How the Greenland ice sheet can be saved

Greenland binds enormous amounts of water with its ice sheet. If it melts, sea levels will rise worldwide.
Photo Credit: rawpixel

Climate researchers around the world are sounding the alarm about exceeding critical temperature values on the Earth. If temperatures pass what are called tipping points, the results could be catastrophic. An international team of researchers, including members from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), has now demonstrated in simulations that the temperature tipping point for the Greenland ice sheet can be exceeded in certain cases for a short time, as long as extreme countermeasures are taken afterwards. If the ice mass melted entirely, the result would be a massive rise in the sea level.

Greenland is the second largest permanently ice-covered surface on the Earth; only Antarctica is larger. The Greenland ice sheet is drastically impacted by the effects of climate change. If the ice sheet melts completely, it would cause a sea level rise of more than seven meters – a catastrophe for coastal regions worldwide and for the people who live there. The critical threshold for the worst-case scenario is between 1.7 and 2.3 degrees Celsius of global warming above the preindustrial level on an annual average. Until now climate research has assumed that if this point is exceeded, the Greenland ice sheet would be lost forever. However, the international research team has now been able to show in a large set of simulations that there would be a way back after passing the tipping point.

California Supervolcano is Cooling Off but May Still Cause Quakes

View is toward the east across the northern part of Long Valley Caldera, California, United States. The caldera rim extends east from the Glass Creek flow (lower left) to Bald Mountain and Glass Mountain in the far distance. Lookout Mountain is behind the tree
Photo Credit: United States Geological Survey

Since the 1980s, researchers have observed significant periods of unrest in a region of California's Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains characterized by swarms of earthquakes as well as the ground inflating and rising by almost half an inch per year during these periods. The activity is concerning because the area, called the Long Valley Caldera, sits atop a massive dormant supervolcano. Seven hundred and sixty thousand years ago, the Long Valley Caldera was formed in a violent eruption that sent 650 cubic kilometers of ash into the air—a volume that could cover the entire Los Angeles area in a layer of sediment 1 kilometer thick.

What is behind the increased activity in the last few decades? Could it be that the area is preparing to erupt again? Or could the uptick in activity actually be a sign that the risk of a massive eruption is decreasing?

To answer these questions, Caltech researchers have created the most detailed underground images to date of the Long Valley Caldera, reaching depths up to 10 kilometers within the Earth's crust. These high-resolution images reveal the structure of the earth beneath the caldera and show that the recent seismic activity is a result of fluids and gases being released as the area cools off and settles down.

Finding Order in the Disorder: New Insights into Seemingly Structureless Regions of Proteins

Protein condensates (shown here in a microscope image) are critical to the process of gene expression in cells, and condensate formation depends on proteins’ intrinsically disordered regions.
Image Credit: Amy Strom, Princeton University

Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators Cigall Kadoch and Clifford Brangwynne teamed up to challenge long-held beliefs in the scientific community about how – or even if – structureless, unorganized regions of proteins play specific roles in causing or preventing disease pathogenesis. Their work was published earlier this month in the journal Cell.

To understand the significance of the duo’s findings, it helps to first dive deep into the ways in which cells alter genomic structure through a process known as chromatin remodeling. About two meters – or six and a half feet – of DNA are packed inside each cell’s nucleus, which measures no larger than a pinhead. To fit in that space, DNA winds around proteins, forming a compact structure called chromatin. At the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Kadoch and her lab have spent years studying chromatin remodeling complexes – molecular machines made up of multiple proteins that change the physical structure of chromatin and, thus, suppress or enable the activity of genes in a programmatic manner.

In recent years, her lab’s focus has centered on a family of complexes known as mammalian SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complexes – commonly referred to as BAF complexes – which have garnered significant attention due to their disruption and involvement in human disease. BAF complexes are one of the most frequently mutated cellular entities in human cancer, second only to TP53, a well-studied tumor suppressor gene. Studies have shown that approximately 20 percent of human cancers bear BAF complex mutations and that such disruptions are also among the most common in neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) such as autism and intellectual disability.

The encounter between Neanderthals and Sapiens as told by their genomes

analysed the distribution of the portion of DNA inherited from Neanderthals in the genomes of humans (Homo sapiens) over the last 40,000 years.
Full Size Image
Image Credit: © Claudio Quilodrán

About 40,000 years ago, Neanderthals, who had lived for hundreds of thousands of years in the western part of the Eurasian continent, gave way to Homo sapiens, who had arrived from Africa. This replacement was not sudden, and the two species coexisted for a few millennia, resulting in the integration of Neanderthal DNA into the genome of Sapiens. Researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) have analyzed the distribution of the portion of DNA inherited from Neanderthals in the genomes of humans (Homo sapiens) over the last 40,000 years. These statistical analyses revealed subtle variations in time and geographical space. This work, published in the journal Science Advances, helps us to understand the common history of these two species. 

Thanks to genome sequencing and comparative analysis, it is established that Neanderthals and Sapiens interbred and that these encounters were sometimes fruitful, leading to the presence of about 2% of DNA of Neanderthal origin in present-day Eurasians. However, this percentage varies slightly between regions of Eurasia, since DNA from Neanderthals is somewhat more abundant in the genomes of Asian populations than in those of European populations. 

Study Elucidates Evolution of Mosquitoes and Their Hosts

Researchers scoured academic literature and used new genomic techniques to create the mosquito family tree.
Photo Credit: Matt Bertone, NC State University.

Researchers at North Carolina State University and global collaborators have mapped the mosquito’s tree of life, a major step toward understanding important traits, such as how the insects choose their hosts, feed on blood and spread disease. The findings will help researchers make better predictions to model disease transmission and understand what makes some mosquitoes better disease carriers than others.

The research suggests that mosquito evolution over the past 200 million years mirrors the Earth’s history of shifting land masses and changing host organisms, says Dr. Brian Wiegmann, William Neal Reynolds Professor of Entomology at NC State and corresponding author of a paper describing the mosquito family tree, published in Nature Communications.

“This ongoing project builds a big-data resource that mines the academic literature with published observations of the sources of blood mosquitoes drink, from animals as diverse as fish to humans,” Wiegmann said. “It focuses explicitly on data collection to infer aspects of mosquito biology in a contextualized way. That means linking up the family, or phylogenetic, tree with the narrative of life on Earth: geologic history, climate history and organism history.”

Revealing structural secrets of a key cancer protein

Left (a): Three-dimensional structure of active K-Ras protein previously determined by X-ray crystallography with the functionally critical switch regions (red and blue) mostly invisible (dashed lines). Right (b): Two-dimensional NMR spectrum of the same system in solution, with its features annotated to the corresponding amino-acid residues of K-Ras. Tiny features belonging to the switch regions that were previously undetectable are now observable, allowing the detailed characterization of their structure and functional dynamics by solution NMR.
Image Credit: Alexander Hansen et al. (2023)

Scientists have breathed new life into the study of a protein with an outsized link to human cancers because of its dangerous mutations, using advanced research techniques to detect its hidden regions.

The Ras family of proteins are enzymes that set-in motion the growth, division and differentiation of many types of cells, and their genes have been identified as the most frequently mutated cancer-related genes in humans. The subject of this study, the K-Ras protein, is linked to 75% of all Ras-associated cancers.

Researchers at The Ohio State University are the first to detect a section of this protein’s structure that had previously been unobservable by standard lab tools, revealing features and interactions related to the protein’s mutations that put cells into a state of perpetual division – a classic cancer characteristic.  

“We know these mutations are a significant problem: They cause deaths,” said senior study author Rafael Brüschweiler, Ohio Research Scholar and professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Ohio State. “We know that structural biology can provide unique insights into the mechanisms of those mutations and can stimulate the search for potential cures.

From a five-layer graphene sandwich, a rare electronic state emerges

When stacked in five layers in a rhombohedral pattern, graphene takes on a rare “multiferroic” state, in which the material’s electrons (illustrated here as spheres) exhibit two preferred electronic states: an unconventional magnetism (represented as orbits around each electron), and “valley,” or a preference for one of two energy states (depicted in red versus blue). The results could help advance more powerful magnetic memory devices.
Illustration Credits: Sampson Wilcox, RLE
(CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 DEED)

Ordinary pencil lead holds extraordinary properties when shaved down to layers as thin as an atom. A single, atom-thin sheet of graphite, known as graphene, is just a tiny fraction of the width of a human hair. Under a microscope, the material resembles a chicken-wire of carbon atoms linked in a hexagonal lattice. 

Despite its waif-like proportions, scientists have found over the years that graphene is exceptionally strong. And when the material is stacked and twisted in specific contortions, it can take on surprising electronic behavior.

Now, MIT physicists have discovered another surprising property in graphene: When stacked in five layers, in a rhombohedral pattern, graphene takes on a very rare, “multiferroic” state, in which the material exhibits both unconventional magnetism and an exotic type of electronic behavior, which the team has coined ferro-valleytricity. 

“Graphene is a fascinating material,” says team leader Long Ju, assistant professor of physics at MIT. “Every layer you add gives you essentially a new material. And now this is the first time we see ferro-valleytricity, and unconventional magnetism, in five layers of graphene. But we don’t see this property in one, two, three, or four layers.”

No more big needles: scientists develop a skin patch that painlessly delivers drugs into the body

An affordable microneedle skin patch that delivers a controlled dosage of medicine directly into the body, eliminating the need for injections or oral medication, has been developed by a team led by scientists at the University of Bath.

It is hoped that the patches, which are described in the journal Biomaterials Advances, will be ready for use within the next five to 10 years.

What makes the microneedle patches unique is that they are made from a hydrogel (a gel-like substance in which water forms the liquid component), with the active ingredient encapsulated inside the hydrogel microneedle structure rather than in a separate reservoir.

They are also more affordable than other commercially available microneedle patches, as they are produced from 3D printed molds. Molds produced this way are easy to customize, which keeps the costs down.

Scientists discover links between Alzheimer’s disease and gut microbiota

Photo (L-R): Dr Stefanie Grabrucker (a postdoctoral researcher) and Professor Yvonne Nolan, of APC Microbiome Ireland and the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience.
Photo Credit: Ms Bereniece Riedewald.

Researchers have discovered the link between gut microbiota and Alzheimer’s disease.

For the first time, researchers have found that Alzheimer’s symptoms can be transferred to a healthy young organism via the gut microbiota, confirming its role in the disease.

The research was led by Professor Yvonne Nolan, APC Microbiome Ireland, a world leading SFI funded research center based at University College Cork (UCC), and the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, UCC, with Professor Sandrine Thuret at King’s College London and Dr Annamaria Cattaneo IRCCS Fatebenefratelli, Italy. The study supports the emergence of the gut microbiome as a key target for investigation in Alzheimer’s disease due to its particular susceptibility to lifestyle and environmental influences.

Published in Brain, the study shows that memory impairments in people with Alzheimer’s could be transferred to young animals through transplant of gut microbiota. Alzheimer’s patients had a higher abundance of inflammation-promoting bacteria in fecal samples, and these changes were directly associated with their cognitive status.

Warmer climate may impact reliability of solar farms: modeling

Managing weather-induced power fluctuations will be a growing challenge for variable renewables in the future.
Photo Credit: Quang Nguyen Vinh

New research suggests Australia will need to adjust to climate-driven shifts in solar power production.

Australia’s renewable energy transition is well underway, but an impending shift in the reliability of solar due to climate change could impact generation capacity and the management of the electricity grid. 

Modeling conducted by researchers from UNSW Sydney predicts changes in the availability of solar across different regions of Australia under a warmer climate. The findings, published in the journal Solar Energy, have implications for future solar power infrastructure development in Australia, including the world’s largest solar infrastructure energy network.

Australia is a prominent solar hotspot, with several notable large-scale grid-connected solar power systems – or solar photovoltaics (PV) plants – in operation or development. However, the sensitivity of solar power generation to weather-induced variability can limit its ability to deliver a consistent and dependable energy supply.

Managing grid stability due to inherent variability in solar energy generation due to factors like cloud cover, seasonal cycles, and location – all of which will be impacted by future warming – is possible with proper forecasting, power storage and load controls. But, if left unmanaged, it can lead to power deficits that can result in outages or even complete grid failures.