Sandy Seafloors: An Overlooked Source of Greenhouse Gas

Photo Credit: Walter Frehner

A new study reveals that methane can form in the upper layers of sandy seabeds — something that has taken scientists by surprise. Special microorganisms are at work, and the phenomenon may be happening along coastlines all over the world.  

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, produced in many natural environments by microorganisms.  

Until recently, scientists believed these microbes were intolerant of oxygen and could only survive in oxygen-free zones. But new research shows they can, in fact, persist in oxygenated environments — lying dormant until the oxygen disappears. That means an entirely new source of methane emissions has just been discovered.  

“We do not yet know how much methane these microbes are producing. That is the next big question. But we suspect the contribution is significant and widespread in sandy coastal zones. This is not something confined to a few isolated spots on the globe,” says Ronnie N. Glud, professor at the Department of Biology and an expert in biogeochemistry.  

Study links folic acid to gestational diabetes

Image Credit: Anna Mysłowska-Kiczek

New research led by Flinders University highlights the urgent need to establish a safe upper limit for folic acid intake during pregnancy and to improve guidelines on folic acid supplementation during pregnancy.

A new study by published in the journal Nutrients links the rise in gestational diabetes in part to excess maternal folate levels, due to the dual impact of folic acid (FA, or synthetic folate) in food fortification and higher-than-recommended supplementation doses during pregnancy.

National surveillance shows the incidence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in Australia has more than tripled, rising from 5.6% in 2010 to 19.3% in 2022.

Stem Cells Repair Mouse Brains Post-Stroke

This image shows a coronal section through the mouse brain after stroke and neural stem cell transplantation. The dashed circle indicates the stroke area. The neurite projections of the transplanted human cells are stained in dark brown. Neurites extend locally into the cortex (CX) but also via the corpus callosum (CC) into the other brain hemisphere.
Image Credit: Universität Zürich

Stem cell transplantation can reverse stroke damage, researchers at the University of Zurich report. Its beneficial effects include regeneration of neurons and restoration of motor functions, marking a milestone in the treatment of brain disorders.

One in four adults suffer a stroke in their lifetime, leaving around half of them with residual damage such as paralysis or speech impairment because internal bleeding or a lack of oxygen supply kills brain cells irreversibly. No therapies currently exist to repair this kind of damage. “That’s why it is essential to pursue new therapeutic approaches to potential brain regeneration after diseases or accidents,” says Christian Tackenberg, the Scientific Head of Division in the Neurodegeneration Group at the University of Zurich (UZH) Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Neural stem cells have the potential to regenerate brain tissue, as a team led by Tackenberg and postdoctoral researcher Rebecca Weber has now compellingly shown in two studies that were conducted in collaboration with a group headed by Ruslan Rust from the University of Southern California. “Our findings show that neural stem cells not only form new neurons, but also induce other regeneration processes,” Tackenberg says.

A Paleontologist Has Discovered a Tooth of an Extinct Carnivorous Whale in the Sverdlovsk Region

The unique find belonged to a giant aquatic mammal that lived 37 million years ago
Photo Credit: Maxim Sinitsa

In the Sverdlovsk region, paleontologists have found the tooth of an ancient carnivorous whale that lived during the Eocene period (approximately 37 million years ago). This is the first such find, indicating that this animal lived in the Urals in ancient times. The unique find was discovered by Maxim Sinitsa, Associate professor of the UrFU Department of Biodiversity and Bioecology, during a joint expedition of the Ural-Siberian Society of Fossil Lovers public organization.

"We have been collecting fossils on the banks of the Tura River. The expedition included both volunteers and professional paleontologists from Ekaterinburg and Tyumen. We traveled to a well-known location, where Eocene deposits, about 37 million years old, are exposed for many kilometers. This time, hundreds of teeth and skeletal fragments of cartilaginous (rays, gray, otodus and sand tiger sharks of the genera striatolamia, yekelotodus, mennerotodus, physogaleus), bony fish (whiting, cod and tuna fish), as well as part of the shell of a turtle were found. But the main find is a well-preserved fragment of an ancient whale tooth from the extinct Basilosaurid family," says Maxim Sinitsa.

Jope Hip and Joint Dog Chews: A Detailed Review

Jope Hip and Joint Dog Chews are a relatively new addition to canine joint health supplements. If you're a dog owner concerned about your furry friend's mobility and comfort, especially as they age, you're likely interested in learning more about this product. This detailed review will explore Jope's key features, ingredients, scientific backing, potential benefits, and drawbacks to help you make an informed decision about whether it's the right choice for your dog.

Product Overview

Jope Hip and Joint Dog Chews are marketed as a superior alternative to traditional glucosamine and chondroitin-based joint supplements. These chews are suitable for dogs of all ages and breeds, including puppies and adult dogs. The company emphasizes the following key features:

• UC-II® Collagen: This patented form of undenatured type II collagen is a primary active ingredient and is claimed to be more effective than glucosamine and chondroitin in supporting joint health.

• Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Jope contains high levels of EPA and DHA from fish oil, which are known for their anti-inflammatory properties.

• Curcumin: This turmeric extract provides antioxidant support and further helps reduce inflammation.

• Veterinarian Formulated: Jope was developed by veterinarians.

• Made in the USA: The chews are manufactured in an NASC-approved facility in Michigan.

• Cold-Pressed: This manufacturing process helps preserve the potency of the ingredients.

• Palatability: Jope chews are designed to be tasty and appealing to dogs.

Mystery solved: New study reveals how DNA repair genes play a major role in Huntington's disease

Dr. Xiangdong William Yang
Photo Credit: Courtesy of UCLA/Health

A new UCLA Health study has discovered in mouse models that genes associated with repairing mismatched DNA are critical in eliciting damages to neurons that are most vulnerable in Huntington's disease and triggering downstream pathologies and motor impairment, shedding light on disease mechanisms and potential new ways to develop therapies. 

Huntington’s disease is one of the most common inherited neurodegenerative disorders that typically begins in adulthood and worsens over time. Patients begin to lose neurons in specific regions of the brain responsible for movement control, motor skill learning, language and cognitive function. Patients typically live 15 to 20 years after diagnosis with symptoms worsening over time. There is no known cure or therapy that alters the course of the disease.

The cause of Huntington's disease was discovered over three decades ago--a "genetic stutter" mutation involves repeats of three letters of the DNA, cytosine-adenine-guanine (CAG), in a gene called huntingtin. Healthy individuals usually have 35 or fewer CAG repeats, but people inherited with mutation of 40 or more repeats will develop the disease. The more CAG repeats a person inherits, the earlier the disease onset occurs. However, how the mutation causes the disease remains poorly understood. 

Research yields eco-friendly way to separate, recycle refrigerants tied to climate crisis

Lead author Abby Harders, who earned her doctorate in chemical and petroleum engineering at the University of Kansas, now serves as head of research and development at Icorium Engineering, situated in KU’s Innovation Park.
Photo Credit: Max Jiang

A scholarly report in the journal Science Advances from researchers at the University of Kansas shows a new eco-friendly method for separating the chemicals found in common refrigerants for easier recycling at industrial scale.

“The motivation of this work is to enable separation of highly complex gaseous refrigerant mixtures,” said lead author Abby Harders, who performed the research as a KU doctoral student in the research group of co-author Mark Shiflett, Foundation Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering. “This effort has been driven by climate legislation phasing out certain hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants.”

The paper's key innovation uses membranes — amorphous fluorinated polymers, to be specific — that efficiently isolate complex refrigerant mixtures. Other separation methods, like distillation, are less effective because of the complex composition of the mixtures. Harders said the membranes are fabricated to allow some gases to pass through while restricting others — resulting in effective purification.

To demonstrate the technology could scale to industrial viability, the team — including many associated with KU’s Wonderful Institute for Sustainable Engineering — developed a custom-coating process to create submicron coatings on the membrane’s porous supports, creating composite hollow fibers. The results show a functional prototype, proving the technology’s usefulness to firms engaged in refrigerant recovery and reuse. 

Innovative target design leads to surprising discovery in laser-plasma acceleration

Researchers studying laser-driven proton acceleration introduced an innovative, self-replenishing water sheet target to address the inefficiency of replacing targets after each laser pulse. The target had a surprising side effect, resulting in a naturally focused, more tightly aligned proton beam. 
Image Credit: Greg Stewart/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

Scientists have developed a groundbreaking method for generating fast, bright proton beams using a high-repetition-rate laser-plasma accelerator. This work, published in Nature Communications, resolves several long-standing challenges and ushers this technology to the threshold of real-world applications – all thanks to a stream of water. 

“These exciting results pave the way for new applications of relativistic high-power lasers for applications in medicine, accelerator research, and inertial fusion,” said Siegfried Glenzer, professor of photon science and the director of the High Energy Density Science division at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. 

Celebrating 15 Years of Women and Girls in Science at KAUST

Photo Credit: Courtesy of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the United Nation’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science. It also marks 15 years since King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) was established as the first mixed-gender university in Saudi Arabia. Since then, KAUST has been a pioneer in championing women and girls in science in the Kingdom and across the Middle East. Today we celebrate all KAUST’s female graduates and scientists, many of whom have achieved remarkable success in their careers, such as becoming professors at leading universities worldwide, taking leadership roles in Saudi ministries and giga-projects, and founding tech companies that drive investment and create jobs in the Kingdom.     

KAUST's world-class research and education, supported by initiatives and projects like the KAUST Gifted Student Program (KGSP), the Ibn Rushd fellowship program and the KAUST Entrepreneurship Center, have been instrumental in this success. These programs nurture talent, foster innovation and empower women to excel in science and technology.   

Opening for a new type of drug for Alzheimer’s Disease

Kaj Blennow and Tohidul Islam.
Photo Credit: Johan Wingborg

A complementary drug to combat Alzheimer’s disease could target a specific part of the nerve cell protein tau. This is the finding of research from the University of Gothenburg, which also offers a better way to measure the effect of treatment among patients.

Researchers from the University of Gothenburg, together with colleagues from the University of Pittsburgh in the US, published their findings in the journal Nature Medicine.

The study provides insights into what happens during the earliest phase when the protein tau is transformed into thread-like strands (fibrils) in the nerve cells. This is one of the processes in Alzheimer’s disease and occurs alongside the formation of amyloid plaques. In healthy individuals, the protein tau stabilizes the tubular building blocks (microtubules) that make up the long projections of the nerve cells.

During the development of Alzheimer’s disease, tau undergoes pathological changes. First, tau forms small, soluble aggregates that are secreted from the nerve cells and are thought to be able to spread these changes to other nerve cells. The protein is then converted into larger, harmful, thread-like strands in the nerve cells.

How Botox enters our cells

Volodymyr M. Korkhov (left) and Richard Kammerer of the Center for Life Sciences at PSI have made important advances towards understanding how botulinum neurotoxin, botox for short, enters our nerve cells.
Photo Credit: © Paul Scherrer Institute PSI/Mahir Dzambegovic

Botulinum toxin A1, better known under the brand name Botox, is not only a popular cosmetic agent, but also a highly effective bacterial neurotoxin that – when carefully dosed – can be used as a drug. It blocks the transmission of signals from nerves to muscles: This can relax muscles under the skin, which in cosmetics is used to smooth facial features. It can also alleviate conditions that are caused by cramping muscles or faulty signals from nerves, such as spasticity, bladder weakness, or misalignment of the eyes. However, if the dose is too high, the use of Botox can be fatal due to paralysis of the respiratory muscles. This can happen as a result of bacterial meat poisoning and is called botulism.

To make the most effective use of botulinum toxin as a drug, to precisely control its action, and to expand the range of possible applications of the toxin, researchers want to better understand how the toxin enters nerve cells to exert its effect. Until now, little was known about this.  “This is mainly because we had no structural data on what the toxin looks like in its full-length form when binding to its nerve cell's receptor,” says Richard A. Kammerer of the PSI Center for Life Sciences. So far there had only been studies on the structure of individual domains of the toxin – that is, specific parts of its complex molecular structure – and on the structure of such domains in complex with the receptor or one of its domains. 

Collection of tiny antennas can amplify and control light polarized in any direction

New polarization-independent, highly resonant metasurfaces can precisely amplify and control light without requiring incoming light (top left) to be oriented and traveling in a certain direction.
Image Credit: Bo Zhao

Antennas receive and transmit electromagnetic waves, delivering information to our radios, televisions, cell phones and more. Researchers in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis imagines a future where antennas reshape even more applications.

Their new metasurfaces, ultra-thin materials made of tiny nanoantennas that can both amplify and control light in very precise ways, could replace conventional refractive surfaces from eyeglasses to smartphone lenses and improve dynamic applications such as augmented reality/virtual reality and LiDAR.

While metasurfaces can manipulate light very precisely and efficiently, enabling powerful optical devices, they often suffer from a major limitation: Metasurfaces are highly sensitive to the polarization of light, meaning they can only interact with light that is oriented and traveling in a certain direction. While this is useful in polarized sunglasses that block glare and in other communications and imaging technologies, requiring a specific polarization dramatically reduces the flexibility and applicability of metasurfaces.

Influenza A viruses adapt shape in response to environmental pressures

Colorized transmission electron micrograph of influenza A virus particles, colorized red and gold, isolated from a patient sample and then propagated in cell culture. Influenza A can infect both humans and animals, including birds and pigs. More specifically, this image features the H3N2 influenza strain, isolated from a patient in Victoria, Australia, in 1975. Notable for forming both spheric
Image Credit: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Influenza A virus particles strategically adapt their shape—to become either spheres or larger filaments—to favor their ability to infect cells depending on environmental conditions, according to a new study from National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists. This previously unrecognized response could help explain how influenza A and other viruses persist in populations, evade immune responses, and acquire adaptive mutations, the researchers explain in a new study published in Nature Microbiology.

The study, led by intramural researchers at NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), was designed to determine why many influenza A virus particles exist as filaments. The filament shape requires more energy to form than a sphere, they state, and its abundance has been previously unexplained. To find the answer, they developed a way to observe and measure real-time influenza A virus structure during formation.

Study reveals reasons for misdiagnosis of frontotemporal dementia

Researchers have discovered patterns in the misdiagnosis of frontotemporal dementia
Photo Credit: Anna Shvets

University of Queensland researchers discovered that nearly 70 per cent of suspected frontotemporal dementia patients ultimately did not have the disease, in a study aimed at identifying factors that contribute to misdiagnosis of this notoriously difficult to diagnose disorder.

Psychiatrist Dr Joshua Flavell, working with cognitive neurologist Professor Peter Nestor at the Mater Hospital Memory and Cognitive Disorders clinic and UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute, analyzed data from 100 patients suspected of having frontotemporal dementia who had been referred by specialist physicians like neurologists, psychiatrists or geriatricians.

“Of the 100 patients, 34 were true-positive, and 66 were false-positive for frontotemporal dementia,” Dr Flavell said.

“We found that misinterpretation of brain scans, particularly nuclear imaging, led to 32 patients being incorrectly diagnosed.

How Does the Brain Differentiate New Stimuli from Old Ones?

The illustration represents how sounds are encoded in the cerebral cortex, with neurons (at right) using "echoing" activity to track auditory stimuli to change and improve its predictions of the future.
Illustration Credit: Yuriy Shymkiv

The cerebral cortex is the largest part of a mammal’s brain, and by some measures the most important. In humans in particular, it’s where most things happen—like perception, thinking, memory storage, and decision-making. One current hypothesis suggests that the cortex’s primary role is to predict what’s going to happen in the future by identifying and encoding new information it receives from the outside world and comparing it with what was expected to occur.

A new study published today in the journal Neuron takes a big step toward proving that hypothesis. The paper’s lead author is Yuriy Shymkiv, a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Professor Rafael Yuste.

“We found that the cortex acts like a memory machine, encoding new experiences, and predicting the very near future,” Shymkiv said.