Gray hair might represent the marks left by our bodies in the battle against cancer, according to a new study.
The recently released Natural Cell Biology explores how the cells that provide pigment in our hair and skin “self-destruct” upon damage, as part of the body’s protective measures against cancer.
Researchers have found that when these pigment-producing cells experience certain types of damage, they cease to function on their own instead of continuing to divide.
This selection process helps to prevent the spread of faulty cells that can cause harmful mutations, but it ultimately leads to a decline in pigment-producing cells over time, resulting in gray hair.
While scientists have been examining methods to prevent the self-destruction of pigment cells to combat gray hair, recent findings indicate that gray hair may indicate a significant anti-cancer defensive mechanism.
Damaged DNA can lead to mutations and cause cancer – Credit: Getty
“[This study] indicates that gray hair and melanoma are not unrelated occurrences but are framed as varied outcomes of stem cell stress responses,” stated Professor Emi Nishimura of the University of Tokyo, who spearheaded the research.
The Tokyo team made this revelation while examining mouse melanocyte stem cells, which are responsible for producing hair pigment. They found that these melanocyte cells only sacrificed themselves when their DNA faced a “double-strand break,” or a precise cut on both sides of the DNA helix.
However, when the cells encountered different stressors, like ultraviolet light or carcinogens, they did not undergo self-destruction. Instead, they survived and continued to divide, allowing mutations to accumulate and potentially paving the way for cancer.
These two distinct responses—cells opting for self-sacrifice in some situations but persisting in others—may help clarify why gray hair and skin cancer become increasingly prevalent as we age.
Researchers suggest that gaining a deeper understanding and ultimately controlling this response could lead to innovative methods for eliminating high-risk cells before they turn cancerous.
Drone footage of a gray whale captured off the coast of Oregon over a seven-year period reveals new details about how the giant marine mammal finds and eats its food.
The findings, described in two studies published this summer, include that gray whales use different swimming techniques to gather food depending on their size and age, and that larger whales are able to swim more easily in the water. It includes a high chance of spitting out a “bubble explosion” to stay in place.
“Until this study, we thought all whales exhibited this behavior,” said Clara Byrd, lead author of both studies and a research scientist at Oregon State University's Marine Mammal Research Institute. said. “No one thought there was a pattern to who behaved in what way.”
Bird's research also found that whales use different predation techniques depending on the depth at which they forage and the habitat of their prey. Such information could inform future conservation efforts, she said, as it provides insight into the types of habitats that need to be protected to maintain whales' access to food.
“While we are not currently actively seeking to protect specific habitats, future concerns include the possibility that whales of different ages may not all be using the same habitats. “It's very important to know,” Bird said. “It will help us manage them in the future.”
Drone footage of gray Wales shows them standing on their heads and exploding bubbles. oregon state university
Whales eat amphipod crustaceans, such as small shrimp and earthworms. These creatures suck up water and sediment from the ocean floor where they live and use their whiskers to filter and consume food. Gray whales are usually observed alone or in small groups, but large groups can sometimes be seen on feeding and breeding grounds.
Bird and her team conducted a survey off the coast of Newport. During their seven-year voyage, the group used drones to track and record individual whales. They used identification markers such as scars, spots, and tail shapes to identify specific whales.
The research team tracked 78 gray whales in a total of 160 sightings from 2016 to 2022. In drone footage, young, small whales were observed often swimming sideways or facing forward, opening and closing their mouths in an attempt to find and ingest food. . Older, larger whales, on the other hand, tended to dive and then stay in place with their heads down, in what scientists describe as a “handstand technique.”
As whales grow larger, the probability of such headstands increases, but the probability of forward swimming tactics decreases, the study found. Water depth and habitat type, including rocky, sandy, and coral reefs, also influenced the whales' approach.
Drone images show a gray whale using a sidestroke technique to forage for food. oregon state university
Bird believes the switch in technique is due to the maturation of the whale's muscles and its level of strength and coordination.
Her team's second study was published Published in Ecology and Evolution In August, we explained how older, larger whales emit air through their blowholes to stay underwater as they forage.
These “bubble explosions” can reduce the whale's buoyancy and help it sink. Larger whales have a greater need for this because their lungs hold more air, contain more fat, and are easier to float.
The discovery was based on observations of 75 whales. On average, the bubble explosions occurred 27 seconds after the whale dove took off in search of food, and most were observed while the whales were doing a handstand. The older and larger the whale, the more likely such an explosion will occur.
“Combining size and individual-level behavior in this way is a really interesting part of this study,” Bird said.
Susan Parks, a biology professor at Syracuse University who has published research on whale eating habits but was not involved in the new study, said documenting the diversity among whale species is important for scientists. said that it helps avoid inaccurate generalizations.
“When working on conservation efforts and protecting endangered species, it's really important to understand that there can be large variations in behavior,” Parks said. “So you can't just stop at a single observation.”
The park also highlighted the potential drones have for collecting detailed data about whales.
“There is so much we don’t know about whale behavior,” she said, adding that the study “uses drone footage to essentially monitor whale behavior to help explain how whales make a living.” “It gave us a completely different perspective on the details of what's going on,” he added.
Claire Jacobs captured a rare moment with a gray seal (Halichoerus grypus) Spray water at a swooping white-tailed eagle (Harrietus albicilla) on the Isle of Wight. Image credit: Claire Jacobs.
Claire Jacobs witnessed a white-tailed eagle swoop toward the surface at high tide.
As the eagle approached, an adult gray seal emerged from the water directly beneath the predator.
This unusual event occurred in the waters of the Newtown Estuary of the Newtown River called Cramerkin Brook or Cramerkin Lake.
The encounter was caught on camera, with the gray seal initially emitting a warning call, but then resorting to an unprecedented defensive tactic: spitting a stream of water directly at the eagle.
“However, my year was enriched by being able to capture such rare and never-before-seen interactions.”
“Sightings of gray seals and white-tailed eagles are now common on the Isle of Wight, but interaction between these two species has so far not been reported,” said Megan Jacobs, daughter of Claire Jacobs and a palaeontologist at the University of Portsmouth. says Mr. .
“This is the first record of an interaction between these two top predators, and the first report of a gray seal using spit as a means of defense or deterrence against an airborne enemy.”
“White-tailed eagles directly compete for fish stocks, so spitting may be a strategy to eliminate them from competition for prey.”
The white-tailed eagle, also known as the Steller's sea eagle, is the largest species of European eagle.
Their wingspan can reach up to 2.6 meters, but is usually smaller, with males measuring about 2.26 meters and females about 2.37 meters.
White-tailed eagles went extinct on the Isle of Wight in 1780, but a bold reintroduction program began introducing young white-tailed eagles from breeding pairs in Scotland in the summer of 2019.
“Spitting is a rare behavioral activity among vertebrates, which is why this event is so fascinating,” said Megan Jacobs.
“This challenges our existing understanding of animal defense mechanisms.”
“Spits are commonly found in humans, camels, llamas, and alpacas, but are also used in some snakes to deliver venom, and may also be used to capture prey by archers, so there is no photographic evidence I'm excited to have gotten this fish. “
The first report of a gray shark resting under a reef shelf in the Seychelles changes our knowledge of how they breathe (they don’t need to keep swimming to stay alive), and the science of sleeping sharks. The basis for this has been clarified again.
A predator in perpetual motion. I can’t sleep in our ocean. If you have this impression of sharks, you’re not alone. There’s a good reason for that. Sharks have to swim to breathe (that’s what we were told). The science of shark sleep and breathing is related, and all sharks use gills for breathing, but he has two ways to move oxygen-rich seawater over the gills.
Some sharks, called obligatory rams, “ram” oxygen-rich seawater over their gills, which requires them to keep moving.other seedThey actively pump seawater over their gills while at rest, called buccal pumps.
Evidence of shark rest: A new perspective
Today’s science shows that sharks may be stationary, and there are also suggestions that sharks are asleep. However, there is no solid evidence regarding the sleep behavior of Ram ventilators. Scientists hypothesize that they may not be sleeping at all, sleeping using half their brains (like sperm whales and bottlenose dolphins), or sleeping against ocean currents. There is.
New paper “Just keep swimming? Observation of resting behavior of gray reef sharks Medicaginus Ambryrrhinchus (Bleeker, 1856),” published this month. Fish Biology Journal This overturns our knowledge of one mandatory ram ventilator. The gray shark is an endangered reef-dwelling shark of the family Ceridae, and was a typical representative of sharks that move for breathing.
“During a routine research dive around Daros, we discovered a gray shark resting under a reef shelf,” said the head of research at the Save Our Seas Daros Research Center (SOSF-DRC) in the Seychelles. Dr. Robert Block begins speaking. “This is not something we believed they were capable of. Gray sharks have been thought of as a ram-breathing species that cannot rest, so when we find these sharks resting, It turns our basic understanding of them upside down.”
Stationary sharks: a surprising discovery
Researchers encountered gray sharks resting alone or in groups at various locations around the Seychelles. And all the while, the sharks seemed oblivious to the observer’s presence. This is an important observation. Scientists believe that increased arousal threshold is a characteristic of sleep, not just rest.
The sharks remained stationary except for mandibular movements, suggesting that these ram-ventilating sharks switch to buccal pumping behavior. Since there is little current at the site and the shark rests facing on all sides, the idea that resting facing the current is the only way to do so is because there is little water for gray reef sharks.
Craig Foster, founder of the SeaChange project, is one of the divers and an author of the paper. “There’s something special about tiptoeing around 25 meters underwater, staring into the open eyes of a sleeping shark, and moving carefully so as not to wake the peaceful, beautiful shark.” he says.
Implications and future research
“I love anything that challenges our current thinking, and I’ve always thought the gray reef shark is a clear example of a species that needs to swim to breathe. Obviously with this discovery. Dr James Lea, CEO of the Save Our Seas Foundation, is enthusiastic about the implications of this paper. “This raises all sorts of other questions,” he says. “How are they coping? For how long? How often? We still have a lot to learn, and that’s very exciting to me.”
If gray reef sharks can switch up their breathing and rest, we may be able to learn more about similar sharks. “It’s important to understand how they use their environment and how it changes in response to changing environmental conditions,” explains Dr. Lee. “How important is this rest, or even the possibility of sleep, for sharks? And how will they be affected if they are unable to rest if conditions change, such as rising or falling oxygen levels due to climate change? Will I receive it?”
remind us of our connection to nature
The authors all agree that this discovery also tells us a lot about ourselves and our relationship with the natural world. “I hope these discoveries remind us how much we still don’t know and how interesting that is. Science can get quite a lot wrong. That’s a lot, and that’s okay,” Dr. Block recalled. Foster believes what we know about the wild is critical to conservation. “Knowing how our shark family sleeps brings us closer to their fascinating world, and awakens us from our own slumber to remind us that we cannot live without these amazing marine creatures.” ,” he said.
Reference: “Just keep swimming? Observation of resting behavior of gray reef sharks Medicaginus Ambryrrhinchus (Bleeker, 1856)” by Robert W. Block, Craig Foster, and James S.E. Lee, November 20, 2023, Fish Biology Journal. DOI: 10.1111/jfb.15623
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