Trillions of insects fly above us - weather radar reveals alarming declines

The marmalade hoverfly is a well known migrant that comes across the Channel each year.
Photo Credit: Christopher Hassall

Scientists have made a breakthrough in monitoring insect populations across the UK using an unexpected tool: weather radar.

Traditionally used to track rainfall and storms, these radars are now helping researchers monitor the daily movements and long-term numbers of flying and floating creatures - including bees, moths, flies, spiders, and other arthropods.

The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Global Change Biology, examined radar data collected between 2014 and 2021 over 35,000 square kilometers of the UK. It found that while daytime insect numbers have remained relatively stable or even increased in southern regions, nighttime-airborne insects have declined overall - especially in the far north.

Scientists develop an efficient method of producing proteins from E. coli

Proteins are synthesized through two processes involving DNA: transcription, which converts DNA into mRNA; and translation, where ribosomes read the mRNA and sequentially link amino acids to form proteins. This image illustrates the translation process accelerated to produce proteins more efficiently.
 Image Credit: Teruyo Ojima-Kato

Proteins sourced from microorganisms are attracting attention for their potential in biomanufacturing a variety of products, including pharmaceuticals, industrial enzymes, and diagnostic antibodies. These proteins can also be used for converting resources into biofuels and bioplastics, which could serve as viable alternatives to petroleum-based fuels and products. Therefore, efficiently producing microbial proteins could make a significant contribution to sustainable manufacturing.

Producing proteins from Escherichia coli (E. coli) has become popular due to its cost-effectiveness and efficiency. However, yields of protein production in E. coli may be reduced depending on the specific gene sequence of the target protein.

New findings on how breastfeeding affects the skeleton could boost development of drugs against osteoporosis

Within six months or less after the women stopped breastfeeding, the researchers observed a seven percent difference in bone density.
Photo Credit: Wendy Wei

Pregnancies do not weaken a woman’s skeleton. Breastfeeding, however, can reduce bone density considerably. These are findings from a research report produced at Lund University in Sweden. But breastfeeding women need not worry.

“There is a dip, but the body is absolutely fantastic at making up the loss,” says Kristina Åkesson, professor of orthopedics.

Breastfeeding and pregnancy both require large amounts of calcium. That is why Lund University researchers Lisa Egund and Kristina Åkesson wanted to examine how the reproductive cycle affects the bone density of women. The study followed 750 women over a ten-year period to investigate the effect of pregnancy and breastfeeding on the skeleton. 

The women were 25 years old when the study began – an age when bone density is normally highest. Ten years later, the data was collected: How many had been pregnant and had children? If so, how many children? Were the children breastfed, and if so for how long?

How unlocking ‘sticky’ chemistry may lead to better, cleaner fuels

Chemistry powered by renewable electricity offers a promising route to produce sustainable fuels and chemicals.
Photo Credit: Chokniti Khongchum

In a new study, chemists have developed a novel framework for determining how effectively carbon monoxide sticks to the surface of a catalyst during conversion from carbon dioxide. 

This stickiness, known as carbon monoxide (CO) adsorption energy, is a property that can often decide the final product of a chemical reaction. Using a widely accessible advanced electroanalytical technique, researchers found that the strength of this energy actually relies on a mix of reaction factors, including the type of catalyst material, applied voltage, and the surface’s structure.

This is a major step for the field, as gaining a better understanding of how CO adsorption works in real-time can help scientists search for innovative ways to recycle its counterpart, carbon dioxide, into useful fuel products, like methanol and ethanol. By designing better catalysts, these new insights could be used to accelerate the development of cleaner technologies that support a more sustainable future, said Zhihao Cui, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral student in chemistry at The Ohio State University.

New test can flag drugs that could be harmful to cats

Shelby
Photo Credit: Heidi-Ann Fourkiller

A new test developed at Washington State University will help pharmaceutical companies, veterinarians and regulatory agencies identify drugs that may trigger severe — but preventable — neurological side effects in some cats.

Even in healthy cats, many commonly prescribed drugs can cause dangerous reactions when administered in specific combinations or when given to felines born with a mutation in their MDR1 gene. This mutation disrupts a protein called P-glycoprotein, which normally helps remove harmful substances from the brain and body, putting affected cats at risk for serious reactions from drugs that are perfectly safe for most cats.

Developed by WSU veterinary pharmacologist Dr. Katrina Mealey and laboratory supervisor Neal Burke, the test can determine if a drug relies on P-glycoprotein to be safely processed. Using the test, Mealey and Burke identified 10 new drugs that pose a risk to affected cats. The findings were detailed in the journal Frontiers in Veterinary Science. The method is available as a fee-for-service through WSU, or companies and governing agencies can use the published procedure to run their own screenings.

Spotted lanternfly may use ‘toxic shield’ to fend off bird predators

Entomologists in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences examined the potential for birds to feed on spotted lanternflies.
Photo Credit: Anne Johnson / Pennsylvania State University
(CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Spotted lanternflies may season themselves to the distaste of potential bird predators, according to a new study led by entomologists in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.

The findings, which were published in the Journal of Chemical Ecology, showed that several species of birds were less likely to eat spotted lanternflies that had fed on the pest’s preferred host, Ailanthus altissima, commonly known as tree of heaven. This suggests the pest stores nasty-tasting chemicals when they feed on the invasive plant that birds can detect, according to the research team.

Further, they said, the extent to which birds may play a role in pecking away at spotted lanternfly populations remains up in the air and depends on various factors.

Led by postdoctoral researcher Anne Johnson, the team investigated whether birds could serve as natural predators of the spotted lanternfly. This Asian planthopper causes damage to vineyards, orchards and the nursery industry.

Rebalancing the Gut: How AI Solved a 25-Year Crohn’s Disease Mystery

Electron micrographs show how macrophages expressing girdin neutralize pathogens by fusing phagosomes (P) with the cell’s lysosomes (L) to form phagolysosomes (PL), compartments where pathogens and cellular debris are broken down (left). This process is crucial for maintaining cellular homeostasis. In the absence of girdin, this fusion fails, allowing pathogens to evade degradation and escape neutralization (right).
Image Credit: UC San Diego Health Sciences

The human gut contains two types of macrophages, or specialized white blood cells, that have very different but equally important roles in maintaining balance in the digestive system. Inflammatory macrophages fight microbial infections, while non-inflammatory macrophages repair damaged tissue. In Crohn’s disease — a form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) — an imbalance between these two types of macrophages can result in chronic gut inflammation, damaging the intestinal wall and causing pain and other symptoms. 

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have developed a new approach that integrates artificial intelligence (AI) with advanced molecular biology techniques to decode what determines whether a macrophage will become inflammatory or non-inflammatory. 

The study also resolves a longstanding mystery surrounding the role of a gene called NOD2 in this decision-making process. NOD2 was discovered in 2001 and is the first gene linked to a heightened risk for Crohn’s disease.

Researchers decipher a mechanism that determines the complexity of the glucocorticoid receptor

Above, from left to right, Pilar Montanyà-Vallugera, José Luis Torbado-Gardeazábal, Inés Montoya-Novoa and Montse Abella-Monleón. Below, from left to right, Alba Jiménez-Panizo, Pablo Fuentes-Prior, Eva Estébanez-Perpiñá and Andrea Alegre-Martí.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of University of Barcelona

Drugs to treat inflammatory and autoimmune diseases — such as asthma, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis or Chrousos syndrome — act mainly through the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). This essential protein regulates vital processes in various tissues, so understanding its structure and function at the molecular level is essential for designing more effective and safer drugs. Now, a study published in the journal Nucleic Acids Research (NAR) has revealed the mechanism of multimerization — the association of different molecules to form complex structures — of the glucocorticoid receptor, a process critical to its physiological function.

Deciphering how the GR forms oligomers — through the binding of several subunits — opens a crucial avenue for developing more selective drugs. These new drugs could modulate this association and thus minimize serious adverse effects, such as immunosuppression or bone loss.

Beavers Impact Ecosystems Above and Below Ground

Photo Credit: Gennady Zakharin

Above ground, we can see changes wrought by beaver ponds such as increases in biodiversity and water retention. But UConn Department of Earth Sciences researcher Lijing Wang says we have a limited understanding of how they impact what happens beneath the ground. In research published in Water Resource Research, Wang and co-authors study how water moves through the soils and subsurface environment and detail new insights into how beaver ponds impact groundwater.

Groundwater can be an important source of water for streams, especially late in a dry summer, it may be the only source of water sustaining a stream, says Wang, and researchers are interested in understanding if and how beaver ponds impact groundwater as these details are important to consider for water management and restoration efforts.

How constant is the fine structure constant?

The thorium crystal 
The core element of the experiment: a crystal containing thorium atoms.
Photo Credit: Technische Universität Wien

Thorium atomic nuclei can be used for very specific precision measurements. This had been suspected for decades, and the search for suitable atomic nucleus states had been ongoing worldwide. In 2024, a team from TU Wien, with the support of international partners, achieved the decisive breakthrough: the long-discussed thorium nuclear transition was found. Shortly afterwards, it was demonstrated that thorium can indeed be used to build high-precision nuclear clocks.

Now the next major success in high-precision research on thorium nuclei has been achieved: when the thorium nucleus changes between different states, it slightly alters its elliptical shape. This also changes the distribution of protons in the nucleus, which in turn alters its electric field. This can be measured so precisely that it allows for better investigation than ever before of the fine structure constant, one of the most important natural constants in physics. This now makes it possible to investigate the question of how constant the fundamental constants of nature really are.