African Wildlife Poop Sheds Light on What Shapes the Gut Ecosystem

Photo Credit: James C. Beasley

A study of elephants, giraffes and other wildlife in Namibia’s Etosha National Park underscores the ways in which the environment, biological sex, and anatomical distinctions can drive variation in the gut microbiomes across plant-eating species. Because the gut microbiome plays a critical role in animal health, the work can be used to inform conservation efforts.

“This study is valuable because Etosha gave us the opportunity to sample such a large number of species under different environmental conditions,” says Erin McKenney, co-author of a paper on the work and an assistant professor of applied ecology at North Carolina State University. “That gives us meaningful insight into the role the environment plays in shaping the gut microbiome of herbivores.

“Unfortunately, this study may also be important for a second reason,” McKenney says. “Etosha is experiencing devastating wildfires affecting a huge section of the park. Because our samples were taken before the wildfires, these findings could inform recovery efforts by helping us understand how species’ microbiomes are adjusting to changes in diet that stem from the fire’s impact on the landscape.”

Major new study discovers diet and migratory behavior shape neophobia

Flamingos were one of the species to exhibit the highest neophobia.
Photo Credit: Jeffrey Hamilton

The largest-ever study on neophobia, or fear of novelty, has discovered the key reasons why some bird species are more fearful of new things than others.

Published in the journal PLOS Biology, the global multi-species study was led by the University of Exeter’s Dr Rachael Miller while at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), and the University of Cambridge – with ARU funding the publication of the research – alongside a core leadership team from the ManyBirds Project.

Neophobia plays a crucial role in how animals balance risk and opportunity. While caution can protect individuals from potential threats, it can also limit their ability to adapt to new nesting sites, foods or changes in the environment.

The research involved 129 collaborators from 82 institutions. Testing, and other associated research tasks, took place in 24 countries across six continents – including lab, field and zoo sites – and investigated why some birds are more cautious than others when encountering unfamiliar objects when feeding.

Checkpoint Inhibitor Promotes Tissue Repair

The illustration shows the mechanism of action of immune checkpoint inhibitors: antibodies (yellow) activate T cells (blue) enabling them to recognize and attack tumor cells (purple) more effectively. At the same time, checkpoint inhibitors accelerate tissue healing.
Image Credit: Scientific Frontline / AI generated

The body employs a protective mechanism that curbs overzealous immune responses. Known as checkpoint inhibitors, this natural braking system is located on the surface of certain immune cells. Cancer therapy often disables these inhibitors so that the immune system can fight tumor cells more effectively.

Previous observations showed that one of these inhibitors, known as TIGIT, provides a certain level of protection against tissue damage in mice infected with viruses. “We suspected that TIGIT also has something to do with tissue repair. However, the underlying mechanisms were completely unknown until now,” says Nicole Joller, Professor of Immunology at the Department of Quantitative Biomedicine at the University of Zurich (UZH). Joller’s team recently identified the signaling pathway that TIGIT uses to promote tissue repair.

Each fossil fuel project linked to additional global warming

Photo Credit: Roman Khripkov

Individual fossil fuel projects can no longer be considered too small to matter according to new Australian research linking each new investment in coal and gas extraction with measurable increases in global temperatures.

Published in the Nature journal Climate Action, climate scientists from six Australian universities, including the University of Melbourne, have revealed findings that debunk claims individual fossil fuel projects have little impact on global warming.

The research led by the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Weather of the 21st Century focused on the Scarborough gas project in Northwest Australia. It found that the project alone is estimated to lead to an increase of approximately 0.00039°C in global temperature from 876 million tons of CO2 emissions.

University of Melbourne Associate Professor Andrew King from the School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences explained that while 0.00039°C of additional warming may seem relatively small, its impacts on society and the environment are actually large.

“This degree of warming could expose over half a million people to unprecedented extreme heat,” Associate Professor King said.

Physicists probe quark‑gluon plasma temperatures, helping paint more detailed picture of big bang

Frank Geurts is a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice and co-spokesperson of the RHIC STAR collaboration.
Photo Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University.

A research team led by Rice University physicist Frank Geurts has successfully measured the temperature of quark-gluon plasma (QGP) at various stages of its evolution, providing critical insights into a state of matter believed to have existed just microseconds after the big bang, a scientific theory describing the origin and evolution of the universe. 

The study addresses the long-standing challenge of measuring the temperature of matter under extreme conditions where direct access is impossible. By using thermal electron-positron pairs emitted during ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York, the researchers have decoded the thermal profile of QGP. 

Temperature measurements existed previously but have been plagued by several complications such as whether they were of the QGP phase or biased by a Doppler-like effect from the large velocity fields pushing such effective temperatures.

“Our measurements unlock QGP’s thermal fingerprint,” said Geurts, a professor of physics and astronomy and co-spokesperson of the RHIC STAR collaboration. “Tracking dilepton emissions has allowed us to determine how hot the plasma was and when it started to cool, providing a direct view of conditions just microseconds after the universe’s inception.” 

A promising target for multiple sclerosis

The image depicts a neuron with its axon insulated by segments of the myelin sheath. The visible degradation and fragmentation of that sheath represent the demyelination process that is characteristic of multiple sclerosis. This process disrupts the neuron's ability to transmit signals efficiently, leading to the neurological symptoms associated with the condition.
Image Credit: Scientific Frontline / AI generated

A team from UNIGE and HUG has discovered a subgroup of immune cells particularly involved in the disease, paving the way for more precise treatments and avoiding certain side effects.

Multiple sclerosis, which affects around one in 500 people in Switzerland, is an autoimmune disease in which immune cells attack the central nervous system, causing irreversible damage. Current treatments involve blocking the immune system to prevent it from attacking the body. Although effective, these drugs can trigger potentially serious infections. A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and Geneva University Hospitals (HUG), in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania, has identified a subtype of immune cells in newly diagnosed patients that may have a decisive role in disease progression.  A treatment targeting these cells specifically could effectively control the disease while avoiding certain side effects. These findings have been published in the journal Annals of Neurology.

Metamaterials can stifle vibrations with intentional complexity

This 3-D printed “kagome tube” can passively isolate vibrations using its complex, but deliberate, structure.
Image Credit: James McInerney, Air Force Research Laboratory

In science and engineering, it’s unusual for innovation to come in one fell swoop. It’s more often a painstaking plod through which the extraordinary gradually becomes ordinary.

But we may be at an inflection point along that path when it comes to engineered structures whose mechanical properties are unlike anything seen before in nature, also known as mechanical metamaterials. A team led by researchers at the University of Michigan and the Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, have shown how to 3D print intricate tubes that can use their complex structure to stymy vibrations.

Such structures could be useful in a variety of applications where people want to dampen vibrations, including transportation, civil engineering and more. The team’s new study, published in the journal Physical Review Applied, builds on decades of theoretical and computational research to create structures that passively impede vibrations trying to move from one end to the other.

New advances to boost regeneration and plasticity of brain neurons

The study is led by Professor Daniel Tornero and researcher Alba Ortega , from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and the Institute of Neurosciences of the University of Barcelona
Photo Credit: Courtesy of University of Barcelona

The brain’s mechanisms for repairing injuries caused by trauma or degenerative diseases are not yet known in detail. Now, a study by the University of Barcelona describes a new strategy based on stem cell therapy that could enhance neuronal regeneration and neuroplasticity when this vital organ is damaged. The results reveal that the use of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), combined with stem cell-based cell therapies, could help in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases or brain injuries.

Combining cell therapy with BDNF production

BDNF is a protein that is synthesized mainly in the brain and plays a key role in neuronal development and synaptic plasticity. Several studies have described its potential to promote neuronal survival and growth, findings that are now extended by the new study.

“The findings indicate that BDNF can promote the maturation and increase the activity of neurons generated in the laboratory from donor skin cells. The skin cells must first be reprogrammed to become induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and then differentiated to obtain neuronal cultures,” says Daniel Tornero, from the UB’s Department of Biomedicine and the CIBER Area for the Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED).

In this way, the study combines cell therapy with the production of BDNF in the same cells. This study confirms the beneficial effects of this growth factor in neuronal cultures derived from human stem cells, the same cells that are used in cell therapy to treat, for example, stroke in animal models.

Study links wind-blown dust from receding Salton Sea to reduced lung function in area children

Researchers with the UC Irvine-led study sample dust at the southern edge of the Salton Sea. Joe C. Wen School of Population & Public Health
Photo Credit: Courtesy of University of California, Irvine

Children living near the Salton Sea, in Southern California’s desert region of Imperial County, are experiencing poorer lung function than children exposed to less wind-blown dust, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of California, Irvine’s Joe C. Wen School of Population & Public Health.

They found that higher dust exposure – measured in hours per year – was linked to lower lung function, with the negative effects most pronounced among children living closest to the lake. The work, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, marks one of the first investigations to directly link dust events from a drying saline lake to measurable declines in children’s respiratory health.

A federal grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the Southern California Environmental Health Sciences Center funded the research in partnership with the Imperial Valley community-based organization Comite Civico del Valle.

The tides are changing for white dwarfs

Impression of the 6.9 minute double white dwarf binary J1539+5027, composed of a tidally heated white dwarf (yellow) and its more compact companion (blue). It is about to start mass transferring.
 Image Credit: KyotoU / Lucy McNeill

White dwarfs are the compact remnants of stars that have stopped nuclear burning, a fate that will eventually befall our sun. These extremely dense objects are degenerate stars because their structure is counterintuitive: the heavier they are, the smaller they are.

White dwarfs often form binary systems, in which two stars orbit one another. The majority of these are ancient even by galactic standards, and have cooled to surface temperatures of about 4,000 degrees Kelvin. However, recent studies have revealed a class of short period binary systems in which the stars orbit each other faster than once per hour. Contrary to theoretical models, these stars are inflated to twice the size as expected due to surface temperatures of 10 to 30 thousand degrees Kelvin.