The complete genomes of 240 mammal species have been sequenced. Along with a "whole-genome alignment", where they line up the DNA sequences in one species with the equivalent DNA sequence in another species. The researchers identified 4,552 "conserved" regions. When talking about DNA, a region is considered either "fast-evolving" if it changes rapidly, or "conserved" if it stays the same over time. If a region is "conserved", there's probably a reason -- the sequence needs to be the way it is because it encodes some essential function. Knowing that a region is "conserved", however, doesn't tell you what the reason is. It's just a clue that there's something important going on. And just as a region can be "conserved" within a species over time, a region conserved across related species is probably conserved for a reason. But you don't necessarily know what the reason is.

Examining the conserved regions, the researchers found regions that relate to hibernation, olfaction, vocal learning, and brain size. Not only that, but these evolved multiple times -- sort of. For example, hibernation evolved in both bears and bats. But it is thought that the underlying "coding" genes are conserved across mammal species -- it's the non-coding DNA that controls what genes get switched "on" and "off" that is thought to have evolved independently. "Coding" means the DNA encodes proteins which are assembled by ribosomes after the information on the DNA is transcribed to messenger RNA (mRNA) and ferried over to the ribosomes. "Non-coding" DNA doesn't encode for proteins. It was thought to be "junk" before it was realized that often this "non-coding" DNA controls the expression of the "coding" DNA, through such mechanisms as transcription factors.

A highly detailed phylogenetic tree of mammal species was made that resolves disputes in previous phylogenetic trees. The effects of the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction, which wiped out the dinosaurs and enabled placental mammals to take over land and rapidly diversify, is measurable in the genomes.

In addition to the 4,552 nearly perfectly preserved regions, 10.7% of the human genome was considered "unusually conserved" across mammal species. 57.6% of coding bases fall into this category, but on the flip side, 80.7% of the bases in this category are non-coding. If that makes you scratch your head, review your Bayes' Theorem: A given B is different from B given A. Given a base known to be coding, there's a 57.6% chance it's in the "unusually conserved" category. Give a base known to be "unusually conserved", there's an 80.7% chance it's non-coding.

Approximately 439,461 candidates for "regulatory elements", regions of non-coding DNA which regulate the transcription of other genes, were identified for further study. In addition, 2,024,062 transcription factor binding sites were found. Transcription factor binding sites. Transcription factors are proteins that turn genes "on" and "off" by controlling their "transcription" from DNA to messenger RNA (mRNA) which goes to the ribosome to control the assembly of a protein.

In addition to finding regions that are the same compared with other mammals, the researchers looked for regions that are different -- the so-called human accelerated regions. Conserved within the human lineage, but different from other mammals, especially our closest relatives, the chimpanzees. These are thought to underlie human-specific traits. Some of these are thought to be neurodevelopmental genes.

There are also human-specific conserved deletions, where short (2-3 base pair) deletions took place. 10,032 of these human-specific conserved deletions were identified. Many of these are believed to affect neurons and nerve tissue and have affected our cognitive function.

For alignment, they created a new machine-learning tool that can align genes even if they underwent translocations (where a gene or part of a gene moves to a different chromosome) or inversions (where a portion of a DNA sequence gets copied in the reverse direction), and works for non-coding regions as well as the parts within coding regions that don't encode proteins but are "start" and "stop" indicators and such ("introns" as opposed to "exons").

They also looked at transposable elements, colloquially known as "jumping genes". These are DNA sequences that change their positions within a genome, sometimes with dramatic effects such as altering the cell's genetic identity or even its genome size. The lowest genomic percentage of transposable elements was found in the star-nosed mole (27.6%), and the largest percentage was seen in the aardvark (74.5%), whose higher transposable element count corresponds with larger genome size.

Finally, they looked at species that are nearing extinction and found the small population sizes decrease heterozygosity and increases the deleterious genetic load, making extinction even more likely. To determine deleterious genetic load, they looked at regions known to be vital in familiar species such as mice.

What makes a mammal? 423,000 newly identified DNA regions guide our genes

#discoveries #biology #genomics #mammals

What Makes a Mammal? 423,000 Newly Identified DNA Regions Guide Our Genes

These elements, dubbed “UNICORNs,” sit close to genes that affect smell, sleep and ways that people and other mammals interact with their surroundings

Basal metabolic rate (the rate of energy consumption "at rest" without any physical or mental exertion) has declined in the US since the 1980s. Down 220 kcal/day on average for males and 122 kcal/day for females.

We are currently expending about 220 kcal/d less for males and 122 kcal/d less for females

#discoveries #biology #metabolism

New system for recycling wind turbine blades has been invented.

"Turbine blades have previously been challenging to recycle due to the chemical properties of epoxy resin, a resilient substance that was believed to be impossible to break down into re-usable components. This has led to many technology leaders attempting to replace or modify epoxy resin with alternatives that can be more easily treated. Vestas' solution is enabled by a novel chemical process that can chemically break down epoxy resin into virgin-grade materials."

"The newly discovered chemical process shows that epoxy-based turbine blades, whether in operation or sitting in landfill, can be turned into a source of raw material to potentially build new turbine blades. As the chemical process relies on widely available chemicals, it is highly compatible for industrialisation, and can therefore be scaled up quickly."

Apparently the exact chemical process is a secret, though.

Vestas unveils circularity solution to end landfill for turbine blades

#discoveries #chemistry #energy #renewableenergy #recycling

Vestas unveils circularity solution to end landfill for turbine blades

"New blood types are often discovered following medical disasters." Wait, what? I thought there were just 4 blood types: A, B, AB, and O. Well, with the + or -, so multiply by 2 to get 8. Oh me of such little knowledge.

First a review of what the A, B, AB, and O and the +/- represent. It was discovered a little over 100 years ago that when combining blood from different people, sometimes the red blood cells would clump together, and sometimes they wouldn't. These were grouped into 4 categories. Eventually it was figured out that there were two antigens, which were designated anti-A and anti-B. In immunology, immune system cells are referred to as having special molecules, called antibodies, generally a large, Y-shaped protein, to identify pathogenic agents. A molecule that binds to an antibody is called an antigen. This is where the A, B, AB, and O designations come from. O simply means neither anti-A nor anti-B is present.

The +/- indicates presence or absence of anti-RhD. "Rh" originally stood for "Rhesus factor", but it was subsequently discovered that the antigen being studied was not the same between humans and rhesus monkeys, so the name doesn't make sense but has stuck anyway. The "Rh" system originally had 5 antigens, one of which was designated "D". This article refers to "the Rh antigen", but the "Rh" system has actually been expanded to 49 antigens.

"Scientists discovered the Vel and Langereis blood group systems after patients suffered hemolytic reactions following transfusions."

"In 1953, a child in Venezuela died of hemolytic disease three days after birth." A blood lab identified the antigen but knew of no other person with that antigen, so they named it after the family, "Diego". It was subsequently found that the reason they had no other people with that antigen in the database was because they didn't have native Americans -- 36% of the indigenous people of South America have the antigen.

"There are only ten clinically relevant blood typing systems, and if you were to expand your blood type to include them, it might look like ABO(A+B+), Rh(D+c+e+), MNS(M+N-S+s-), P1+, Lu(a+b+), Kell(K-k+), Le(a+b-), Fy(a+b-), Jk(a+b -- ). You don't need to remember all this because physicians will test them before you get a transfusion."

"The second reason you shouldn't be concerned about a surprising reaction is that physicians no longer rely entirely on blood types to determine if blood is compatible. Instead, they use a technique called crossmatching, which involves mixing donors' serum with recipients' blood cells in a test tube. If the two are incompatible, the blood will clump."

New blood types are often discovered following medical disasters

#discoveries #biology #immunology

New blood types are often discovered following medical disasters

New blood types are regularly discovered by an unusual absence or an unusual presence — both of which can result in tragedy.

"Meet TOI-700's exoplanets: Our best bet for alien life." TOI-700, discovered by the ongoing TESS mission, is known to have at least two potentially inhabited, Earth-sized worlds around it.

"The ideal candidate for discovering a potentially inhabited exoplanet should correspond to the following properties: it should be rocky, with a thin atmosphere, similar in size to Earth, but not much larger, around a star with a stable, continuous energy output, at a distance conducive to the presence of liquid water on its surface, with a similar abundance of heavy elements to our own Solar System, where enough time has passed so that life has had a transformative impact on the planet's biosphere, and where it's close enough so that near-future technology could reveal those relevant, key biosignatures."

"Although TOI-700 is an M-class star -- a red dwarf -- it's one of the more massive red dwarfs out there, with more than 40% the mass of the Sun." "It has never been seen to flare, has negligible sunspot activity, and indicates that the star has been around for a while: at least 1.5 billion years already. Additionally, it has almost an identical heavy element content to our Sun."

Meet TOI-700's exoplanets: Our best bet for alien life

#discoveries #astronomy #exoplanets #tess

Meet TOI-700's exoplanets: Our best bet for alien life

Red dwarf stars were supposed to be inhospitable. But TOI-700, now with at least two potentially habitable worlds, is quite the exception.

"Rust-stained irrigation pipes hint at lack of nitrate in groundwater." "Oh, we don't have to worry about that area. They have red pivots." "On its face, the anecdote was clear enough. The 'red' in question, Troy Gilmore knew, was rust. The pivots, meanwhile, were center pivots: elevated irrigation piping that rotates around a central point to distribute water in circular patterns most evident from 30,000 feet, where irrigated crops resemble massive green checkers crowding the pastoral checkerboard of the Corn Belt."

"As for the worry? That would be nitrate, a fertilizer-derived compound that can leach into groundwater and, if consumed above certain concentrations via drinking water, pose threats to human health."

"Still, the associate professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln found the offhand comment a bit surprising. Even with his extensive background in hydrology, Gilmore had never heard of any connection between rusty pivots and groundwater nitrate. But Marty Stange, the environmental supervisor with Hastings Utilities, was in the middle of explaining a reverse-osmosis water treatment facility that had recently gone into operation."

"Over a three-day span, Mikaela Cherry and her sister drove across three countries of rural Nebraska while snapping photos of the region's widespread irrigation pipes. Now, after dozens of hours peering at satellite imagery, compiling spreadsheets of data and driving the country roads of south-central Nebraska, Cherry and her colleagues have good reason to suspect that Stange was right. According to their research, red center pivots -- specifically, those totally stained with reddish-brown iron pumped up from the aquifers below -- seem to signify an absence of nitrate in whatever groundwater flows through their pipes."

The reverse isn't true, though: a non-rusty pivot doesn't mean the groundwater is high in nitrate. It doesn't tell you anything.

She went on to pour through Google Earth and classify 700 of the pivots into one of three categories: full-rust, part-rust or no-rust.

"After cross-referencing the locations of the pivots with their groundwater nitrate concentrations, Cherry discovered that none of the 76 groundwater wells feeding into the full-rust pivots contained nitrate above the 10 mg/L threshold. In fact, the average nitrate concentration of those sources was just 2.4 mg/L. Most, though not all, of the groundwater supplied to the part-rust pivots also sat below the nitrate threshold, with an average concentration of 4.5 mg/L but a maximum of nearly 23 mg/L."

If you're wondering what the connection is between rust and groundwater nitrate, well, you're out of luck, as nobody knows. The researchers have a guess, though, involving microorganisms, such as bacteria, that live in soil and groundwater. If microorganisms prefer to discharge unwanted electrons to nitrate instead of iron, then they go to iron only if there's no nitrate, and that's the form of iron that oxidizes and turns to rust if it is exposed to oxygen, which happens as soon as the water is pumped to the surface. But if there's no iron in the groundwater, then the rust doesn't happen regardless of nitrates. But this is just a guess and future research will tell if it's correct.

Rust-stained irrigation pipes hint at lack of nitrate in groundwater | Nebraska Today

#discoveries #chemistry #agriculture

Rust-stained irrigation pipes hint at lack of nitrate in groundwater

A stray observation would lead Husker alumna Mikaela Cherry to hunt for a link between a groundwater contaminant and the irrigation pipes that crisscross rural Nebraska. She appears to have found it.

Corsi-Rosenthal boxes, which is a fancy way of saying a cube of regular furnace air filters with a fan on top, a type of air filter invented during the coronavirus pandemic, turn out to be useful on an ongoing basis for reducing indoor air pollutants.

"PFAS, a type of synthetic chemical found in a range of products including cleaners, textiles and wire insulation, decreased by 40% to 60%; phthalates, commonly found in building materials and personal care products, were reduced by 30% to 60%."

A type of simple, DIY air filter can be an effective way to filter out indoor air pollutants

#discoveries #airpollution

A type of simple, DIY air filter can be an effective way to filter out indoor air pollutants

A study from researchers at Brown University and Silent Spring Institute found that inexpensive, easy-to-assemble Corsi-Rosenthal boxes can help reduce exposure to indoor air pollutants.

How glass frogs -- er, I guess it's one word, glassfrogs -- become transparent has been figured out. "Glassfrogs make themselves transparent while they rest by taking red blood cells from circulation and concealing them in their livers."

"In their imaging set-up, the frogs slept upside down in a petri dish, similar to how they would sleep on a leaf, and the team shined a green laser at the animal. The red blood cells in the frog's body absorbed the green light and emitted ultrasonic waves, which were then picked up by an acoustic sensor to trace their whereabouts, with high spatial resolution and high sensitivity."

"The results were startlingly clear: When the frogs were asleep, they removed nearly 90 percent of their circulating red blood cells and stored them in their liver." The liver has a mirror coating.

Glassfrogs hide red blood cells in their liver to become transparent

#discoveries #biology

Glassfrogs Hide Red Blood Cells in Their Liver to Become Transparent

Researchers finally decipher how a species of frog becomes a master of camouflage with the help of modern biomedical imaging techniques

"Shark skin is the envy of engineers trying to maximize hydrodynamics, but shark skin-inspired materials have a long way to go before they work like the real thing."

"Few people have gotten close enough to a shark to pet it. If you could run your hand from a shark's head to its tail -- not that you should -- it would feel smooth, almost like suede. Reverse direction and it's rough like sandpaper. Viewed under a microscope, shark skin is composed of ribbed, dragonesque scales layered over each other like shingles on a roof. These structures, called dermal denticles, are more like teeth than skin. Made of dentin and enamel, they are innervated, and their ribbed and layered pattern guides water across the shark's back, reducing friction and drag."

In a new study, researchers "have for the first time compared materials that attempt to mimic shark skin with the real thing. As it turns out, the engineered materials have a long way to go."

"Using a technique called surface profilometry, an imaging technology in which a scientist essentially uses a thin layer of gel to make a mold of the surface to be studied, ichthyologist Molly Gabler-Smith and her team viewed shark skin in 3D. 'It's almost like looking at a topographic map,' says Gabler-Smith. 'You can see where there's peaks and valleys.'"

"Gabler-Smith used the technique on skin samples from 17 different shark species. She also looked at two Speedo swimsuits marketed as mimicking shark skin -- the FS Fastskin II swimsuit and the Lzr Racer Elite 2 -- as well as a 3D printed surface created in her lab."

"I hesitate to say that [the swimsuits are] really mimicking shark skin, because they really aren't at all."

"Overall, biomimetic shark skin materials did not closely replicate the surface ornamentation of actual shark skin. Measured three-dimensional (3D) surfaces of engineered riblets differed from shark skin in the height, pattern, and spacing of the ridged surfaces. Most competition swimsuit fabrics more closely matched shark skin surface metrics across the variables measured but did not possess the distinct parallel longitudinal ridges that are characteristic of shark skin denticles."

"We noted differences in denticle surface characteristics among the three habitat types that we assigned to each of the 17 shark species studied, suggesting that denticle surface characteristics may be related, at least in part, to mean swimming speeds of sharks. Some benthic shark species (e.g., chain catshark, Scyliorhinus retifer) spend considerable time sedentary on the ocean floor with limited open water locomotion. Other open ocean pelagic sharks such as the white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), which undertake long migrations, are nearly constantly in motion and the skin surface is thus subjected to continuous water flow where drag reduction and reduced energetic costs may be at a premium. Domel et al. compared mako shark, white shark, and leopard shark skin surfaces and showed differences in overall surface texture patterning and ridge spacing: mako and white sharks have smaller denticles with small-scale surface ridge patterning compared to leopard sharks. In the current study, we also documented that denticle crown aspect ratios are larger in benthic sharks than in demersal or pelagic species, and pelagic species also tend to have smaller denticle surface ridges which are more tightly packed across the skin surface."

Suiting up like a shark is still a struggle

#discoveries #hydrodynamics #biomimicry

Suiting Up like a Shark Is Still a Struggle | Hakai Magazine

Shark skin is the envy of engineers trying to maximize hydrodynamics, but shark skin–inspired materials have a long way to go before they work like the real thing.

"Recent years have seen an explosion of academic and commercial interest in the development of online instructional lab exercises due both to the COVID-19 pandemic and to the rapid growth in online education in its own right. While the pandemic forced a rapid, unplanned-for transition from in-person labs to online labs at many institutions, a recent survey of the response of physics programs across the United States found that 'For some instructors, the move to remote/hybrid teaching may be a unique opportunity to transform the lab course -- rethinking learning goals, implementing course-based undergraduate research experiences (CURES), having at-home maker spaces or labs that focus heavily on experimental design, and modeling to increase student agency, or completely restructuring both the lectures and labs to have investigative science learning environments.'"

That's very interesting as in the middle of it all, I felt the overwhelming urge to find out what was possible with a home biology lab, and went out and bought a book called "Illustrated Guide To Home Biology Experiments" and read the whole thing. It turned out the book was primarily targeted at homeschoolers, something that didn't occur to me before I bought it, but makes sense since homeschoolers don't have access to a school biology lab but might want to learn what is covered in a high school biology lab and prepare for the AP Biology exam. Before I say what is possible with an inexpensive home biology lab, let me first say what isn't: it isn't possible to do DNA sequencing or DNA synthesis. Or RNA for that matter. So you couldn't be isolating and sequencing or generating coronavirus RNA. However you can buy chemical reagents from the internet and detect the presence of various proteins, including enzymes, lipids, and carbohydrates, as well as vitamins and various toxins and pollutants. You can detect acids and bases, and you can detect and isolate DNA. The main piece of expensive equipment that they urge you to invest in is a good microscope, and the book makes extensive use of it, using it from everything from staining to detect Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria (Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria have different cell walls), studying coacervates (proposed mechanism for abiogenesis), studying chlorophyll and photosynthesis, and studying sensitivity of bacteria to antibiotics, to observing cells from all manner of organisms including protista (amoeba, spirogyra, paramecium, euglena), fungi, all manner of plants (mosses, ferns, seed plants and flowering plants (angiosperms and gymnosperms)), porifera and cnidaria (simple animals like sponges), platyhelminthes (flatworms), nematoda (roundworms), and annelida (segmented worms), arthropods (insects, arachnids such as spiders and scorpions, crustaceans such as lobsters and shrimp), and vertebrates including humans. The book is loaded with microscope pictures. You can even see cell division in microscopes (mitosis and meiosis), which surprised me, though you can't see all the way down to DNA molecules. You can observe insect metamorphosis. So you can't do everything with a home bio lab but you can do quite a lot, mainly for the price of a high quality microscope.

The same authors have written a lab book for chemistry. I've decided not to buy that until I've finished reading books on chemistry and organic chemistry, and I've decided not to read those until I finish the books I already bought on genetic analysis and the immune system (obviously because the pandemic exposed my lack of knowledge in those areas). I also have books on cryptography, statistics, and astronomy that I haven't finished.

Anyway, coming back from that little diversion and getting back to this paper.

"In this work, we describe just such an initiative: a pandemic-inspired rethinking of a sophomore-level modern physics lab course, including re-examining the learning objectives and developing a hands-on laboratory experience enabling students to conduct original physics research from home."

"The American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) recommends six learning outcome focus areas for lab courses: 'constructing knowledge,' 'modeling,' 'designing experiments,' 'developing technical and practical laboratory skills,' 'analyzing and visualizing data,' and 'communicating physics.'"

"By de-emphasizing the use of sophisticated equipment, the at-home lab course described in this paper focuses more directly on AAPT-recommended learning objectives centered on the development of experimental skills, including reading the scientific literature; selecting a research question; designing, implementing, and debugging an experimental apparatus; data analysis; modeling; and scientific communication."

They go on to describe an experiment using Hexbugs, "commonly available, inexpensive toy automatons that exhibit semi-random motion" "to model phenomena in statistical mechanics and electrical conduction."

"Hexbug Nanos are small (7.2g), battery-powered robots driven by an internal motor that vibrates the bugs' flexible legs at about 100Hz. This rapid repeated motion allows the Hexbugs to move in a semi-random manner, such that a collection of Hexbugs can be approximated as a macroscopic gas."

"A rectangular box is placed on a flat, level surface and divided by a sliding wall positioned perpendicular to the length of the box." "With collections of Hexbugs placed on either side of the wall, the apparatus functions as a model of a movable piston placed between two different gasses. To disrupt the tendency of the Hexbugs to become trapped in corners or to follow the walls of the box, small rounded cardboard barriers were placed in the corners to redirect the Hexbugs away from the walls."

I'm going to stop here because I think what's interesting is not the particulars of this lab experiment, but the trend to "distance labs", as one would think labs can't be done that way, but obviously to some degree they can.

Using Hexbugs to model gas pressure and electrical conduction: A pandemic-inspired distance lab

#discoveries #education

Using Hexbugs™ to model gas pressure and electrical conduction: A pandemic-inspired distance lab

We describe a pandemic-inspired, modern physics distance lab course, focused both on engaging undergraduate physics majors in scientific research from their homes and on building skills in scientif...

The 2022 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition. I didn't know until today that this competition existed. It's a competition for microscope images. The winner was "Embryonic hand of a Madagascar giant day gecko (Phelsuma grandis)" by Grigorii Timin. 2nd place was "Breast tissue showing contractile myoepithelial cells wrapped around milk-producing alveoli" by Caleb Dawson. 3rd place was "Blood vessel networks in the intestine of an adult mouse" by Satu Paavonsalo. There's 92 images altogether in the slideshow. Pay attention to the "Technique" and "Magnification" sections of the descriptions.

Nikon Small World 2022 Photomicrography Competition

#discoveries

Embryonic hand of a Madagascar giant day gecko | 2022 Photomicrography Competition

Grigorii Timin - Embryonic hand of a Madagascar giant day gecko (Phelsuma grandis)

It’s Still Happening!.. #Crop #Formations, #Mysterious Forces and #Strange #Phenomena
https://www.bitchute.com/video/bhR2JaE4AhdH/

It's Still Happening!... Crop Formations, Mysterious Forces and Strange Phenomena

#Ancient #Secret #Discoveries 397K subscribers Courtesy of Contact in the Desert Virtual Conference - Many believe that we can fully dismiss the #cropcircle phenomena as hoxes and fakes, however, there are many incidents that defy rational ...

Cell and organ function restored in pigs after death. "Within minutes of the final heartbeat, a cascade of biochemical events triggered by a lack of blood flow, oxygen, and nutrients begins to destroy a body's cells and organs." "Using a new technology the team developed that delivers a specially designed cell-protective fluid to organs and tissues, the researchers restored blood circulation and other cellular functions in pigs a full hour after their deaths."

"The research builds upon an earlier Yale-led project that restored circulation and certain cellular functions in the brain of a dead pig with technology dubbed BrainEx." "If we were able to restore certain cellular functions in the dead brain, an organ known to be most susceptible to ischemia [inadequate blood supply], we hypothesized that something similar could also be achieved in other vital transplantable organs."

"In the new study the researchers applied a modified version of BrainEx called OrganEx to the whole pig. The technology consists of a perfusion device similar to heart-lung machines -- which do the work of the heart and lungs during surgery -- and an experimental fluid containing compounds that can promote cellular health and suppress inflammation throughout the pig's body. Cardiac arrest was induced in anesthetized pigs, which were treated with OrganEx an hour after death."

"Six hours after treatment with OrganEx, the scientists found that certain key cellular functions were active in many areas of the pigs' bodies -- including in the heart, liver, and kidneys -- and that some organ function had been restored. For instance, they found evidence of electrical activity in the heart, which retained the ability to contract."

"We were also able to restore circulation throughout the body, which amazed us."

The research paper is paywalled and the article doesn't say any more about how this technique works.

Yale-developed technology restores cell, organ function in pigs after death

#discoveries #medicine #organtransplant

Yale-developed technology restores cell, organ function in pigs after death

The revolutionary technology could help extend the health of human organs during surgery and expand availability of donor organs for transplant.

Cell and organ function restored in pigs after death. "Within minutes of the final heartbeat, a cascade of biochemical events triggered by a lack of blood flow, oxygen, and nutrients begins to destroy a body's cells and organs." "Using a new technology the team developed that delivers a specially designed cell-protective fluid to organs and tissues, the researchers restored blood circulation and other cellular functions in pigs a full hour after their deaths."

"The research builds upon an earlier Yale-led project that restored circulation and certain cellular functions in the brain of a dead pig with technology dubbed BrainEx." "If we were able to restore certain cellular functions in the dead brain, an organ known to be most susceptible to ischemia [inadequate blood supply], we hypothesized that something similar could also be achieved in other vital transplantable organs."

"In the new study the researchers applied a modified version of BrainEx called OrganEx to the whole pig. The technology consists of a perfusion device similar to heart-lung machines -- which do the work of the heart and lungs during surgery -- and an experimental fluid containing compounds that can promote cellular health and suppress inflammation throughout the pig's body. Cardiac arrest was induced in anesthetized pigs, which were treated with OrganEx an hour after death."

"Six hours after treatment with OrganEx, the scientists found that certain key cellular functions were active in many areas of the pigs' bodies -- including in the heart, liver, and kidneys -- and that some organ function had been restored. For instance, they found evidence of electrical activity in the heart, which retained the ability to contract."

"We were also able to restore circulation throughout the body, which amazed us."

The research paper is paywalled and the article doesn't say any more about how this technique works.

Yale-developed technology restores cell, organ function in pigs after death

#discoveries #medicine #organtransplant

Yale-developed technology restores cell, organ function in pigs after death

The revolutionary technology could help extend the health of human organs during surgery and expand availability of donor organs for transplant.

"Has the world become less colourful? If you feel like the world seems increasingly colourless, you're not just imagining it. Take cars, for example. Greyscale colours now make up three quarters of cars produced globally, compared to less than 50% in the past. Just look at a parking lot from the 1980s compared to one today."

"And the change has happened to interior design." Compare the most popular kitchen paint colours from 2019-20 with a typical 1970s home. "While it is completely understandable if you don't miss the garish colours of bygone eras, it is interesting to note the change."

"Similarly, there is a trend of whitewashing everything -- be it made of wood, brick, plaster, or whatever." "Grey is now the most common carpet colour." "Neutral colours are by far the most popular when it comes to clothing. Even McDonald's is less vibrant than it used to be!"

"This trend includes just about everything. Consider this study, which analysed the colour of everyday objects over time. Its conclusion is clear: neutral and greyscale colours are more common than ever."

Percent of pixels, across all photos

#discoveries #color

"Has the world become less colourful? If you feel like the world seems increasingly colourless, you're not just imagining it. Take cars, for example. Greyscale colours now make up three quarters of cars produced globally, compared to less than 50% in the past. Just look at a parking lot from the 1980s compared to one today."

"And the change has happened to interior design." Compare the most popular kitchen paint colours from 2019-20 with a typical 1970s home. "While it is completely understandable if you don't miss the garish colours of bygone eras, it is interesting to note the change."

"Similarly, there is a trend of whitewashing everything -- be it made of wood, brick, plaster, or whatever." "Grey is now the most common carpet colour." "Neutral colours are by far the most popular when it comes to clothing. Even McDonald's is less vibrant than it used to be!"

"This trend includes just about everything. Consider this study, which analysed the colour of everyday objects over time. Its conclusion is clear: neutral and greyscale colours are more common than ever."

Percent of pixels, across all photos

#discoveries #color

DouBlind is a site where you can write reviews of research papers. "DouBlind is a social peer review platform. Our goal is to democratize peer review and accelerate academic research. Doublind is independent of any publication systems, so our users can publicly or anonymously rate and review any papers."

DouBlind: the social peer review platform

#solidstatelife #ai #discoveries

Comparison of the James Webb deep field with the Hubble deep field that you can zoom in on. The bright objects are easily visible in both but the reddest objects are very faint in the Hubble image or not visible at all.

James Webb Space Telescope vs Hubble Telescope Comparison

#discoveries #astronomy #jameswebb

James Webb Space Telescope vs Hubble Telescope Comparison

Use the tool below to explore the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, with images taken by the new James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Telescope.

Direct comparison of Hubble and James Webb images, with those left-right "before and after" sliders.

In the Deep Field image, to bring up one example, the background just looks grainy in the Hubble image but you can see lots of dots -- which could be whole galaxies -- in the James Webb image.

This comparison doesn't quite do justice to the James Webb images, though, because the Hubble and James Webb images are shown at the same scale. If you get the original high-resolution images from NASA, you can actually zoom in on the James Webb images quite a lot. They have much more resolution than what you see here.

Webb Compare

#discoveries #astronomy #jwst

You all probably already know this, because it's all over the regular news, but the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope have just come out. Here is the place to go online to get your own hi-res copy of the images.

The images are: 1. "Deep Field: SMACS 0723", the most distant image to date, with light from 13.1 billion years ago, 2. "Exoplanet: WASP-96 B", a spectrograph of a gas giant exoplanet in the Milky Way 1,150 light-years away, revealing water vapor (!), 3. "Stellar Death: Planetary Nebula NGC 3132", informally as the Southern Ring Nebula, approximately 2,500 light-years away, and the first time the dimmer star of the binary star pair has ever been seen, 4. "Interacting Galaxies: Stephan's Quintet", a group of 5 galaxies although only 4 of them are actually near each other and interacting, as one is 40 million light-years from here while the others are about 290 million light-years from here, and 5. "Star Forming Region: NGC 3324 In Carina Nebula", also known as the Cosmic Cliffs, a star-formation region in the Carina Nebula about 7,600 light-years away already famous but this is the most high-resolution image ever, with visible protostellar jets.

Well, I haven't been able to see the protostellar jets. They also say the "peaks' in the image are about 7 light-years high, but I don't know what "peaks" they're referring to. Still it makes the point that the image has immense scale. In the Southern Ring planetary nebula, there is an edge-on galaxy in the background and I could see that. (It's pretty easy to see.).

I see why NASA used the Cosmic Cliffs image as the grand finale, as it is the most visually "pretty", though I was most impressed by the Deep Field image. It's just mind-blowing to realize just about every smudge or dot in that image is a whole galaxy, and the redder ones are from the most distant part of the universe and from the earliest time in the universe's history.

All in all, I have to say, the years of waiting and then the launch where everything had to go perfect was nail-biting but I'm elated the telescope is up and working. It's already showing us it's amazing. More exciting discoveries to come, I'm sure!

Deployment Explorer Webb/NASA

#discoveries #astronomy #jwst

Deployment Explorer Webb/NASA

Interactively explore Webb's deployments on this page. Webb is NASA's largest and most powerful space science telescope ever constructed. Webb’s enormous size and frigid operating temperature present extraordinary engineering challenges. After...