Tag: Biology

Scientists shocked to seek out that electrical eels typically hunt in packs

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Volta’s electrical eels can collect in teams, working collectively to corral smaller fish in shallower waters, a brand new examine finds. Then, smaller teams of about 10 eels assault in unison with high-voltage discharges.

Electrical eels have been lengthy believed to be solitary predators, preferring to hunt and kill their prey alone by sneaking up on unsuspecting sleeping fish at night time and stunning them into submission. However in line with a latest paper revealed within the journal Ecology and Evolution, there are uncommon circumstances through which eels make use of a social searching technique as a substitute. Particularly, researchers have noticed greater than 100 electrical eels in a small lake within the Brazilian Amazon River basin forming cooperative searching events to seize small fish referred to as tetras.

“That is a unprecedented discovery,” co-author C. David de Santana, of the Smithsonian Nationwide Museum of Pure Historical past, mentioned. “Nothing like this has ever been documented in electrical eels. Looking in teams is fairly frequent amongst mammals, nevertheless it’s really fairly uncommon in fishes. There are solely 9 different species of fishes identified to do that, which makes this discovering actually particular.”

Electrical eels are technically knife fish. The eel produces its signature electrical discharges—each high and low voltages, relying on the aim for discharging—by way of three pairs of belly organs composed of electrocytes, situated symmetrically alongside each side of the eel. The mind sends a sign to the electrocytes, opening ion channels and briefly reversing the polarity. The distinction in electrical potential then generates a present, very like a battery with stacked plates.

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Electrical energy and CRISPR used to put in writing knowledge to bacterial DNA

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False color image of bacteria

Enlarge (credit score: Rizlan Bencheikh and Bruce Arey, PNNL)

Lately, researchers have used DNA to encode the whole lot from an working system to malware. Reasonably than being a technological curiosity, these efforts had been severe makes an attempt to reap the benefits of DNA’s properties for long-term storage of information. DNA can stay chemically steady for tons of of hundreds of years, and we’re unlikely to lose the know-how to learn it, one thing you’ll be able to’t say about issues like ZIP drives and MO disks.

However thus far, writing knowledge to DNA has concerned changing the information to a sequence of bases on a pc, after which ordering that sequence from someplace that operates a chemical synthesizer—dwelling issues do not really enter into the image. However individually, a gaggle of researchers had been determining file organic occasions by modifying a cell’s DNA, permitting them to learn out the cell’s historical past. A gaggle at Columbia College has now discovered merge the 2 efforts and write knowledge to DNA utilizing voltage variations utilized to dwelling micro organism.

CRISPR and knowledge storage

The CRISPR system has been developed as a manner of modifying genes or chopping them out of DNA completely. However the system first got here to the eye of biologists as a result of it inserted new sequences into DNA. For all the main points, see our Nobel protection, however for now, simply know that a part of the CRISPR system includes figuring out DNA from viruses and inserting copies of it into the bacterial genome with a view to acknowledge it ought to the virus ever seem once more.

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The immune system and COVID: It’s nonetheless complicated

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A man in a red shirt seated in a chair, donating blood.

Enlarge / SOUTH TANGERANG, INDONESIA – JANUARY 7, 2021: A affected person recovered from COVID-19 donate plasma at Indonesia Pink Cross Transfusion Heart in South Tangerang. (credit score: Barcroft Media / Getty Pictures)

It is clear that the immune system can mount a strong response to SARS-CoV-2, because the vaccine trials have made clear. Past that, although, there are lots of query marks. Individuals uncovered to the virus do not all the time produce a lot in the way in which of antibodies to it, and there have been quite a lot of circumstances of reinfection. We’re undecided how lengthy immunity lasts or whether or not it correlates with antibody ranges or one thing else–there hasn’t even been nice proof that antibodies are useful.

To present some sense of the problem of sorting all of this out, we will have a look at three just lately printed papers that get on the interaction between the immune system and COVID-19. One lastly offers some proof that antibodies may be protecting, one other signifies that tamping down the inflammatory response may assist, whereas the third means that immunosuppressives do not have an effect on illness outcomes in any respect.

Antibodies good

Antibodies are a comparatively straightforward strategy to observe an immune response, they usually’ve been used for that all through the pandemic. However early research discovered the variety of antibodies produced in response to an an infection diverse dramatically between sufferers. There have additionally been scientific trials testing whether or not utilizing antibodies obtained from these previously contaminated might assist deal with these affected by COVID-19 signs, with the FDA finally granting this a controversial Emergency Use Authorization. President Trump additionally obtained an experimental remedy of mass produced SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies.

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New virus variant present in Colorado whereas UK struggles to restrict it

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Image of a man with goggles and a face mask, holding a vial.

Enlarge / UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson poses for {a photograph} with a vial of the AstraZeneca/Oxford College COVID-19 candidate vaccine. (credit score: WPA Pool/Getty Photographs)

This week, the UK launched extra knowledge on the newly developed pressure of SARS-CoV-2, offering additional proof that it spreads extra readily than beforehand circulating strains of the virus. Regardless of efforts to maintain it restricted to the UK, most public well being consultants anticipated it was already too late—a concern confirmed by the invention of circumstances in Colorado. There’s some excellent news, nevertheless, because the UK’s knowledge signifies the brand new pressure would not seem like extra harmful to folks as soon as they grow to be contaminated.

In one other bit of excellent information, well being authorities within the UK accredited the usage of one other vaccine, this one from a collaboration between Oxford College and the pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca. Whereas the vaccine would not seem like as efficient as the 2 others already in broad use, the addition of one other provider ensures that the UK ought to now have sufficient vaccine for its total inhabitants early subsequent yr.

New, however decidedly not improved

As a result of the coronavirus accumulates mutations over time, there are actually many distinct strains of SARS-CoV-2 circulating. The one which’s now inflicting concern first drew the eye of medical authorities within the UK as a result of it drove a wave of recent infections at a time the place focused lockdown insurance policies had been lowering the degrees of different strains. By the center of December, the pressure had a reputation (B.1.1.7), was circulating broadly inside the UK, and had already been noticed elsewhere in Europe. However almost the whole lot else in regards to the pressure was an open query, together with whether or not it was really extra infectious, or had merely ended up circulating inside teams that had been extra more likely to move it on to others.

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When memes fail anatomy: The dimensions of a blue whale’s butthole

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Image of floating poop.

Enlarge / That stuff floating within the water is strictly what you assume it’s. (credit score: Jeff Gritchen/Orange County Register)

Once we noticed the memes scoring the scale of a blue whale’s anus second to a few of the 12 months’s most reviled politicians, our first thought was that it was deliciously humorous. Naturally, our subsequent thought was, “Is that this true?” and “How large is a blue whale’s anus, anyway?”

The primary impediment getting a solution to those urgent questions was persuading scientists to reply interview requests. One admitted that in the first place, he assumed his colleagues have been messing with him. As soon as satisfied our request was not a joke, the scenario improved solely barely.

“A lot of the knowledge that we have now on giant whale species comes from again within the day after we used to kill quite a lot of them,” says Dr. Matt Leslie, a visiting assistant professor of biology at Swarthmore School. And by “rather a lot” Leslie refers to a whaling trade that killed 2 million to three million blue whales, possible restructured marine ecosystems, and almost drove them extinct. “And to be trustworthy,” Leslie says, “there wasn’t an entire lot of curiosity in an anuses.”

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How the common-or-garden slime mould helped physicists map the cosmic internet

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A reconstruction of the cosmic web— a vast network of filamentary structures of matter spanning the universe—modeled on the growth patterns of slime mold.

Enlarge / A reconstruction of the cosmic internet— an enormous community of filamentary constructions of matter spanning the universe—modeled on the expansion patterns of slime mould. (credit score: Joseph N. Burchett et al./AJL)

There’s not often time to jot down about each cool science-y story that comes our approach. So this 12 months, we’re as soon as once more working a particular Twelve Days of Christmas sequence of posts, highlighting one science story that fell by means of the cracks in 2020, every day from December 25 by means of January 5. At present: how physicists used the expansion patterns of the common-or-garden slime mould to mannequin the darkish matter that makes up the filaments of the cosmic internet.

The spine of our cosmos is an enormous community of interconnected large filaments, with large voids in between. Many of the materials that makes up this “cosmic internet” is darkish matter, together with diffuse and distant fuel. Earlier this 12 months, a staff of scientists on the College of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), devised a novel method to modeling this cosmic internet, based mostly on the expansion patterns of slime mould, and located some placing similarities. They described their method in a March paper revealed in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

“We do not suppose the universe was created by a large slime mould,” co-author Joseph Burchett instructed Ars, dashing our hopes of a novel new creation fantasy. “This actually comes right down to the similarities of the merchandise of those two very disparate processes. On the finish of the day, the similarities come up within the optimality of nature.”

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Scientists ID potential biomarkers to peg time of demise for submerged corpses

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<em>Ophelia</em> (1852) by John Everett Millais, inspired by the character in Shakespeare's <em>Hamlet</em>, who goes mad and drowns in a brook. It can be challenging for forensic scientists to determine how long a dead body has been submerged in water.

Enlarge / Ophelia (1852) by John Everett Millais, impressed by the character in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, who goes mad and drowns in a brook. It may be difficult for forensic scientists to find out how lengthy a lifeless physique has been submerged in water.

There’s hardly ever time to jot down about each cool science-y story that comes our approach. So this 12 months, we’re as soon as once more operating a particular Twelve Days of Christmas sequence of posts, highlighting one science story that fell by the cracks in 2020, every day from December 25 by January 5. In the present day: figuring out potential biomarkers (in mice) for pegging time of demise in waterlogged corpses.

Appropriately estimating time of demise seems to be really easy in fictional police procedurals, but it surely’s one of many tougher points of a forensic pathologist’s job. That is notably true for corpses present in water, the place a mess of further variables make it much more troublesome to find out how lengthy a physique has been submerged. A staff of scientists at Northumbria College in Newcastle, UK, have come across a brand new methodology for making that dedication, involving the measurement of ranges of sure proteins in bones. They described their findings in an April paper within the Journal of Proteome Analysis.

Co-author Noemi Procopio has been enthusiastic about forensic science since she was 14, however initially studied biotechnology as a result of her residence nation of Italy did not have forensic science packages. When she moved to the College of Manchester within the UK to finish her PhD, she selected to specialize within the utility of proteomics  (the large-scale examine of proteins) to the sector, due to the affect of a former supervisor, an archaeologist who utilized proteomics to bones.

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Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings have distinctive microbiomes, research finds

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Sampling microbes from Leonardo da Vinci's <em>Portrait of a Man in Red Chalk</em> (1512).

Enlarge / Sampling microbes from Leonardo da Vinci’s Portrait of a Man in Purple Chalk (1512). (credit score: Guadalupe Piñar et al.)

Microbiomes are all of the scientific rage, even in artwork conservation, the place learning the microbial species that congregate on artistic endeavors might result in new methods to decelerate the deterioration of priceless growing old art work, in addition to doubtlessly unmask counterfeits. As an example, scientists have analyzed the microbes discovered on seven of Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings, in response to a current paper revealed within the journal Frontiers in Microbiology. And again in March, scientists on the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) collected and analyzed swabs taken from centuries-old artwork in a personal assortment housed in Florence, Italy, and revealed their findings within the journal Microbial Ecology.

The researchers behind the sooner March paper had been JCVI geneticists who collaborated with the Leonardo da Vinci DNA Venture in France. The work constructed on a previous research in search of microbial signatures and doable geographic patterns in hairs collected from individuals within the District of Columbia and San Diego, California. They concluded from that evaluation that microbes may very well be a helpful geographic signature.

For the March research, the JCVI geneticists took swabs of microbes from Renaissance-style items and confirmed the presence of so-called “oxidase constructive” microbes on painted wooden and canvas surfaces. These microbes munch on the compounds present in paint, glue, and cellulose (present in paper, canvas, and wooden), in flip producing water or hydrogen peroxide as byproducts.

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FDA authorizes use of a nonprescription dwelling COVID check

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Image of the test hardware next to a cell phone.

Enlarge (credit score: Ellume)

The FDA’s capability to difficulty Emergency Use Authorizations is not restricted to remedies; the administration also can hand them out for medical gear and checks. And at the moment, it permitted the primary over-the-counter, at-home SARS-CoV-2 check equipment. The equipment detects the presence of a protein discovered on the floor of the virus and sends the outcomes to a consumer’s smartphone by way of a Bluetooth connection. Whereas it is much less correct than the diagnostic approaches utilized by giant testing facilities, the FDA cited an accuracy of over 90 p.c when issuing the authorization.

This is not the primary at-home check equipment given approval by the FDA. In November, the FDA issued an Emergency Use Authorization to an organization known as Lucira, which is providing a check that requires a prescription. Lucira’s check relies on sensing the virus’ genetic materials, utilizing a collection of enzyme-catalyzed reactions that work at room temperature.

The brand new check comes from an organization known as Ellume and relies on figuring out the presence of one of many virus’ proteins. Sometimes, these checks depend on the usage of antibodies to the protein, sometimes linked to a chemical that may induce a shade change; Ellume tags its antibodies with fluorescent quantum dots. The pattern—in Ellume’s case, a swab of fabric from the nostril—flows throughout the gadget whereas mixing with antibodies, producing a change in shade at a selected location on the gadget.

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A promising begin to new human gene-editing trials

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Image of a patient in bed being attended by three doctors.

Enlarge / Richard Watkins,49, (in mattress) is affected by problems brought on by Sickle cell illness. (credit score: Washington Publish/Getty Photos)

Gene remedy has had an extended and typically troublesome historical past. Loads of human genetic issues may be traced to issues with a single gene, and that makes them a tempting goal for correction. However somebody died in a really early gene-therapy trial, which set the whole subject again significantly. And, regardless of a much more cautious method, the dangers are nonetheless appreciable, as two deaths throughout a trial occurred simply this 12 months.

However for researchers within the subject, and people affected by genetic illnesses, this week gives some hope that the sector’s long-delayed promise would possibly ultimately be met. At a digital scientific convention, a gaggle offered the outcomes of a giant security trial that noticed 50 of 52 sufferers in a position to discontinue therapies for hemophilia. And a separate paper describes using CRISPR gene-editing and a blood stem cell transplant to efficiently deal with sufferers with sickle cell anemia or a associated dysfunction.

Restoring clotting

The hemophilia trial was typical of most early efforts at gene remedy. On this case, the illness is brought on by a defect in a single gene, so offering cells with a brand new copy will right the issue. And, for the reason that protein that is encoded by that gene circulates within the blood, you do not have to focus on a small and doubtlessly difficult-to-access inhabitants of cells in an effort to right issues—focusing on a brand new copy of the gene to any cells that may export proteins to the bloodstream will work.

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