Scientific Frontline: January 2025

Friday, January 31, 2025

New study could help tackle hidden hunger in Malawi

Fields in Blantyre, Malawi
Photo Credit: Dr Charlotte Hall

Growing fruit trees on farms in rural Malawi could directly improve people’s diets, according to new study by a University of Stirling researcher.

Around 20% of the population of the African country are undernourished and far more suffer from hidden hunger, meaning they consume enough calories but lack essential micronutrients, such as iron, zinc and vitamin A.

Around 80% of Malawians are involved in smallholder agriculture and a large proportion of the food they consume comes from their own production.

However, conventional agri-food policies continue to promote the increased production of staple cereal crops, and very rarely promote the benefits of fruit trees.

Image Credit: Tohoku University

While most multiferroics are limited such that the hottest they can operate at is room temperature, a team of researchers at Tohoku University demonstrated that terbium oxide Tb2(MoO4)3 works as a multiferroic even at 160 ℃.

As one can imagine, a material that loses its functionality from a hot summer's day or simply the heat generated by the device itself has limited practical applications. This is the major Achilles heel of multiferroics - materials that possess close coupling between magnetism and ferroelectricity. This coupling makes multiferroics an attractive area to explore, despite that weakness.

In order to surmount this weakness to unleash the full potential of multiferroics, the research team investigated the candidate material Tb2(MoO4)3. It successfully showed the hallmark traits of multiferroics, and was able to manipulate electric polarization using a magnetic field, even at 160 ℃. This is a huge jump from the previous limit of approximately 20 ℃. Without that major Achilles heel, this remarkable finding means that multiferroics can meaningfully be applied to areas such as spintronics, memory devices that consume less power, and light diodes.

Opening the "Gate of Truth" of puzzling superconductivity in strontium ruthenate
Image Credit: KyotoU/G Mattoni

Superconductors can carry electricity without losing energy, a superpower that makes them invaluable for a range of sought-after applications, from maglev trains to quantum computers. Generally, this comes at the price of having to keep them extremely cold, an opportunity cost that has frequently hindered widespread use.

Understanding of how superconductors work has also progressed, but there still remains a great deal about them that is unknown. For example, amongst many materials known to have superconducting properties, some do not behave according to conventional theory.

One such puzzling material is strontium ruthenate or Sr2RuO4, which has challenged scientists since it was discovered to be a superconductor in 1994. Initially, researchers thought this material had a special type of superconductivity called a "spin-triplet" state, which is notable for its spin supercurrent. But even after considerable investigation, a full understanding of its behavior has remained a mystery.

OHSU researchers identify protective properties of amniotic fluid

A multidisciplinary team of OHSU researchers collaborates to better understand the mechanism of amniotic fluid’s role in fetal development. Their goal is to identify how its properties can be harnessed to address prenatal health concerns.
Photo Credit: Christine Torres Hicks/OHSU

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have made new discoveries about amniotic fluid, a substance historically not well understood in medical research due to the difficulty in obtaining it during pregnancy, especially across gestation.

Amniotic fluid is the vital fluid that surrounds and protects a fetus during pregnancy. In addition to providing much-needed cushion and protection for the fetus, it also aids in development of vital organs — especially the lungs, digestive tract and skin— and stabilizes the temperature inside the womb.

The new study, published in the journal Research and Practice in Thrombosis and Haemostasis, found that the addition of amniotic fluid to plasma — the liquid portion of blood — improves the blood’s ability to thicken and clot, which is a critical and likely a protective function throughout pregnancy and during delivery for both the birthing parent and the baby.

The mechanism of amniotic fluid’s role in fetal development is not well understood and is understudied: The OHSU study is one of the first to identify how the features and properties of amniotic fluid change over time, especially those properties that play a role in thickening the blood, and how those changes can affect how maternal blood coagulates. If a pregnant person’s blood does not clot properly, it can create life-threatening complications for the fetus and birthing parent, including excessive bleeding during pregnancy and delivery.

Typical animals in the lowland rainforest of the Amazon: On the left, the palm-sized dung beetle Coprophanaeus lancifer, which appears to be sensitive to low temperatures. On the right, the Brazilian wandering spider Phoneutria boliviensis, which also grows to the size of a palm. The spider can often be seen at night, but during the cold wave it was nowhere to be seen.
Photo Credit: Kim Lea Holzmann / Universität Würzburg

It's not always cozy and warm in the Amazon rainforest: cold waves can cause temperatures to drop drastically. Würzburg researchers have investigated how animals react to this.

Anyone conducting research in the tropical rainforest does not necessarily have a winter jacket and warm socks with them. After all, this region of the world is considered to have a consistently pleasant temperature. But this is not the case, as Kim Lea Holzmann and Pedro Alonso-Alonso have found out for themselves. Both are doing their doctoral theses at the University of Würzburg's Biocentre and both spent almost the whole of 2023 in the Amazon region in southern Peru to study biodiversity.

It happened on 13 June: a cold spell caused temperatures to plummet from an average of 23.9 to 10.5 degrees Celsius. The cool period lasted almost a week. ‘A year before, we had already experienced a day when it was only 18 degrees,’ says Kim Lea Holzmann. But such severe and prolonged cold seemed strange to them. The local field assistants, on the other hand, were not really surprised. They explained to the Würzburg team that cold spells lasting several days are not that rare in the Amazon.

Photo Credit: University of Cambridge / British Antarctic Survey.

Scientists from the University of Cambridge and British Antarctic Survey have used ice core records to draw new conclusions about how Antarctica was affected by increased global temperatures over 100,000 years ago. The new paper, published today in the journal Nature, shows that large parts of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet were lost, contributing to significant sea level rise. However, the data also suggests that the nearby Ronne Ice Shelf – which climate models project could be lost under future warming scenarios – survived this period of global heating.

Greenhouse gas emissions are warming the Earth at an unprecedented speed and scale. While anthropogenic warming has no direct historical parallel, warm episodes in Earth’s history can offer clues to the future.

A team of ice core scientists, led by Eric Wolff from Cambridge University, wanted to find out what happened to the West Antarctic Ice Sheet during the Last Interglacial, when the polar regions were about 3°C warmer than present and sea levels were significantly higher. This period of Earth’s history is considered comparable to conditions we might see within decades.

Image Credit: Scientific Frontline stock image

Biodiversity has changed faster in places where temperatures have also changed quickly. This is the result of a new study published in the scientific journal Nature. Researchers from the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig and Friedrich Schiller University Jena were also involved in the work.

The study focused on how the composition of species in an ecosystem - rather than the number of species - has shifted over time. The researchers found that faster temperature changes sped up shifts in species composition, meaning species identities changed more rapidly in those areas.

The results also suggest that behavioral adaptation and changing species interactions are not enough to preserve species composition in the face of higher rates of temperature fluctuations.

"It's like shuffling a deck of cards, and temperature change now is shuffling that deck faster and faster," said lead author Dr Malin Pinsky, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz. Pinsky was hosted at iDiv as a sabbatical researcher in 2020. "The worry is that eventually you start to lose some cards," he said.

The wild rabbit is endangered in its native Europe. In other parts of the world, such as Australia, this species has been introduced and has large populations.
Photo Credit: ©Alexis Lours

Non-native animals are a threat to biodiversity, yet many are themselves threatened with extinction in their areas of origin

Non-native species introduced by humans are among the main causes of global species decline – they were partly responsible for 60 percent of the species that have become extinct worldwide in recent decades. In Central Europe, non-native mammals include species such as the Norway rat, the mouflon and the mink. Now a study led by biologists from the University of Vienna and La Sapienza University in Rome shows that some of these species introduced by humans are themselves endangered in their native range. The study has been published in the current issue of the journal Conservation Letters.

The globalization of the earth is contributing to the introduction of many animal and plant species into new parts of the world. Invasive species can displace native species through competition or transmit new diseases. At the same time, however, some of these non-native species are threatened with extinction in their native ranges. This creates a conservation paradox – because the question now is, should non-native occurrences of species that are endangered in their native range be protected or controlled? However, it was previously unknown how many non-native mammal species this paradox actually applies to. In the new study, the scientists have now quantified this in order to come one step closer to an answer to this paradox.

Demystifying Space Weather

SDO 304Å

Space weather has become increasingly important in our modern world due to our growing reliance on technology. It can impact various aspects of our daily lives, from communication and navigation systems to power grids and even astronaut safety. In this deep dive, we'll explore the intricacies of space weather, its causes, its effects, and why understanding it is crucial in our technology-dependent society.

Space weather is a dynamic and ever-changing phenomenon that has significant implications for our technology-dependent world. From disrupting communication and navigation systems to causing power outages and posing radiation hazards to astronauts, space weather events can have far-reaching consequences. While predicting space weather accurately remains a challenge, ongoing research and improved monitoring capabilities are crucial for mitigating potential risks. By understanding the causes and effects of space weather, we can better prepare for these events and protect our critical infrastructure and space-based assets. As we continue to explore and utilize space, space weather awareness and preparedness will become increasingly important for ensuring the safety and sustainability of our technological advancements and space exploration endeavors.

As scientists search for sustainable alternatives to typical waste disposal methods, chemical looping technology promises to spawn a new energy cycle.
Photo Credit: Chokniti Khongchum

Turning environmental waste into useful chemical resources could solve many of the inevitable challenges of our growing amounts of discarded plastics, paper and food waste, according to new research.

In a significant breakthrough, researchers from The Ohio State University have developed a technology to transform materials like plastics and agricultural waste into syngas, a substance most often used to create chemicals and fuels like formaldehyde and methanol.

Using simulations to test how well the system could break down waste, scientists found that their approach, called chemical looping, could produce high-quality syngas in a more efficient manner than other similar chemical techniques. Altogether, this refined process saves energy and is safer for the environment, said Ishani Karki Kudva, lead author of the study and a doctoral student in chemical and biomolecular engineering at Ohio State.

Sikorsky started ground runs on a UH-60M Black Hawk equipped with two Improved Turbine Engines. This engine increases the Black Hawk's combat capabilities.
Photo Credit: Courtesy Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company. ©Lockheed Martin Corporation.

Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company started its first-ever ground runs on a UH-60M Black Hawk® helicopter equipped with two GE Aerospace T901 Improved Turbine Engines (ITE). During this test, the T901 engine demonstrated its capabilities through a series of rigorous procedures. The initial light off and ground runs were executed by a combined U.S. Army and industry test team and operated by Army and Sikorsky pilots.

“Soldiers will rely on Black Hawk helicopters well into the future, and upgrades to the aircraft today will pay dividends for decades, enabling new missions such as deploying and managing launched effects,” said Hamid Salim, vice president of Army and Air Force Systems at Sikorsky. “A modernized Black Hawk fleet will create new operational opportunities for the Army by extending the capabilities of a proven, fielded fleet to travel farther on less fuel and with more troops and cargo.”

First flight of the ITE-equipped Black Hawk is anticipated this year.

Image Credit: Courtesy of Technische Universität Wien

Is there a contradiction between quantum theory and thermodynamics? On the surface, yes - but at TU Wien, researchers have now shown how the two fit together perfectly.

It is one of the most important laws of nature that we know: The famous second law of thermodynamics says that the world gets more and more disordered when random chance is at play. Or, to put it more precisely: That entropy must increase in every closed system. Ordered structures lose their order, regular ice crystals turn into water, porcelain vases are broken up into shards. At first glance, however, quantum physics does not really seem to adhere to this rule: Mathematically speaking, entropy in quantum systems always remains the same.

A research team at TU Wien has now taken a closer look at this apparent contradiction and has been able to show: It depends on what kind of entropy you look at. If you define the concept of entropy in a way that it compatible with the basic ideas of quantum physics, then there is no longer any contradiction between quantum physics and thermodynamics. Entropy also increases in initially ordered quantum systems until it reaches a final state of disorder.

Blood-powered toes give salamanders an arboreal edge

Wandering salamanders are known for gliding high through the canopies of coastal redwood forests, but how the small amphibians stick their landing and take-off with ease remains something of a mystery.

A new study in the Journal of Morphology reveals the answer may have a lot to do with a surprising mechanism: blood-powered toes. The Washington State University-led research team discovered that wandering salamanders (Aneides vagrans) can rapidly fill, trap, and drain the blood in their toe tips to optimize attachment, detachment and general locomotion through their arboreal environment.

The research not only uncovers a previously unknown physiological mechanism in salamanders but also has implications for bioinspired design. Insights into salamander toe mechanics could ultimately inform the development of adhesives, prosthetics, and even robotic appendages.

“Gecko-inspired adhesives already allow surfaces to be reused without losing stickiness,” said Christian Brown, lead author of the study and an integrative physiology and neuroscience postdoctoral researcher at WSU. “Understanding salamander toes could lead to similar breakthroughs in attachment technologies.”

An Inga tree (I. affinis) growing alongside a river in the Cerrado savanna region of central Brazil.
Photo Credit RT Pennington

Forests flanking Brazil’s rivers act as “highways” that have allowed tree species to move between the Amazon and Atlantic rainforests for millions of years, new research shows.

The two rainforests are separated by hundreds of miles of dry forest and savanna, where most rainforest trees cannot survive.

Until now, it was thought that tree species only passed between the Amazon and the Atlantic forests during periods long ago when the climate was wetter and much of South America was covered in rainforest.

But the new study – led by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) and the University of Exeter – reveals a different story.

“Rather than tree species being exchanged during specific wetter periods in the past, we found that species have dispersed consistently over time,” said Dr James Nicholls, of RBGE.

“This probably happens slowly, by generations of trees growing along the ‘highways’ provided by rivers that run through Brazil’s dry ecosystems.”

UQ team finds relative of deadly Hendra virus in the US

A northern short-tailed shrew
Photo Credit: RPN

Researchers at The University of Queensland have identified the first henipavirus in North America.

Dr Rhys Parry from the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences said Camp Hill virus was confirmed in shrews in the US state of Alabama.

“Henipaviruses have caused serious disease and death in people and animals in other regions,” Dr Parry said

“One of the most dangerous is the Hendra virus, which was first detected in Brisbane, Australia and has a fatality rate of 70 per cent.

“Another example is Nipah virus which has recorded fatality rates between 40 and 75 per cent in outbreaks in South-East Asia, including in Malaysia and Bangladesh.

“The discovery of a henipavirus in North America is highly significant, as it suggests these viruses may be more globally distributed than previously thought.”

Scientists from Duke University and ORNL used neutron scattering to see how lithium ions, represented by the glowing orbs, move through a diffusion gate, represented by the gold triangle, in a solid-state electrolyte.
Image Credit: Phoenix Pleasant/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

A team of scientists led by a professor from Duke University discovered a way to help make batteries safer, charge faster and last longer. They relied on neutrons at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory to understand at the atomic scale how lithium moves in lithium phosphorus sulfur chloride (Li6PS5Cl), a promising new type of solid-state battery material known as a superionic compound.

Using neutrons at ORNL’s Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), and machine-learned molecular dynamics simulations at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, they found that lithium ions easily diffused in the solid material, as they do in liquid electrolytes, allowing faster, safer charging. The results, published in Nature Physics, could bring the best of both worlds for solid-state electrolytes, or SSEs, enabling next-generation batteries.

“Our research was about figuring out what is going on inside these materials using the power of neutron scattering and large-scale computer simulations,” said Olivier Delaire, associate professor of mechanical engineering, materials science, chemistry and physics at Duke University. Delaire arrived at ORNL in 2008 as a Clifford G. Shull Fellow and won DOE’s Office of Science Early Career Award in 2014. Today, he leads a research group at Duke dedicated to investigating the atomic structure and dynamics of energy materials.

Ziqi Yu (Postdoc), Isaac Nartey Oduro (PhD student) and Daniela Gonzalez- Sepulveda (undergraduate RA) are examining lignin-based polyurethane samples.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Washington State University

An environmentally-friendly preparation of plant material from pine could serve as a substitute for petroleum-based chemicals in polyurethane foams.

The innovation could lead to more environmentally friendly versions of foams used ubiquitously in products such as kitchen sponges, foam cushions, coatings, adhesives, packaging and insulation. The global market for polyurethane totaled more than $75 billion in 2022.

A Washington State University-led research team used an environmentally-friendly preparation of lignin as a substitute for 20% of the fossil fuel-based chemicals in the foam. The bio-based foam was as strong and flexible as typical polyurethane foam. They report on their work in the journal, ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering.

“It’s quite novel in terms of the material we generate and the process we have,” said Xiao Zhang, corresponding author on the paper and professor in the Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering. “Our extracted lignin offers a new class of renewable building blocks for the development of bio-based value-added products.”

Differences in neuronal activation in mice with intact Tregs (left) and depleted Tregs (right). The finding demonstrates that Tregs play a role in ensuring healthy neuronal activity under normal conditions.
Image Credit: Mathis/Benoist Lab

Immune cells called regulatory T cells have long been known for their role in countering inflammation. In the setting of infection, these so-called Tregs restrain the immune system to ensure it doesn’t go into overdrive and mistakenly attack the body’s own organs.

Now scientists at Harvard Medical School have discovered a distinct population of Tregs dwelling in the protective layers of the brains of healthy mice with a repertoire much broader than inflammation control.

The research, published Jan. 28 in Science Immunology, shows that these specialized Tregs not only control access to the inner regions of the brain but also ensure the proper renewal of nerve cells in an area of the brain where short-term memories are formed and stored.

The research, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, represents an important step toward untangling the complex interplay of immune cells in the brain. If replicated in further animal studies and confirmed in humans, the research could open up new avenues for averting or mitigating disease-fueling inflammation in the brain.

Photo Credit: Laura Paredis

The Arctic’s “Last Ice Area” (LIA) — a vital habitat for ice-dependent species — might disappear within a decade after the central Arctic Ocean becomes ice-free in summer, which is expected to occur sometime around mid-century, a new study by McGill University researchers using a high-resolution model has found.

Earlier, lower-resolution models had suggested the LIA might last for several more decades after that point. The stability of this region is crucial for preserving the Arctic ecology, as it provides a suitable habitat for ice-dependent and ice-obligate species, including polar bears, belugas, bowhead whales, walruses, ringed seals, bearded seals and ivory gulls.

“These findings underscore the urgency of reducing warming to ensure stable projections for the LIA and for critical Arctic habitats,” said Madeleine Fol, lead author of the paper, which was her Master of Science thesis.

According to Anton Vasyunin, scientists have obtained important information about the composition of interstellar ice.
Photo Credit: UrFU press service

A team of scientists from the Laboratory of Astrochemical Research at UrFU has for the first time determined the amount of methane in gas and dust in the young star-forming region IRAS 23385+6053. The results of the study are important for understanding the mechanisms of formation of the prebiotically important methane molecule in space. The scientists published a description of the study in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

"Observations in the infrared provide a unique opportunity to simultaneously study interstellar gas and interstellar ice. This is not possible in other wavelength ranges. Thanks to the launch of the new James Webb Space Telescope, the quality of the infrared spectra of star-forming regions has been significantly improved and has made it possible to study the composition of interstellar ice and interstellar gas simultaneously with high precision. To analyze the spectra of the protostar IRAS 23385+6053 obtained from the telescope, we used the ISEAge facility of the Ural Federal University, which allows us to grow and study space ice analogs under conditions of ultra-high vacuum and ultra-low temperatures," said the author of the article, Ruslan Nakibov, a research laboratory assistant at the Laboratory of Astrochemical Research of the Ural Federal University.

The Bayeux Tapestry, showing King Harold riding to Bosham, where he attends
Photo Credit: Courtesy of University of Exeter

Archaeologists have uncovered evidence that a house in England is the site of the lost residence of Harold, the last Anglo-Saxon King of England.

By reinterpreting previous excavations and conducting new surveys, the team from Newcastle University and the University of Exeter, believe they have located a power center belonging to Harold Godwinson, who was killed in the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

Bosham, on the coast of West Sussex, is depicted twice in the Bayeux Tapestry, which famously narrates the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 when William, Duke of Normandy, challenged Harold for the throne.

The Tapestry culminates in Williams’s victory at Hastings, but earlier in the artwork Bosham is shown as the place where Harold enjoys a feast in an extravagant hall before setting sail for France, and again on his return.

In green, the habitable zone in the orbit of planet HD 20794.
Image Credit: (Dumusque et al. 2025) © Gabriel Pérez Díaz, SMM (IAC)

Thirty years after the discovery of the ﬁrst exoplanet, more than 7000 have been discovered in our Galaxy. But there are still billions more to be discovered! At the same time, exoplanetologists have begun to take an interest in their characteristics, with the aim of ﬁnding life elsewhere in the Universe. This is the background to the discovery of super-Earth HD 20794 d by an international team including the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the NCCR PlanetS. The new planet lies in an eccentric orbit, so that it oscillates in and out of its star’s habitable zone. This discovery is the result of 20 years of observations using the best telescopes in the world. The study is published today in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

‘‘Are we alone in the Universe?’’ For thousands of years, this question was conﬁned to philosophy, and it is only very recently that modern science has begun to provide solid hypotheses and evidence to answer it. However, astronomers are making slow progress. Each new discovery, whether theoretical or observational, adds to the ediﬁce by pushing back the limits of knowledge. This was the case with the discovery in 1995 of the ﬁrst planet orbiting a star other than the Sun, which earned two UNIGE researchers, Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz, the 2019 Physics Nobel Prize.

Nearly thirty years later, astronomers have taken many small steps towards detecting more than 7,000 exoplanets. The current scientiﬁc consensus points to the existence of a planetary system for every star in our galaxy. Astronomers are now looking for exoplanets that are easier to characterize or have interesting features to test their hypotheses and consolidate their knowledge. This is the case of planet HD 20794 d, which has just been detected by a team that includes members of the UNIGE Astronomy Department.

What drives mood swings in bipolar disorder? Study points to a second brain clock

Image Credit: Scientific Frontline

A brain rhythm working in tandem with the body’s natural sleep-wake cycle may explain why bipolar patients alternate between mania and depression, according to new research.

The McGill University-led study published in Science Advances marks a breakthrough in understanding what drives shifts between the two states, something that, according to lead author Kai-Florian Storch, is considered the “holy grail” of bipolar-disorder research.

“Our model offers the first universal mechanism for mood switching or cycling, which operates analogously to the sun and the moon driving spring tides at specific, recurring times,” said Storch, an Associate Professor in McGill’s Department of Psychiatry and a researcher at the Douglas Research Centre.

The findings suggest that regularly occurring mood switches in bipolar disorder patients are controlled by two “clocks”: the biological 24-hour clock, and a second clock that is driven by dopamine-producing neurons that typically influence alertness. A manic or depressed state may arise depending on how these two clocks, which run at different speeds, align at a given time.

Human cells imaged using Cell Painting. Cell nuclei are shown in blue, actin filaments in yellow, the endoplasmic reticulum in magenta, golgi bodies in cyan, and mitochondria in green.
Image Credit: Maria Lozada, Neal Lab

Visualizing cells after editing specific genes can help scientists learn new details about the function of those genes. But using microscopy to do this at scale can be challenging, particularly when studying thousands of genes at a time.

Now, researchers at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, along with collaborators at Calico Life Sciences, have developed an approach that brings the power of microscopy imaging to genome-scale CRISPR screens in a scalable way.

PERISCOPE — which stands for perturbation effect readout in situ via single-cell optical phenotyping — combines two technologies developed by Broad scientists: Cell Painting, which can capture images and key measures of subcellular compartments at scale, and Optical Pooled Screening, which “barcodes” cells and uses CRISPR to systematically turn off individual genes to study their function in those cells.

The new technique lets scientists study the effects of perturbing over 20,000 genes on hundreds of image-based cellular features. Generating data with this method is more than 10 times less expensive than comparable high-dimensional approaches such as high-throughput single-cell RNA sequencing and can be adapted to study a wide variety of cell types. In Nature Methods, the researchers applied PERISCOPE to execute three whole-genome CRISPR screens to create an open-source atlas of cell morphology.

Photo Credit: Tom Fisk

As harmful algal blooms (HABs) continue to spread across the globe, urgent research is needed to address this growing threat. Studies in Italy, China, and the Atlantic basin have shown that many water bodies have high nitrogen-to-phosphorus ratios, making phosphorus a key factor that drives these blooms. This highlights the critical need for more effective phosphorus management strategies to curb the rise of HABs and protect our ecosystems.

Recently, there’s been a growing interest in finding useful ways to repurpose troublesome algal biomass, which could be turned into valuable products like bioplastics, biofertilizers, and biofuels. Researchers have already explored using algal biomass to create materials that can help clean up things such as heavy metals, rare earth metals, dyes, and even capture CO2 and harmful volatile organic compounds from the air.

However, few studies have looked into how algal biomass, especially cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, can be used to create materials that remove phosphate from water.

Now, researchers from the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Florida Atlantic University, have filled that gap by transforming cyanobacterial biomass, which is typically a hazardous waste, into custom-made adsorbent materials that can pull harmful phosphorus out of water. A d sorbent materials are substances that can attract and hold molecules or particles such as gases, liquids, or dissolved solids on their surface. Unlike a b sorbent materials that soak up substances into their structure, a d sorbents capture molecules on the outside surface, forming a thin layer.

oribatid mite Platynothrus peltifer
Image Credit: Gemini (AI)

An international research team has discovered various mechanisms in asexual mites that generate genetic diversity and thus ensure survival

In collaboration with colleagues from international partner institutions, researchers at the University of Cologne have investigated the asexual reproduction of oribatid mites using genome sequencing techniques. They show that the key to evolution without sex in oribatid mites may lie in the independent evolution of their two chromosome copies – a phenomenon known as the ‘Meselson effect’. The research team identified various mechanisms that may contribute to the genetic diversity of the chromosome sets, potentially enabling the long-term persistence of the mite.

Like humans, oribatid mites possess two sets of chromosomes. However, the asexual oribatid mite Platynothrus peltifer reproduces parthenogenetically: Mothers produce daughters from unfertilized eggs, resulting in a population consisting entirely of females. Using single-individual sequencing, the researchers analysed the accumulated differences between the chromosome copies for the first time and evaluated their significance for the mite’s survival. The study titled ‘Chromosome-scale genome dynamics reveal signatures of independent haplotype evolution in the ancient asexual mite Platynothrus peltifer’, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), was published in Science Advances.

A small device worn on the body can stimulate the nervous system via electrodes on the ear.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Technische Universität Wien

Nerve stimulation can help with various diseases. However, this only works well if the body's own rhythms are taken into account, says a study by TU Wien (Vienna).

It doesn't always have to be medication. Some health problems, from chronic pain and inflammation to neurological diseases, can also be treated by nerve stimulation, for example with the help of electrodes that are attached to the ear and activate the vagus nerve. This method is sometimes referred to as an ‘electric pill’.

However, vagus nerve stimulation does not always work the way it is supposed to. A study conducted by TU Wien (Vienna) in cooperation with the Vienna Private Clinic now shows how this can be improved: Experiments demonstrate that the effect is very good when the electrical stimulation is synchronized with the body's natural rhythms – the actual heartbeat and breathing.

UB researchers Cristina de la Malla and Daniel Linares.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of University of Barcelona

According to a review of more than 600 studies, these patients would have difficulty in detecting differences in light intensity between adjacent areas, without which they cannot adequately see their surroundings and objects.

The article, published in the journal Schizophrenia Bulletin, is signed by researchers Daniel Linares and Cristina de la Malla, together with master’s student Aster Joostens, from the Vision and Control of Action Group of the Faculty of Psychology and the UB Institute of Neurosciences (UBneuro).

A key indicator of visual function

The symptoms of schizophrenia are characterized by alterations in thinking and behavior, such as loss of contact with reality, delusions or hallucinations, but there are also abnormalities in the perception of visual stimuli, such as deficits in the perception of color or contrast. Understanding these abnormalities may provide clues as to how information processing disturbances contribute to the characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia. “Contrast perception is one of the most fundamental abilities of vision, as without it, we cannot adequately perceive the environment and the objects in it, which can compromise everyday tasks such as moving through space, recognizing faces or reading”, explains the research team, part of the Department of Cognition, Development and Educational Psychology.

Miyake Events: Unraveling the Mysteries of Cosmic Radiation Surges

Image Credit: Scientific Frontline

What if a solar storm a thousand times stronger than any recorded hit Earth today? Imagine a surge of energy from the cosmos so powerful that it leaves its mark not only on our atmosphere but also etched into the very rings of ancient trees. This is the captivating reality of a Miyake event, a cosmic radiation burst that has intrigued scientists since its discovery in 2012. Named after Japanese physicist Fusa Miyake, these events offer a unique window into the dynamic interplay between our planet and the universe, while simultaneously raising concerns about the potential impact such events could have on our technologically reliant world.

What are Miyake Events?

Miyake events are distinguished by a dramatic increase in the production of cosmogenic isotopes, particularly carbon-14, within Earth's atmosphere. This surge in carbon-14 is detectable in tree rings, ice cores, and other natural records like sediment layers and cave formations, providing a historical record of these events1. The leading hypothesis suggests that extreme solar events, such as powerful solar flares or coronal mass ejections (CMEs), are the primary trigger for these events. These solar eruptions unleash massive quantities of high-energy particles that interact with Earth's atmosphere, leading to the increased production of carbon-14 and other cosmogenic isotopes like beryllium-10 and chlorine-362. Interestingly, Miyake events are potentially linked to superflares observed on distant stars similar to our Sun, suggesting a broader astronomical context for these powerful phenomena.

To understand the persistent thick atmosphere on Saturn's largest moon, SwRI worked with the Carnegie Institution for Science Laboratory to create conditions mimicking those at Titan's rocky core. These laboratory experiments heated and pressurized tubes of organics, producing nitrogen and methane, gases necessary to maintain Titan's atmosphere.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of SwRI

Southwest Research Institute partnered with the Carnegie Institution for Science to perform laboratory experiments to better understand how Saturn’s moon Titan can maintain its unique nitrogen-rich atmosphere.

Titan is the second largest moon in our solar system and the only one that has a significant atmosphere.

“While just 40% the diameter of the Earth, Titan has an atmosphere 1.5 times as dense as the Earth’s, even with a lower gravity,” said SwRI’s Dr. Kelly Miller, lead author of a paper about these findings published in the journal Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. “Walking on the surface of Titan would feel a bit like scuba diving.”

The origin, age, and evolution of this atmosphere, which is roughly 95% nitrogen and 5% methane, has puzzled scientists since it was discovered in 1944.

“The presence of methane is critical to the existence of Titan’s atmosphere,” Miller says. “The methane is removed by reactions caused by sunlight and would disappear in about 30 million years after which the atmosphere would freeze onto the surface. Scientists think an internal source must replenish the methane, or else the atmosphere has a geologically short lifetime.”

Lavender oil for longer-lasting sodium-sulfur batteries

In the future, linalool, a main component of lavender, could help to make sodium-sulfur batteries more durable and efficient.
Photo Credit: Dan Meyers

Lavender oil could help solve a problem in the energy transition. A team from the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces has created a material from linalool, the main component of lavender oil, and sulfur that could make sodium-sulfur batteries more durable and powerful. Such batteries could store electricity from renewable sources.

It is a crucial question in the energy transition: how can electricity from wind power and photovoltaics be stored when it is not needed? Large batteries are one option. And sulfur batteries, in particular sodium-sulfur batteries offer several advantages over lithium batteries as stationary storage units. The materials from which they are made are much more readily available than lithium and cobalt, two essential components of lithium-ion batteries. The mining of these two metals also often damages the environment and locally causes social and political upheaval. However, sodium-sulfur batteries can store less energy in relation to their weight than lithium batteries and are also not as durable. Lavender oil with its main component linalool could now help to extend the service life of sodium-sulfur-batteries, as a team from the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces reports in the journal Small. "It's fascinating to design future batteries with something that grows in our gardens," says Paolo Giusto, group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces.

Morganella morganii bacteria on a plate.
Photo Credit: Ajay Kumar Chaurasiya
(CC BY-SA 4.0)

It’s become increasingly clear that the gut microbiome can affect human health, including mental health. Which bacterial species influence the development of disease and how they do so, however, is only just starting to be unraveled.

For instance, some studies have found compelling links between one species of gut bacteria, Morganella morganii, and major depressive disorder. But until now no one could tell whether this bacterium somehow helps drive the disorder, the disorder alters the microbiome, or something else is at play.

Harvard Medical School researchers have now pinpointed a biologic mechanism that strengthens the evidence that M. morganii influences brain health and provides a plausible explanation for how it does so.

The findings, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, implicate an inflammation-stimulating molecule and offer a new target that could be useful for diagnosing or treating certain cases of the disorder. They also provide a roadmap for probing how other members of the gut microbiome influence human health and behavior.

“There is a story out there linking the gut microbiome with depression, and this study takes it one step further, toward a real understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind the link,” said senior author Jon Clardy, the Christopher T. Walsh, PhD Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology in the Blavatnik Institute at HMS.

Study co-authors Jennifer Hamad and Owen McAteer prepare for a cellular assay, a lab technique used to study living cells. The assay will yield information about the location of EBC-46 compounds that have been introduced into cells in the lab.
Photo Credit: Paul Wender

A compound with the unpresuming designation of EBC-46 has made a splash in recent years for its cancer-fighting prowess. Now a new study led by Stanford researchers has revealed that EBC-46 also shows immense potential for eradicating human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections.

Compared to similar-acting agents, EBC-46 excels at activating dormant cells where HIV is hiding, the study found. These “kicked” cells can then be targeted (“killed”) by immunotherapies to fully clear the insidious virus from the body. By pursuing this “kick and kill” strategy with EBC-46, researchers think achieving permanent elimination of HIV in patients—in other words, a cure—is possible.

"We’re pleased to report that EBC-46 performed extremely well in preclinical experiments as part of a ‘kick and kill’ therapeutic," said study senior author Paul Wender, the Bergstrom Professor of Chemistry at Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences. "While we still have a lot of work to do before treatments based on EBC-46 might reach the clinic, this study marks unprecedented progress toward the as-yet-unrealized goal of eradicating HIV.”

OHSU researchers use AI machine learning to map hidden molecular interactions in bacteria

Andrew Emili, Ph.D., professor of systems biology and oncological sciences, works in his lab at OHSU. Emili is part of a multi-disciplinary research team that uncovered how small molecules within bacteria interact with proteins, revealing a network of molecular connections that could improve drug discovery and cancer research.
Photo Credit: OHSU/Christine Torres Hicks

A new study from Oregon Health & Science University has uncovered how small molecules within bacteria interact with proteins, revealing a network of molecular connections that could improve drug discovery and cancer research.

The work also highlights how methods and principles learned from bacterial model systems can be applied to human cells, providing insights into how diseases like cancer emerge and how they might be treated. The results are published today in the journal Cell.

The multi-disciplinary research team, led by Andrew Emili, Ph.D., professor of systems biology and oncological sciences in the OHSU School of Medicine and OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, alongside Dima Kozakov, Ph.D., professor at Stony Brook University, studied Escherichia coli, or E. coli, a simple model organism, to map how metabolites — small molecules essential for life — interact with key proteins such as enzymes and transcription factors. These interactions control important processes such as cell growth, division and gene expression, but how exactly they influence protein function is not always clear.

The expert Raúl Lahoz and a group of students with the new equipment for studying quantum physics.
Photo Credit: Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera

The world of quantum physics is experiencing a second revolution, which will drive an exponential leap in the progress of computing, the internet, telecommunications, cybersecurity and biomedicine. Quantum technologies are attracting more and more students who want to learn about concepts from the subatomic world — such as quantum entanglement or quantum superposition — to explore the innovative potential of quantum science. In fact, understanding the non-intuitive nature of quantum technology concepts and recognizing their relevance to technological progress is one of the challenges of 2025, declared the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology by UNESCO.

Now, a team from the Faculty of Physics of the University of Barcelona has designed new experimental equipment that makes it possible for students to familiarize themselves with the more complex concepts of quantum physics. The configuration they present —versatile, cost-effective and with multiple ways of application in the classroom — is already operational in the Advanced Quantum Laboratory of the UB’s Faculty of Physics and could also be accessible in less specialized centers.

This innovation is presented in an article in the journal EPJ Quantum Technology, which results from a collaboration between professors Bruno Juliá, from the Department of Quantum Physics and Astrophysics and the UB Institute of Cosmos Sciences (ICCUB); Martí Duocastella, from the Department of Applied Physics and the UB Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (IN2UB), and José M. Gómez, from the Department of Electronic and Biomedical Engineering. It is based on the result of Raúl Lahoz’s master’s final project, with the participation of experts Lidia Lozano and Adrià Brú.

Photo Credit: Josue Michel

While child deaths in England fell temporarily during the COVID-19 pandemic, they have now risen to new heights, a new study from researchers at the University of Bristol and based on unique National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) data has found.

The study, published in PLOS Medicine, has shown that children were less likely to die during the pandemic lockdown (April 2020–March 2021) than at any time before or since, with 377 fewer deaths than expected from the previous year.

The number of deaths in the following year (2021-2022) was similar to before the pandemic, but in 2022−2023, there were 258 more deaths than expected from the pre-pandemic period.

The aim of the research was to quantify the relative rate, and causes, of childhood deaths in England, before, during, and after national lockdowns for COVID-19 and its social changes.

The researchers identified all those children in England who died between April 2019 and March 2023 and calculated what the rate of death was for each year, for each group of children (e.g., infants or older children) and cause of death.

Eight Psychiatric Disorders Share the Same Genetic Causes

Image Credit: Won Lab

Building off previous groundbreaking research, a new study identifies specific genetic variants that have significant impacts on brain development and are shared across eight different psychiatric disorders. Targeting these variants could pave the way for treatments that address multiple conditions at once.

Psychiatric disorders often overlap and can make diagnosis difficult. Depression and anxiety, for example, can coexist and share symptoms. Schizophrenia and anorexia nervosa. Autism and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, too. But, why?

Life experiences, environment, and genetics can all influence psychiatric disorders, but much of it comes down to variations in our genetics. Over the past few years, scientists in the field of psychiatric genetics have found that there are common genetic threads that may be linking and causing coexisting psychiatric disorders.

In 2019, researchers at the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, Harvard University, and the UNC School of Medicine identified 136 “hot spots” within the genome that are associated with eight psychiatric disorders. Among them, 109 hot spots were shared among multiple disorders, or “pleiotropic”. However, it was not clear at the time how genetic variations within these hot spots differed from those that only have roles in only one disorder.

The curve calculated using a “reproduction matrix” (turquoise) reflects the actual infection rate (black) much more accurately than previous models (yellow and blue).
Graphic Credit: Empa

The reproduction number R is often used as an indicator to predict how quickly an infectious disease will spread. Empa researchers have developed a mathematical model that is just as easy to use but enables more accurate predictions than R. Their model is based on a reproduction matrix that takes into account the heterogeneity of society.

"Your friends have more friends than you do", wrote the US sociologist Scott Feld in 1991. Feld's so-called friendship paradox states that the friends of any given person have more friends on average than the person themselves. This is based on a simple probability calculation: Well-connected people are more likely to appear in other people's social circles. "If you look at any person's circle of friends, it is very likely that this circle contains very well-connected people with an above-average number of friends," explains Empa researcher Ivan Lunati, head of the Computational Engineering laboratory. A similar principle served Lunati and his team as the basis for a new mathematical model that can be used to more accurately predict the development of case numbers during an epidemic.

An image produced through Xenium analysis of mouse small intestines. Protruding “villi” stick up from the lining of the small intestine. Valley-like “crypts” fill in the gaps.
Image Credit: Reina Lab, La Jolla Institute for Immunology

Your gut is a battleground. The cells that line your small intestine have to balance two seemingly contradictory jobs: absorbing nutrients from food, while keeping a wary eye out for pathogens trying to invade your body.

“This is a surface where pathogens can sneak in,” says La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) Assistant Professor Miguel Reina-Campos, Ph.D. “That’s a massive challenge for the immune system.”

So how do immune cells keep the gut safe? New research led by scientists at LJI, UC San Diego, and the Allen Institute for Immunology shows that pathogen-fighting immune cells called tissue-resident memory CD8 T cells (TRM cells) go through a surprising transformation—and relocation—as they fight infections in the small intestine.

In fact, these cells literally rise up higher in the tissue to fight infections before pathogens can spread to deeper, more vulnerable areas.

Male chimps socializing
Photo Credit: Kyoto University, Kumamoto Sanctuary

In Italy, it has been said, there is a proverb for everything.

Chi non piscia in compagnia o è un ladro o è una spia -- "Whoever doesn't pee in the company of others is either a thief or a spy" -- goes one such saying, describing a communal act that in Japanese is known as tsuré-shon.

Social urination can be found represented in artwork across the centuries and around the world, and even today continues to be represented in cultural tropes. Now, researchers in Japan -- observing chimpanzees -- are suggesting that this phenomenon has evolutionary roots even deeper than previously expected.

Despite decades of research into other contagious behaviors such as yawning, contagious urination has never been studied scientifically in any species. To tackle this, a team at Kyoto University conducted 604 hours of direct observation at the University's Kumamoto Sanctuary, documenting 1,328 urination events. The researchers analyzed whether these were aligned in time, triggered by nearby individuals, or influenced by social relationships.

Lignosulphonate is a safe waste from pulp and paper industries.
Photo Credit: Rodion Narudinov

Ural Federal University specialists have developed a new method of obtaining growth stimulators for agriculture plants. Waste from pulp and paper industries, lignosulphonate, became the basis for the production of biologically active stimulants of prolonged action for plant crops. Due to the structural features, the obtained samples can be used not only to improve crop growth, but also to remove some toxic substances from wastewater. The results were published in the Journal of Molecular Liquids.

The Sulfite method is one of the currently used methods for extracting cellulose (the basis of any paper) from wood. In addition to the target product, large-capacity waste is formed in the form of salts lignosulphonic acids or lignosulphonates. These compounds are not toxic, they are biocompatible, water-soluble and relatively cheap.

Lignosulphonate-based nanoparticles have a porous structure and high mass content of carbon atoms that can be absorbed by the soil. Due to this fact, researchers consider them as “sponges” for dyes that can enter wastewater, and even as sorbents for oil. However, there is currently no efficient and cheap way to produce nanomaterials from this class of waste in industry.

Fluoride in Drinking Water

Photo Credit: Bluewater Sweden

Is Fluoride Safe in Drinking Water?

Do you ever stop to think about what's in your drinking water? While most of us are aware of the importance of clean water, the safety of fluoride in our water supply has been a topic of debate for many years. You might have heard about its benefits for preventing cavities, but also about potential health risks. This article aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the science and expert opinions surrounding fluoride in drinking water, exploring both its benefits and potential drawbacks.

Research Methodology

To ensure accuracy and comprehensiveness, this article draws on a variety of sources, including scientific studies, reports from reputable health organizations (such as the WHO and CDC), news articles, and expert opinions. By examining a wide range of perspectives, we aim to provide a balanced and well-informed analysis of the safety of fluoride in drinking water.

Friday, January 31, 2025

Thursday, January 30, 2025

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Monday, January 27, 2025

Sunday, January 26, 2025

Saturday, January 25, 2025

Friday, January 24, 2025

Thursday, January 23, 2025

Saturday, January 18, 2025

Featured Article

Top Viewed Articles