Rare glimpse at understudied ecosystem prompts caution on deep-sea mining

Some of the animals identified in the deep-sea that spend their life in the benthic boundary layer.
Photo Credit: Gabrielle Ellis

Scientific Frontline: Extended "At a Glance" Summary: The Abyssal Benthic Boundary Layer

The Core Concept: The abyssal benthic boundary layer is an enormous, poorly understood marine region located just a few meters above the global ocean seafloor. It hosts a dynamic community of tiny organisms, such as zooplankton, snails, bivalves, and barnacles, forming a crucial and interconnected component of the broader deep-sea ecosystem.

Key Distinction/Mechanism: Unlike the historical assumption that the deep abyss is a largely static environment, the benthic boundary layer is highly responsive to seasonal changes. The ecosystem is driven by the varying levels of organic material (food) sinking from the productive surface waters above, resulting in stark structural changes to the biological community between spring and fall.

Major Frameworks/Components:

• Organic Matter Flux: The dependence of the deep-sea benthic community on the downward transfer of organic material from the surface ocean.
• Temporal Dynamics: The significant seasonal variations in the community structure of deep-sea zooplankton based on surface productivity.
• Larval Dispersal Pathway: The boundary layer functions as a critical transit zone and habitat for the larvae of wide-ranging abyssal species before they settle on the seafloor.
• Anthropogenic Disruption: The mechanisms by which deep-sea mining harms the ecosystem, including ambient water removal, sediment plumes that interfere with filter-feeding, and the removal of polymetallic nodules that serve as essential settling habitats for larvae.

Sudan Ebola virus can persist in survivors for months

Image Credit: AI Generated

More than half of survivors of the Sudan Ebola virus still suffer serious health problems two years post-infection and the virus can persist in semen and breast milk for months after recovery, according to the first study examining the virus’s long-term effects.

The study, led by researchers at Washington State University, found 57.5% of the survivors of an outbreak in Uganda from 2022–23 reported ongoing and debilitating health issues that interfered with their daily lives. The detection of traces of the virus in semen and breast milk also raised concerns about the potential for sexual and mother-to-child transmission. The findings were recently published in the journal BMC Medicine.

“This is the first time anyone has been able to closely follow Sudan Ebola survivors over the long term, and the results show the virus continues to affect people’s lives well after an outbreak ends,” said lead researcher Kariuki Njenga, a professor in the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine’s Paul G. Allen School for Global Health and senior scientist at WSU Global Health – Kenya. “Just as concerning is the fact we detected the virus in semen and breast milk, which shows there is a risk survivors could pass on Ebola months after recovery.”

What Is: Microplastics

Microplastic
Credit: Scientific Frontline

The Invisible Tide of Plastic

The modern era has been defined, in part, by the versatility and ubiquity of plastic. Yet, this celebrated 20th-century material has given rise to a paradoxical form of pollution—one so pervasive and minute that its scale was largely unrecognized until recently. Microplastics, the synthetic dust of our industrial age, represent a global environmental challenge of unprecedented complexity. These tiny particles, born from the fragmentation of larger debris and the intentional design of microscopic products, have infiltrated every corner of the planet. Scientific expeditions have confirmed their presence from the summit of Mount Everest to the abyssal depths of the Mariana Trench. More alarmingly, this invisible tide has crossed the final frontier, entering the human body itself, with researchers detecting microplastic particles in human blood, lung tissue, and even the placenta.

The ubiquity of microplastics signals a fundamental disruption of planetary systems. They are not merely inert debris but active agents in the environment, interacting with ecosystems and organisms in complex and often detrimental ways. Their journey spans the globe, carried by ocean currents, river systems, and atmospheric winds, connecting the most remote wilderness to the most densely populated urban centers in a shared system of contamination. This report provides a definitive, evidence-based synthesis of the current scientific understanding of microplastics. It aims to dissect the full scope of this issue, beginning with a fundamental definition of the pollutant and a detailed accounting of its myriad sources. It will then trace the environmental fate and transport of these particles through aquatic, terrestrial, and atmospheric systems. Finally, the report will conduct an exhaustive analysis of their multifaceted impacts on ecological integrity and human health, concluding with a critical evaluation of the policies, technologies, and strategies required to mitigate this pervasive threat.

3D-printed shelters increase baby coral survival rates

Researchers place the modules onto experimental tables in Kāneʻohe Bay.
Photo Credit: Jessica Reichert

To dramatically increase coral survival rates, scientists at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Hawaiʻi Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) have developed innovative 3D-printed ceramic structures that provide crucial protection for baby corals. These new designs offer a low-cost and scalable solution to enhance reef recovery worldwide.

The discovery, published in Biological Conservation, addresses a critical challenge in reef restoration—the low settlement and survival rates of juvenile corals, which often die before adulthood due to predation, being overgrown by algae or being swept away by waves.

“We developed structures that help baby corals find safe homes in the reef,” said Josh Madin, principal investigator at HIMB’s Geometric Ecology Lab and co-author of the study. “Our new designs, with small spiral-shaped shelters called ‘helix recesses,’ give young corals the protection they need during this critical stage.”

Rock art shows earliest known human return to Arabia after the last Ice Age

Rock art has led scientists to revise the timeline of humans repopulating Saudi deserts.
Photo Credit: Sahout Rock Art and Archaeology Project

An international team of scientists, including from Saudi Arabia, use rock art and sediment samples to find that humans returned to Arabia earlier than previously thought after the last ice age  

The Heritage Commission has, in collaboration with an internation team including King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), revealed in Nature Communications the discovery of life-sized rock art panels in the Nefud Desert that were carved 12 000 years ago. 

These findings shift the timelines of when humans and wildlife repopulated the interior desert areas of Saudi Arabia after the Last Glacial Maximum by several thousand years.    

These findings, which can be read in Nature Communications, shift the timelines of when humans and wildlife repopulated the interior desert areas of Saudi Arabia after the Last Glacial Maximum by several thousand years.   

Breast Cancer Polygenic Risk Score Associated with Outcomes after In Situ Breast Disease

Photo Credit: National Cancer Institute

Studying a person’s genetic makeup can predict if they will go on to develop invasive breast cancer after abnormal cells have been found in their breast tissue.

For the first time, researchers at King’s College London have shown the connection between a person’s genetic risk score and their risk of developing the disease after irregular cells have been detected.

The research, published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention and funded by Breast Cancer Now, included over 2,000 women in the UK who had been tested for 313 genetic changes, known as a genetic risk score.

These patients had already been diagnosed with either ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) or lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) – the most common types of abnormal cells found in breast tissue.

A genetic risk score estimates a person's inherited likelihood of developing a disease or trait by combining the influence of multiple common genetic variants.

Converting toxic styrene oxide into attractive compounds

Selvapravin Kumaran, doctoral student in the Microbial Biotechnology working group, takes a measurement in the laboratory. 
Photo Credit: © Dirk Tischler

Styrene oxide isomerase is proving to be a multifunctional helper for biotechnology.

The bacterial membrane enzyme styrene oxide isomerase can convert toxic compounds into valuable materials. Selvapravin Kumaran, a doctoral student in Professor Dirk Tischler's Microbial Biotechnology working group at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, has discovered exactly how it does this. These findings could help in the future to use the multifunctional enzyme in other reactions involving the production of industrially attractive compounds from inexpensive precursors. “Enzymes are a powerful tool that can make our lives more environmentally friendly,” says Dirk Tischler. The researchers report their findings in the journal ACS Catalysis.

An enzyme with a previously unexplored mechanism

Bacterial styrene oxidase isomerase has been known to science for over three decades, but its mechanism of action has not yet been elucidated. “Working with this enzyme is difficult because it is anchored in the membrane of the bacterial cell system,” says Dirk Tischler. In collaboration with Delft University of Technology, his team was able to uncover the role of the amino acid tyrosine in the conversion of toxic styrene oxide through the rare Meinwald rearrangement.

Fat particles could be key to treating metabolic brain disorders

For decades, it was widely accepted that neurons relied exclusively on glucose to fuel their functions in the brain. This is not the case.
Photo Credit: The University of Queensland

Evidence challenging the long-held assumption that neuronal function in the brain is solely powered by sugars has given researchers new hope of treating debilitating brain disorders.

A University of Queensland study led by Dr Merja Joensuu showed that neurons also use fats for fuel as they fire off the signals for human thought and movement.

“For decades, it was widely accepted that neurons relied exclusively on glucose to fuel their functions in the brain,” Dr Joensuu said.

“But our research shows fats are undoubtedly a crucial part of the neuron’s energy metabolism in the brain and could be a key to repairing and restoring function when it breaks down.”

Dr Joensuu from the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology along with lab members PhD candidate Nyakuoy Yak and Dr Saber Abd Elkader from UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute set out to examine the relationship of a particular gene (DDHD2) to hereditary spastic paraplegia 54 (HSP54).

Potential new therapeutic target for asthma discovered

Photo Credit: Cnordic Nordic

A new way to treat asthma symptoms and even repair previously irreversible lung damage could be on the horizon following the discovery of a potential new therapeutic target by scientists at the Universities of Aberdeen and Manchester.

Current treatments for asthma largely involve controlling the inflammation of lung tissue using steroid inhalers. However, 4 people die every day in the UK from asthma related complications. With funding from the Medical Research Foundation and Asthma UK, a team of researchers from the University of Aberdeen and the University of Manchester have investigated the scarring that occurs in lung tissue as a result of asthma and have been able to reverse these changes in animal models.

Although still in the early stages of development, this discovery paves the way for a new way to treat not only asthma, but many different diseases in which similar structural changes in tissues occur. Such diseases include conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic heart disease and cirrhosis of the liver and account for approximately 40% of deaths worldwide.

Asthma affects more than 7 million people in the UK and severe asthma can have a hugely detrimental impact on an individual’s quality of life. Even when treated, asthma can be fatal and the most recent data shows it contributed to 1,465 deaths in the UK in 20221 – this is despite the availability of new treatments which aim to dampen down inflammation in the lungs.

Scientists uncover room-temperature route to improved light-harvesting and emission devices

Dasom Kim
Photo Credit: Jorge Vidal/Rice University

Atoms in crystalline solids sometimes vibrate in unison, giving rise to emergent phenomena known as phonons. Because these collective vibrations set the pace for how heat and energy move through materials, they play a central role in devices that capture or emit light, like solar cells and LEDs.

A team of researchers from Rice University and collaborators have found a way to make two different phonons in thin films of lead halide perovskite interact with light so strongly that they merge into entirely new hybrid states of matter. The finding, reported in a study published in Nature Communications, could provide a powerful new lever for controlling how perovskite materials harvest and transport energy.

To get a specific light frequency in the terahertz range to interact with phonons in the halide perovskite crystals, the researchers fabricated nanoscale slots ⎯ each about a thousand times thinner than a sheet of cling wrap ⎯ into a thin layer of gold. The slots acted like tiny metallic traps for light, tuning its frequency to that of the phonons and thus giving rise to a strong form of interaction known as “ultrastrong coupling.”

Study first to show if nesting heat affects sea turtle hatchling ‘IQ’

A loggerhead hatchling goes through the Y-maze to test its learning abilities.
Photo Credit: Sarah Milton, Florida Atlantic University

As sand temperatures continue to rise, concerns about the future of sea turtles are growing. Hotter nests not only skew sex ratios – producing more females – but also reduce hatchling survival, slow growth, and increase the likelihood of physical deformities. Yet one important and often overlooked question remains: does this heat also affect cognitive ability – how well hatchlings can learn, adapt and respond to the rapidly changing world they face from the moment they emerge?

A new study by researchers at Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Science offers a surprising glimmer of hope. They are the first to test whether incubation temperature affects cognitive ability in loggerhead (Caretta caretta) hatchlings – how well they can learn, adapt and problem-solve. While animal cognition has been widely studied in birds and mammals, much is yet to be discovered in reptiles.

Using a Y-maze and a visual discrimination task, the researchers trained hatchlings incubated at two female-producing temperatures (88 F and a hotter 91 F) and then tested their ability to “reverse train” when the task rules changed. Eggs were collected during the summers of 2019 and 2020 from nesting beaches in Palm Beach County.

Study finds altering one brain area could rid alcohol withdrawal symptoms

David Rossi, left, an associate professor in the Integrative Physiology and Neuroscience Department in WSU's College of Veterinary Medicine, poses for a photo with Nadia McLean, right, a PhD student in Neuroscience, outside their lab in Pullman. Rossi and McLean are researching ways to curb the debilitating symptoms of alcohol withdrawal
Photo Credit: Ted S. Warren, College of Veterinary Medicine

By targeting a specific area of the brain, researchers at Washington State University may now hold the key to curbing the debilitating symptoms of alcohol withdrawal that push many people back to drinking.

The new study found the answer to helping people get through alcohol withdrawal may lie in a region of the brain known as the cerebellum. In mice experiencing withdrawal, scientists were able to ease the physical and emotional symptoms by altering brain function in this brain region using both genetic tools and a specialized compound. The findings, published in the journal Neuropharmacology, could help pave the way for targeted therapies that make recovery more manageable.

“Our research suggests the cerebellum could be a promising therapeutic target to help people get through the most difficult stage of alcohol use disorder,” said Nadia McLean, lead author and doctoral researcher in the Department of Integrative Physiology (IPN). “By targeting the cerebellum, we were able to ease both the physical motor discoordination and the emotional distress of withdrawal — the symptoms that so often drive people back to drinking.”

Researchers develop functional eggs from human skin cells

Researchers at OHSU have demonstrated a new technique to treat infertility by turning skin cells into oocytes, or eggs. Shown here, an image of an oocyte with a bright image of a skin cell nucleus before fertilization.
Image Credit: Oregon Health & Science University

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have accomplished a unique proof of concept to treat infertility by turning skin cells into eggs capable of producing early human embryos.

The research published today in the journal Nature Communications.

The development offers a potential avenue for in vitro gametogenesis — the process of creating gametes — to treat infertility for women of advanced maternal age or those who are unable to produce viable eggs due to previous treatment of cancer or other causes.

Microbial DNA sequencing reveals nutrient pollution and climate change reinforce lake eutrophication

Lake 227 of the Experimental Lakes Area.
Photo Credit: Rebecca Garner

The algal blooms increasingly seen in Canadian lakes have been linked to both nutrient pollution from agricultural runoff and climate change. However, a new Concordia-led study using DNA sequencing of lakebed microbes reveals that these two drivers amplify each other in ways that profoundly affect the health of lake ecosystems.

Using records and samples from the International Institute for Sustainable Development Experimental Lakes Area (ELA), a group of 58 lakes in northwestern Ontario designated freshwater research facilities, the researchers paired environmental monitoring data dating back more than five decades with paleogenetic reconstructions from lakebed microbes dating back more than a century.

By sequencing DNA found in lake sediments, the researchers got insight into past algal communities’ composition and compare them to communities today. This provided critical insight into how those communities changed over decades.

“The sediment DNA archives gave us a chronology of these lakes’ history,” says lead author Rebecca Garner, PhD 2023, and currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley. “This is the first study to show that we can reconstruct the community dynamics of that ecosystem and dramatically expands the diversity of microorganisms that we were able to study.”

The study was published in the journal Environmental Microbiology.

Hidden genetic risk could delay diabetes diagnosis for Black and Asian men

 

Photo Credit: Barbara Olsen

A common but often undiagnosed genetic condition may be causing delays in type 2 diabetes diagnoses and increasing the risk of serious complications for thousands of Black and South Asian men in the UK – and potentially millions worldwide.

The new study is conducted by the University of Exeter, in collaboration with Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and funded through a Wellcome Discovery Award. It has found around one in seven Black and one in 63 South Asian men in the UK carry a genetic variant known as G6PD deficiency. Men with G6PD deficiency are, on average, diagnosed with type 2 diabetes four years later than those without the gene variant. But despite this, fewer than one in 50 have been diagnosed with the condition

G6PD deficiency does not cause diabetes, but it makes the widely used HbA1c blood test – which diagnoses and monitors diabetes – appear artificially low. This can mislead doctors and patients, resulting in delayed diabetes diagnosis and treatment.