Research shows that specific genetic alterations could lead to premature menopause

Posted on September 11, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

New research has identified four genes that, if altered, could impact the age at which menopause occurs. These genes (ETAA1, ZNF518A, PNPLA8, and PALB2) were found to cause women to experience menopause two to 5.5 years earlier if they have only one functioning copy. The study, conducted by scientists from the Universities of Exeter, Cambridge, and Wellcome, was published in Nature.

Understanding these genetic changes is crucial for potential therapies to extend reproductive lifespan and plan for the impact of menopause on women’s career and life plans. The study also found links between these genetic changes and cancer risk, highlighting the importance of further research in this area.

These genetic changes can lead to the DNA damage of eggs, affecting the age at which menopause occurs. The study analyzed data from 106,973 postmenopausal women and found that rare genetic changes have a significant impact on the age at menopause. These changes not only shed light on menopause but also provide insight into disease risks.

Dr. Stasha Stankovic, Dr. Hilary Martin, and Professor John Perry, members of the research team, emphasized the importance of understanding ovarian function for reproductive health and disease prevention. They hope that further research in this area will lead to new treatments for ovarian-centered diseases and help predict age at menopause more accurately.

The study also revealed that changes in a mother’s DNA can impact the DNA passed on to her child, showing a link between genetic mutations and the rate of DNA changes. This discovery is significant in understanding the biological mechanisms behind infertility, reproductive disorders, and disease predisposition.

About our experts

Dr. Stasha Stankovic is a reproductive geneticist with a PhD in Reproductive Genomics from the University of Cambridge. Her research has been published in top scientific journals such as Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Genetics, and Cell Genomics.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Research shows new medication similar to Ozempic results in 13% reduction in body weight

Posted on September 11, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Weight-loss medications like Ozempic and Wegovy have been under discussion for some time, but new research suggests there may be better alternatives. Enter Amicretin, a novel weight-loss treatment available in pill form rather than injection.

In the initial human trials of this new weight loss medication, the developer Novo Nordisk A/S (the company behind Ozempic) saw promising results: participants taking Amicretin lost an average of 13.1 percent of their body weight over a 12-week period.

So, how does this new weight loss pill function? Amicretin is a dual-acting drug that emulates the effects of two hormones crucial in weight loss: amylin and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), which help curb hunger and regulate appetite.

Published in the journal Diabetology, the study compared average weight loss in three groups with BMIs between 25 and 39.9 who did not have diabetes.

By the end of the 12-week study, subjects taking two 50 mg tablets of Amicretin lost 13.1% of their body weight, compared to 10.4% in those taking one 50 mg tablet. In contrast, the placebo group only lost an average of 1.1% of their body weight throughout the study.

Compared to other weight loss drugs, a recent study in JAMA Internal Medicine found that patients taking another weight-loss drug, Maunjaro, lost 5.9% body fat in 3 months, while those on Ozempic saw a decrease of 3.6%.

“The difference from injectable treatments is significant,” states obesity expert Christopher Clemmensen. “The dual mode of action offers promise, making Amicretin a valuable advancement for Novo Nordisk.”

While weight-loss drugs show promise in combating obesity worldwide, further confirmation awaits larger trials on individuals with chronic conditions. Professor Navid Sattar emphasizes the importance of developing safe and accessible medications for the millions suffering from obesity.

Excitement surrounds this early-stage study of a novel oral weight-loss medication combination due to its rapid effects on body weight.

About our experts

Associate Professor Christopher Clemmensen leads the Clemmensen Group at the University of Copenhagen, studying biological weight regulation and developing obesity treatment strategies. His research appears in respected publications such as Natural Metabolism and Molecular Metabolism.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Research Indicates Sun-like Star-shaped Outer Solar System Approached Billions of Years Ago

Posted on September 10, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

At least 140 million Sun-like stars in our Milky Way galaxy may have experienced similar stellar flybys, according to a new study by astrophysicists from the Jülich Research Centre and Leiden University.

Snapshot of a flyby of an ancient star. Blue-green particles indicate TNOs injected into the planetary region by the flyby. The perturbation star passed through the disk at perihelion distance 110 AU, on the right side of the picture. Image courtesy of Pfalzner others., doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02349-x.

The planets in our solar system accumulated from a disk of dust and gas orbiting the young Sun.

Thus, the planets move in circular orbits close to a common plane.

About 3,000 small bodies have been observed orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune. Surprisingly, most of them move in eccentric or inclined orbits.

Therefore, some force must have lifted these trans-solar objects (TNOs) out of the disk in which they formed and significantly altered their orbits.

“When we think about the solar system, we usually think of it ending with Neptune, the outermost known planet,” said Dr Susanne Pfalzner, astrophysicist at the Jülich Research Centre and lead author of the paper.

“However, thousands of objects are known to travel beyond the orbit of Neptune.”

“It is even suspected that there are tens of thousands of objects over 100 kilometers in diameter.”

“Surprisingly, many of these TNOs travel on eccentric orbits that are inclined with respect to the common orbital plane of the planets in our solar system.”

In this study, Dr. Falzner and her colleagues compared the properties of observed TNOs with thousands of flyby simulations to determine specific properties of stellar flybys that could potentially reproduce all of the different TNO populations, their locations, and relative abundances.

They Found A flyby of a 0.8 solar mass star at a distance of 110 AU could explain the inclined and highly eccentric orbits of known TNOs.

“We can even infer the orbits of very distant objects, such as Sedna, a dwarf planet discovered in the outermost solar system in 2003,” Dr Pfalzner said.

“There are also objects moving in orbits that are almost perpendicular to the planet's orbit.”

“Such flybys could even explain the orbits of two objects moving in the opposite direction to the planet: 2008 KV42 and 2011 KT19.”

“The best match we found in our simulations for the outer solar system today is a star that is slightly lighter than our Sun, about 0.8 times its mass,” said Dr Amis Govind, also of the Jülich research centre.

“It traveled about 16.5 billion kilometers from the Sun, which is about 110 times the distance between Earth and the Sun and just under four times the distance to the outermost planet, Neptune.”

Astrophysicists were surprised Found The irregular moons orbiting the giant planets in the solar system in distant, inclined, and eccentric orbits are actually TNOs that were launched into the inner solar system by close passes of their stars.

“Some of these objects could have been captured as moons by giant planets,” said Dr Simon Portegies Zwart, an astrophysicist at Leiden University.

“This would explain why the outer planets in our solar system have two different types of moons.”

“In contrast to regular moons, which orbit their planets in circular orbits close to the planet, irregular moons orbit their planets at greater distances in inclined, elongated orbits.”

“Until now, there has been no explanation for this phenomenon.”

“The beauty of this model is its simplicity. With just one source, it answers several outstanding questions about our solar system,” Dr Pfalzner said.

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Susanne Falzner othersOrbits of flybys of stars that formed the outer solar system. Nat AstronPublished online September 4, 2024; doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02349-x

Susanne Falzner others2024. A close flyby of a star could inject an irregular moon from outside the solar system. Apu JL 972, L21;doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ad63a6

Source: www.sci.news

Research: Volcanic Activity on the Moon 123 Million Years Ago

Posted on September 6, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

There is plenty of geological evidence that the Moon had ancient volcanic activity, but it is unclear how long that activity lasted. Magma eruptions create volcanic glass, which has been found in lunar samples before. Dr. Li Qiuli of the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and colleagues analyzed about 3,000 glass beads taken from lunar soil samples collected by China's Chang'e-5 mission. They identified three glass beads as being of volcanic origin based on their texture, chemical composition, and sulfur isotopes. Uranium-lead dating of these volcanic beads determined that they formed about 123 million years ago.

Volcanic eruptions that produced glass beads on the Moon. Image courtesy of T. Zhang & Y. Wang.

Samples collected by the Apollo, Luna and Chang'e-5 missions have so far shown that the Moon experienced widespread basaltic volcanic activity between about 4.4 billion and 2 billion years ago.

The findings suggest that, at least on small, localized scales, volcanic activity continued for much longer than previously thought.

“Dating of lunar volcanic basalt samples returned to Earth by the Apollo and Luna missions or delivered to Earth as lunar meteorites reveals that lunar basaltic volcanism continued at least 2.9 to 2.8 billion years ago,” the researchers said.

“However, analysis of lunar samples returned by the Chang'e-5 mission demonstrates that basaltic volcanism persisted at least 2 billion years ago.”

“Remote sensing observations suggest that there may have been more recent volcanic activity on the Moon during the Late Copernican epoch (less than 800 million years ago).”

“However, none of these remote sensing observations provide precise dates for possible volcanic activity.”

“Furthermore, the proposed Late Copernican Ocean basalt outbursts cover only a limited area, and no samples are available.”

“Eruptions of gas-rich magma can produce magma fountains that produce sub-millimeter glass beads.”

“These beads could be deposited over a wide area and then transported farther across the lunar surface by impacts.”

“Volcanic glass may be a trace component in existing samples.”

In their study, Dr Li and his co-authors sorted 3,000 tiny glass beads retrieved from lunar samples collected by Chang'e-5, examining the beads' chemical composition, physical texture, and sulfur isotopes to distinguish between volcanic glass and glass produced by meteorite impacts.

They identified three of the beads as being of volcanic origin and used radiometric dating to determine that the beads were formed 123 million years ago.

Volcanic beads are rich in potassium, phosphorus, and rare earth elements, known as KREEP elements, which can produce radioactive heat.

Localized heating by KREEP elements could melt rocks in the Moon's mantle, causing small amounts of magma to erupt to the surface.

“The volcanic glass beads contained large amounts of rare earth elements and thorium, which may indicate that recent volcanic activity is associated with local enrichment of heat-producing elements in the mantle source of magma,” the researchers said.

Their paper Published in a journal Science.

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Wang Biwen others2024. Samples brought back indicate volcanic activity on the moon 120 million years ago. Science 385 (6713); doi: 1077-1080; doi: 10.1126/science.adk6635

Source: www.sci.news

Research uncovers evidence of active volcanoes on the moon during the dinosaur era

Posted on September 6, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

New research suggests that volcanoes on the Moon were active during the time of the dinosaurs on Earth, but much more recently than previously believed.

Three small glass beads gathered from the lunar surface by a Chinese probe in 2020 indicate volcanic activity on the Moon 120 million years ago, according to the study. The findings were published Thursday in the journal Science.

Initial analysis of samples collected by the Chang’e-5 lunar mission suggested that volcanic activity ceased approximately 2 billion years ago, updating an earlier evaluation that the Moon had been devoid of active volcanoes for about 4 billion years.

Researchers examined around 3,000 lunar glass beads that may have been produced by volcanic eruptions or meteorite impacts, identifying three of them as of volcanic origin based on their texture and chemical makeup.

The research team expressed being “surprised and excited” by their “unexpected” discoveries.

The presence of relatively recent lunar volcanism “implies that a small celestial body like the Moon may have retained enough internal heat to support activity until very late,” co-authors Professor Li Qili and Associate Professor He Yuyang from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, shared in an email.

However, it remains “unclear” why the Moon has remained volcanically active for such a long period, as per the study.

Planetary volcanologist Qian Yuqi from the University of Hong Kong commented that identifying such a young volcano has “major” implications for the Moon’s development.

“Where did they originate from?” Qian, who was not part of the research, inquired in an email. “This could lead to future missions to search for them.”

The Chang’e-5 lunar mission marked the first return of lunar samples since the U.S. Apollo program in the 1970s and the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 mission. In June, China achieved a historic feat by retrieving rocks from the far side of the Moon through its Chang’e-6 mission.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Research: Collaboration between oceans and continents led to Mesozoic marine extinctions

Posted on September 5, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

in paper Published in the journal Nature ChemistryScientists have proposed a new explanation for a series of severe environmental crises known as marine anoxia, which occurred between 185 and 85 million years ago (during the Mesozoic era) when the amount of dissolved oxygen in the oceans became extremely low.

Oceanic anoxia was a geologically abrupt phase of extreme oxygen depletion in the oceans that disrupted marine ecosystems and led to evolutionary shifts. These events, which usually lasted about 1.5 million years, occurred frequently during the Mesozoic Era, between about 183 and 85 million years ago. One hypothesis suggests that anoxia resulted from increased chemical weathering of the Earth's surface on a greenhouse world with high volcanic carbon emissions. Gernon othersA combination of plate reconstructions, tectonic geochemical analyses and global biogeochemical modelling tested this hypothesis. Image courtesy of the University of Southampton.

“Ocean anoxia is like hitting the reset button on the Earth's ecosystems,” said Prof Tom Gernon, from the University of Southampton.

“The challenge was to understand what geological forces pushed the button.”

The researchers investigated the influence of plate tectonic forces on ocean chemistry during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, collectively known as the Mesozoic Era.

“This period in Earth's history is also known as the Age of the Dinosaurs and is well exposed along the cliffs of the Jurassic Coast on the south coast of England, Whitby in Yorkshire and Eastbourne in East Sussex,” Prof Gernon said.

Scientists have combined statistical analysis and advanced computer modelling to investigate how the ocean's chemical cycle may have responded to the breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, the giant landmass once home to dinosaurs.

“During the Mesozoic Era, the continents broke apart and intense volcanic activity occurred around the world,” Prof Gernon said.

“As the plates shifted and new ocean floor was formed, phosphorus, a nutrient essential to life, was released in large quantities into the ocean from weathered volcanic rocks.”

“Importantly, we found evidence of multiple instances of chemical weathering on both the ocean floor and the continents, alternating between destroying the oceans — like a geological tag team.”

The authors find that the timing of these weathering waves coincides with most of the marine anoxic events in the rock record.

They argue that phosphorus that entered the ocean through weathering acted as a natural fertilizer, promoting the growth of marine life.

However, this fertilization phenomenon came at a great cost to marine ecosystems.

“Increased biological activity caused huge amounts of organic matter to sink to the seafloor, consuming huge amounts of oxygen,” said Prof Benjamin Mills, from the University of Leeds.

“This process ultimately left large swaths of the ocean anoxic, or 'dead zones' where oxygen was depleted and most marine life died.”

“The anoxic conditions typically lasted for one to two million years and had profound effects on marine ecosystems, the effects of which are still felt today.”

“The organic-rich rocks that accumulated during these events are the source of the world's largest commercial oil and gas reserves to date.”

The findings explain the causes of extreme biological chaos during the Mesozoic Era and highlight the devastating effects of nutrient overload on marine environments today.

“Studying geological events provides valuable insights that help us understand how Earth will respond to future climatic and environmental stresses,” Professor Gernon said.

Overall, the results reveal stronger-than-expected connections between Earth's solid interior and its surface environment and biosphere, especially during periods of tectonic and climatic upheaval.

“It is remarkable how a series of events occurring inside the Earth can have such profound, often devastating, effects on the surface,” Prof Gernon said.

“Continental breakup could have profound effects on evolutionary processes.”

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TM Gernon othersSolid Earth forcing of Mesozoic oceanic anoxia. National GeographyPublished online August 29, 2024, doi: 10.1038/s41561-024-01496-0

This article has been adapted from an original release from the University of Southampton.

Source: www.sci.news

Recent research indicates that a giant asteroid collided with Ganymede 4 billion years ago

Posted on September 3, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Jupiter’s moon Ganymede is home to an ancient impact structure called the Groove System, the largest impact structure in the outer Solar System, whose impact would have had a major impact on Ganymede’s early history.

The distribution of grooves and the location of the center of the groove system are always shown on the hemisphere away from Jupiter (top) and on a cylindrical projection of Ganymede (bottom). Grey areas represent geologically new terrains that are devoid of grooves. Gutters (green lines) are only present in geologically older terrains (black areas). Image courtesy of Naoyuki Hirata, doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-69914-2.

Ganymede is the largest moon in the solar system and has many unique features, including tectonic valleys known as grooves.

The grooves are the oldest surface features identified on Ganymede, as they are crossed by impact craters over 10 km in diameter. The grooves provide clues to the moon’s early history.

The trench is thought to be a fragment of a multi-ring impact basin structure similar to the Valhalla basin on Callisto and the Asgard basin.

The largest trench system lies across the Galileo-Marius region, the so-called Galileo-Marius trench system, which is the remnant of an ancient giant impact that radiates in concentric circles from a single point on Ganymede.

“Jupiter’s moons Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto each have interesting features, but what caught my attention were the grooves on Ganymede,” said planetary scientist from Kobe University. paper Published in the journal Scientific Reports.

“We know that this feature was created by an asteroid impact about 4 billion years ago, but we didn’t know how large that impact was or how it affected the Moon.”

First, Dr. Hirata noticed that the estimated location of the impact was almost exactly on the meridian farthest from Jupiter.

“Similarities with the Pluto impact that shifted the dwarf planet’s rotation axis, as seen through NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, suggest that Ganymede underwent a similar reorientation,” he said.

The asteroid that struck Ganymede was probably about 300 kilometers (180 miles) in diameter, roughly 20 times larger than the Chicxulub asteroid that smashed into Earth 65 million years ago, ending the age of the dinosaurs, leaving a temporary crater 800 to 1,000 miles (1,400 to 1,600 kilometers) across, according to the study.

Only an impact of this magnitude would be likely to shift the Moon’s rotation axis to its current position due to the change in mass distribution, regardless of where on the surface the impact occurred.

“We want to understand the origin and evolution of Ganymede and other Jupiter moons,” Dr. Hirata said.

“The giant impact must have had a major impact on Ganymede’s early evolution, but the thermal and structural effects of the impact on Ganymede’s interior remain largely unexplored.”

“We think that further research into the application of the internal evolution of icy moons could be done next.”

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N. Hirata. 2024. Giant impact on early Ganymede and subsequent reorientation. Scientific Reports 14, 19982. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-69914-2

Source: www.sci.news

Research: Thick plant populations move to shade one another and share sunlight

Posted on August 28, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Typically, plants grow in crowded environments where neighboring plants compete for light while shading each other. The presence of neighboring plants varies through space and time, and plants have developed the ability to detect neighboring plants and grow away from their shade. Although it is generally accepted that these responses help plants increase their individual light exposure, it is not clear how plants find solutions that are beneficial for them as a whole. In a new study, physicists from Tel Aviv University and elsewhere focus on the spontaneous self-organized pattern formation of sunflower flocks mediated by shade avoidance. Their analysis reveals that circumnavigation (the innate movement of plants) results in random perturbations that follow a restricted random walk.

Circling is widespread in plant systems and is commonly associated with exploratory behavior, but its role is difficult to quantitatively understand. otherswere the first to report their role in promoting optimal growth patterns in dense plant populations that shade each other. Image courtesy of Manuel H.

“Previous studies have shown that when sunflowers are planted close together in a field and shade each other, they will grow in a zigzag pattern, one forward and one backward, to avoid shading each other,” said Professor Yasmin Meros of Tel Aviv University.

“That way the plants can grow side by side, maximizing the light they receive from the sun and maximizing photosynthesis overall.”

“In fact, plants know how to distinguish between the shadow of a building and the green shadow of their leaves.”

“When they sense the shadow of a building, they usually don't change their growth direction because they know it won't have any effect.”

“But when a plant senses shadow, it grows away from the shadow.”

In this study, the researchers investigated the question of how sunflowers “know” how to grow optimally (i.e. to capture the most sunlight collectively) and analysed the growth dynamics of sunflowers in the lab that exhibit a zigzag pattern.

Meros and his colleagues grew sunflowers in high-density environments, photographing them every few minutes as they grew, and then stitched together the images to create a time-lapse video.

The researchers followed the movements of each sunflower and observed the blossoms dancing en masse.

According to the authors, Darwin was the first to recognise that all plants grow by exhibiting a kind of cyclical movement (circumlocution), and that both stems and roots exhibit this behaviour.

But until now, apart from a few examples such as vines that grow in large circular motions searching for something to grab hold of, it hasn't been clear whether this is an artefact or an important feature of growth. Why would a plant expend energy growing in a random direction?

“As part of our research, we carried out a physical analysis to capture the behaviour of each sunflower in the colony and found that they dance to find the optimal angle to avoid blocking the sunlight of their neighbours,” Professor Meros said.

“We statistically quantified this movement and showed through computer simulations that these random movements are used collectively to minimize the amount of shadowing.”

“We were also very surprised to see that the distribution of sunflower stride lengths was so wide, spanning three orders of magnitude, from nearly zero displacement to moving two centimetres in either direction every few minutes.”

“Sunflower plants take advantage of the fact that they can use both small, slow steps and large, fast steps to find the optimal arrangement for their population,” Professor Meros said.

“That means that if the steps are narrow or wide, the arrangement will increase mutual shading and reduce photosynthesis.”

“It's like a crowded dance party, where people dance around to get more space. If you move too much, you get in the way of the other dancers, but if you move too little, it doesn't solve the crowding problem, because one corner of the square will be very crowded and the other side will be empty.”

“Sunflowers also exhibit similar communication dynamics: a combination of response to the shade of neighboring plants and random movement without regard to external stimuli.”

of result Published in the journal Physical Review X.

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Chantal Nguyen others2024. Noisy turning movements promote self-organized shade avoidance in sunflowers. Physical Review X 14 (3): 031027; doi: 10.1103/PhysRevX.14.031027

Source: www.sci.news

According to scientific research, the most effective way to handle insults is by

Posted on August 25, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

The saying goes, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” But that’s not true. Criticism and rejection It produces brain activity that is indistinguishable from actual pain. Essentially, insults cause pain.

Insult is a complex concept. Has been studied for a long timeIt turns out that the impact of an insult depends not only on who gives it but also on who receives it.

Thus, when it comes to simple insults (insults that have no social or historical significance), the “target” has a great deal of control over the outcome.

And there are plenty of scientifically-recognized ways to successfully defuse an insult or reverse its effects.

One is to attribute category membership to the insulter, making him or her appear as a lower-status, more vulnerable to ridicule.

Someone says, “Your hair is weird,” and you respond, “OK, grandma, calm down,” and you put them in the “old, unfashionable, out of date” category, making them look even worse, especially if they’re a guy in his 20s and there’s no way they could be your grandma.

Some people recommend finding something the insulter says about themselves and highlighting it.

They say, “I don’t know why. [your attractive partner] If they ask you, “Shall I explain it to you? In crayons?”, they mean to insult you, but their response comes across as an admission that they are easily confused.

And then there is co-constructed critique, which takes the insult and builds on it, which de-fans the insult.

“You’re fat!” they say. You say, “I hope so, I’ve spent enough money to get here.”

There are countless other counter-attacks, but they all revolve around a central theme of not empowering the insulter, not elevating the insulter’s status, and maintaining control of the narrative and the interaction.

This article is a response to a question emailed to me by Archie Fox: “What’s the best way to respond to an insult?”

If you have any questions, please send them to the email address below. For further information, please contact:or send us a message Facebook, Xor Instagram Page (be sure to include your name and location).

Ultimate Fun fact For more amazing science, check out this page.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Research indicates TRAPPIST-1 system developed through a two-stage formation process

Posted on August 22, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

TRAPPIST-1 is an ultracool dwarf star located 38.8 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius that hosts seven planets. The period ratios of the neighboring planets are closer as they move away from the star: 8:5, 5:3, 3:2, 3:2, 4:3, 3:2. This compact resonant configuration is a clear indication of disk-driven migration, but the desired outcome of such an evolution would be the establishment of a first-order resonance, rather than the higher-order resonances observed in the inner system. Astronomer Gabriele Pichierri of the California Institute of Technology and his colleagues explain the orbital configuration of the TRAPPIST-1 system with a model that is largely independent of the specific disk migration and orbital circularization efficiency. Two key elements of the team's model are that, along with the migration, the inner boundary of the protoplanetary disk retreated over time, and that the TRAPPIST-1 system initially separated into two subsystems.

This artist's rendering shows TRAPPIST-1 and its planets as seen on the surface. Image courtesy of NASA / R. Hurt / T. Pyle.

“When all we had to analyse was the solar system, we could simply assume that planets formed where we see them today,” Dr Pichieri said.

“But when the first exoplanet was discovered in 1995, we had to rethink this assumption.”

“We're developing better models of how planets form and how they come to be oriented in the way that we found them.”

Most exoplanets are thought to form from a disk of gas and dust around a newly formed star, and then migrate inwards, approaching the inner boundary of this disk.

This results in a planetary system assembled much closer to the host star than is the case in our solar system.

In the absence of other factors, planets tend to move away from each other at characteristic distances based on their mass and the gravitational force between them and their host star.

“This is the standard transition process,” Dr. Pichieri said.

“The positions of the planets form resonances between their respective orbital periods. If you divide the orbital period of one planet by the orbital period of its neighbor, you get a simple integer ratio like 3:2.”

For example, if one planet takes two days to orbit a star, the next planet further away takes three days.

If the second planet and a more distant third planet were also in 3:2 resonance, the third planet's orbital period would be 4.5 days.

“The exoplanets behave nicely in simpler predicted resonances, so to speak,” Dr Pichieri said.

“But the inner ones have slightly more exciting resonances. For example, the orbital ratio of planets b and c is 8:5, and the ratio of c and d is 5:3.”

“This subtle difference in the outcome of TRAPPIST-1 assembly is puzzling and represents a unique opportunity to tease out in detail what other processes were at work in its assembly.”

“Moreover, most planetary systems are thought to have begun in such resonances, but have experienced significant instabilities during their lifetimes before we observe them today.”

“Most planets would become unstable or collide with each other, and everything would be in chaos. For example, our solar system was affected by such instability.”

“But we know there are some systems that are more or less pristine specimens that have remained stable.”

“They effectively represent a record of its entire dynamical history, and we can try to reconstruct it. TRAPPIST-1 is one of them.”

The challenge then was to develop a model that could explain the orbits of the TRAPPIST-1 planets and how they got to their current configuration.

The resulting model suggests that the inner four planets evolved alone within the originally predicted 3:2 resonant chain.

As the disk's inner boundary expanded outward, the orbits loosened from the tighter 3:2 linkage into the configuration observed today.

The fourth planet was originally located on the inner boundary of the disk and moved outward with the disk, but was pushed back inward at a later stage when three more outer planets joined the planetary system.

“By observing TRAPPIST-1, we were able to test an exciting new hypothesis about the evolution of planetary systems,” said Dr Pichieri.

“TRAPPIST-1 is very interesting because it's a very complex, long chain of planets, and it's a great example for testing alternative theories about the formation of planetary systems.”

of Survey results Published in a journal Natural Astronomy.

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G. Pichieri othersDuring the recession of the inner edge of the disc, the TRAPPIST-1 system forms in two steps. Nat AstronPublished online August 20, 2024, doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02342-4

Source: www.sci.news

Research shows that Clovis people utilized planted pikes for hunting large herbivores

Posted on August 22, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Historical and ethnographic sources document that portable pole-hafted weapons, or spears, were used for hunting and defense against large game in North and South America, Africa, Eurasia, and Southeast Asia for several millennia during the Late Holocene. Given the dominance of large game in North America during the Late Pleistocene, centuries when Clovis points emerged and spread across much of the continent between 13,050 and 12,650 years ago, pole-hafted weapons may have been used for hunting large herbivores or for defense against large carnivores.

A Clovis point with distinctive grooved flake scars. Image courtesy of S. Byram.

“This ancient Native American design was a remarkable innovation in hunting strategy,” said Dr Scott Byrum, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley.

“This unique indigenous technology provides a window into hunting and survival techniques that have been used for thousands of years in many parts of the world.”

The team's discovery may help solve a mystery that has plagued archaeological communities for decades: how North American communities actually used Clovis stone tools, the most commonly unearthed remains from the Ice Age.

Clovis Points are named after the town of Clovis, New Mexico, where they were first discovered about a century ago. Clovis Points are formed from rocks such as chert, flint, and jasper.

They range in size from the size of a person's thumb to the size of a medium-sized iPhone, and have a clearly defined, sharp edge and grooved indentations on either side of their base.

Thousands of fossils have been discovered across the United States, some of which have been unearthed within preserved mammoth skeletons.

“Clovis points are often the only part recovered from a spear,” said Dr. June Sunseri of the University of California, Berkeley.

“The elaborately engineered bone hafts at the ends of the weapons are sometimes found, but the wood at the bases of the spears, and the rosin and string that made them work as a complete system, have been lost over time.”

“Furthermore, research silos limit such systems thinking about prehistoric weaponry, and if stone experts are not bone experts they may not get the full picture.”

“We need to think beyond simple artifacts. The key here is looking at this as an engineered system that requires multiple types of expertise in our field and in other fields.”

Building tools into powerful and effective systems would have been a priority for communities 13,000 years ago.

Tools had to be durable; there were only a limited number of suitable rocks that people could use to cross the land.

They might travel hundreds of miles without obtaining a long, straight stick suitable for making a spear.

“So obviously you don't want to risk throwing or breaking your gear when you're not sure if you're going to catch the animal,” Dr Byrum said.

“People who analyse metal military artefacts know about it because it was used to halt horses in war.”

“But before that, it wasn't really known for other situations, like wild boar hunting or bear hunting.”

“It's a common theme in literature, but for some reason it hasn't been talked about much in anthropology.”

To evaluate their spear hypothesis, the researchers built a test platform to measure the force that the spear system could withstand before the tip broke off or the shaft stretched.

A low-tech, static version of an animal attack using reinforced replica Clovis point spears allowed us to test how different spears reach their breaking point and how their extension systems respond.

This builds on previous experiments in which researchers fired stone-tipped spears into clay and ballistic gel, which may have been as painful as a needle prick to a nine-tonne mammoth.

“The energy that a human arm can generate is completely different from the energy that a charging animal can generate. It's an order of magnitude different,” Dr Jun said.

“These spears were designed to protect the wielder.”

“The sophisticated Clovis technology, developed uniquely in North America, is a testament to the ingenuity and skill used by indigenous peoples to coexist with ancient lands and now-extinct megafauna,” said Kent Lightfoot, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

Team result Published in a journal PLoS One.

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RS Byram others2024. Clovis projectile points and foresharps subjected to reinforced weapon compression: modelling the encounter between Stone Age spears and Pleistocene megafauna. PLoS One 19 (8): e0307996; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0307996

This article is a version of a press release provided by the University of California, Berkeley.

Source: www.sci.news

Latest Research Findings in BBC Science Focus Magazine

Posted on August 21, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

13,000 years ago, humans had to come up with creative ways to survive in icy environments. Recent studies suggest that their solutions were more inventive and brutal than previously thought: Ice Age hunters likely used weapons to impale prey such as mammoths and sabre-toothed tigers.

This discovery could potentially resolve a long-standing debate regarding the purpose of ancient tools known as Clovis points. These sharp rocks, made of materials like chert and flint, have been found throughout the United States in various sizes. While it was initially believed that Clovis points were used as spear tips by skilled hunters for hunting large animals like mammoths and bison, a new study suggests a different perspective.

Published in the journal PLoS One, the study conducted by archaeologists from the University of California, Berkeley proposes that these weapons were used to ensnare and wound charging animals, and possibly even defend against sabre-toothed cats.

So how did this hunting method work? Hunters likely positioned the sharpened spear in the ground at an angle, allowing the animal’s momentum to drive the spear deep into its body upon impact. This innovative technique provided a strategic advantage in hunting large animals, making it more effective than traditional spear-throwing.

“This ancient Native American design represents a significant advancement in hunting strategies,” stated Scott Byrum, a contributing researcher. John Myers, the lead author of the study, emphasized the importance of understanding ancient survival techniques that have been utilized worldwide for millennia.

To validate their findings, the researchers conducted experimental simulations of the hunting technique in addition to analyzing historical records and literature. This process led to a better understanding of how Clovis points were used to hunt mammoths during the Ice Age.

A replica of an ancient Clovis point shows distinctive flutes near its base. These may have been the weapons used to kill the mammoth. – Photo by Scott Byrum

Recreating this ancient hunting technique through experimental models enabled researchers to gain insight into the effectiveness and practicality of pike hunting. Byrum and his team aim to further test their theory by creating a simulated mammoth to assess the durability and impact of the Clovis point.

This method of impaling prey, known as pike hunting, has historical precedence in warfare and hunting practices. During the Ice Age, this technology was crucial for survival as it allowed hunters to reuse their weapons and avoid the challenge of finding suitable materials for crafting new spears in harsh winter conditions.

By discovering how Clovis points were utilized in hunting, researchers have shed light on the coexistence of early humans with large extinct animals. This new perspective highlights the innovative strategies employed by ancient hunters and deepens our understanding of human history.

Read more:

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Research reveals Stonehenge’s main stone originated in Scotland

Posted on August 14, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

summary

The “altar stone” at the heart of Stonehenge was likely made in what is now Scotland, a study has found.
It’s more than 450 miles away, raising the question of how ancient humans managed to transport the stone that far.
The study authors suggest they may have used boats.

Scientists say they have unlocked the secrets of Stonehenge’s six-tonne rock, a discovery that adds even more mystery to the site.

A study published Wednesday in the journal Nature suggests that the ancient site’s central sandstone “altar stone” was likely created in what is now Scotland, meaning it was transported more than 450 miles to southern England — farther than any of Stonehenge’s other stones of known origin.

The discovery raises important questions: Researchers estimate that the altar stone was placed about 4,500 years ago, meaning Neolithic people could have moved it hundreds of miles, long before the invention of the lightweight spoked wheel.

The find also suggests that culture and social structure in the British Isles at this time was more intertwined than previously thought, and that Neolithic people were capable of carrying out complex projects with relatively simple tools.

The discovery was made based on the dating analysis of mineral grains within the sandstone. After profiling the age of the grains, the researchers were able to compare the altar stone’s age “fingerprint” with a database of sandstone samples from across the UK and nearby areas, such as Brittany in France.

“We can link the age spectrum with a fairly high degree of statistical certainty – in fact more than 95% confidence – to a very specific region in northeast Scotland,” said study co-author Chris Kirkland, professor of earth and planetary sciences at Curtin University in Australia.

The area Kirkland refers to, the Orkney Basin, includes the Orkney Islands themselves; Known for its elaborate stone circles.

“We can’t directly answer the question of why this rock was transported,” Kirkland said, “all we know is that this 6.5-ton rock was transported from 750 kilometers away, and that alone tells us an awful lot about Neolithic societies and their connections.”

Stonehenge — UNESCO World Heritage Site One of the best-preserved prehistoric megalithic monuments, the site is surrounded by large sandstone slabs called “sarsens”, which support stone lintels (also horizontal spans of rock, some held together by joints). Inside the outline of the sarsens is an inner circle of “bluestones”, which in turn is a horseshoe shape.

of The sarsens are thought to have originated approximately 15 miles north of Stonehenge.Meanwhile, bluestone comes from Wales, about 140 miles away.

The new study concerns the central Altar Stone, a roughly 16-foot-long slab of stone that shows evidence of being shaped by human tools. Stonehenge’s other slabs currently rest on top of the Altar Stone but have apparently been toppled over time.

“Whatever the reason, this is a special stone,” said David Nash, a professor of physical geography at the University of Brighton who has studied Stonehenge but was not involved in the new study. “It’s totally different to the other stones on the site.”

Kirkland and his colleagues looked at three possible routes the altar stones could have taken from Scotland to Stonehenge: They could have been transported by shifting glacial ice during the Ice Age, but the study authors don’t think that’s a good explanation, or they could have been transported overland by humans, but the team thinks that would be too difficult in the wooded area.

The third possibility, which they consider to be the most likely, is that the stones were transported by ship, and there is evidence of seaborne transport during this period, when England’s coastline was different to what it is today.

Nash said the authors had reached a “sound conclusion” about the altar stone’s origins.

“Their work is really fascinating,” he said, adding that their findings add to the evidence that Neolithic people travelled throughout the British Isles and were part of wider social structures. “There was clearly a social structure, there were connections and there was a very clear transmission of ideas.”

Stonehenge is one of approximately 1,300 surviving ancient stone circles. According to the British MuseumResearchers believe the site’s stones were shaped with hand tools and assembled using a winch and pulley system, with the stones aligned to coincide with the movement of the sun and the summer and winter solstices.

Experts speculate that Neolithic people may have used these sites for rituals and ceremonies, but details have been lost to time — especially what was so special about the altar stones.

“Today’s billionaires decorate their mansions with Italian Carrara marble, but I don’t understand why they do it. It’s a mystery,” said Anthony Clark, lead author of the new study and a doctoral student at Curtin University. “Humans have always been fascinated by finding the perfect stone, and perhaps Neolithic Britons were too, so their motivations have been forgotten over time.”

As a next step, the researchers hope to pinpoint the exact outcrop or region where the rocks originated, but said fundamental mysteries are likely to remain.

“They placed a lot of value in transporting that stone 700, 800, 900 kilometres,” said Nick Pearce, a professor of geography and geosciences at Aberystwyth University in Wales and another co-author of the study. “However they transported it, it meant something to them. What did it mean? Why did it mean so much to them? It gives us all something to think about.”

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Research: Extinction of dinosaurs led to swift evolution of bird genomes

Posted on August 2, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

About 66 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous period, a 10 km-wide asteroid struck Earth near what is now the town of Chicxulub in Mexico. The impact wiped out about 75% of Earth's animal and plant species, including groups such as non-avian dinosaurs and ammonites. A new study identifies key changes in bird genomes caused by the end-Cretaceous mass extinction that ultimately contributed to the remarkable diversity of modern birds.

This painting depicts an asteroid impact in the shallow tropical ocean of the sulfur-rich Yucatan Peninsula in what is now southeastern Mexico. The impact of this massive asteroid, which occurred about 65 million years ago, is believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs and many other species on Earth. The painting shows a Pterodactylus, a flying reptile with a wingspan of up to 50 feet, gliding above low tropical clouds. Image by Donald E. Davis/NASA.

“By studying the DNA of modern birds, we can detect patterns in gene sequences that changed shortly after one of the most significant events in Earth's history,” said Dr Jake Barb, from the University of Michigan.

“The signatures of these events appear to be imprinted in the genomes of survivors in ways that are detectable tens of millions of years later.”

An organism's genome is made up of four nucleotide molecules designated by the letters A, T, G, and C. The order of these nucleotides in the genome defines the blueprint of life.

The DNA code can evolve in ways that change the overall composition of DNA nucleotides across the genome.

These changes in composition are important in determining what genetic variations are possible and contribute to an organism's evolutionary potential, or ability to evolve.

Dr. Belf and his colleagues found that the mass extinction caused a change in nucleotide composition.

The researchers also found that these changes appear to be related to the birds' development as young birds, their adult size, and their metabolism.

For example, in the approximately 3 to 5 million years following the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period, surviving bird lineages tended to decrease in body size.

The development of hatchlings has also changed, with more species becoming 'altricial'.

“This means that when they hatch they are still in a fetal state and need to be fed by their parents, and it may take several weeks for them to fledge,” Dr Barb said.

“Birds that are ready to fend for themselves immediately after hatching, like chickens and turkeys, are called 'precocious.'”

“We found that adult body size and pre-hatching developmental patterns are two important traits of bird biology that we can link to the genetic changes we are detecting.”

“One of the most important challenges in evolutionary biology and ornithology is unraveling the relationships between the major bird groups. The structure of the extant bird phylogenetic tree is difficult to determine.”

Over the past 15 years, researchers have been trying to solve this problem by applying increasingly large genomic datasets.

So far, they have used genomic data to study the evolution of bird genomes using statistical models based on strong assumptions.

These traditional models allow researchers to reconstruct the history of genetic change, but they typically assume that the makeup of DNA, i.e. the proportions of A, T, G and C nucleotides, remains constant throughout evolutionary history.

The study authors developed software tools to more closely track DNA composition over time and across different branches of the tree of life.

This tool allowed us to relax the assumption that DNA's composition is constant.

“This allows us to vary our models of DNA evolution across the evolutionary tree and identify places where there may have been changes in DNA makeup,” said Professor Steven Smith, from the University of Michigan.

“In this new study, these changes were clustered within about five million years of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction,” Dr Belff added.

This approach also allowed the team to estimate which bird traits are most closely associated with changes in DNA composition.

“This is an important type of genetic change that we think is associated with mass extinctions,” Dr Barb said.

“To our knowledge, changes in DNA composition have never before been so clearly linked to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction.”

“We know that mass extinctions can have dramatic effects on biodiversity, ecosystems and the forms of life,” said Professor Daniel Field, from the University of Cambridge.

“Our study highlights that these extinction events can have even larger effects on organismal biology by altering key aspects of genome evolution.”

“This study improves our understanding of the dramatic biological impact of mass extinction events and highlights that the mass extinction that wiped out the giant dinosaurs was one of the most biologically consequential events in the entire history of the Earth.”

By relaxing typical assumptions used in evolutionary biology, the researchers are developing more nuanced insights into the sequence of events in birds' early history.

“We haven't typically thought of changes in DNA configurations and models across the tree of life as changes that indicate something interesting happened at a particular time and place,” Prof Smith said.

“This study shows that we've probably missed something.”

of study Published in the journal Scientific advances.

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Jacob S. Belf others2024. Genomic and life-history evolution link bird diversification and the end-Cretaceous mass extinction. Scientific advances 10(31); doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adp0114

This article is a version of a press release provided by the University of Michigan.

Source: www.sci.news

A Virtual Assistant Revolutionizing Cancer Research Through Interactivity

Posted on July 29, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Imagine asking your virtual assistant, “Hey Google/Alexa, tell me the lyrics to ‘Beautiful People’ by Ed Sheeran.” Voice User Interface You could possibly receive the information you need within seconds. Cancer doctors and researchers face the challenge of exploring and interpreting cancer genomic data, which resembles a huge library with billions of pieces in different categories. What if you had an Alexa-like tool that could answer questions about the data within seconds?

Traditionally, researchers have used computer programming and interactive websites with point-and-click capabilities to analyze cancer genomic data. Researchers agree that these methods are not only time-consuming, but also often require advanced technical knowledge that not all clinicians and researchers possess. Scientists from Singapore and the United States have collaborated to develop a conversational virtual assistant to navigate the vast library of cancer genomes. They named this assistant Melvin. Their goal was to make relevant information quickly available to all users, regardless of technical expertise.

The scientists described Melvin as a software tool that allows users to interact with cancer genomic data through simple conversations with Amazon Alexa. It incorporates familiar Alexa features, such as the ability to understand and speak everyday English and the ability for researchers to initiate a conversation by saying the name “Alexa.” Additionally, the scientists incorporated a knowledge base containing genomic data for 33 types of cancer from a global cancer database. The Cancer Genome AtlasIt contains a variety of data, including gene expression data, mutations known to increase the risk of developing cancer, etc. It also incorporates secondary information from each database, such as the definition and location of human genes, protein information, and anti-cancer drug efficacy records, to help users effectively interpret the results.

The scientists collected nearly 24,000 pronunciation samples for cancer genes, cancer types, mutations, types of genomic data, and synonyms of all terms in these categories from nine cancer experts at the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore. These experts were from Singapore, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the United States, and India, which was needed to increase the diversity of Melvin’s accents. The scientists said that due to the lengthy data collection time, the pronunciations did not cover all known cancer genes and traits.

The scientists explained that a voice user interface works well if it correctly hears and understands the user, including the context of the conversation. Because cancer terms differ from regular English vocabulary, the researchers trained Melvin to learn cancer vocabulary using a machine learning process that gives meaning to previously unknown words. Out-of-Vocabulary Mapper Service Design.

Additionally, the researchers developed a web portal where users can submit pronunciations of certain cancer features that Melvin may not initially recognize. This will allow Melvin to know what the user means when he hears those words. To address users’ potential security concerns about the recordings, the researchers noted that users can avoid data storage by deleting the recordings by following the instructions in their Amazon Alexa account. The researchers discussed opportunities to expand Melvin’s capabilities through crowdsourcing for pronunciation improvements. The researchers hope that these pronunciations will provide more data to match regional and national accents so that Melvin can understand and speak.

The scientists say Melvin will work with any device that supports Alexa and will be able to ” Gene Name” and “What percentage of lung cancer patients have a mutation in that gene?” Melvin reported that within seconds it processes these questions and returns responses in audio and visual form.

They also reported being able to ask follow-up questions based on previous conversations. They described the difficulty of getting valuable information from a single question and highlighted the value of Melvin’s ability to maintain context through incremental questioning. The scientists asserted that this design makes it easy for users to explore multiple relevant questions in a single conversation. They also demonstrated that Melvin performs advanced analytical tasks, such as comparing mutations of specific genes across different cancer types and analyzing how gene expression changes.

The scientists concluded that MELVIN can accelerate scientific discoveries in cancer research and help translate research results into solutions that clinicians can apply to patients. They acknowledged that while MELVIN’s framework is currently centered on cancer genes, it can be expanded to support more characteristics of cancer. The team plans to enhance MELVIN by adding more valuable datasets and features based on user feedback..

Post View: 203

Source: sciworthy.com

Research reveals new connection between Saharan dust and tropical cyclone precipitation

Posted on July 25, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Huge Saharan dust plumes carried across the Atlantic by trade winds could influence weather in North America by suppressing the development of hurricanes at sea, but the thick dust plumes could also bring heavy rainfall from storms coming onshore, according to a new study.

Vermilion othersThey found a nonlinear, boomerang-shaped relationship between Saharan dust and tropical cyclone rainfall. Image courtesy of Enrique.

“Surprisingly, the main driver of hurricane precipitation is not sea surface temperature or atmospheric moisture, as previously thought, but rather Saharan dust,” said Dr Yuan Wang of Stanford University.

Previous studies have found that human-induced climate change could dramatically reduce Saharan dust transport and increase hurricane rainfall in the coming decades.

But uncertainties remain about questions such as how climate change will affect dust runoff from the Sahara and how much more rainfall from future hurricanes is expected to occur.

“Hurricanes are among the most destructive weather phenomena on Earth,” Dr Wang said.

“Even relatively weak hurricanes can cause heavy rainfall and flooding hundreds of miles inland.”

“I think dust hasn't received enough attention right now in traditional weather forecasting, especially hurricane forecasting.”

Dust can have opposing effects on tropical cyclones, which are classified as hurricanes in the North Atlantic, central North Pacific, and eastern North Pacific when their maximum sustained winds reach 74 miles per hour or greater.

“The dust particles can make ice clouds more efficient in the centre of the hurricane, potentially resulting in more precipitation,” Dr Wang said.

“Dust can also block solar radiation, lowering sea surface temperatures near the center of a storm and weakening tropical cyclones.”

Dr. Wang and his colleagues set out to first develop a machine learning model that could predict hurricane rainfall, and then to identify the underlying mathematical and physical relationships.

They used 19 years of weather data and hourly satellite precipitation measurements to predict the amount of rainfall from individual hurricanes.

Their findings suggest that a key predictor of rainfall is measuring dust optical thickness, or the amount of light that penetrates the dust plume.

They found a boomerang-shaped relationship in which precipitation increases between dust optical thicknesses of 0.03 and 0.06, then decreases rapidly.

In other words, at higher concentrations, dust goes from enhancing to suppressing rainfall.

“Usually, when the dust loading is low, the microphysical enhancement effect is more pronounced,” Dr Wang said.

“If the dust loading is high, it can shade the ocean surface from sunlight more efficiently, and the so-called 'radiative suppression effect' will dominate.”

a paper A paper describing the findings was published in the journal. Scientific advances.

_____

Lyin Chew others2024. The primary role of Saharan dust on tropical cyclone rainfall in the Atlantic Basin. Scientific advances 10(30); doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adn6106

This article is a version of a press release provided by Stanford University.

Source: www.sci.news

Research suggests that biological amino acids could potentially endure in the near-surface ice of Europa and Enceladus

Posted on July 19, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Europa and Enceladus are important targets for the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life in the solar system. However, the surfaces and shallow subsurfaces of these airless icy moons are constantly exposed to ionizing radiation that can degrade chemical biosignatures. Therefore, sampling the icy surfaces in future life-searching missions to Europa and Enceladus requires a clear understanding of the required ice depths where intact organic biomolecules may exist. A team of scientists from NASA and Pennsylvania State University conducted experiments exposing individual biological and abiotic amino acids in the ice to gamma radiation to simulate conditions on these icy worlds.

Europa's surface stands out in this newly reprocessed color image. The image scale is 1.6 km per pixel. Europa's north side is on the right. Image courtesy of NASA / JPL-Caltech / SETI Institute.

“Based on our experiments, a 'safe' sampling depth for amino acids on Europa is about 20 centimetres (8 inches) at high latitudes in the trailing hemisphere (the hemisphere opposite the direction Europa moves around Jupiter), in an area where the surface has not been significantly disturbed by meteorite impacts,” said Dr. Alexander Pavlov, a research scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

“Detecting amino acids on Enceladus does not require subsurface sampling; these molecules survive radiolysis (breakdown by radiation) anywhere on Enceladus' surface, within a few millimeters (tenths of an inch) of the surface.”

Dr. Pavlov and his colleagues used amino acids in their radiolysis experiments as representative examples of biomolecules on icy moons.

Amino acids are produced by both living organisms and non-living processes.

But if certain types of amino acids were found on Europa or Enceladus, they could be a sign of life, as they may be used by life on Earth as building blocks of proteins.

Proteins are essential for life because they are used to create structures and to produce enzymes that speed up or control chemical reactions.

Amino acids and other compounds found underground in the ocean could be transported to the surface by geyser activity or the slow churning motion of the ice shell.

To assess the survival of amino acids on these planets, the researchers mixed amino acid samples with ice cooled to minus 196 degrees Celsius (minus 321 degrees Fahrenheit) in sealed, airless vials and exposed them to various doses of gamma rays (a type of high-energy light).

Because the ocean may harbor microorganisms, the researchers also tested the viability of amino acids contained in dead bacteria in the ice.

Finally, the researchers tested samples of amino acids in the ice mixed with silicate dust to see if meteorites or interior materials could be mixing with the surface ice.

This experiment provided vital data for determining the rate at which amino acids break down (called the radiolysis constant).

Using these, the scientists used the age and radiation environment of the icy surfaces of Europa and Enceladus to calculate drilling depths and where 10% of amino acids would survive radiolysis.

While experiments have been done before to test for the survival of amino acids in ice, this is the first to use low doses of radiation that don't completely break down the amino acids – changing or breaking them down would be insufficient to determine whether they were a sign of life.

This is also the first experiment to use Europa/Enceladus conditions to assess the survival of these compounds in microbes, and the first to test the survival of amino acids mixed with dust.

Scientists have found that amino acids break down faster when mixed with dust, but more slowly when they come from microorganisms.

“The slow rate of breakdown of amino acids in biological samples under surface conditions like those on Europa and Enceladus strengthens the case for future life detection measurements from lander missions to Europa and Enceladus,” Dr Pavlov said.

“Our results indicate that the decomposition rates of potential organic biomolecules are higher in the silica-rich regions of both Europa and Enceladus than in pure ice. Future missions to Europa and Enceladus should therefore be careful when sampling the silica-rich regions of these icy moons.”

“A possible explanation for why amino acids survive longer in bacteria is the way that ionizing radiation alters molecules, either directly by breaking chemical bonds or indirectly by creating nearby reactive compounds that alter or break down the target molecule.”

“It's possible that the bacterial cellular material protected the amino acids from reactive compounds produced by the radiation.”

Team paper Published in the journal Astrobiology.

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Alexander A. Pavlov others2024. Effects of radiolysis on biological and abiotic amino acids in shallow subsurface ice on Europa and Enceladus. Astrobiology 24(7); doi: 10.1089/ast.2023.0120

This article has been edited based on the original NASA release.

Source: www.sci.news

Research shows that doom scrolling is associated with existential anxiety, skepticism, uncertainty, and hopelessness.

Posted on July 18, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Are you facing an existential crisis from scrolling through your phone? A recent study conducted by an international team of experts aimed to explore this issue. Read the full report in the Journal of Computers in Human Behavior.

The study surveyed 800 college students in the US and Iran and discovered a connection between doomscrolling – excessive consumption of negative news – and feelings of existential anxiety, distrust of others, and despair.

Researcher Reza Shabahan from Flinders University highlighted that constant exposure to negative news can indirectly cause trauma, affecting even those who have not experienced direct trauma.

The study revealed that continuous exposure to negative news led individuals to believe that life is fragile and limited, humans are inherently lonely, and people have little control over their lives.

In the case of Iranian students, doomscrolling was also linked to misanthropy, a deep disdain and mistrust of humanity.

The researchers suggested that constant exposure to negative news reinforces the idea that humanity is flawed and the world lacks justice, challenging individuals’ beliefs about the fairness and goodness of the world.

However, they acknowledged limitations in their sample selection and size, cautioning against drawing definitive conclusions about the association observed.

Professor Helen Christensen from the University of New South Wales expressed interest in the study but cautioned that biases could exist due to the sample size.

Digital behavior expert Dr. Joan Orlando emphasized the potential long-term impact of doomscrolling on mental health, likening it to being constantly berated.

Orlando recommended being mindful of how social media and news consumption affect mental well-being, suggesting a delay in checking such platforms upon waking up.

She further emphasized the importance of understanding the impact of media consumption on one’s worldview.

For more insights, check out a Joint submission by mental health organizations ReachOut, Beyond Blue, and Black Dog Institute on the impact of social media on young Australians.

George Herman, CEO of Beyond Blue, highlighted the dual nature of social media in affecting young people’s mental health and called for social media platforms to take responsibility for their impact.

He stressed that individuals should have a say in the content they are exposed to and questioned social media platforms on their strategies to address the issue of doomscrolling.

Source: www.theguardian.com

Melting Ice Causing Earth’s Rotation to Slow and Axis to Shift, Research Finds

Posted on July 17, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

A recent study reveals that climate change is fundamentally reshaping the Earth, impacting its core. The melting of polar ice caps and glaciers due to global warming is causing a redistribution of water towards the equator, resulting in a shift in the Earth’s rotation and leading to increased daylight hours. This phenomenon is supported by new evidence suggesting that changes in the Earth’s ice could potentially affect its axis. These alterations create feedback loops within the Earth’s molten core, as highlighted in studies published in Nature Geoscience and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

According to Benedict Soja, an assistant professor at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, human activities are significantly influencing the Earth’s rotation. Changes in the planet’s shape and mass distribution, influenced historically by forces like the moon’s gravitational pull and rebounding of crust after ice age glaciers disappeared, are now being accelerated by rapid ice melting caused by climate change. Soja warns that continued carbon emissions could make ice loss a more significant factor in Earth’s rotation than the moon.

In addition to external factors like gravity and ice loss, fluid movements in the Earth’s core also play a role in affecting the planet’s rotation. These movements can speed up or slow down the Earth’s rotation and are currently compensating for the slowdown caused by climate change. The new study suggests that climate change is leading to small variations in polar motion due to changes in mass distribution, estimated to be about one meter per decade.

An iceberg in Antarctica on February 8th.
Şebnem Coşkun / Anadolu via Getty Images File

These changes in rotation are expected to have implications for space missions, navigation, and timekeeping. Understanding how Earth’s rotation and axis are affected by climate change will be crucial for accurate space exploration and maintaining global time standards. The research emphasizes the interconnectedness of surface processes with the Earth’s core, shedding light on the complex relationship between human activities and the planet’s inner workings.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Research shows that Homo sapiens and Neanderthals had 200,000 years of interaction

Posted on July 12, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

A recent study indicates that multiple instances of gene flow occurring between 250,000 and 200,000 years ago impacted the genomes and biology of both modern humans and Neanderthals, who are believed to share 2.5 to 3.7 percent of human ancestry.

Li othersIt provides insight into the history of modern-human Neanderthal admixture, shows that gene flow has significantly influenced patterns of genomic variation in modern and Neanderthals, and suggests that taking into account human-derived sequences in Neanderthals allows for more precise inferences about admixture and its consequences in both Neanderthals and modern humans. Image courtesy of the Neanderthal Museum.

“For the first time, geneticists have identified multiple instances of interbreeding between modern humans and Neanderthals,” stated Professor Li Ming from Southeast University.

“It is now evident that throughout most of human history, there was interaction between modern humans and Neanderthals,” added Professor Joshua Akey from Princeton University.

“Our direct ancestors, hominins, diverged from the Neanderthal lineage approximately 600,000 years ago and acquired modern physical characteristics around 250,000 years ago.”

“Subsequently, modern humans continued to engage with Neanderthals for around 200,000 years until the extinction of Neanderthals.”

The researchers utilized the genomes of 2,000 modern humans, three Neanderthals, and one Denisovan to track gene flow between human populations over the past 250,000 years.

They employed a genetic tool called IBDmix, developed several years ago, which utilizes machine learning techniques for sequencing genomes.

Previously, scientists relied on comparing the human genome to reference populations of modern individuals with minimal or no Neanderthal or Denisovan DNA.

The study authors discovered traces of Neanderthal DNA even in populations residing thousands of miles south of Neanderthal caves, suggesting that the DNA might have been transmitted southward by travelers or their descendants.

Using IBDmix, they identified a first contact wave around 200,000-250,000 years ago, a second contact wave around 100,000-120,000 years ago, and a peak contact wave around 50,000-60,000 years ago, deviating from previous genetic data.

“Most genetic data indicates that modern humans originated in Africa 250,000 years ago, persisted there for another 200,000 years, and only around 50,000 years ago dispersed from Africa to populate other regions as humans,” said Prof Akey.

“Our model suggests that there wasn’t a prolonged period of stasis, but soon after the emergence of modern humans, we migrated out of Africa and eventually returned.”

“To me, the narrative revolves around dispersal, highlighting that modern humans have been more mobile than previously assumed, encountering Neanderthals and Denisovans,” added Prof Akey.

This portrayal of migrating humans aligns with archaeological and paleoanthropological evidence indicating cultural and tool exchanges among human populations.

A crucial insight was to search for modern human DNA in the Neanderthal genome, rather than vice versa.

“While much genetic research in the past decade focused on how interbreeding with Neanderthals influenced the evolution and phenotype of modern humans, these questions also hold importance and interest in the opposite direction,” noted Professor Akey.

They realized that the descendants of the initial interbreeding event between Neanderthals and modern humans likely stayed with the Neanderthals and thus left no genetic trace in modern humans.

“By incorporating Neanderthal elements into genetic studies, we can analyze these early migrations in a new light,” Prof Akey mentioned.

The final revelation was that the Neanderthal population was smaller than previously estimated.

Traditional genetic modeling used diversity as an indicator of population size: greater genetic diversity implied a larger population.

However, using IBDmix, the team showed that most diversity came from DNA sequences originating from a larger modern human population, leading to a reduction in the effective Neanderthal population from around 3,400 breeding individuals to approximately 2,400.

Collectively, these new findings provide insights into the disappearance of Neanderthals from the record roughly 30,000 years ago.

“I prefer not to use the term ‘extinction’ because I believe Neanderthals were mostly assimilated,” mentioned Prof Akey.

It is theorized that the Neanderthal population gradually dwindled, with the last survivors merging into modern human communities.

“The assimilation model was first proposed in 1989 by anthropologist Fred Smith from Illinois State University, and our results offer compelling genetic evidence supporting Fred’s hypothesis,” Prof Akey stated.

“Neanderthals likely faced prolonged near-extinction.”

“Our estimates suggest that even a slight decrease of 10 to 20 percent in the population size would have a significant impact on an already vulnerable population,” Prof Akey added.

“Modern humans can be likened to waves gradually eroding the shoreline, eventually overwhelming Neanderthals demographically and integrating them into the modern human population.”

Read the full research findings published in the journal Science.

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Li-Ming Lee others2024. Recurrent gene flow between Neanderthals and modern humans over the past 200,000 years. Science 385(6705); doi:10.1126/science.adi1768

Source: www.sci.news

New research reveals presence of lead and arsenic in tampons, but experts advise against panic.

Posted on July 11, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Tampons are one of the most popular period products in a growing market that also includes period underwear and menstrual cups. They’ve been around since the 1930s and are still a mainstay for many people today, used by up to 80% of people who menstruate.

But few studies have looked at the potential contaminants in tampons and whether they pose a health risk, and a new study, the first of its kind, is leaving many questioning the truth. Are tampons safe?

A recent study from the University of California, Berkeley found that many commercially available tampons, both organic and non-organic, may contain toxic metals such as lead and arsenic. Researchers looked at tampons sold in the United States and Europe.

“Some tampons had higher concentrations of some metals and lower concentrations of others,” said lead author Jenni A. Shearston, PhD. “None of the tampons we tested appeared to have low concentrations of all metals.”

Searston said she and her colleagues began researching tampons after noticing little information about their ingredients in the research literature.

“There has historically been a taboo around menstruation,” she says, “and that not only impacts our social lives, but it also impacts scientific research, which I think is one of the reasons why there isn’t much research on menstrual products.”

Dr. Mitchell Kramer, chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at Huntington Hospital Northwell Health, said the study is “groundbreaking” and shows tampon manufacturers need to do more testing of their products.

“It certainly needs further evaluation. … I think this could have a big impact going forward in terms of how tampons are made and the impact on users,” Kramer said.

However, it is unclear what health effects using tampons that contain these metals may have.

“It’s unclear whether these metals are absorbed through the vagina, which is a key exposure,” said Dr. Jennifer Lincoln, an obstetrician-gynecologist and author of Let’s Talk about Down There: An OB-GYN Answers All of your Burning Questions … Without Making You Feel Embarrassed for Asking.

Shearston, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health and School of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, added that one of the limitations of the study is that it’s not known whether metals even leach from tampons.

“We only tested the tampons to see if they had these metals in them,” she said. “We don’t know if they’ll come out.”

Here’s what you need to know about the study:

Tampons and toxic metals

The paper states:Environment InternationalIn a new study titled “Tampons: A Guide to the Effects of Metals on Men’s Health,” researchers looked at 30 different tampons from 14 different brands and measured the levels of metals in them. Every tampon tested had measurable levels of all 16 metals they tested, including toxic metals like lead and arsenic.

But the study doesn’t conclude that the tampons tested, or others on the market, are unsafe, and Searston hopes people don’t “panic” about the study.

“We need more information,” she said. “What I would encourage people to do is support more research, ask more questions about this, and try to prioritize research on menstrual products and periods.”

The metal content varies depending on the type, where you buy it, and whether it’s generic or brand name.

“These metals were found in varying amounts, with some more prevalent in organic tampons (such as arsenic) and others more prevalent in traditional tampons (such as lead),” Lincoln said. “The study was blinded, so we don’t know which brands were tested, which I know is frustrating.”

Lincoln, who was not involved in the study, said he’s a bit surprised that this is the first of its kind, but that the findings make sense.

“It’s not surprising that metals were found in organic tampons because they can be absorbed from the soil and pesticides are still used in organic farming,” she said.

Are tampons safe?

Yes, tampons are still safe to use, experts say.

“There’s no need to panic,” Kramer said. “It hasn’t been proven that these products are dangerous or that they’re causing serious illness in people. I don’t think so. I think the concentrations of these heavy metals are very low.”

Research news release “It’s unclear whether the metals detected in this study contribute to any adverse health effects,” she said. Shearston said she and her colleagues are currently investigating “whether metals can migrate out of tampons.”

“We do leaching experiments,” she said, “and we also test the same products, like tampons, for other chemicals.”

Lincoln also stressed that it was too early to say what the study’s findings might mean for consumers looking for the safest tampons.

“This study shows that the average amount of lead found in tampons is actually very low, much lower than the amounts of concern in food and water,” she said. “This doesn’t negate the findings, but it’s an important consideration when people are deciding whether to continue using tampons.”

Katherine Roberts, deputy health editor at Consumer Reports, Covered Organic Tamponspoints out that the study highlights the need for more research on tampons.

“This isn’t a lesson that’s immediately actionable for individual consumers,” Roberts said. “The big lesson from this is that we need to do more research. In particular, studying how using tampons that are contaminated with heavy metals affects physiology would be very helpful.”

Are non-toxic, organic tampons safer?

All of the tampons tested contained some level of the toxic metal, even those that were claimed to be non-toxic and organic. In fact, these tampons contained more arsenic than traditional tampons.

“I hope this study shows people that organic doesn’t necessarily mean better, especially when it comes to menstrual products,” Lincoln says.

For example, an organic label on a tampon doesn’t mean as much as it does on food.

“Tampons labeled as organic don’t have a whole lot of information on them,” Roberts says. “It can mean a variety of different things.”

Lincoln added that people should choose menstrual products based on what’s best for them.

“This study shouldn’t be a reason for us all to immediately throw away tampons, but it’s important for people to decide what feels right for them,” she said. “It’s important to recognise that which period product to use is a personal choice – not everyone feels comfortable in pads, cups or period underwear, and for those people, tampons are their go-to.”

Using tampons safely

For tampon users who are concerned about metal exposure, Kramer recommends using tampons less frequently and relying on other menstrual products.

“You might want to alternate between tampons and sanitary napkins during your period, rather than leaving a tampon in 24 hours a day,” she says. “There are a few things you can try to reduce some of your exposure.”

There are other things consumers should consider when choosing a tampon to avoid unknown ingredients.

“Unfortunately, buying a particular brand or looking at a particular label doesn’t necessarily translate to avoiding (heavy metals),” Roberts said.

Roberts says you can buy unscented tampons, choose tampons with fewer ingredients, and avoid tampons made with plastic materials like polyester, polypropylene, and polyethylene.

“Flavours are a big black box, regulatory-wise,” Roberts says. “You can add flavours, but you don’t have to disclose what’s in them.”

Still, Cramer hopes people don’t panic about the findings.

“Tampons have been around for ages. I’ve never seen anyone come in with heavy metal poisoning. That’s completely different from the toxic shock syndrome issue,” he says. “That was a bacteria that had nothing to do with heavy metals.”

Alternatives to tampons

If you want to try other types of menstrual products, consider these Alternatives to tampons:

Menstrual cup

One popular brand is the DivaCup, a cup that is inserted into the vagina to collect menstrual fluid.

Menstrual disc

These products use a rimmed bag, similar to a cup, to collect menstrual fluid.

Period underwear

These are similar to regular underwear but contain additional material to absorb menstrual fluid.

Reusable Pads

These are cloth pads that you place inside your underwear to absorb liquids, but unlike regular disposable pads, they can also be washed and reused.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Research indicates that the Aurora Borealis may soon jeopardize our power infrastructure

Posted on July 10, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Seeing the Northern Lights is a dream for many, and the recent intense geomagnetic storm in May provided that opportunity for some. However, scientists are becoming increasingly concerned about the threat these natural light displays pose to modern infrastructure.

New research has revealed a connection between the Northern Lights and strong electrical currents known as geomagnetically induced currents (GICs), which can cause damage to critical infrastructure like pipelines and undersea cables.

Researchers have found that the angle at which an interplanetary shock wave hits Earth’s magnetic field plays a crucial role in determining the strength of these currents.

“Auroras and GICs are linked through the same space weather phenomenon,” explained Dr. Denny Oliveira, a researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. He emphasized that the aurora is a visual indication of the potential generation of GICs on the ground.

When solar particles interact with Earth’s magnetic field, geomagnetic storms are created, leading to the formation of the aurora. Interplanetary shock waves, arising from the Sun’s solar wind, also contribute to this process.

Interplanetary shock waves are formed similar to the sonic boom of a jet plane breaking the sound barrier. These shock waves compress Earth’s magnetic field and can generate powerful electrical currents that pose a threat to infrastructure conducting electricity.

Mitigating measures are crucial to protecting vulnerable infrastructure from the impact of interplanetary shock waves, as demonstrated by the severe power outage in Canada in 1989 following a geomagnetic storm. Oliveira emphasized the importance of monitoring and managing electrical circuits to prevent equipment damage.

Further research is needed to safeguard critical infrastructure from the strongest shock waves Earth encounters, Oliveira concluded.

About our experts

Denny Oliveira is an astrophysicist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Astrophysics, PHaSER/UMBC. His research focuses on interplanetary shock waves and their impact on plasma processes in space.

read more:

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

New DNA research reveals insights into the ancient ancestry of Australia’s dingoes

Posted on July 10, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Dingo (Dingo) are an iconic element of Australia’s biodiversity, but evidence-based management and conservation of dingoes depends on understanding their origins and population history. New ResearchIssued this week Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesResearchers have sequenced the genome of an ancient dingo individual, providing clues about the early history of dingoes in Australia, prior to the introduction of modern domestic dogs and the persecution of dingoes by European settlers. The results provide insight into the ancestry and origins of modern dingoes, including their relationship to the singing dogs of New Guinea, and will be a valuable resource for future developments in dingo management and conservation.

Dingoes are culturally and ecologically important free-living canines whose ancestors arrived in Australia more than 3,000 years ago, likely carried by sea voyagers. Image courtesy of Karlel.

Modern dingoes are free-ranging and naturalized Canine They live on most of mainland Australia and some of the nearby islands, including K'gari (known as Fraser Island from the 1840s until 2023).

Between the arrival of their ancestors in Australia at least 3,000 years ago and the introduction of domestic dog breeds as part of European colonisation beginning in the 18th century, dingoes were isolated from domestic dogs for thousands of years and represent an early 'primitive dog' lineage distinct from other free-ranging representatives of modern domestic dogs.

The early branching and free-living nature of dingoes means they were not subjected to the same intensive selective breeding as the ancestors of modern domestic dogs.

As a result, dingoes are behaviorally, genetically and anatomically distinct from domestic dogs and, as the continent's largest and most widespread terrestrial predator, they affect the distribution and populations of many other animal species.

“Dingoes have cultural significance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and play a vital role in Australia's ecosystems,” said University of Adelaide researcher Dr Yasin Suirmi.

“Understanding the historical population structure of dingoes will help us to protect their role in Australia's ecosystems and culture.”

“Dingoes are currently under threat from lethal culling programs and our research highlights the importance of protecting populations both inside and outside national parks.”

For the study, Dr Suirmi and his colleagues sequenced genetic data from 42 dingo specimens taken from coastal Western Australia, the Nullarbor Plain and coastal eastern Australia, stretching more than 3,000 kilometres from east to west.

The majority of the dingo specimens the researchers analysed predate the arrival of Europeans in Australia, with some dating back more than 2,000 years, and therefore represent the true genetic diversity of dingoes before they interbred with modern domestic dog breeds.

“This dataset provides a rare glimpse into the genetic landscape of pre-colonial dingoes, without any interbreeding with modern dog breeds,” said Dr Sally Wasef, a palaeogeneticist at Queensland University of Technology.

“As a result, they are behaviorally, genetically and anatomically different from domestic dogs.”

“The ancestors of modern dingoes arrived in Australia more than 3,000 years ago, probably carried there by seafarers.”

“The samples we analysed represent the oldest ancient DNA ever found in Australia and point to broad potential for future DNA and conservation action for dingoes and other animals.”

“Dingo populations have been divided into eastern and western groups and were previously thought to have formed during post-colonial human activity.”

“However, our results show that dingo population structure was already present thousands of years ago, shedding light on the dingo's genetic heritage and highlighting the importance of using ancient DNA for wildlife conservation.”

“For example, all of the K'gari dingoes we analysed are free of domestic dog blood, proving they have retained their ancestral heritage intact.”

“Although we only studied a small number of K'gari dingoes, our results highlight the importance and usefulness of ancient pre-colonial genomic data in conserving our unique native fauna.”

“Bad human behaviour has led some dingoes to take food from tourists so although a few problem dingoes have been culled, this is concerning given the small population.”

“Our unique dataset of ancient dingo DNA has helped us to reveal important details about the ancestry and migration patterns of modern dingoes,” Dr Suirmi said.

“Dingoes existed in Australia long before Europeans arrived, with distinct regional populations roughly separated along the Great Dividing Range, and certainly before the construction of the dingo-proof fence.”

“DNA analysis also shows that there has been less interbreeding between dingoes and modern dogs than previously thought, and our study confirms that today's dingoes retain a significant amount of their ancestral genetic diversity.”

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Yasin Suirmi others2024. Ancient genomes reveal dingo population structure over 2,000 years. PNAS 121(30):e2407584121; doi:10.1073/pnas.240758412

Source: www.sci.news

Research reveals that these specific foods can help individuals in their 70s live longer and healthier lives.

Posted on July 3, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Looking to age gracefully? There’s a plethora of advice out there, but the key seems to lie in maintaining a healthy diet.

A recent study published in Nutrition 2024 revealed that only a small fraction of individuals manage to remain disease-free and in good physical, cognitive, and mental health past the age of 70.

However, there’s hope. The same study indicated that adopting a healthy and balanced diet during midlife can significantly increase your chances of healthy aging.

The study, which spanned over 30 years and analyzed data from over 100,000 individuals, showed that people who maintained a healthy diet from their 40s onwards were much more likely to be in good physical shape at age 70.

According to John Myers, a postdoctoral researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health, “People who followed a healthy diet in midlife, especially one rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats, were significantly more likely to experience healthy old age.” This underscores the impact of diet on our health as we age.

To enhance your chances of living a longer and healthier life, experts recommend increasing consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, unsaturated fats, nuts, legumes, and low-fat dairy products. Conversely, it’s wise to limit intake of trans fats, sodium, red meat, and processed meats.

While a healthy diet is typically associated with disease prevention, this study highlights its role in promoting healthy aging. It’s not just about avoiding illness; it’s about maintaining overall vitality as we age.

Researcher Angelie Tessier noted, “Our study suggests dietary recommendations for healthy aging should not only focus on preventing diseases but also on fostering a fulfilling life in later years.”

Participants in the study were mainly above 39 years old without chronic diseases at the onset, and they reported their dietary habits every four years. By 2016, nearly half of the participants had passed away while only a small percentage had reached age 70 or older in good health.

When comparing adherence to healthy eating patterns, the study found that individuals in the top group were significantly more likely to achieve healthy aging than those in the bottom group. The strongest correlation was with the Alternative Healthy Eating Index, which rates your diet based on food consumption frequency.

Even after accounting for factors like physical activity, the link between diet and healthy aging remained robust. Healthy eating habits were associated with better physical health, cognitive function, and mental well-being.

About the Experts

Angelie Tessier, a postdoctoral researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health, has research published in esteemed journals like Nature Communications and PLoS One.

Read more:

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Research reveals that these ants possess the remarkable ability to perform life-saving emergency surgery on one another

Posted on July 2, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Florida carpenter ants are unique in their behavior, as they have been observed selectively cutting off the injured limbs of their nestmates. This unusual behavior was discovered in a study published in Current Biology, where researchers found that the ants use this “surgery” as a form of treatment for their injured companions. The ants were observed to carefully evaluate each injury and decide whether to clean the wound or amputate the leg entirely, based on the extent of the injury.

Lead author David Levine, a behavioural ecologist at the University of Würzburg, described this behavior as unique in the animal kingdom, as it involves one ant surgically treating another without the use of any tools. Unlike other ants that have specialized glands for wound treatment, Florida Carpenter ants rely solely on mechanical means to care for their injured nestmates.

The study found that the ants have a high success rate in treating femoral injuries, where amputation is required, compared to tibial injuries that can be treated with a simple mouthwash. This indicates that the ants have a sophisticated system for evaluating and treating wounds effectively to improve the chances of survival for the injured ants.

Credit: Bert Zielstra

The researchers believe that the ants’ ability to diagnose and treat wounds in such a precise manner is comparable to the human medical system. Further research is being conducted to understand if similar behavior exists in other ant species and to explore the ants’ tolerance to pain during these prolonged surgical procedures.

read more:

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Researcher working on promising Alzheimer’s drug facing charges of research fraud

Posted on June 29, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Summary

A neuroscientist who helped develop a potential treatment for Alzheimer’s disease has been indicted on fraud charges.
The charges relate to allegations that the scientists fabricated research images and data that they may have used to win grant funding.
Manipulation of research images is a growing concern in the scientific community.

A neuroscientist who contributed to the development of a potential Alzheimer’s disease treatment is facing fraud charges after a federal grand jury indictment on Thursday.

The indictment alleges that Wang Huaoyang, a professor of medicine at the City University of New York, engaged in fraudulent activities, including falsifying research images and data to secure grant funding from the National Institutes of Health.

Wang worked with Cassava Sciences, a pharmaceutical company based in Austin, Texas, on the development of simufilam, a drug candidate for Alzheimer’s disease. The indictment states that Wang received around $16 million in grant funding from Cassava for early-stage drug development.

The indictment accuses Wang of fraud against the United States, wire fraud, and making false statements. It claims that Wang manipulated images of Western blots, a laboratory technique used to detect proteins, to support his research and grant applications.

The indictment also suggests that Wang provided false information to scientific journals to support his research on symphyllum, a drug currently in late-stage clinical trials.

Despite the charges, Wang did not respond to requests for comment. His research has faced scrutiny in the past, leading to retractions of multiple studies and an investigation by CUNY.

Cassava Sciences confirmed that Wang was not involved in their latest clinical trials and emphasized that his research focused on early-stage drug development.

The scientific community has expressed growing concerns about research misconduct and the manipulation of data and images. Instances of research misconduct, such as the allegations against Wang, have led to retractions of studies and raised questions about the integrity of scientific research.

CUNY has stated that they will cooperate fully with the federal investigation into Wang’s alleged misconduct until the matter is resolved. The university acknowledges the seriousness of the charges and the impact they may have on the scientific community.

The case highlights the importance of maintaining integrity and transparency in scientific research to ensure the credibility and validity of scientific discoveries.

Retraction Watch has reported on the retraction of several academic papers authored by Wang, further underscoring the need for accountability and ethical practices in scientific research.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Research shows active hydrothermal systems on small ocean planets have the potential to sustain life

Posted on June 26, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Ocean worlds are planetary bodies with liquid oceans, often beneath an icy shell or within rocky interiors. In our solar system, several moons of Jupiter and Saturn are ocean worlds. Some ocean worlds are thought to have hydrothermal circulation, where water, rocks, and heat combine to pump and expel fluids to the ocean floor. Hydrothermal circulation influences the chemical composition of the water and rocks of ocean worlds and may help life develop deep beneath the icy surface. In a new study, planetary researchers used computer simulations of hydrothermal circulation based on well-understood systems on Earth to measure the effects of low gravity at values appropriate for ocean worlds smaller than our home planet. Simulations of ocean worlds with (lower) gravity result in fluid circulation that is roughly similar to that which occurs above and below the ocean floor on Earth, but with some key differences. Low gravity reduces buoyancy, so fluids do not become lighter as they heat up, which reduces their flow rate. This increases the temperature of the circulating fluids, which could lead to more extensive chemical reactions, possibly including those necessary to support life.

This diagram shows how Cassini scientists think rocks and water at the bottom of Enceladus’ ocean interact to produce hydrogen gas. Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Southwest Research Institute.

Rock-heat-fluid systems were discovered on the Earth’s ocean floor in the 1970s, where scientists observed releases of fluids carrying heat, particles, and chemicals.

Many of the vents were surrounded by a novel ecosystem, including specialized bacterial mats, red and white tube worms and heat-sensing shrimp.

For the new study, Professor Andrew Fisher from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and his colleagues used a complex computer model based on the hydrothermal cycle that occurs on Earth.

After varying variables such as gravity, heat, rock properties and depth of fluid circulation, the researchers found that hydrothermal vents could persist under a wide range of conditions.

If these flows occurred on an ocean world like Jupiter’s moon Europa, they could increase the chances of life surviving there as well.

“This study suggests that extraterrestrial ocean worlds may have supported low-temperature (but not hot enough for life) hydrothermal systems on timescales similar to those it took for life to become established on Earth,” Prof Fischer said.

The ocean circulation system on which the researchers based their computer model was discovered on the 3.5-million-year-old seafloor of the northwest Pacific Ocean, east of the Juan de Fuca Ridge.

There, cold undersea water flows through an extinct volcano (seamount), travels about 30 miles (48.3 km) underground, and then flows out into the ocean through another seamount.

“As water flows, it picks up heat, it’s warmer than when it entered, and its chemistry changes dramatically,” says Kristin Dickerson, a doctoral student at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

“The flow from seamount to seamount is driven by buoyancy – as water warms it becomes less dense and as it cools it becomes more dense,” Prof Fischer added.

“The difference in density creates a difference in fluid pressure within the rock, and the system is sustained by the flow itself. So as long as there is enough heat supplied and the rock properties allow for sufficient fluid circulation, the system will keep running. We call this a hydrothermal siphon.”

“Hot vent systems are primarily driven by sub-sea volcanism, while the Earth’s ocean floor experiences large amounts of fluid flowing in and out at much cooler conditions, driven primarily by Earth’s background cooling.”

“The flow of water through low-temperature vents is equivalent to all the rivers and streams on Earth in terms of the volume of water released, and accounts for about a quarter of the Earth’s heat loss.”

“About every 500,000 years, the entire volume of ocean water is pumped up and out of the ocean floor.”

Many previous studies of the hydrothermal circulation on Europa and Enceladus have considered hotter fluids.

“Cartoons and other illustrations often depict undersea systems that are similar to Earth’s black smokers, where cooler currents could occur just as much or even more than they do on Earth,” said Dr Donna Blackman from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

The results show that in very low gravity, such as on the ocean floor of Enceladus, the circulation can continue at low to moderate temperatures for millions or billions of years.

This could help explain why small ocean planets can have long-lived fluid circulation systems beneath their seafloors despite limited heating: the inefficiency of heat extraction could extend their lifetimes considerably, potentially for the entire lifetime of the solar system.

Scientists acknowledge that it is uncertain when active hydrothermal systems will be directly observed on the ocean planet’s seafloor.

The distance from Earth and physical characteristics pose significant technical challenges for spacecraft missions.

“It is therefore essential to make the most of the available data, much of which is remotely collected, and to leverage the understanding gained from decades of detailed study of the analog Earth system,” the authors concluded.

their paper Published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.

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A.T. Fisher others2024. Gravitational maintenance of hydrothermal circulation in relation to the ocean world. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets 129(6):e2023JE008202; doi:10.1029/2023JE008202

Source: www.sci.news

New Research Challenges Easter Island Population Decline Theory

Posted on June 22, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is often held up as an example where overexploitation of limited resources led to catastrophic population declines. A key element of this story is that the rapid rise and fall in pre-contact Rapa Nui population growth rates was caused by the construction and overexploitation of once-extensive rock gardens. However, the extent of rock gardens across the island, important for understanding food systems and demographic dynamics, needs to be better understood. New research by archaeologists from Binghamton University and Columbia University shows that the extent of this agricultural infrastructure was significantly smaller than previously claimed, and likely could not have supported the large populations assumed.

Map of Easter Island and its location in the southeastern Pacific Ocean. Image courtesy of Davis. others., doi: 10.1126/sciadv.ado1459.

In their study, Professor Carl Lipo of Binghamton University and his colleagues used modern techniques to more accurately estimate the number of rock gardens on Easter Island and their pre-human contact food production.

“This volcanic island was formed by an eruption a million years ago, so there has been enough time for rain to wash away the potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen needed for plant growth,” Professor Lipo said.

“Salty sea spray further reduces soil fertility.”

“The soils on Rapa Nui were not particularly productive. When people arrived on the island, they had to deal with those constraints.”

“Their first method was slash-and-burn agriculture, which involved cutting down the trees on the island.”

“This temporarily restored nutrients to the soil, but once the trees died, islanders turned to other methods, such as composting plant waste and rock mulch.”

“The fertilization benefits from composting are not enough to support a culture's food supply. Rock mulch was sufficient, but it was a very labor-intensive process.”

“The islanders chipped away some of the exposed bedrock and mixed the stone chunks into the soil, restoring nutrients and protecting the soil from further weathering.”

Rock mulch has also been traditionally used by the Maori people of New Zealand, Native Americans in the American Southwest, and in other areas such as the Netherlands.

“We do it ourselves using non-organic fertilizers. We basically use machinery to break the rocks into smaller pieces, which is more effective because it creates a larger surface area,” Professor Lipo said.

“The Rapa Nui people are literally breaking rocks by hand and burying them in the soil.”

“The gardens also grow dryland taro and yams, but the main crops are dozens of varieties of sweet potato. But not all rockeries are ancient gardens,” said Dr Robert DiNapoli from Binghamton University.

But how many gardens were there on Easter Island? When Europeans first encountered the island, they reported that 10 percent of the island was covered in gardens. Researchers have previously used satellite imagery to map the rock gardens, but this has resulted in misidentifications of things like roads.

Rapa Nui is one of the most remote human settlements on Earth, more than 2,000 km from the nearest inhabited island (Pitcairn Island) and more than 3,700 km from the South American mainland. The island is small (164 km2) and has relatively limited soil productivity and freshwater sources. Image credit: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen / CC BY-SA 3.0.

The study authors used shortwave infrared (SWIR) satellite imagery and machine learning to come up with a more precise estimate, finding that the area covered by mulch is about 180 acres, far less than previously thought.

“SWIR imagery, primarily used for geological mapping, can distinguish mineral composition and water content,” said Dr. Dylan Davis, a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University.

“Due to unique mineralogical characteristics and moisture patches, the rock gardens stand out from their surroundings.”

Using the latest estimates of the number of gardens, the researchers calculated that around 3,000 people lived on Easter Island at the time of European contact.

The oldest European records indicate a population of between 3,000 and 4,000, which is consistent with artifacts found on the island.

“What we're actually seeing here is that ecological constraints mean that islands just can't support that many people in the first place,” Dr Davis said.

“People actually changed the landscape to increase the amount of crops they could cultivate intensively, but the numbers were still very small.”

“This is not an example of ecological catastrophe, but rather an example of how people have managed to survive for a long time in a fairly sustainable way, despite very limited natural resources.”

“The misconception about the island's population size comes from the island's large and impressive moai statues and the assumption that it takes a large number of people to build such statues,” Prof Lipo said.

“Ecologists tend to use Easter Island as a model for how population size can lead to ecological catastrophe.”

“You can't use Easter Island as an example to suit your story.”

“We need to understand the island in its own context, because what it really tells us is quite different from what people believe.”

of Investigation result Published in today's journal Scientific advances.

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Dylan S. Davis others2024. Island-wide characterization of agricultural production casts doubt on the population collapse hypothesis for Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Advances in Science 10(25):eado1459; doi:10.1126/sciadv.ado1459

Source: www.sci.news

New research reveals deeper insights into the genetic factors influencing coffee consumption

Posted on June 20, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Coffee is one of the most widely consumed beverages. In a new study, scientists from the University of California, San Diego and others conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of coffee intake among US-based 23andMe participants. They investigated genetic correlations and conducted a phenotype-wide association study across hundreds of biomarkers, health, and lifestyle traits, and compared their results with the largest GWAS of coffee intake from UK Biobank.

Coffee drinking is an inherited habit and carries a certain amount of genetic load. Image courtesy of Sci.News.

“To create the GWAS, we collected genetic data and self-reported coffee consumption,” said lead author Dr. Hayley Thorpe, a researcher at Western University and the University of Guelph.

“Our goal was to identify associations between genes known to be associated with coffee consumption and health-related traits and conditions.”

“We used these data to identify regions in the genome that are associated with a higher or lower likelihood of drinking coffee.”

“And then we identify the genetics and biology that underlie coffee consumption.”

“Many people are surprised that coffee consumption has genetic effects,” said co-author Abraham Palmer, PhD, a research scientist at the University of California, San Diego.

“From previous papers, we had good reason to suspect that there was a gene that influenced coffee intake.”

“So it wasn’t a surprise to us that in both cohorts we looked at, there was statistical evidence that this is a genetic trait.”

“In other words, the specific genetic variants we inherit from our parents influence how much coffee we drink.”

“The genetic influence on coffee consumption was the first of two questions we wanted to answer,” said Sandra Sanchez Loij, PhD, a research scientist at the University of California, San Diego and senior author of the paper.

“The second thing is what coffee lovers really want to know: Is drinking coffee good or bad? Does drinking coffee have positive health consequences or not?”

The group’s genome-wide association study of 130,153 US-based 23andMe study participants, compared with a similar UK Biobank database (334,649 British individuals), found consistent positive genetic associations between coffee consumption and adverse health outcomes such as obesity and drug use.

A positive genetic association is a link between a particular gene variant (genotype) and a particular condition (phenotype).

Conversely, a negative genetic association would be a clear protective trait that would thwart the onset of the disease.

When it comes to mental illness, the findings are more mixed.

“For example, if you look at the genetics of anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder and depression, in the 23andMe data, they tend to be positively correlated with the genetics of coffee consumption,” Dr. Thorpe said.

“However, in UK Biobank we see the opposite pattern of negative genetic correlation, which is not what we expected.”

“There were other instances where the 23andMe sets did not match the UK Biobank, but the biggest discrepancies were for psychiatric disorders.”

“It’s common in this field to combine similar datasets to increase research power. This information tells us pretty clearly that combining these two datasets was not a smart idea. And we ended up not doing so.”

“Mixing databases can mask effects, leading researchers to erroneous conclusions, or even cancel each other out.”

“There are a few ideas as to how the differences in results could have arisen. First, the studies were comparing apples with oranges,” Dr. Sánchez Loisi said.

“For example, the 23andMe survey asks, ‘How many 5-ounce (cup-sized) cups of caffeinated coffee do you drink per day?’ Compare this to UK Biobank’s, ‘How many cups of coffee do you drink per day (including decaffeinated coffee)?'”

“The study did not take into account the variety of ways coffee is presented, beyond serving size and whether it’s caffeinated or decaffeinated.”

“We know that in the UK instant coffee is generally preferred, whereas in the US ground coffee is more commonly preferred,” Dr Thorpe said.

“And then there’s the Frappuccino, the American fad of drinking coffee loaded with added sugar,” Dr. Sánchez Loij added.

“There are other caffeinated drinks out there and, particularly in the UK Biobank context, tea was not included in the GWAS that looked solely at coffee,” Dr Palmer said.

“GWAS shows that the genotype-phenotype relationship is more different than that between coffee and tea.”

“Genetics influences a lot of things. For example, it influences your height.”

“And these things would probably play out in the same way whether you lived in the US or the UK. But coffee is a decision people make.”

“Coffee comes in many forms, from instant to Frappuccino, and is consumed within different cultural norms in different places,” Dr Sánchez Loij said.

“Someone with one genotype may end up with a completely different phenotype if they live in the UK and the US.”

“And that’s exactly what the data tells us, because in the case of height, behavior doesn’t really matter, but behavior and selection in the environment affect it in different ways. So genotype-environment interactions complicate the picture.”

Team paper Published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.

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HHA Soap othersGenome-wide association study of coffee consumption in UK/US participants of European descent revealed cohort-specific genetic associations. NeuropsychopharmacologyPublished online April 17, 2024, doi: 10.1038/s41386-024-01870-x

Source: www.sci.news

New research uncovers that the Great Oxidation Event persisted for a minimum of 200 million years

Posted on June 12, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

About 2.5 billion years ago, free oxygen first began to accumulate in meaningful levels in Earth's atmosphere, setting the stage for the emergence of complex life. Scientists call this phenomenon Great Oxidation EventBut a new study led by researchers at the University of Utah suggests that Earth's early buildup of oxygen wasn't as simple as that moniker suggests.

The Great Oxidation Event refers to the transition from a slowly reducing Archean atmosphere-ocean system to an oxygen-rich atmosphere and shallow ocean during the early Paleoproterozoic. Image courtesy of Hadeano.

“The new data suggest that the early rise of oxygen in Earth's atmosphere was dynamic, possibly progressing intermittently up until 2.2 billion years ago,” said Dr Chadrin Ostrander, a researcher at the University of Utah.

“Our data validate this hypothesis and go a step further by extending this dynamics to the ocean.”

By analysing stable thallium isotope ratios and redox-sensitive elements, Dr Ostrander and his colleagues found evidence of fluctuations in ocean oxygen levels that are consistent with changes in atmospheric oxygen.

The discovery helps improve understanding of the complex processes that shaped oxygen levels on Earth at key times in its history and paved the way for the evolution of life as we know it.

“We have no idea what was going on in the oceans where Earth's earliest life forms are thought to have arisen and evolved,” Dr Ostrander said.

“So knowing the oxygen content of the ocean and how it evolved over time is probably more important for early life than the atmosphere.”

In 2021, researchers discovered that oxygen wasn't permanently present in the atmosphere until about 200 million years after the global oxygenation process began — much later than previously thought.

Definitive evidence for an anoxic atmosphere is the presence of rare mass-independent sulfur isotope signatures in the sediment record prior to the Great Oxidation Event.

There are very few known processes on Earth that could produce these sulfur isotope signatures, and atmospheric oxygen would almost certainly be absent for them to be preserved in the rock record.

For the first half of Earth's existence, its atmosphere and oceans were almost devoid of oxygen. This gas was likely produced by cyanobacteria in the oceans before the Great Oxidation Event, but during this early epoch the oxygen was rapidly destroyed in reactions with exposed minerals and volcanic gases.

Scientists found that traces of rare sulfur isotopes disappeared and reappeared, suggesting that atmospheric oxygen increased and decreased multiple times during the Great Oxidation Event – it wasn't a single “event.”

“When oxygen began to be produced, the Earth was not ready to be oxygenated. The Earth needed time to evolve biologically, geologically and chemically to encourage oxygenation,” Dr Ostrander said.

“It's like a seesaw. Oxygen is produced, but there's so much oxygen destruction that nothing happens.”

“We're still trying to figure out when the scales will tip completely and Earth will no longer be able to go back to an oxygen-free atmosphere.”

To map ocean oxygen levels during the Great Oxidation Event, the authors relied on expertise in stable thallium isotopes.

Thallium isotope ratios are sensitive to the burial of manganese oxides to the seafloor, a process that requires oxygen in seawater.

The team looked at thallium isotopes in the same ocean shales, which have recently been shown to be able to track fluctuations in atmospheric oxygen during the Great Oxidation Event, along with rare sulfur isotopes.

The researchers found a significant enrichment of the lighter isotope thallium-203 in the shale, a pattern best explained by the burial of manganese oxides on the ocean floor and the buildup of oxygen in the water.

These enrichments were found in the same samples that lacked the rare sulfur isotope signature, meaning the atmosphere was no longer anoxic, and they disappeared once the rare sulfur isotope signature reappeared.

These findings were supported by redox-sensitive element enrichments, a more classical means of tracing ancient oxygen changes.

“The sulfur isotopes indicate that the atmosphere was oxygenated, and the thallium isotopes indicate that the oceans were oxygenated,” Dr Ostrander said.

“Sulfur isotopes indicate that the atmosphere has become anoxic again, and thallium isotopes indicate the same for the oceans.”

“So the atmosphere and oceans were simultaneously oxygenating and deoxygenating. This is new and exciting information for people interested in the ancient Earth.”

of Investigation result Published in the journal Nature.

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Ostrander Commercial othersCoupled oxygenation of the atmosphere and oceans began 2.3 billion years ago. NaturePublished online June 12, 2024, doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07551-5

Source: www.sci.news

Research: African elephants use individualized calls similar to nicknames to communicate with each other

Posted on June 12, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

A team of scientists from Colorado State University, Save the Elephants and Elephant Voices used machine learning to: African savanna elephant (African brown) The calls included name-like elements that identified the intended recipient. When the authors played the recorded calls, the elephants responded positively to the calls, either by returning the call or by approaching the speaker.

Two young elephants greet each other in the Samburu National Reserve in Kenya. Image by George Wittemyer.

“Dolphins and parrots call each other by name, imitating each other's distinctive sounds,” says Dr. Michael Pardo, a postdoctoral researcher at Colorado State University and Save the Elephants.

“In contrast, our data suggest that elephants do not imitate the sounds of their mates when calling, but rather use a method that resembles the way humans communicate names.”

“The ability to learn to produce new sounds is unusual among animals, but it is necessary for identifying individuals by name.”

“Arbitrary communication, expressing ideas through sounds but not imitating them, greatly expands communication abilities and is considered a next-level cognitive skill.”

“If we could only make sounds that resembled what we say, our ability to communicate would be severely limited,” added George Wittemyer, a professor at Colorado State University and chairman of Save the Elephants' science committee.

“The use of arbitrary phonetic labels suggests that elephants may be capable of abstract thought.”

For their study, the researchers used machine learning techniques to analyze 469 recordings of rumbles made by wild female African elephant calves in the Samburu Buffalo Springs National Reserve in Amboseli National Park, Kenya, between 1986 and 2022.

The machine learning model correctly identified the recipient in 27.5% of these calls, which the researchers noted was a higher percentage than the model detected when control voice was input.

The researchers also compared the responses of 17 wild elephants to recordings of calls that were originally directed at them or at other elephants.

The researchers observed that the elephants approached the speaker playing the recordings more quickly and were more likely to respond vocally when they were called to, compared to when other elephants were called to.

This suggests that elephants recognise individual calls addressed to them.

“The discovery that elephants are not simply mimicking the calls of calling individuals is most intriguing,” said Dr. Kurt Fristrup, a researcher at Colorado State University.

“The ability to use arbitrary acoustic labels for other individuals suggests that other kinds of labels or descriptors may exist for elephant calls.”

The new insights revealed by this study into elephant cognition and communication reinforce the need to protect elephants.

Elephants are classified as follows: EndangeredThey are endangered due to poaching for their ivory and habitat loss due to development.

Due to their large size, they require a lot of space and can cause damage to property and pose a danger to people.

“Communicating with pachyderms is still a distant dream, but being able to communicate with them could be a game changer for their conservation,” Prof Wittemyer said.

“Living with elephants is difficult when you are trying to share the land but the elephants eat the crops.

“I want to warn them: 'Don't come here. If you come here, you will be killed.'”

a paper The findings were published in the journal. Natural Ecology and Evolution.

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MA Pardo othersAfrican elephants call out to each other by different names for each individual. Nat Ecol EvolPublished online June 10, 2024; doi: 10.1038/s41559-024-02420-w

Source: www.sci.news

Our Solar System passed through a frigid interstellar cloud approximately 2 million years ago, new research reveals.

Posted on June 11, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

A cold, dense cloud in the Milky Way’s interstellar medium is about four to five orders of magnitude denser than its diffuse counterparts, and a team of astronomers from Boston University, Harvard University, and Johns Hopkins University has found evidence that two to three million years ago, our solar system encountered one of these dense clouds, which may have been so dense that it disrupted the solar wind.

Offers othersThe interstellar material through which the Sun has traveled over the past few million years indicates the presence of cold, dense clouds that could have had dramatic effects on the heliosphere. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.

Most stars generate winds that move through the surrounding interstellar medium.

This motion creates a cocoon that protects the planet from interstellar material. The Sun’s cocoon is the heliosphere.

It’s made up of a constant stream of charged particles called the solar wind, which extends far beyond Pluto, enveloping the planet in what astronomers call a “local bubble.”

It protects us from radiation and galactic rays that can alter DNA, and scientists think it’s part of the reason why life on Earth evolved.

A cold interstellar cloud compressed the heliosphere, temporarily placing Earth and other planets in the solar system outside of its influence, according to a new study.

“Our paper is the first to quantitatively show that there was an encounter between the Sun and something outside our solar system that affected Earth’s climate,” said Professor Merab Auffar of Boston University.

“Stars move, and this paper shows that not only do they move, but they undergo dramatic changes.”

To study this phenomenon, Professor Orpher and his colleagues essentially went back in time and used advanced computer models to visualize where the Sun was located two million years ago, along with the heliosphere and the rest of the solar system.

They also mapped the path of a “localized cold cloud ribbon” system, a series of large, dense and very cold clouds made mainly of hydrogen atoms.

Their simulations showed that one of the clouds near the edge of the ribbon, a “local cold cloud,” may have collided with the heliosphere.

If this had happened, Earth would have been fully exposed to interstellar matter, where gases and dust would have mixed with atomic elements left over from the exploded star, such as iron and plutonium.

Normally, the heliosphere filters out most of these radioactive particles, but without protection they could easily reach Earth.

This is consistent with geological evidence showing increased levels of the isotopes iron-60 and plutonium-244 in the oceans, the moon, Antarctic snow and ice cores from the same period, according to the paper.

This timing also coincides with temperature records indicating a cold period.

“It is rare for our cosmic neighbors outside our solar system to have an impact on life on Earth,” said Harvard University professor Avi Loeb.

“It’s exciting to discover that our passage through dense clouds millions of years ago may have exposed the Earth to much greater amounts of cosmic rays and atomic hydrogen.”

“Our findings open a new window into the evolution of life on Earth and its relationship with our cosmic neighbours.”

“External pressure from localized lynxes of cold clouds could have continuously blocked the heliosphere for hundreds to millions of years, depending on the size of the cloud.”

“But as soon as Earth left the cold cloud, the heliosphere engulfed all the planets, including Earth.”

“It’s impossible to know exactly what effect the cold clouds had on the Earth, such as whether they caused ice ages.”

“But there are other cool clouds in the interstellar medium that the Sun likely encountered in its first few billion years.”

“And we’ll probably encounter many more over the next million years or so.”

The authors are currently working to determine where the Sun was 7 million years ago, and beyond.

Pinpointing the position of the Sun and cold cloud systems millions of years ago is made possible by data collected by ESA’s Gaia mission, which has produced the largest 3D map of the galaxy ever, showing in unprecedented detail how fast stars move.

“This cloud is certainly from our past, and if we passed through something this massive, we would have been exposed to interstellar material,” Prof Auffar said.

“This is just the beginning. We hope this paper opens the door to further exploration of how the solar system was influenced by outside forces in the ancient past, and how these forces may have shaped life on Earth.”

of paper Published in today’s journal Natural Astronomy.

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M. Offer othersIt is possible that Earth was directly exposed to cold, dense interstellar material 2 to 3 million years ago. Nat AstronPublished online June 10, 2024; doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02279-8

Source: www.sci.news

Research indicates that fresh water emerged on Earth approximately 4 billion years ago.

Posted on June 5, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Geologists have analysed 4-billion-year-old zircon crystals from Jack Hills in Western Australia’s mid-west region to date the emergence of fresh water back just a few hundred million years after the Earth formed.

Artistic conception of early Earth. Image by Simone Marchi/NASA.

On the early Earth, extensive interactions between flowing (fresh) water and the emerging continental crust may have been key to the emergence of life, but when the water cycle first began is unclear.

In the new study, Curtin University scientist Hamed Gamaleldien and his colleagues used the oxygen isotope composition of zircon crystals from Jack Hills in Western Australia to determine when the water cycle began.

Their findings suggest that meteoric water appeared on Earth about 4 billion years ago, 500 million years earlier than previously thought.

“We were able to date the origins of the hydrological cycle, the ongoing process by which water moves around Earth and is essential for maintaining ecosystems and supporting life on Earth,” Dr Gamalerdien said.

“By examining the age and oxygen isotopes of microscopic crystals of the mineral zircon, we discovered an anomalously light isotopic signature that dates back 4 billion years.”

“These light oxygen isotopes typically result from hot freshwater altering rocks several kilometers below the Earth’s surface.”

“The evidence for the presence of fresh water this deep in the Earth casts doubt on existing theories that the Earth was completely covered by oceans 4 billion years ago.”

“This discovery was crucial for our understanding of how Earth formed and how life began,” said Curtin University scientist Hugo Orioluk.

“This discovery not only sheds light on the early history of Earth, but also suggests that land and freshwater systems provided the foundation for life to thrive within a relatively short time frame – less than 600 million years after Earth’s formation.”

“This discovery represents a major advance in our understanding of Earth’s early history and opens the door to further exploration of the origin of life.”

of Investigation result Published in this week’s journal Nature Chemistry.

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H. Gamaleldine othersThe Earth’s water cycle began 4 billion years ago or sooner. National GeographyPublished online June 3, 2024; doi: 10.1038/s41561-024-01450-0

Source: www.sci.news

New research indicates that woolly rhinos may have been driven to extinction by early humans

Posted on June 5, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Extinction of Woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta Antiquitatis) This species, which lived at the beginning of the Holocene Epoch, remains shrouded in mystery, with conflicting evidence as to its causes and dynamics. A team of paleontologists led by scientists from the University of Adelaide and the University of Copenhagen has used computationally intensive modelling techniques and extensive paleontological and ancient DNA information to uncover why and how this enigmatic species went extinct.

Woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta Antiquitatis) was once widespread across northern and central Eurasia but became extinct about 10,000 years ago. Image by Mauricio Antón.

The woolly rhinoceros is an iconic member of the giant steppe fauna of central and northern Eurasia, originating from the Tibetan Plateau approximately 2.5 million years ago.

It is a cold-adapted species with thick skin and long fur, and its body size is comparable to that of modern mammals. African white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum).

Based on fossil chronology, the woolly rhino is estimated to have become extinct by 13,900 years ago, despite having survived multiple glacial and interglacial cycles during the Pleistocene.

However, recent discovery of woolly rhinoceros DNA in early Holocene deposits suggests a later extinction date of 9,800 years ago. This young dating is subject to debate, but is unlikely to be due to redeposition of DNA.

“Using computer models, fossils and ancient DNA, we have traced the population history of woolly rhinoceros across Eurasia over 52,000 years, at a resolution previously thought impossible,” said Dr Damian Fordham, from the University of Adelaide.

“This suggests that a combination of decreasing temperatures beginning 30,000 years ago and small-scale but continuing hunting by humans caused the woolly rhino's range to shrink southwards, confining it to isolated and rapidly degraded habitat at the end of the last ice age.”

“As the Earth thawed and temperatures rose, woolly rhino populations were unable to colonize key new habitats in northern Eurasia, causing destabilization and collapse, ultimately leading to extinction.”

The new research contradicts previous studies that found humans were not responsible for the woolly rhino's extinction, despite the animal coexisting with humans for tens of thousands of years before its disappearance.

“The demographic responses revealed by our analysis have a much higher resolution than previously captured in genetic studies,” said Professor Eline Lorenzen from the University of Copenhagen.

“This allowed us to pinpoint key interactions between woolly rhinos and humans and document how these have changed over time and space.”

“One of these largely overlooked interactions is persistent, low-level hunting by humans, presumably for food.”

“Humans pose similar environmental threats today,” the researchers said.

“Large animal populations have been forced into fragmented and suboptimal habitats by overhunting and changes in human land use.”

“Of the 61 species of large terrestrial herbivores weighing more than one tonne that lived during the Late Pleistocene, only eight survive today, five of which are rhinos.”

“Our results show how climate change and human activities can lead to the extinction of large animals,” said Professor David Nogus Brabo from the University of Copenhagen.

“This understanding is crucial for developing conservation strategies to protect species currently at risk of extinction, such as vulnerable rhinos in Africa and Asia.”

“Studying past extinctions can provide valuable lessons for conserving Earth's remaining large animals.”

of study Appeared in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Damien A. Fordham others2024. 52,000 years of woolly rhino population dynamics reveal mechanisms of extinction. PNAS 121(24):e2316419121; doi:10.1073/pnas.2316419121

Source: www.sci.news

Research reveals crows can distinguish up to four sounds.

Posted on May 30, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Carrion crow (Crow) It can count up to four times based on visual and auditory cues and control the number of times it vocalizes. study Published in the journal Science.

Carrion crow (Crow). Image courtesy of Andreas Nieder.

Counting out loud (e.g., reciting 1, 2, 3, etc.) requires an understanding of quantity and controlled, purposeful vocalization.

Humans use language to count and communicate quantity symbolically, which is a complex skill developed during childhood.

Before acquiring symbolic counting, where specific words are associated with specific quantities, infants produce several sounds that correspond to the quantities of objects they see and use these sounds as acoustic counting to communicate the corresponding numbers.

This early human behavior reflects a non-symbolic capacity shared with animals.

Some animals have demonstrated the ability to distinguish between different numbers of objects and communicate information through different numbers of vocalizations.

However, it is unclear whether animals other than humans have the ability to count by intentionally making a specific number of vocalizations.

“The carrion crow, a member of the songbird group, is known not for the beauty of its song but for its incredible learning ability,” Professor Andreas Nieder, researcher University of Tübingen.

“For example, previous studies have shown that birds understand counting.”

“Plus, they have incredible vocal control. They can control exactly whether or not they're going to chirp.”

In this study, Professor Nieder and his co-authors investigated whether carrion crows can control the rate at which they vocalize and solve complex vocal response tasks.

The researchers trained three crows to produce one to four vocalizations in response to both visual (colored numbers) and auditory (distinct sounds) cues associated with numerical values.

On each trial, birds were required to produce a target number of vocalizations and indicate the end of the vocalization sequence by pecking the target.

The researchers found that crows can successfully and purposefully produce a specific number of vocalizations in response to specific cues, a level of control that has not yet been observed in other animals.

The birds used a non-symbolic approximate number system and planned the number of vocalizations before initiating them.

Further analysis showed that the timing and characteristics of the first vocalization predicted the number of subsequent vocalizations, and different acoustic features of the vocalizations indicated their number in a given sequence.

“Our results show that humans are not the only ones who can do this,” Professor Nieder said.

“In principle, this could enable advanced communication with crows.”

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Diana A. Liao othersThe year is 2024. Crows “count” the number of cries they make. Science 384(6698):874-877; doi:10.1126/science.adl0984

Source: www.sci.news

New research reveals insights into childhood stress in Neanderthals and Paleolithic humans

Posted on May 30, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Neanderthal life has been portrayed as historically highly stressful, shaped by constant pressure to survive in harsh ecological conditions, which may have contributed to their extinction. In a new study, paleoanthropologists analyzed the frequency of dental enamel hypoplasia, an indicator of growth impairment due to early life stress, in the largest sample of Neanderthals and Upper Paleolithic humans. Their findings support similar overall stress levels in both groups, but show that there are species-specific patterns in the distribution of its occurrence. They found that the likelihood of growth impairment increased during the weaning process in Neanderthal children and culminated in intensity after weaning, whereas growth impairment in Upper Paleolithic children was limited to the time of weaning and significantly decreased after its expected completion. These results may reflect differences in parenting and other behavioral strategies between the two species, including some that may be advantageous for long-term survival in modern humans.

Neanderthal family. Image courtesy of the Field Museum.

“Neanderthals have traditionally been depicted as living highly stressful lives, including pressures to survive in the harsh and highly variable ecological conditions of Pleistocene Eurasia, which have been thought to have contributed to their extinction,” said Dr Laura Rimmer from the University of Tübingen and her colleagues.

“Modern Upper Paleolithic humans faced similar environmental conditions, but it is generally assumed that they were better equipped to buffer such pressures through their behavioral repertoire.”

“This includes strategies such as greater flexibility and efficiency in resource use and more complex social organisation and networks.”

“Their behavioral repertoire is thought to have given modern humans a competitive advantage over Neanderthals during the Upper Paleolithic, allowing them to survive while Neanderthals became extinct.”

“However, several recent studies have cast doubt on this view, arguing that Neanderthals and modern Upper Paleolithic humans lived similarly stressful lives.”

For the study, the researchers analyzed the enamel of 423 Neanderthal teeth and 444 Upper Paleolithic human teeth.

The researchers investigated early life stress in these individuals by identifying thin horizontal grooves in the enamel that previous studies have demonstrated are associated with early life stressors such as illness, infection, malnutrition, nutritional deficiencies and trauma.

The researchers found that the overall likelihood of enamel defects was similar in the teeth of Neanderthals and modern Upper Paleolithic humans.

“However, we observed that the distribution of dental enamel defects varied across developmental stages: in modern humans, enamel defects were more likely to occur around the time of weaning,” Dr Rimmer said.

In Upper Paleolithic humans, enamel defects were more likely to occur around the age when weaning was estimated to have occurred (between 1 and 3 years) than after the estimated weaning period.

In Neanderthals, enamel defects began to appear during weaning (around 1 year of age), peaked during late weaning (between 2 and 4 years of age), and then tended to decrease.

Scientists hypothesize that the stress experienced by Upper Paleolithic human children during weaning may have been due to increased energy demands that increased their risk of malnutrition.

They propose that Late Paleolithic humans may have helped to reduce developmental stress in their offspring after weaning through strategies such as encouraging long-term dependency on parents, using resources more efficiently and providing offspring with access to food.

They suggest that these strategies may not have been used by Neanderthals, which may have contributed to the long-term survival advantage of modern humans compared to Neanderthals.

“Modern humans may have gained an advantage over Neanderthals by providing better support for their young during these difficult times, such as by protecting them for longer or by providing a better food supply,” said Dr Shireen El-Zaatari, a researcher at the University of Tübingen.

“Neanderthals lived in a particularly cold and harsh climate, which is often said to have led to their extinction.”

“But because over a period of time Neanderthals and modern humans were exposed to the same climatic conditions, we are investigating other explanations.”

of study Published in a journal Scientific Reports.

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LS Rimmer others2024. Differences in childhood stress between Neanderthals and early modern humans reflected in impaired dental enamel growth. Scientific Reports 14, 11293; doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-61321-x

Source: www.sci.news

New research indicates that caterpillars are able to detect predatory wasps through the emission of static electricity.

Posted on May 24, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Predatory wasps are electrically charged and emit electric fields, and their larvae respond to these fields with defensive behaviour, according to a new study from the University of Bristol.

Sam J. England and Daniel Robert discovered that some terrestrial animals can sense the electric fields emitted by electrostatically charged predators and use this sensation to mount defensive actions. These photos show the four animal species examined in the study: (A) A Cinnabarga larva (Tilia jacobae) Taking a defensive posture. (B) The larva of a rare transpiration moth (Terrorcrus Rekens) in a defensive coiled position. (C) The larva of the European peacock butterfly (Aglais), (D) a predatory common hornet in the middle of a defensive maneuver (HornetImage credit: Sam J. England & Daniel Robert, doi: 10.1073/pnas.2322674121.

“Many animals naturally build up static electricity on their bodies as they move around in their environment, and we knew that static electricity can push or pull on other charged objects,” said researcher Sam England, from the University of Bristol.

“In particular, we knew that insect hairs can be moved by electric fields emitted by electrostatically charged objects, in the same way that an electrically charged balloon can move hair on the head.”

“This got us thinking: What if prey animals like caterpillars could detect predators by sensing the electric fields emitted by the predators?”

“Could the static electricity of a predator like a wasp be enough to alert the caterpillar to the approach of the wasp, by pushing and pulling on the caterpillar's sensory hairs?”

Dr England and his colleague, Professor Daniel Robert, from the University of Bristol, measured how much static electricity the wasps and caterpillars had picked up by passing them through a static sensor.

The researchers then fed these charge values into a computational model to mathematically predict how strong the electric field would be as the wasp approached the larvae on the plant.

When the caterpillars reacted defensively to these conditions, they were able to determine whether it was sensory hairs that were detecting the electricity by using a laser to detect tiny vibrations and measuring how much the hairs moved in response to electric fields of different frequencies.

The results are concerning because they show that the caterpillars are also sensitive to the frequencies of electric fields emitted by power lines and other electronic devices.

This means that humans may be filling the environment with electrical “noise” that interferes with animals' ability to detect predators.

Dr England continued: “We now feel it is extremely urgent to assess whether introducing a new type of sensory pollution – electrical noise – is interfering with the ability of caterpillars, and other animals, to detect predators.”

Almost all terrestrial animals seem to accumulate static electricity, so this static sense may be widespread, and the discovery that static electricity plays a role in these ecological interactions would open up an entirely new dimension to our understanding of how animals sense each other, and more generally, how and why animals evolve in certain ways.

“Our study suggests that terrestrial animals may be able to use static electricity as a predator-detection cue,” Dr England said.

“This is likely an ability that is particularly widespread in insects and small animals such as spiders and scorpions.”

“This study provides the first example of an animal detecting predators by sensing static electricity emitted by the predator.”

“This reveals a new dimension of predator-prey interactions on land, but also suggests a previously unnoticed way in which we may be negatively impacting wildlife by introducing sources of electrosensory pollution.”

of study Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Sam J. England & Daniel Robert. 2024. Prey can detect predators via airborne electroreception. PNAS 121(23):e2322674121; doi:10.1073/pnas.2322674121

Source: www.sci.news

Research reveals that Mycenaean armor was created for extended battles

Posted on May 24, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

A 3,500-year-old Mycenaean bronze suit of armour discovered in the Greek village of Dendra may have been used in combat and not just for ritual purposes as previously thought.

Volunteer Marines wearing replica Dendra armor during a mock battle during a demonstration study. Image credit: Andreas Flouris / Marija Marković.

One of the oldest armors discovered in Europe is a 3,500-year-old suit of armor found near the village of Dendra, a few kilometers from ancient Mycenae in southern Greece.

Since its discovery in 1960 by a team of Greek and Swedish archaeologists, it has been unclear whether it was ceremonial clothing or gear suitable for combat.

This question has important implications for understanding warfare in Late Bronze Age Europe, yet there is no historical record of the use of this style of armour.

In a new study, Professor Andreas Floris from the University of Thessaly and his colleagues combined historical and experimental evidence to investigate the combat suitability of Dendra armour.

The researchers recruited 13 volunteers from the Greek Marine Corps, outfitted them with replica Dendra armour and Bronze Age weapons, and had them carry out 11 hours of simulated Bronze Age combat protocols.

This battle simulation was developed based on the historical records of Homer. Iliad Additionally, we add physiological and environmental evidence to approximate the typical diet, activities, and operations of a Mycenaean army.

Testing has shown that the replicated Dendra Armor does not restrict a warrior's combat capabilities, nor does it place undue strain on the wearer.

These results suggest that Dendra armour was battle-hardened and that the Mycenaeans' powerful influence on Mediterranean history was due in part to their armour technology.

To complement these results, the authors developed freely available software that allows for the simulation of combat conditions and allows testing the hypothetical effectiveness of the armor in more diverse scenarios.

“The armour worn by our volunteers had the same dimensions as the Bronze Age originals and weighed roughly the same,” Professor Floris said.

“We also monitored calorie intake based on the Homeric diet (about 4,443 calories), which Iliad“It linked calorie expenditure and the stress placed on the volunteers' bodies in typical Greek summer temperatures of 30-36°C.”

“As the 11-hour combat protocol began, we measured heart rate, oxygen consumption, core body temperature, fluid loss and muscle function.”

“We found that this armor allows complete flexibility of movement and does not place undue physiological stress on the body.”

“This means that, despite previous views that classified the armour as ceremonial clothing, it could have been worn for extended periods during battle by healthy individuals.”

“Sixty years have passed since the discovery of Dendra armour, and we now know that, although seemingly cumbersome, it was not only flexible enough to permit nearly all of a warrior's movements on foot, but also durable enough to protect the wearer from most blows.”

of result Published online in the journal PLoS One.

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AD Floris others2024. Analysis of Greek prehistoric full-body armour combat based on physiological principles: a series of studies using thematic analysis, human experiments and numerical simulations. PLoS One 19(5): e0301494; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0301494

Source: www.sci.news

New research indicates that following a Mediterranean diet may alleviate anxiety and lower stress levels

Posted on May 21, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Researchers from the University of the Sunshine Coast and the University of South Australia have discovered in a recent study that following a Mediterranean diet is linked to lower severity of anxiety and stress-related symptoms in older Australians living in the community. Despite this, there was no observed connection with depressive symptoms. The study also found that specific components of the Mediterranean diet, such as reduced consumption of sugary beverages and increased intake of fruits, nuts, and legumes, were independently associated with lower levels of anxiety symptoms.

The Mediterranean diet is inversely associated with the severity of anxiety and stress-related symptoms.

Anthony Villani, a researcher from the University of the Sunshine Coast, and his team investigated the correlation between adherence to a Mediterranean diet and the severity of depression, anxiety, and stress-related symptoms in older adults. A total of 294 older adults with an average age of 70.4 years who lived independently in Australia participated in the study.

The results showed that adherence to the Mediterranean diet was associated with lower levels of anxiety and stress-related symptoms, but not depressive symptoms. Furthermore, specific dietary components like low intake of fruits, nuts, legumes, and sugar-sweetened beverages were linked to decreased severity of anxiety and stress-related symptoms.

Dr. Anthony Villani noted, “These foods were key indicators in a study of more than 300 older Australians.” Additionally, he mentioned that individuals following a Mediterranean-style diet high in fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, fish, and olive oil had lower intensity of anxiety symptoms.

He continued, “Higher consumption of legumes and nuts, along with lower intake of sugary beverages, showed the most significant impact on reducing anxiety and stress. Nuts and legumes are rich in fiber, healthy fats, and antioxidants, which can have positive effects on brain health through gut health and inflammation reduction.”

The study, which controlled for various factors associated with poor mental health, emphasized the importance of a healthy diet in maintaining good mental health. It also highlighted the need for further research to explore the mental health benefits of the Mediterranean diet in older adults.

Published in Nutrients, the findings of the study are significant for understanding the relationship between diet and mental health in older populations.

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Lisa Allcock et al. 2024. Adherence to a Mediterranean diet is inversely associated with anxiety and stress, but not depression: a cross-sectional analysis of community-dwelling older Australians. Nutrients 16(3):366; doi: 10.3390/nu16030366

Source: www.sci.news

Fresh research offers new understanding of baobab’s evolutionary past

Posted on May 17, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

The iconic baobab, also known as the upside-down tree or tree of life, is most likely native to Madagascar, according to a new study.

Baobab tree in Senegal. Image credit: Viajesunion2.

genus AdansoniaThis plant, better known as the baobab or “Mother of the Forest,” has fascinated botanists, tourists, naturalists, and passersby for centuries.

Perhaps the earliest record of humans marveling at these amazing trees can be traced back to the ancient Egyptians around 2,300 BC.

Their grotesque appearance, gigantic size, reputed longevity, and diverse uses have made baobabs one of the most charismatic species on Earth.

Embedded in folklore and tradition, baobabs have inspired countless works of art and have been associated with human settlements and cultures for thousands of years.

Adansonia consisting of Eight morphologically distinct species: one distributed throughout Africa, one in northwestern Australia, and six endemic to Madagascar.

However, the origin of baobabs has been debated for many years due to a lack of fossil evidence.

“Our study reveals new insights into baobab speciation patterns and shows how climate change has influenced baobab distribution and speciation patterns over millions of years.” said Dr Ilia Leech, researcher at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Dr. Leach and his colleagues conducted genomic analyzes of all eight baobab tree species and combined these datasets with ecological analyses.

As a result of the analysis, Adansonia They originated about 41 million years ago and diversified about 20 million years ago.

The researchers found that the historical population dynamics of baobabs are closely linked to both interspecific competition and geological changes in Madagascar, particularly changes in sea level.

Based on data including phylogenetic relationships, gene flow, and genetic diversity of different baobab species, they believe that the hypothesis of mainland Africa and Madagascar as the center of origin for baobabs is the most reasonable explanation for the current data. suggests providing. Australia.

The discovery also allowed scientists to reassess the baobab's conservation strategies and current status.

For example, they suggest that two endangered baobab species in Madagascar should be assigned higher conservation status. Adansonia Suarezensis and Adansonia grandidieri.

High levels of inbreeding, low genetic diversity, and population declines all mean these endangered species lack resilience to ecological perturbations and could be seriously threatened by climate change. It suggests that.

“We are thrilled to be part of this project that uncovers patterns of baobab speciation in Madagascar and the subsequent remarkable long-distance dispersal of two species, one to Africa and one to Australia. I was delighted,” said Professor Andrew Leach, a researcher at Queen Mary University. London.

“This has been accompanied by the evolution of some interesting pollination syndromes involving hawkmoths, lemurs and bats.”

of study It was published in the magazine Nature.

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JN. One other. Baobab tree prominence in Madagascar. Nature, published online April 19, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07447-4

Source: www.sci.news