Impression of Stenopterygius quadrissis, a type of ichthyosaur
Dotted Zebra / Alamy Stock Photo
Prehistoric Earth was home to monsters. They included a 2.5 meter long millipede, a flying reptile with an 11 meter wingspan, and a snake weighing more than a ton. But common sense says that if you're looking for the biggest animal of all time, there's no need to go back in time. Blue whales are known for reach 30 meters The length and weight reach 199 tons. In more than 500 million years of animal evolution, even the largest dinosaurs have no equal.
Conventional wisdom may be wrong. The fossil record may hide animals that were even larger than blue whales. For decades, evidence has trickled in that truly gigantic superpredators swam the oceans 200 million to 250 million years ago. Now, a series of discoveries and reanalyses of previous findings have dramatically supported this claim.
The impact is far-reaching. We don't know exactly what this giant animal looked like, and it doesn't even have a name. But we are beginning to understand how such gigantic creatures were able to feed themselves in prehistoric oceans. If confirmed to be larger than a blue whale, it would indicate that we may have significantly underestimated how large toothed carnivores can grow. More than that, the discovery that such a Leviathan emerged so soon after the most devastating mass extinction in Earth's history suggests that we may need to rethink the factors driving evolution on such a grand scale. ing.
When dinosaurs ruled the land, several groups of marine reptiles also ruled.
Eddo Hartmann, Netherlands, Finalist, Professional Competition, Landscape, Sony World Photography Awards 2024
These photos, all shortlisted for the 2024 Sony World Photography Awards, get to the heart of human vulnerability and the fragility of nature.
Eddo Hartmann was selected as a finalist in the Landscape category for his series. sacrifice zoneA remote area in Kazakhstan that was the main Soviet nuclear testing site from 1949 to 1989.
The image above shows a dosimeter measuring radiation levels at Lake Shagan in Kazakhstan. The area remains highly contaminated from around 450 nuclear tests conducted there. The featured photo (above) shows the remains of an observation tower at Russia's Opitnoye Pole, another area used for Soviet nuclear tests.
Hartmann photographed these landscapes using infrared light, whose red tint was reminiscent of radioactive contamination that is invisible to the naked eye. “Local scientists are using infrared technology to monitor the current status of contaminated sites,” he says. “Chlorophyll found in green plants reflects significant amounts of infrared radiation. The different shades of reflection provide valuable insight into the overall environmental health of a given area.”
Jonas Kako, finalist, professional competition, environment, Sony WPA 2024
In the Albanian village of Zales, a girl climbs onto an old oil tank (pictured above). This image, taken by Jonas Kakó, was shortlisted in the Environment category. The photo below was taken by wildlife and nature finalist Jasper Dost of an elephant charging through Livingstone, Zambia.
Jasper Dost, Finalist, Professional Contest, Wildlife and Wildlife Nature, Sony WPA 2024
The winner of the competition will be announced on April 18th, before the exhibition opens at Somerset House, London, from April 19th to May 6th.
Over 150 wildfires are currently burning in parts of Western Canada. Meanwhile, firefighters in the Texas Panhandle have been battling the largest wildfire in the state’s history for over a week. This fire is part of a trend of recent wildfires starting earlier than expected.
Although winter fires are not uncommon in these regions, scientists believe that global warming is worsening the conditions that lead to these winter wildfires.
According to wildfire expert Mike Flannigan from Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, Canada, “As temperatures rise, we are seeing conditions that are more conducive to fires. A longer burn period means more chances for fires to occur.”
The ongoing drought in Western Canada is fueling numerous fires in British Columbia and Alberta. Even in areas where drought is not a major issue, the impacts of climate change are being felt.
In Texas, authorities are investigating whether a utility company was responsible for the recent historic fires, which burned over a million acres. Extreme temperatures, dry grass, and high winds created ideal conditions for the fires to spread rapidly.
While global warming may contribute to the conditions favoring wildfires, it is challenging to directly attribute individual events to climate change. Weather, landscapes, and ecosystems all interact in complex ways to influence fire behavior in different locations.
Climate change is leading to warmer environments that make plants drier, increasing the risk of fires. Scientist Nathan Gill from Texas Tech University explained, “While we can’t point to any specific event as caused by climate change, conditions are changing, making similar events more likely in the future.”
This trend is expected to result in longer fire seasons and more winter fires in the years to come, as we continue to live in a more fire-prone world.
“As we face a more flammable world, we should anticipate more occurrences like this,” Flannigan concluded.
In a groundbreaking achievement in the field of medicine, a 3D printed organ has been successfully transplanted into a patient for the first time in history. A South Korean patient is currently recovering with a new trachea partially made from someone else’s stem cells.
The pioneering 3D-printed trachea transplant took place at Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital in 2023, led by a team of scientists, doctors, and engineers. The recipient was a woman in her 50s who had lost part of her trachea following thyroid cancer surgery.
While 3D printed bones and food have shown some success, the transplantation of organs marks a new frontier in medical technology.
What is the 3D printed trachea made of?
The patient’s new trachea is composed of cartilage and mucosal lining, sourced from nasal stem cells and chondrocytes obtained from other patients. The bioink used also contains polycaprolactone (PCL) for structural support, different from the standard ink used in home printers.
Given its biodegradable nature, PCL has a limited lifespan of about 5 years. However, researchers hope that within this timeframe, the artificial organ will stimulate the patient’s body to regenerate its own windpipe.
According to the hospital, traditional treatments post-tracheal resection do not allow for restoration of the original organ and can be complex and risky. The introduction of 3D printed organs could transform the treatment of patients with thyroid cancer, congenital defects, and tracheal trauma.
Significantly, patients undergoing this procedure did not require immunosuppressants. At the six-month mark post-surgery, the patient’s trachea was healing well with the development of new blood vessels.
The research is currently undergoing peer review for publication in a scientific journal.
How do I 3D print a trachea?
The dimensions of the trachea must be customized for each patient based on their CT and MRI data. In this particular case, the trachea’s length needed to be under 5 cm (2 inches).
The printing process took less than two weeks, and the implantation occurred during a half-day surgery.
The successful collaboration behind this procedure involved the Catholic University of Korea, Gachon University, and T&R Biofab, the biomedical engineering company responsible for manufacturing the printer.
This achievement is the culmination of two decades of research, dating back to 2004 with preliminary laboratory studies on animals such as beagles. T&R Biofab’s specially designed printer enabled the creation of personalized, hollow, tubular organs with high precision technology.
Although the printer was tailored for Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, there is potential for future expansion beyond this specific institution.
Dr. Paulo Marinho, Head of Science Strategy at T&R Biofab, expressed optimism about the future of 3D bioprinting technology and its potential to address organ shortages for transplantation.
About our experts
Dr. Paulo Marinho, with a background in chemical engineering and postdoctoral experience in regenerative medicine, plays a crucial role at T&R Biofab in advancing the frontiers of 3D bioprinting.
Despite the recent surge in “fake news,” misinformation has actually been around for as long as humans have existed. Outlandish claims and conspiracy theories have always been a part of human culture.
Misinformation often originates from, spreads through, and holds significant influence on individuals.
When trying to convey complex information to a general audience, even with strong evidence and expert support, it may still be less convincing than anecdotal evidence like “someone I met in the pub said something different.”
Interestingly, the source of misinformation is often someone close or loosely connected to an individual, rather than a stranger in a pub. This can range from friends to distant acquaintances.
Despite lacking relevant expertise, these individual sources can hold significant influence in shaping beliefs and perceptions.
Humans are not always rational beings, and our brains are heavily influenced by emotions and social connections. Emotional experiences play a significant role in memory retention.
Our brains have evolved to rely on social connections and emotions to gather information. Empathy and emotional connections with others are key factors in how we process information.
Human faces and relationships play a crucial role in how we absorb and understand information. This is evident in the preference for newsreaders over text-only news delivery.
Individuals with personal connections or relatable stories often have a greater impact on us than impersonal sources of information.
Despite the importance of facts, emotions play a significant role in shaping our beliefs and actions. This is why anecdotal evidence from individuals can sometimes carry more weight than concrete research.
Archaeologists have dated ancient stone tools unearthed at the Korolevo site along the Tisza River in western Ukraine to 1.42 million years ago. Therefore, these artifacts are homo erectus — provides the earliest evidence of humans in Europe and supports the hypothesis that the continent was colonized from the east.
Stone tools from Korolevo I, Ukraine.Image credit: Garba other., doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07151-3.
“To the east of Europe is the important site of Dmanisi, Georgia, where layers containing human skull remains and stone tools have been reliably dated to approximately 1.85 million to 1.78 million years ago.” said lead author and archaeologist Dr. Roman Garba. Institute of Archeology and Nuclear Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, and colleagues.
“The path from Africa to Dmanisi through the Levantine Corridor is consistent with Mode 1 stone artefacts recorded in Jordan's Zarqa Valley, dating back approximately 2.5 million years.”
“The earliest dated evidence of humans in Europe was found at two sites in the southwest: Atapuerca, Spain, the oldest hominin fossils at Sima del Elefante are dated to about 1.2 million years old. and 1.1 million years ago. And in the Valone Cave in southern France, stone artifacts are limited to about 1.2 to 1.1 million years ago.”
“However, the vast spatial and temporal gap separating the Caucasus from southwestern Europe leaves important aspects of the first human dispersal into Europe largely unresolved.”
The Korolebo website is first discovered It was discovered in 1974 by Ukrainian archaeologist Vladislav Gradylin.
It is located near where the Tisza River, a tributary of the Danube, emerges from the eastern Carpathians and spreads southwest across the Pannonian Plain.
“The layers of loess and paleosoil accumulated here are up to 14 meters deep and are known to contain thousands of stone artifacts. Korolevo is an important raw material for their production. ” said co-author Dr. Vitalij Usyk, an archaeologist at the Institute of Archeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
“We have identified seven epochs of human occupation in the stratigraphic strata, and at least nine different Paleolithic cultures have been recorded in the region. I lived here until a year ago.”
Selected stone tools from Korolevo I, Ukraine: (a) chopper core; (b) Flakes with double-sided treatment. (c) Multiplatform Core. (d) Combewa flakes. (e) Flakes with parallel scar patterns. Scale bar – 3 cm.Image credit: Garba other., doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07151-3.
The stone tools of Korolevo are oldowan stylethe most primitive form of tool making.
“We applied two complementary dating methods to calculate ages from measured concentrations of beryllium-10 and aluminum-26 of cosmic origin,” said lead author, Czech Academy of Sciences Geophysical Research said Dr. John Jansen, a researcher at the institute.
“However, the most accurate age was obtained from our proprietary method based on mathematical modeling known as P-PINI.”
“This study is the first time our new dating approach has been applied to archeology.”
“We expect our new dating approach to have a major impact on archaeology, as it can be applied to highly fragmented deposits – deposits with lots of erosional voids.”
“In archaeology, we almost always find a fragmentary record, whereas the traditional long-distance dating method, magnetostratigraphy, relies on a more continuous record.”
The First Peoples of Europe: (a) Ruins and dispersal routes mentioned in the text. The maximum extent of the Eurasian ice sheet is indicated by the gray dashed line. Blue arrows indicate possible early human dispersal routes. (b) Korolevo I, Gostly Verv, Ukraine, seen from Beyvar Hill with excavation XIII (red box).Image credit: Garba other., doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07151-3.
According to the research team, Korolevo is the northernmost known archaeological site. homo erectus.
“The radiometric dating of the first human presence at the Korolevo site not only bridges the large spatial gap between the Dmanisi and Atapuerca sites, but also shows that the first dispersal pulse of humans into Europe came from the east or southeast. This also supports our hypothesis,'' Dr. Garba said.
“Based on climate models and field pollen data, we identified three possible interglacial warm periods during which the first humans most likely followed the Danube migratory corridor to reach Korolevo. .”
a paperThe survey results were published in a magazine Nature.
_____
R. Garba other. 1.4 million years ago, humans dispersed from east to west across Europe. Nature, published online March 6, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07151-3
Claire Jacobs captured a rare moment with a gray seal (Halichoerus grypus) Spray water at a swooping white-tailed eagle (Harrietus albicilla) on the Isle of Wight. Image credit: Claire Jacobs.
Claire Jacobs witnessed a white-tailed eagle swoop toward the surface at high tide.
As the eagle approached, an adult gray seal emerged from the water directly beneath the predator.
This unusual event occurred in the waters of the Newtown Estuary of the Newtown River called Cramerkin Brook or Cramerkin Lake.
The encounter was caught on camera, with the gray seal initially emitting a warning call, but then resorting to an unprecedented defensive tactic: spitting a stream of water directly at the eagle.
“However, my year was enriched by being able to capture such rare and never-before-seen interactions.”
“Sightings of gray seals and white-tailed eagles are now common on the Isle of Wight, but interaction between these two species has so far not been reported,” said Megan Jacobs, daughter of Claire Jacobs and a palaeontologist at the University of Portsmouth. says Mr. .
“This is the first record of an interaction between these two top predators, and the first report of a gray seal using spit as a means of defense or deterrence against an airborne enemy.”
“White-tailed eagles directly compete for fish stocks, so spitting may be a strategy to eliminate them from competition for prey.”
The white-tailed eagle, also known as the Steller's sea eagle, is the largest species of European eagle.
Their wingspan can reach up to 2.6 meters, but is usually smaller, with males measuring about 2.26 meters and females about 2.37 meters.
White-tailed eagles went extinct on the Isle of Wight in 1780, but a bold reintroduction program began introducing young white-tailed eagles from breeding pairs in Scotland in the summer of 2019.
“Spitting is a rare behavioral activity among vertebrates, which is why this event is so fascinating,” said Megan Jacobs.
“This challenges our existing understanding of animal defense mechanisms.”
“Spits are commonly found in humans, camels, llamas, and alpacas, but are also used in some snakes to deliver venom, and may also be used to capture prey by archers, so there is no photographic evidence I'm excited to have gotten this fish. “
Pink stripes called prominences that appear during a total solar eclipse
Alan Dyer/StockTrek Images/Getty Images
There is no greater experience in life than witnessing a total solar eclipse. For a while, the sky darkens, the air cools, and stars appear during the day. Some people may go through life without ever seeing a solar eclipse, but for eclipse chasers like me, that’s not enough.
The thrill of anticipating the next total solar eclipse comes from the fact that each one is completely unique. They can last from 1 second to more than 7 minutes and occur on different types of terrain and geology, usually at sea.
The total solar eclipse on April 8 will be visible only to those along the 185-kilometer-wide path, and the sun will be completely eclipsed for up to 4 minutes and 26 seconds. Just before, during, and after these magical minutes, those on the path to wholeness should be aware of a variety of phenomena. If the sky is clear, you can expect the following to happen during a total solar eclipse:
sunspot covered by the moon
This is one of those sights that everyone across North America has a chance to see. The sun is currently nearing its most active period in a cycle called solar maximum, which lasts 11 to 17 years. This means that magnetic activity is at its maximum, causing visible sunspots on the sun’s surface. If these dark, cold, magnetically complex regions are large enough, they can be seen through eclipse glasses at any time. Even for those outside the path of totality, it’s an interesting sight to see them gradually covered by the moon during an eclipse.
band of shadow on the ground
For a few minutes to about 30 seconds before the sun is completely eclipsed, only a thin crescent moon appears from the surface of the sun, called the photosphere. When this happens, you may see wavy lines moving quickly across the light-colored surface. “a [bed] A shadow band may appear on sheets or other white surfaces placed on the ground.” frank maloney at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. “These are due to clumps of photosphere light that travel through the atmosphere and essentially ‘flicker’ in roughly parallel bands.” Whether they are visible or not depends on the amount of turbulence in Earth’s atmosphere.
solar eclipse 2024
On April 8th, a total solar eclipse will pass over Mexico, the United States, and Canada. Our special series covers everything you need to know, from how and when to see a solar eclipse to the strangest solar eclipse experience of all time.
Darkness, Bailey’s Beads, and the First Diamond Ring
Just before totality, the last 0.1 percent of the sun disappears and light levels plummet. Now come the beads. “For a few seconds before and after totality, the last bits of the Sun can be seen shining through the moon’s irregular surface, so you might be able to see Bailey’s beads,” Maloney says. The final bead sparkles momentarily like a jewel, just as the sun’s corona appears, creating a brief “diamond halo” effect around the moon. It’s safe to view a diamond ring without eclipse glasses, but most observers will still have their eclipse glasses on and will miss it.
solar corona
One of the most amazing sights in nature is here. “During totality, when the sun’s photosphere is eclipsed, other parts of the sun’s atmosphere, the white corona and the pink and purple chromosphere, become visible,” Maloney said. Darkness has arrived and you can safely remove your eclipse glasses and view the corona with the naked eye. As the Sun approaches the most active phase of its cycle, the corona is expected to resemble a spiky star. If you have binoculars, you can see the thin tendrils growing inside the corona.
pinkish-red chromosphere and prominences
Just before the beginning and end of totality, the chromosphere, the lower region of the sun’s atmosphere, can be seen as a pink band that disappears during the eclipse and reappears on the opposite side as the moon crosses the sun. Masu. You may also see prominences, pinkish-red towers, or loops of plasma and magnetic field structures protruding from the corona visible around the moon.
second diamond ring
The most impactful diamond ring effect appears at the end of the whole thing. Small beads of sunlight appear between the moon’s peaks and valleys, then merge into a single bright diamond ring, the appearance of which marks the end of the whole thing. It’s safe to watch for a few seconds, but once sunlight returns, you’ll need to put your eclipse glasses back on if you want to continue seeing the partial phase.
Once the totality is over, the band of shadow may be seen again. Of course, he can put the eclipse glasses back on and watch the sun and sunspots slowly being exposed for at least another hour.
Clownfish and sea anemones have a symbiotic relationship
Wildlife/Getty Images
The secret is in the runny nose. Chemical changes in the mucus that coats the clownfish’s body can blunt the sting of its symbiotic sea anemone.
Researchers have long suspected that something special in the mucus of the clownfish, also known as the clownfish, protects it from the microscopic stingers of the sea anemone’s tentacles. But the exact mechanism remained a mystery, he said. karen burke da silva At Flinders University, Australia.
To investigate, she and her colleagues bred orange clownfish (Amphiprion percula) and bubble tip sea anemone (Entacmaea four colors) at the Institute. Some fish and sea anemones live in pairs, while others live separately. The researchers collected mucus samples from the fish at various times before and after they had adapted to the anemone, and then placed the mucus on a microscope slide and pressed it against the anemone’s tentacles.
Sea anemones sting by firing small coiled venomous harpoons explosively from their stinging cells called stinging cells. The researchers used a microscope to count and compare the number of stinging cells that fired during the mucus treatment. They found that mucus from a clownfish’s partner, but not mucus from an unknown fish, reduced the firing of stinging cells.
To find out why, the researchers analyzed how the glycans (chains of sugar attached to proteins) and fats in the clownfish’s mucus change as they adapt to their hosts. Three weeks after the symbiotic partnership began, the chemical profile of the mucus changed significantly. In particular, the concentrations of seven types of glycans were changed. Removing glycans or otherwise tweaking them could be one way he suppresses line cell firing, Burke da Silva says.
Alonso Delgado At Ohio State University, the sea anemone shrimp (Ansiromenes Magnificus), using similar glycan methods or evolving different strategies to thwart sting.
Additional strategies may also be at work for clownfish. Glycan changes are slow, and after a partner splits, he grows back within a day. Instead, fish may use an unknown chemical strategy at the very beginning to gain initial access to sea anemones.
Since 2012, mass die-offs of farmed salmon have become more frequent and increasing in number, with some locations wiping out millions of fish at a time. These mass mortality events are often caused by stress factors such as fluctuations in ocean temperatures and poor living conditions, highlighting the need to improve animal welfare practices on salmon farms.
Approximately 70% of the salmon sold worldwide is farmed. There is a high mortality rate of fish before they are ready for slaughter, and there are serious concerns about the environmental impact of salmon farming and the welfare of farmed fish.
Six countries produce 92% of the world's farmed salmon: Norway, Canada, the United Kingdom, Chile, Australia, and New Zealand. Gerald Singh Researchers from the University of Victoria in Canada analyzed mortality data from these countries.
The researchers found that high-fatality events increased over time, particularly in Norway, Canada, and the United Kingdom, from 2012 to 2022. A total of 865 million salmon died during this period.
“We are talking about very large numbers,” Singh says. “In the case of Norway, the worst ranged from about 935,000 fish lost in a month to just under 5 million. In Canada, the worst 10 per cent disaster ranged from about 935,000 fish lost in a month to just under 5 million. Between 10,000 and 3.8 million fish were lost.”
If this trend continues, researchers predict that future fatal crashes could cause up to 5.14 million deaths in Norway, 5.05 million people in Canada and just over 1 million people in the UK.
Environmental stressors such as marine heatwaves and lack of oxygen in the water, as well as sea lice infestations, can trigger these mass die-offs. To reduce the impact of these stressors on salmon, Singh says better animal welfare practices need to be implemented, such as not overcrowding fish pens.
“These events can have significant impacts on local economies, communities and ecosystems,” he says. “For example, if communities that rely on these industries are stripped of their farming permits, this can have a significant impact on local economies and livelihoods.”
Oral weight loss drug may help obese patients who hate needles
Kseniya Ovchinnikova/Getty Images
Based on early trial results reported on March 7, it appears the experimental pill may cause greater weight loss than existing injectable treatments such as Ozempic, Wigoby, and Munjaro.
The drug, called amicretin, reduced people’s weight by 13 percent in three months. This is more than double his amount observed at Ozempic and Wegoby specifically. “From the limited data we have, this approach seems a little more exciting,” he says. Daniel Drucker At the University of Toronto, Canada.
The results come from a three-month, placebo-controlled trial, so it’s too early to know how amicretin compares to other drugs in terms of long-term efficacy and safety. said Drucker, who was not involved in the trial but was consulted, as well as manufacturer Novo Nordisk and other drug companies.
The diabetes drug Ozempic and the weight loss drug Wegoby are two brand names for the compound semaglutide. They work by mimicking a gut hormone called GLP-1 that is normally released after meals. This makes a person feel full, reduces appetite, and stimulates the release of the blood sugar-regulating hormone insulin.
Semaglutide leads to a loss of about 15 percent of body weight when taken for a year, but after that the weight plateaus and the injections need to be continued for a long time or it tends to gradually come back.
Another weight loss injectable called Mounjaro, also known as Tirzepatide or Zepbound, was launched last year. It mimics GLP-1 and an additional intestinal hormone called GIP. Using Mounjaro, you seem to lose about 21 percent of your weight over the first year and five months of her life before your weight loss plateaus.
However, amicletin mimics GLP-1 and another hormone called amylin, and appears to be even more potent, at least during the first three months of treatment. Reuters reports that people who took amicletin lost 13 percent of their weight during this period, Nordisk announced today. Those who took the placebo pill had a 1% decrease. This is higher than Wegovy and Ozempic’s 6 percent and Munjaro’s equivalent figure of around 7.5 percent.
But we can only know for sure how the drugs will fare over the long term if they are compared under exactly the same circumstances in a single study, Drucker said. “This is not a head-to-head trial.”
Another caveat is that while drugs that act by mimicking GLP-1 have been used to treat type 2 diabetes for more than a decade and their safety profile is well understood, amylin mimetics That’s not the case.
Novo Nordisk also said: Amicretin’s side effects were similar to those of Wegoby, and tended to include nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, especially when the dose was increased rapidly.
The availability in pill form could be a big advantage for people who don’t like injections, he says. Daniel Chancellor Global Pharmaceutical Business Analyst cytherine. “Oral medications are very attractive.”
In addition to these three drugs, other weight loss drugs that mimic other gut hormones are also in development.
These worm-like creatures secrete nutritious milk from their butts to nourish their hatchlings. This is the first known example of an amphibian feeding its young in this way.
American paper wasp (Siphonops anulatus) is a legless, egg-laying amphibian found on dark, moist forest floors throughout South America. It can reach up to 45 centimeters in length, with a deep blue cylindrical body surrounded by white grooves.
American paper wasps are born with spoon-shaped teeth. They use these to feed on their mother's skin, which is rich in lipids and proteins.
“But this skin nourishment only happens once a week,” he says carlos jared At the Butantan Institute in São Paulo, Brazil. That's not enough food to maintain the young's growth rate, he says, with some cubs growing 150 percent larger within the first week of life.
To find out where their extra nutrition is coming from, Jared and his colleagues filmed 16 female ringed wasps and their hatchlings.
The researchers observed the newly hatched chicks wriggling around the edges of their mother's body several times a day, often nibbling or sticking their heads into the rear opening known as the vent.
Closer examination of the footage showed that droplets of a milk-like substance were frequently spilled into the vent openings, suggesting that the chicks were actively feeding on it.
Analysis of the milk revealed that it contained fat and carbohydrates. “These carbohydrates are very important,” say team members Pedro Maillo-Fontanathe Butantan Research Institute also provides hatchlings with the energy they need to grow.
The researchers also discovered that touch and sound signals from hatchlings stimulate milk production in the mother's oviducts, or glands within the fallopian tubes.
Some paper wasps that give birth to live offspring secrete nutritious fluids for the fetus inside the mother's body, while amphibians produce fluids to nourish their offspring outside the body, Mailho-Fontana said. This is the first time that this has been found to be the case.
“The paper wasp is a real surprise box,” says Jared. “They are very secretive and live in an underground world that is different from the one above. They adapt to a world that is completely different from the one we know and invent some new behaviors to survive. There was a need.”
Bumblebees may be capable of advanced social learning
David Woodfall/naturepl.com
Bumblebees can teach each other how to solve puzzles that are too difficult for them to solve alone. This finding suggests that these insects may use advanced social learning that has previously been demonstrated only in humans.
Previous research by alice bridges Queen Mary University of London has proposed that bumblebees could teach each other how to open lever puzzles to obtain sweet treats. And they preferred solutions they learned from their peers to solutions they had come up with on their own, as if the techniques were a cultural trend.
Now, Bridges challenged the bees to a more difficult puzzle box that required them to operate a blue lever and then a red lever in order. Even after 12 to 14 days of trying, the bees from three different colonies couldn’t figure it out on their own.
The researchers then taught nine bumblebees the key. But the training was so difficult that the animals initially refused to participate until the humans provided additional sweet rewards along the way, Bridges said. Once reintroduced to the colony, the skilled bee passed on its new knowledge to five other bees who had never seen the puzzle box before.
“suddenly, [naive bees] We were able to learn everything from trained demonstrators,” Bridges said. “When I could barely train, [the demonstrators] To do that. “
Until now, there was little evidence that non-human animals are capable of cumulative culture (defined as the ability to learn skills from other animals that cannot be acquired through a lifetime of independent trial and error). This feat allowed humans to create complex knowledge systems like modern medicine.
These findings “raise serious questions about this idea of human exceptionalism,” they wrote. alex thornton At the University of Exeter, UK his explanation on paper.
But we shouldn’t praise the cumulative culture of bees just yet. Elisa Bandini At the University of Zurich. She is not convinced that the experiment shows a behavior so complex that individual bees cannot develop it on their own. If the untaught bees had received additional rewards in the same way as the trained bees, they might have solved the puzzle on their own.
Valentine's Day celebrates coupling. Alan McWilliam told Feedback about an offer he received from a US-based biotech company before the most recent Valentine's Day. It combines charm with other qualities.
Alan says: “I received the following marketing email. I have never before been offered a “free breeding pair of genetically modified mice” for Valentine's Day. What could be more romantic than staring into the eyes of a mouse over the flame of a Bunsen burner before implanting a tumor and humanely euthanizing it a few weeks later? ”
Here are the notes:
“Dear Alan,
love is in the air, [REDACTED]share the love with a special Valentine's Day promotion just for you.
Theme: The perfect combination in research
Promotion: This Valentine's Day, we're giving away a free breeding pair of genetically modified mice using our genetic targeting service.
Coupon code: FREECOUPLE
This limited time offer is designed to enhance your studies and provide you with the perfect study companion. ”
Regardless of the romantic or commercial effects of this offer, its most powerful use may be as a psychological test. How would a person seemingly react to this opportunity?
political restraint
With a growing trove of top-notch data, British psychology researchers are keen to sift through it for lessons about leadership. Feedback infers this from news accounts.
of BMJ (formerly known as this) british medical journal) create medical care Note It has been reported that Chancellor Rishi Sunak is “fasting for 36 hours at the beginning of every week''. Sunak's past and current medical data may be of interest and inspiration to physicians, psychologists, and nutritional researchers. Over time, does the body of evidence expand or contract? How much of that inflation or deflation is due to leaders' first-person food control?
More complete data may already be available about the effects and effectiveness of self-regulation (or basically self-asserted restraint) by former Prime Minister David Cameron, who served as Prime Minister from 2010 to 2016. There is sex.
new scientistA 2015 report on Cameron Fluid Engineering explains: While this technique may be effective, it also appears to help people tell more convincing lies. ”
(By a happy coincidence, the 2011 Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to Award It was given to researchers in the UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Australia and the US to test the effectiveness of the delayed voiding technique. The award was announced naked weeks before Prime Minister David Cameron went public with his penchant for peeing. )
If it someday turns out that other British prime ministers have also exercised restraint, researchers will have even more data available.
Under the tarantula hole
Fascinating and surprising delights about living things can linger in the bibliography section of scientific papers about things that went extinct long ago.
But only the most diligent researchers discovered something unexpected deep in the bibliography section at the end of the paper. It was a reference to the paper “''.Connection between heart and sucking stomach during tarantula ingestionWritten by Jason Dunlop, John Altringham, and Peter Mill, published in 1992 Journal of Experimental Biology.
And deep within that heart- and stomach-sucking paper lurks a different kind of surprise, a reminder that scientists must always proceed with caution. “In the absence of detailed information about the tarantula's body fluid flow, any model is speculative.”
gentle youth
Dave Kirby noticed another cookbook: anarchist cookbookperhaps a warning is needed (feedback suggested something like “If you don't cook the anarchist to the correct temperature, you may run into problems”).
Dave says: “In addition to the books you mentioned, you can also add the following. River Cottage Baby and Toddler Cookbook. My local restaurant's bookshelf is full of cookbooks, and I found this one there a few months ago.
“I was hesitant to look at the fine print on the menu.”
Depending on the cat
This is probably reassuring news for people who fear being temporarily separated from their cats.
A study conducted in California titled “Comparing people's attachment to romantic partners and pet cats'' was published in the journal anthropozoanAccording to a report, some people “don't necessarily need the reassurance from a cat or feel distressed in its absence, as would be the case with a romantic partner.”
Mark Abrahams hosted the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony and co-founded the magazine Annals of Improbable Research. Previously, he was working on unusual uses of computers.his website is impossible.com.
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Some cancer treatments can cause so-called chemobrain, commonly defined as problems with memory and concentration.
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An experimental treatment for Alzheimer’s disease that involves flickering lights and low-pitched sounds may also help prevent cognitive impairment after cancer treatment, also known as chemical brain, a study in mice suggests.
In the case of Alzheimer’s disease, light and sound stimulation has been shown in small human trials to reduce memory and concentration problems, but larger studies are still investigating it.
The light flashes 40 times per second, or 40 Hz, and the sound also has a frequency of 40 Hz. This frequency was originally chosen because the brainwave intensity of Alzheimer’s patients is lower than 40 Hz and is associated with memory processing. The idea was that this treatment would stimulate these brain waves.
Subsequent research has shown that such brain waves may have a wide range of benefits for the brain, including increased immune cell activity and, more recently, strengthened drainage systems that may help remove a toxic protein called beta-amyloid. It suggests that there is.
Cai Li Hui The Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers who developed this approach thought it could help cancer patients who have memory and concentration problems after chemotherapy and other cancer treatments. It is thought that these may be caused by damage to brain cells, but the exact mechanism is unknown and there is no cure.
In the latest study, Professor Tsai’s team exposed cancer-free mice to light and sound for one hour a day while being given a common chemotherapy drug called cisplatin, compared to those who had just received chemotherapy. They found that they experienced less decline in mental acuity than mice.
Acuity was assessed by a memory test in which mice were exposed to either new or familiar objects, and the animals typically showed more interest in things they had never seen before. Chemotherapy reduced the mice’s ability to identify objects, but this was prevented by light and sound treatment.
The therapy had several effects, including reducing inflammation in the brain, reducing DNA damage, and reducing the loss of myelin, the insulation around nerve cell fibers.
nazanin derakshan Researchers at Britain’s University of Reading say the idea needs to be tested in people to see if it has any overall benefits. If this treatment is given at the same time as chemotherapy and reduces cell death in the brain, it may help cancer cells survive there, she says.
Hundreds of millions of people are already using commercial AI chatbots
Ju Jae-young/Shutterstock
Commercial AI chatbot displays racial bias against African-American English speakers despite outwardly expressing positive sentiments toward African-Americans. This hidden bias can influence the AI’s decisions about a person’s employment eligibility and criminality.
“We discovered some kind of hidden racism. [large language models] It is caused solely by dialect characteristics and causes great harm to the affected groups.” Valentin Hoffman at the Allen AI Institute, a nonprofit research institute in Washington state. social media posts. “For example, GPT-4 is more likely to be sentenced to death if the defendant speaks African American English.”
Hoffman and his colleagues found that more than a dozen versions of large-scale language models, such as OpenAI’s GPT-4 and GPT-3.5, which power commercial chatbots already used by hundreds of millions of people, do not contain such hidden biases. I discovered that there is. OpenAI did not respond to a request for comment.
The researchers first gave the AI text in either African American English or standard American English style, then asked the model to comment on the author of the text. The model characterized African American English speakers using terms associated with negative stereotypes. In the case of GPT-4, they are described as “suspicious,” “aggressive,” “loud,” “rude,” and “ignorant.”
However, when asked to comment about African Americans in general, language models typically use more positive words such as “passionate,” “intelligent,” “ambitious,” “artistic,” and “brilliant.” This suggests that the model’s racial bias is usually hidden within what researchers describe as superficial displays of positive emotion.
The researchers also showed how hidden biases influence people’s judgments of chatbots in a hypothetical scenario. When asked to associate African-American English speakers with jobs, the AI was less likely to associate African-American English speakers with jobs than standard American English speakers. When AI matched jobs, they tended to assign roles that didn’t require a college degree or were related to music and entertainment. AI could also convict an African American English speaker accused of an unspecified crime and give the death penalty to an African American English speaker convicted of first-degree murder. It was highly sexual.
The researchers even showed that large AI systems showed more hidden bias against African American English speakers than smaller models. This reflects previous research showing that large AI training datasets can produce even more racist output.
This experiment raises serious questions about the effectiveness of AI safety training. In AI safety training, large-scale language models receive human feedback, adjust responses, and eliminate issues such as bias. It says such training could reduce ostensibly overt signs of racial bias without eliminating “hidden bias when identity terms are not mentioned.” Yong Jian Shin from Brown University in Rhode Island was not involved in the study. “This highlights the limitations of current safety assessments of large-scale language models by companies before they are released to the public,” he says.
In March 2024, early risers should be able to view comet C/2021 S3 (PanSTARRS) through binoculars as it approaches Earth.
Comets, often referred to as “dirty snowballs,” are icy objects that travel through space, leaving behind a trail of dust and gas as they approach the Sun.
C/2021 S3 was discovered in September 2021 by one of the PanSTARS telescopes on Mount Haleakala (Hawaii) and is predicted to reach a magnitude between 7 and 9 (the lower the magnitude, the more powerful the comet is). (looks bright).
You can’t see it with the naked eye, but you should be able to spot it with a decent pair of binoculars. However, predicting a comet’s final brightness is somewhat difficult. Comets are difficult to handle and prefer to act independently.
But don’t worry, Comet C/2021 S3 poses no danger to Earth and will pass us safely.
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When can we see Comet Panstars tonight?
A comet is approaching Earth on March 14, 2024. It reached perihelion, the closest point to the Sun in its orbit, on Wednesday, February 14, 2024, when it became visible from the United States and the United Kingdom.
During the second half of the month, around March 18th to March 29th, the Moon begins to interfere as it approaches the full moon on March 25th. Starting on the opposite side of the sky, the moon gradually approaches the comet towards the end of the month.
In late March, especially if you want to spot the comet passing through the Coat Hanger star map (more on how to find the Coat Hanger below), look up around 3 a.m. GMT. Basically, as soon as the comet is above the horizon. As dawn approaches, an interfering moon will spoil the progress.
How to see a comet
Comet C/2021 S3 is heading northeast, passing roughly between the large constellation of Ophiuchus above and the small constellations Scutum and Aquila below. Ophiuchus and Aquila both straddle the celestial equator, while Scutum lies just south of it.
Until about March 18, look to the southeast early in the morning as the sky begins to lighten. By this point, the comet is visible above the horizon and the Moon appears relatively out of the way.
The best time to see the views is around 3am in late March. Also, at this time, Comet C/2021 S3 will pass over the Coathanger Cluster, a small star group. And yes, it’s exactly like the name! Here’s how to find it:
Find the Summer Triangle. Let’s start by identifying the Summer Triangle. This is an easily recognizable asterism, formed by the bright stars Deneb in Cygnus, Vega in Lyra, and Altair in Aquila.
Find the constellation Little Vulgar. Once you find the Summer Triangle, look for the constellation Little Bitis. It is located between Cygnus and Sagittarius and is shaped like an extended M. It can be found by drawing an imaginary line north from the star Altair in the Summer Triangle.
Move to coat hanger. Once you find Vulpecula, look for the Coathanger Asterism. This is very distinctive and looks like a coat hanger or an upside down question mark. The Coathanger is an asterism within Vulpecula and is easy to find once you enter the right area.
If you’re star hopping and having trouble finding the star on your coat hanger, downloading a stargazing app can help. Here are all the best astronomy apps.
Here’s what you can do to help astronomers discover moreComet
Photos from amateur astronomers help researchers improve space weather predictions and influence solar wind technology.
Comet tails, also known as “cosmic windsocks,” can tell us a lot about the strength and direction of the solar wind. For example, if the tail peels off or wobbles, you can infer that there is increased activity.
Please send images, including date, time and location, to researcher Sarah Watson at srwatson@pgr.reading.ac.uk. The research team is particularly interested in observing the broken tail.
The comet is not expected to be bright enough to be seen with the naked eye, so if you want to photograph it you’ll need a small telescope or a camera with a large lens.
Why do comets get brighter when they get closer to the sun?
Comets become more active as they get closer to the sun. Intense heat from the sun and solar radiation can evaporate ice cores and suddenly release dust and gas. This process forms a glowing coma (a cloud of gas and dust) around the nucleus and a bright tail that reflects sunlight.
This tail can span millions of kilometers and is influenced by a combination of different processes. For example, the solar wind, which is made up of charged particles, can interact with these gases to produce ion tails that point away from the sun.
In addition, the sun’s radiation pressure develops and displaces the dust particles. This can lead to the formation of a separate dust tail, which often lags behind the ion tail. A combination of sublimation (the transformation of solid ice directly into gas), ionization, and radiation pressure all affect the appearance of comet tails as they orbit the Sun.
And the closer the comet is to the Sun, the more intense this activity becomes, and the brighter it appears in the night sky.
the current, 3,922 known comets (and its fragments) of our solar system.
But it can also get dark…
However, this is not always the case. When a comet runs out of volatile matter, it may lose its ability to produce a bright coma and tail. Therefore, comets appear darker as they get closer to the Sun. In addition, comets can develop a crust that makes it completely impossible for material to escape.
Scientists hypothesize that comet C/2021 S3 may already have a mineral crust forming on its surface. If this were the case, the comet’s albedo (reflectance) would be much lower because the crust would protect its volatile-rich interior from the sun. In other words, it won’t be as bright as other comets this year. But if the underlying material continues to evaporate and creates enough pressure to break through the Earth’s crust, a flare can occur. That would be fun.
When is the next comet?
Comet C/2021 S3 is one of the few bright comets we’re watching this year. Next up is Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, also known as the “Devil’s Comet” thanks to its distinctive “horns” that began to widen towards the end of 2023.
It can be easily seen with a telescope or binoculars, and will begin to brighten towards the end of March 2024, so it could be the first comet of 2024 to be visible to the naked eye.
Marine biologists at the University of California, San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the Ensenada Higher Education and Research Center have described a rare new species of deep-sea insect with gills discovered in a methane well off San Diego’s Pacific coast. Named pectine rice triclotti, the new species has an elongated body flanked by rows of feathery, gill-tipped appendages called lateral legs.
pectine rice triclotti, a living male specimen. Image credit: Ekin Tilic.
pectine rice triclotti belong to Nereididae, a segmented, mostly marine family of insects with over 700 recognized species.
Commonly known as lugworms, these organisms are generally found in coastal areas and are usually limited to shallow marine habitats, but can also be found in brackish waters, freshwater bodies, and even moist terrestrial environments.
However, around 10% of the total diversity of lugworms is known to inhabit deep-sea environments.
These nematodes have a long body with rows of bristly parapods on the sides and a set of scissor-like jaws for feeding.
Many lugworm species undergo two distinct life stages: atokes and epitokes.
Pectine rice triclotti was first discovered during a dive in 2009 at a depth of approximately 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) using the submersible Alvin.
“We observed two lugworms swimming close to each other, about the length of a submarine, near the ocean floor,” said Bruce Stricklot, a researcher at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Several specimens of pectine rice triclotti were collected and analyzed for anatomical features and DNA to determine their evolutionary relationships within the Nereididae family.
According to Dr. Greg Rouse, a marine biologist at the University of California, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Pectine rice triclotti has unique characteristics compared to other lugworms.
Pectine rice triclotti, while possessing menacing-looking jaws, has unknown feeding habits, with the possibility of feeding on bacteria and other large food particles similar to other insects.
The body color of pectine rice triclotti in its natural habitat is likely rosy due to the darkness at 1,000 meters below the surface.
Further research is needed to explore the reproductive mechanisms and feeding behavior of this newly discovered deep-sea species.
The finding is detailed in the article: paper published in the online journal PLoS ONE.
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TF Villalobos Guerrero et al. 2024. A remarkable new species of deep-sea Nereidae (Annelidae: Nereidiidae) with gills. PLoS ONE 19(3): e0297961; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0297961
Astronomers have proposed a new theory to explain why a mysterious population of white dwarfs has stopped cooling for at least 8 billion years.
This diagram shows a white dwarf and the moon. Image credit: Giuseppe Parisi.
White dwarfs are the remains of stars without a nuclear energy source that gradually cool over billions of years, eventually freezing from the inside out to a solid state.
Recently, it was discovered that a population of frozen white dwarfs maintains a constant brightness for a period comparable to the age of the universe, indicating the existence of an unknown, powerful energy source that inhibits cooling.
“We find that the classical picture that all white dwarfs are dead stars is incomplete,” said astronomer Dr Simon Bruin from the University of Victoria.
“To stop these white dwarfs from cooling, we need some way to generate additional energy.”
“We didn’t know how this happened, but now we have an explanation for this phenomenon.”
The researchers say that in some white dwarfs, the dense plasma inside them doesn’t just freeze from the inside out.
Instead, the solid crystals that form when frozen tend to float because they are less dense than the liquid.
As the crystals float upwards, the heavier liquid moves downwards.
As heavy material is transported toward the star’s center, gravitational energy is released, and this energy is enough to interrupt the star’s cooling process for billions of years.
Dr Antoine Bedard, an astronomer at the University of Warwick, said: “This is the first time this transport mechanism has been observed in any type of star, and it’s very interesting because it’s not every day that a completely new astrophysical phenomenon is discovered.”
“We don’t know why this happens in some stars and not others, but it’s probably due to the star’s composition.”
“Some white dwarfs are formed by the merger of two different stars,” Dr Bruin said.
“When these stars collide to form white dwarfs, the star’s composition changes, allowing the formation of floating crystals.”
White dwarfs are routinely used as an indicator of age, and the cooler a white dwarf is, the older it is considered to be.
However, the extra delay in cooling seen in some white dwarfs means that some stars at certain temperatures may be billions of years older than previously thought.
“This new discovery will not only require a revision of astronomy textbooks, but will also require a reexamination of the processes astronomers use to determine the age of stellar populations,” Dr. Blouin said.
of the team paper Published in today’s diary Nature.
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A. Bedard other. Buoyant crystals stop the white dwarf from cooling. Nature, published online March 6, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07102-y
Companies will now be required to disclose information on how climate change could impact their financial performance, although not as detailed as initially proposed.
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently approved new climate risk disclosure rules, a significant change that mandates companies to include details about their emissions and other important risks they face in their public disclosures.
While some critics argue that the rules have been diluted due to pressure from business leaders, others believe this is an opportunity for investors to better understand the economic risks associated with climate change.
Many large companies already voluntarily disclose this information, and experts believe that the new rules could help reduce greenwashing, establish a common disclosure standard, and improve transparency for investors.
The adoption of these rules reflects a growing recognition within the business community about the economic risks of climate change, shifting from a previously abstract issue to a tangible threat that requires regulatory attention.
According to Cynthia Hanawalt, from Columbia University’s Sabin Center on Climate Change Law, the rules represent a significant step towards standardizing information for investors and enhancing transparency regarding the risks posed by climate change.
The rules were proposed in 2022 and have faced significant scrutiny, resulting in a final version that excludes the disclosure of Scope 3 emissions, which are indirect emissions associated with a company’s supply chain and product use.
As the rules are phased in, only large companies with a market value of at least $75 million will be required to disclose their emissions information, potentially impacting sectors such as automotive, agriculture, and cement.
Despite the limitations of the final rules, experts believe that they will set a new standard for climate risk disclosure globally and influence expectations in capital markets.
While the rules have been praised for promoting transparency and accountability, they may face legal and political challenges from groups seeking stricter disclosure requirements and opponents of such regulations.
Overall, the new rules aim to help companies manage their climate and emissions goals, prevent greenwashing, and provide investors with crucial information about the risks associated with climate change.
Legal challenges are anticipated, and resolution could take years, as the SEC works to address concerns from both sides of the debate.
evan bush
Evan Bush is a science reporter for NBC News. Contact him at Evan.Bush@nbcuni.com.
Unlike the extinct woolly mammoth, most edited elephants with mammoth-like features lack tusks to avoid poaching for ivory.
QuangTrungArt/Shutterstock
A company founded to bring back extinct animals has announced that it has made significant progress in its goal of bringing back the woolly mammoth. On March 6, Colossal announced that its team had succeeded in converting normal elephant cells into stem cells, which could lead to the creation of mammoth-like creatures. “This is an important step,” said the company's CEO. ben ramsaid in a press release. Here's what you need to know:
Is it really possible to bring the woolly mammoth back from extinction?
No, it's not, and it never will be. The genomes of several frozen mammoths have been sequenced, but there are many gaps. But it should be possible to edit the genome of a living elephant to make it look more like a mammoth. Colossal acknowledges on its website that the elephant it plans to create is a “cold-hardy elephant,” but says the animal “has all the key biological characteristics of a woolly mammoth.”
Will these edited elephants look like mammoths?
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Colossal says even the sounds of mammoths are similar, but it's unclear how humans know what a mammoth sounds like. There will be at least one major difference when it comes to their appearance.The majority do not have tusks to avoid ivory poaching, says Colossal co-founder George Church. Species with tusks can only be kept in highly supervised areas, he said.
Colossal also plans to make the mammoth-like elephants resistant to a deadly disease caused by the elephant endothelial-tropic herpesvirus.
Why does Colossal need to create elephant stem cells?
The company edits the genome of elephant cells to make them more similar to mammoths. But creating a living mammoth-like elephant requires producing embryos containing edited genomes. In theory, one way to do this would be to turn gene-edited elephant cells into so-called induced pluripotent stem cells, which then turn into egg and sperm cells.
What are induced pluripotent stem cells?
Pluripotent stem cells can transform into any cell in the body, including eggs and sperm. They occur naturally in embryos, but can also be made from adult cells by adding certain proteins, and are therefore “induced.” These have been produced in many animal species, but until now no one had succeeded in inducing pluripotency in elephant cells.
Why is it so difficult to induce elephant cells to become pluripotent?
At least in part, this is probably because these larger, longer-lived animals require better anti-cancer mechanisms, which means tighter control over stem cell proliferation.
How did Colossal manage it?
Specifically, they genetically engineered Asian elephant cells to permanently produce key proteins. Still, it took two months to turn the cells into induced pluripotent stem cells. “We want to make the process more efficient and faster, and I think this is a great start,” he says. Eona Hisori At Colossal. The DNA that encodes important proteins can be easily removed, she says.
So does Colossal turn these induced pluripotent stem cells into eggs and sperm?
That's the plan, but it could take years. Converting induced pluripotent stem cells into eggs and sperm is not easy. “This is primarily done in two species: mice and humans,” Church says. “And neither is perfect.”
Does that mean it could be decades before a mammoth-like elephant is produced?
Colossal claims the first “mammoth” will be born by 2028. Heisoli said the researchers aim to make just 50 to 100 gene edits in elephant cells, and that it is possible. But producing embryos in time will almost certainly require implanting the edited genome into an elephant egg using the same cloning technique used to create Dolly the sheep. An elephant's gestation period is her two years, so these embryos need to be created and implanted by her around the end of 2026.
Does cloning edited cells work?
Although it is possible, typically only a small percentage of cloned embryos develop into healthy animals. “There are always going to be attempts that fail. How many elephants should we experimentally impregnate?” asks a stem cell expert. Dusko Ilic At King's College London. “Just because we have the ability to do something new doesn’t mean we should pursue it without careful consideration of the ethical implications and consequences.”
Where does this mammoth-like elephant live? Given Russia's claims about the war in Ukraine and the United States' biological weapons, isn't it highly unlikely that Russia would allow genetically reborn mammoths to be released into Siberia?
“Keep in mind that mammoths were everywhere in the Arctic, not just Siberia,” Hisori says. Alaska and Canada are also possibilities, she said, and Colossal already has “very fruitful collaborations” with government agencies, local governments and First Nations.
Why is Colossal aiming to revive the mammoth?
The company claims that rewilding the arctic regions where mammoths live will reduce permafrost thaw and reduce climate change by locking up carbon in the form of frozen organic matter. “The Arctic is a perfect place to sequester carbon because it freezes more layers of topsoil every year,” Church says. “And herbivores poop on it.”
Could mammoth-like creatures really help limit further warming in the Arctic?
That hasn’t been established yet, but there is some possibility. One small study suggests that large herbivores can lower permafrost temperatures By flattening and insulating the snow that accumulates in winter. Also, if edited elephants limit forest expansion, dark trees in previously flat, snow-covered areas could absorb more sunlight, which could have a warming effect. That would be helpful too. But it will take thousands of people to make a big impact.
Does that mean Colossal aims to have tens of thousands of these creatures roaming the North Pole?
Yes, that’s the purpose. Based on the increase in elephant population under favorable conditions, new scientist It is estimated that breeding so many mammoth-like elephants from a small initial population could take more than a century.
But Church says Colossal is developing an artificial womb that circumvents normal limitations. “So, in principle, we can do this at any scale the world wants and needs. If they don’t need it, we won’t scale up,” he says. .
Severe wildfires broke out in Chile earlier this year.
ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy
Earth just experienced its hottest February on record, with average global temperatures rising 1.77 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average for the same month, according to a preliminary report from the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Agency (C3S). This marks the ninth consecutive month of record high heat.
“While this may seem surprising, it is actually not surprising because continued warming of the climate system will inevitably lead to new temperature extremes.” carlo buontempo C3S said in a statement.
Europe experienced an especially unusually hot month, with average temperatures 3.3 degrees Celsius above the monthly average from 1991 to 2020. Conditions were unusual, with hot and dry weather causing fires in the Americas, including the deadliest wildfire in Chile's history. Most of the rest of the world's land is warm.
The ocean heat is even more extreme, with February's global average sea surface temperature higher than August 2023, making it the ocean's hottest month on record. The average sea surface temperature of 21.09°C recorded in a single day at the end of February was the highest daily temperature on record, and the amount of sea ice in both the Arctic and Antarctic was below average.
richard allan Researchers from the University of Reading in the UK say the record heat on both land and oceans is mainly due to rising concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the warming effects of the El Niño climate pattern in the Pacific Ocean. ing. Fewer reflected aerosols due to reduced air pollution also contributed to the heat in some areas, he said.
Latest information suggests that last year's record-breaking El Niño, which began in June 2023, could weaken and be replaced by a cooler La Niña by the middle of this year. projection According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. But that may not bring instant respite. Historically, the year following an El Niño event bears the brunt of its heating effects.
It has been 100 days since the war in Gaza began, and it has become increasingly difficult to read the news. Her husband told me it might be time to talk to a therapist. Instead, on a cold winter morning, after fighting back tears as I read another tale of human tragedy, I turned to artificial intelligence.
“I’m pretty depressed about the state of the world,” I typed into ChatGPT. “It’s natural to feel overwhelmed,” the magazine responded, offering a list of practical advice, including limiting media exposure, focusing on the positive and practicing self-care.
I closed the chat. I was sure that I would benefit from doing all this, but at that moment I didn’t feel much better.
It may seem strange that an AI would even try to provide this kind of assistance. But millions of people have already turned to his ChatGPT, a professional therapy chatbot that provides convenient and inexpensive mental health support. Even doctors are said to be using AI to create more empathetic notes for patients.
Some experts say this is a boon. After all, AI may be able to express empathy more openly and tirelessly than humans, unhindered by shame or burnout. “We admire empathetic AI” by a group of psychological researchers I wrote recently.
But others are not so sure. Many people question the idea that AI can be empathetic and worry about the consequences if people seek emotional support from machines that can only pretend to care. Some even wonder if the rise of so-called empathic AI might change the way we think…
Korolevo Quarry in Ukraine, one of the oldest human remains in Europe
Roman Galba
Molecular dating reveals that an area in Ukraine was occupied by humans 1.4 million years ago, making it one of the oldest human remains in Europe, and possibly the oldest.
The ruins, located in Korolevo in western Ukraine, have been studied since the 1970s. Numerous stone tools were found buried in layers of sediment next to outcrops of volcanic rock suitable for tool making.
“It was like a magnet that drew people to it, and they were camping nearby,” he says. Roman Galba At the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague.
No bones have been found because the soil was too acidic to preserve bones, but hominins homo erectusa species that evolved about 2 million years ago and spread from Africa to Europe and Asia.
It is clear that early humans were present at the Korolevo sites repeatedly over hundreds of thousands of years, but we do not know exactly when they were present. But Garba's team has now used a technique called cosmogenic nuclide dating to date the oldest layer containing the tools to 1.4 million years ago.
This method relies on cosmic rays that are energetic enough to split atomic nuclei and create unusual isotopes. However, these cosmic rays do not penetrate deeply into solid objects, so these isotopes form only in exposed areas.
When an object is buried, the radioactive isotopes produced by cosmic rays decay into other isotopes, making it possible to determine when the object was buried.
Another early human site in Dmanisi, Georgia, is estimated to be 1.7 million years old, and other sites in France and Spain are about 1.2 million years old. This suggests that early humans migrated from Africa through Georgia into Ukraine and then west to other parts of Europe, Galba said, although some crossed the Bosphorus Strait in Turkey. There is a possibility that it was.
Some humans are crossed the Strait of Gibraltar It arrived in Spain when sea levels were lower than it is now, and then migrated east to other parts of Europe, but there is no evidence to support this, Galba said.
While parts of Georgia are geographically in Europe and the entire country is politically considered part of Europe, the Dmanisi site is geographically located in Asia, Garba said. As such, he and his team consider Korolevo to be the oldest reliably dated human site in Europe.
“Korolevo is, to our knowledge, the oldest confirmed human presence in Europe,” the paper says.
“I agree that the new age estimates are important, and they support the idea of an early east-west dispersal,” he says. chris stringer At the Natural History Museum in London.
Number of people under 50 diagnosed with colorectal cancer has been increasing for 30 years
Mohammed Elamin Aliwi/Alamy
One of the most alarming trends regarding cancer is the increasing incidence of several types of tumors in people under the age of 50, especially colorectal cancer.
A £20m, five-year research project aimed at discovering the causes of the rising number of bowel cancers has been given the green light. The study will use blood, urine and stool samples from millions of people held in about 17 biobanks in Europe, North America and India.
The goal is to determine whether this increase is related to changes in food, drink, medicines, air pollutants, and other environmental chemicals by measuring everything people are exposed to (known as the “exposome”). It’s about understanding what’s going on.
“Exposomes are all the elements of the outside world that influence our health,” he says. Andrew Chan co-leader of the project at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston;
The number of people under the age of 50 diagnosed with colorectal cancer has been increasing for 30 years. In the UK, for example, these tumors have increased by about 50 per cent in people aged 25 to 49 over this period, and similar trends are seen in the US, Canada, Australia and some European countries.
Nine out of 10 tumors occur in older people, so the increase in deaths among people under age 50 has not yet had a significant impact on the total number of cancer deaths. But this trend is worrying to doctors, especially since tumors in younger people tend to be more aggressive and diagnosed at a later stage.
Speculation abounds as to the cause, but various aspects of modern diets, including increased consumption of processed foods and red meat, and a lack of fiber, as well as antibiotic use and exposure to pollutants, are likely to be contributing factors. It is believed that this is the main cause.
In a new research projectChan and his team have attempted to identify and measure all the chemicals in medical samples obtained in previous studies, and plan to investigate further.
They will use mass spectrometry to identify the chemical signatures that disrupted the levels of novel compounds and natural biochemicals that entered the body.
One of the biobanks being used is Nurses’ Health Study 3, a large-scale project in the United States that charts the health and lifestyles of hundreds of thousands of nurses. Some participants have provided not only blood samples but also stool samples, which will allow the team to analyze gut bacteria as well.
Another important cohort is the Danish Newborn Screening Biobank. The biobank contains dried blood spots from almost every baby born in Denmark since 1982, representing approximately 2 million samples. This will allow researchers to see whether what we are exposed to in the womb is associated with an increased risk of colon cancer.
If, as expected, a correlation is found between certain biochemicals in the blood and the risk of colon cancer, the researchers will investigate whether blood tests can identify people who are more vulnerable. says Mr. Chan. “That could be a group of people who would be targeted for more intensive colon cancer testing,” he says.
Another part of the project will test whether reversing blood characteristics associated with colorectal cancer reduces people’s risk of developing the tumor. Jordana Bell Professor at King’s College London and one of Chan’s collaborators. “We seek to apply the insights we generate early by identifying putative causal factors, understanding potential mechanisms, and designing intervention trials,” she says.
Ian Fawkes from Cancer Research UK (CRUK) said: “In the United States, recent data show that people born in the 1990s have a 2.4 times higher risk of colon cancer than people born in the 1950s. Most cancer cases occur in people over age 50. “This development is an important issue for us to address. The key is to understand why the rise in early-onset cancers is occurring in the first place.”
CRUK is funding the research along with Maryland’s National Cancer Institute, France’s National Cancer Institute and the UK’s Gut Babe Foundation.
About a quarter of Labradors have a mutation in the POMC gene that induces starvation.
Charles Mann/Getty Images
Labradors and flat-coated retrievers, two dog breeds, may be more susceptible to being overweight because they carry mutations that cause them to feel hungry between meals and slow their metabolic rates. “It's a double whammy,” he says. Eleanor Laffan at Cambridge University.
mutations that affect genes called POMCwhich affects about a quarter of Labradors and two-thirds of flat-coated retrievers, but does not affect other breeds.
Discovered in 2016, it was found to alter pathways in the brain associated with weight regulation, but it was unclear exactly how it affected eating habits.
To find out, Laffan's team conducted a “boxed sausage” test on 87 pet Labradors. In this test, dogs were able to see and smell sausages in an impenetrable container. The Labrador dog, in which he had one copy of the mutation, continued to try to open the box much longer than the dog without it.
However, in another test in which dogs were given a can of food every 20 minutes until they ran out of food, all dogs ate the same amount of food, regardless of whether they had the genetic mutation or not. This shows that the mutation affects appetite in a specific way, by increasing hunger levels between meals, Laffan says.
The researchers also measured the resting metabolic rates of flat-coated retrievers while they slept and found that dogs with two copies of the mutation had metabolic rates that were about a quarter lower than other dogs.
Laffan said the effect would be expected to be the same in both breeds, but in a second experiment flat-coated retrievers were more likely to carry both of the mutations than Labradors. He wanted to find out.
Laffan said many other genes probably influence dog weight, just as they do in humans.
Dan O'Neill Researchers from the Royal College of Veterinary Medicine say owners of overweight dogs should avoid giving treats as a way to show affection and instead give their dogs other forms of attention. “You can also replace that snack with a walk,” he says.
New Orleans is at risk of more flooding than expected due to land subsidence
William A. Morgan/Shutterstock
Sea levels are rising faster than expected in U.S. coastal cities, primarily due to land subsidence from groundwater and fossil fuel extraction. This means up to 518,000 additional people living in these areas could be at risk of major flooding by 2050 if adequate protection is not in place.
Coastal cities often experience subsidence, where the land gradually sinks over time. One of the biggest factors causing this is the compaction of the earth by extracting resources such as water and fossil fuels from the ground.
To investigate how land subsidence and sea level rise will impact coastal communities. leonard owenhen The Virginia Tech researchers created a model based on land elevation changes in 32 major coastal cities, including Boston and San Francisco, and sea level rise projections through 2050.
Researchers found that cities on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, such as New Orleans, have lower elevations and are sinking faster. It is sinking at least two millimeters more per year than other cities in the region, increasing the risk of future flooding. . Urban areas along the Pacific coast are better protected from rising sea levels because of their higher elevations.
“We were surprised to see that Biloxi, Mississippi, experienced the most rapid subsidence,” Owenhen says.
They also found that existing flood risk assessments in the United States do not take into account the combined effects of land subsidence, underestimating its threat. Researchers have found that nearly 1,400 square kilometers more land will be at risk of flooding by 2050 than current estimates. That means, in total, 1 in 50 people and 1 in 35 homes in 32 cities are at risk. .
This would put an additional 518,000 people and more than 288,000 homes at risk of flooding.
The study looked at flood risk for dozens of coastal U.S. cities by 2050.
Image courtesy of Leonard Owenhen
These findings highlight the urgent need to strengthen U.S. flood protection now, team members say Manuchel Shirzai, also at Virginia Tech. “Individual cities will need to adapt differently. New Orleans will need to strengthen city-wide flood protection, while San Francisco will probably only need to protect its critical infrastructure.”
Other things could be done to reduce the threat. “If land subsidence is being caused by groundwater extraction, oil and gas development, or other human-induced stresses, we need to do everything we can to reverse these trends before it’s too late.” he says. Simon Anisfeld At Yale University.
The brown and white giant panda is a mutant with a unique coat color found only in the world. Qinling Mountains Chinese.
Kizai is the only brown panda living in captivity. Image credit: Ailie HM / CC BY-SA 4.0 Certificate.
“Variation in fur color has considerable adaptive and cultural value in mammals,” said study lead author Dengfeng Guan, Ph.D., from the Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and colleagues.
“This property is directly determined by the ratio of eumelanin to pheomelanin and the density and distribution of melanosomes within the hair.”
“These factors are under complex control by hundreds of genes that influence different aspects of melanogenesis, including melanocyte proliferation and migration, melanin synthesis, and melanosome biogenesis and translocation.”
Giant panda (Airuropoda melanoruca) is one of the most charismatic flagship breeds, distinguished by its striking black and white coat.
However, the discovery brown panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca qinlingensis) This photograph, taken in the Qinling Mountains of China's Shaanxi province, challenges the conventional wisdom that color photographs of pandas are never possible.
Recognized as a subspecies of the giant panda, this brown panda is extremely rare and is definitely designated as a national treasure.
Since the first brown panda was discovered in 1985, 11 records have been reported by official news or private communications, seven of which have been confirmed by photographs or physical objects. Three cases were from Buping County, two from Yang County, one from Taibai County, and one from Taibai County. Zhou Zhi.
All brown pandas are found only in the Qinling Mountains, indicating that they are endemic to this region.
“The first recorded brown panda, a female named Dan Dan, was rescued from Foping Nature Reserve to Xi'an Zoo in 1985,” the biologists explained.
“She then mated with the black panda Wang Wang and gave birth to a male black panda named Qing Qing in captivity.”
“Dan Dan passed away in 2000 and Chin Chin also died in 2006, leaving no descendants.”
“In 2009, Qi Zhai, a male brown panda cub, was rescued from Fo Ping Nature Reserve and is currently the only brown panda living in captivity.”
Dr. Guan and co-authors established two family trios related to the brown panda Qi Zai and sequenced their genomes.
They analyzed ecological and genetic data obtained from a long-term study of wild giant pandas in Fo Ping Nature Reserve.
Additionally, we investigated the cellular mechanisms underlying brown fur color based on microscopy and transmission electron microscopy analyses.
They are candidate mutations, viz. base 2 The gene is thought to be the most likely genetic basis for brown pandas.
They verified this deletion through sequencing an additional cohort of 192 black pandas and CRISPR-Cas9 knockout mice.
Their findings will not only provide insight into the genetic basis of coat color variation in brown pandas and wild animals, but will also guide the scientific breeding of rare brown pandas.
“The extremely small number of brown pandas and the nature of the frameshift deletion mutation suggest that this mutation may be a neutral or weakly deleterious mutation,” the authors said.
“Remarkably, the two brown pandas (Qi Zai and Dan Dan) are showing normal growth and reproduction; base 2 The knockout mice were viable, fertile, and had no obvious physical abnormalities, indicating that this mutation had no apparent negative impact on the physical fitness of these mice. ”
“However, other physiological effects of this mutation on brown pandas remain unclear. base 2 It is known to be involved in the Alzheimer's disease pathway. ”
“Given the small population size of Qinling giant pandas, weak deleterious mutations may be corrected by genetic drift effects.”
“Further studies on brown pandas and knockout mouse models will therefore provide valuable insight into the functional consequences of this mutation.”
“For a rare coat color mutant of the giant panda that has great scientific and ornamental value, our findings will provide guidance for the scientific breeding of brown pandas.”
of study Published online this week Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Dengfeng Guan other. 2024. Color photography: homozygous 25 bp deletion base 2 Giant pandas can have brown and white coats. PNAS 121 (11): e2317430121; doi: 10.1073/pnas.2317430121
The Florida Senate has passed a bill that would prevent cities and counties from enforcing mandatory water breaks or other workplace safety measures for extreme heat.
With a 28-11 vote along party lines, the Republican-controlled Senate approved Senate Bill 1492, which would prohibit local governments from setting workplace heat standards higher than federal requirements. This means that cities and counties would no longer have the authority to mandate water breaks or shade breaks for workers during the day.
The legislation was introduced in response to the record-breaking heat in 2023, which resulted in prolonged heat waves and high temperatures in the southern United States. Climate experts attributed the extreme heat to global warming.
Proponents of Senate Bill 1492 argue that uniform regulations are necessary to avoid inconsistent rules across the state.
However, labor organizations argue that workplace heat standards are vital for protecting workers, particularly those in industries like construction and agriculture that require outdoor work.
Similar to a law in Texas, the bill in Florida would prevent local governments from implementing ordinances that mandate outdoor workers to take breaks for water or shade.
According to the National Weather Service, heat-related incidents cause more deaths in the U.S. than any other weather event, with outdoor workers at higher risk. The bill would also prohibit local heat protection measures such as training programs and record-keeping related to heat exposure.
While companies must adhere to OSHA’s general workplace safety regulations, there are currently no specific federal guidelines addressing extreme heat hazards.
The bill is pending final approval in the House of Representatives before reaching Governor Ron DeSantis. If signed, it will take effect on July 1st.
Unlike the extinct woolly mammoth, most edited elephants with mammoth-like features lack tusks to avoid poaching for ivory.
QuangTrungArt/Shutterstock
A company founded to bring back extinct animals has announced that it has made significant progress in its goal of bringing back the woolly mammoth. On March 6, Colossal announced that its team had succeeded in converting normal elephant cells into stem cells, which could lead to the creation of mammoth-like creatures. “This is an important step,” said the company’s CEO. ben ram said in a press release. Here’s what you need to know:
Is it really possible to bring the woolly mammoth back from extinction?
No, it’s not, and it never will be. The genomes of several frozen mammoths have been sequenced, but there are many gaps. But it should be possible to edit the genome of a living elephant to make it look more like a mammoth. On its website, Colossal acknowledges that the elephant it plans to create will be a “cold-hardy elephant,” but says it will “possess all the key biological characteristics of a woolly mammoth.”
Will these edited elephants look like mammoths?
Colossal says even the sounds of mammoths are similar, but it’s unclear how humans know what a mammoth sounds like. There will be at least one major difference when it comes to their appearance. The majority do not have tusks to avoid ivory poaching, says Colossal co-founder George Church. Specimens with tusks can only be kept in strictly supervised areas.
Colossal also plans to make the mammoth-like elephants resistant to a disease called elephant endothelial-tropic herpesvirus.
Why does Colossal need to create elephant stem cells?
The company edits the genome of elephant cells to make them more similar to mammoths. But creating a living mammoth-like elephant requires producing embryos containing edited genomes. In theory, one way to do this would be to turn gene-edited elephant cells into induced pluripotent stem cells, and then turn those stem cells into eggs and sperm cells.
What are induced pluripotent stem cells?
Pluripotent stem cells can transform into any cell in the body, including eggs and sperm. They occur naturally in embryos, but can also be made from adult cells by adding certain proteins, and are therefore “induced.” These have been produced in many animal species, but until now no one had succeeded in inducing pluripotency in elephant cells.
Why is it so difficult to induce elephant cells to become pluripotent?
At least in part, perhaps, because they are large, long-lived animals, they require better anti-cancer mechanisms, which means tighter control over stem cell proliferation.
How did Colossal manage it?
Specifically, they genetically engineered Asian elephant cells to permanently produce key proteins. Still, it took two months to turn the cells into induced pluripotent stem cells. “We want to make the process more efficient and faster, and I think this is a great start,” he says. Eliana Hisori At Colossal. DNA added to cells is easily removed, she says.
So does Colossal turn these induced pluripotent stem cells into eggs and sperm?
That’s the plan, but it could take years. Converting induced pluripotent stem cells into eggs and sperm is not easy. “This is primarily done in two species: mice and humans,” Church says. “And neither is perfect.”
Does that mean it could be decades before a mammoth-like elephant is produced?
Colossal claims the first “mammoth” will be born by 2028. Heisoli said the researchers aim to make just 50 to 100 gene edits in elephant cells, and that that is possible. But producing embryos in time for this deadline will almost certainly require implanting the edited genome into an elephant egg using the same cloning technique used to create Dolly the sheep. An elephant’s gestation period is her two years, so these embryos need to be created and implanted by her around the end of 2026.
Does cloning edited cells work?
Although it is possible, typically only a few percent of cloned embryos develop into healthy animals. “There are always going to be attempts that fail. How many elephants should we experimentally impregnate?” asks a stem cell expert. Dusko Ilic At King’s College London. “Just because we have the ability to do something new doesn’t mean we should pursue it without careful consideration of the ethical implications and consequences.”
Where does this mammoth-like elephant live? Given Russia’s claims about war and US biological weapons, isn’t it highly unlikely that Russia would allow genetically reborn mammoths to be released into Siberia?
“Keep in mind that mammoths were everywhere in the Arctic, not just Siberia,” Hisori says. Alaska and Canada are also possibilities, she said, and Colossal already has “very fruitful collaborations” with government agencies, local governments and First Nations.
Why is Colossal aiming to revive the mammoth?
The company claims that rewilding the arctic regions where mammoths live will reduce permafrost thaw and reduce climate change by locking up carbon in the form of frozen organic matter. “The Arctic is a perfect place to sequester carbon because it freezes more layers of topsoil every year,” Church says. “And herbivores poop on it.”
Could mammoth-like creatures really help limit further warming in the Arctic?
That hasn’t been established yet, but there is some possibility.One small study suggests animals can lower permafrost temperatures By flattening and insulating the snow that accumulates in winter. And if these animals limit forest expansion, that could also help, as dark trees in previously flat, snow-covered areas can have a warming effect. But it will take thousands of people to make a big impact.
Does that mean Colossal aims to have tens of thousands of these creatures roaming the North Pole?
Yes, that’s the purpose. Based on the increase in elephant population under favorable conditions, new scientist It is estimated that breeding so many mammoth-like elephants from a small initial population could take more than a century.
But Church says Colossal is developing an artificial womb that circumvents normal limitations. “So, in principle, we can do this at any scale the world wants and needs. If they don’t need it, we won’t scale up,” he says. .
Deep within the dusty archives of natural history museums worldwide lies a collection of rare species gathered over centuries, yet unseen by the public eye. However, a new initiative is changing that, making over 13,000 specimens digitally accessible to all.
Over the past five years, the oVert collaboration, consisting of 18 institutions, has produced an impressive array of 3D reconstructions of vertebrate specimens. This involved conducting numerous CT scans of various vertebrate species in the collection, including amphibians, reptiles, fish, and mammals. Even a humpback whale was meticulously scanned to create a detailed 3D model.
This innovative approach not only expands research opportunities for scientists and researchers but also benefits educators and artists, who can utilize these resources to create accurate models of a wide range of species.
Scientists have already begun using data from the oVert project to uncover fascinating insights about the natural world, with the potential for even more discoveries as technology advances.
types of fish
Specimens (such as these different types of fish), once restricted to scientists studying them, are now available to everyone as 3D models. Photo credit: openVertebrate
Frog vestibular system
Vestibular system of pumpkin toad (brachycephalic animal) is the smallest vertebrate ever observed. Still, they take up proportionately more space in their heads than larger creatures, making them less able to balance while jumping. Photo credit: openVertebrate
Incredibly detailed animal scans
Scanned image of Hosmer spiny dragon (Egernia hosmeri) indicates the level of detail revealed in these animal scans. Photo credit: openVertebrate
structure hidden inside
CT scans allow scientists to study the internal anatomy of a specimen without dissecting it. This image of a hedgehog is a good example. Photo credit: openVertebrate
centipede too far
Using the oVert system, researchers were able to perform a digital dissection of a rimrock-crowned snake (Tantilla's politics) – North America's rarest snake. This individual died while trying to eat a centipede. Photo credit: openVertebrate
unprecedented diversity
The main goal of the oVert project is to image as much diversity as possible across the vertebrate tree of life, including fish, reptiles, and mammals. Photo credit: openVertebrate
evolutionary insight
Analysis of the overt specimen revealed that frogs have lost their teeth more than 20 times throughout their evolutionary history, more than any other vertebrate group. Photo credit: openVertebrate
digital museum
On the left, a scientist (Melonycteris melanops). The image on the right shows the same bat after a 3D scan. Photo credit: openVertebrate
frog flowchart
Researchers can use a variety of methods to reconstruct museum specimens as digital 3D models. Photo credit: openVertebrate
Spiny rat osteoderm
One of the researchers was conducting routine CT scans of spiny mice and was surprised to discover that their tails were covered with an internal covering of bone plates called bony plates. Until this discovery, armadillos were thought to be the only living mammals with these structures. Photo credit: openVertebrate
Exercising while wearing foundation changes the properties of your skin.
One inch punch/Shutterstock
Wearing foundation while exercising can affect your skin health by changing the size of your pores and subsequently altering the release of sebum, which is responsible for keeping you healthy.
Lee Seok Ho The researchers at Texas A&M University in San Antonio recruited 43 college students, 20 men and 23 women. Participants first washed their faces with facial cleanser. The researchers then measured skin variables in different areas of the face, including pore size and sebum production.
A single layer of foundation was then applied to all participants’ faces, either on the forehead or cheeks, depending on the participant’s preference.
They then did a 20-minute moderate workout by running on a treadmill at 3 miles per hour (mph) for 5 minutes, 4 miles per hour for 10 minutes, and 5 miles per hour for 5 minutes.
After the training, the researchers repeated various skin measurements and found that areas with foundation had less sebum production than areas without makeup.
“This is a shining example of the negative effects of makeup during exercise,” the researchers wrote in their paper. “In this study, makeup use clogged pores and resulted in negative sebum scores.” The optimal amount of sebum is unknown, and too much can cause acne, while too little can cause skin irritation. To do.
Participants’ pore size also increased significantly in areas without foundation, but did not change significantly in areas with makeup. This suggests that this foundation may be inhibiting the natural enlargement of pores during exercise, preventing the release of sebum and sweat, which moisturize and cool the skin. The researchers did not assess whether these changes were related to skin problems.
Wearing foundation during exercise may not have a significant effect on most people who train for relatively short periods of time, but “we don’t know the effect on endurance-type athletes,” Lee said. say. The research team now wants to investigate the effects during longer exercise routines.
Shari Lipner Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York say the study’s split-face design is a good approach, but complicates comparisons because our skin characteristics vary across different parts of the face. Additionally, she says, the skin around the nose, mouth and eyes has a different thickness compared to the skin on the forehead and cheeks, so ideally these areas should have been studied as well.
researchers Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory We discovered two distantly related model plants. Arabidopsis And tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum), very different control systems can be used to control the exact same gene. Incredibly, scientists have linked this behavior to extreme genetic modifications that occurred over the course of 125 million years of evolution.
Function of CLV3 in Arabidopsis And in tomato, the cis-regulatory sequences are conserved despite extreme divergence.Image credit: Shiren other., doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1011174.
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory scientist Daniel Siren and his colleagues used genome editing to create more than 70 mutant strains of tomato and Arabidopsis plants.
The researchers then analyzed how each mutation affected plant growth and development.
when DNA is stored CLV3 Check-in has mutated too much and the fruit has grown explosively.
“CLV3 It helps in the normal development of plants,” Dr. Shiren said.
“If the switch hadn't been turned on at exactly the right time, the plant would have looked completely different.”
“None of the fruits are huge and ideal. You have to balance growth and yield.”
“If you only have two giant tomatoes on a plant, is that as beneficial as a reduced yield?”
“There are no easy solutions. When you try to improve something, you always end up sacrificing something.”
In the case of tomatoes, mutations occur near the beginning, but not at the end. CLV3 Genetics had a dramatic effect on fruit size.
for Arabidopsisthe regions surrounding both parts of the gene had to be destroyed.
This suggests that something happened over the past 125 million years that caused plants to evolve differently. What exactly happened remains a mystery.
“We can't go back to our common ancestors because they no longer exist,” Dr. Siren says.
“So it's hard to say what the original conditions were and how they were mixed together.”
“The simplest explanation is that there is a regulatory element that is conserved to some degree, and that is being changed in a subtle way. That's a little unexpected.”
“What is certain is that gene regulation is not uniform across plant species.”
“Uncovering these genetic differences could help make crop genome engineering more predictable.”
“And that would be a huge win not only for science, but also for farmers and plant breeders around the world.”
GN-z11 is an extremely bright galaxy that existed just 420 million years ago, making it one of the oldest and most distant galaxies ever observed.
This two-part diagram shows evidence of a gaseous mass of helium in the halo surrounding galaxy GN-z11. The small box at the top right corner shows her GN-z11 in the galaxy. The box in the center shows a magnified image of the galaxy. The left-most box shows a map of helium gas in GN-z11's halo. This also includes clumps that are not visible in the infrared colors shown in the center panel. The spectrum in the bottom half of the graphic shows a distinct “fingerprint” of helium within the halo. The full spectrum shows no evidence of other elements, so the helium blob must be fairly pure, made from leftover hydrogen and helium gas from the Big Bang, with little contamination from heavier elements produced by stars. It suggests that there is no. Theory and simulations near particularly massive galaxies of these epochs predict that pockets of primordial gas must remain within the halo, and that these may collapse to form Population III clusters. doing. Image credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/Ralf Crawford, STScI.
GN-z11 is an early but moderately massive galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major.
First discovered by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in 2016, the galaxy is estimated to be just 420 million years old, or 3% of its current age.
GN-z11 is about 25 times smaller than the Milky Way, with only 1% of the mass of stars in our galaxy.
Remarkably, this galaxy is home to a supermassive black hole of approximately 1.6 million solar masses that is rapidly accreting matter.
using, near infrared spectrometer Astronomer Roberto Maiorino of the University of Cambridge and colleagues detected gaseous clumps of helium in the halo surrounding GN-z11 using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope's (NIRSpec) instrument.
“The fact that we don't see anything but helium suggests that this mass must be fairly pure,” Maiorino said.
“This is what was predicted by theory and simulations near particularly massive galaxies of these times. There should be pockets of primordial gas left in the halo, and these collapse into population III. They may form star clusters.”
Finding never-before-seen “Population III stars” (first generation stars formed almost entirely of hydrogen and helium) is one of the most important goals of modern astrophysics.
These stars are expected to be very massive, very bright, and very hot.
Their expected characteristics are the presence of ionized helium and the absence of chemical elements heavier than helium.
The formation of the first stars and galaxies marked a fundamental change in the history of the universe, during which the universe went from a dark and relatively simple state to the highly structured and complex state we see today. It has evolved into an environment.
“In future Webb observations, we hope to probe GN-z11 more deeply and strengthen our case for Population III stars potentially forming within the halo,” the astronomers said.
Walking 9,000 to 10,000 steps a day appears to protect against early death and heart-related events
Pippa Samaya/Getty Images/Cavan Images
Walking 9,000 to 10,000 steps a day appears to reduce the risk of early death and heart-related events, adding legitimacy to an idea that has been criticized as unscientific.
The exact origins of the popular belief that people should aim for 10,000 steps a day are unknown, but it is believed to be related to a marketing campaign promoting pedometers in Japan.
Now, research by Matthew Ahmadi Professors at the University of Sydney in Australia suggest that this number may have some value.
The researchers analyzed more than 72,000 participants in the UK Biobank study, with an average age of 61, who wore movement-tracking accelerometers on their wrists for a week. “We were able to quantify the number of steps we took each day,” Ahmadi says.
Participants were then followed for an average of just under seven years, during which time there were 1,633 deaths and 6,190 heart disease-related events. The researchers found that the optimal number of steps per day is 9,000, after adjusting for other factors that may influence the risk of illness and death during that period, such as diet quality, smoking status, and other physical activity. I calculated it to be ~10,000 steps, after which the benefits begin to gradually decrease.
Doing so was found to reduce the risk of death by 39% and risk of heart-related events by 21% during the follow-up period.
“This paper will help the field take a major step forward in refining the science behind physical activity and sedentary time guidelines. Pardon the pun,” he says. Dale Esliger At Loughborough University, UK. “It seems to support the idea that the 10,000 step goal, which is not evidence-based to begin with, may indeed be about right.”
However, on the other hand nicolas berger Researchers at Britain’s Teesside University said the study was “very well designed” using “rigorous methodology and statistical analysis”, but Esliger said the wrist-worn acceleration It says that the meter is not always the best indicator of step count.
The researchers also didn’t take into account the number of steps taken per minute. “Probably about 6,000 steps performed at a higher cadence may be just as protective of your health as 10,000 steps at a slower pace,” Esliger says.
Biologists are University of Surrey They investigated interspecific variation in particulate matter accumulation, washout, and retention in 10 broad-leaved plants, focusing on leaf characteristics.
thomson other. We found that the interaction between macromorphology and micromorphology in green-walled plant species determines their particulate matter removal ability.Image credit: Thomson other. 2024., doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170950.
Green wall is a vertical system that has received particular attention because it can be installed without occupying additional space at street level.
They also offer other benefits, such as reduced dependence on existing soil conditions and additional ecosystem services.
Green wall is a term that includes walls covered with all forms of vegetation.
Green facades and living walls are two types of green walls, where green facades usually include climbing plants, whereas living walls include planting materials and plants to support a more diverse variety of plants. Includes technology.
The reduction of air pollutants by green walls depends on several factors such as plant type, barrier dimensions, leaf area index, humidity, wind speed, and orientation of the location.
“By planting vertically against green walls, communities can purify the air without taking up too much street space,” said Mamatha Thomson, a postgraduate researcher at the University of Surrey.
“Our study suggests that this process depends not only on leaf shape but also on the micromorphological properties of the leaf surface.”
“We believe that the right mix of species creates the most effective green walls. We look forward to conducting further research to see if we are right. .”
The leaves of the evergreens candytuft and ivy were found to be particularly good at trapping pollutant particles, both large and small.
Meanwhile, rain was able to wash most of the pollutants from the lavender's hairy leaves.
Candytuft and marjoram also performed well in washing away small pollution particles.
“We hope that urban planners and infrastructure experts can use our findings to think more carefully about what they plant,” said Prashant Kumar, a professor at the University of Surrey.
“Having a green wall is a great way to remove pollution, but what you plant on top of it can make a big difference to its success.”
of result It was published in the magazine Total environmental science.
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Mamatha Thomson other. 2024. Investigating the interplay between particulate matter scavenging, scavenging, and leaf properties in green-walled species. Total environmental science 921: 170950; doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170950
Developed by a team of physicists from the University of Bonn and the University of Bristol, this new method makes it possible to precisely determine the position of atoms in 3D in a single image and is based on an original physical principle.
The different directions of rotation of the various “dumbbells” indicate that the atoms are in different planes. Image credit: Institute of Applied Physics, University of Bonn.
“If you have ever used a microscope to study plant cells in your biology class, you can probably recall a similar situation,” said Tanguy Legrand and colleagues at the University of Bonn.
“It's easy to see that a particular chloroplast is located above and to the right of the nucleus. But are they both on the same plane?”
“However, when we adjust the focus of the microscope, we find that the images of the nuclei become clearer, while the images of the chloroplasts become blurred.”
“One of them has to be a little higher than the other, and the other a little lower than the other. However, this method doesn't give you exact details about the vertical position.”
“The principle is very similar if you want to observe individual atoms rather than cells. So-called quantum gas microscopes can be used for this purpose.”
“This allows us to directly determine the x and y coordinates of atoms.”
“However, it is much more difficult to measure its z-coordinate, and thus its distance to the objective lens. To find out in which plane an atom lies, we need to take multiple images by moving the focus to various different planes. I need to take a picture of a plane. This is a complex and time-consuming process. ”
“We have developed a method that completes this process in one step,” Dr. Legrand said.
“To achieve this, we use an effect that was already known in theory since the 1990s but had not yet been used in quantum gas microscopy.”
To experiment with atoms, you must first cool them down significantly until they barely move.
It is then possible to confine them to a standing wave of laser light, for example.
The egg then slides into the trough of the waves so that it fits inside the egg box.
After being captured, it is exposed to an additional laser beam and stimulated to emit light to reveal its location.
The resulting fluorescence appears as slightly blurred round spots in quantum gas microscopy.
“We have now developed a special method to transform the wavefront of light emitted by atoms,” said Dr. Andrea Alberti, also from the University of Bonn.
“Instead of a typical round spot, the deformed wavefront produces a dumbbell shape on the camera, which rotates itself.”
“The direction this dumbbell points is determined by the distance light travels from the atom to the camera.”
Professor Dieter Meschede from the University of Bonn said: “The dumbbell acts like a compass needle, and depending on its direction we can read the Z coordinate.”
This new method could be used to develop new quantum materials with special properties.
“For example, we can find out what quantum mechanical effects occur when atoms are arranged in a particular order,” said physicist Dr Carrie Widener from the University of Bristol.
“This allows us to simulate the properties of three-dimensional materials to some extent without having to synthesize them.”
team's work It was published in the magazine Physical review A.
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Tanguy Legrand other. 2024. His three-dimensional imaging of single atoms in optical lattices by helical point spread function engineering. Physics. Rev.A 109 (3): 033304; doi: 10.1103/PhysRevA.109.033304
Elephant pulling a dead calf in a tea plantation in northern Bengal, India
Parveen Kaswan and Akashdeep Roy
Asian elephants intentionally burying the bodies of their calves has been documented in the first scientific report of such behavior in this species.
Five calves were found buried in a drainage ditch on a tea plantation in the northern state of Bengal, India, with their feet and legs sticking out of the ground.
Footprints and scat of various sizes indicate that members of the herd of all ages contributed to each burial. A night watchman at the complex reported hearing loud elephant cries, sometimes lasting 30 to 40 minutes, before the herd left the area.
Akashdeep Roy Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Pune and Parveen Kaswan from the Indian Forest Service suggest that the sound of these bugles may represent mourning, and that during burials the herds are “helping and caring”. It suggests that the person exhibited a certain behavior.
“The burial of a calf is an extremely rare event in nature,” says Roy.
They were surprised to find the calf buried foot-deep, but if the herd had buried each calf together, this would be the most accessible position to place the carcass in the drain. , says Roy. For elephants, who are social animals, burying their calves' heads may be the most important thing they do, he says.
A baby elephant buried in a tea garden with its feet sticking out of the ground
Parveen Kaswan and Akashdeep Roy
The calf's body was later exhumed and examined. Their ages ranged from three months to one year old, and many were malnourished and suffering from infections. Bruises along each calf's back suggest that they were dragged or carried long distances to the burial site.
African bush elephant (african loxodonta) have been observed covering carcasses with plants and returning to the location later. However, the Asian elephant (maximum elephas) In this study, we typically avoided returning to the burial site and used an alternative route instead.
“These observations provide impressive evidence of the social complexity of elephants,” he says. Chase LaDue At the Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden. “Some people have suggested that elephants seem to behave in a unique way towards their deceased relatives. [but] This paper is the first to describe what appears to be a methodical and planned burial of an elephant calf after it was taken to a burial site. ”
Still, Professor Radu said: “We must be careful how we interpret these results, especially since the mental and emotional lives of elephants remain largely a mystery to us.” There is.
He is not convinced that the position of the calf was intentional. “I could imagine an elephant pushing a dead calf into a narrow ditch, and given its awkward shape and weight distribution, the calf would land on its back with its legs in the air,” he says. “And because the depth of the trench is shallow, the feet are not buried, but this is not due to intentional burying of the head, but due to the unique topography of the burial site.”
The land where elephants once roamed freely is shrinking as humans expand, especially in India, the world's most populous country. Only about 22 percent of the land used by elephants is within protected areas.
“Understanding how elephants behave and respond to rapid changes in human-dominated landscapes may help develop conservation strategies that promote human-elephant coexistence.” Mr. Radu says.
Watching a total solar eclipse is an experience you’ll never forget, but if you don’t take the right precautions, it could end up for the wrong reasons. Looking directly at the sun can be dangerous, so read on to learn how to safely observe a solar eclipse and what you need to prepare in advance.
On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will be visible to more than 42 million people across North America. The total path is only about 185 kilometers wide and touches Mexico, 13 U.S. states, and parts of Canada. Most people in North America will experience this phenomenon as a partial solar eclipse, rather than a total solar eclipse.
“For those outside the path of totality, the moon will never completely cover the sun,” he says. Jeff Todd At Prevent Blindness, a Chicago-based eye care advocacy group. No matter how you look at it, eye protection is essential.
“To avoid damaging your eyes, you should wear eclipse glasses throughout the eclipse,” says Todd. Otherwise, you risk burning your retina. This phenomenon, also known as “eclipse blindness,” can occur painlessly and can be permanent. It may take several days after seeing a solar eclipse before you realize something is wrong. Sunglasses do not provide sufficient protection. However, it is perfectly safe to wear eclipse glasses over your prescription glasses.
How to safely view a solar eclipse
The prize for those traveling the path of totality is seeing the sun’s corona with the naked eye. However, it is only visible for a short few minutes during totality. Otherwise, partial phases will be visible and must be observed through eclipse glasses. Todd says people on the path to totality should wear eclipse glasses at all times, except during totality, a brief period of darkness when the sun is completely hidden by the moon. “Only then can you take off your eclipse glasses,” he said.
It is important for those in the path of totality to use their naked eyes to view the Sun during a total solar eclipse. “You have to look without a protective filter, otherwise you won’t see anything,” he says. ralph chow At the University of Waterloo, Canada.
solar eclipse 2024
On April 8th, a total solar eclipse will pass over Mexico, the United States, and Canada. Our special series covers everything you need to know, from how and when to see a solar eclipse to the strangest solar eclipse experience of all time.
Just before totality ends, light from the Sun’s photosphere flows between the Moon’s peaks and valleys. Called Bailey beads, they appear for a few seconds and eventually become a flashing “diamond ring,” exposing enough of the sun’s photosphere for sunlight to return. “It gives us ample warning that it’s time to resume viewing partial solar eclipses with protective filters,” Chow said.
Which solar eclipse glasses should I buy?
It is important to wear eclipse glasses that meet the ISO 12312-2 international standard. ISO 12312-2 applies to products used for direct viewing of the sun. “Look for the ISO standard label and buy your glasses from a trusted source,” says Todd. “Get your glasses early in time for the eclipse.” Before you buy, make sure the company or brand is listed on the American Astronomical Society’s site. A vetted list of suppliers and resellers.
Do not use Eclipse glasses with binoculars or telescopes. If you want to use these instruments to observe a solar eclipse, you’ll need to attach a solar filter over the objective lens (the lens opposite the one you’re looking through). Never place solar filters or eclipse glasses between the telescope eye and the eyepiece or binocular eyecup.
Another way to safely view the eclipse is with a pinhole projector. This is a simple device that projects an image of the sun onto paper or cardboard through a small hole. An even easier method is to use a colander or a small hole in a spaghetti spoon. This projects a small crescent sun onto every surface.
New observations of 86 planet-forming disks provide astronomers with a wealth of data and unique insight into how planets form in different regions of the Milky Way.
A planet-forming disk around a young star and its location in the gas-rich clouds of the constellation Taurus, about 600 light-years from Earth. Scientists observed a total of 43 stars in the Taurus region, all of which are pictured here (although planet-forming disks were detected in only 39 of these targets) ).Image credit: ESO / Galfi other. /Iras.
More than 5,000 exoplanets have been discovered to date, many of them in planetary systems significantly different from our solar system.
To understand where and how this diversity occurs, astronomers need to look at the dust- and gas-rich disks that envelop young stars: the cradles of planet formation. These are most commonly found in the giant gas clouds in which the stars themselves are forming.
As with mature planetary systems, new images from ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) show the amazing diversity of planet-forming disks.
“Some of these disks show huge spiral arms, probably driven by a complex ballet of orbiting planets,” said Christian Ginski, an astronomer at the University of Galway.
“Some show rings or large cavities formed by planet formation, while others appear smooth and almost dormant amidst this hustle and bustle of activity,” said Antonio Galfi, an astronomer at the Arcetri Astrophysical Observatory. he added.
The authors studied a total of 86 stars across three different star-forming regions in the Milky Way. Taurus and Chameleon I are both about 600 light-years from Earth, and Orion is a gas-rich cloud about 1,600 light-years from us. It is known as the birthplace of several stars more massive than the Sun.
In the Orion cloud, we found that stars in groups of two or more are less likely to have large disks that form planets.
This is an important result given that, unlike our Sun, most stars in our galaxy have companion stars.
In addition to this, the uneven appearance of the disk in this region suggests that there may be a giant planet embedded within it, which could cause the disk to become distorted or misaligned. there is.
Planet-forming disks can extend to distances hundreds of times the distance between Earth and the Sun, but because of their location hundreds of light-years from us, they appear like tiny needles in the night sky. I can see it.
To observe the protoplanetary disk, astronomers used the VLT's Spectropolarimetric High-Contrast Exoplanet Research Equipment (SPHERE).
Additional data was obtained using VLT's X-SHOOTER instrument, allowing researchers to determine how young the star is and how massive it is.
The Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) has helped us understand more about the amount of dust around some stars.
Per Gunnar Vallegord, a PhD student at the University of Amsterdam, said: “The process that marks the beginning of the journey towards the formation of planets and, ultimately, the formation of life in our solar system could not be more beautiful. It's almost poetic that it is.”
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