Sandalwood oil by-product prevents prostate cancer development in mice

Ajay Bommareddy, Ph.D., senior author and an associate professor of pharmacology in the Department of Biomedical Science, FAU Schmidt College of Medicine.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Florida Atlantic University

Extracted from the core of sandalwood trees (santalum album tree), sandalwood oil has been used for many centuries by several cultures throughout the world for perfume, soaps, incense and candles. With its earthy sweet scent, this essential oil is also used in the food industry and topically in various cosmetic preparations.

Importantly, this natural oil is known for its health benefits and medicinal applications from antibacterial to anticancer because of its phytochemical constituents. In addition to containing esters, free acids, aldehydes, ketones and santenone, sandalwood oil primarily (90 percent or more) constitutes santalol – equal amounts of two compounds, alpha and beta-santalol.

Now, researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Medicine and collaborators are the first to demonstrate in vivo the chemo-preventive properties of alpha-santalol against prostate cancer development using a transgenic mouse model.

Study finds childhood bullying linked to distrust and mental health problems in adolescence

Photo Credit: Mikhail Nilov

A new study, co-led by UCLA Health and the University of Glasgow, found that young teenagers who develop a strong distrust of other people as a result of childhood bullying are substantially more likely to have significant mental health problems as they enter adulthood compared to those who do not develop interpersonal trust issues.

The study, published in the journal Nature Mental Health on Feb. 13, is believed to be the first to examine the link between peer bullying, interpersonal distrust, and the subsequent development of mental health problems, such as anxiety, depression, hyperactivity and anger. 

Researchers used data from 10,000 children in the United Kingdom who were studied for nearly two decades as part of the Millennium Cohort Study. From these data, the researchers found that adolescents who were bullied at age 11 and in turn developed greater interpersonal distrust by age 14 were around 3.5 times more likely to experience clinically significant mental health problems at age 17 compared to those who developed less distrust.

Bruised and bleeding: New materials show where they’re hurt

Sandia National Laboratories materials chemist Cody Corbin works in a glove box, preparing a container filled with bead bits that will turn brown if someone attempts to tamper with the container’s contents.
Photo Credit: Craig Fritz

Every over-the-counter medication bottle sports a protective seal, usually a plastic wrap or foam layer, or both. These seals offer signs of tampering attempts. In a parallel concern, the International Atomic Energy Agency relies on tamper-indicating devices to make sure it knows if containers of nuclear material have been opened or tampered with.

However, just as a medication bottle might be opened and the tamper seals carefully reattached by a bad guy, the IAEA is concerned its devices could be bypassed and repaired or counterfeited. A possible solution? Engineers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed a groundbreaking prototype using “bruising” materials. Their innovation doesn’t just detect tampering; the new device boldly displays the evidence, like battle scars.

“Our first idea was to create a ‘bleeding’ material where it was extremely obvious that it had been tampered with,” said Heidi Smartt, a Sandia electrical engineer and project lead. “Then we made a new device using these materials where the damage is obvious for people to see. No one has ever done this sort of concept for international nuclear safeguards before.”

Desert Ants: The Magnetic Field Calibrates the Navigation System

The desert ant Cataglyphis nodus at its nest entrance - an inconspicuous hole in the ground that cannot be seen from the ant's perspective. To find its way back there, the ant uses the earth's magnetic field during its learning walks.
Photo Credit: Robin Grob

Desert ants find their way during an early learning phase with the help of the Earth's magnetic field. The associated learning process leaves clear traces in their nervous system. This is shown in a new study by a Würzburg research team.

They are only a few centimeters tall and their brains have a comparatively simple structure with less than one million neurons. Nevertheless, desert ants of the Cataglyphis genus possess abilities that distinguish them from many other creatures: The animals are able to orient themselves to the Earth's magnetic field.

Visible Changes in the Nervous System

A research team from Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) discovered this a few years ago. However, it was previously unknown where in the ants' brains the magnetic information is processed. This has now changed: In a new study published in the journal PNAS - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team shows that information about the Earth's magnetic field is primarily processed in the ants' internal compass, the so-called central complex, and in the mushroom bodies, the animals' learning and memory centers.

Immunotherapy before surgery leads to promising long-term survival in sarcoma patients

From Left to Right Christina Roland, M.D. and Neeta Somaiah, M.D.
Image Credit: Courtesy of University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Patients with soft-tissue sarcoma treated with neoadjuvant, or pre-surgical, immunotherapy had very little residual tumor at the time of surgery and promising long-term survival, according to Phase II trial results published today in Nature Cancer by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

After treatment with a combination of immunotherapy and radiation followed by surgical removal of the residual mass, 90% of patients with undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS) had less than 15% viable tumor cells remaining, better than what has historically been seen with radiation alone. The overall survival (OS) rate at two years after first treatment was 82% in resectable retroperitoneal dedifferentiated liposarcoma (DDLPS) and 90% in UPS.

“These results demonstrate the role immunotherapy treatment can have on soft-tissue sarcomas and how the neoadjuvant treatment platform can help identify novel treatment options for patients,” said co-principal investigator Christina Roland, M.D., associate professor of Surgical Oncology. “Sarcoma patients have limited systemic therapy options to consider, and this trial offers data to support the use of immunotherapy in their treatment.”

Genetic analysis and archaeological insight combine to reveal the ancient origins of the fallow deer

Fallow deer
Photo Credit: Nick Fewings

Scientific Frontline: "At a Glance" Summary

• Main Discovery: Genetic and archaeological analysis reveals that fallow deer were first introduced to Britain by the Romans rather than the Normans, with their subsequent global spread driven by British colonial expansion and cultural symbolism.
• Methodology: Researchers combined zooarchaeological records with the DNA sequencing of several hundred ancient and modern specimens to reconstruct an evolutionary history spanning 10,000 years.
• Key Data: The study successfully sequenced a 130,000-year-old sample and identified two distinct European lineages: a Balkan group spread during the Roman Empire and an Anatolian group introduced to Britain around 1000 AD.
• Significance: These findings challenge standard conservation classifications by demonstrating that modern deer populations are artifacts of human history, rendering terms like "wild," "domestic," or "invasive" inadequate for management decisions.
• Future Application: Conservation policies must be revised to incorporate biocultural heritage rather than relying solely on native status, particularly for populations like those in Barbuda where the deer is the national animal yet lacks legal protection.
• Branch of Science: Bioarchaeology and Molecular Ecology
• Additional Detail: The earliest evidence of fallow deer outside the Mediterranean was identified at a Roman palace in Fishbourne, West Sussex, confirming their presence centuries before the Norman Conquest.

Researchers identify brain hub with key role in learned response to direct and indirect threats

Diagram of mouse prefrontal cortex showing neural projections to the midbrain (purple) and the amygdala (green), pathways involved in learning about threat.
Image Credit: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

NIH-supported study in mice could inform treatments of trauma- and stress-related psychiatric conditions.

Scientists have identified an area within the brain’s frontal cortex that may coordinate an animal’s response to potentially traumatic situations. Understanding where and how neural circuits involving the frontal cortex regulate such functions, and how such circuits could malfunction, may provide insight about their role in trauma-related and stress-related psychiatric disorders in people. The study, led by scientists at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), a part of the National Institutes of Health, was published in Nature.

“Experiencing traumatic events is often at the root of trauma-related and stress-related psychiatric conditions, including alcohol use disorder (AUD),” said the study’s senior author, Andrew Holmes, Ph.D., senior investigator in NIAAA’s Laboratory of Behavioral and Genomic Neuroscience. “Additionally, witnessing others experience traumatic events can also contribute to these disorders.”

SwRI Scientists Identify Water Molecules on Asteroids for the First Time

NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy
Image Credit: NASA/Carla Thomas/SwRI

Using data from the retired Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) — a joint project of NASA and the German Space Agency at DLR — Southwest Research Institute scientists have discovered, for the first time, water molecules on the surface of an asteroid. Scientists looked at four silicate-rich asteroids using the FORCAST instrument to isolate the mid-infrared spectral signatures indicative of molecular water on two of them.

“Asteroids are leftovers from the planetary formation process, so their compositions vary depending on where they formed in the solar nebula,” said SwRI’s Dr. Anicia Arredondo, lead author of a Planetary Science Journal paper about the discovery. “Of particular interest is the distribution of water on asteroids, because that can shed light on how water was delivered to Earth.”

Anhydrous, or dry, silicate asteroids form close to the Sun while icy materials coalesce farther out. Understanding the location of asteroids and their compositions tells us how materials in the solar nebula were distributed and have evolved since formation. The distribution of water in our solar system will provide insight into the distribution of water in other solar systems and, because water is necessary for all life on Earth, will drive where to look for potential life, both in our solar system and beyond.

Research makes key advance for capturing carbon from the air

Vanadium, one of the CO2 capture materials, displaying a brilliant deep purple color
Image Credit: May Nyman, chemistry professor, OSU College of Science

A chemical element so visually striking it was named for a goddess that shows a “Goldilocks” level of reactivity – neither too much nor too little – that makes it a strong candidate as a carbon scrubbing tool.

The element is vanadium, and research by Oregon State University scientists has demonstrated the ability of vanadium peroxide molecules to react with and bind carbon dioxide – an important step toward improved technologies for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The study is part of a $24 million federal effort to develop new methods for direct air capture, or DAC, of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that’s produced by the burning of fossil fuels and is associated with climate change.

Facilities that filter carbon from the air have begun to spring up around the globe but they’re still in their infancy. Technologies for mitigating carbon dioxide at the point of entry into the atmosphere, such as at power plants, are more well developed. Both types of carbon capture will likely be needed if the Earth is to avoid the worst outcomes of climate change, scientists say.

Riverine fish numbers increase amidst environmental challenges

Surprising trends in the abundance and species richness of riverine fish across the globe have been unveiled in a new study.
Photo Credit: Brandon

A new study, conducted by scientists at the University of Sheffield, has found a significant increase in the number and diversity of riverine fish species across the planet over the past 30 years

Contrary to conventional expectations, increases in fish species that live in rivers are concentrated in the most degraded areas

Although researchers found positive trends in riverine fish communities, a surge in the prevalence of non-native species poses a threat to the delicate balance of native fish

Surprising trends in the abundance and species richness of riverine fish across the globe have been unveiled in a new study. 

Until now, it was a common scientific belief that increases in species richness and abundance in freshwater ecosystems were as a result of the recent improvement of water quality in historically industrialized regions.

Researchers identify a new mechanism that could improve the efficiency of diabetes treatments

The study led by the UB and CIBERDEM reveals new strategies to inhibit glucose synthesis in the liver and reduce levels in patients affected by metabolic pathologies.
Image Credit: Gemini Advance AI

A study led by the University of Barcelona and the Biomedical Research Networking Center in Diabetes and Associated Metabolic Disorders (CIBERDEM) reveals how a new mechanism could improve the efficiency of currently available treatments for diabetes. The study, carried out on mice and cell cultures, may open up new ways of approaching metabolic diseases that are a global health problem.

The study, published in the journal Metabolism, focuses on the GDF15 protein, a factor that is expressed at high levels in many diseases, such as heart failure, cancer and fatty liver disease. Obese patients also have elevated levels of this protein, but its function is altered and those affected may develop resistance to GDF15 — that is, a reduction in the effectiveness of its activity.

The study is led by Professor Manuel Vázquez-Carrera, from the Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences of the UB, the Institute of Biomedicine of the UB (IBUB), the Sant Joan de Déu Research Institute (IRSJD) and CIBERDEM. The study also highlights the participation of researchers Patricia Rada and Ángela María Valverde, also collaborators at CIBERDEM, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM). The work has the collaboration of Professor Walter Wahli of the University of Lausanne (Switzerland), among other experts.

Artificial cartilage with the help of 3D printing

The spheroids in which living cells are grown, can be assembled into almost any shape.
Image Credit: Technische Universität Wien

A new approach to producing artificial tissue has been developed at TU Wien: Cells are grown in microstructures created in a 3D printer.

Is it possible to grow tissue in the laboratory, for example to replace injured cartilage? At TU Wien (Vienna), an important step has now been taken towards creating replacement tissue in the lab - using a technique that differs significantly from other methods used around the world.

A special high-resolution 3D printing process is used to create tiny, porous spheres made of biocompatible and degradable plastic, which are then colonized with cells. These spheroids can then be arranged in any geometry, and the cells of the different units combine seamlessly to form a uniform, living tissue. Cartilage tissue, with which the concept has now been demonstrated at TU Wien, was previously considered particularly challenging in this respect.

Frequency of U.S. blizzards may decline in coming decades

Vehicles in ditches and medians. Nights without power and heat. Injuries suffered. Lives lost.
Photo Credit: Shawn Dearn

For those in the Heartland, where the frying pan of summer gives way to the snow globe of winter, the scenes of a blizzard are familiar for their frequency. Of the nearly 13,000 U.S. blizzards documented between 1996 and 2020, more than 10,000 struck the northern Plains and Upper Midwest.

But the average number of blizzards could decline amid the lighter snowfalls and milder winds of coming decades, says a first-of-its-kind study from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

With help from the same models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Nebraska’s Liang Chen is predicting a decrease in U.S. blizzards through the end of the 21st century. Chen recently presented the findings at the 104th annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society.

“Blizzards have a huge impact on a lot of our daily life — infrastructure, transportation,” said Chen, assistant professor of Earth and atmospheric sciences at Nebraska. “In terms of planning for climate change, people want to know: In the future, how will these blizzards change because of the warming climate?

“But there is no study looking at how they will change in the future, based on climate simulations. The major reason is: It’s hard to quantify.”

When the global climate has the hiccups

This chamber has the size of a football pitch and is located deep inside the cave.
Photo Credit: University of Basel, Dominik Fleitmann

Climate changes usually happens over long periods of time, but during the last glacial period, extreme fluctuations in temperature occurred within just a few years. Researchers at the University of Basel have now been able to prove the phenomenon also occurred during the penultimate glacial period.

In recent geological history, the so-called Quaternary period, there have been repeated ice ages and warm periods. Researchers are able to determine past climate variability from the composition of climate records. In the case of the last glacial period 100,000 years ago, ice cores from Greenland in particular provide researchers with detailed data.

For example, Greenland ice cores show that there were repeated rapid increases in temperature. “We are talking about increases of 5 to 10 degrees within 30 to 40 years on average in the case of Europe. A Neanderthal would have experienced increases in the average temperature of several degrees over the course of their life,” explains Prof. Dominik Fleitmann, Professor of Quaternary Geology at the University of Basel. He calls the phenomena “climate hiccups”.

These Dansgaard-Oeschger events are well documented for the last glacial period, but the climate records from Greenland only cover the last 120,000 years. It was therefore previously unknown whether these Dansgaard-Oeschger events also occurred during the penultimate glacial period 135,000 to 190,000 years ago. Frederick Held, a PhD candidate in Fleitmann’s research group, was able to show that Dansgaard-Oeschger events also occurred during the penultimate glacial period using isotopic measurements on stalagmites. He is the lead author of the study which was published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

Ancient air-breathing fish comes to surface

Life reconstruction of Harajicadectes zhumini, a 40 cm long lobe-finned fish that is not too distantly related to the fishes that gave rise to the earliest limbed tetrapods.
Illustration Credit: Brian Choo, Flinders University

Alice Spring’s Finke River (Larapinta), often cited as one of the oldest rivers in the world, once hosted waters teeming with bizarre animals – including a sleek predatory lobe-finned fish with large fangs and bony scales.

The newly described fossil fish has been named Harajicadectes zhumini by an international team of researchers led by Flinders University paleontologist Dr Brian Choo.

The fossil was named for the Harajica Sandstone Member where the fossils were found in Australia’s ‘Red Centre’ and the ancient Greek dēktēs (“biter”). It also pays homage to Professor Min Zhu, currently at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, who has made some major contributions to the research of early vertebrates.