Researchers identify bacteria that could provide an early warning of blue-green algae toxicity

Photo Credit: Lara Jansen.

Researchers at McGill University have identified bacteria that can indicate whether a blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) bloom is likely to be toxic, offering a potential water-safety early warning system. Blooms are becoming more frequent due to climate change, according to previous McGill research. They can produce various contaminants, known as cyanotoxins, that pose serious health risks to humans, pets and wildlife.

The study was led by Lara Jansen in Professor Jesse Shapiro’s lab, in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. It showed that bacterioplankton populations shift in proportion to the broader bacterial community during a bloom. Jansen conducted the research at McGill as a PhD student, while on exchange from Portland State University.

Some of the bacterioplankton she identified – including some related to those known to break down cyanotoxins – were consistently more abundant in toxic blooms, suggesting that shifts in these bacterial populations may indicate a need for further testing to determine whether the water in a lake has become hazardous.

New study reveals fastest Antarctic glacier retreat in modern history

Hektoria and Green, once glaciated, are now reduced to drifting ice rubble.
Photo Credit: Naomi Ochwat, lead author of the study and Post-Doctoral Associate at CU Boulder’s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), 26 February 2024.

A glacier on the Eastern Antarctic Peninsula has experienced the fastest recorded ice loss in modern history, according to a landmark study co-authored by Swansea University.

Published in Nature Geoscience, the research reveals that Hektoria Glacier lost nearly half its length—eight kilometers of ice—in just two months during 2023; a pace similar to the dramatic retreats seen at the end of the last ice age.

Led by the University of Colorado Boulder, an international team—including Swansea glaciologist, Professor Adrian Luckman—found that Hektoria’s retreat was boosted by the shape of the land beneath it.

Hektoria Glacier rested on an ice plain—a flat stretch of bedrock below sea level—which, once retreat began, saw large sections of ice break away in quick succession.

Scientists Produce Powerhouse Pigment Behind Octopus Camouflage

An octopus camouflages itself with the seafloor. UC San Diego scientists have discovered a new way to produce large amounts of xanthommatin, a natural pigment used in animal camouflage, in a bacterium for the first time.
Photo Credit: Charlotte Seid

Scientists at UC San Diego have moved one step closer to unlocking a superpower held by some of nature’s greatest “masters of disguise.”

Octopuses, squids, cuttlefish and other animals in the cephalopod family are well known for their ability to camouflage, changing the color of their skin to blend in with the environment. This remarkable display of mimicry is made possible by complex biological processes involving xanthommatin, a natural pigment.

Because of its color-shifting capabilities, xanthommatin has long intrigued scientists and even the military, but has proven difficult to produce and research in the lab — until now.

Angling best practices are essential to promote shark survival

A male porbeagle shark caught off the coast of Scotland.
Photo Credit James Thorburn

Most sharks in UK waters survive catch-and-release fishing when angling best practices are followed, according to a new study.

University of Exeter researchers, working with partners, tagged almost 70 blue, porbeagle and tope sharks caught in recreational fishing in the British Isles, to track their behavior and survival afterwards.

Fewer than 5% – three sharks, one from each species – died.

“Our results suggest survival rates are high when sharks are caught and released within current best-practice guidelines,” said Francesco Garzon, from the University of Exeter.

Commenting on the sharks that died, Garzon added: “These deaths can’t be definitively attributed to any one aspect of being caught, as the sharks had no external wounds and were energetic when released.

Unexpectedly high emissions from wastewater treatment plants

With a custom built drone, researchers at LiU have shown that greenhouse gas emissions from many wastewater treatment plants may be more than twice as large as previously thought.
Photo Credit: Magnus Gålfalk

Greenhouse gas emissions from many wastewater treatment plants may be more than twice as large as previously thought. This is shown in a new study from Linköping University, where the researchers used drones with specially manufactured sensors to measure methane and nitrous oxide emissions.

“We show that certain greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater treatment plants have been unknown. Now that we know more about these emissions, we also know more about how they can be reduced,” says Magnus Gålfalk, docent at Tema M – Environmental Change at Linköping University, who led the study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Wastewater treatment plants receiving sewage from households and industries account for approximately 5 per cent of human-induced methane and nitrous oxide emissions, according to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC.

To calculate this, the IPCC uses so-called emission factors that are linked to how many households are connected to the treatment plant. The calculation model then yields a number for the emissions from each wastewater treatment plant. This number is an estimate and not the result of actual measurements, which has turned out to be problematic.

New switch for programmed cell death identified

During the analysis work: Prof. Franz Hagn (left) and Dr. Umut Günsel
Photo Credit: Astrid Eckert / TUM 

In the fight against disease, programmed cell death – also known as apoptosis – is a key protective function of the body. It breaks down cells that are damaged or have undergone dangerous changes. However, cancer cells often manage to override this mechanism. A research team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has now succeeded in identifying a new molecular switch in this process and elucidating how it works.

The activation and deactivation of apoptosis is a promising field of research in basic biomedical research. The team led by Prof. Franz Hagn from the Chair of Structural Membrane Biochemistry at the TUM School of Natural Sciences has now discovered a new switch: "Many research teams worldwide are working on the exciting topic of apoptosis and its targeted control. The big advantage is that we are dealing with a highly efficient, evolutionarily developed regulatory mechanism. So, we don't have to invent something completely new, but can use the appropriate structural methods to learn from nature's optimized processes."

Researchers in Japan Discover New Jellyfish Species Deserving of a Samurai Warrior Name

Physalia mikazuki sp. nov., a newly described Portuguese man-of-war collected from Gamo Beach, Sendai Bay. The gas-filled float and long trailing tentacles are characteristic of the Portuguese man-of-war. Runner-up names with a similar Sendai-oriented cultural flare included Physalia: zunda shake, blue dragon, and one-eyed dragon.
Image Credit: © Tohoku University / Cheryl Lewis Ames et al.

A student-led research group from Tohoku University has discovered a new species of the venomous Physalia (commonly known as Portuguese man-of-war) that has never been seen before in northeast Japan. This revelation suggests that warming coastal waters and shifting ocean currents are influencing the distribution of marine organisms in northeastern Japan.

"I was working on a completely different research project around Sendai Bay in the Tohoku region, when I came across this unique jellyfish I had never seen around here before," remarks second author Yoshiki Ochiai. "So, I scooped it up, put it in a ziplock bag, hopped on my scooter, and brought it back to the lab!"

The crystal that makes clouds rain

The experiments have to be performed in the dark
Photo Credit: Technische Universität Wien

No one can control the weather, but certain clouds can be deliberately triggered to release rain or snow. The process, known as cloud seeding, typically involves dispersing small silver iodide particles from aircraft into clouds. These particles act as seeds on which water molecules accumulate, forming ice crystals that grow and eventually become heavy enough to fall to the ground as rain or snow.

Until now, the microscopic details of this process have remained unclear. Using high-resolution microscopy and computer simulations, researchers at TU Wien have investigated how silver iodide interacts with water at the atomic scale. Their findings reveal that silver iodide exposes two fundamentally different surfaces, but only one of them promotes ice nucleation. The discovery deepens our understanding of how clouds form rain and snow and may guide the design of improved materials for inducing precipitation.

Dark matter does not defy gravity

Map of the distribution of galaxies observed by the DESI collaboration, from which it is possible to accurately measure the velocities of galaxies.
Image Credit: © Claire Lamman/DESI collaboration; custom colormap package by cmastro.

Does dark matter follow the same laws as ordinary matter? The mystery of this invisible and hypothetical component of our Universe — which neither emits nor reflects light — remains unsolved.  A team involving members from the University of Geneva (UNIGE) set out to determine whether, on a cosmological scale, this matter behaves like ordinary matter or whether other forces come into play. Their findings, published in Nature Communications, suggest a similar behavior, while leaving open the possibility of an as-yet-unknown interaction. This breakthrough sheds a little more light on the properties of this elusive matter, which is five times more abundant than ordinary matter.

Ordinary matter obeys four well-identified forces: gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak forces at the atomic level. But what about dark matter? Invisible and elusive, it could be subject to the same laws or governed by a fifth, as yet unknown force.

Dark matter falls into gravitational wells in the same way as ordinary matter, thus obeying Euler's equations.

What Is: The Human Microbiome

The Human Microbiome
Image Credit: Scientific Frontline stock image

The Invisible Organ

The human body is not a sterile, solitary entity. It is a dense, complex, and dynamic ecosystem. Each individual serves as a host to a vast community of microorganisms, collectively known as the human microbiota. This community, which resides in and on the body, is estimated to comprise between 10 trillion and 100 trillion symbiotic microbial cells. Early estimates, which have become a cornerstone of the field, suggested these microbial cells outnumber human cells by a ratio of ten to one. While more recent analyses propose a ratio closer to 1:1, the sheer scale of this microbial colonization remains staggering. These microbial cells, though only one-tenth to one-hundredth the size of a human cell, may account for up to five pounds of an adult's body weight.

This vast microbial community is not a passive passenger. It functions as a "virtual organ" of the body, or more precisely, a "metabolic organ". It is so deeply integrated into our physiology that we are dependent on it for essential life functions, including digestion, immune system development, and the production of critical nutrients.