Which came first: the reptile or the egg?

Photo Credit: PIRO

The earliest reptiles, birds and mammals may have been born live young, researchers from Nanjing University and University of Bristol have revealed.

Until now, the hard-shelled egg was thought to be the key to the success of the amniotes - a group of vertebrates that undergo embryonic or fetal development within an amnion, a protective membrane inside the egg.

However, a fresh study of 51 fossil species and 29 living species which could be categorized as oviparous (laying hard or soft-shelled eggs) or viviparous (giving birth to live young) suggests otherwise.

The findings, published today in Nature Ecology & Evolution, show that all the great evolutionary branches of Amniota, namely Mammalia, Lepidosauria (lizards and relatives), and Archosauria (dinosaurs, crocodilians, birds) reveal viviparity and extended embryo retention in their ancestors.

Extended embryo retention (EER) is when the young are retained by the mother for a varying amount of time, likely depending on when conditions are best for survival.

New Keck Observatory Instrument Sets Its Sights on Turtle Nebula

The Keck and Subaru observatories atop Maunakea summit in Hawaiʻi.
Photo Credit: Tracey Parmley Nuki

A new instrument for studying a web of filaments that connects galaxies across the universe has captured its first image, a milestone known in astronomy as "first light." The Keck Cosmic Reionization Mapper (KCRM) at the W.M. Keck Observatory atop Maunakea summit in Hawaiʻi, will provide detailed maps of gas around dying stars and other cosmic objects, and it will map the so-called cosmic web that links and feeds galaxies. The instrument was recently installed next to its partner, the Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI), which began operations in 2017.

"I envisioned this instrument as a two-armed imaging spectrograph back in 2007, based on our Palomar Cosmic Web Imager, but it was a long road to get the funding, so we split the instrument into two halves," says Christopher Martin, the instrument's principal investigator and a professor of physics at Caltech. "KCWI was already doing phenomenal science with one arm tied behind its back, so now it's off to the races. It is fitting that our first-light image shows two ‘arms' of the turtle nebula. We would not have made it without the work of our fantastic instrument team and support from Caltech, the Keck Observatory, the National Science Foundation, and a generous anonymous donor."

AI unlikely to gain human-like cognition, unless connected to real world through robots

Embodying AI in robots so they can interact with the world around them and evolve like the human brain does is the most likely way AI will develop human-like cognition
Photo Credit: Gerd Altmann

Connecting artificial intelligence systems to the real world through robots and designing them using principles from evolution is the most likely way AI will gain human-like cognition, according to research from the University of Sheffield.

• University of Sheffield researchers say artificial intelligence systems are unlikely to gain human-like cognition, unless they’re connected to the real world through robots and designed using principles from evolution 

• Current AI systems, such as ChatGPT, copy some processes in the human brain to use datasets to solve difficult problems, but Sheffield researchers say this form of disembodied AI is unlikely to resemble the complexities of real brain processing no matter how big these datasets become

• Biological intelligence - such as the human brain - is achieved through a specific architecture that learns and improves using its connections to the real world, but this is rarely used in the design of AI

• Embodying AI in robots so they can interact with the world around them and evolve like the human brain does is the most likely way AI will develop human-like cognition

New method traces ancestry of hybrids

Goldfish, seen here, share a common hybrid ancestor with carp, according to recent research
Photo Credit: Riverse

If you’ve ever kept a garden, you’re probably familiar with hybrids, from disease-resistant tomatoes to Stargazer lilies.

Hybrids — common in agriculture as well as in nature — have chromosomes from two or more parent species. In some cases, including strawberries, goldfish and several other species, these disparate parental chromosomes become doubled, a condition known as allopolyploidy.

In “Transposon signatures of allopolyploid genome evolution,” a recent article published in the journal Nature Communications, Binghamton University Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Adam Session and Daniel S. Rokhsar, a professor of genetics, evolution and development at the University of California, Berkeley, outline a way to trace these genomes back to the polypoid hybrid’s parent species.

Unlike previous methods, which use comparison with related non-hybrid species to decipher polypoid ancestry, the authors’ method allows them to discover distinct ancestries by looking at genomic patterns in the hybrid itself.

“Each ancestral genome carries a unique set of repetitive elements,” Session explained. “So, if we find sets of chromosomes in a polypoid that carry different repetitive elements, that proves hybrid ancestry and allows us to figure out which chromosomes were inherited together coming from the various progenitor species.”

Exploring the complexities of using ladybugs as pest control

The convergent ladybug, left, and the harlequin ladybug, right, share many behavioral and life history trains, but one is deemed a weapon in the war on insects and the other the target. RIT assistant professor Kaitlin Stack Whitney uses this example to underscore how human choices are the driving force behind what is considered a pest, not nature.
Photo Credit: left: Flickr user Dru!, CC BY-NC 2.0.
Photo Credit right: Flickr user The Real Estreya, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

When creating a garden, it’s likely that most people want to make decisions that leave a positive footprint on the local environment. In an attempt to limit the use of chemical pesticides and promote native species on their land, some gardeners have begun purchasing ladybugs as a form of “natural” pest control. However, Kaitlin Stack Whitney, assistant professor in Rochester Institute of Technology’s Department of Science, Technology, and Society, says that buying ladybugs online, as opposed to attracting them naturally, can cause more harm than good to the environment.

In a recent publication in Catalyst Journal, Stack Whitney discussed the morality around employing ladybugs in a war on insect pests, as well as the nuance around which insects are considered “good” or “bad” by the general public.

“Ladybugs make up the insect family Coccinellidae. There are many different kinds of ladybug, but there are a lot of things that all ladybugs do, such as eating soft-bodied insects like aphids and other garden pests,” said Stack Whitney. “How we think about these ladybugs—which ones we celebrate and which ones we don’t—is really shaped by people’s ideas, not necessarily what the ladybugs are actually doing.”

Reindeer can show great performance at following human-given indications

Photo Credit: Courtesy of University of Turku

An international team of researchers from the University of Turku, Finland, and the INRAE of Nouzilly, France, explored the ability of sledging reindeer to follow directional indications from humans. Their results highlight that reindeer, which are well habituated to humans, can make use of gestural cues very well with minimal training.

Working animals, such as equines, shepherd dogs, and logging elephants, spend a significant amount of time interacting closely with humans to fulfil specific tasks. Effective communication plays a crucial role in their working relationship. Animals' understanding of human cues, particularly manual pointing gestures, is an important aspect of this communication. 

The use of pointing gestures to communicate with others and to show them where to look or to go is very natural for humans. For other animals that do not use this means of communication, the gesture may not always be easy to understand. For this reason, the pointing gesture is often used in experiments to see if animals can understand cues that are specific to humans. 

“Many species, such as dogs, primates, horses, goats or elephants, have already shown great potential at following human gestures, but this has never been investigated in any deer species. “, says the lead author of the study, Doctoral Researcher Océane Liehrmann from the Department of Biology at the University of Turku, Finland. 

Study brings new understanding of multiple myeloma evolution

Elisabet Manasanch, M.D. | Linghua Wang, M.D., Ph.D.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

A new study by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center highlights novel insights into the evolution of multiple myeloma from precursor disease, which may help better identify patients likely to progress and develop new interventions.

Published today in Cancer Cell, the study integrates paired single-cell RNA sequencing and B cell receptor sequencing from 64 patients with multiple myeloma or precursor disease. The study achieved several notable milestones in the effort to better understand this evolutionary process and is believed to be the largest cohort of myeloma precursor patient samples analyzed at single-cell resolution.

How multiple myeloma, a deadly and incurable cancer of plasma cells in the bone marrow, evolves from precursor conditions like monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and smoldering multiple myeloma remains largely a mystery. To help solve that mystery, this study was designed by Elisabet Manasanch, M.D., associate professor of Lymphoma/Myeloma, in collaboration with Linghua Wang, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of Genomic Medicine, and Minghao Dang, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow in the Wang lab.

“This research is a big step towards understanding the evolutionary roadmap that leads to myeloma,” Wang said. “Additionally, there is a significant clinical unmet need to find and validate novel biomarkers to identify patients at high-risk of progression who would benefit the most from early treatment interventions.”

Climate Change: Rising Rainfall, not Temperatures, Threaten Giraffe Survival

Masai giraffes in Tanzania have lower survival during seasons of heavier rainfall, which is predicted to increase under climate change.
Photo Credit: Mariola Grobelska

Giraffes in the East African savannahs are adapting surprisingly well to the rising temperatures caused by climate change. However, they are threatened by increasingly heavy rainfall, as researchers from the University of Zurich and Pennsylvania State University show.

Climate change is expected to cause widespread declines in wildlife populations worldwide. Yet, little was previously known about the combined climate and human effects on the survival rates not only of giraffes, but of any large African herbivore species. Now researchers from the University of Zurich and Pennsylvania State University have concluded a decade-long study – the largest to date – of a giraffe population in the Tarangire region of Tanzania. The study area spanned more than a thousand square kilometers, including areas inside and outside protected areas. Contrary to expectations, higher temperatures were found to positively affect adult giraffe survival, while rainier wet seasons negatively impacted adult and calf survival.

Cholera bacteria form aggressive biofilm to kill immune cells

The cholera-pathogen Vibrio cholerae (blue) forms an aggressive biofilm on the surface of immune cells (red).
Video Credit: University of Basel, Biozentrum

Bacteria harness the power of communities. A research group at the University of Basel has now discovered that the bacterial pathogen that causes cholera forms a novel type of bacterial community on immune cells: an aggressive biofilm that is lethal for the cells. The study, recently published in the journal Cell, provides new insights into the infection strategies of pathogens.

Many bacteria adopt a fascinating defense strategy by forming communities on surfaces, known as biofilms. We encounter such biofilms in our daily lives, for example, as dental plaque in the mouth, slimy films on stones in water or even as part of our intestinal flora. Bacterial biofilms are intrinsically tolerant to antibiotics and can pose a significant threat in clinical settings when they colonize implants, catheters, or surgical instruments. This colonization enables pathogens to infiltrate our body and trigger infections that are difficult to combat by the immune system and with antibiotics.

Previously, it was assumed that bacteria form biofilms to defend and protect themselves. The research team led by Professor Knut Drescher at the Biozentrum, University of Basel, has now demonstrated, in their recently published “Cell” study, that bacteria form biofilms on the surface of immune cells. This previously unknown type of community differs from already known bacterial biofilms not only in its structure, but also in its function: instead of serving a protective purpose, this biofilm is an aggressive trait.

Gentle cleansers kill viruses as effectively as harsh soaps

Photo Credit: Maria Lin Kim

Gentle cleansers are just as effective in killing viruses – including coronavirus – as harsh soaps, according to a new study from scientists at the University of Sheffield 

Healthcare professionals often substitute alcohol-based hand sanitizers and harsh soaps for skin-friendly cleansers in order to treat or prevent irritant contact dermatitis, which develops when chemical or physical agents damage the skin surface faster than the skin can repair

Incidence and severity of irritant contact dermatitis increased from 20 per cent to 80 per cent amongst healthcare professionals during the Covid-19 pandemic

Researchers also found non-enveloped viruses such as norovirus were resistant to all hand wash products tested, and were only killed with bleach disinfectants, which aren’t a feasible option for washing hands 

Gentle cleansers are just as effective in killing viruses – including coronavirus – as harsh soaps, a new study by University of Sheffield experts has found.