New critical period of sex determination in sea turtles identified

Sea turtles’ sex is determined based on the environment, which makes them especially vulnerable to climate change. An increase in incubation temperatures could jeopardize the production of both sexes.
 Photo credit: Jay Paredes

Unlike humans, turtles, lizards and other reptiles – such as crocodiles – do not have sex chromosomes. Their sex is determined based on the environment, which makes them especially vulnerable to climate change. An increase in incubation temperatures could jeopardize the production of both sexes.

Gauging primary sex ratios in these species is critical because it assesses their vulnerability under both current and future climate change constraints. While there has been great progress in sex ratio prediction, studies have been hampered due to a lack of accurate and representative regional and population sex ratio estimates. As a result, primary sex ratios calculations could be skewed.

Researchers from Florida Atlantic University, in collaboration with the Université Paris-Saclay in France, have demonstrated that the timing of key developmental process driven by temperature is vital when it comes to identifying when sex is determined for sea turtle embryos. They also are the first to compare the output of the most widely used sex ratio prediction methods to actual sex ratios from natural clutches in sea turtles.

They have developed a new way to integrate the effect of thermal fluctuations on embryonic sex determination and predict sex ratios with much better accuracy than prior models. This method measures the strength of masculinization or feminization of temperatures using novel parameters that have uncovered how temperature-sensitive sex determination works.

Tiny molecules in breast milk may protect infants from developing allergies

A new study by Penn State College of Medicine researchers found that small molecules found in most humans’ breast milk may reduce the likelihood of infants developing allergic conditions like atopic dermatitis and food allergies.
Photo Credit: Gustavo Fring

Breastfed babies are believed to suffer fewer allergic conditions, like eczema and food allergies, than formula-fed babies; yet the reason has not been well understood. Now, a new study by Penn State College of Medicine finds that small molecules found in most humans’ breast milk may reduce the likelihood of infants developing allergic conditions like atopic dermatitis and food allergies. The researchers said the discovery could lead to strategies for mothers — such as encouragement and support for breastfeeding or dietary and exercise interventions — to help lower the odds of their babies developing allergies.

Atopic conditions, like food allergies, asthma and a skin condition called atopic dermatitis occur in approximately one-third of children as a result of inappropriate activation of the immune system to environmental exposures.

“Infants who breastfeed beyond three months may have a lower risk for these conditions, but we don’t fully understand the biology behind this,” said Dr. Steven Hicks, associate professor of pediatrics and pediatrician at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital.

Understanding a cerium quirk could help advance grid-scale energy storage

When the cerium atom is short three electrons, it is surrounded by water molecules. But when it gives up a fourth electron, some water molecules shift out of the way to let in sulfates. This dance costs energy, but understanding that energy loss paves the way for more efficient cerium batteries.
Image Credit: Dylan Herrera, Goldsmith Lab, University of Michigan

It turns out cerium flow batteries lose voltage when electrolyte molecules siphon off energy to form different complexes around the metal

An explanation for why flow batteries using the metal cerium in a sulfuric acid electrolyte fall short on voltage, discovered through a study led by the University of Michigan, could pave the way for better battery chemistry.

Flow batteries are one of the methods under consideration for storing intermittent sources of renewable electricity, such as solar and wind power. They can bank large quantities of energy by keeping the chemical potential in liquid form, with two electrolytes that flow through porous electrodes to charge and discharge. The metal cerium could store energy at a relatively high voltage, meaning more energy per metal ion, and at low cost.

One of the challenges with cerium is figuring out how to make electric charges transfer to and from the electrode efficiently. On its way through the positive electrode, cerium either picks up or drops off an electron, depending on whether the battery is charging or discharging.

However, the cerium in a sulfuric acid electrolyte doesn’t pick up and drop off the electron as quickly as expected, meaning energy is wasted. It turned out that the water molecules and sulfate molecules were doing a complicated dance around the cerium, and that’s how the energy was lost.

Autonomous Crawling Soft ‘Ringbots’ Can Navigate Narrow Gaps

Researchers at North Carolina State University have created a ring-shaped soft robot capable of crawling across surfaces when exposed to elevated temperatures or infrared light. The researchers have demonstrated that these “ringbots” are capable of pulling a small payload across the surface – in ambient air or under water, as well as passing through a gap that is narrower than its ring size.

The ringbots are made of liquid crystal elastomers in the shape of looped ribbon, resembling a bracelet. When you place the ringbot on a surface that is at least 55 degrees Celsius (131 degrees Fahrenheit), which is hotter than the ambient air, the portion of the ribbon touching the surface contracts, while the portion of the ribbon exposed to the air does not. This induces a rolling motion in the ribbon. 

Similarly, when researchers shine infrared light on the ringbot, the portion of the ribbon exposed to the light contracts, while the portion shielded from the light does not. This also induces a rolling motion in the ribbon.

In practical terms, this means that the crawling ringbot moves from the bottom up when placed on a hot surface. But when exposed to infrared light, the movement begins from the top down.

One of the things that drives this continuous motion is the fact that the ringbots are bistable, meaning that there are two shapes when it is at rest. If the ribbon begins to twist, it will either snap back to its original shape, or snap forward into the other bistable state.

UiB scientists discover 80 000-year-old bone tools

80 000 Year Bone Tools: From left to right: experimental debarking in Africa, the bone tool tip after use, Francesco d'Errico taking replicas in the field of an experimental bone tool.
Resized Image using AI by SFLORG
Photo Credit: UiB, SapienCE

Until the beginning of this century, the production of fully worked bone tools was considered an innovation introduced in Europe around 40,000 years ago by modern humans. Research carried out over the last two decades has led to the discovery of bone tools in several regions of Africa, some of which could date back 100,000 years. But these early bone tools are rare and non-standardized in shape.

Key cultural innovations

The discovery of 23 bone tools from the Sibudu rock shelter, Kwa Zulu-Natal, South Africa, all with a flattened ogival-shaped end, found in archaeological layers dated to between 80 000 and 60 000 years ago, changes the picture.

“Our new study documents the technology and function of the earliest fully shaped bone tools from this region. The discovery of these tools contributes to a better understanding of when and how these innovations arose, and what they were used for,” Francesco d’Errico says. He is the lead author on the paper just published in Scientific Reports.

d’Errico is part of the SapienCE team at the University of Bergen. The SapienCE Centre of Excellence, funded by Norwegian Research Council, consists of an interdisciplinary team of world leading scientists. The aim for SapienCE is to improve our understanding of how and when Homo sapiens evolved into who we are today.

Sandia studies vulnerabilities of electric vehicle charging infrastructure

Kaedi Sanchez plugs in her car at a City of Albuquerque electric vehicle charger before heading to work. Sandia National Laboratories researchers have been studying the vulnerabilities of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, including public chargers, to better inform policymakers.
Photo Credit: Craig Fritz

With electric vehicles becoming more common, the risks and hazards of a cyber-attack on electric vehicle charging equipment and systems also increases. Jay Johnson, an electrical engineer at Sandia National Laboratories, has been studying the varied vulnerabilities of electric vehicle charging infrastructure for the past four years.

Johnson and his team recently published a summary of known electric vehicle charger vulnerabilities in the scientific journal Energies.

“By conducting this survey of electric vehicle charger vulnerabilities, we can prioritize recommendations to policymakers and notify them of what security improvements are needed by the industry,” Johnson said. “The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allocates $7.5 billion to electric vehicle charging infrastructure. As a part of this funding, the federal government is requiring states to implement physical and cybersecurity strategies. We hope our review will help prioritize hardening requirements established by the states. Our work will also help the federal government standardize best practices and mandate minimum security levels for electric vehicle chargers in the future.”

Cosmic chocolate pralines: general neutron star structure revealed

The study of the sound speed has revealed that heavy neutron stars have a stiff mantle and a soft core, while light neutron stars have a soft mantle and a stiff core – much like different chocolate pralines Illustration Credit: P. Kiefer/L. Rezzolla

Through extensive model calculations, physicists at Goethe University Frankfurt have reached general conclusions about the internal structure of neutron stars, where matter reaches enormous densities: depending on their mass, the stars can have a core that is either very stiff or very soft. The findings were published simultaneously in two articles today in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

So far, little is known about the interior of neutron stars, those extremely compact objects that can form after the death of a star: the mass of our sun or even more is compressed into a sphere with the diameter of a large city. Since their discovery more than 60 years ago, scientists have been trying to decipher their structure. The greatest challenge is to simulate the extreme conditions inside neutron stars, as they can hardly be recreated on Earth in the laboratory. There are therefore many models in which various properties – from density and temperature – are described with the help of so-called equations of state. These equations attempt to describe the structure of neutron stars from the stellar surface to the inner core.

15 ways to reforest the planet

 A family plants trees for forest restoration in Thailand.
Photo Credit: University of the Sunshine Coast Professor Andy Marshall

International scientists are calling for a ‘decade of global action’ to reforest the planet, following the overnight publication of a themed international journal led by researchers from Australia’s University of the Sunshine Coast.

The landmark issue of the Royal Society’s Philosophical Transactions reveals the latest scientific advances in forest restoration with the aim of benefiting people as well as nature.

“This paves the way for evidence-based, on-the-ground action plans for the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration,” said Professor Andy Marshall of UniSC’s Forest Research Institute.

Professor Marshall said it was exciting to see the strong focus on forests at this week’s UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) underway in Egypt, with Australia joining world leaders in committing to halting forest loss and land degradation by 2030.

He said the recommendations in the new journal issue combined research findings with knowledge and experience from many countries.

“Our goals are ambitious and intend to deliver long-term success by learning from the past – from choosing the right location and restoration method through to mitigating socioeconomic pressures, weather extremes and people-wildlife interactions,” he said.

Unimon - A new qubit to boost quantum computers for useful applications

Artistic impression of a unimon qubit in a quantum processor.
Illustration Credit: Aleksandr Kakinen.

A group of scientists from Aalto University, IQM Quantum Computers, and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland have discovered a new superconducting qubit, the unimon, to increase the accuracy of quantum computations

A group of scientists from Aalto University, IQM Quantum Computers, and VTT Technical Research Centre have discovered a new superconducting qubit, the unimon, to increase the accuracy of quantum computations. The team has achieved the first quantum logic gates with unimons at 99.9% fidelity — a major milestone on the quest to build commercially useful quantum computers. This pivotal piece of research was just published in the journal Nature Communications.

Of all the different approaches to building useful quantum computers, superconducting qubits are on the lead. However, the qubit designs and techniques currently used do not yet provide high enough performance for practical applications. In this noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) era, the complexity of the implementable quantum computations is mostly limited by errors in single- and two-qubit quantum gates. The quantum computations need to become more accurate to be useful.

From cell walls to photosynthesis: How does manganese get to where it needs to go in plants?

The team coupled a so-called reporter gene to the gene switch of the manganese transporter BICAT3 to track its activity in the plant. The blue spots show where the BICAT3 gene is active in the plant.
Photo Credit: Uni Halle / Jie He

The protein BICAT3 is one of the most important manganese distributors in plants. If defective, this can have devastating effects on a plant's growth; its leaves grow significantly smaller and it produces fewer seeds than usual. A team led by Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) has recently uncovered a transport pathway for manganese in plants and the role that BICAT3 plays in this process. The results could lay the groundwork for improved crop growth. The study was published in the journal Plant Physiology.

Manganese is an important nutrient for all living creatures. The trace element is a component of enzymes, the proteins that control all the chemical reactions in cells. In humans, it plays a vital role in building connective tissue, cartilage and bones. "In plants, the enzymes that build cell walls need manganese to function. Manganese also plays a key role in photosynthesis," explains Professor Edgar Peiter, a plant researcher from MLU. For the study, his team investigated how manganese is supplied to the enzymes responsible for building cell walls.

The researchers conducted extensive experiments on the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. The team was able to show that the protein BICAT3 is responsible for transporting manganese to where it needs to go in plant cells. "Genes are like a blueprint for proteins. In order to investigate the role of the BICAT3 protein more closely, the corresponding gene in the plants was mutated so that the plants could no longer produce the protein," says Peiter. This had clear consequences for the plants. "The plants were unable to compensate for the subsequent lack of manganese and displayed various growth defects. Their cell walls did not form like they normally would, and their leaves were significantly smaller than those of plants with an intact gene," says Dr Jie He, the lead author of the study. The growth of the pollen tube was also disrupted, which meant that the plants developed fewer seeds.