Tag Archives: origins

New insights into the evolutionary origins of tardigrades from Cretaceous amber fossils

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Tardigrades are a diverse group of microinvertebrates widely known for their remarkable ability to survive. Molecular clocks suggest that tardigrades diverged from other panarthropods (arthropods, tardigrades, velvet worms, and lobopods) before the Cambrian, but the fossil record is extremely poor. Now, paleontologists have described a new species of tardigrade and redescribed previously known species. readBoth are from Canadian Cretaceous amber.

Artistic Restoration read (Top) and Aerobius dactylus (Bottom) A hypothetical fossilization environment. Image courtesy of Franz Anthony.

First discovered in 1773, tardigrades are a diverse group of microscopic invertebrates best known for their ability to survive in extreme environments.

Also known as tardigrades or moss pigs, these creatures can live up to 60 years and grow to a size of up to 0.5mm. They are best seen under a microscope.

They can survive up to 30 years without food or water, and can survive temperatures as low as -272°C and as high as 150°C for a few minutes, and as low as -20°C for decades.

Tardigrades can withstand pressures ranging from nearly zero atmospheres in outer space to 1,200 atmospheres at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, and can also tolerate radiation levels of up to 5,000-6,200 Gy.

They survive by entering a state of suspended animation called biostasis, using proteins that form a gel inside the cells and slow down vital processes.

“Tardigrades are microscopic invertebrates characterized by a compact body shape with lobopod legs with four pairs of claws, and are closely related to the clawed pterygota and euarthropods. Panarthropods“Harvard doctoral student Mark Mapalo and his colleagues said:

“Tardigrades are widely known for having several species with cryptobiotic capabilities that allow them to survive extreme conditions such as the vacuum of space, ionizing radiation and freezing temperatures. Tardigrades are also found in marine, freshwater and terrestrial habitats around the world.”

“Despite their ubiquity in the modern biosphere, tardigrades have a notoriously poor fossil record, and research into their macroevolution, such as the origin of their body shape, the timing of their terrestrialization, and the acquisition of their cryptic abilities, is limited.”

“Currently, only four fossil crown-group tardigrades are known, all preserved as amber inclusions, but only two of these have an established taxonomic position relative to extant tardigrades.”

Aerobius dactylusImages/Photos: Mapalo others., doi: 10.1038/s42003-024-06643-2.

For the study, the authors looked at a piece of amber containing a tardigrade fossil that was discovered in Canada in the 1960s. read and what was presumed to be another tardigrade, which was virtually unexplained at the time.

Using confocal laser scanning microscopy, a technique commonly used to study cell biology, the researchers were able to examine the microscopic structure of the tardigrade fossils in astonishing detail.

This study read It has been identified as a new species in the Tardigrade family tree, Aerobius dactylus.

“Both were found in the same Cretaceous amber, which means that these tardigrades coexisted with dinosaurs,” said Dr Javier Ortega-Hernández of Harvard University.

” read The seven claws are well preserved, and those that curve towards the body are smaller than those that curve away from it, a pattern seen in modern tardigrades.”

“The second, previously unidentified specimen had claws of equal length on each of the first three pairs of legs, but the outer claws on the fourth leg were longer.”

Both species serve as important calibration points for an analysis called a molecular clock analysis, which helps scientists estimate important evolutionary timing.

For example, new research suggests that modern tardigrades likely branched off during the Cambrian period, more than 500 million years ago.

The study also sheds light on the origins of tardigrades' remarkable ability to survive extreme environments by entering a state of torpor.

“This study estimates that this survival mechanism likely evolved during the middle to late Palaeozoic and may have played a key role in helping tardigrades survive the end-Permian mass extinction, one of the most severe extinction events in Earth's history,” Dr Ortega-Hernández said.

of result Published in a journal Communication Biology.

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MA Mapalo others2024. Inclusions in Cretaceous amber shed light on evolutionary origins of tardigrades. Communication Violet 7, 953; doi: 10.1038/s42003-024-06643-2

Source: www.sci.news

Unraveling the origins of the universe’s first stars

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Recently, the James Webb Telescope (JWST) made a groundbreaking observation of a distant galaxy. These early galaxies challenge our understanding of galaxy formation and the physics of the early universe, appearing as bright, massive, fuzzy red dots.

One of JWST’s latest discoveries is the presence of “Tyrannosaurus Rex” Stars in a distant galaxy. The spectrum of this galaxy indicates a significant amount of carbon, raising questions about the origin of these stars.

These early stars are believed to be massive, unknown entities, and the carbon could be a remnant from their existence.

Early stars are rare because they formed in a pristine environment before the universe was polluted with heavy elements. Star formation was more challenging in this simpler time.

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Stars typically begin as balls of hydrogen gas that undergo nuclear fusion reactions to convert hydrogen into other elements.

Star formation requires cooling and compressing gas to ignite nuclear fusion reactions. Dust plays a crucial role in cooling the gas by absorbing and releasing energy during collisions.

The lack of heavy elements like carbon in the early universe posed a challenge for star formation. The first stars were likely more massive and exploded as supernovae, dispersing heavy elements and enabling the formation of stars like our sun.

Through observations of distant galaxies, JWST is providing insights into the origins of the universe and our place in it.

While we may not see the “space dinosaurs,” studying their remnants helps us understand how their existence paved the way for life on Earth.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

The mystery of life’s origins on Earth: Unraveling the puzzle baffling scientists

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Life is abundant on Earth, from pigeons in the park to invisible microorganisms covering every surface. However, when Earth first formed 4.5 billion years ago, it was devoid of life. The question remains: how did the first life form emerge?

The answer is still unknown. If we understood the process, we could recreate it in a controlled environment. Scientists could replicate the right conditions with the right chemicals and potentially observe living organisms forming. Yet, this has never been accomplished before.

Although the exact origin of life remains a mystery, there are several clues that provide insight. Living organisms consist of various chemicals, including proteins and nucleic acids that carry genetic information. While these chemicals are complex, their basic building blocks are simple to create.

One of the first demonstrations of this concept came from chemist Stanley Miller in 1953. By simulating the early Earth’s conditions with water and gases, Miller produced amino acids, the fundamental components of proteins, through heating and electrical shocks resembling lightning.

Subsequent studies, such as one conducted by Sarah Simkuch, have shown how complex chemicals can arise from basic compounds. By starting with everyday chemicals like water and methane, researchers have generated thousands of substances found in living organisms.

While this abundance of chemical building blocks suggests a fertile environment for life to emerge, the transition from chemicals to life is not automatic. Several key factors contribute to the formation of life, including structure, sustenance, and reproduction.

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

Research into the origin of life has focused on creating systems that encompass these essentials, such as genetic molecules capable of self-replication. However, the interdependence of these systems suggests a simultaneous emergence may be more plausible, possibly within confined spaces like deep-sea hydrothermal vents or terrestrial pools.

While the exact beginning of life remains uncertain, advancements in understanding have made the origin of life seem less inexplicable than before.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

A breeding revolution 4,200 years ago shaped the origins of the modern horse.

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Horse domestication began on the Eurasian steppes

Lina Shatalova/iStockphoto/Getty Images

A genetic study of hundreds of ancient horses suggests that ancient breeders dramatically shortened the horse’s natural development period, starting around 4,200 years ago. This intense breeding allowed the lineage to rapidly expand across Eurasia within a few centuries, according to researchers led by Ludovic Orlando at the Centre for Human Biology and Genomics in Toulouse, France.

“In other words, they controlled horse breeding,” he says, “so this tells us something about the breeding processes behind the success of horse breeding around the world.”

Horses were first domesticated 5,500 years ago by the Botai people in what is now Kazakhstan. The Botai, however, did not spread their horse culture to other regions and eventually went extinct. Horses released back into the wild.

More than 1,000 years later, a different lineage of horse was domesticated in the Pontic-Caspian steppes of southern Russia. This lineage eventually spread worldwide, giving rise to all the domesticated horses we see today, according to Orlando.

To trace the history of horse domestication, Orlando and his team analyzed the genomes of 475 ancient horses dating back 50,000 years in Eurasia. They compared these genomes with those of 71 modern domestic horses representing 40 breeds from around the world, along with six species of the endangered mullein genus (a separate subspecies).

The research found that, except for the Botai, horses were not domesticated before the third millennium BCE, indicating that horses did not play a significant role in early human migration or cultural expansion, as previously suggested, Orlando explained.

DNA analysis showed that horses in the Pontic-Caspian steppe underwent significant inbreeding around 4,200 years ago, likely in an effort to develop specific traits for high-quality riding or chariot horses, according to Orlando.

Through a combination of genome sequencing and carbon dating, scientists estimated that the average time between two successive horse generations, called the generation time interval, was significantly shortened during the same period of inbreeding in the Pontic-Caspian steppes, halving the interval seen in the wild.

“During the domestication bottleneck around 2200 BCE, breeders were able to control horse reproduction so well that generations became faster and faster,” Orlando said.

Orlando suggests that breeders may have achieved this shortening of generation times not by breeding horses at a younger age, but by increasing survival rates. Unlike wild horses, horses in human care are less susceptible to deaths among mares and newborn foals, as they are protected from predators and disturbances that could jeopardize their survival, according to researchers at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna led by Kristin Orlich.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Dr. Fauci Provides Testimony at Contentious Hearing Regarding COVID-19 Origins

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Dr. Anthony Fauci faced tough questions from Republican politicians in a recent hearing regarding the lessons learned from the pandemic. This was his first public testimony since leaving government service at the end of 2022.

During the hearing with the House Select Subcommittee on COVID-19, Fauci addressed various allegations made against him, including claims about funding for virus research in China. Some conspiracy theories suggest that this research could have led to the coronavirus leak.

Fauci admitted that the possibility of a lab leak cannot be dismissed entirely, but denied any involvement in concealing information related to it. He emphasized that the origins of the pandemic remain unknown.

Despite the accusations, no evidence linking Fauci to the origins of the coronavirus was presented during the hearing.

Fauci, who served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, defended his actions during the pandemic and refuted claims of bribing scientists or misleading the public.

Democrats supported Fauci as a dedicated public servant, while some Republicans, like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, called for his prosecution and made unsubstantiated accusations against him.

The hearing also focused on the EcoHealth Alliance’s research activities, with Republicans questioning Fauci’s relationship with the organization and its president, Peter Daszak.

Fauci addressed the concerns raised during the hearing, including allegations about his former aide’s communications and the nature of the research funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Despite facing continued harassment and threats to his life, Fauci remains committed to serving the public and providing accurate information about public health issues.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

According to a study, Arabica coffee has been traced back to its origins in Ethiopia over 600,000 years ago.

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An international team of scientists has generated the highest quality reference genome to date for coffee arabica, the world's most popular coffee species (arabica coffee tree). Their results suggest that this species developed through natural hybridization between two other coffee species in the forests of Ethiopia more than 600,000 years ago. coffee tree and robusta coffee (Coffea genus).

arabica coffee tree. Image credit: Sci.News.

Arabica is the source of approximately 60% of all coffee products in the world, and its seeds help millions of people start their day and stay up late.

Arabica populations waxed and waned throughout millennia of Earth's heating and cooling periods, eventually being cultivated in Ethiopia and Yemen and then spreading around the world.

Professor Victor Albert of the University at Buffalo said: “We are using genomic information from living plants to go back in time and map the long history of Arabica as accurately as possible, and to understand how modern cultivars have evolved. “We have clarified whether the two are interrelated.'' .

From a new reference genome created using state-of-the-art DNA sequencing technology and advanced data science, Professor Albert and his colleagues identified 39 Arabica species and the 18 that Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus used to name the species. Even century specimens could be sequenced.

“Although other public references exist on Arabica coffee, the quality of our team's research is very high,” said Dr. Patrick Descombe from Nestlé Research.

“We used state-of-the-art genomics approaches, including long-read and short-read high-throughput DNA sequencing, to create the most advanced, complete and continuous Arabica reference genome to date.”

arabica coffee tree It is formed as a natural hybrid between Coffea genus and coffee treethen received two sets of chromosomes from each parent.

Scientists have struggled to pinpoint exactly when and where this allopolyploidization phenomenon occurred, with estimates ranging from 10,000 years ago to 1 million years ago.

To find evidence of the original event, the researchers ran the genomes of various Arabica species through a computational modeling program, looking for traces of the species' foundation.

The model shows three population bottlenecks in the history of Arabica, the oldest of which occurred about 29,000 generations, or 610,000 years ago.

this suggests arabica coffee tree It was formed shortly before that, between 610,000 and 1 million years ago.

“So the hybridization that produced Arabica was not human-made. It is clear that this polyploidy phenomenon predates modern humans and coffee cultivation,” Professor Albert said.

Coffee trees were long thought to have developed in Ethiopia, but the varieties the researchers collected around the Great Rift Valley, which stretches from southeastern Africa to Asia, showed a clear geographic divide.

The wild species studied all originate from the western side, whereas all cultivated varieties originate from the eastern side, closest to the Bab al-Mandab strait that separates Africa and Yemen.

This is consistent with evidence that coffee cultivation may have originated primarily in Yemen around the 15th century.

Indian monk Baba Budhan believed it Around 1600 AD, the legendary “seven seeds” were smuggled out of Yemen, establishing the Indian Arabica variety and setting the stage for today's global spread of coffee.

“It appears that Yemen's coffee diversity may be the originator of all of today's major varieties,” Dr. Descombe said.

“Coffee is not a crop that has been highly hybridized to create new varieties, like corn or wheat.”

“People mainly chose their favorite varieties and grew them. So the varieties we have today have probably been around for a long time.”

East Africa's geo-climatic history is well documented through research on human origins, allowing researchers to understand how climate change and wild and cultivated Arabica populations have fluctuated over time. can be compared.

Modeling shows a long period of low population size between 20,000 and 100,000 years ago, combined with a prolonged drought that is thought to have hit the region between 40,000 and 70,000 years ago. This almost corresponds to a cold climate.

The population then increased during the Wet Period in Africa, about 6,000 to 15,000 years ago, and growing conditions are thought to have become more favorable.

Around the same time, about 30,000 years ago, wild species diverged from the varieties that would eventually become domesticated by humans.

“They still occasionally breed with each other, but this probably stopped around 8,000 to 9,000 years ago, around the end of the African Humid Period and the widening of the straits due to rising sea levels,” said Yarko, a researcher at the Southern Ocean Institute of Technology. Dr. Sarojärvi said. University.

of result Published in an online journal this week natural genetics.

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J. Sarojärvi other. 2024. Allopolyploid genomes and population genomics arabica coffee tree Uncovering the history of modern coffee variety diversification. Nat Genet 56, 721-731; doi: 10.1038/s41588-024-01695-w

Source: www.sci.news

The Origins of Life: Key Chemical Reactions May Have Begun in Hot, Cracked Rocks

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Some amino acids can become concentrated when traveling through cracks in hot rocks.

Sebastian Kauritzky / Alamy

Chemical reactions key to the origin of life on Earth may have occurred as molecules moved along a temperature gradient within a network of cracks in thin rocks deep underground.

Such networks are thought to have been common on early Earth and may have provided a kind of natural laboratory in which many of the building blocks of life were concentrated and separated from other organic molecules.

“It’s very difficult to get a more general environment where you can do these cleansing and intermediate steps,” he says. Christophe Mast at Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany.

He and his colleagues created a heat flow chamber the size of a playing card to model how mixtures of organic molecules behave in cracks in such rocks.

The researchers heated one side of the 170-micrometer-thick chamber to 25°C (77°F) and the other side to 40°C (104°F), allowing molecules to move in a process called thermophoresis. This created a temperature gradient that How sensitive a molecule is to this process depends on its size and charge and how it interacts with the fluid in which it is dissolved.

During an 18-hour experiment in a heat flow chamber, we found that different molecules were concentrated in different parts of the chamber depending on their sensitivity to thermophoresis. Among these molecules are many amino acids and A, T, G, and C nucleobases, which are important building blocks of DNA. This effect was further magnified by creating a network of three interconnected chambers, with one side of the chamber network at 25°C and the other side at 40°C. Additional chambers further concentrated the compounds concentrated in the first chamber.

Mathematical simulations with 20 interconnected chambers (which may closely resemble the complexity of natural crack systems) find that the enrichment of different molecules can be further amplified Did. In one chamber, the amino acid glycine reached a concentration approximately 3000 times higher than that of another amino acid, isoleucine, even though they entered the network at the same concentration.

The researchers also demonstrated that this enrichment process can cause reactions that would otherwise be extremely difficult. They showed that glycine molecules can bind to each other when the concentration of a molecule that catalyzes the reaction called trimetaphosphoric acid (TMP) increases. Mast said TMP is an interesting molecule to concentrate because it was rare on early Earth. “Since [the chambers] Since they are all randomly connected, all kinds of reaction conditions can be implemented. ”

“It’s very interesting that within the crack there are regions with different proportions of compounds,” he says. evan sprite from Radboud University in the Netherlands was not involved in the study. “This enhancement allows us to create even more versatility from very simple building blocks.”

But enrichment in rock fractures is still far from a viable scenario for the origin of life, he says. “Ultimately, they still need to come together to form something resembling a cell or protocell.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Possible Origins of the Basque Language Unraveled by Ancient Bronze Hand

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Ancient bronze hand discovered in Irregui, northern Spain

Juancho Egana

An inscription found on a 2,000-year-old metal needle may be written in a language related to modern-day Basque. If this interpretation is correct, it could help explain one of the biggest mysteries in linguistics: the origin of the Basque language.

However, other linguists say there is not enough evidence to link the inscription to Basque.

The bronze hand was discovered in July 2021 at the top of a hill called Irregui in the Pyrenees Mountains in northern Spain. Archaeologists have been excavating there since 2007, first discovering a medieval castle and then exploring a much older settlement from the Iron Age.

This settlement was founded between 1500 and 1000 BC. It was probably attacked by the Romans and abandoned in the 1st century BC.

Irreghi's hand is a bronze plate measuring 14 centimeters long, 12.8 centimeters wide, and only 0.1 centimeter thick, with a patina tint. On the back of the hand are his four lines of text, rewritten by first scratching and then dotting into the metal.

Most words cannot be associated with any known language, but the first word is “sorionek”. Matin Ayesteran Professors at the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao, Spain, and their colleagues claim it is similar to Basque. Zorio cat, which means “lucky.” Furthermore, the last word is “elaukon”, which is likened to a Basque verb. Zelaucon.

Irregi's hand carved in a mysterious language

Matin Ayesteran et al.

It is said that this hand was probably intended to represent good fortune or attract good fortune by appealing to the gods. Mikel Edeso Eguia in Aranzadi Scientific Society Assisted with excavations at Donostia (also known as San Sebastian), Spain.

The researchers also claim that the hand is evidence that languages ​​related to Basque have been spoken in northern Spain for 2,000 years. Most languages ​​currently spoken in Europe belong to the Indo-European family, but Basque does not. “It has nothing to do with any other language we know,” says Edeso Eguia. Previous research has tentatively linked the Basques to a group of people known as the Bascons, who lived in the Pyrenees according to classical sources.

However, the idea that the inscriptions on the hands are written in a language related to Basque is not widely accepted.After the hand was first described in his 2022 book, linguists Celine Munour at the University of Pau and the Adour region in France. Julen Manterola Presented at the Basque University of Vitoria-Gasteiz Criticism.

“There's not enough evidence,” Manterola said. This is also because there are very few words in the hands of the Irregian language. Not enough, he says, to properly compare with known languages.

Furthermore, the connection with the Basque language is based almost exclusively on the similarity between “sorionek” and “solionek”. Zorio cat. “You can't connect other words with historical Basque,” ​​Munor says.

Even that similarity can be misleading, Manterola says. Similar phrases in Basque have changed in predictable ways over the centuries, arriving at their current form. Zorio catmust have taken a completely different path.

“We expect more inscriptions to emerge,” Munour says. “In this case, we will be able to learn more about the possible relationship between this language and the Basque language.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

The significant role of space dust in the origins of life on Earth

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2023 Perseid meteor shower seen from California

NASA/Preston Deitches

Space dust may have brought elements essential for life to early Earth. Our planet is relatively poor in some of the elements necessary for the chemical reactions of life, but the dust that constantly drifts in from space contains many more, and when the Earth was young it was covered with glaciers. It is possible that they were gathered in

“It’s always been a shadow idea, but people were ignoring it for a number of reasons. The biggest one was that there weren’t enough ideas anywhere,” he said. say. craig walton at Cambridge University. Space dust tends to be rich in elements that are relatively difficult to obtain on Earth, such as phosphorus and sulfur, and it constantly falls in thin layers around the world.

Until now, researchers exploring the origins of such elements on Earth have focused primarily on larger objects that can deliver more elements at once, but such delivery mechanisms were They may have a hard time maintaining their pre-biological chemistry long enough to do so, Walton says. “Meteorites have long been thought to be a great source of these elements, but they release them randomly,” he says. “It’s like if I give you a big feast once, but you never eat again, you’re going to have a hard time living a happy life. You need a continuous source, and that’s what happens. It’s space dust.”

Up to 40,000 tons of space dust falls on Earth every year. Billions of years ago, that number may have been between 10 and 10,000 times higher, but that was still not enough to make individual locations particularly rich in elements important to life. Walton and his colleagues simulated how wind and water move dust and collect it in concentrations high enough to support life.

They found that glaciers are the most promising environment because they have the potential to trap large amounts of dust and are very less contaminated by dirt on land. When space dust falls on a glacier, it absorbs sunlight and heats up, melting and creating tiny holes in the ice. The hole then continues to trap more dust. Finally, the dust chamber flows into a pond at the edge of the glacier.

We can still see this process happening today, but if the Earth had been cold enough to have glaciers billions of years ago, the amount of dust would have increased and it would have been even more efficient. . “If you want to produce deposits that are really rich and have a lot of reactions that could lead to life, this is the best way to do it,” Walton says.

“We don’t know if glaciers were common on early Earth; we just don’t have good data for this period in general,” he says. ben pierce at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. “But I think it’s worth investigating, especially if it has the potential to provide a mechanism for creating a rich primordial soup.”

The lack of data about conditions on Earth during this time makes it difficult to estimate how important cosmic dust was to the origin of life. “We’ve always had a hard time understanding what the bulk chemistry of early Earth was like,” he says. Matthew Pasek at the University of South Florida. “However, this could be an important source of extremely valuable material.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

New discoveries from the Webb telescope shed light on the origins of supermassive black holes and galaxies

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New insights from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope overturn theories about how black holes shape the universe, reversing the classical theory that black holes formed after the first stars and galaxies appeared. It challenges our understanding. In fact, black holes may have accelerated the birth of new stars during the universe's first 50 million years.

This artist's impression shows the evolution of the universe, starting with the Big Bang on the left and continuing with the emergence of the Cosmic Microwave Background. The formation of the first stars ends the Dark Ages of the universe, followed by the formation of galaxies. Image credit: M. Weiss / Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

“We know that these monster black holes exist in the centers of galaxies near the Milky Way, but now the big surprise is that they were also present at the beginning of the universe, and that they were like building blocks or seeds of early galaxies. It was something,” he said. Professor Joseph Silk, an astronomer at Johns Hopkins University and the Sorbonne Institute of Astrophysics;

“They've really enhanced everything, including giant amplifiers for star formation. This completely overturns what we previously thought was possible, and how galaxies form. It has the potential to completely shake up our understanding of what happens.”

“The distant galaxies observed by Webb in the early universe appear much brighter than scientists expected, revealing an unusually large number of young stars and supermassive black holes.”

“Conventional wisdom holds that black holes formed after the collapse of supermassive stars, and that galaxies formed after the first stars illuminated the dark early universe.”

But the team's analysis suggests that for the first 100 million years, black holes and galaxies coexisted, influencing each other's fate.

“We argue that the outflow of the black hole crushed the gas clouds and turned them into stars, greatly accelerating the rate of star formation,” Professor Silk said.

“Otherwise, it's very difficult to understand where these bright galaxies came from, because they are typically smaller in the early Universe. Why on earth did they become stars so quickly? Do I need to create one?”

“A black hole is a region of space where gravity is so strong that not even light can escape its attraction.”

“Thanks to this force, they generate powerful magnetic fields that cause violent storms, eject turbulent plasma, and ultimately act like giant particle accelerators.”

“This process may be why Webb's detectors found more black holes and brighter galaxies than scientists expected.”

“We can't fully see these ferocious winds and jets so far away, but we know they must exist because many black holes have been seen in the early universe. I am.”

“The huge wind blowing from the black hole crushes nearby gas clouds, turning them into stars.”

“This is the missing link that explains why these first galaxies are much brighter than we expected.”

According to the research team, there were two stages of the young universe.

In the first stage, star formation was accelerated by high-velocity outflow from the black hole, while in the second stage, the outflow slowed down.

“Hundreds of millions of years after the Big Bang, a supermassive black hole magnetic storm caused gas clouds to collapse and new stars to form at a rate far exceeding that observed in normal galaxies billions of years later,” Professor Silk said. Ta.

“These powerful outflows moved into energy conservation states, reducing the amount of gas available to form stars within the galaxy, thus slowing star formation.”

“We originally thought that galaxies formed when giant gas clouds collapsed,” Professor Silk said.

“The big surprise was that there was a seed in the middle of that cloud, a large black hole, that helped rapidly turn the inside of that cloud into a star at a much faster rate than we expected. So the first galaxies are incredibly bright.”

of study Published in Astrophysics Journal Letter.

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joseph silk other. 2024. Which came first, a supermassive black hole or a galaxy? Insights from JWST. APJL 961, L39; doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad1bf0

Source: www.sci.news

Researchers are uncertain about the origins of life on Earth

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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

The Genetic Origins of Multiple Sclerosis in Northern Europeans Revealed by Ancient DNA

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Northern Europeans have a higher risk of multiple sclerosis due to ancient DNA, a study reveals. About 5,000 years ago, people flocked to this area.

This discovery emerged from a large-scale study comparing modern DNA with DNA obtained from ancient human teeth and bones. This allowed scientists to explore prehistoric migration and associated disease-related genes.

Results show that when the Yamnaya people migrated from present-day Ukraine and Russia to northwestern Europe during the Bronze Age, they carried a genetic mutation. This mutation is now known to increase the risk of multiple sclerosis.

The study, published in the journal Nature, suggests that these genes not only allowed the Yamnaya to flourish and spread but also protected them from infectious diseases carried by cattle and sheep.

The project, led by Eske Willerslev and the University of Copenhagen, is pioneering ancient DNA research and comparing it to similar research, including tracking down early cousins such as Neanderthals.

The process of ancient DNA extraction at the Lundbeck Foundation Geogenetics Center in Copenhagen.Michal Schlosser / University of Copenhagen (via AP)

This gene bank’s first exploration of multiple sclerosis is especially relevant since the disease is most common among people of white Scandinavian descent, yet the reason remains unknown.

Scientists believe certain infections can cause MS in genetically susceptible individuals. Over 230 genetic mutations have been identified that may increase the risk of this disease.

The study uncovered major changes in the population of northern Europe, tracing the migration of the Yamnaya people around 5,000 years ago. The gene bank was used to compare ancient DNA with around 400,000 modern humans

Comparisons revealed that MS-related genetic variants remained in the north, the direction the Yamnaya migrated, rather than in southern Europe. This supports the idea that the Yamnaya people are the closest ancestors of modern Danes, and the incidence of MS is particularly high in Scandinavian countries.

Dr. Astrid Iversen from the University of Oxford explains how exposure to animal-based bacteria may lead to imbalances in the immune system, possibly playing a role in the early development of autoimmune diseases.

While the study provides a potential explanation for the North-South MS disparity in Europe, further research is required to confirm the link. This statement comes from New York’s M.D., Samira Asghari, a genetics expert at Sinai School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

New Shepard’s triumphant return: Blue Origin’s latest success

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blue originNew Shepard has officially resumed operations, with the company today successfully launching a suborbital rocket for the first time in more than 15 months.

The rocket lifted off from the Blue Origin launch site in west Texas at around 10:42 a.m. local time. The mission, named NS-24 to commemorate its 24th launch, carried 33 payloads for a wide range of customers, including NASA, Honeybee Robotics, and the nonprofit research and engineering company Draper. The mission was successfully completed in her 10 minutes, and the capsule returned safely to Earth after a short suborbital flight.

The company had originally targeted a Monday launch, but canceled the launch due to “ground system issues.” Blue Origin did not elaborate further on the specific issue.

This will be Blue Origin’s first New Shepard launch since September 2022, when an anomaly caused an automatic abort mid-flight. The capsule, which had no people on board at the time, was ejected from its booster and landed on Earth via parachute, but the booster was destroyed. The company discovered an issue with the engine nozzle that caused higher than normal operating temperatures.

Blue flew New Shepard four times in 2022, including a failed launch. Phil Joyce, Blue’s senior vice president for the New Shepard program, said in a statement after the launch that the company will fly the rocket more frequently next year. In 2024, the flight rhythm will improve,” he said.

Erica Wagner, Blue Origin’s senior director, said on the launch livestream that the company looks forward to flying its next crewed flight “soon.” There is no doubt that prospects breathed a sigh of relief when they saw another successful flight recorded on the blue belt.

Watch the launch again here:

Source: techcrunch.com

The origins of social behavior revealed in new research

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A new study from Cornell University reveals that the visual system, not just chemoreceptors, has a major influence on the social behavior of male fruit flies. The study found that enhanced visual input can override normal social inhibition, and suggests similar mechanisms in the human brain, particularly related to conditions such as autism and schizophrenia. It has meaning in understanding.

Drosophila males typically exhibit antisocial behavior toward other males and prefer to identify females through chemoreceptors. However, recent research by Cornell University biologists shows that the fruit fly visual system plays an important role in social interactions.

The findings provide new insights into the potential roots of a variety of human social behaviors, including those associated with conditions such as bipolar disorder and autism.

This paper recently current biology.

Visual system and social behavior

many seed Many animals use vision to regulate social behavior, but the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. In Drosophila, vision is thought to be used explicitly to detect and follow movement rather than to regulate social behavior, but researchers have found that this may not be the case. .

“In our study, hyperactivation of the visual system overcomes the inhibition produced by chemical signals emitted by male flies, telling other males, ‘Okay, I know, I’m another male, don’t interfere. ”’ said senior author Nirey Yapisi, assistant professor of neurobiology and behavior. “Surprisingly, visual enhancement in the brain somehow overrides chemosensory inhibition and attracts male flies to other males.”

Researchers found that changing GABARAP/GABA;a Receptor signaling in visual feedback neurons in the male brain influenced social inhibition in flies. When GABARAP is knocked down in the visual system, males unexpectedly exhibit increased courtship behavior towards other males.

Researchers discovered that genes similar to those in the human brain control visual neurons in fruit flies. Decreased GABA signaling in the human brain is associated with traits of social withdrawal in conditions such as autism and schizophrenia.

“Our results provide a promising avenue to investigate how these proteins regulate social behavior in the mammalian brain and their potential contribution to human mental state.” said lead author Dr. Yuta Mabuchi. ’23.

Reference: “Visual feedback neurons fine-tune Drosophila male courtship through GABA-mediated inhibition”, Yuta Mabuchi, Xinyue Cui, Lily Xie, Haein Kim, Tianxing Jiang, Nilay Yapici, September 2023 5 Day, current biology.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.08.034

Source: scitechdaily.com