Category: Science

Trees in a tropical forest are farther from others of the same species than expected, research finds.

Tropical forests often harbor hundreds of species of trees in a square mile, but scientists often struggle to understand how such a diversity of species can coexist. In a study published in Science, researchers provide new insights by uncovering a key characteristic of the spatial distribution of adult trees.

Combining computational modeling with data collected during a 30-year period, the researchers discovered that adult trees in a Panamanian forest are three times as distant from other adults of the same species as what the proverbial “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” would suggest.

“Trees are the engineers that provide resources for the entire ecosystem.”

Annette Ostling, an associate professor with the University of Texas at Austin’s Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences and the department of integrative biology, and postdoctoral researcher Michael Kalyuzhny used data collected from a forest research plot the size of 100 football fields located on Barro Colorado Island in the Panama Canal, which has been studied for the past 100 years. The researchers discovered the distance that the trees are from one another is much greater than the distance that seeds typically travel.

“This is a steppingstone to understanding the dynamics of things like carbon storage that matter in relation to climate change,” Ostling says. “It’s such a fundamental question that, even if the applications are not yet known, there’s still a lot to learn, and this is one ingredient in understanding.”

The team wondered why there would be so much repulsion (repelling) of the juvenile from its parent tree. The only theoretical explanation is something that would prevent them from establishing near their parents.

Using computational models, they found each tree species is much more negatively affected by its own kind than by other species, probably because species suffer from species-specific enemies: pathogens such as fungi or herbivores such as insects. These enemies “make room” for other species to establish around every tree, leading to a more diverse forest and keeping any one species from dominating.

“Due to an abundance of available data on this particular forest, we knew the exact location of every tree and also how far seeds travel,” Kalyuzhny says. “We were able to ask: How should the forest look if trees just established where the seeds fell? With our computational models, it turned out that the real forest does not look like this at all—the real trees are much more far apart.”

In a time of an ongoing mass extinction, scientists have been working to better understand what determines species diversity. The researchers say the study helps bridge the gap between contrasting theories on how forests are shaped and provides critical tools to learn how tropical forests in particular and their inhabitants change through time.

“Trees are the engineers that provide resources for the entire ecosystem, and since most of the species in the world reside in the tropics, we must better understand what maintains the biodiversity of planet Earth,” Kalyuzhny says. “Many medications are sourced from the tropics, including thousands of substances with anti-cancer activity. The research digs into this fundamental question about the natural world.”

Coauthors of the paper are from the Smithsonian Tropical Research and the University of Michigan.

The research had funding from the Michigan Life Sciences Fellowship, Zuckerman STEM Leadership Program, sabbatical support from the University of Michigan and Adrian College, MCubed, the University of Michigan, Associate Professor Support Fund, and the Ostling Lab at the University of Texas at Austin.

Source: UT Austin

TAMPA, Fla. — Amazon plans to deploy its first pair of Project Kuiper prototypes this fall on an Atlas 5 from United Launch Alliance (ULA), the internet giant said Aug. 7 after switching rockets a second time to avoid mounting delays.

The test satellites were slated to fly on the debut launch of ULA’s Vulcan Centaur, which was recently pushed to the fourth quarter following its latest delay.

Amazon had initially planned to deploy KuiperSat-1 and KuiperSat-2 by late last year with ABL Space Systems, before the rocket developer’s RS1 vehicle also suffered setbacks.

The Project Kuiper prototypes could launch as soon as Sept. 26 on a dedicated Atlas 5, according to a Reuters report citing Amazon spokesperson James Watkins.

Amazon has nine Atlas 5 and 38 Vulcan rockets on order from ULA as part of the multibillion-dollar launch contracts it has secured for Project Kuiper, including other vehicles under development by Arianespace and Blue Origin.

The company plans to start launching commercial satellites next year amid impending regulatory deadlines for its proposed 3,236-strong low Earth orbit broadband constellation.

Half the constellation must be deployed by July 2026 under rules tied to its Federal Communications Commission license, and the rest three years later.

Amazon expects to open a 31,000-square-meter satellite processing facility in early 2025 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida, to help ramp up deployment.

The company has secured up to 92 launches in total from ULA, Arianespace, and Blue Origin.

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Chemists have developed a new method for recycling polyester.

A staggering 60 million tons of polyester are produced annually, for things like clothes, couches, and curtains. That polyester production takes a toll on the climate and  environment, as only 15% of it gets recycled. The rest ends up in landfills or incinerated, which results in more carbon emissions.

“The textile industry urgently requires a better solution to handle blended fabrics like polyester/cotton. Currently, there are very few practical methods capable of recycling both cotton and plastic—it’s typically an either-or scenario,” explains postdoctoral researcher Yang Yang of the Jiwoong Lee group at the University of Copenhagen’s chemistry department.

“However, with our newly discovered technique, we can depolymerize polyester into its monomers while simultaneously recovering cotton on a scale of hundreds of grams, using an incredibly straightforward and environmentally friendly approach. This traceless catalytic methodology could be the game-changer.”

Yang is lead author of a paper on the method in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.

The new recycling method based on hartshorn salt (ammonium bicarbonate) works on PET plastic alone, as well as on PET and cotton blended materials.

“If we throw dirty plastic waste in a container, we still get good quality cotton and plastic monomer out of it. This can even be a plastic bottle with juice residue still in it. We just put it in and begin the reaction. It still works,” says Shriaya Sharma, a doctoral student of the Jiwoong Lee group and a coauthor of the study.

“For example, we can take a polyester dress, cut it up into small pieces and place it in a container. Then, add a bit of mild solvent, and thereafter hartshorn salt, which many people know as a leavening agent in baked goods. We then heat it all up to 160 degrees Celsius and leave it for 24 hours. The result is a liquid in which the plastic and cotton fibers settle into distinct layers. It’s a simple and cost-effective process,” says Sharma.

In the process, the hartshorn salt, also called ammonium bicarbonate, is broken down into ammonia, CO₂, and water. The combination of ammonia and CO₂ acts as a catalyst, triggering a selective depolymerization reaction that breaks down the polyester while preserving the cotton fibers.

Although ammonia is toxic in isolation, when combined with CO₂, it becomes both environmentally friendly and safe for use. Due to the mild nature of the chemicals involved, the cotton fibers remain intact and in excellent condition.

Previously, the same research group demonstrated that CO₂ could serve as a catalyst for breaking down nylon, among other things, without leaving any trace. This discovery inspired them to explore the use of hartshorn salt. Nevertheless, the researchers were pleasantly surprised when their simple recipe yielded successful results.

“At first, we were excited to see it work so well on the PET bottles alone. Then, when we discovered that it worked on polyester fabric as well, we were just ecstatic. It was indescribable. That it was so simple to perform was nearly too good to be true,” says Carlo Di Bernardo, doctoral student and study coauthor.

While the method has only been tested at the laboratory level thus far, the researchers point to its scalability and are now in contact with companies to test the method on an industrial scale.

“We’re hoping to commercialize this technology that harbors such great potential. Keeping this knowledge behind the walls of the university would be a huge waste,” says Yang.

Source: University of Copenhagen

A newly developed molecule could serve as a potential treatment for the varicella zoster virus, the type of herpes that causes both chickenpox and shingles.

According to a new study, published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, the molecule can effectively treat the uncomfortable lesions that accompany shingles and suggests the molecule may also work against the viruses that cause oral and genital herpes.

“Many viruses are becoming drug-resistant to the current medications on the market,” says lead author Uma Singh, a lecturer in the College of Pharmacy at the University of Georgia. “There is a continuous need for new molecules, and the one we developed, called POM-L-BHDU, shows much more potency against the virus than current ones.”

The researchers also found that the molecule is safe for treating varicella zoster virus in cancer patients. Additionally, the molecule can be applied topically in addition to being taken orally or intravenously, making it a great option for a future cream-based medication for both shingles and other herpes outbreaks.

While several drugs are on the market to treat the viruses caused by the varicella zoster virus, they aren’t particularly effective or can have potentially life-threatening side effects.

For example, cidofovir is an antiviral commonly used for viral eye infections and used off-label to treat warts and herpes. But it can accumulate in the kidneys and potentially cause them to fail in severe cases.

A topical medication using the patented molecule can better target localized outbreaks, preventing the virus from spreading to other areas of the body. Topical medications also limit the amount of a drug that is absorbed into the bloodstream and cut down significantly on side effects.

But the new molecule isn’t just for topical treatments.

“We want to develop this as a broad-spectrum molecule,” Singh says. “It acts against both the varicella zoster virus and herpes simplex 1 and 2 viruses. For patients who want to take it in capsules, they could. Those who want to take it intravenously, they could. And those who want to use it topically, they can easily apply it at home.”

The researchers hope the topical formula will be sold over the counter, enabling patients to easily access treatment in the privacy of their own homes without needing a prescription.

The molecule has already proven effective in vitro and in vivo mouse models.

Topical studies on adult human skin indicate that POM-L-BHDU, 0.2% formulated in cocoa butter is highly effective against both herpes simplex 1 and the varicella zoster viruses. (These results are currently unpublished.)

The next step is to get the molecule into phase 1 clinical trials, something Singh hopes will happen in the next couple of years.

“We want to push this project as soon as possible into large-scale synthesis,” Singh says. “It has the potential to benefit society on a large scale.”

Additional coauthors are from State University of New York Upstate Medical University and the University of Georgia.

Recently, the UGA Research Foundation has licensed this molecule to a company called Anterogen Co.

Source: University of Georgia

Soil microbes release more volatile organic compounds into the atmosphere in response to drought stress, according to a new study.

Microbes do a lot under the soil surface that can’t be seen with the naked eye—from sequestering carbon to building the foundation of Earth’s crust. But even tiny microbes are feeling the stress of a hotter, drier future.

The study, published in Nature Microbiology, is just one part of the B2 Water, Atmosphere, and Life Dynamics project, which brought over 90 researchers from around the world to the University of Arizona’s enclosed rainforest at Biosphere 2 to conduct a controlled drought experiment and better understand what happens to the world’s ecosystems when water is scarce.

Uncovering how soil microbes process carbon and interact with the atmosphere under environmental stress helps scientists predict and support how ecosystems will adapt in the face of increasing temperatures and prolonged drought.

VOCs are more than aerosols

When most people think of volatile organic compounds, they think of aerosols—which can contribute to warming and have negative impacts on air quality—but the term “volatile” simply refers to how easily a chemical or compound can change from a liquid to a gas phase, says lead study author Linnea Honeker, a postdoctoral researcher who worked with associate professor of environmental science Malak Tfaily in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences during the B2 WALD project.

Many volatile organic compounds are naturally produced and are released in our breath, from trees, or by microbes that live in the soil. Microbes naturally consume carbon as part of their life cycle and, in turn, produce volatile metabolites.

As part of the B2 WALD project, led by Laura Meredith, an associate professor and ecosystem genomics expert in the School of Natural Resources and the Environment, Honeker, and colleagues used a labeled carbon isotope to track the movement of carbon and water throughout the rainforest ecosystem during the simulated drought experiment. Using soil flux chambers, the team measured the consumption and release of volatile organic compounds in the soil.

Drought diminishes carbon cycling efficiency

While microbes worked to break down volatile organic compounds produced in the soils during ambient or pre-drought conditions, these same microbes appeared to ramp up production and decrease consumption of volatile metabolites under drought stress.

“What we found is microbial production of CO2 decreased during drought, but there was a net increase of emissions of the volatile metabolites acetate, acetone and diacetyl,” says Honeker, who recently accepted a postdoctoral position in soil microbiome bioinformatics at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Overall, the study revealed soil carbon cycling efficiency decreased during drought. That may be a result of microbes diverting more of their resources to producing volatile organic compounds and other protective compounds to help support themselves during the drought, she says.

It is not yet clear what specific role the volatile organic compounds found in the study play in soil-atmosphere dynamics, but the findings are an important step toward understanding how small but mighty microbes beneath the surface are responding to environmental stress.

“These results bring us one step closer to understanding how droughts, which are expected to increase in frequency and duration, can impact microbial carbon cycling in the soil, which, in turn, can have large-scale impacts on ecosystem services and even atmospheric processes,” Honeker says.

Source: University of Arizona

Researchers have discovered that old grandfather clocks and human cells have a central thing in common: They move in synchronization.

This strengthens the performance of our cells and makes them better at combating diseases, the researchers report.

The new finding in the journal Cell Systems is an important step towards understanding and preventing diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

In 1655, the Dutch mathematician and inventor of the pendulum clock, Christian Huygens, discovered something strange. If he hung two identical pendulum clocks next to each other, they would always synchronize within 30 minutes.

The new study clarifies how cells synchronize to perform the vital tasks of producing energy, transporting oxygen, or fighting diseases more efficiently.

“We’ve discovered that, in the same way as the pendulum clocks in Huygens’ experiments beat in synchronization, the cells of the body also work in uniform beats. This helps them achieve a higher degree of collaboration, enabling them to perform their tasks better and more efficiently,” says Mathias Heltberg, a postdoc at the University of Copenhagen. Heltberg created the physical and mathematical models behind the experiments with Mogens Høgh Jensen, a professor in the Niels Bohr Institute, and Malthe Skytte Nielsen, a PhD student.

Cells working in tandem

Translated into the world of a cell, the oscillations from the clock correspond to the increase and decrease in the quantity of proteins and other molecules that the cell alternately produces more or less of to perform different tasks in the body.

To examine whether the cells turn their production up and down in step with each other, the researchers created an artificial oscillation using two different transmitters injected into yeast cells. One of the transmitters was alcohol, and the other was a transmitter that imitated an infection and would therefore trigger the immune system of the cell.

Specifically, the researchers examined how the super protein NF-kappa-B fluctuates up and down. This is a protein found in most of the body’s cells and it plays a key role in countless processes. For example, the super protein is responsible for kickstarting the immune system and turning up the production of itself when the body is exposed to an attack from a bacterium.

Here, the study showed that the concentrations of the super protein were higher in the cells when they worked synchronously than if they did not.

“We had two hypotheses in advance. Either the two transmitters that hit the cell at the same time would throw it into complete chaos where it no longer functioned. Or the cell would control itself even better and synchronize its response and work in step with the other cells, which was what happened,” says Jensen.

Cell synchronization signals

The new discovery is particularly interesting because the fluctuations in the cell play a central role in our understanding of how the cell is controlled, the researchers say. A greater understanding of these processes can pave the way for new methods for treating serious diseases in the future.

“If we can understand the fluctuations, we will also know more about what goes wrong when defects in the cells lead to the body’s control systems breaking down and causing cancer or diabetes. Therefore, our results are an important step towards understanding how the body controls its cells, so that we can later develop biochemical tools that can prevent diseases,” says Nielsen.

Even though the researchers have now become a little wiser about the smallest building blocks of the body, there is still much that we do not know about the inner life of the cells. For example, it is still not known exactly how the cells communicate with each other and start working in step.

“It’s my big dream to understand how cells, that is living organisms without a brain, can transmit and translate signals and regulate themselves. This is one of the biggest questions of science, and one that I’ve so far dedicated most of my research career to,” Heltberg says.

Additional coauthors from Peking University conducted experiments on yeast cells based on the mathematical and physical models made by Heltberg, Nielsen, and Jensen.

Source: University of Copenhagen

Engineers have developed nanoscale tattoos—dots and wires that adhere to live cells—in a breakthrough that puts researchers one step closer to tracking the health of individual cells.

The new technology allows for the first time the placement of optical elements or electronics on live cells with tattoo-like arrays that stick on cells while flexing and conforming to the cells’ wet and fluid outer structure.

“If you imagine where this is all going in the future, we would like to have sensors to remotely monitor and control the state of individual cells and the environment surrounding those cells in real time,” says David Gracias, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Johns Hopkins University who led the development of the technology.

“We’re talking about putting something like an electronic tattoo on a living object tens of times smaller than the head of a pin.”

“If we had technologies to track the health of isolated cells, we could maybe diagnose and treat diseases much earlier and not wait until the entire organ is damaged.”

The study appears in Nano Letters.

Gracias, who works on developing biosensor technologies that are nontoxic and noninvasive for the body, says the nanoscale tattoos bridge the gap between living cells or tissue and conventional sensors and electronic materials. They’re essentially like barcodes or QR codes, he says.

“We’re talking about putting something like an electronic tattoo on a living object tens of times smaller than the head of a pin,” Gracias says. “It’s the first step towards attaching sensors and electronics on live cells.”

The structures were able to stick to soft cells for 16 hours even as the cells moved.

The researchers built the tattoos in the form of arrays with gold, a material known for its ability to prevent signal loss or distortion in electronic wiring. They attached the arrays to cells that make and sustain tissue in the human body, called fibroblasts.

They then treated the arrays with molecular glues and transferred onto the cells using an alginate hydrogel film, a gel-like laminate that can be dissolved after the gold adheres to the cell. The molecular glue on the array bonds to a film secreted by the cells called the extracellular matrix.

Previous research has demonstrated how to use hydrogels to stick nanotechnology onto human skin and internal animal organs. By showing how to adhere nanowires and nanodots onto single cells, Gracias’ team is addressing the long-standing challenge of making optical sensors and electronics compatible with biological matter at the single cell level.

“We’ve shown we can attach complex nanopatterns to living cells, while ensuring that the cell doesn’t die,” Gracias says. “It’s a very important result that the cells can live and move with the tattoos because there’s often a significant incompatibility between living cells and the methods engineers use to fabricate electronics.”

The team’s ability to attach the dots and wires in an array form is also crucial. To use this technology to track bioinformation, researchers must be able to arrange sensors and wiring into specific patterns not unlike how they are arranged in electronic chips.

“This is an array with specific spacing,” Gracias explains, “not a haphazard bunch of dots.”

The team plans to try to attach more complex nanocircuits that can stay in place for longer periods. They also want to experiment with different types of cells.

Source: Johns Hopkins University

Research finds that even a slight change in salinity can affect the ability of sea urchins to securely attach their tube feet to their surroundings—like tires gripping the road.

When driving through a rainstorm, traction is key. If your tires lack sufficient tread, your vehicle will slip and slide and you won’t have the grip needed to maneuver safely. When torrential rains hit nearshore, shallow water ecosystems, sea urchins experience a similar challenge.

Heavy precipitation can alter the concentration of salt in the ocean waters causing lower salinity levels. This becomes a matter of life and death for the small spiny creatures, as they rely on their adhesive structures to move in the wave-battered rocky area near the seashore.

The survival of sea urchins is vital for maintaining balance within marine ecosystems. Sea urchins are responsible for grazing around 45% of algae on coral reefs. Without sea urchins, coral reefs can become overgrown with macroalgae, which can limit the growth of corals. With the importance of coral reefs for coastal protection and preservation of biodiversity, it is critical to safeguard the sea urchin population.

As global climate change causes weather extremes ranging from heat waves and droughts to heavy rains and flooding, the large amounts of freshwater pouring into nearshore ecosystems are altering habitats. A team of biologists, led by Austin Garner, assistant professor in Syracuse University’s biology department, studied the effects of low salinity and how it alters sea urchins’ ability to grip and move within their habitat. Garner, who is a member of the university’s BioInspired Institute, studies how animals attach to surfaces in variable environments from the perspective of both the life and physical sciences.

The team’s study, recently published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, sought to understand how sea urchin populations will be affected by future extreme climatic events.

“While many marine animals can regulate the amount of water and salts in their bodies, sea urchins are not as effective at this,” says Garner. “As a result, they tend to be restricted to a narrow range of salinity levels. Torrential precipitation can cause massive amounts of freshwater to be dumped into the ocean along the coastline causing rapid reductions in the concentration of salt in seawater.”

The group’s research took place at the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Laboratories (FHL). The study’s lead author, Andrew Moura, a graduate student in Garner’s lab at Syracuse, traveled to FHL along with Garner and researchers from Villanova University to conduct experiments with live green sea urchins.

At FHL, the researchers separated sea urchins into 10 groups based on differing salinity levels within each tank, from normal to very low salt content. Among each group, they tested metrics including righting response (the ability for sea urchins to flip themselves over), locomotion (speed from one point to another), and adhesion (force at which their tube feet detach from a surface). In Garner’s lab at Syracuse, he and Moura completed data analysis to compare each metric.

The team found that sea urchin righting response, movement, and adhesive ability were all negatively affected by low salinity conditions. Interestingly, though, sea urchin adhesive ability was not severely affected until very low salinity levels, indicating that sea urchins may be able to remain attached in challenging nearshore environmental conditions even though activities that require greater coordination of tube feet (righting and movement) may not be possible.

“When we see this decrease in performance under very low salinity, we might start seeing shifts in where sea urchins might be living as a consequence of their inability to remain stuck in certain areas that experience low salinity,” explains Moura. “That could change how much sea urchin grazing is happening and could have profound ecosystem effects.”

Their work provides critical data that enhance researchers’ ability to predict how important animals like sea urchins will fare in a changing world. The adhesion principles Garner and his team are exploring could also come in handy for human-designed adhesive materials.

“If we can learn the fundamental principles and molecular mechanisms that allow sea urchins to secrete a permanent adhesive and use it for temporary attachment, we could harness that power into the design challenges or our adhesives today,” says Garner.

“Imagine being able to have an adhesive that is otherwise permanent, but then you add another component, and it breaks it down and you can go stick it again somewhere else. It’s a perfect example of how biology can be used to enhance the everyday products around us.”

Source: Syracuse University

Limiting yourself to one alcoholic drink a day may not be enough to avoid detrimental effects on your health, researchers report.

The new study confirms for the first time that both low and high daily alcohol intake are continuously associated with increases in blood pressure levels, potentially increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease.

The findings were the result of combined analysis of seven international research studies conducted between 1997 and 2021 in almost 20,000 adults in the US, Korea, and Japan in whom the association between usual intake of alcohol and blood pressure could be observed for periods of four to 12 years. None of the participants had been previously diagnosed with high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, or alcoholism.

Participants who consumed an average of 12 grams of alcohol per day—roughly equivalent to 1.5 oz. of liquor or one 11 oz. beer—saw systolic blood pressure rise 1.25 mmHg. Consuming 48 grams per day saw a systolic blood pressure increase of 4.9 mmHg.

The association between alcohol consumption and higher blood pressure was robust, being seen for all levels of alcohol intake, in both men and women, and in North Americans as well as Asians.

The findings may be most important for those who already have higher than desired blood pressure levels, says Paul Whelton, professor in the epidemiology department at Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and coauthor of the study in the journal Hypertension.

“We found participants with higher starting blood pressure readings had a stronger link between alcohol intake and blood pressure changes over time,” he says. “This suggests that people with a trend towards increased, though still not high, blood pressure may benefit the most from low to no alcohol consumption.”

Finding a linear correlation between alcohol consumption and systolic blood pressure is important because systolic pressure—the force against the artery walls as the heart contracts—is a strong predictor of cardiovascular disease risk.

Diastolic blood pressure—the force against artery walls between heart beats—is less of a risk predictor. Still, diastolic blood pressure rose 1.14 mmHg per 12 grams of daily alcohol and 3.1mmHg per 48 grams of daily alcohol, though the effect was only seen in males.

“We found no beneficial effects in adults who drank a low level of alcohol compared to those who did not drink alcohol,” says senior study author Marco Vinceti, professor of epidemiology and public health in the Medical School of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia University in Italy.

“We were somewhat surprised to see that consuming an already-low level of alcohol was also linked to higher blood pressure changes over time compared to no consumption—although far less than the blood pressure increase seen in heavy drinkers.”

Source: Tulane University