Methane Mystery

Maggie Capooci stands at the St. Jones Reserve where the team conducted its research.
Photo Credits: Evan Krape and Andrew Hill

Tidal salt marshes are fairly common across the Mid-Atlantic. These coastal ecosystems provide habitat for plants, birds and fish. Existing at the intersection of land and sea, tidal salt marshes act as armor against hurricanes and shoreline erosion.

Tidal salt marshes are also a powerful tool to combat climate change, said Rodrigo Vargas, an ecosystem ecology and environmental change professor in the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences at the University of Delaware. These ecosystems absorb the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and their soils act as a carbon vault. 

“These ecosystems are threatened across the world. They are disappearing because of different problems, such as land use change and sea level rise,” Vargas said. “But they store a lot of carbon. So, there is a big concern about what will happen to salt marshes now under climate change and what is going to happen with the carbon stored in these ecosystems.” 

If tidal salt marshes shrink or disappear because of climate change or how human activities have transformed natural landscapes, could all the carbon they have stored go back into the atmosphere and further contribute to the warming of the Earth? Vargas said this is an important question that scientists are working on.

Tidal salt marsh soils are great at storing carbon because they're often flooded and have salty water. These conditions lower oxygen levels and make it difficult for most microorganisms to consume the carbon in the soil. However, some microorganisms called methyl-methanogens can eat some of the carbon in the soil and produce methane under these conditions. That’s a far more powerful greenhouse gas with the ability to heat up the Earth more intensely than carbon dioxide. In some marshes, the amount of methane produced and emitted can offset the amount of carbon captured by the ecosystem in the growing season. 

Discovery about bacterial cell walls can lead to new antibiotics

Felipe Cava is Professor of Infection Biology, Department of Molecular Biology, Umeå University and affiliated group leader with the Laboratory for Molecular Infection Medicine Sweden (MIMS), Umeå Centre for Microbial Research (UCMR) and the Integrated Science Lab (Icelab) and SciLifeLab.
Photo Credit: Mattias Pettersson, simon ohman jonsson inhousebyran

Researchers at Umeå University in Sweden, led by Professor Felipe Cava, have identified a new family of enzymes that creates a unique type of cross-linking between the building blocks of bacterial cell walls. This discovery could help develop new antibiotics against infectious diseases.

Bacterial cell walls form mesh-like structures, shielding cells from rupturing under high internal pressure and safeguarding against external threats. The cell wall is comprised of sugar and amino acid molecules interconnected by various types of cross-links. These cross-links play a crucial role in providing strength and stability to the cell wall, while also enabling bacteria to adapt to diverse environments and stressors.

In a groundbreaking study recently published in the esteemed journal Nature Communications, researchers from Umeå University and international institutions have unveiled a novel family of enzymes responsible for generating a unique cross-linkage between L-alanine and meso-diaminopimelic acid. These amino acids are integral components of the peptide chains constituting the cell wall of numerous bacterial species. Termed LD1,3-transpeptidase, this enzyme has been identified across various groups of alpha and beta proteobacteria, including opportunistic pathogens such as Burkholderia and Achromobacter.

Astronomers identify record-breaking quasar

This artist’s impression shows the record-breaking quasar J059-4351, the bright core of a distant galaxy that is powered by a supermassive black hole. Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, this quasar has been found to be the most luminous object known in the Universe to date. The supermassive black hole, seen here pulling in surrounding matter, has a mass 17 billion times that of the Sun and is growing in mass by the equivalent of another Sun per day, making it the fastest-growing black hole ever known.
Illustration Credit: European Southern Observatory/M. Kornmesser

Using the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have characterized a bright quasar, finding it to be not only the brightest of its kind, but also the most luminous object ever observed. Quasars are the bright cores of distant galaxies and they are powered by supermassive black holes. The black hole in this record-breaking quasar is growing in mass by the equivalent of one Sun per day, making it the fastest-growing black hole to date.

The black holes powering quasars collect matter from their surroundings in a process so energetic that it emits vast amounts of light. So much so that quasars are some of the brightest objects in our sky, meaning even distant ones are visible from Earth. As a general rule, the most luminous quasars indicate the fastest-growing supermassive black holes.

Oregon State study sheds light on links between cognitive and motor skill development in children with autism

Image Credit: Aedrian

A recent study by Oregon State University researchers highlighted the ways motor skills and cognitive skills develop in connection with each other in young children with autism, and found an opportunity for behavioral and physical therapists to work together to improve care.

“We know they’re highly linked, but we often talk about them in different domains,” said study co-author Megan MacDonald, head of the School of Exercise, Sport, and Health Science in OSU’s College of Health. “When we look at wraparound services and talk about academic, social, physical and cognitive services, there’s so much we could do together.”

When assessing, diagnosing and providing services for young children with autism, providers are often siloed from each other, MacDonald said. Occupational and physical therapists focus on fine and gross motor skills, while behavioral therapists focus on emotional regulation and executive function.

But in many situations, the two sides depend on each other, she said. Fine motor skills are closely linked to cognition, such as the combination of moves kids must remember and perform in the correct order to write their name. The gross motor skills used in a playground game of kickball work in tandem with the social and emotional skills used to interact with other students and work as a team.

Birds have been adapting to human activity for millennia

Coot nesting on bike on a lake in Copenhagen. Birds and humans also co-inhabited specific environments in our prehistory, new research shows.
Photo Credit: Lisa Yeomans

Roughly 14,500 to 10,500 years ago, in the transition from the last glacial period, humans harvesting vegetation from the wetlands of eastern Jordan created a habitat for birds that would otherwise have migrated, a new study reveals. It shows that human activity is not necessarily detrimental to biodiversity but may allow for species to co-inhabit specific environments, the researchers suggest.

The presence of humans is usually associated with negative effects on flora and fauna, and our species has demonstrably influenced biodiversity negatively in the course of history.

But in a new study published in the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, a team of researchers from the University of Copenhagen and the University of Turin have discovered that some human activities may have had an encouraging effect on biodiversity through modification of specific ecosystems.

Giant step forward to help treat chronic wounds that affect millions

A team of international scientists has developed a more effective treatment for chronic wounds that does not involve antibiotics or silver-based dressings, but an ionized gas called plasma.

The treatment involves boosting the plasma activation of hydrogel dressings with a unique mix of different chemical oxidants that decontaminate and help heal chronic wounds.

University of South Australia physicist Dr Endre Szili, who led the study published this week in Advanced Functional Materials, describes the new method as “a significant breakthrough” that could revolutionize the treatment of diabetic foot ulcers, internal wounds and potentially cancerous tumors.

“Antibiotics and silver dressings are commonly used to treat chronic wounds, but both have drawbacks,” Dr Szili says. “Growing resistance to antibiotics is a global challenge and there are also major concerns over silver-induced toxicity. In Europe, silver dressings are being phased out for this reason.”

Spy-satellite images offer insights into historical ecosystem changes

A large forest clear-cut from the 1960s in the vicinity of a one-hectare forest research plot in the Southern Black Forest Region. Although much of the area is forested today, historical harvests have changed the forest structure and composition.
Left: Historical spy-satellite image. Right: Current Google Earth Image.
Image Credit: Courtesy of University of Freiburg

A large number of historical spy-satellite photographs from the Cold War Era were declassified decades ago. This valuable remote sensing data has been utilized by scientists across a wide range of disciplines from archaeology to civil engineering. However, its use in ecology and conservation remains limited. A new study led by Dr. Catalina Munteanu from the Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources at the University of Freiburg, Germany, aims to advance the application of declassified satellite data in the fields of ecology and conservation. Leveraging recent progress in image processing and analysis, these globally available black-and-white images can offer better insights into the historical changes of ecosystems, species populations or changes in human influences on the environment dating back to the 1960s, the researchers suggest.

Measuring neutrons to reduce nuclear waste

Simulation of neutron star collision.
Detections of gravitational waves from merging neutron stars tipped off researchers here on Earth that it should be possible to predict how neutrons interact with atomic nuclei.
Image Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/CI Lab
(CC BY-ND 4.0 DEED)

Nuclear power is considered one of the ways to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, but how to deal with nuclear waste products is among the issues surrounding it. Radioactive waste products can be turned into more stable elements, but this process is not yet viable at scale. New research led by physicists from the University of Tokyo reveals a method to more accurately measure, predict and model a key part of the process to make nuclear waste more stable. This could lead to improved nuclear waste treatment facilities and also to new theories about how some heavier elements in the universe came to be.

The very word “nuclear” can be a bit of a trigger for some people, understandably so in Japan, where the atomic bomb and Fukushima disaster are some of the pivotal moments in its modern history. Yet, given the relative scarcity of suitable space in Japan for renewable forms of energy like solar or wind, nuclear power is considered to be a critical part of the effort to decarbonize the energy sector. Because of this, researchers are hard at work trying to improve safety, efficiency and other matters relating to nuclear power. Associate Professor Nobuaki Imai from the Center for Nuclear Study at the University of Tokyo and his colleagues think they can contribute to improving a key aspect of nuclear power, the processing of waste.

Innovative materials to combat bacteria

Three bacteria from the ESKAPE group: Staphylococcus aureus (yellow), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (short thick blue rods) and Escherichia coli (long blue rods).
Image Credit: © UNIGE

While crucial to biotechnology, bacteria can also cause severe disease, exacerbated by their increasing resistance to antibiotics. This duality between economic benefits and infectious risks underlines the importance of finding ways to control their development. A team at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) is currently developing a new generation of bactericidal alloys, with a wide range of industrial applications. They could be used to treat the contact surfaces responsible for their transmission. The project, which is supported by Innosuisse, will take 18 months to complete.

Resistance to antimicrobial drugs - such as antibiotics and antivirals - is a global public health issue. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is currently responsible for 700,000 deaths a year worldwide. If no action is taken, the number of deaths will rise to 10 million a year by 2050, with dramatic consequences for public health and the economy.

To promote and guide research in this field, the WHO has published a list of pathogens that should be targeted as a matter of priority, because they are particularly threatening to human health. The list includes Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli bacteria, which are associated with the most common hospital-acquired infections, as well as salmonella. Contaminated contact surfaces (utensils, handles, stair railings) play a fundamental role in their transmission.

Widely used AI tool for early sepsis detection may be cribbing doctors’ suspicions

Image Credit: Scientific Frontline

When using only data collected before patients with sepsis received treatments or medical tests, the model’s accuracy was no better than a coin toss

Proprietary artificial intelligence software designed to be an early warning system for sepsis can’t differentiate high and low risk patients before they receive treatments, according to a new study from the University of Michigan.

The tool, named the Epic Sepsis Model, is part of Epic’s electronic medical record software, which serves 54% of patients in the United States and 2.5% of patients internationally, according to a statement from the company’s CEO reported by the Wisconsin State Journal. It automatically generates sepsis risk estimates in the records of hospitalized patients every 20 minutes, which clinicians hope can allow them to detect when a patient might get sepsis before things go bad.

“Sepsis has all these vague symptoms, so when a patient shows up with an infection, it can be really hard to know who can be sent home with some antibiotics and who might need to stay in the intensive care unit. We still miss a lot of patients with sepsis,” said Tom Valley, associate professor in pulmonary and critical care medicine, ICU clinician and co-author of the study published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine AI.

Researchers Discover That a Rare Fat Molecule Helps Drive Cell Death

Illustration of a diPUFA phospholipid, a type of lipid with two polyunsaturated fatty acyl tails, breaking through a cell's outer lipid layer as the cell dies. New research has shown that diPUFA phospholipids are a key driver of a form of cell death known as ferroptosis.
Illustration Credit: Nicoletta Barolini

The discovery that a lipid helps induce cell death could improve treatments for certain cancers and neurodegenerative diseases.

Columbia researchers have found that a rare type of lipid is a key driver of ferroptosis, a form of cell death discovered by Columbia Professor Brent Stockwell.

The findings provide new detail on how cells die during ferroptosis and could improve understanding of how to stop ferroptosis in contexts where it is harmfully occurring—in neurodegenerative diseases, for example—or induce it in contexts where it could be useful, such as using it to kill dangerous cancer cells.

First-Ever Atomic Freeze-Frame of Liquid Water

Scientists used a synchronized attosecond X-ray pulse pair (pictured pink and green here) from an X-ray free electron laser to study the energetic response of electrons (gold) in liquid water on attosecond timescale, while the hydrogen (white) and oxygen (red) atoms are ‘frozen’ in time. 
Illustration Credit: Nathan Johnson | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

In an experiment akin to stop-motion photography, scientists have isolated the energetic movement of an electron while “freezing” the motion of the much larger atom it orbits in a sample of liquid water.

The findings, reported today in the journal Science, provide a new window into the electronic structure of molecules in the liquid phase on a timescale previously unattainable with X-rays. The new technique reveals the immediate electronic response when a target is hit with an X-ray, an important step in understanding the effects of radiation exposure on objects and people.

“The chemical reactions induced by radiation that we want to study are the result of the electronic response of the target that happens on the attosecond timescale,” said Linda Young, a senior author of the research and Distinguished Fellow at Argonne National Laboratory. “Until now radiation chemists could only resolve events at the picosecond timescale, a million times slower than an attosecond. It’s kind of like saying ‘I was born and then I died.’ You’d like to know what happens in between. That’s what we are now able to do.”

A multi-institutional group of scientists from several Department of Energy national laboratories and universities in the U.S. and Germany combined experiments and theory to reveal in real-time the consequences when ionizing radiation from an X-ray source hits matter.

The brain is 'programmed' for learning from people we like

Image Credit: Gemini Advance AI

Our brains are "programmed" to learn more from people we like – and less from those we dislike. This has been shown by researchers in cognitive neuroscience in a series of experiments.

Memory serves a vital function, enabling us to learn from new experiences and update existing knowledge. We learn both from individual experiences and from connecting them to draw new conclusions about the world. This way, we can make inferences about things that we don't necessarily have direct experience of. This is called memory integration and makes learning quick and flexible.

Inês Bramão, associate professor of psychology at Lund University, provides an example of memory integration: Say you're walking in a park. You see a man with a dog. A few hours later, you see the dog in the city with a woman. Your brain quickly makes the connection that the man and woman are a couple even though you have never seen them together. 

“Making such inferences is adaptive and helpful. But of course, there's a risk that our brain draws incorrect conclusions or remembers selectively”, says Inês Bramão.

Electrons screen against conductivity-killer in organic semiconductors

Muhamed Duhandžić, doctoral candidate and study author, writes the equations he and Zlatan Akšamija (left) derived to describe the physics happening inside the doped polymer.
Photo Credit: Harriet Richardson/University of Utah

California’s Silicon Valley and Utah’s Silicon Slopes are named for the element most associated with semiconductors, the backbone of the computer revolution. Anything computerized or electronic depends on semiconductors, a substance with properties that conduct electrical current under certain conditions. Traditional semiconductors are made from inorganic materials—like silicon—that require vast amounts of water and energy to produce.

For years, scientists have tried to make environmentally friendly alternatives using organic materials, such as polymers. Polymers are formed by linking small molecules together to make long chains. The polymerization process avoids many of the energy-intensive steps required in traditional semiconductor manufacturing and uses far less water and fewer gasses and chemicals. They’re also cheap to make and would enable flexible electronics, wearable sensors and biocompatible devices that could be introduced inside the body. The problem is that their conductivity, while good, is not as high as their inorganic counterparts.

All electronic materials require doping, a method of infusing molecules into semiconductors to boost conductivity. Scientists use molecules, called dopants, to define the conductive parts of electrical circuits. Doping in organic materials has vexed scientists because of a lack of consistency—sometimes dopants improve conductivity while other times they make it worse.  In a new study, researchers from the University of Utah and University of Massachusetts Amherst have uncovered the physics that drive dopant and polymer interactions that explain the inconsistent conductivity issue.

The ties that bind

The soils in many iconic Australian landscapes, like the outback and deserts, are colored red by an abundant mineral known as goethite. This mineral tends to lock away trace metals over time, according to research from Washington University in St. Louis
Photo Credit: Nathan March

Trace metals are nutrient elements, like zinc, that animals and plants need in small amounts to function properly. Animals generally get trace metals in their diets or through environmental exposures, while plants take their trace minerals up from soil. If we get too little, we may experience a deficiency, but the opposite can also be true: too much of a trace metal can be toxic.

Scientists believe that up to 50% of the trace metals in soils and urban environments may be bound to the surfaces of mineral grains — rendering the trace metals essentially unavailable for consumption or exposure. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis wondered what holds them in place.

“When minerals bind trace metals, we often assume that they act like a sponge,” said Jeffrey G. Catalano, a professor of earth, environmental and planetary sciences and the director of environmental studies in Arts & Sciences. “But sometimes, they bind trace metals and won’t let them go. That is great when they are contaminants, but bad when they are serving as micronutrients.”

In a study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, Catalano and Greg Ledingham, a PhD candidate in his laboratory, discovered that a common mineral called goethite — an iron-rich mineral that is abundant in soils that cover the Earth — tends to incorporate trace metals into its structure over time, binding the metals in such a way that it locks them out of circulation.