Nestling birds recognize their local song ‘dialect’

The researchers discovered that the juvenile flycatchers clear response to their own song dialect helped them avoid learning songs from other species in the environment.
Photo credit: Tom Wallis

A recent study, published in Current Biology, led by researchers at Stockholm University and Uppsala University, has shown that juvenile songbirds react to hearing the songs they will eventually produce as adults, even when they are as young as 12 days old. Experiments conducted on nestling pied flycatchers across Europe demonstrate that they preferentially respond to songs from their own species and, remarkably, their own population.

Like human children learning language, juvenile songbirds learn their songs by listening to those produced by their parents and other adults. In both human language and songbird song, the learning process gives rise to small changes from one generation to the next, which leads to characteristic differences among populations, called dialects.

Metabolite product from pomegranate: Researchers identify way to boost tumor-fighting immune cells

A metabolite from pomegranates boosts tumor-fighting T cells, according to a study by Georg-Speyer-Haus, Goethe University Frankfurt and the LOEWE Centre Frankfurt Cancer Institute (FCI).
Photo credit: Markus Bernards

As part of an interdisciplinary project of the LOEWE Centre Frankfurt Cancer Institute (FCI), researchers from the Georg-Speyer-Haus in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and Goethe University Frankfurt have succeeded in identifying a new approach for the therapy of colorectal cancer. In preclinical models and studies on human immune cells, they found that urolithin A, a metabolite product from pomegranate, sustainably improves the function of immune cells in their fight against cancer. After treatment with urolithin A, tumor-fighting immune cells become T memory stem cells which, due to their ability to divide, constantly supply the immune system with rejuvenated, non-exhausted T cells.

Colorectal cancer remains a disease with high mortality rates in advanced stages. In recent years, numerous research findings have improved early diagnosis and therapy, although unfortunately not all patients respond adequately to novel therapeutic approaches. Current research suggests that one characteristic of tumor diseases is immune dysfunction: immune cells that are supposed to fight the tumor are systematically suppressed by the tissue surrounding the tumor, the tumor microenvironment. As a result, T cells, which are our body's natural immune response against cancer, are restricted in their function, allowing the tumor to grow and spread uncontrollably.

Tree rings offer insight into devastating radiation storms

A University of Queensland study has shed new light on a mysterious, unpredictable and potentially devastating kind of astrophysical event.

A team led by Dr Benjamin Pope from UQ’s School of Mathematics and Physics applied cutting edge statistics to data from millennia-old trees, to find out more about radiation ‘storms.

“These huge bursts of cosmic radiation, known as Miyake Events, have occurred approximately once every thousand years but what causes them is unclear,” Dr Pope said. “The leading theory is that they are huge solar flares.

“We need to know more, because if one of these happened today, it would destroy technology including satellites, internet cables, long-distance power lines and transformers.

“The effect on global infrastructure would be unimaginable.”

Enter the humble tree ring.

First author UQ undergraduate math student Qingyuan Zhang developed software to analyze every available piece of data on tree rings.

Study Identifies Key T Cells for Immunity Against Fungal Pneumonia

 GM-CSF+ and IL-17A+ lineages of T cells are instrumental in controlling many fungal and bacterial infections and implicated in autoimmune pathology. This study shows that GM-CSF expressing Tc17 cells are necessary for mediating fungal vaccine immunity without augmenting pathology.
Credit: Som Nanjappa

Researchers at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine have demonstrated in a mouse model that a specific type of T cell, one of the body’s potent immune defenses, produces cytokines that are necessary for the body to acquire immunity against fungal pathogens. This finding could be instrumental in developing novel, effective fungal vaccines.

Despite vaccines being hailed as one of the greatest achievements of medicine, responsible for controlling or eradicating numerous life-threatening infectious diseases, no vaccines have been licensed to prevent or control human fungal infections.

This lack proved especially deadly during the COVID-19 pandemic. In countries where steroids were widely used to suppress inflammation of the lungs, COVID-19 patients with preexisting conditions such as uncontrolled diabetes showed a greater likelihood of developing lethal fungal infections.

Researchers create the first quasiparticle Bose-Einstein condensate

Observation of Bose-Einstein condensates of excitons in a bulk semiconductor using mid-infrared induced absorption imaging realized in a dilution refrigerator A close-up picture of the apparatus in a cryogen-free dilution refrigerator. A dark red-colored cubic crystal in the center of the picture is cuprous oxide. A zinc selenide meniscus lens placed behind the crystal is an objective lens. A rod and a stage below the crystal is used for generation of an inhomogeneous strain field in the crystal that acts as a trap potential for excitons.
Credit: ©2022 Yusuke Morita, Kosuke Yoshioka and Makoto Kuwata-Gonokami, The University of Tokyo

Physicists have created the first Bose-Einstein condensate — the mysterious “fifth state” of matter — made from quasiparticles, entities that do not count as elementary particles but that can still have elementary-particle properties like charge and spin. For decades, it was unknown whether they could undergo Bose-Einstein condensation in the same way as real particles, and it now appears that they can. The finding is set to have a significant impact on the development of quantum technologies including quantum computing.

A paper describing the process of creation of the substance, achieved at temperatures a hair’s breadth from absolute zero, was published in the journal Nature Communications.

Bose-Einstein condensates are sometimes described as the fifth state of matter, alongside solids, liquids, gases and plasmas. Theoretically predicted in the early 20th century, Bose-Einstein condensates, or BECs, were only created in a lab as recently as 1995. They are also perhaps the oddest state of matter, with a great deal about them remaining unknown to science.

Autistic people are more likely to experience depression and anxiety during pregnancy

Credit: PetraSolajova

Autistic people are more vulnerable to depression and anxiety during pregnancy, according to new research from the University of Cambridge. The results are published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders and have important implications for supporting autistic people during pregnancy.

In the study, led by researchers at the Autism Research Centre, 524 non-autistic people and 417 autistic people completed an online survey about their experience of pregnancy. Anyone who was pregnant at the time of responding or had previously given birth was eligible to take part.

The study revealed that autistic parents were around three times more likely than non-autistic parents to report having experienced prenatal depression (9% of non-autistic parents and 24% of autistic parents) and anxiety (14% of non-autistic parents and 48% of autistic parents).

Autistic respondents also experienced lower satisfaction with pregnancy healthcare. Autistic respondents were less likely to trust professionals, feel that professionals took their questions and concerns seriously, feel that professionals treated them respectfully, and be satisfied with how information was presented to them in appointments. Furthermore, autistic respondents were more likely to experience sensory issues during pregnancy and more likely to feel overwhelmed by the sensory environment of prenatal appointments.

Municipal building regulations inhibit the expansion of renewable energies

Solar systems change the townscape. That can be problematic.
Credit: Solarimo

Municipalities with high legal requirements for the construction of photovoltaic systems have been shown to produce less solar power.

Securing energy supplies, coping with climate change and expanding renewable energies are high priorities in Germany. However, municipalities often pursue their own goals: municipal building regulations in particular, for example to protect the historical townscape, conflict with the expansion of renewable energies. A research team led by Prof. Dr. Stefano Carattini, professor of economics at Georgia State University, Atlanta, USA, and Prof. Dr. Andreas Löschel, professor for environmental / resource economics and sustainability at the Ruhr University Bochum, examines. The study shows that many municipalities have issued building regulations that regulate the installation of photovoltaic systems. These communities have 10.4 percent less solar power than communities in the comparison group. The study is on 24. October 2022 published as a CESifo working paper in Munich.

In Germany, the Renewable Energy Sources Act and the resulting increase in solar systems in the past two decades have made a decisive contribution to greatly reducing the price of solar power. As a result, the share of renewable energies in the energy mix has increased significantly. "However, the expansion goals are immense and clearly exceed the historical trend," says Andreas Löschel. “In our current study, we are researching for the first time whether building law requirements, in particular building design law, represent a decisive obstacle to the expansion of solar energy."

Study looks inside the brain during sleep to show how memory is stored

 

MRI scans showing locations of medial-temporal electrodes in a representative patient.
Source/Credit: Department of Neurological Surgery, The University of Chicago.

A new study looks deep inside the brain, where previous learning was reactivated during sleep, resulting in improved memory.

Neuroscientists from Northwestern University teamed up with clinicians from the University of Chicago Epilepsy Center to study the brain electrical activity in five of the center’s patients in response to sounds administered by the research team as part of a learning exercise.

The five patients who volunteered to participate in the study had electrode probes implanted into the brain for the purpose of investigating potential treatments for their seizure disorders.

While prior studies have used EEG recordings captured by electrodes on the head to measure memory processing during sleep, this is the first study to record such electrical activity from inside the brain.

The study found participants significantly improved their performance in a recall test the next morning. The mapped brain activity allowed the researchers to take a big step forward in understanding how memory storage works by providing visual data identifying the areas of the brain engaged in the process of overnight memory storage.

Molecular cage protects precious metals in catalytic converters

Stable catalyst illustration
Source/Credit: Slac National Accelerator Laboratory

Sometimes, solutions to environmental problems can have environmentally unfriendly side effects. For example, while most gas-powered cars have a catalytic converter that transforms engine emission pollutants into less harmful gases, this comes with a tradeoff: Catalytic converters contain precious metals such as platinum and palladium.

The good thing about these precious metals is that they act as catalysts that help break down pollutants, with a suite of properties that make them the best elemental candidates for this chemical job. But they are also rare, which makes them expensive, and extracting them from the earth produces its own pollution.

However, in a paper published October 24 in Nature Materials, researchers at the SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis and the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford University and the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory reported a way of encapsulating catalysts that could reduce the number of precious metals catalytic converters need to work, which could in turn reduce the practice of precious metal mining.

“I think the material we made could knock down the number of precious metals used in a catalytic converter by 50 precent, which would mean a lot once you multiply that by the nearly 1.5 billion cars we now have in circulation on the planet,” said Matteo Cargnello, the new study's senior author and an assistant professor of chemical engineering at Stanford University.

Gestational Exposure to Flame Retardant Alters Brain Development in Rats

A new study from North Carolina State University shows that exposure in utero to the flame retardant FireMaster® 550 (FM 550), or to its individual brominated (BFR) or organophosphate ester (OPFR) components, resulted in altered brain development in newborn rats. The effects – most notably evidence of mitochondrial disruption and dysregulated choline and triglyceride levels in brain tissue – were greater in male offspring than in females. The work adds to the body of evidence that both OPFRs and BFRs can be neurotoxic.

FM 550 is a flame-retardant mixture first identified a decade ago. It was developed to replace PBDEs, a class of fire retardants being phased out due to safety concerns.

“While some new flame-retardant mixtures still contain BFRs, the OPFRs are a popular substitute for PBDEs, since it is believed that OPFRs don’t accumulate in the body and thus cannot be as harmful,” says Heather Patisaul, associate dean for research in NC State’s College of Sciences and corresponding author of the study. “Specifically, it was thought that OPFRs wouldn’t impact acetylcholinesterase – a key neurotransmitter. But it looks as though OPFRs still impact choline signaling and are just as bad if not worse than PBDEs for the developing brain.”

Patisaul and her colleagues performed transcriptomic and lipidomic studies on the prefrontal cortexes of newborn rats whose mothers had been exposed to FM550, or to BFR or OPFR elements individually, during gestation.