Tag Archives: rats

Uncovering a New Factor Behind the Longevity of Naked Mole Rats

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Investigation into naked mole rats may unveil novel anti-aging methods

Janissimo/Shutterstock

Naked mole rats can live for up to 37 years, significantly outliving other rodents of a similar size. So, what accounts for their remarkable lifespan? Research indicates that variations in immune proteins that enhance DNA repair may play a role, among other elements.

This discovery suggests the potential for developing treatments aimed at increasing human longevity, according to Mao Jiyong from Tongji University in Shanghai, China. This finding also supports the notion that the accumulation of mutations and the inability to repair damaged DNA are primary contributors to aging.

The immune protein in focus is called cGAS, found in many organisms. It is primarily thought to function as an alert mechanism in response to DNA detected outside the nucleus, which could indicate cancer or viral invaders.

Interestingly, cGAS is also found within the cell nucleus. In both humans and mice, it has been shown to hinder DNA repair while elevating mutation rates and cancer risk. The precise reasons for this are still unclear and might be an unintended consequence rather than a beneficial adaptation.

Mao and his team have demonstrated that the cGAS variant present in naked mole rats exhibits the opposite behavior in the nucleus, actively promoting DNA repair. This is linked to differences in four amino acids that constitute the cGAS protein. When these amino acids are altered in a mole rat’s cells, their cGAS loses its ability to facilitate DNA repair. Conversely, modifications to the human cGAS can remove its inhibitory effect on DNA repair.

Additionally, when the researchers genetically modified fruit flies to express the naked mole rat version of cGAS, those flies lived nearly 70 days, in contrast to the approximate 60 days lifespan of the unaltered flies.

So, could we enhance our lifespans by introducing naked mole rat cGAS into human cells? “Yes, employing gene editing and mRNA delivery might provide avenues to enhance DNA repair and increase human longevity,” Mao asserts. However, achieving sufficient levels of the crucial cells to produce the modified cGAS poses a challenge.

Alternatively, researchers could seek small-molecule drugs that can interact with the human cGAS protein, prompting it to act more like its mole rat counterpart, Mao suggests.

This study indicates that cGAS does have an impact on lifespan. Additionally, Vera Gorbunova and her research team at the University of Rochester in New York have discovered that a molecule known as hyaluronic acid also plays a role in the notable longevity of naked mole rats. “[Thus,] altering cGAS activity through pharmacological or genetic strategies could yield beneficial outcomes for health and longevity,” she concludes.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Rats making strides towards becoming snobbish and exaggerated

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Feedback is the latest science and technology news of new scientists, the sidelines of the latest science and technology news. You can email Feedback@newscientist.com to send items you believe readers can be fascinated by feedback.

Rattus sommeliersis

Feedback has reached an age where even small amounts of alcohol make us sleepy. As such, the concept of wine tasting is not appealing. Taking a nap seems like a time-consuming and expensive method. However, fermented grape providers can quickly have a new demographic to cater to rats.

At least that’s something we extrapolate from our research. Animal cognition Called “Rats can distinguish (and generalize) two white wine varieties.”. It was released on February 21st, and sub-editor and television columnist Bethan Ackerley sent it to feedback on March 1st after it went “semi-visit online.”

Anyway, it’s actually very interesting. We all know that human smell sensations are considerably limited compared to other mammalian odors, including rodents. This is because there are few olfactory receptors in the nose. But we also know that our minds are more refined than the minds of animals. To raise the question: in animals, in this case, rats, can they integrate many olfactory signals with different olfactory signals and learn about complex categories such as different white wines, for example?

Researchers trained rats to distinguish between two grape varieties, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc. To make sure they learned the categories, they tested them with new examples of these wines. Rats can convey the difference. Obviously there is quite a bit of happening between those rat ears.

The question is how far can you take this? It is one thing to show that rats can learn the difference in wine, but can they also learn to really look down on it? Feedback wants to list an increasingly ridiculous list of odors after seeing mice that can smell wine. Are they really wine lovers until these mice squeal about “really tasting Terroir” and “Liebfraumilch is not scary at all”?

Anti-war

At this point, feedback has heard too much about the imminent AI-induced apocalypse. Yes, yes, one day, one of the AI ​​companies will soon create artificial general information (AGI). This is as intelligent as humans. AGI is something that intelligent beings can easily do to themselves (shush, don’t ask), and they start redesigning to become even smarter as they quickly become unstoppable. At that point, humans are either reduced to or wiped out by animals in the zoo. It is said that this is so important that we should stop worrying about stinging things like climate change. you know.

It was this mental framework that gave us feedback. New science fiction short stories By Madison Stoff. You can’t tell the name of the story. Because it uses sarcasmically the words that are stopped by email filters, but you can quote Stoff’s explanation. “A very entertaining, intimate science fiction story reinterpreting the memes of Loco’s Basilisk through a medium of pseudo-erotic self-insertion fan fiction.”.

At this point, imagine that readers may have one or two questions. Don’t be afraid: Feedback is here to guide you.

Roko’s Basilisk is a kind of thought experiment with AI. In the distant future, the AI ​​decided to punish all humans who knew it could exist but did not help create it. AI creates digital replicas of all those people and tortures them forever. This is how this future AI will encourage us all to start building it now. If we do that, we will not be replicated and tortured.

Don’t look at the title “basilisk” as it is a reference to a mythical creature that can kill you at a glance. Similarly, knowing the idea of ​​Roko’s basilisk is probably putting you at risk. Just reading the feedback this week, you may have denounced your own future replica of yourselves for eternal suffering. very sorry.

Stoff’s story tells how to save humanity from Roko’s basilisk in the distant future by seducing it using her sexual wil. Basilisk is so troubled by her that she agrees to stop torture everyone in exchange for this passionate encounter. Additionally, Stoff wrote a short story about this and brought it online, so it’s part of Basilisk training data. This means that if a basilisk exists it’s burning to Madison Stoff.

Simply reading and sharing stories, feedback is more likely to make future AI attracted to Stoff, and less likely it would torture us all. We encourage our readers to do the same, and there is a warning that there is clear sex in the story. And don’t read it at work unless you work for an AI company. In that case, proceed immediately.

Tesla? I barely knew her!

Occasionally, when Elon Musk appears in the news, feedback is an indescribable reminder of the 1818 sonnet Ozymandias. It’s strange how the mind works.

Anyway, posted by Carmaker Kia’s Norwegian branch Advertise on Instagram It features a bumper sticker showing one of the electric cars and saying, “I bought this after Elon got hooked.” Apparently This is not centrally approved And since the ads have since been removed, it would be a real shame if someone started making these stickers.

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You can send stories to feedback by email at feedback@newscientist.com. Include your home address. This week and past feedback can be found on our website.

Source: www.newscientist.com

Trained Giant Rats: A Potential Game-Changer in the Fight Against Poaching

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There’s a saying: “Never stay more than 6 feet away from a mouse.” Although I’m here BBC Science Focus, we concluded that this measurement is inaccurate, but may soon become more accurate for those involved in illegal wildlife trade (IWT).

The research team used the anatomical structures of endangered animals such as pangolin scales, elephant ivory, and rhinoceros horns on African giant pouch rats to provide a low-cost detection system to prevent illegal smuggling. I trained myself to be able to distinguish scents.

– Hmmmm – Swarms of rats have been shown to be able to identify these items even when hidden inside other materials, and to remember their smells even after months of no exposure.

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Why rats?

this is not the first time Apopo The Tanzania-based nonprofit organization tasked with conducting this study recognizes the potential of a super rat workforce.

The organization aims to provide low-tech, cost-effective solutions to pressing humanitarian challenges across Africa and has previously developed the HeroRATS technology to detect landmines and the pathogen that causes tuberculosis. I trained the pack.

Dr. Isabel Zottofirst co-author of new research Published in frontiers of conservation science, It helped to identify the potential for IWT detection in rats.

“There is an urgent need to strengthen cargo inspection, as existing inspection tools are expensive and time-consuming,” Schott explained.

“The APOPO rat is a cost-effective odor detection tool that can easily access tight spaces, such as cargo inside packed shipping containers, and can also be lifted high to block ventilation systems in closed containers.”

rat boot camp

The new research rats, Kirsty, Marty, Attenborough, Irwin, Betty, Teddy, Ivory, Ebony, Desmond, Thoreau, and Fosse, have undergone several rigorous training stages.

They first learned to “nose” a target’s scent for a few seconds to acquire a flavored pellet. Next, we discussed common scents used to hide wild animals in real-life human trafficking, such as electrical wires, coffee beans, and detergent.

The final step was retention training, where I re-experienced scents I had not been exposed to for 5 and 8 months respectively. Despite several months of no exposure, the rats showed perfect memory retention scores, suggesting that their cognitive retention performance is similar to that of dogs.

By the end of the training, eight of the rats were able to identify four commonly smuggled wild animals among 146 non-target substances.

Why now?

Statistics on IWT (defined as the illegal capture, killing, or harvesting of animals or plants) have become increasingly bleak in recent years. of wild animals of the world fund (WWF) estimates that it is currently the fourth largest illicit trade in the world, with a value of more than £15 billion a year.

They also estimate that around 55 African elephants are killed for their tusks every day, amounting to more than 20,000 a year. It also found that rhino poaching increased by 9,000 percent in South Africa between 2007 and 2014.

While this clearly has a negative impact on wildlife populations, a 2019 study found that world bank It also estimates that long-term global losses to ecosystems affected by IWT are approximately $1-2 trillion (£700-1.5 trillion) per year.

Evaluation of crime

Scientists involved in the new detection study have already identified the next steps for the HEROrat project. The idea is to develop methods that allow rats to operate within ports, which are likely to be hotspots for smuggled wildlife.

To this end, the rats are outfitted with custom-made vests (possibly inspired by Virgin Atlantic’s iconic red flight attendant uniforms). When they pull a small ball attached to the chest of their vest with their paws, it makes a beeping sound. In this way, the rat can alert the handler when it detects a target.

“The vest is a great example of hardware development that can be useful across a variety of settings and tasks, including shipping ports to detect smuggled wildlife,” the co-authors said. Dr. Kate Webb.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Injecting Neurons into Rats Gives Mice the Ability to Smell Cookies, Despite Their Lack of Olfactory Function.

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Mouse brain hippocampus (red) containing some rat cells

M. Kadish Imtiaz/Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CC BY-NC-ND)

Rat cells grown in the brains of mice without a sense of smell have enabled them to acquire the sense of smell. This is the first time that one species has experienced the world through the sensory neurons of another species.

When cells of one species multiply within the body of another species, the resulting organism is known as an interspecies chimera. These have previously been used to study specific tissues, such as mice containing cells of the human immune system, to study disease responses. However, creating chimeras of other tissues, such as neural tissue, is more complex.

Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center previously bred mice with parts of rat brains transplanted into them. Now, another team of researchers has shown that this cross-species chimerism may confer the ability to smell in mice genetically modified to lack scent-sensing neurons.

christine baldwin The researchers at Columbia University in New York injected these engineered mouse embryos with rat stem cells. Once the embryos became adult mice, the researchers monitored neuronal activity. The researchers discovered that these animals have functional neural pathways for sensing odors, made up of both rat and mouse cells that can communicate directly with each other.

When researchers tested these mice's sense of smell by searching for hidden mini Oreo cookies, they found that the mice that received stem cell injections found the food more easily, as opposed to the same genetically modified mice. It turned out that it was possible. It wasn't a chimera.

“This is a huge opportunity for human health, allowing us to better understand how to create cell replacement therapies for humans,” Baldwin said. “We can also create models in mice and rats for diseases that affect long-lived organisms.”

The fact that rat cells were able to facilitate food exploration in mice, which normally don't have a sense of smell, is very impressive, he says. walter lowe at the University of Minnesota. “Now, it is not yet clear whether something similar to this can occur in even different species, but at least [this study] Shows what's happening in two relatively close species [in evolutionary terms]” he says.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Can naked mole rats hold the secret to their youthful appearance?

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Learn from the mole rat

Feedback is promising a bonanza of new pharmaceutical, medical and lifestyle product launches that propose boosting hyaluronic acid levels for everyone. Hyaluronic acid is a substance recently found to provide some protection to naked mole rat cells from inflammation and early death.

Marketers who specialize in mass inflammation cannot afford to miss this situation. Journal of Experimental BiologyFeeling grateful for hyaluronic acid. Under the heading is “Anti-aging secrets from underground burrowing rodents” says the magazine. “Most cells live within a blanket of molecules and minerals called the extracellular matrix. In naked mole rats, this blanket is woven from a thicker fabric. Naked mole rats produce the heavier, larger molecule hyaluronic acid, which is the backbone of this extracellular matrix.

“This extra padding protects cells from inflammation and premature death, as shown by Andrei Seruanov and Vera Gorbunova's team at the University of Rochester in the US.”

The report ends with this almost poetic wink. “The fountain of youth may be embodied in the heavy hyaluronic acid of the naked mole rat, a nearly blind rodent with many wrinkles and yellowed teeth.”

Anarchist Cookbook Tips

Books can pose dangers in unexpected ways.

Feedback reminds you to be careful when using anarchist cookbook. If you don't cook your anarchist to the right temperature, you can run into problems.

similarly shredded vegan chef. Not shredding your vegan chef properly can cause pain.

If your hobby is astrophysics, this warning applies to: Whole Earth Cookbook.

encounter after death

After Mallard's gay necrophilia became known to the world 20 years ago, many more reports of “Davian behavior” entered the public record. A quick update here.

This topic received a lot of attention in 2003 when Dutch ornithologist Keith Moeliker won an award. Ig Nobel Prize His now famous paper “The First Case of Homosexual Necrophilia in Mallard Ducks” Anas Platyrhynchus”. Mr. Mauliker talked about two ducks that encountered the Davian bird. The necrotic behavior is called “Davian” here because American ornithologist Robert W. Dickman published a paper in 1960. This is because he gave the necrotic act a new name: “Davian.''Ground squirrel's “Davian behavioral complex”” was published. mammal journal.

Michal Řeřicha and his colleagues at the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague have published a report documenting a practice among ladybugs (known in some areas as ladybugs). The title of the report is scary.Mating of nonnative ladybirds with dead conspecifics is influenced by sexual fasting in males and time since death in females”.

This comes just three years after a report on necrophilia at sea by Amber Lee D. Kincaid and colleagues at the Mote Marine Institute in Florida:Necrosis of a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) near Sarasota, Florida.”.

High-profile, hard-hitting reports sometimes take a literary turn, like a 2015 paper about South American snakes.The sexual appeal of corpse brides: unusual mating behavior of Helicops carinicaudus (Dipsadidae)”, by Raíssa Siqueira and colleagues at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. They write: “We observed a young male mating with a headless female by fully inserting her hemipenis. Specimens were collected, dissected and measured.”

Literary works influence other literary works, as evidenced by a 2020 paper by Marco Colombo and Emiliano Mori of the University of Siena in Italy. the title is”The 'corpse bride' strikes again: first report on Davian behavior in Eurasian badgers”.

Delightful yet scary title

Some medical papers have very intriguing and frightening titles. For those who like horror novels, the title will almost make you want to skip reading the study itself.

Why avoid a complete study? Because when a person's imagination is overstimulated, it can conjure up strange things. By comparison, the actual details you can go and see for yourself may seem mundane, dull, and even relatively boring. Reading them can lead to literary disappointment and dissatisfaction, and in some cases even death of curiosity.

For example, consider a paper written by a medical team in Chiba, Japan. For non-experts, this book describes how doctors solve accidental jigsaw puzzles, puzzles made of strange parts from a person's digestive system. Please read the title of the paper carefully.Risk factors for unintentional partial resection in endoscopic mucosal resection for colorectal polyps larger than 10 mm”.

In feedback, if you find an unexpected title for a published scientific report, please submit it. Please include a full citation and link to the paper. Send to: “Very scary title” feedback.

Mark Abrahams hosted the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony and co-founded the magazine Annals of Improbable Research. Previously, he was working on unusual uses of computers.his website is impossible.com.

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You can email your article to Feedback at feedback@newscientist.com. Please enter your home address. This week's and past feedback can be found on our website.

Source: www.newscientist.com

The Subway Stations of New York City Overrun by Rats

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Squeaklet came out.

A new update to the popular app has revealed to New Yorkers just how rat-infested subway stations are.

Transit, an urban travel planning app first released in 2012, recently New York City subway mouse detector Features. Use information obtained from other users. The user selects one from multiple answers to questions such as “Is this city run by rats?” “Are there rats in this station?” – The app will show you how full of rats the station is. It became a surprising viral hit.

“It completely exploded,” Joe McNeil, Transit’s lead copywriter, told the Post.

Transit’s main service is to display bus and train arrival times. Currently, based on reports from “thousands of rodent observers across five boroughs,” are there no reports of rats at a particular station, or just “one or two” reports? , or whether it’s “very many.”

“New Yorkers are unusually proud of it” and “think it’s funny.” [that there are so many rats]” said McNeil, who is based in Montreal along with other members of the transit team.

A rat on a subway platform in Union Square in 2019.
christopher sadowski

The new feature debuted in August, but has really taken off in recent weeks thanks to posts on TikTok and X (formerly known as Twitter). In October, we received over 17,000 responses about rat sightings on the subway.

“Can we talk about this transit app update,” says dancer Angie Hokulanibigins, with the transit app update in the background. New York City subway mouse detector in TikTok videos It has been viewed more than 1.7 million times since it was posted late last month. “It shows you how dilapidated the stations are…and there’s a scale of rat numbers. The 89th most dilapidated is 42nd Street.”

X user based in Queens shared a screenshot 149 Street – From an app that shows Grand Concourse Station ratings — 10th out of 445 stations.

A screenshot of Rat Detector within the app.
Transportation facilities
Rat Detector also provides users with online “statistical analysis.”
Transportation facilities

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The Bronx station’s characteristics reveal it to be a significant rodent hub.
ANT2RA/X
A viral TikTok video helped spread the word about the detector’s existence.
TikTok/Smoklani

“At least the Bronx made it to the top 10 for something,” the post joked.

But the MTA doesn’t seem to be interested.

MTA spokeswoman Kayla Schultz said in a statement to the Post that “we do not know the methodology behind the rat census and therefore decline to comment.”

The transportation team hopes that while the MTA may not yet be equipped with rat detectors, it will at least help it know which stops are most in need of visits from exterminators.

Kingston Throop Station.
google map
191st Street 1 station.
JC Rice
A rat wanders around looking for food at Columbus Circle 59th Street Station on May 8, 2023.
Getty Images

In addition to in-app features, Transit announced on its website a “statistical analysis” of its findings showing “a rattling of the MTA’s most congested platforms.” Grant Avenue and Kingston-Throop Avenue A stopped, and 191 Street 1 now holds that honor.

The app also provides information for Chicago, Los Angeles, and more than 200 other cities, but typically asks users everyday pedestrian questions, such as accessibility and crowding. But, inspired by Rat Tracker’s success, it may start presenting users with even more fun queries.

McNeil said some of his colleagues didn’t expect the rodent tool to become so popular. But people from the Big Apple, or at least those familiar with Pizza Rat’s story, weren’t shocked.

He said, “I don’t think anyone who grew up in New York was surprised at all.”


Source: nypost.com