also create uncertainty about when plate tectonics began on Earth.
If Earth's first continents formed by subduction, then the continents would have started moving between 3.6 and 4 billion years ago, or just 500 million years after Earth existed.
But an alternative theory, that the first continents formed from melting crust, means that subduction and tectonic shifts may have started much later.
“As far as we know, Earth is the only planet in the solar system where plate tectonics is actively occurring,” Dr Hernández Uribe said.
“And this has implications for the origin of life, because how the first continents moved controlled the weather, controlled the chemistry of the oceans, and controlled everything related to life.”
of study Published in the journal on July 11, 2024 Nature Chemistry.
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Hernández-Uribe, D. Generation of Archean oxidized and wet magmas by mafic crustal overthickening. National GeographyPublished online July 11, 2024; doi: 10.1038/s41561-024-01489-z
This article is a version of a press release from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Astronomers used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to capture this image of the barred spiral galaxy LEDA 857074.
This Hubble image shows the barred spiral galaxy LEDA 857074. The color image was created from observations in the near-infrared part of the spectrum with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). Four filters were used to sample different wavelengths. Color is produced by assigning a different hue to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image courtesy of NASA / ESA / Hubble / RJ Foley.
LEDA857074 It is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Eridanus.
“Hubble has observed a wide range of celestial objects, from galaxies, nebulae and star clusters to planets in our solar system and beyond,” Hubble astronomers said in a statement.
“Observing programs typically aim to collect data that will enable astronomers to answer specific questions.”
“Naturally, this means that most of the planned observations will be directed at objects that astronomers have already studied.”
“Some are well-known, such as the Crab Nebula and the globular cluster Omega Centauri, while others, such as the Spider Galaxy and NGC 4753, are less well known to the public but have been featured in hundreds of scientific papers.”
“This galaxy is not like that: LEDA 857074 has been named in fewer than five papers, one of which is the Lyon-Meudon extragalactic database itself.”
“Apart from its location, virtually no data has been recorded about this object. It has never been studied since it was discovered. So why did it attract the attention of the legendary Hubble telescope?”
In 2022, an automated survey observed a supernova event in LEDA 857074 called SN 2022ADQZ.
“Although astronomers have catalogued millions of galaxies and tens of thousands of supernovae are detected annually today, the probability of discovery in any particular galaxy is low,” the researchers said.
“We don’t know how actively LEDA 857074 is forming stars, and therefore how frequently it will undergo supernova explosions.”
“The spotlight from this supernova made this galaxy an unexpected and lucky target for Hubble!”
“This object joins the ranks of many other well-known celestial objects thanks to its unique imaging by the Hubble Space Telescope.”
Named Yuti YuanxiThe newly identified euarthropod species fills an important gap in our understanding of how the arthropod body type emerged and was successful in its time. Cambrian Explosion.
Anatomical Overview Yuti YuanxiImage courtesy of Smith others., doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07756-8.
Yuti Yuanxi They lived during the Cambrian period, more than 520 million years ago, when most of the major animal groups known today first evolved.
This species is ArthropodsThis includes modern insects, spiders, and crabs.
It is about the size of a poppy seed, Yuti Yuanxi The organs are well preserved and of excellent quality.
Durham University paleontologist Martin Smith and his colleagues used the advanced scanning technique of synchrotron X-ray tomography to find the Yuti YuanxiThey have found a tiny brain region, digestive glands, a primitive circulatory system, and even traces of the nerves that control the larva's simple legs and eyes.
“When I was daydreaming about the fossils I would most like to find, I always thought about arthropod larvae, because developmental data are so important to understanding their evolution,” Dr. Smith said.
“But because the larvae are so tiny and fragile, I thought the chances of finding a fossilized version were virtually zero.”
“I already knew this simple, worm-like fossil was something special, but when I saw the incredible structures preserved under the skin, my jaw just dropped. How could these complex features have survived decay and still be here after 500 million years?”
“It's always fascinating to see the inside of a sample using 3D imaging, but this incredibly tiny larva has achieved near-perfect preservation through natural fossilisation,” said Dr Katherine Dobson, a palaeontologist at the University of Strathclyde.
“Studying this ancient larva provides important clues about the evolutionary steps required to transform a simple worm-like organism into a sophisticated arthropod body form with specialized limbs, eyes and a brain.”
“For example, the fossil reveals an ancestral 'protocerebral' brain region that would later form the segmented and specialized arthropod head nucleus with its various appendages, including antennae, mouthparts and eyes.”
“This complex head enabled arthropods to adopt a wide range of lifestyles and become the dominant organisms in the Cambrian oceans.”
“These details also help us trace how modern arthropods acquired their incredible anatomical complexity and diversity, making them the most abundant animal group today.”
Tardigrades These eight-legged marvels of survival are tiny aquatic invertebrates, also known as tardigrades.UV rays,The vacuum of space,and,Shot by a gunThe scientists1400 species of tardigrades The creatures, which are collected from freshwater and marine habitats around the world, are seemingly indestructible and “The toughest animals on earth“But are they strong enough to survive on Mars?
Space agencies around the world are currently Sending humans to MarsBut life on Mars comes with its own environmental challenges: Researchers have shown that tardigrades can survive the radiation, extreme temperatures, dehydration and lack of oxygen that characterize the Red Planet.Studying Martian soil I realized it contained toxic salts. PerchloratePerchlorates dissolve rapidly in solution to form salt solutions or brineIt inhibits the cells' ability to retain moisture and produces reactive chemicals, such as hydrogen peroxide, which can damage cells. Oxidative stressScientists have found perchlorate concentrations in Martian soil as high as 0.6 percent, roughly 1,000 times higher than the highest concentrations found in Earth's desert soils.
Scientists have previously found that some soil bacteria can survive perchlorate using special enzymes that fight it and protect cells from oxidative stress. Unfortunately, animals lack these enzymes. Other researchers have found that tardigrades Paramacrobiotus experimentalis Can survive Short-term exposure Animals living on the Martian surface would be exposed to perchlorates for up to 24 hours, but animals living on the Martian surface would have to contend with these toxins indefinitely.
A team of Polish researchers recently tested whether tardigrades could perform this task. They Pam.Experimental The tardigrades were exposed to high concentrations of perchlorate, similar to those found in Martian soil, for eight weeks to see how long they would survive. The researchers reasoned that because this species of tardigrade can tolerate short-term exposure to perchlorate, it may be able to survive for longer periods of time.
The researchers: Pam.Experimental Tardigrades were collected from moss in Madagascar and fed a diet of earthworms and plankton. For each experiment, 24 newly hatched tardigrades were transferred to solutions containing 0.10%, 0.15%, 0.20%, or 0.25% magnesium perchlorate. As a control, another 24 were transferred to a solution without perchlorate. The tardigrades were kept in these solutions for 56 days in the dark, at 18 °C (approximately 64 °F) and 40% relative humidity. The solutions were changed every 7 days, and dead tardigrades were removed.
At the end of the experiment, the researchers Phase contrast microscopeThis type of microscope makes use of the fact that light waves change height and direction when they interact with an object. amplitudeand location, or stepThe human eye can see amplitude changes in brightness and color intensity, but not phase changes. Phase contrast microscopes convert invisible phase changes into visible brightness changes, allowing scientists to see fine details in transparent specimens like tardigrades.
The team counted live and dead tardigrades under a phase-contrast microscope and found that 83% survived on 0.10% magnesium perchlorate, compared with 87% in the control group. They also found that about 58% of the tardigrades survived on 0.15% perchlorate, 29% on 0.20% perchlorate, and 20% on 0.25% perchlorate. The team interpreted this trend as meaning that although more than 0.10% perchlorate is toxic to most tardigrades, some individuals can survive at about half the perchlorate concentration found on Mars.
The researchers also measured the body length of the surviving tardigrades, which were about two-thirds as long as those raised without perchlorate. The researchers suggested that tardigrades grow slower in the presence of perchlorate because the salt directly inhibits the tardigrades' growth or stops them from feeding.
These scientists demonstrated that tardigrades can survive Mars-like perchlorate levels for eight weeks, but did not reveal how they did this. They suggested that tardigrades must use a special technique to withstand the toxic perchlorate.Dry hibernation For example, when faced with high salinity or other extreme conditions. Damage suppressor proteins It protects them from radiation and helps them survive.
The team recommended that future researchers investigate whether tardigrades can survive and thrive when simultaneously exposed to perchlorate and other harsh conditions present on Mars. They also suggested that scientists study the biochemical pathways involved in tardigrades' perchlorate resistance to see if these pathways can be genetically engineered to confer perchlorate resistance to other animals that colonize Mars. One day, future humans may stroll under the Martian sky wearing tardigrade-reinforced skin.
Artificial lighting at night can affect tree leaves
Shutterstock/Patrick Kosmider
Urban trees lit by streetlights tend to have tougher leaves and be less eaten by insects than those that spend the dark nights, a pattern the researchers say could disrupt the flow of energy up the food chain and have negative effects on urban biodiversity.
Zhang Shuang Zhang and his colleagues at the Chinese Academy of Sciences studied the Japanese five-story pagoda (Styphnolobium japonicum) and Green Ash (AshBeijing’s street trees appear to be relatively free of insect damage compared to other trees in the city.
The researchers collected around 5,500 leaves from 180 trees at 30 locations in Beijing, including near the distinctive orange glow of sodium streetlights and in dark areas at night, and measured the leaves’ size, firmness, moisture content, and nutrient levels. They also recorded any evidence of insect damage.
Leaves taken from under streetlights were stronger and less affected by insects: for Chinese sophora trees, 2.1% of leaves were damaged in the lit areas and 5.3% in the dark, while for ash trees, 2% of leaves were damaged near streetlights and 4.1% in the dark.
The researchers couldn’t answer that question, but they did say in their paper that with fewer leaves for insects to eat, less energy flows up the food chain to insects and birds, which could have a knock-on effect of further reducing biodiversity.
The researchers acknowledge that the mechanisms by which leaf damage is reduced are still unclear and require further investigation — for example, increased light could make insects more visible to predators, reducing their numbers and their impact on trees.
Owen Lewis The Oxford University researcher says the study is intriguing but doesn’t prove causation, and he suggests future studies should take plants from areas with and without street lighting, place them in a controlled environment, and observe the insects’ behavior to see whether they prefer trees that grow in dark conditions.
Lewis also notes that measuring herbivores is complicated. Heavy damage can mean leaves are less nutritious, forcing insects to eat more of them. Holes caused by insect damage can also get bigger as leaves get bigger, he says.
“My intuition is that this may be a fairly subtle effect,” he says. “In central Beijing, the impact of light pollution on insect feeding will be more pronounced as urbanization progresses.” [the area is]”It’s probably trivial how much pollution there is, how much semi-natural habitat there is, etc. It’s important, but it’s probably not the main threat to insect diversity and ecosystem function.”
When you search the hashtag “mental health” on TikTok, you’ll come across a plethora of videos discussing “shadow work.” These videos have collectively amassed over a billion views and contributed to the success of The Shadow Work Journal, written by former TikTok employee Kayla Shaheen.
Despite its peculiar nature, the shadow work trend is actually a modern interpretation of a concept introduced by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung in the mid-20th century.
Jung, a colleague of Sigmund Freud, shared Freud’s belief in the significance of the unconscious mind in human psychology. One of Jung’s theories about the unconscious posits that everyone has a “shadow” self – a part of us comprised of characteristics we fear or dislike. He referred to it as the “shadow” to signify its dark and undesirable nature that we can’t escape.
Jung suggested that our shadow self is revealed when we speak or act thoughtlessly, and it can also manifest in our dreams.
The purpose of shadow work is to delve deeper into understanding your shadow self, learn from it, and integrate it into your being. By doing so, you can feel more authentic and whole as your shadow is a genuine part of who you are. Jung argued that the shadow possesses valuable attributes like raw power and insight, which can enhance creativity, personal understanding, and resilience when expressed.
Shadow work involves introspective exercises to connect with your shadow. For instance, Shaheen recommends spending time in a quiet, dimly lit space, listening to your inner voice, and reflecting on the words that come to mind.
Visualization exercises are also common in shadow work, such as imagining two doors leading to your ideal self and your shadow self, and envisioning the experience of walking through each door.
While some therapists appreciate the increased interest in self-reflection, others are concerned that the portrayal of shadow work on social media lacks depth and may not fully capture Jungian psychology. Additionally, for individuals with traumatic backgrounds, reflective practices may trigger distressing emotions best addressed in a therapeutic setting.
For skeptics, Jung’s theory, like Freud’s, lacks empirical evidence and may potentially harm individuals by attributing distressing thoughts to a supposed part of themselves.
This article explores the question “What is shadow work, and can embracing your shadow self enhance mental health?” posed by Lina McBride from Norwich.
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