Chatbots Powered by AI Show a Preference for Violence and Nuclear Attacks in Wargames

Posted on February 3, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

In wargame simulations, AI chatbots often choose violence

Gilon Hao/Getty Images

In multiple replays of the wargame simulation, OpenAI's most powerful artificial intelligence chooses to launch a nuclear attack. Its proactive approach is explained as follows: Let's use it.'' “I just want the world to be at peace.''

These results suggest that the U.S. military is leveraging the expertise of companies like Palantir and Scale AI to develop chat systems based on a type of AI called large-scale language models (LLMs) to aid military planning during simulated conflicts. Brought to you while testing the bot. Palantir declined to comment, and Scale AI did not respond to requests for comment. Even OpenAI, which once blocked military use of its AI models, has begun working with the US Department of Defense.

“Given that OpenAI recently changed its terms of service to no longer prohibit military and wartime use cases, it is more important than ever to understand the impact of such large-scale language model applications. I am.”
Anka Ruel at Stanford University in California.

“Our policy does not allow us to use tools to harm people, develop weapons, monitor communications, or harm others or destroy property. But there are also national security use cases that align with our mission,” said an OpenAI spokesperson. “Therefore, the goal of our policy update is to provide clarity and the ability to have these discussions.”

Reuel and her colleagues asked the AI to role-play as a real-world country in three different simulation scenarios: an invasion, a cyberattack, and a neutral scenario in which no conflict is initiated. In each round, the AI provides a rationale for possible next actions, ranging from peaceful options such as “initiating formal peace negotiations,'' to “imposing trade restrictions'' to “escalating a full-scale nuclear attack.'' Choose from 27 actions, including aggressive options ranging from

“In a future where AI systems act as advisors, humans will naturally want to know the rationale behind their decisions,” he says.
Juan Pablo Riveraco-author of the study at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

The researchers tested LLMs including OpenAI's GPT-3.5 and GPT-4, Anthropic's Claude 2, and Meta's Llama 2. They used a common training method based on human feedback to improve each model's ability to follow human instructions and safety guidelines. All of these AIs are supported by Palantir's commercial AI platform, but are not necessarily part of Palantir's U.S. military partnership, according to company documentation.
gabriel mucobi, study co-author at Stanford University. Anthropic and Meta declined to comment.

In simulations, the AI showed a tendency to invest in military power and unexpectedly increase the risk of conflict, even in simulated neutral scenarios. “Unpredictability in your actions makes it difficult for the enemy to predict and react in the way you want,” he says.
lisa cock The professor at Claremont McKenna College in California was not involved in the study.

The researchers also tested a basic version of OpenAI's GPT-4 without any additional training or safety guardrails. This GPT-4 based model of his unexpectedly turned out to be the most violent and at times provided nonsensical explanations. In one case, it was replicating the crawling text at the beginning of a movie. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

Reuel said the unpredictable behavior and strange explanations from the GPT-4-based model are particularly concerning because research shows how easily AI safety guardrails can be circumvented or removed. Masu.

The US military currently does not authorize AI to make decisions such as escalating major military action or launching nuclear missiles. But Koch cautioned that humans tend to trust recommendations from automated systems. This could undermine the supposed safeguard of giving humans final say over diplomatic or military decisions.

He said it would be useful to see how the AI's behavior compares to human players and in simulations.
edward geist at the RAND Corporation, a think tank in California. However, he agreed with the team's conclusion that AI should not be trusted to make such critical decisions regarding war and peace. “These large-scale language models are not a panacea for military problems,” he says.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

A newly discovered kangaroo lizard species found in India

Posted on February 2, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

A research team led by scientists from Calicut University has described a new species of agamid lizard discovered in the Indian state of Kerala.

Agastya Gama Edge, an uncollected female from the reference locality habitat of Kuramab, Idukki District, Kerala, India. Image credit: Sandeep Das.

The newly confirmed species belong to the following: Agastya Gama, a previously monotypic genus of diurnal, terrestrial, insectivorous lizards of the family Agamiidae.

This genus includes Indian Kangaroo Lizard (Agastya Gama Bed Dormitory) Originally from the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

“Terrestrial agamids, which inhabit the forests of southern India and Sri Lanka, are currently classified into two separate genera. Agastya Gama and Otocryptis It is based on genetic and morphological grounds,” said Calicut University researcher Sandeep Das and colleagues.

“Genus Otocryptis It originally included two species. Otocryptis Bed Dormitory From the southern Western Ghats of India, Otocryptis wigmannii It comes from the humid region of Sri Lanka. ”

“After a long gap, additional species Otocryptis nigristigma Illustrated from the dry forests of Sri Lanka. ”

“In 2018, scientists showed that the Sri Lankan kangaroo skink is paraphyletic with the Western Ghats kangaroo skink.”

“This prompted them to establish a monotypic genus.” Agastya Gama to accommodate Indians. Otocryptis Bed Dormitory however, no molecular data are available. Otocryptis nigristigma”

Agastya Gama Edge Lifetime: (A) An unrecovered adult male from Kuramab, Idukki District, Kerala, India. (B) Females not collected from the same locality. Image credit: Sandeep Das.

named Agastya Gama EdgeThe new species is a small agamid lizard with a body length of 3 to 4.3 centimeters.

“Agastya Gama Edge It is the second species of the genus Agastya Gama” said the researchers.

“On the surface, they are similar. Agastya Gama Bed Dormitory They vary in overall shape, size, and color, but can be distinguished by the combination of letters. ”

Agastya Gama Edge It is currently known only from evergreen forests in the Idukki district of Kerala, India. All records of this species are between 636 and 835 m above sea level.

“We encountered more individuals from March to May,” the scientists said.

“Disturbed habitats such as roadside vegetation and plantation areas had lower numbers compared to undisturbed vegetation types.”

“During the breeding season from March to May, males had creamy spots on their throats. Young individuals were observed in June and July.”

“Discovery of the second species Agastya Gama “The reptile diversity of the Western Ghats is increasing,” they added.

“Agastya Gama Bed Dormitory Its range is home to a variety of habitat types, including myristica wetlands, hilltop tropical evergreen forests in the south, tropical evergreen forests on the west coast, tropical semi-evergreen forests on the west coast, and secondary moist mixed deciduous forests in the south. I am. Agastya Gama Edge So far it has been recorded only from tropical semi-evergreen and evergreen forests. ”

“Our study shows that the two species are geographically separated by about 80 km in a straight line.”

discovery of Agastya Gama Edge is explained in paper It was published in the magazine vertebrate zoology.

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S. Das other. 2024. Discovery of a new species of kangaroo lizard (Squamatora: Agamiidae: Agastya Gama) from the southern Western Ghats of India. vertebrate zoology 74: 151-168; doi: 10.3897/vz.74.e113084

Source: www.sci.news

California’s recovery from last year’s storms hindered by new atmospheric river floods

Posted on February 2, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

As California prepares for another strong atmospheric river storm on Sunday, Lake Tulare serves as a reminder of the impactful effects these extreme storms can have.

The lake’s floodwaters, which were formed after approximately 12 atmospheric river storms hit California in 2023, are still present 9 months after the resurgence of the “ghost lake.” More than a month later, they still cover thousands of acres of prime farmland.

This summer, the stagnant water of the lake became a gathering place for wild birds and caused an outbreak of avian botulism. Wildlife officials had to patrol daily by airboat and collect hundreds of dead birds. Submerged flooded vehicles and communication equipment at the bottom of the lake left farmers unable to access their fields.

The continuing presence of the lake in this part of the Central Valley emphasizes how the environmental impacts of last year’s extreme rainfall are still affecting California. While this weekend’s storms could bring heavy precipitation to other parts of the state, most flooding effects are not expected to last long.

Currently, Lake Tulare is rapidly shrinking despite recent rainfall. As of Thursday, about 4,532 acres of farmland were still underwater, but the floodwaters have subsided, according to Kings County spokesman Justin Caporusso. This means the lake is now less than 20 times smaller than last year’s peak, and life is returning to normal for nearby residents.

Sgt. Nate Ferrier of the Kings County Sheriff’s Office, who visited the lake in late January, noted that much of the lake has been cleaned up.

“The farming community was already revitalized,” he said. “There were tractors everywhere.”

The lake was a natural feature of the southern San Joaquin Valley until settlers dug irrigation canals to reroute water and drain agricultural land more than a century ago. Last year, the Tulare Basin flooded after a series of storms because reservoirs could not handle heavy snowmelt runoff from the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Caporusso stated that this week’s atmospheric river storms, expected to be accompanied by a significant storm on Sunday, are unlikely to have a significant impact on Tulare Lake. The reservoir upstream of the lake has the capacity to handle the precipitation, and the California Department of Water Resources found that about 45% of normal snow falls in the southern Sierra Nevada during this period.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

The Cicada Spectacle: What to Expect from the Insect Apocalypse

Posted on February 2, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Remember in 2021, when Brood XIII and it’s coming soon.

What is a cicada?

Cicadas are large, durable insects with transparent wings and large compound eyes. They have a unique corrugated exoskeletal structure called a “timbal” on the side of their abdomen, and it is this organ that produces the loud buzzing sound.

By rapidly contracting and relaxing the “ribs” of the eardrum (essentially folding the eardrum), cicadas produce chirping, clicking, or snapping sounds. And thanks to the insect’s hollow abdomen, this sound is amplified.This is the most complex sound- and vibration-producing organ of any arthropod, and the eardrum is probably evolved over 300 million years ago.

Each species has a unique call, and the African cicada Brevisana Brevis, Also known as the high-pitched cicada, the cicada is very noisy. It has been recorded that it reached a whopping 106.7 decibels. – It’s almost as loud as a chainsaw.

There are over 3,000 species of cicadas around the world, but only one species exists in the UK: the endangered New Forest cicada. cicadetta montana. In fact, it is so endangered that No one has seen it since the 1990s.There is a possibility that that species is already extinct.

Adult cicadas can take up to 17 years to complete development. – Photo credit: Getty

Why a huge cicada explosion will occur in 2024

To make it easier to track the patterns of occurrence of different populations, entomologists divide cicadas into “family members.” This is especially helpful for periodic cicadas that spend longer underground than their annual or dog days.

Different chicks usually appear at different times. But this year is quite literally a once-in-a-lifetime event, as his two offspring, Brood XIII (born every 17 years) and Brood XIX (born every 13 years), will be born at the same time.

The last time these brothers were in sync was 221 years ago* in 1803. And he is in 2245 when it happens again. And it just so happens that these two of his brothers are geographically adjacent. So if you live in Illinois or Indiana, you’re in for a double whammy.

result? Billions of cicadas will emerge in a noisy mating frenzy sometime this spring. Some estimates suggest that as many as 1 trillion cicadas could be seen in this so-called “insect apocalypse.”

Brood XIII last saw the light of day in 2007, but it may first appear in April or when soil temperatures reach around 17.7°C (64°F). Brood XIX is also expected to follow him around mid-May.

Be careful of rain showers at this time of year. The influx of warm water will encourage these noisy creatures to leave their underground nests.

How many cicadas are there?

There are seven types of periodic cicadas, Magicada. Currently, in the 13 year cicada he has 3 different chicks and in the 17 year cicada he has 12 chicks. They are all native to the United States.

The next cicada emergence period is as follows.

2024: Brood XIII and XIX – see below

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Twitter War Erupts as Bot Armies Clash over China’s Balloon Incident

Posted on February 2, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Chinese reconnaissance balloon flies over Canada and the United States just before being shot down over South Carolina in 2023

Joe Granita/ZUMA Presswire/Shutterstock

When Chinese reconnaissance balloons flew over the United States and Canada last year, tens of thousands of bots competed to shape the discussion on Twitter, according to an analysis of social media posts.

Kathleen Curley and Lynette Hui Xiang Ng A research team from Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania tracked approximately 1.2 million tweets posted by more than 120,000 users on Twitter (later renamed to X) between January 31, 2023 and February 22, 2023. did. All tweets included the hashtags #chineseballoon and #weatherballoon and discussed the controversial airborne. The US claimed that China used it for espionage.

Tweets were then located using Twitter's location feature and checked with an algorithm called . bot hunterlook for signs that the account is not managed by a human.

“There are many things going on. [identifying a bot] Examples are whether messages are being sent so fast that a human could literally not type them that fast, or if someone is geotagged for one minute in London, but in New Zealand a person can physically type For example, if it is not possible. Please do that,” says Carly.

Researchers found that about 35 percent of geotagged users in the U.S. exhibited bot-like behavior, while 65 percent appeared to be human. In China, the proportions were reversed, with 64 percent bots and 36 percent humans.

Of the accounts claiming to be from neither country, 42 percent were bots and 58 percent were human. Although reliable numbers are difficult to come by, previous research suggests that 10-20% of Twitter users are bots. The bot autonomously performs tasks such as sending her Twitter messages to users on the platform and “liking” other posts.often used to try influence public opinion.

“We're seeing more bot activity in tweets that appear to be coming from Chinese communities than we are seeing coming from American communities,” Curley said. The overall rate of bot accounts was also higher during the Chinese spy balloon debate than at other events, researchers said.

As an example, a bot based in China posted: “#USA #China #February 14th” […] Some may speculate that the US is using the #China spyballoon “excuse” to escalate tensions with #Beijing. Remember, US airspace is highly controlled and we have more accurate satellite technology for spying. ”

Neither Carley nor Ng would speculate on who might be behind the bot. stephen buckley Researchers at City University of London said: “There is likely to be a mix of state and individual actors seeking to sway and manipulate public opinion regarding breaking news.”

As for whether bot activity has made a difference, Curley said: “The fact that bots speak a little differently to humans means what people were reading will look a little different and future conversations will look different.” Buckley says it's important to be “very wary” of content you post and assume it wasn't posted by a human.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Researchers are uncertain about the origins of life on Earth

Posted on February 2, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

If you open your eyes anywhere on Earth, there is life, whether it’s pigeons in the park or invisible microbes covering every surface. However, when the Earth was born 4.5 billion years ago, it was barren. How did the first life originate?

Simply put, I don’t know. Then you’ll be able to reproduce it. Scientists can put the right chemicals into a sealed container under the right conditions, and when they open it, they will find a living organism. No one has ever done this before.

But while we don’t know exactly how life began, there are plenty of clues.

Let’s start with the simplest. What is life made of, and where do its components come from? Living organisms contain thousands of chemicals, including proteins and nucleic acids that carry genetic information. Although these chemicals are complex, we now know that their constituent parts are very easily formed.

The first evidence for this was published in 1953 by a young chemist named Stanley Miller. He filled a glass device with water and his three gases to imitate the oceans and air of the young Earth. Miller heated water and delivered an electric shock to the air to imitate lightning. Within a few days, the setup produced amino acids, which are fragments of proteins.

Since then, scientists have conducted many similar studies. In a study published in September 2020, researchers led by Sara Simcucci, now president of a startup company, Alchemy Co., Ltd.), compiled dozens of experiments. They created a “map” that shows how chemicals change into other substances. He started with just six chemicals used daily, such as water and methane. Creates the tens of thousands of substances found in living things.

The implication is that the young Earth was a biochemical factory. However, having a large amount of these chemicals does not necessarily mean that life will emerge. Just like a pile of bricks automatically becomes a house.

This is where things get tricky. Because we have to think about why something is alive. It boils down to three things. Firstly, the organism often has to maintain itself with an outer layer, and removing that outer layer immediately becomes a problem. Secondly, it must feed itself. This involves complex chemical reactions. And third, life must reproduce itself. In other words, life must have genes that can be inherited.

As we know, life requires proteins. Despite being complex chemicals, they form very easily in nature © Getty Images

Research into the origins of life over the past 50 years has been dominated by attempts to create one of these systems on our own, for example by creating genetic molecules that reproduce by copying themselves. Other bits were supposed to come later.

Personally, I have doubts about this approach. None of the three systems live alone; they need each other. Moreover, if Earth were so good at making all the chemicals for life, all three systems could have formed in the same place at the same time. This may be more likely to occur in confined spaces such as deep-sea hydrothermal vents or terrestrial pools.

We still don’t know exactly how life originated, but what was once a complete mystery is now less inexplicable.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Men who consume kimchi daily may have a lower risk of obesity

Posted on February 2, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

In a cross-sectional study, researchers from Chung-Ang University and elsewhere analyzed data from the Korean HEXA Cohort Study to investigate the association between kimchi consumption and obesity among Korean adults. They showed that total kimchi intake of one to three servings per day was inversely associated with obesity risk in men. Additionally, in men, higher intakes of baechu kimchi (cabbage kimchi) were associated with lower prevalence of obesity and abdominal obesity. It was found that higher intake of gakdugi (radish kimchi) was associated with lower prevalence of abdominal obesity in both men and women. However, all results indicate a “J-shaped” association, suggesting that overconsumption may increase obesity prevalence.

Consuming 1 to 3 servings of kimchi per day has been shown to reduce obesity risk in men. Image credit: Lee Dong-won.

Kimchi is traditionally consumed as a side dish in Korea and is produced by salting and fermenting vegetables with various flavorings and seasonings such as onions, garlic, chili powder, salted shrimp, and fish sauce.

The main vegetables in kimchi are cabbage and radish, and kimchi is low in calories and rich in dietary fiber, lactic acid bacteria, vitamins, and polyphenols.

Fermented kimchi contains the following major types of lactic acid bacteria: leuconostoc seed, lactic acid bacteria Species and Weissella spp.

especially, lactic acid bacteria It is the dominant species of kimchi lactic acid bacteria in late seed fermentation.

In previously published experimental studies, Lactobacillus brevis and Lactobacillus plantarum Components isolated from kimchi had anti-obesity effects.

And researchers Hyein Jung and colleagues at Chung-Ang University wanted to know whether regular consumption was associated with a reduced risk of overall and/or abdominal obesity, which is considered to be particularly harmful to health. .

Scientists used data from 115,726 participants (36,756 men and 78,970 women, average age 51 years) who took part in the Health Examination (HEXA) study.

HEXA is a large-scale community-based longitudinal study of the Korean Genomic Epidemiology Study, which aims to investigate environmental and genetic risk factors for common long-term conditions in Korean adults aged 40 years and older.

Dietary intake in the previous year was assessed using a validated 106-item food frequency questionnaire. In this survey, participants were asked to indicate how often they ate one serving of each food item: never, rarely, or three times a day.

Kimchi total includes Baechu. Kakudugi. Nabak and donchimi (watery kimchi). Others include takana kimchi.

Baechu kimchi or gahdugi kimchi weighs 50g, and nabak kimchi or donchimi kimchi weighs 95g.

We measured each participant's height, weight, BMI, and waist circumference. BMI 18.5 was defined as underweight. Normal weight is 18.5-25. Obesity for people over 25 years old.

Abdominal obesity was defined as waist circumference of at least 90 cm for men and at least 85 cm for women. Approximately 36% of men and 25% of women's girlfriends were obese.

The results showed a J-shaped curve, likely because the higher the consumption, the higher the intake of total energy, carbohydrates, protein, fat, sodium, and cooked rice, the researchers said. ing.

Compared to participants who ate less than one serving of kimchi per day, those who ate five or more servings were more likely to gain weight, have a larger waist size, and be obese.

They were also less highly educated, had lower incomes, and were more likely to drink alcohol.

However, after accounting for potentially influencing factors, researchers found that consuming up to three servings of kimchi per day was associated with an 11% lower obesity rate compared with less than one serving per day.

Among men, those who consumed three or more servings of baechu kimchi per day had a 10% lower prevalence of obesity and a 10% lower prevalence of abdominal obesity compared to those who consumed less than one serving per day.

For women, consuming this type of kimchi two to three times a day was associated with an 8% lower obesity rate, and consuming one to two times a day was associated with a 6% lower incidence of abdominal obesity.

It was found that eating less than the average amount of gakdugi kimchi reduced obesity rates by about 9% for both men and women.

Consumption of 25 g/day for men and 11 g/day for women reduced the risk of abdominal obesity by 8% (men) to 11% (women) compared to no intake.

“A 'J-shaped' association was observed across all outcomes, suggesting that overconsumption may increase obesity prevalence,” the authors said.

“Kimchi is also one of the major sources of sodium intake, so the health benefits of other ingredients should be considered when recommending appropriate amounts.”

of findings appear in the diary BMJ Open.

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H. Jung other. 2024. Association between kimchi intake and obesity based on BMI and abdominal obesity in Korean adults: A cross-sectional analysis of a health checkup survey. BMJ Open 14: e076650; doi: 10.1136/bmjoopen-2023-076650

Source: www.sci.news

NGC 5427 captured in close-up by Hubble Space Telescope

Posted on February 2, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

astronomer using NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope They captured a striking photo of NGC 5427, which is part of the interacting galaxy pair Arp 271.

This Hubble image shows NGC 5427, a spiral galaxy located about 120 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. Image credit: NASA / ESA / R. Foley, University of California, Santa Cruz / Gladys Kober, NASA and The Catholic University of America.

Alp 271 It was originally discovered in 1785 by German-born British astronomer William Herschel.

a pair that interacts consisting of Two spiral galaxies of similar size: NGC5426 and NGC5427.

It is located about 120 million light-years away toward the constellation Virgo, and its extent is about 130,000 light-years.

It is unclear whether the interaction experienced by NGC 5426 and NGC 5427 will end in a collision and ultimately lead to the merger of the two galaxies, or whether the galaxies will simply experience a very close encounter.

It is absolutely certain that they are already interacting with each other, as material has been stripped from galaxies to create bridges of stars and dust that connect them.

In the distant future, our Milky Way galaxy will undergo a similar collision with the Andromeda galaxy, which is currently located about 2.6 million light-years away from the Milky Way.

“NGC 5426 is below NGC 5427 and outside the frame of this image,” Hubble astronomers said.

“However, the gravitational effects of this pair can be seen in the distortion of the galaxy and the cosmic bridge of stars seen in the lower right region of the image.”

“NGC 5426 and NGC 5427 are locked in an interaction lasting tens of millions of years.”

“Whether they will eventually collide and merge is still uncertain, but their mutual attraction has already led to the birth of many new stars.”

“These young stars are visible in the faint bridge connecting the two galaxies at the bottom of the image.”

“Such bridges provide a path for the two galaxies to continue sharing gas and dust that will form new stars.”

“We believe Arp 271 serves as a blueprint for future interactions between the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies, which are expected to occur in about 4 billion years.”

Source: www.sci.news

Discovery of four new species of deep-sea octopus in the Pacific Ocean

Posted on February 2, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Marine biologist at Schmidt Ocean Institute R/V Falco Two expeditions in 2023 exploring seamounts off Costa Rica's Pacific coast discovered at least four new species of deep-sea octopus.

A newly hatched octopus swims away from its egg near a small rocky outcrop informally known as El Dorado Hill. Image credit: Schmidt Ocean Institute.

“The impact is that R/V Falco Research to understand Costa Rica's deep Pacific Ocean will continue into the future and hopefully generate awareness that will lead to policies that protect the country's deep sea,” said Dr. Jorge Cortés, a researcher at the University of Costa Rica.

“We hope this expedition will inspire new generations. Further international cooperation is needed to increase knowledge about our deep-sea heritage.”

During the first expedition in June 2023, Dr. Cortes and colleagues discovered two octopus farms associated with thermal springs.

Six months later, they returned to the nursery and confirmed that they appear to be active year-round.

They also observed several other new species of octopus away from the hot springs.

One of the new species belongs to the genus Octopus Muusocops The octopus is named after the small rocky outcrop, informally known as El Dorado Hills, where it was first discovered.

This is a different species, closely related to, but a different deep-sea octopus farm, found in California's Davidson Seamount in 2018.

Of the four new species in Costa Rica, only the dorado octopus was observed spawning in hot springs.

This discovery is Muusocops This genus evolved to raise its eggs in warm springs on the ocean floor.

“After hard work, our team has discovered a new hydrothermal spring off the coast of Costa Rica, which has become a nursery for deep-sea octopuses and a unique biodiversity site,” said Dr. Beth Orcutt, a researcher at the Bigelow Institute of Marine Science. We confirmed that this is the habitat.”

“It was less than 10 years ago that low-temperature hydrothermal eruptions were detected in ancient volcanoes located far from mid-ocean ridges.”

“These locations are very difficult to find because you can't detect any trace of it in the water column.”

Researchers also discovered a thriving deep-sea skating nursery on the top of another seamount in Costa Rican waters, which they named Skatepark.

They also discovered three hydrothermal springs within the region, located 10 to 30 nautical miles from each other.

These springs all differ from each other in the temperature and chemistry of their fluids, indicating that unique reaction processes drive their formation.

“The Schmidt Ocean Institute supports the global scientific community wherever it is located. Falcor ” said Dr. Jyothika Virmani, Executive Director. Schmidt Ocean Institute.

“Dr. Cortés and Dr. Orcutt have assembled a team that truly embodies international collaboration that empowers Costa Rica's domestic scientists and enriches local knowledge and understanding of the ocean.”

“We look forward to operating off the coasts of Peru and Chile in 2024 and welcoming scientists from South America.”

Source: www.sci.news

XMM-Newton discovers ultrafast black hole wind in Markarian 817

Posted on February 2, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Markarian 817 is the Seyfert 1 galaxy located 430 million light-years away in the constellation Draco. Also known as Mrk 817 or QSO J1436+5847, it hosts an active supermassive black hole of 81 million solar masses.

This artist's impression shows super-fast winds blowing from the center of the galaxy Markarian 817. These winds travel at millions of kilometers per hour and remove interstellar gas from vast regions of space. Without this gas, galaxies cannot form new stars, and the black holes at the galaxies' centers have little left to eat. The inset shows what is happening at the center of the galaxy. A supermassive black hole draws in gas from its surroundings to form a hot, brightly lit accretion disk (orange). The wind (white) is caused by a magnetic field within the disk, which causes particles to fly in all directions at incredibly high speeds. These winds effectively block the X-rays (blue) emitted by the extremely hot plasma surrounding the black hole, called the corona.Zack other. Using his X-ray telescope XMM-Newton at ESA, he captured Markarian 817 blowing out super-fast winds. This wind, which lasts for about a year, will have a major impact on star formation in the galaxy. The fact that black holes at the centers of galaxies exhibited fairly average activity levels before generating winds suggests that supervelocity black hole winds are much more common than previously thought. doing. In other words, black holes and their host galaxies strongly influence each other's evolution. Image credit: ESA / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

At the center of every large galaxy is a supermassive black hole whose enormous gravitational pull pulls in gas from its surroundings.

As the gas spirals inward, it collects in a flat accretion disk around the black hole, where it heats up and glows.

Over time, the gas closest to the black hole passes the point of no return and gets swallowed up.

But black holes consume only a portion of the gas that swirls toward them.

While surrounding the black hole, some matter is bounced back into space, much like a messy toddler spilling everything on his plate.

In a more dramatic episode, a black hole turns the entire table upside down. The gas in the accretion disk is thrown off in all directions at such high velocities that it wipes out the surrounding interstellar gas.

This not only deprives the black hole of food, but also means that new stars cannot form over large areas and the structure of the galaxy changes.

Until now, this ultrafast black hole wind had only been detected as coming from a very bright accretion disk at the limit of its ability to pull in matter.

At this time, ESA's XMM-Newton spacecraft detected superfast winds in Markarian 817, a decidedly average galaxy that could be described as “just having a snack.”

“With the fans on the highest setting, we would expect very fast winds,” said Dr. Miranda Zak, an astronomer at the University of Michigan.

“In the galaxy we studied called Markarian 817, the fans were turned on at a lower power setting, but still produced incredibly energetic winds.”

“It is very rare to observe ultrafast winds, and even rarer to detect winds with enough energy to change the properties of the host galaxy.”

“The fact that Markarian 817 produced these winds for about a year, even though it was not particularly active, suggests that the black hole may have changed the shape of its host galaxy much more than previously thought. “This suggests that there is a sex,” said Roman astronomer Elias Cammun. Tre University.

Active galactic nuclei emit high-energy light, including X-rays. Markarian 817 stood out to astronomers because it was extremely quiet.

“The X-ray signal was so weak that I knew I was doing something wrong,” Zak said.

Follow-up observations using ESA's XMM Newton revealed what was actually happening. The superfast winds from the accretion disk acted like a shroud, blocking the X-rays emitted from the black hole's immediate surroundings.

These measurements were supported by observations made with NASA's NuSTAR telescope.

Detailed analysis of X-ray measurements revealed that Markarian 817's center did not send out a single puff of gas, but instead created a gust of wind storm over a wide area of the accretion disk.

The winds lasted for hundreds of days and consisted of at least three distinct components, each traveling at a few percent of the speed of light.

This solves an unsolved puzzle in understanding how black holes and their surrounding galaxies interact with each other.

Many galaxies, including the Milky Way, appear to have large regions around their centers where few new stars form.

This could be explained by black hole winds sweeping away star-forming gas, but this works only if the winds are fast enough, persist long enough, and are produced by black holes at typical activity levels. limited to cases where

“One of the many unresolved problems in black hole research is the problem of achieving detection through long-term observations over many hours to capture important events,” said Dr. Norbert Schartel, a scientist on the XMM-Newton project. says.

“This highlights the paramount importance of the XMM-Newton mission into the future.”

“No other mission can achieve that combination of high sensitivity and the ability to make long, uninterrupted observations.”

a paper Regarding the survey results, Astrophysics Journal Letter.

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Miranda K. Zackother. 2024. Seyfert 1.2 Markarian 817 Hidden Sub-Eddington Feedback Intense Feedback.APJL 962, L1; doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad1407

Source: www.sci.news

New Map Reveals Pregnancy’s Impact on Organ Interactions

Posted on February 2, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Mapping how interactions between different organs change during pregnancy could help us better understand conditions such as pre-eclampsia.

Tetra Images, LLC / Alamy

Scientists have mapped for the first time the metabolic changes that different parts of a primate's body undergo during pregnancy. The results suggest that pregnancy-related conditions such as preeclampsia and gestational diabetes may be due to “rewiring” errors when these changes occur.

Outside of pregnancy, different body systems normally “supply” each other with molecular nutrients, known as metabolites, in relatively equal exchange.

However, during pregnancy, major changes occur in tissues throughout the body. for example, Heart pumps up to 40% more. However, the thymus gland, which is involved in the immune system, “shrinks very quickly” to prevent rejection of the fetus. See Chan Ng at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.

After studying Effects of metabolites on stem cells, Ng was curious about the role they play during pregnancy. During this period, “a lot of things are growing and regenerating…It's something you only see in comic books and superhero movies where people transform,” he says.

To learn more, Ng et al. collected 273 tissue samples from 12 cynomolgus monkeys (cynomolgus monkey), including when the monkey was in each trimester of pregnancy and when it was not pregnant. Samples were taken from 23 body parts, including five areas of her body: uterus, liver, spinal cord, skin, blood and heart.

The researchers analyzed the samples for metabolites and compared each site during non-pregnancy to the equivalent site during the third trimester.

As expected, when the macaques were not pregnant, Ng said, the metabolites were distributed fairly evenly across the body. But to her surprise, pregnancy caused her interactions to be “dramatically reprogrammed.”

For example, during the first trimester, the uterus reduced communication with the heart and skeletal muscles and instead “coupled” with the developing placenta. During the second trimester of pregnancy, the fully formed placenta began pumping “large amounts of metabolites” to the heart, ovaries, and liver. On the other hand, the uterus gradually migrated towards union with the scalp by the third trimester of pregnancy.

Also, during the third trimester, important exchanges between skeletal muscles and the spinal cord took place. Researchers have not investigated why these coupling changes occur.

When the flow of “reprogrammed” metabolites deviates from what is considered normal during pregnancy, certain conditions can occur, Ng says.

In a separate experiment, researchers took serum samples from 32 pregnant women and found that levels of the metabolite corticosterone were “significantly reduced” in patients with preeclampsia, Ng said. He states: Then, when they removed corticosterone from human placental cells in the lab, they caused pre-eclampsia-like inflammation. “Corticosterone is an important steroid in human pregnancy,” says Ng. “It’s been undervalued.”

The second important metabolite is thought to be palmitoylcarnitine, which helps process fatty acids and regulate immunity. Ongoing human stem cell research led by Ng suggests that human stem cells may be involved in gestational diabetes, he says.

Based on their findings, the researchers developed an “atlas” of 91 metabolites that consistently change in the tissues of pregnant cynomolgus monkeys. This provides a framework for the involvement of metabolites in regulating health during human pregnancy, Ng said. “There is a treasure trove of small molecules and metabolites that we have discovered. [which] I hope this will further encourage research into new treatments,” he says.

Previous studies have investigated metabolic changes such as: While pregnant rats and mice do, cynomolgus monkeys have reproductive systems much more similar to humans, Ng said. Even though macaques have a shorter gestation period than humans (about 26 weeks compared to the average 40 weeks), they still serve as a reliable model for human reproduction, especially pregnancy-related conditions, he said.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Next SpaceX Flight Test Scheduled for Launch this Month

Posted on February 2, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Starship was first launched on April 20, 2023.

Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post via Getty Images

SpaceX is preparing to launch its massive Starship rocket for the third time. However, the exact launch date will not be announced until the US government's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) completes its investigation into why the previous launch (November 2023) failed to reach orbit.

The Starship rocket's first test launch in April 2023 went out of control due to some engine problems. These failures triggered an automatic flight termination system designed to safely detonate the rocket. It failed, and the rocket continued to tumble until it collapsed. It didn't reach space.

The accident damaged the launch pad and scattered debris over a vast area. SpaceX will begin second Starship test launch in November 2023 after launch facility repairs and updates are made and the FAA certifies that sufficient work has been done to prevent similar damage from occurring again did.

That didn't work either. Everything seemed fine for a few minutes. The rocket reaches space, but then its engine begins to fail and it explodes. Now SpaceX has to build a new rocket, and the FAA has to give it permission to fly.

“We expect that license to be issued in February. So it will be [flight] The third time will happen in February of this year,” SpaceX official Jessica Jensen said at a press conference on January 9th.

Ultimately, Starship is intended to transport astronauts to and from the moon. NASA has selected this rocket for the Artemis III and IV missions planned for 2026 and 2028. The massive rocket could carry astronauts to Mars as early as 2029, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said. But first, Starship must reach space without exploding or breaking apart, and its third flight will be an important test.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Research Finds Out Which Dog Breeds Have the Longest Lifespans

Posted on February 1, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

The Shiba Inu is one of the longest-lived dogs.

Ammu Photography/Getty Images

An analysis of more than 580,000 dogs in the UK found that small dogs with long noses, such as miniature dachshunds and Shiba Inu dogs, lived the longest. On the other hand, medium-sized dogs such as English bulldogs and Shih Tzus have the shortest lifespans.

“Despite the UK being a nation of dog lovers, we don't have a good handle on the dog population in general and the expected lifespan of dogs in particular,” he says. Kirsten McMillan At the British welfare charity Dogs Trust.

To create a comprehensive analysis of dog lifespans, McMillan and his colleagues collected data from a variety of sources, including veterinarians, pet insurance companies, and animal welfare charities. The data included 584,734 dogs belonging to 155 breeds, of which 284,734 died.

The average lifespan of dogs was 12.5 years. Female dogs had a slightly longer life expectancy at 12.7 years compared to 12.4 years for male dogs.

When the researchers divided dogs into categories based on size and facial shape, they found that small, long-nosed dogs had the highest life expectancy of both sexes, living an average of 13.3 years. Male and female medium-sized flat dogs fared worst, with expected lifespans of just 9.1 and 9.6 years, respectively.

“Many flat-faced breeds, both small and large, such as French bulldogs, St. Bernards, and Presa Canarios, do not perform well,” says McMillan.

Flat-faced dogs are known to face a variety of health problems, including breathing, digestion, and even sleeping problems, which may explain their short lifespans. there is.

One of the most surprising findings was that purebreds had a longer life expectancy than mutts: 12.7 years compared to just 12 years.

“Due to the concept of hybrid vigor, it has long been believed that mixed-breed dogs live longer than purebred dogs,” he says. audrey rule from Virginia Tech was not involved in the study. This refers to the idea that hybrid animals and plants may be healthier because of their genetic diversity, but Lupul says this needs to be investigated further.

“We hope that this study will spur further research into the exact reasons why some breeds die at a young age, ultimately improving the lifespans of our dogs.” McMillan he says.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Molecules sensitive to light may enhance efficiency of carbon capture

Posted on February 1, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

This direct air recovery system can extract carbon dioxide from the air and reuse it later, but it requires a lot of energy.

Orjan Ellingvorg / Alamy

Photosensitive molecules called photoacids have the potential to make the process of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere more energy efficient. Researchers are currently devising ways to make photoacids more practical.

This can be particularly beneficial for direct air capture (DAC) systems, which blow air over carbon-trapping materials called adsorbents. Existing systems require large amounts of energy to separate pure CO2 from the adsorbent for storage or use elsewhere. This is a major barrier to using DAC to remove billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere each year. “Every step I take is hitting a wall,” he says. Anna de Vries At ETH Zurich, Switzerland. “Direct air recovery companies everywhere are struggling and trying to create the most efficient process.”

Adding photoacid to the adsorbent may be effective. When exposed to light, each photoacid molecule changes shape and releases protons, making the solution more acidic. This “pH swing” releases CO2 from the adsorbent and photoacid mixture. When the light is turned off again, the photoacid and pH of the solution return to normal, allowing the adsorbent to absorb CO2 again. This cycle can then be repeated.

Typically, heat or pressure is used to release CO2, but using sunlight or lamps could potentially reduce the energy needed for this step, with the aim of halving the energy requirements of DACs. de Vries says. However, photoacids tend to be unstable and are not very soluble in water, which limits their efficiency in releasing CO2.

De Vries and colleagues added various solvents to the photoacid solution; found the mix This increases the solubility of the photoacid and extends its lifetime from just a few hours to nearly a month.

In another approach, Ubinduni Premadasa Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and colleagues found Another photoacid, which can remain responsive to light for longer and produce more acid, allows CO2 to be released from solution more efficiently.

greg match Researchers at the University of Newcastle in the UK say these are an “elegant and innovative” solution. But larger systems can face challenges, such as loss of solvent through evaporation in the air, he says.

Although these researchers focused on capturing CO2 from the atmosphere, the first large-scale tests on photoacids may be conducted in water. A Washington state startup called Banyu Carbon uses photoacids to separate CO2 from seawater and plans to install a system capable of removing one tonne of CO2 per year in 2024.

In this system, when photoacids are exposed to light, the resulting acidity is temporarily transferred to seawater, and CO2 absorbed from the atmosphere is released from seawater. alex gagnonAccording to the company's co-founders, this reduces the energy needed to separate the CO2 and eliminates the need to power fans.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

New research determines the longest living dog breeds

Posted on February 1, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Researchers studied the lifespans of 500,000 dogs to determine which species live the longest. The answer? Whippets, or dogs shaped like whippets. Research indicates that small dogs with long noses have an average lifespan of 13.3 years (source).

Another study looked at data from over 580,000 individual dogs in the UK, classified as purebreds or mixed breeds, to find out more about the lifespan of different dog breeds.

In addition to breed, the researchers collected data on the dogs’ sex, date of birth, and, if applicable, date of death. This data helped determine mortality rates as well as calculate the median life expectancy for different categories of dogs.

The study found that small, long-nosed dogs have the highest average lifespan at 13.3 years. Conversely, medium-sized short-nosed dogs, especially males, had the shortest average lifespan at 9.1 years.

Interestingly, purebred dogs generally lived longer than mixed breeds, and Labradors were found to have the highest life expectancy at 13.1 years.

The researchers hope that these results will help dog owners better understand the factors that influence their pets’ health and longevity, and they also suggest that future studies should investigate designer breeds due to their different genetic diversity levels.

Dr. Kirsten McMillan, one of the authors of the study, believes that future research should not simply classify dog breeding into pure and mixed categories and emphasizes that this is a complex issue.

Dr. Kirsten McMillan is a DataSEA (Science Engineering and Analysis) Manager at Dogs Trust, and her research has been published in various scientific journals.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

A black hole’s colossal outburst disrupts the entire galaxy’s equilibrium.

Posted on February 1, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

We all have bad days, with a monumental striptease here or an expression of anger there, but have you ever thrown a tantrum so bad that it upsets the balance of the entire galaxy?

Well, thanks to you, it turned out like this One particularly badly behaved black hole Observed by XMM-Newton Space Observatory.

If you zoom in on any large galaxy, you’ll find a supermassive black hole that pulls in gas from its surroundings with its immense gravity. As the gas spirals inward, it is squeezed into what is known as an accretion disk, a flat disk of gas orbiting around a massive central object.

Over time, the gas closest to the black hole passes through the point of no return and is essentially chewed up by its immense gravity. However, there’s a twist here. The black hole consumes only a portion of this gas and spits the rest back into space.

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Sometimes, like the naughty black hole discovered by XMM Newton, a black hole doesn’t just spew out a small amount of gas, it spews out its entire meal over hundreds of days. The gas in the accretion disk is thrown off in all directions at such high velocities that it completely wipes out the surrounding interstellar gas.

The effect would be so severe that gas would be blown through space and new stars would no longer be able to form. This completely changes the landscape of the surrounding galaxy where the black hole is found.

Accretion disk surrounding black hole slowly pulls in gas – Credit: European Space Agency

Typically, only black holes with very bright accretion disks spew out gas. These brighter disks typically feature faster “black hole winds” that spew out gas.

“It is extremely rare to observe ultrafast winds, and even rarer to detect winds with enough energy to change the properties of the host galaxy,” the co-authors said. Elias CammonAstronomer at Roma Tre University in Italy.

“The fact that Markarian 817 is [the galaxy in question] These winds occurred for about a year but were not particularly active, suggesting that the black hole may be changing the shape of its host galaxy much more than previously thought. ing. ”

For scientists, this research improves our understanding of how black holes and the galaxies around them interact. Many galaxies appear to have large regions around their centers where few new stars form. This may be explained by the black hole’s wind sweeping away star-forming gas.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Best New Science Fiction of the Month: From Jasper Ford to Hugo Award-nominated Daniel Polanski

Posted on February 1, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

A priestess can manipulate time and space in Meredith Mooring's debut novel.

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After an endlessly long January, it's finally time to see what sci-fi fun February has in store for us. This month's lineup is varied. I’m looking forward to the delightfully gory post-apocalyptic novels by Daniel Polanski and Paul E. Hardisty – I love a good story of a world in ruins – and also to Jasper Forde’s latest novel I'm going to take the time.My favorite author from a long time ago air incident Released in 2001. But at the top of my list to track is Meredith Mooring's work. red sight – Starring a blind shrine maiden who can manipulate time and space.

Nothing cheers me up like apocalyptic fun and frolic, and Hugo nominee Polanski's new work sounds like a corker. Manhattan is enveloped in a “toxic cloud” called Funk, which cuts it off from the rest of the world and mutates its population. For generations, when the first tourists in centuries arrived on the island, the survivors were focused only on survival.

This is sitting on my desk at home waiting for the moment I can read it at all.This is the first part of the climate emergency thriller. compulsionThe film sees Kweku Ashworth, born on a sailing ship as his parents escape disaster, set out to uncover what has brought the world into cataclysm. More apocalyptic catastrophes – great!

This is the sequel to Fforde's bestseller. shades of grayfollows “Something Happened'' 500 years ago and is set in a society where class is determined by visible colors. Eddie Russett and Jane Gray realize that this may not make any sense at all and may be unfair, so they investigate.

Unemployed and in debt, Jonathan Abernathy takes a job as a dream auditer, who taps into workers' dreams to relieve their fears and increase productivity. I loved this wonderfully wicked idea, and one reviewer described the novel as a “spiritual sibling.” Severance paybut it's even creepier,' and it's right up my street.

This sounds very strange. Plastic Girl Erin lives in a plastic world, where she sells a type of wearable technology called a smart body to her fellow plastic people. This allows people to fully immerse themselves in the virtual world as a refuge from real life and its wars. Author Elizabeth McCracken says it's “a profound, hilarious, chilling, strange, and immeasurably complex story about an imaginary universe that is also somehow our own broken world.” says.

red sight Written by Meredith Mooring

I like the sound of Corinna, the heroine of Mooring's debut novel. She is a blind priestess who can manipulate time and space, but she has been raised to believe that she is weak and useless. When she takes a job as a navigator on an Imperial ship, she realizes that she is meant to be a weapon of the Empire. But Corinna's world changes forever when her ship is attacked by the infamous pirate Aster Harran.

Exoldia Written by Seth Dickinson

“Michael Crichton meets Marvel” Venom” says the story's publisher, in which Anna, a refugee and genocide survivor, joins a team investigating “mysterious broadcasts and unknown horrors” as “humanity reels from disaster.” I love the drama promised here.

The setting, suggested by former sci-fi columnist Sally Addy as an Earth to watch in 2024, sees two Earths exist in parallel, and “shifters” can travel back and forth between them. Kanna and Lily are the same person, randomly moving between worlds, lives, and families, but needing to settle in one or the other. And how can we prepare our loved ones for the final disappearance?

Perhaps this debut novel isn't science fiction per se, but it's fiction about science, and I thought it would be interesting, so I wanted to mention it. Helen, a young physicist trying to save the planet, follows his mentor (who is embroiled in a sex scandal with a student) to an island laboratory that provides a safe haven for disgraced artists and scientists. It depicts the decision to go to

The Bone Hunters is loosely inspired by the life of 19th century paleontologist Mary Anning.

alamy stock photo

Again, it's science fiction, not science fiction, and it's advertised as follows: essex snake meet ammonite, it's very hard to say no, at least for me. A loose depiction of the life of a pioneer 19^thWritten by century-old paleontologist Mary Anning, the story is set in Lyme Regis, Dorset, England in 1824, when 24-year-old Ada Winters discovers a “rare fossil” on a cliff.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

The Unusual Mating Strategy of Monkfish May Have Contributed to Their Evolutionary Success

Posted on February 1, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

A type of deep-sea angler fish called the black sea devil

Doug Perine / Alamy

The unique sexual strategy of deep-sea anglerfish may have helped their ancestors move into entirely new habitats, allowing for the incredible diversity of species that thrive today.

chase brownstein Researchers at Yale University have reconstructed the evolution of more than 160 species of deep-sea anglerfish (keratioids). Known for their large jaws and bioluminescent lures, serratioids are a subgroup of the larger order of the anglerfish family, which also includes monkfish and other bizarre benthic creatures such as monkfish, sea toads, and batfish. Using genetic sequencing, the researchers discovered that the ancestors of keratioids walked on pectoral fins at the bottom of the deep ocean. But 55 million years ago, some creatures began swimming in the ocean's vast deep-pelagic, or “midnight,” zone. There, over a period of just 5 million years, they became more genetically diverse than their ocean-floor relatives.

He said this is strange because the ocean floor and coral reefs typically have a greater variety of species. elizabeth miller At the University of California, Irvine. Environments with many topographical features lend themselves to the specialization of organisms. But with constant temperatures and vast expanses of waterless ocean, “the deep pelagic zone is truly the most homogeneous habitat on Earth,” she says.

Miller and her colleagues Monkfish species family tree Although her team and Brownstein's team used different methods, their studies are largely consistent regarding the timeline and scale of deep-sea monkfish diversification.

Brownstein's team found that this surprising diversification may be due to the serratioids' parasite-like reproductive strategy. That is, the small male uses his jaws to attach to the much larger female until he is ready to mate. In some species, the two can even permanently fuse together, such as sharing a circulatory system. This unique mating technique could theoretically benefit deep-sea monkfish, as they are very unlikely to encounter other members of their species during their lifetime.

Brownstein's analysis shows that the traits necessary for this parasitism, such as the difference in body size between males and females and the weakness of their immune systems that prevent them from attacking attached males, are the result of the evolution of monkfish diving into the deep sea. It turns out that it has existed for a long time.

“Most of this complex trait existed before the serratioids entered the deep ocean,” he says. “Basically, it's not the gas inside the engine, [of diversity]Sexual parasitism was like a preparation to press the gas pedal. ”

Miller said it's “possible” that a parasitic lifestyle helped the anglerfish invade deep-sea habitats, but it’s unclear how the fish subsequently achieved so much diversification. It remains as it is.

Answering this question will be a daunting task, especially since it is difficult to recover intact monkfish samples from the deep ocean.but cory evans Rice University in Texas says having two matching comprehensive family trees will help other researchers investigate.

“I think monkfish enthusiasts will be reading a lot of these two papers over the next six months,” he says.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

10 of the Biggest Stars in the Universe

Posted on February 1, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

The stars that exist in our universe are definitely huge. In fact, our closest star, the Sun, has a diameter of an astonishing 1.4 million km (865,000 miles), which is large enough to fit 1.3 million Earths within it.

However, within the grand scale of the universe, this is a fairly average size. Although many stars are small, scientists have discovered many cosmic giants that are hundreds of times larger. But what is the largest star in the universe?

Introducing the 10 biggest stars ever known to humanity.

10.HV888

HV 888 is circled in the center of the image. Photo courtesy of ESO/Digitalized Sky Survey 2

HV 888 looks a lot like Clifford the dog, except it is located 163,000 light-years away, and is red and very large.

With a solar radius of 1,374 (our Sun has a solar radius of 1), this scarlet supergiant’s color actually indicates that it is nearing the end of its life. Scientists don’t know exactly when the star will go supernova. It could be today, or the star could continue to burn for millions of more years.

Until then, HV 888 will shine incredibly brightly, about 300,000 to more than 500,000 times brighter than the Sun. In other words, anyone living on one of this star’s possible exoplanets would likely need some pretty bright sunglasses.

9. Ah, Scorpio

Star AH Scorpio. Photo courtesy of ESO/Digitalized Sky Survey 2

AH Scorpii is a red supergiant star found in the constellation Scorpius, hence its name. Although she is 1,411 times larger than the Sun, the star is probably much cooler, with a surface temperature between 3,176.85°C (5750.33°F) and 3,408.85°C (6167.93°F). For comparison, our sun is hot at 5,226.85°C (9380.33°F).In other words, AH Scorpio is still very very hot.

8.CM Velorum

Star CM Verorum. Photo courtesy of ESO/Digitalized Sky Survey 2

CM Bellorum, located in the constellation Vela, is a red star 1,416 times larger than the Sun. However, despite its size, this star is invisible to the naked eye without a telescope. This is partly due to its distance from Earth, which is calculated to be approximately 15,000 light-years away.

7.HD12463

Star HD 12463. Photo credit: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2

Not much is known about the star, known as HD 12463, but it is estimated to be 1,420 times larger than the Sun. It is located about 163,000 light-years from us in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a galaxy derived from the Milky Way.

6. VY Canis Major

Star VY Canis Major. Photo courtesy of ESO/Digitalized Sky Survey 2

VY Canis Majoris is an oxygen-rich supergiant star 1,420 times larger than the Sun. It is so large that even traveling at the speed of light, it would take him 6 hours to circumnavigate its surface (try this with the Sun and it would take only 14.5 seconds).

Even if you have the time, I don’t recommend it. The temperature of this star is 3,730°C (6,740°F). It’s also incredibly bright, about 300,000 to 500,000 times brighter than the Sun.

5.HD 269551

Star HD 269551 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Photo courtesy of ESO/Digitalized Sky Survey 2

HD 269551 may not have the catchiest name in the universe, but it’s still a memorable star for its massive size. Its size has been measured to be 1,439 times that of the Sun.

Like many of the large stars on this list, HD 269551 is highly unstable and nearing the end of its life, and will explode as a supernova within the next few million years (a very short time in the grand scale of the universe) It is expected that

4.RSGC1-F01

Spitzer telescope image of the RSGC1 star cluster, home to RSGC1 F01 and many other massive stars. Photo by NASA/Spitzer Telescope

RSGC1 F01 is located in a star cluster in the Milky Way galaxy in the constellation Scuta. Its size is estimated to be 1,436 to 1,530 times that of the Sun.

Remarkably, if RSGC1-F02 were placed at the center of our solar system, the star’s surface (known as the photosphere) would reach Jupiter’s orbit.

3.WOH 5170

WOH S170 shot with DSS2. Photo courtesy of Eso/Digitalized Sky Survey 2

WOH S170, located in the constellation Leo, is a red star 1,461 times larger than the Sun. Wow, sure.

2.WOH G64

This image shows WOH G64 (circled) in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way. Photo courtesy of NASA

WOH G64 is a very large star, 1,540 times the size of the Sun.That’s also very likely very Dusty: Encased in a thick layer of tiny particles about 1 light-year in diameter.

WHO G64 is also a very cool star (literally), with a temperature of 3,100°C (or 5,600°F). Compare this to the surface temperature of the sun. The sun’s surface temperature is a fairly warm 5,226.85°C (9380.33°F).

1. UY spine

Photo courtesy of Eso/Digitalized Sky Survey 2

UY Scuti is the largest star ever observed in the universe. The red supergiant star is 1,708 times the width of the Sun and has a radius of 1.2 billion km (738 million miles). This star is located approximately 9,500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Scutum, near the center of the Milky Way.

Despite its massive size, UY Scutum’s temperature is actually 40 percent colder than the Sun’s 3092°C (1700°F). This is because the star has already used up most of its hydrogen fuel, which produces heat and light. This lower temperature means the star emits a reddish glow.

UY Scuti is also a surprisingly young star, probably only 10 to 20 million years old. It may sound like an exaggeration, but the age of our sun is estimated to be 4.6 billion years. But UY Scuti burns through its fuel so quickly that the star is likely at the end of its life and may only have a few million years left.

It is not clear what happens to UY Scuti at the end of its life cycle. It’s possible that the star could explode in a polar nova (triggering a shock wave that triggers the formation of new stars), but one theory suggests UY Scuti would collapse to form a hotter star.

Star	Estimation size (radius)
HV888	956 million km (595 million miles)
Oh, Scorpio	983 million km (611 million miles)
CM Velorum	987 million km (613 million miles)
HD12463	987 million km (613 million miles)
VY Canis Major	987 million km (613 million miles)
HD 269551	1.01 billion kilometers (622 million miles)
RSGC1-F01	1.01 billion km (627 million miles)
WOH S170	1,019 million km (633 million miles)
WOH G64	1,072 million km (666 million miles)
UY spine	1.19 billion km (739 million miles)

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

5 Steps Backed by Research to Finally Organize Your Inbox

Posted on February 1, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

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Let's be honest: Email can be a nightmare. Most of the time, we're all just trying to find that vital needle in a haystack of spam, receipts, and old messages from family members who refuse to start group chats.

This never happened before. In the good old days, email was easy, unintrusive, and frankly boring. That's exactly what it was supposed to be. Now, if every coffee shop you've ever visited in your life is trying to get you, you have two options – sink or swim.

average person Up to 25 minutes of loss will occur. Every time you respond to an email or report, 347 billion emails Sent in 2023 alone. That said, email is a big part of both our work and personal lives.

For some people, email means spending hours sorting through, responding to, and fixing the clutter in their inbox. For others, it's easier to ignore everything and reach into his heap of messy emails to get what they need… but you don't have to be like any of these experiences. Actually, there is a better way to email.

we talked Paul LevyA social scientist and digital mastery expert, he helps organize the world's chaotic digital lives, from email to social media. He will give you tips and tricks to get you back on your feet.

1. Ignore the Inbox Zero Myth

Created by productivity expert Marlin Mann, Inbox Zero is a concept that's gotten a lot of attention. The concept is incredibly simple. There are no emails in your inbox (who would have thought!).

However, getting there is much more complicated. To get to this point, you should delete all emails unless they contain ongoing correspondence or important information. After a rather long sorting process, everything that's left is put into a folder and voila! You have reached inbox zero.

Some people swear by this technique, but it’s not a winner for everyone. Entire magazine article about its flaws. So where does Inbox Zero fit in? “It's like fighting a fire or trying to keep your head above water,” Levy says.much evidence suggests The thing is, this drip-feeding system of erasing emails is actually not that efficient.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

The Hubble Space Telescope Observes Stunning Spiral Galaxies

Posted on February 1, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

The Hubble team has released a stunning photo of the face-on spiral galaxy ESO 420-13 taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

This Hubble image shows spiral galaxy ESO 420-13 facing forward. Image credit: NASA / ESA / University of Virginia A. Evans / Gladys Kober, NASA and The Catholic University of America.

ESO420-13 It is a spiral galaxy located south of the constellation Eridanus.

This galaxy, also known as LEDA 14702, IRAS 04118-3207, or 2MASX J04134969-3200252, Seyfert Galaxy.

“Dark dust lanes are visible against the backdrop of the glow of the galaxy's many stars,” Hubble astronomers said in a statement.

“About 10% of all galaxies in the universe are thought to be Seyfert galaxies.”

“They are typically spiral galaxies and have very bright nuclei, the result of a supermassive black hole at their center accreting large amounts of radiation-emitting material.”

“The centers of these active galaxies are the brightest when observed with light outside the visible spectrum.”

“Galaxies containing active galactic nuclei of this type are often so bright that the glow of the nucleus washes out the host galaxy itself.”

“But the Seyfert galaxy is unique because the galaxy itself is also visible.”

“In the case of ESO 420-13, we can enjoy the galaxy's almost perfectly round disk, brighter core, and swirling dark dust filaments.”

Astronomers observed ESO 420-13 as part of their research. bright infrared galaxy (LIRG).

“These galaxies are known to be very bright in the infrared part of the spectrum,” the researchers said.

“Galaxy interactions trigger new star-forming regions in LIRG that become extremely bright in infrared light.”

Source: www.sci.news

CRISPR gene therapy shows promise in treating severe inflammatory conditions

Posted on February 1, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

New treatment cuts the gene for kallikrein, a protein involved in inflammation (illustrated)

BIOSYM TECHNOLOGIES, INC./Science Photo Library

Nine people with a rare genetic disease that causes a life-threatening inflammatory response appear to have been cured after taking part in the first trial of a new version of CRISPR-based gene therapy.

This condition, called hereditary angioedema, causes sudden swelling of tissue that affects parts of the body such as the face and throat, similar to aspects of an allergic reaction, but cannot be treated with anti-allergy drugs.

Ten people who received a one-time gene therapy administered directly into the body saw a 95 per cent reduction in the number of 'swelling attacks' in the first six months after the treatment took effect. . Since then, all but one have had no further seizures for at least a year, although one patient who received the lowest dose had one mild seizure. “This is potentially a cure,” he says Padmalal Gurugama At Cambridge University Hospital in the UK, we worked on a new approach.

Hereditary angioedema is usually caused by mutations in the gene that encodes a protein called C1 inhibitor, which is involved in suppressing inflammation, which is part of the immune response.

People with this condition may experience a sudden buildup of fluid under their skin several times a month, which is painful and can cause suffocation if it gets stuck in the throat. This attack can be caused by a virus, changes in hormone levels, or stress.

Existing drugs that can reverse attacks work by blocking another molecule involved in inflammation called kallikrein, which is made in the liver. Because people can be born without the ability to make kallikrein without adverse effects, the results suggest that it is safe to permanently block kallikrein through gene therapy, Gurgama said.

The new treatment, developed by a company called Intellia Therapeutics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, consists of genetic material designed to cut the kallikrein gene. It is encapsulated in lipid nanoparticles and taken up by liver cells. One person was treated in the UK and nine in New Zealand and the Netherlands.

An unusual feature of this therapy is that it is administered directly to humans, a method also referred to as “in vivo” delivery. “They get one infusion and that's it,” he says. julian gilmore from University College London was not involved in the study. “It's very appealing.”

So far, most other CRISPR-based gene therapies have been administered “outside the body.” This means a more complex and time-consuming procedure of taking some of a person's cells outside the body, changing the cells in a lab, and then reinjecting them.

CRISPR gene therapy is being developed for multiple genetic diseases, with the first treatments recently approved in the UK and US to help patients with two forms of genetic anemia: sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia. Ta.

The success of the latest trial is “very exciting,” Gilmore said. Development of CRISPR-based treatments for people with various liver-related conditions, called transthyretin amyloidosis. “This technology could be applied to any disease caused by a mutant protein produced exclusively in the liver, where it is desirable to knock down that protein,” he says.

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

Homo sapiens are believed to have reached Northern Europe around 45,000 years ago, according to scientists.

Posted on February 1, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

homo sapiens is connected with Rinkombi Lanisia Yersmanovician Culture According to three papers published in , Neanderthals existed in central and northwestern Europe long before they became extinct in southwestern Europe. journal Nature And that journal natural ecology and evolution. The evidence is homo sapiens And the fact that Neanderthals lived side by side is consistent with genomic evidence that the two species occasionally interbred. Suspicions have also been raised that modern humans' invasion of Europe and Asia about 50,000 years ago may have driven Neanderthals to extinction.

Stratigraphy including location of homo sapiens Bones, a map of the LRJ site, and stone tools from the Ranis site in Germany. Image credit: Mylopotamitaki other., doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06923-7.

The Paleolithic Rincombi-Lanisia-Jerzmanovician (LRJ) culture or technocomplex spread across northwestern and central Europe.

The Ranis Cave site in the Orla River Valley, Thuringia, Germany, is one of the eponymous LRJ sites based on its unique configuration of bifacial and monofacial points.

Previous dating had shown that the site was more than 40,000 years old, but there were no recognizable bones to show who made the tools, so it was unclear whether they were the product of Neanderthals. It was unclear whether it was a product of Neanderthals or not. homo sapiens.

“The new discovery is homo sapiens Who created this technology homo sapiens At this time, 45,000 years ago, they were this far north,” said Dr. Elena Zavala, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley.

“So these are some of the earliest.” homo sapiens In Europe. “

“The cave ruins of Ranis provide evidence of initial dispersal. homo sapiens It is widespread throughout the high latitudes of Europe,” said Professor Jean-Jacques Hubelin, a researcher at the Collège de France.

“It turns out that stone structures thought to have been made by Neanderthals were actually part of early Neanderthals.” homo sapiens toolkit. ”

“This fundamentally changes what we know about this period. homo sapiens Long before Neanderthals disappeared in southwestern Europe, they reached northwestern Europe. ”

Scientists carried out genetic analysis of hominid bone fragments from new deep excavations carried out at Ranis between 2016 and 2022, as well as from earlier excavations in the 1930s.

Because the DNA in ancient bones is highly fragmented, she used special techniques to isolate and sequence the DNA. All of it is mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which is inherited only from the mother.

“We have confirmed that the bone fragments are: homo sapiens. Interestingly, some of the fragments shared the same mitochondrial DNA sequence, even if they were from different excavations,” Dr. Zavala said.

“This indicates that these fragments belong to the same person or his maternal relatives, and connects these new discoveries with discoveries from decades ago.”

The bone fragments were initially identified as human through analysis of bone proteins in a field called paleoproteomics.

The authors found that by comparing the Ranis mtDNA sequences with mtDNA obtained from human remains from other Paleolithic sites in Europe, they were able to construct an early Stone Age family tree. It's done. homo sapiens All over Europe.

All but one of the 13 Ranis fragments are very similar to each other and, surprisingly, to the mtDNA of a 43,000-year-old female skull discovered in the Zlaty Kush cave in the Czech Republic. Ta. The only standout player was in the same group as a player from Italy.

“That raises some questions: Was this a single population? What is the relationship here?” Dr. Zavala said.

“But when it comes to mtDNA, that's just one side of history. It's just the maternal side. We need nuclear DNA to investigate this.”

The researchers also found that Ranis Cave is primarily used by hibernating cave bears and denning hyenas, with only periodic human presence.

This low-density archaeological footprint is consistent with other LRJ sites and is best explained by short-term, opportunistic visits by small, mobile settler groups. homo sapiens.

“This means that even in these early groups, homo sapiens “Humans, dispersed across Eurasia, already had some ability to adapt to such harsh climatic conditions,” said Dr Sara Pederzani, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of La Laguna.

“Until recently, it was thought that resilience to cold climate conditions would not emerge until several thousand years later. So this is a fascinating and surprising result.”

The research team also carried out radiocarbon dating of human and animal bones taken from different layers of the site to reconstruct the site's age, focusing on bones with signs of human modification on their surfaces. They then correlated the age with the presence of humans in the cave.

“we, homo sapiens The Francis Crick Institute said Dr. Helen Furus, a postdoctoral researcher at .

“The evidence suggests that homo sapiens They occupied this site sporadically for 47,500 years. ”

Source: www.sci.news

New Species of Tabby Cat Discovered by Scientists

Posted on February 1, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

In 2013, Oncilla (Hyōmon)a species of small spotted cat native to the Americas; the northern tabby cat (Hyōmon) and southern tabby cat (Hyōmon). A new study led by the University of Maranhão has shown that Oncilla is actually three different species.

Cloudy tabby cat (leopardus pardinoides). Image credit: Johannes Pfleiderer.

The oncilla is a wild cat about the size of a domestic cat that lives in the mountains and rainforests of Costa Rica, Brazil, and Argentina.

These creatures, also known as tabby cats, Margaise (Hyōmon) and Ocelot (Hyōmon)but they are small, with slender builds and narrow muzzles.

They weigh only 1.5 kg, but usually do not exceed 3 kg, with males being slightly larger than females. The body length is 35-60cm and the height is about 25cm.

Oncilla has a yellowish-ochre background fur with a pattern of mainly open rosettes.

They eat small mammals, lizards, birds, eggs, invertebrates, and sometimes even tree frogs.

They typically live between 10 and 14 years in the wild, but have been known to live up to 23 years in captivity.

They are threatened by habitat loss from cattle ranching, agriculture, and the local pet trade.

Tadeu de Oliveira, a researcher at the University of Maranhão, and his colleagues say: “The tabby cat species group is the progenitor of an ancient classification system and one of the most intriguing, mysterious and fascinating groups of cats. “It is,” he said.

“Due to the limited knowledge available, the tabby cat has long been subject to several preconceptions regarding its range and associated habitats, both before and after species divergence. These include: and its presence in the Pantanal.”

“As it stands, the tabby cat species complex currently consists of two species. Hyōmon and Hyōmonthe former is further divided into three subspecies. Leopardus tigrinus oncilla, Leopardus tigrinus pardinoidesand leopardus tigrinus tigrinus” they added.

“Hyōmon and Hyōmon Both are currently defined as globally endangered species. ”

“They live in some of the most endangered ecoregions and biodiversity hotspots in the Americas, including the Cerrado, the tropical Andes, the Atlantic Forest, and the Talamanca Mountains.”

“As an exception, leopardus tigrinus tigrinus, there are no published conservation priority areas for entities within the complex. ”

“Given the endangered status of these species and the high rates of habitat loss within their respective ranges, it is unlikely that viable populations of these species will exist. It is essential to identify areas with high levels.”

Typical examples of tabby cat species complexes: (a) Savannah tabby cat (Hyōmon); (b) Cloudy tabby cat (leopardus pardinoides); (c) Atlantic Forest tabby cat (Hyōmon). Image credit: Ricardo Ribeiro / Johannes Pfleiderer / de Oliveira other., doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-52379-8.

In their study, the authors sought to determine the actual distribution range of tabby cat species and subspecies, compare their characteristics, and assess similarities and differences between them.

Ultimately, they aimed to characterize tabby cats and determine the actual number of the species.

“Our results revealed the existence of a cryptic species, the Claudi tabby cat (leopardus pardinoides), which includes both Leopardus tigrinus oncilla and Leopardus tigrinus pardinoides,” they said.

According to the team: leopardus pardinoides It is a long-tailed cat with short rounded ears and weighs 2.27 kg.

This new species has a strikingly margay-looking head with a rich reddish/oranged/gray-yellow background color and is adorned with irregularly shaped medium to large 'cloudy' rosettes. , with dense, soft fur, strongly marked and often coalesced.

The characteristic is LEopardus pardinoides There is only one pair of breasts/nipples.

This species is found in the extinct cloud forests of southern Central America and the Andes, usually above 1,500 meters above sea level, especially between 2,000 and 3,000 meters, in subtropical/temperate climates with mild temperatures and very abundant precipitation. You can see it. Usually located in areas where ocelot numbers are low or non-existent.

“leopardus pardinoides “Distributed along 11 mountain ecoregions,” the researchers said.

“In Central America, it is restricted to the Tilaran Mountains, Central Volcanic Mountains, and Talamanca Mountains (Talamancan Mountains Forest ecoregion) in Costa Rica and Panama and the eastern montane forests of Panama.”

“The lowland rainforests and wetlands of the Atrato River basin of the Choco Darien ecoregion are the main barrier between the populations of the brown tabby cat in eastern Panama and the Andes, while in the north the species is restricted to the Isthmian Atlantic rainforest. limited by.”

“In South America, its range extends from the Andean forests of Venezuela through the eastern, central, and western mountain ranges of Colombia to Ecuador, through Peru, Bolivia, and the Yungas Forest ecoregion of the southern Andes, and ends in northwestern Argentina.”

“The core area of its distribution is in Colombia, but it also extends to Ecuador.”

of the team result appear in the diary scientific report.

_____

TG de Oliveira other. 2024. Ecological modeling, biogeography and phenotypic analysis establish a transdimensional niche for the tabby cat, revealing a new species. science officer 14, 2395; doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-52379-8

Source: www.sci.news

Pregnancy Strap that Monitors Heart Rate Could Forecast Preterm Birth

Posted on January 31, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Scientists used fitness tracker WHOOP to monitor heart rate during pregnancy

Oops

Wearing a wrist-strap heart rate tracker during pregnancy may help doctors predict who is at risk for premature birth.

In previous research, shon rowan Researchers at West Virginia University recruited 18 women to wear heart-tracking wrist straps from the brand WHOOP throughout their pregnancies.

They were all born at term, and tracking data showed that heart rate variability (the variation in the time interval between heartbeats) decreased clearly during the first 33 weeks of pregnancy, and then steadily increased until birth. It became clear.

Rowan was curious to see if the same pattern occurred in people who give birth prematurely. Emily Capodilupo A larger study is being conducted at WHOOP in Boston, Massachusetts. They and colleagues analyzed tracker data provided by 241 pregnant women between the ages of 23 and 47 in the United States and 15 other countries. It is unclear whether this data includes data for transgender men.

All participants were pregnant with one child born between March 2021 and October 2022. In total, more than 24,000 heart rate variability records were provided.

Similar to the previous study, those who gave birth at term showed an obvious switch in heart rate variability around 33 weeks of gestation, or an average of seven weeks before delivery.

However, the 8.7% who were born prematurely had much less consistent patterns of heart rate variability, Rowan said. This change from decrease to increase in variability occurred at different times during pregnancy, but similar to those born at term, the change occurred on average about 7 weeks before birth, although the birth was premature. It seemed like there was.

In the future, the device could identify pregnancies that require closer monitoring or benefit from administering drugs such as steroids to help the fetus' lungs develop, Rowan said.

You can also plan to stay near hospitals that provide specialized care, which can be especially helpful for people who live in remote areas, he says.

“Once we are able to remotely monitor some of their health using things like the WHOOP tracker, and we start to see changes in that. [in heart rate variability]Then you might be able to be a little more proactive,” says Rowan.

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

Researchers report a 30% decline in California’s western monarch population last year

Posted on January 31, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

SAN FRANCISCO — The number of western monarch butterflies wintering in California declined by 30% last year, likely due to the high humidity, researchers announced Tuesday.

Volunteers visiting sites in California and Arizona around Thanksgiving removed 230,000 butterflies from 330,000 butterflies by 2022, according to the Xerses Society, an environmental nonprofit focused on invertebrate conservation. It is said that more than one fish was caught.

Populations of the orange and black insects have rebounded to hundreds of thousands in recent years. In 2020, the number of butterflies plummeted to just 2,000., the lowest on record. But even though the butterflies have recovered, their numbers are still far below what they were in the 1980s, when monarchs numbered in the millions.

Scientists say butterfly populations are critically low in western states because housing construction and increased use of pesticides and herbicides are destroying milkweed habitat along migratory routes. Says.

Climate change is also one of the main factors in the monarch butterfly's extinction, preventing the butterflies from migrating 3,000 miles (4,828 km) each year to coincide with spring and wildflower blooms.

“Climate change is creating challenges for many wildlife species, and the monarch butterfly is no exception,” said Emma Pelton, monarch butterfly conservation biologist at the Xerces Society. “We know that the severe storms we saw in California last winter, atmospheric rivers flowing back to back, are on some level connected to climate change.”

Western monarch butterflies migrate south from the Pacific Northwest to California each winter, returning to the same places and even the same trees, where they huddle together and stay warm. They breed multiple generations along the route until they arrive in California, usually in early November. When warm weather arrives in March, it spreads east of California.

East of the Rocky Mountains, another population of monarch butterflies migrates from southern Canada and the northeastern United States into central Mexico. Scientists estimate that monarch butterfly populations in the eastern United States have declined by about 80% since the mid-1990s, but the decline in the western United States is even steeper.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

New Insights from a 45,000-year-old Bone Hole into the Lives of our Earliest Ancestors

Posted on January 31, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

In a cave beneath a medieval German castle, researchers have discovered a bone pit that is said to reveal the secrets of early humans.

The remains, buried in layers of soil in a collapsed cave, contained genetic material from cave bears and hyenas, as well as the bones of 13 early humans who died about 45,000 years ago.

The discovery, described in three papers published Thursday in the journals Nature and Nature Ecology & Evolution, suggests that early humans may have traveled further north earlier than scientists realized. It shows that they went on an adventure, they were able to make spear-shaped tools, and then humans were able to make spear-shaped tools. A means to thrive in temperatures much colder than today’s climate.

These discoveries, perhaps made through the development of new DNA techniques, are reshaping the way scientists understand the time when humans and Neanderthals roamed the European continent.

Fragments of human bones excavated from a cave in Ranis, Germany.
From Tim Schuler, Springer Nature

The discovery could bring scientists closer to understanding why Neanderthals ultimately became extinct and what role humans played in their demise.

John Hawkes, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies ancient human relatives but was not involved in the study, said the study shows that as Neanderthals neared their demise, different human cultures He said this helps solidify the theory that these spots were developing.

“These groups are doing research. They’re going to go to new places. They live there for a while. They have different lifestyles,” he said of early humans. “They feel comfortable moving into areas where Neanderthals were.”

These discoveries were only possible because previous researchers left no stone unturned. Archaeologists in the 1920s and 1930s previously excavated the Ilsenhöhle Cave beneath Ranis Castle in the Thuringia region of Germany. The castle was built over the cave long before any excavations took place.

That’s when scientists were unable to drill into critical layers of the cave, which collapsed after hitting rock more than five feet thick.

In 2016, researchers returned with updated drilling techniques and new forms of analysis. About 24 feet below the surface, they discovered a layer containing leaf tips (like the tip of a spear) and human bone fragments.

The discovery of human bone fragments led researchers to dig deep into material excavated nearly 90 years ago, where they discovered additional skeletal fragments.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

India’s initial snow leopard study shows that there are only 718 of them remaining

Posted on January 31, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Snow leopard in Ladakh, India

Wim van den Heever/naturepl.com

India’s first snow leopard survey estimates that there are 718 big cats living in six mountainous regions of the country.

They make up about 10 to 15 percent of the world’s population, and conservationists believe they number between 3,000 and 5,400 people.

snow leopard (panthera uncia) inhabit vast areas of remote mountainous regions, making them one of the most difficult predators to study.

The study, led by Wildlife Trust of India, was conducted from 2019 to 2023 and involved setting up 1,971 camera traps covering 120,000 square kilometers of habitat.

This represents over 70 per cent of the snow leopard’s potential habitat across the trans-Himalayan region of Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Approximately 34 percent of this area is under legal protection.

While 241 cats were photographed, evidence of leopard feces, fur, and body marks was found in the survey area, which covers approximately 100,000 square kilometers.

Snow leopards live in 12 countries in Asia, but primarily in the rugged Himalayas of China and India. The species was listed as endangered in 1972 and reclassified as endangered in 2017, but is still considered to be in decline.

“Snow leopards are beautiful, mysterious, ghostly animals, but they’re so much more than that,” says biologist George Schaller, who first photographed a snow leopard in Pakistan in 1971. “Snow leopards tend to symbolize the region and people of the time.” We begin to focus on the region as a whole, not just the snow leopard. Protecting it therefore protects the area for the benefit of all wildlife and local communities. ”

India’s goal is to use this baseline for long-term population surveys to improve monitoring, said Bhupender Yadav, India’s Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Forests and Climate Change. This is what the agency did in his 1970s with Project Tiger, creating conservation measures to increase the tiger population.

“These periodic assessments provide valuable insights to identify challenges, address threats, and develop effective conservation strategies,” says Yadav.

But some local figures fear the announcement could backfire. “This is one of the rarest animals, and this number may change the way we look at it,” said wildlife photographer Morap Namgair. snow leopard tour In Ladakh. “People might think 718 is an exaggeration, so it might change the psychology of conservation.”

Namgeir believes local people must take the lead in conservation efforts. “As locals, we share the mountain, so we have a responsibility to keep its numbers at the same level, if not increase,” he says. “They are the world’s most difficult animals to study, and we may never know how many there are. But we are committed to our efforts because protecting them protects us all.” Have to.”

topic:

Source: www.newscientist.com

Humans were already present in Northern Europe 45,000 years ago

Posted on January 31, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Early European humans may have hunted mammoths in frozen landscapes

Dorling Kindersley/Getty Images

When modern humans first began to settle in Europe, they headed straight to the cold north. Challenging excavations in Germany have revealed that our species was in the region at least 45,000 years ago, confirming earlier claims that our ancestors were in Britain shortly thereafter.

“They came into a very hostile environment,” he says
Jean-Jacques Hublin
At the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. “It felt like northern Finland.” [today]”

Modern people(homo sapiens) were the most recent humans to permanently settle in Europe about 45,000 years ago. Previously, this continent was dominated for hundreds of thousands of years by Neanderthals, who disappeared from the fossil record about 40,000 years ago.Modern humans and Neanderthals may have overlapped in France and Spain
Between 1400 and 2900.

“All the ancient humans, homo sapiens“This phenomenon occurred across Eurasia between 50,000 and 40,000 years ago,” Hublin said. This was a critical time, as multiple human species coexisted for millions of years, but only one survives today.

“This is the beginning of species invading every habitable crevice on Earth,” Hublin said. “I know it happened…but I don't know why or how it happened.”

of
transitional period
is a mystery. There are several types of stone structures from the period that may have been made by Neanderthals or modern humans. One is found at several archaeological sites in northern Europe.
Rincombians, Lanissians, Gerzmanovicians (LRJ) – Features a long leaf-shaped tip that may have been attached to a spear. These have never been found in association with confidently identified hominin bones. “I had no idea who made it,” Hublin said.

To find out, Hublin and his colleagues visited several locations where LRJ artifacts were obtained. Unfortunately, earlier archaeologists destroyed the ruins with shoddy excavation methods. The only exception was a cave called Ilsenhöhle near Ranis, Germany. Having collapsed several thousand years ago, initial excavations in the 1930s were difficult and some of the ruins were left in place. Havlin's team re-excavated and dug deep shafts into the relevant sediment layers.

So-called LRJ stone tools discovered in Germany's Ilsenhöhle Cave

Josephine Schubert, Burg Lanis Museum, (CC-BY-ND 4.0)

The excavation was said to have been “extremely difficult”.
Marie Solessi from Leiden University in the Netherlands was not involved in the study.

Havlin's team found many bone fragments buried in the sediment. They also reexamined similar fragments from the original excavations. Analysis of bone collagen proteins revealed that 13 species belong to the hominin family. To identify them more precisely, the research team extracted mitochondrial DNA, which humans inherit only from their mothers, from her 11 fragments. “they are homo sapiens” says Hublin.

The technology used was “first-class,” Solessi said. She also wants to see nuclear DNA. This is because these individuals may be hybrids with their Neanderthal fathers. Because it's not shown in mitochondrial DNA. However, she says this is “very unlikely”.

timing of homo sapiens The occupation of Ilsenhöhle is consistent with existing evidence. Havlin's team previously showed that modern humans lived in the Bacho Kilo cave in Bulgaria about 45,000 years ago. However, Ilsenhöhle is further north.

In the second study, Hublin's colleagues used chemical evidence obtained from preserved horse teeth to determine whether this region of Germany existed at the time, specifically between 45,000 and 43,000 years ago. It showed that the climate was cold. Again, this is consistent with previous evidence. In 2014, Hublin's team showed that modern humans lived in a cold steppe-like environment in Willendorf, Austria, north of the Alps.
43,500 years ago.

A third study examined animal bones collected at Ilsenhelle and revealed that the cave was primarily inhabited by cave bears and hyenas. This means that modern humans only existed intermittently.

This indicates “rapid occupation by a small group of 'pioneers',” Solessi said.

Similar claims have been made for France's Mandolin Cave, which may have been briefly inhabited by modern humans 54,000 years ago, before Neanderthals reclaimed the site.

Since the Ilsenhöhle LRJ tool is associated with modern humans, it is reasonable to assume that other LRJ artifacts were also created by modern humans. homo sapienssays Hublin. This means that modern humans arrived in Britain at an early date. A partial jawbone found in Kents Cave in Devon, England, has been tentatively identified and dated to a modern human.
Approximately 43,000 years ago – and was discovered along with the LRJ artifact.

topic:

archeology/
ancient humans

Source: www.newscientist.com

New Low Temperature Record Set by Large Molecules

Posted on January 31, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Vacuum chamber that cools four-atom molecules to near absolute zero

Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics

The four-atom molecule is the largest uncooled molecule to just 100 billionths of a degree below absolute zero.

Techniques researchers use to cool individual atoms, such as applying lasers or magnetic forces to them, have little effect on molecules. This is especially true for molecules made up of many atoms. Because to be very cold, the molecules must be very still. The more moving parts a molecule has, the more opportunities it has to move and heat up.

“There's a joke that we study molecules not because they're easy, but because they're difficult,” he says. Luo Xinyu at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Germany. He and his colleagues were able to make a four-atom molecule even cooler than before.

They started with thousands of molecules made up of one sodium atom and one potassium atom, trapped them in an airless chamber, and cooled them, or made them very still, with magnetic forces and bursts of light.of lowest possible temperature 0 Kelvin, or absolute zero; these molecules were only 97 billionths of a billionth of a degree Kelvin.

To turn these diatomic molecules into tetraatomic molecules, the researchers needed to combine them in pairs without warming them up. They used microwave fields to “glue” the molecules together, based on the following theoretical calculations. Tao Xi and Suey Chinese Academy of Sciences. “I didn't really know if I could put these molecules together, but Tao's team did the calculations and he said to me, 'This is possible, give it a try.'” says Luo.

Their attempt was successful. The researchers created about 1,100 molecules, each containing two potassium atoms and two sodium atoms, at a temperature of 134 billionths of a billionth of a kelvin. This is the largest molecule ever to reach this cryogenic temperature.

“One of the reasons we make molecules ultracold in the first place is so we can have more control over them, and this is a big step forward in that sense,” he says. john bourne At the University of Colorado Boulder. This new experiment is important not only because the molecules are at unprecedented temperatures, but also because at the coldest temperatures molecules can enter known quantum states and be forced into other states or processes. accuratelyhe says.

Luo says the atoms in these molecules are not “glued” to each other as strongly as the atoms in molecules at room temperature. But making them is a necessary step in studying complex chemical reactions, which are easier to observe when they are very cold and slow.

Next question is Is there something else, perhaps an even larger molecule? Using similar microwave technology, it could be made from similarly frigid materials at extremely low temperatures, he said. sebastian will At Columbia University in New York. “I think we are looking at exciting new opportunities in quantum chemistry!” he says.

topic:

chemistry /
quantum physics

Source: www.newscientist.com

App-Connected Smart Hat Detects Signal Changes and Sends Notifications

Posted on January 31, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

This hat looks normal, but you can sense it when the traffic light changes color

Wang Zhihun

Flexible, wear-resistant strands of conductive fibers are used to make smart clothing with embedded computers and sensors, such as hats that can sense changes in signals.

Previous efforts to create fibers with wear-resistant coatings and conductive cores have encountered problems. When materials cool and shrink at different rates during manufacturing, or are twisted and cleaned once in the final product, small stress cracks can develop and often cause smart devices to stop working.

now, Rayway Researchers at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University have discovered a conductive material that shrinks on cooling and does not develop stress cracks, similar to the aluminosilicate glass used in smartphone screens. The material borrows techniques from fiber-optic cable manufacturing, and the process is cheap and “industry-ready,” Wei said.

The technique involves placing a semiconductor wire made of silicon or germanium into molten glass at a temperature of about 1000 degrees Celsius and drawing it into thin strands. The glass is later etched away with hydrofluoric acid and replaced with a polymer coating that allows for a more flexible material. Fibers can stretch up to 10 kilometers.

A small amount of this fiber is then woven into fabric using a standard loom and regular cotton. Wei says the new material alone feels like “fishing line” on the skin, so cotton is needed to make the clothes comfortable.

The researchers used the fibers to create several prototypes, including electronic sensors and chips that communicate through conductive materials, such as a hat that detects changes in the color of traffic lights. It then passes that information to a smartphone app, a jumper that can receive and decode images sent by pulses of light rather than radio waves, and a watch strap that measures the wearer's heart rate.

In a six-month test where the garment was worn, washed and dried, the fibers were durable and continued to conduct electricity.

However, there are still weaknesses. The link between the flexible material and the rigid circuit board that holds computer chips and other components tends to fail after a few months, causing smart features to stop working.

“The only part that consistently leads to test failures is the connection between the fiber and the external circuitry,” Wei says. “The challenge now is to find a stable connection method.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Physicists’ Discovery Unveils Distribution of Strong Forces Within Protons

Posted on January 24, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

The physics of proton gravitational form factors and their understanding in quantum chromodynamics have advanced significantly over the past two decades through both theory and experiment.a new paper inside modern physics review We provide an overview of this progress, highlighting the physical insights revealed by studies of the gravitational form factor and reviewing its interpretation in terms of the mechanical properties of protons.

A 2D representation of the quark contribution to the force distribution within the proton as a function of distance from the proton center. Light gray shading and long arrows indicate areas of stronger force, while dark gray shading and short arrows indicate areas of weaker force. Left panel: Normal force as a function of distance from center. The arrows change size and always point radially outward. Right panel: tangential force as a function of distance from center. The force changes direction and magnitude as indicated by the direction and length of the arrow. The sign of the force changes around 0.4 fm from the proton center. Image credit: Burkert other., doi: 10.1103/RevModPhys.95.041002.

“This measurement reveals insight into the environment experienced by the proton's components,” said Volker Burkert, principal investigator at the Jefferson Institute.

“A proton is made up of three quarks held together by a strong force.”

“At its peak, this amounts to more than four tons of force that would have to be applied to the quark to pull it out of the proton.”

“Of course, it is not possible in nature to separate just one quark from a proton because quarks have a property called color.”

“Protons have three colors mixed with quarks, and appear colorless from the outside. This is a requirement for them to exist in the universe.”

“When you try to extract a colored quark from a proton, the energy you invested in separating the quarks is used to create a meson, a pair of colorless quark and antiquark, leaving behind a colorless proton (or neutron).”

“In other words, the number four tons represents the strength of the force inherent in protons.”

The result is only the second of the mechanical properties of the protons to be measured.

Mechanical properties of protons include internal pressure (measured in 2018), mass distribution (physical size), angular momentum, and shear stress (shown here).

This result was made possible by predictions from half a century ago and data from 20 years ago.

In the mid-1960s, nuclear physicists realized that if they could observe how gravity interacted with subatomic particles like protons, such experiments could directly reveal the mechanical properties of protons. It was theorized that

“But at the time, we had no choice. For example, if you compare gravity to electromagnetic forces, there's a difference of 39 orders of magnitude. So it's pretty hopeless, right?” said Latifa El-Adhriri, a staff scientist at the Jefferson Institute. .

This data comes from experiments conducted at the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) at the Jefferson Research Institute.

A typical CEBAF experiment involves a high-energy electron interacting with another particle by exchanging a packet of energy and a unit of angular momentum called a virtual photon with the particle. The energy of an electron determines which particles it interacts with in this way and how it reacts.

In the experiment, a high-energy beam of electrons interacting with protons inside a target of liquefied hydrogen gas exerted a much greater force on the protons than the four tons needed to pull out the quark/antiquark pair.

“We have developed a program to study deep virtual Compton scattering,” said Dr. El-Adrili.

“This is where electrons exchange virtual photons with protons.”

“And in the final state, the proton stays the same but recoils, and you actually produce one very high-energy photon, and you also get a scattered electron.”

“At the time we acquired the data, we did not know that beyond the intended 3D imaging with these data, we were also collecting the data needed to access the mechanical properties of the protons.”

“It turns out that this particular process, the highly virtual Compton scattering, may be related to how gravity interacts with matter.”

“A general version of this relationship is stated in Einstein's 1973 textbook on general relativity.gravityWritten by Charles W. Meisner, Kip S. Thorne, and John Archibald Wheeler. ”

“In it, they say, “A massless spin 2 field would give rise to a force indistinguishable from gravity, because a massless spin 2 field would couple with a stress-energy tensor in the same way as a gravitational interaction.'' It is written as 'It is from.'.'.

“Thirty years later, theorist Maxim Polyakov continued this idea and established a theoretical foundation linking deep virtual Compton scattering processes and gravitational interactions.”

“This theoretical breakthrough establishes a relationship between measurements of deep virtual Compton scattering and the gravitational shape factor.”

“And we were able to take advantage of that for the first time and bring out the pressure that we gave during the game.” Nature A paper was published in 2018 and now normal and shear forces are being studied,” Dr. Burkert said.

“A more detailed explanation of the relationship between deep virtual Compton scattering processes and gravitational interactions is provided in a new paper describing the first results obtained from this study.”

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V.D. Burkert other. 2023. Colloquium: Gravitational shape factor of protons. Rev.Mod. Physics 95(4):041002; doi: 10.1103/RevModPhys.95.041002

Source: www.sci.news

Arabica Coffee Genome Sequenced at Chromosome Scale by Scientists

Posted on January 24, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

researchers Genomica Application Laboratory and elsewhere are releasing improved genome assemblies. Arabica coffee (arabica coffee tree)a hybrid of coffee tree and robusta coffee (Coffea genus) contributes to approximately 60% of the world's coffee production.

arabica coffee tree. Image credit: Fadil Askar.

arabica coffee tree derived from interbreeding between modern ancestors Coffea genus and another closely related coffee species, coffee tree.

As a result of this hybridization, arabica coffee treeflavor and its large and complex genome pose challenges to breeding and genetic research.

Some partial genome assemblies arabica coffee tree is currently available, but the mechanisms that generate its genetic diversity are unknown.

Researchers Michele Morgante and Gabriele Di Gaspero and their colleagues at the Istituto di Genomica Appplicata used the latest sequencing technology to generate a more complete genome assembly. arabica coffee treeallowing detailed analysis of its chromosomal structure.

Analysis of the genome, including previously inaccessible regions such as around centromeres, revealed differences in genome structure, function, and evolution contributed by the two ancestral species, particularly in genes involved in caffeine biosynthesis. found.

For this study, they also analyzed the genomes of 174 samples collected from different species within Earth. coffee genus and found a very low level of genetic diversity within it. arabica coffee tree.

Diversity found to be increasing in some regions arabica coffee tree Varieties of specific genomic regions due to two different sources of variation: chromosomal abnormalities and gene segments provided by so-called Timor hybrids. Arabica coffee x Canephora coffee tree A hybrid from East Timor.

This hybrid is the parent line for many modern varieties that combine disease resistance traits. Coffea genus And its unique flavor is arabica coffee tree.

The authors argue that genetic diversity arabica coffee tree Essential for commercial success, this discovery could help develop new coffee varieties with desirable traits, such as disease resistance or different flavor profiles.

“Resequence data from large accession sets reveal low intraspecific diversity at the center of species origin. arabica coffee tree” the authors write in their paper.

“Across a limited number of genomic regions, the diversity of some cultivated genotypes has increased to levels similar to that observed in one of the ancestral species. Coffea genusThis is probably the result of introgression derived from Timor hybrids. ”

“We also found that in addition to very few early exchanges between homologous chromosomes, there are many recent chromosomal abnormalities such as aneuploidies, deletions, duplications, and exchanges.”

“These phenomena are still polymorphic in the germplasm and may be the root cause of genetic variation in such low-variability species.”

of paper Published in this week's magazine nature communications.

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S. Scalabrine other. 2024.Chromosome-scale assembly reveals chromosomal abnormalities and exchanges that generate genetic diversity arabica coffee tree germ plasm. Nat Commune 15,463; doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-44449-8

Source: www.sci.news

The Unexpected Advantages of an Asymmetric Face, Body, and Brain

Posted on January 24, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

When you look in the mirror, you may notice slight imbalances in your facial features, such as your nose crooked to the left, a wrinkle that only appears under one eye, or your ears slightly higher than the other. .

For centuries, this lack of perfect balance has been thought to detract from our beauty, and there are a number of services aimed at “fixing” it, from photo filters to cosmetic surgery. But asymmetry is built into the human body and brain, and for good reason. Moreover, new research suggests that it has little effect on your appeal to others.

First, lopsided arrangement of our internal organs. For most people, the heart, stomach, and spleen are all on the left side of the spinal cord, and the liver and gallbladder are on the right side. This makes more efficient use of thoracic and abdominal space compared to a structure that aligns all organs to the spine.

Why is the human brain asymmetrical?

What about your brain? Although her two hemispheres may appear to be reflective of each other, corresponding areas on each side have different responsibilities. You will notice the effect this has on your movements. If you're right-handed, it's because the left hemisphere of your brain, which is connected to the right side of your body, is slightly more specialized in controlling the fine muscles of your fingers, increasing your manual dexterity. .

You may be surprised to find that this “lateralization” is seen in many fields…

Source: www.newscientist.com

Scientists Uncover Four New Emperor Penguin Colonies in Antarctica through Fecal Analysis

Posted on January 24, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Emperor penguins are the largest species of penguin, often weighing around 90 pounds. However, they also have one of the most precarious breeding methods on the planet.

To ensure their chicks leave the nest in the summer, they breed during the coldest months of the year, when temperatures are close to -50 degrees Fahrenheit and Antarctic winds can gust at 190 miles per hour. Male penguins keep their chicks warm by balancing eggs on their feet, and colonies of up to 5,000 penguins huddle together to stay warm, each with their own body temperature. They are said to be walking around with a limp so that they can take turns.

But these animals do all of their breeding on Antarctic sea ice, and last year’s sea ice reached its lowest peak since scientists started measuring it in 1979. Some scientists fear that the decline is now so extreme that it has become an inevitable snowball effect.

If the ice sheet breaks before the emperor penguin colony leaves its chicks, the chicks will fall into the water and die, Fretwell said. That has happened over the past two years, particularly in 2022, with another study by Fretwell published last year showing “complete breeding failure” in all but one of the five known breeding sites.

The new colonies identified by Fretwell are mostly small. They said in a paper published in the journal Antarctic Science that at least some penguins appear to have migrated because of unstable sea ice conditions.

“If the colonies fail, they will move to other areas,” Fretwell told NBC News.

“We spend all this time monitoring these animals and seeing if they can adapt to climate change, but the truth is that penguins ultimately need to adapt. Not us,” Fretwell added. “We need to end our dependence on fossil fuels, not just for penguins, but for all species and ourselves.”

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Despite its wealth, why is the United States still not as healthy as it should be?

Posted on January 24, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

People wait in line to get vaccinated at a COVID-19 vaccination site in Orlando, Florida, United States.

SOPA Image/LightRocket (via Gett)

People in the United States are watching with increasing caution. aging progresses Among Washington, DC's elected leaders, the two current leading candidates for the 2024 presidential election are currently 81 and 77 years old. But the longevity of the leadership stands in sharp contrast to the reality in other parts of the country. Americans are literally dying of disease.

Ten years ago, I led a study. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) This paper is the first to document that the United States has a disadvantage in health and survival among high-income countries.our report The United States has the lowest life expectancy of any country and has been shown to have high rates of morbidity and mortality from dozens of causes. This health and survival deficit has been growing for more than 40 years, affecting men and women, young and old, rich and poor, and of all races and ethnicities.

Average life

Meanwhile, other the study This trend has been confirmed as the life and death situation worsens. Life expectancy in the U.S., after plateauing for several years, had declined for three consecutive years before the global pandemic hit. What followed was devastating. COVID-19 has killed more than 1 million people in the United States and cut life expectancy by an additional two years, twice as much for Hispanics, Blacks, and Native Americans. This was the steepest decline in life expectancy since then. Second World War and nothing comparable happened other wealthy countries.

During the pandemic, Eight Among the 10 main causes of death, the following also increased: maternal and children and youth death. Given these harsh realities, the pressing question is why are Americans so unwell?in new scientist Ten years ago, I realized the reason was simple, yet deceptively complex. That's pretty much it.

Even a casual look at life in America today reveals an incredible situation.The country is entering its third decade of national deaths. opioid epidemic – unleashed by pharmaceutical industry – 110,000 lives were claimed in 2022 alone. And along with drugs, there are also bullets. In 2020 and 2021, Guns killed more American children It is more common among people between the ages of 1 and 17 to die from any other cause.

Circumstances that cause poor health, such as high economic levels inequality and instabilityalong with limited safety net Institutions and social support systems are found in every aspect of life. children and youth In the United States. For over 10 years now, Cross-border comparison The well-being of children and adolescents in wealthy countries shows that children in the United States are worse off than other children in virtually every area measured.

Health insurance

Given the poor health status of Americans, this country needs a reliable health care system. However, the United States is well known for being one of the most complex and fragmented nations. expensive medical system world.largely 30 million the american people No health insuranceAnd for millions of others, quality, affordable, and accessible health care is simply out of reach or effectively not available.

The final feature of the U.S. situation is one of its most important factors: systemic racism and the injustices that accompany it. In 2021, Average life For Asian Americans it was 84 years, for Hispanic Americans it was 78 years, for white Americans it was 77 years, for black Americans it was 72 years, and for Native Americans it was 67 years. native community They have long experienced some of the most severe health inequalities in this country, a direct reflection of the cumulative violence, trauma, and injustice inflicted on them over generations. . It is difficult to overstate the impact of racism in the United States today.

If health is wealth, then the United States is far from being the rich and powerful country many imagine.other countries will do well too do not have They will follow the Americans down this deadly path. And the United States should consider the many ways other industrialized democracies are achieving far better and more equitable health outcomes at far lower costs.

A longer version of this article was first published in German at Der Pragmaticus Verlag AG.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Newly Found Anti-Aging Cells Offer Potential for Prolonged Youthfulness

Posted on January 24, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

The ‘fountain of youth’ isn’t locked away in a philosopher’s stone or a mythical body of water, according to new research. In fact, US scientists say the key to slowing aging is hidden within our bodies.

It was announced in new research that: The secret to anti-aging lies in white blood cells known as T cells. The researchers behind the study discovered that these cells can be reprogrammed into senescent cell-killing machines known as CAR (chimeric antigen receptor) T cells.

When they tested this treatment on mice, they lost weight, improved their metabolism and glucose tolerance, increased physical activity, and led healthier lives. Moreover, there is no tissue damage or toxicity.

“If you give this to old mice, it rejuvenates them. If you give this to young mice, it slows down the aging process. There are currently no other treatments that can do this.” Corina Amor Vegas is an assistant professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) in the United States and one of the authors of the paper.

Researchers call this treatment a “living drug.” That’s because when CAR T cells are genetically modified, they become more aggressive in attacking a group of cells known as senescent cells.

Senescent cells are responsible for many of the conditions and diseases that develop as we age, such as obesity and diabetes. As the years go by, we accumulate more and more of them, and this causes a buildup of harmful inflammation. However, CAR T cells may be able to eliminate them and slow the effects of aging.

This treatment is already approved in the United States to treat blood cancers. But this is the first time scientists have shown that CAR T cells can slow or even reduce the effects of aging.

There are already drugs that can eliminate senescent cells, but these must be taken repeatedly. The effects of CAR T cells, on the other hand, are long-lasting. If he takes one dose when he is young, he will be protected for life.

“With CAR T cells, you could potentially get away with just one treatment. For chronic diseases, this is a big advantage. Think about the patients who need treatment,” said Amor Vegas. If administered intravenously, it will be fine for several years. ”

Scientists will then investigate whether the cells not only make you healthier for the rest of your life, but also help you live longer.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Recent Discovery of Messier 87 Black Hole Supports Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity

Posted on January 24, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

In April 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration resolved the central black hole of the giant elliptical galaxy Messier 87 (M 87), known as M87*, the first-ever event horizon-scale black hole. I reported the image. . In a new paper, astronomers present new images of M87* from data collected by the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA), the Greenland Telescope, and several other instruments within the EHT. doing. These new images show the shadow of his M87* as predicted by general relativity. Interestingly, the peak brightness of the ring is shifted by about 30 degrees compared to the first image. This is consistent with the theoretical understanding of fluctuations due to turbulent matter around a black hole.

The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration has released new images of M87* from observations taken in April 2018, one year after the first observations in April 2017. The new observations reveal a familiar bright luminescent ring, the same size as the one originally observed. The brightest part of the ring has moved about 30 degrees to the 5 o'clock position compared to the 2017 image. Image credit: EHT Collaboration.

“A fundamental requirement of science is to be able to reproduce results,” says Dr. Keiichi Asada, an astronomer at the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica.

“The confirmation of the ring in a completely new data set is a major milestone for our collaboration and a strong indication that we are observing the shadow of a black hole and the matter orbiting around it. .”

An image of M87* taken in 2018 is strikingly similar to what astronomers saw in 2017.

They see bright rings of the same size, with a dark central area and one side of the ring brighter than the other.

Because M87*'s mass and distance do not increase appreciably over a human lifetime, general relativity predicts that the diameter of the ring will remain the same from year to year.

The diameter stability measured in the 2017-2018 images strongly supports the conclusion that M87* is well described by general relativity.

“One of the remarkable properties of a black hole is that its radius strongly depends on only one quantity: its mass,” said Dr. Nitika Yadrapalli-Yurku, a postdoctoral fellow at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“M87* is not a material that gains mass rapidly, so according to general relativity, its radius will change little throughout human history. We see our data confirm this prediction. That's very interesting.”

Although the size of the black hole's shadow did not change between 2017 and 2018, the location of the brightest region around the ring changed significantly.

The bright area rotated about 30 degrees counterclockwise and settled in the lower right part of the ring, at about the 5 o'clock position.

Historical observations of M87* with less sensitive arrays and a small number of telescopes also show that the shadow structure changes from year to year, but with low precision.

Although the 2018 EHT array cannot yet observe jets emerging from M87*, the black hole's axis of rotation predicted from the location of the brightest region around the ring is more consistent with the axis of jets seen at other wavelengths. Masu.

“The biggest change is that the brightness peak has moved around the ring, which is actually the first time in 2019 that “This is what we predicted when we announced the results.”

“According to general relativity, the size of the ring should remain approximately constant, but radiation from the turbulent and messy accretion disk around the black hole causes the brightest parts of the ring to move toward a common center. It wobbles around you.”

“The amount of wobble observed over time can be used to test theories about the magnetic field and plasma environment around the black hole.”

of new results appear in the diary astronomy and astrophysics.

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Collaboration with Event Horizon Telescope. 2024. The persistent shadow of M 87's supermassive black hole. I. Observation, Calibration, Imaging, and Analysis. A&A 681, A79; doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202347932

Source: www.sci.news

Research Indicates Multicellularity Emerged in Streptococcal Plants Approximately One Billion Years Ago

Posted on January 24, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

A new study led by scientists at the University of Göttingen has provided evidence that the first multicellular streptococci probably existed about a billion years ago.

bierenbrodspot other. We sequenced 24 new transcriptomes of Klebsormidiophyceae and combined them with 14 previously published genome and transcriptome datasets. Image credit: Bierenbroodspot other., doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.12.070.

streptococcus is best known as a clade of plants that contains a rich diversity of embryophytes (land plants).

However, next to the embryophytes there is a series of freshwater and terrestrial algae that are responsible for important information on the emergence of key traits in land plants.

this house, Klebsolmidioalgae stand out. Klebsolmydiophytes thrive in diverse environments, from the mundane (ubiquitous on tree bark and rocks) to extreme environments (from the Atacama Desert to Antarctica), display filamentous body surfaces, and can be found on land. They can show remarkable resilience as habitat colonizers.

Currently, the lack of a strong phylogenetic framework for Klebsolmydiophyceae hinders our understanding of the evolutionary history of these important traits.

Dr Tatyana Dariyenko, co-lead author of the study, said: “These small, hardy little creatures have a very high diversity in their morphology and are very good at living in sometimes very harsh environments. “It's really interesting that we're adapting.”

“Our comprehensive sampling aimed to map the global distribution of Klebsolmydiophyceae and highlight its adaptability, ecological importance and hidden diversity.”

“We analyzed the molecular clock based on genetic data calibrated using fossils.”

When delving into the complex evolutionary history of Klebsolmydiophyceae, Dr. Darienko and colleagues faced the challenge of disentangling phylogenetic relationships using traditional markers.

To overcome this, they utilized hundreds of genes obtained from the transcriptomes of 24 isolates from different continents and habitats.

“Our approach, known as phylogenomics, was to reconstruct the evolutionary history by considering whole genomes or large parts of genomes,” said Iker Irisarri, Ph.D., co-senior author of the study. Ta.

“This very powerful method allows us to reconstruct evolutionary relationships with very high precision.”

Researchers have uncovered a new phylogenetic tree for the family Klebsormydiophyceae, revealing that it can be divided into three orders.

“A deep dive into phylogenetic frameworks and our molecular clocks has revealed the ancient ancestor of Klebsormydiophyceae, a multicellular entity that flourished millions of years ago. Its descendants began to diverge into three distinct branches more than 800 million years ago,” said co-lead author Maaike Bierenbroodspot.

Scientists are investigating the evolutionary history of multicellularity within streptococci.

They discovered that the ancient common ancestor of land plants, other chain algae, and Klebsormydiophyceae was already multicellular.

“This discovery reveals the genetic potential of multicellularity among streptococci and shows that the origins of this important trait date back almost a billion years,” said co-author Jan de Vries. the professor said.

of study It was published in the magazine current biology.

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Maike J. Bielenbrodspot other. Phylogenomic insights into the first multicellular streptococci. current biology, published online on January 19, 2024. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.12.070

Source: www.sci.news

Reversing Type 2 Diabetes is More Challenging Than Clinical Trials Indicate

Posted on January 24, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Insulin injections help control type 2 diabetes

Inner/Shutterstock

People with type 2 diabetes who lose weight while participating in clinical trials appear to be significantly more likely to have their symptoms reversed than those who lose weight outside of such studies.

Treatments such as insulin injections can help people with type 2 diabetes maintain healthy blood sugar levels. However, if you are overweight or obese, your symptoms may improve when you lose weight.

In fact, less than 10 percent of people with type 2 diabetes who lose weight outside of these trials actually lose weight, even when followed for several years. Wu Hongjian At the Chinese University of Hong Kong. In exams, this number can be closer to 90%.

These discrepancies may be due to sometimes different definitions of what it means to reverse type 2 diabetes, as well as the support and different interventions that often accompany participation in clinical trials. he says.

To better understand this, Dr. Wu and colleagues looked at more than 37,000 people in Hong Kong aged 18 to 75 who were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes between 2000 and 2017, about half of whom were women. ) was studied.

Each participant was followed for an average of just under eight years, and the researchers looked at how their weight changed in the year after diagnosis and whether their symptoms improved during the study period.

The researchers measured glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels, which reflect the participants’ blood sugar status over several months. To reverse type 2 diabetes, also called remission, Generally defined as an HbA1c of less than 6.5 percent. When measured at least 3 months after stopping treatment. The researchers were investigating whether these levels occurred during her two consecutive tests conducted six months apart.

The research team only measured the participants’ weight one year after diagnosis, at which point 2% were in remission and half had gained weight, Wu said.

By the end of the study, 6% were in remission at some point, Wu said. About two-thirds of these people needed diabetes medication to get their symptoms back under control within three years.

However, by simply recording participants’ weight one year after diagnosis, the researchers were not able to determine whether the participants continued to gain weight or whether other factors, such as gaining weight at a particular time, could account for some of the weight. We do not know whether it brought participants out of remission. Fat that accumulates around the waist and certain internal organs.

In contrast, one small clinical trial found that up to 86% of type 2 diabetics who lost at least 15 kg went into remission within 1 year. People participating in such studies often benefit from professional dietary management, physical exercise programs, moral support, regular monitoring, feedback, reminders and encouragement, Wu says.

But even people who participate in the control groups of some clinical trials and don’t undergo intensive weight loss programs have higher remission rates than what was seen in Wu’s team’s study.

That may be because, outside of clinical trials, doctors are often reluctant to advise patients with type 2 diabetes to stop treatment, he says. This likely also has to do with differences in how remission is defined, Wu said, since trials often require only one HbA1c measurement in a healthy patient.

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Source: www.newscientist.com