Established in 2020 Saturday, March 16, 2024


 
Researchers present the world's oldest long-necked marine reptile

The fossil of the long-necked marine reptile Trachelosaurus fischeri. Image courtesy: SMNS, Liliana Reinöhl.

STUTTGART.- An international team of scientists led by Dr. Stephan Spiekman, Dr. Eudald Mujal and Prof. Dr. Rainer Schoch, paleontologists at the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, has re-examined the fossil of the reptile Trachelosaurus fischeri, which was first described at the beginning of the 20th century. Comparisons with new fossil finds of a similar marine reptile from China show that Trachelosaurus fischeri is the world's oldest long-necked marine reptile. The scientists have published their research findings on the 247-million-year-old fossil from Sachsen-Anhalt, Gemany, in the Swiss Journal of Palaeontology. Trachelosaurus fischeri was already discovered back in the 19th century in layers of Buntsandstein (Middle Triassic) in Bernburg an der Saale, Germany, and it was subsequently added to the collection of Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. The specimen is currently on loan to the State Museum of Natura ... More



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Dog-killing flatworm discovered in Southern California   DNA origami-based vaccine platform enhances anti-tumor responses through nanometer-precise spacing of molecules   New method enables synthesis of hundreds of new 2D materials


The tiny snail host that transmits H. americana. Image courtesy: Adler Dillman/UCR.

RIVERSIDE, CA.- UC Riverside scientists confirm, for the first time, that a potentially fatal dog parasite is present in a portion of the Colorado River that runs through California. The parasite, Heterobilharzia americana, is a flatworm commonly referred to as liver fluke. Previously found almost exclusively in Texas and other Gulf Coast states, it has never been reported this far west. The worm can cause canine schistosomiasis, an illness that impacts the liver and intestines of dogs. "Dogs can die from this infection, so we are hoping to raise public awareness that it's there," said UCR nematology professor Adler Dillman. "If you're swimming in the Colorado River with them, your pets are in peril." After learning about cases of the infection in local dogs, Dillman assembled a research team and headed to Blythe, a border town east of Joshua Tree National Park in Riverside County, where the sick dogs had all spent time swimming in the river. ... More
 

DoriVac vaccines enabled tumor-bearing mice to better control the growth of tumors and to survive significantly longer than control mice. Image courtesy: Ju Hee/KIST.

CAMBRIDGE, MA.- Therapeutic cancer vaccines are a form of immunotherapy in the making that could not only destroy cancer cells in patients, but keep a cancer from coming back and spreading. Multiple therapeutic cancer vaccines are being studied in clinical trials, but despite their promise, they are not routinely used yet by clinical oncologists to treat their patients. The central ingredient of therapeutic cancer vaccines is antigens, which are preferentially produced or newly produced (neoantigens) by tumor cells and enable a patient's immune system to search and destroy the cancerous cells. In most cases, those antigens cannot act alone and need the help of adjuvant molecules that trigger a general alarm signal in immune cells known as antigen-presenting cells (APCs). APCs internalize both antigen and adjuvant molecules and present the antigens to different types of T cells ... More
 

Johanna Rosén, professor at Linköping University. Image courtesy: Anna Nilsen.

LINKÖPING.- Materials that are incredibly thin, only a few atoms thick, exhibit unique properties that make them appealing for energy storage, catalysis and water purification. Researchers at Linköping University, Sweden, have now developed a method that enables the synthesis of hundreds of new 2D materials. Their study has been published in the journal Science. Since the discovery of graphene, the field of research in extremely thin materials, so-called 2D materials, has increased exponentially. The reason is that 2D materials have a large surface area in relation to their volume or weight. This gives rise to a range of physical phenomena and distinctive properties, such as good conductivity, high strength or heat resistance, making 2D materials of interest both within fundamental research and applications. "In a film that's only a millimeter thin, there can be millions of layers of the material. Between the layers there can be a lot of chemical rea ... More



Bridging the gap: Computer scientists develop model to enhance water data from satellites   What a view: Rice scientists develop a new system to record 2D crystal synthesis in real time   Robotic interface masters a soft touch


Pouya Hosseinzadeh, a USU doctoral student in computer science. Image courtesy: Mary-Ann Muffoletto.

LOGAN, UT.- Satellites encircling the Earth collect a bounty of water data about our planet, yet distilling usable information from these sources about our oceans, lakes, rivers and streams can be a challenge. "Water managers need accurate data for water resource management tasks, including lake coastal zone monitoring, rising seas border shift detection and erosion monitoring," says Utah State University computer scientist Pouya Hosseinzadeh. "But they face a trade-off when reviewing data from currently deployed satellites, which yield complementary data that are either of high spatial or high temporal resolutions. We're trying to integrate the data to provide more accurate information." Varied data fusion approaches present limitations, including sensitivity to atmospheric disturbances and other climatic factors that can result in noise, outliers and missing data. A proposed solution, say Hosseinzadeh, a doctoral student, and his faculty mentor ... More
 

False-color optical image of the MoS2 crystals grown at a high temperature and low flow rate, where the largest average crystal size is obtained among the tested growth conditions. Image courtesy: Jun Lou/Rice University.

HOUSTON, TX.- Materials scientists at Rice University are shedding light on the intricate growth processes of 2D crystals, paving the way for controlled synthesis of these materials with unprecedented precision. Two-dimensional materials such as graphene and molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) exhibit unique properties that hold immense promise for applications in electronics, sensors, energy storage, biomedicine and more. However, their complex growth mechanisms — inconsistent correlations exist between how the conditions for growth affect the shapes of crystals — have posed a significant challenge for researchers. A research team at Rice’s George R. Brown School of Engineering tackled this challenge by developing a custom-built miniaturized chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system capable of observing and recording the ... More
 

SORI builds on the RRL’s trademark origami robot research. Image courtesy: © Jamani Caillet.

LAUSANNE.- EPFL researchers have developed a haptic device capable of reproducing the softness of various materials, from a marshmallow to a beating heart, overcoming a deceptively complex challenge that has previously eluded roboticists. The perception of softness can be taken for granted, but it plays a crucial role in many actions and interactions – from judging the ripeness of an avocado to conducting a medical exam, or holding the hand of a loved one. But understanding and reproducing softness perception is challenging, because it involves so many sensory and cognitive processes. Robotics researchers have tried to address this challenge with haptic devices, but previous attempts have not distinguished between two primary elements of softness perception: cutaneous cues (sensory feedback from the skin of the fingertip), and kinesthetic cues (feedback about the amount of force on the finger joint). “If you press on a marshmallow wi ... More



Harsh field tests shape robotic design in unexpected ways   Bacterial diseases a lethal threat during the Stone Age   CUHK identifies Streptococcus anginosus as a pathogen that promotes gastric tumour formation


Krock robot in Uganda by the banks of the Nile River, avoiding overheating. Image courtesy: Tomislav Horvat and Kamilo Melo 2016.

LAUSANNE.- Auke Ijspeert and his team in the BioRobotics Lab (BioRob) in EPFL's School of Engineering had operated their bio-informed robots in natural environments before, but this was more for demonstration purposes than for scientific rigor. Tests of robotic function were usually carried out in the lab, for example, using X-ray videos to compare robotic movements with the animals that inspired their design. But that changed in November 2015, when Ijspeert and his colleagues received a request from British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) producers to create two lifelike robots: one designed to mimic a crocodile and the other, a monitor lizard. Both species are found along the banks of the Nile River in Uganda, and the BioRob's task was to design and fabricate, in under one month, camera-concealing robots that could unobtrusively integrate themselves into this environment to capture the reptiles' nesting behavior and interactio ... More
 

Stone age remnants fromBergsgraven in Linköping. Image courtesy: Östergötland Museum.

STOCKHOLM.- Bacterial poisoning via food and water—but also via contact such as kisses—caused a lot of suffering during the Stone Age. Diseases that today can be treated with antibiotics were then fatal, concludes new study published in Scientific Reports. People living close together and not having access to antibiotics sounds like a nightmare. Yet, this is how we spent much of our history and prehistory. A new international study coordinated from the Center for Paleogenetics in Stockholm explores microbes during the Stone Age in Scandinavia. Two different types of microbes are described, both the kind of microbes that are expected in a healthy person, but also several that must have caused pain and problems. Neisseria meningitidis spreads through close contact between humans—for example when kissing. Yersinia entrecolitica is often picked up from contaminated food and water, and Salmonella enterica is a common cause of today's food poisonings. "Especiall ... More
 

Professor Yu Jun says research team will explore the therapeutic potential of targeting it to reduce gastric inflammation and cancer risk. Image courtesy: CUHK.

HONG KONG.- The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)’s Faculty of Medicine (CU Medicine)’s latest study has identified Streptococcus anginosus (S. anginosus), a non-Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) bacterium, as a pathogen of gastric cancer. Professor Yu Jun and her research team discovered that S. anginosus was enriched in the gastric mucosa of patients with gastric cancer. After further investigation in mice, the team confirmed the bacterium induces inflammation and atrophy in the stomach and accelerates carcinogenesis. They have also unravelled the mechanism of its colonisation of the stomach, which will provide new insights for clinical intervention in the future. Findings of this study have been published in Cell, one of world’s top biology journals; and this is the first study led by CUHK investigators to be published in it. Gastric cancer is the fifth most common cancer worldwide and sixth in Hong Kong. ... More



Smaller, more powerful stretchable electronics for wearables and implantables   Quantum dance to the beat of a drum: Researchers observe how energy of single electron is tuned by surrounding atoms   Surprising insights about debris flows on Mars


Intrinsically stretchable transistors and integrated circuits under large deformation after being released from the supporting substrate. Image courtesy: Donglai Zhong, Jiancheng Lai and Yuya Nishio of Bao Group in Stanford University.

STANFORD, CA.- Small wearable or implantable electronics could help monitor our health, diagnose diseases, and provide opportunities for improved, autonomous treatments. But to do this without aggravating or damaging the cells around them, these electronics will need to not only bend and stretch with our tissues as they move, but also be soft enough that they will not scratch and damage tissues. Researchers at Stanford have been working on skin-like, stretchable electronic devices for over a decade. In a paper published March 13 in Nature, they present a new design and fabrication process for skin-like integrated circuits that are five times smaller and operate at one thousand times higher speeds than earlier versions. The researchers demonstrated that their soft integrated circuits are now able to drive a micro-LED screen ... More
 

A discrete energy level of an atomic vacancy in an atomically thin material shifts upon excitation of a drum-like vibration. Image courtesy: Brad Baxley.

REGENSBURG.- Physicists at the University of Regensburg have choreographed the shift of a quantized electronic energy level with atomic oscillations faster than a trillionth of a second. Throwing a ball into the air, one can transfer arbitrary energy to the ball such that it flies higher or lower. One of the oddities of quantum physics is that particles, e.g., electrons, can often only take on quantized energy values—as if the ball was leaping between specific heights, like steps of a ladder, rather than flying continuously. Qubits and quantum computers as well as light-emitting quantum dots (Nobel Prize 2023) make use of this principle. However, electronic energy levels can be shifted by collisions with other electrons or atoms. Processes in the quantum world usually take place on atomic scales and are also incredibly fast. Using a novel type of ultrafast microscope, a team from Regensburg has now succeeded in directly observing w ... More
 

Lonneke Roelofs next to the Mars chamber at the Open University, Milton Keynes (UK). Image courtesy: Mars chamber at the Open University, Milton Keynes (UK).

UTRECHT.- The period that liquid water was present on the surface of Mars may have been shorter than previously thought. Channel landforms called gullies, previously thought to be formed exclusively by liquid water, can also be formed by the action of evaporating CO2 ice. That is the conclusion of a new study by Lonneke Roelofs, a planetary researcher at Utrecht University. "This influences our ideas about water on Mars in general, and therefore our search for life on the planet," Roelofs says. The results of the study are published this week in the journal Communications Earth and Environment. "The Martian atmosphere is 95% CO2," Roelofs explains. "In winter, air temperatures drop below -120 degrees Celsius, which is cold enough for CO2 in the atmosphere to freeze." In the process of freezing, CO2 gas can change directly to CO2 ice, skipping the liquid phase. The process is similar to frost on Earth, where water vapor ... More


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Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination.  John Dewey

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New high-speed microscale 3D printing technique
STANFORD, CA.- 3D-printed microscopic particles, so small that to the naked eye they look like dust, have applications in drug and vaccine delivery, microelectronics, microfluidics, and abrasives for intricate manufacturing. However, the need for precise coordination between light delivery, stage movement, and resin properties makes scalable fabrication of such custom microscale particles challenging. Now, researchers at Stanford University have introduced a more efficient processing technique that can print up to 1 million highly detailed and customizable microscale particles a day. “We can now create much more complex shapes down to the microscopic scale, at speeds that have not been shown for particle fabrication previously, and out of a wide range of materials,” said Jason Kronenfeld, PhD candidate in the DeSimone lab at Stanford and lead author of the paper that details this process ... More

Study brings scientists a step closer to successfully growing plants in space
CHAMPAIGN, IL.- New, highly stretchable sensors can monitor and transmit plant growth information without human intervention, report University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers in the journal Device. The polymer sensors are resilient to humidity and temperature, can stretch over 400% while remaining attached to a plant as it grows and send a wireless signal to a remote monitoring location, said chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Ying Diao, who led the study with plant biology professor and department head Andrew Leakey. The study details some of the early results of a NASA grant awarded to Diao to investigate how wearable printed electronics will be used to make farming possible in space. “This work is motivated by the needs of astronauts to grow vegetables sustainably while they are on long missions,” she said. Diao’s team approached this project using an Ea ... More

Neurobiologists uncover how stress turns into fear in the brain in conditions such as PTSD
SAN DIEGO, CA.- Our nervous systems are naturally wired to sense fear. Whether prompted by the eerie noises we hear alone in the dark or the approaching growl of a threatening animal, our fear response is a survival mechanism that tells us to remain alert and avoid dangerous situations. But if fear arises in the absence of tangible threats, it can be harmful to our well-being. Those who have suffered episodes of severe or life-threatening stress can later experience intense feelings of fear, even during situations that lack a real threat. Experiencing this generalization of fear is psychologically damaging and can result in debilitating long-term mental health conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The stress-induced mechanisms that cause our brain to produce feelings of fear in the absence of threats have been mostly a mystery. Now, neurobiologists at the University of California San Diego ... More

Photon-like electrons in a four-dimensional world discovered in a real material
EHIME.- Dirac electrons were predicted by P. Dirac and discovered by A. Geim, both of whom were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1933 and in 2010, respectively. Dirac electrons behave like photons rather than electrons, for they are considered to have no mass, and in materials they move with light velocity. Because of their differences from standard electrons, Dirac electrons are expected to add unprecedented electronic properties to materials. For example, they could be applied to electronic devices to perform computation and communication with extraordinary efficiency and low energy consumption. To develop such technology, scientists must first understand the net properties and effects of Dirac electrons. But they generally coexist with standard electrons in materials, which prevents unambiguous observation and measurement. In a recent study published in Materials Advances, Ryuhei N ... More

Insights into fungal toxin promise new treatment pathway for C. albicans infections
JENA.- The toxin candidalysin of the yeast Candida albicans is incorporated into an unusual protein structure during an infection, the composition of which has so far been unknown to scientists. Researchers at the Leibniz-HKI have now succeeded in deciphering the function of this unusual arrangement. By modifying the protein structure, the pathogenicity of the fungus could be reduced. The new findings were used to render the fungal toxin harmless with the help of artificial antibodies. This opens up a new way of treating persistent forms of vaginal Candida infection. The yeast Candida albicans is part of the human microbiome and normally lives in balance with other microorganisms. However, if this balance is disturbed, the fungus can grow uncontrollably and cause infections. As a "vaginal thrush," C. albicans affects millions of women worldwide every year. In some cases, antifungal treatment fails and ... More

New starting point discovered in the fight against P. aeruginosa
BRUNSWICK.- Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an important opportunistic pathogen responsible for life-threatening infections that are associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality. Researchers from TWINCORE, the Center for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research in Hannover, and the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig have now been able to show that an enzyme controls virulence through modification of tRNAs. They hope that their findings will pave the way for the development of new treatments. The study has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections can spread via a person to person contact, but they can also arise in various environments. The bacterium thrives in moist conditions, including tap water, dishwashers, sinks, showers or toilets. Moreover, it can be found in soil and water. "The probl ... More

Gene expression technology set to semi-automation
KYOTO.- The Human Genome Project generated the first sequence of the human genome, revealing a kind of blueprint of human biology. Two decades later, the field of gene regulatory networks describes a complex system where thousands of genes regulate one another to create appropriate gene expression dynamics. However, more work is needed to fully understand these networks and determine their precise nature. Current approaches either estimate gene regulation indirectly or utilize accurate and direct but time-consuming, repetitive methods. A research group led by Kyoto University has now developed a highly accurate method to semi-automatically estimate gene regulatory networks in multicellular organisms. The method involves measuring time-series gene expression and applying the team's proprietary RENGE computational model. The study is published in the journal Communic ... More

Rice breakthrough could make automated dosing systems universal
HOUSTON, TX.- Rice University synthetic biologists have found a way to piggyback on the glucose monitoring technology used in automated insulin dosing systems and make it universally applicable for the monitoring and dosing of virtually any drug. In a recently published study in Nature Communications, researchers in the lab of Caroline Ajo-Franklin demonstrated the technique by modifying a blood-glucose sensor to detect the anticancer drug afimoxifene, an estrogen inhibitor that patient’s bodies also make after they take the chemotherapy tamoxifen. By building on mature biosensing technology that’s commercially available at most drug stores for under $20, Ajo-Franklin’s team hopes to speed the development of automated dosing systems for chemotherapies and other drugs as well as other technologies for real-time monitoring of biomarkers in the blood. “The dream is to have technology similar to what’s a ... More

A holistic look at Earth's chemical cycling sheds light on how the planet stays habitable
CHICAGO, IL.- We all know Earth is special, but we may not fully appreciate how good we have it on this planet. Unlike its planetary neighbors, Earth has remained habitable for billions of years thanks to a complicated, ever-changing dance of elements. A study by researchers at the University of Chicago, Rice University, and the California Institute of Technology sheds new light on the delicate balance of biogeochemical cycles that keep Earth temperate, hydrated and thriving. The cycling of elements between the oceans, atmosphere, and land plays a role in keeping the climate stable, but it is so complex that scientists typically isolate pieces of the whole to try to get a better grasp on how they work. However, the new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on March 13, offers a different approach. The researchers instead offer a broad, simplified point of view, using a new ... More

The baritone of Red Giants refines cosmic distance measurements
LAUSANNE.- A fresh look at red giant stars offers key insights into cosmic distance measurements and a way to measure the Universe's expansion with the highest accuracy. In a constantly expanding universe, measuring cosmic distances is like trying to find a reliable ruler in a vast, ever-stretching fabric. One tool that astrophysicists use is the Hubble constant, (H0), which measures how fast the Universe is expanding and sets the age and observable size of the Universe. However, there is disagreement over the value of H0, due to conflicting measurements derived from various celestial objects. The debate means that our understanding of the basic physics of the Universe is incomplete. The stakes are high, and the key to finding a resolution is to significantly improve the accuracy of distance measurements based on stars. Now, a study by EPFL professor Richard I. Anderson, former EPFL undergraduate ... More

Scientists demonstrate how individual differences in 'whole-brain' activity are generated in roundworms
TOKYO.- Joint research led by Yu Toyoshima and Yuichi Iino of the University of Tokyo has demonstrated individual differences in, and successfully extracted commonalities from, the whole-brain activity of roundworms. The researchers also found that computer simulations based on the whole-brain activity of roundworms more accurately reflect real-brain activity when they include so-called "noise," or probabilistic elements. The findings were published in the journal PLOS Computational Biology. The roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans is a favorite among neuroscientists because its 302 neurons are completely mapped. This gives a fantastic opportunity to reveal their neural mechanism at a systems level. Thus far, scientists have been making progress in revealing the different states and patterns of each neuron and the assemblies they form. However, how these states and patterns are gener ... More







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Flashback
On a day like today, Dutch microbiologist and botanist Martinus Beijerinck was born
March 16, 1851. Martinus Willem Beijerinck (16 March 1851 - 1 January 1931) was a Dutch microbiologist and botanist who was one of the founders of virology and environmental microbiology. He is credited with the co-discovery of viruses (1898), which he called "contagium vivum fluidum". His results were in accordance with the similar observation made by Dmitri Ivanovsky in 1892. Like Ivanovsky before him and Adolf Mayer, predecessor at Wageningen, Beijerinck could not culture the filterable infectious agent; however, he concluded that the agent can replicate and multiply in living plants. He named the new pathogen virus to indicate its non-bacterial nature. Beijerinck asserted that the virus was somewhat liquid in nature, calling it "contagium vivum fluidum" (contagious living fluid). It was not until the first crystals of the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) obtained by Wendell Stanley in 1935, the first electron micrographs of TMV produced in 1939 and the first X-ray crystallographic analysis of TMV performed in 1941 proved that the virus was particulate.



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