Lifeboat Foundation

Imagine being one cartwheel away from changing your appearance. One flip, and your brunette locks are platinum blond. That’s not too far from what happens in some prokaryotes, or single-cell organisms, such as bacteria, that undergo something called inversions.

A study led by scientists at Stanford Medicine has shown that inversions, which cause a physical flip of a segment of DNA and change an organism’s genetic identity, can occur within a single gene, challenging a central dogma of biology — that one gene can code for only one protein.

“Bacteria are even cooler than I originally thought, and I’m a microbiologist, so I already thought they were pretty cool,” said Rachael Chanin, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar in hematology. Microbiologists have known for decades that bacteria can flip small sections of their DNA to activate or deactivate genes, Chanin said. To the team’s knowledge, however, those somersaulting pieces have never been found within the confines of a single gene.

How do the characteristics of Neptune-like exoplanets, also known as exo-Neptunes, differ from each other? This is what a recent study published in Astronomy and Astrophysics hopes to address as an international team of researchers investigated a new classification known as the “Neptunian Ridge”. This complements previous classifications of “Neptunian Desert” and “Neptunian Savannah”, with the former identifying exo-Neptunes that are rare in number but orbit very close to their parent stars while the “Neptune Savannah” describes exo-Neptunes that orbit much farther out. This study holds the potential to help astronomers better understand the formation and evolution of exo-Neptunes throughout the cosmos.

For the study, the researchers used confirmed and candidate exoplanets that comprise the Kepler DR25 catalog to ascertain the characteristic variations in exo-Neptunes while providing additional insights into the formation and evolution of exo-Neptunes, as well. In the end, they determined that this “Neptunian Ridge” exists as a middle-ground between the “Neptunian Desert” and “Neptunian Savannah”, with the former hypothesized to have formed from moving inward in their system from high-eccentricity tidal migration and the latter forming from disk-driven migration, which occurs right after planetary formation.

“Our work to observe this new structure in space is highly significant in helping us map the exoplanet landscape,” said Dr. David Armstrong, who is an Associate Professor of Physics at the University of Warwick and a co-author on the study. “As scientists, we’re always striving to understand why planets are in the condition they are in, and how they ended up where they are. The discovery of the Neptunian ridge helps answer these questions, unveiling part of the geography of exoplanets out there, and is a hugely exciting discovery.”

The record-breaking crystal will act as a DNA time capsule that could be used to bring back humanity after our extinction, researchers say. But not everyone is convinced.

The power of magnets could be the key to going from extremely cold superconductors to … less extremely cold superconductors.

California life sciences company BillionToOne is expanding to Austin to continue molecular diagnostics research and innovation.

How can artificial light influence the behavior of zebrafish? This is what a recent study published in Science of The Total Environment hopes to address as an international team of researchers investigated the effects of artificial light at night (ALAN) on female zebrafish. This study holds the potential to help researchers, climate conservationists, and the public better understand the effects of light pollution on nature and the steps that can be taken to mitigate them.

“Sleep is one of the main processes of animals that is disrupted by ALAN, so we were curious to know what that means for their ability to navigate their lives. In other words, what does it mean for their behavior?” said Weiwei Li, who is a PhD student at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior (MPI-AB) and lead author of the study. “The light levels that we used in our study matched what is already shining into the homes of animals at night through the many sources we place outdoors. And we found extremely strong and clear negative effects on the behavior of fish and their offspring after only a few bright nights.”

For the study, the researchers analyzed the effects of short and long wavelengths of ALAN on female zebrafish over a 10-day, 9-night period to ascertain their behavior patterns. These patterns included swimming patterns, group cohesiveness, and location within the aquarium where the study was being conducted. In the end, the researchers discovered the zebrafish exhibited anxiety-like behaviors while exposed to all wavelengths, but these worsened when exposed to shorter wavelengths, specifically within the blue spectrum.

A new technology to continuously place individual atoms exactly where they are needed could lead to new materials for devices that address critical needs for the field of quantum computing and communication that cannot be produced by conventional means, say scientists who developed it.

A research team at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory created a novel advanced microscopy tool to “write” with atoms, placing those atoms exactly where they are needed to give a material new properties.

Continue reading “‘Writing’ with atoms could transform materials fabrication for quantum devices” »

A new study has found that intelligence, in the form of general cognitive abilities such as perception, thinking and remembering, is more important than hitherto thought at predicting a person’s ability to complete common tasks with a PC. The study was published in the International Journal of Human-Computer Studies in August 2024.

“Our research findings are the first clear proof that cognitive abilities have a significant, independent and wide-ranging effect on people’s ability to use a computer. Contrary to what was previously thought, cognitive abilities are as important as previous experience of computer use,” says Aalto University’s Professor Antti Oulasvirta, who studied human-computer interaction extensively with his team.

The findings have implications for digital equality, say the researchers, because everyday user interfaces have simply become too complex to use. Practice alone is no longer enough, with intelligence becoming an equally critical factor in predicting performance in computer tasks.

For the past few years, a series of controversies have rocked the well-established field of cosmology. In a nutshell, the predictions of the standard model of the universe appear to be at odds with some recent observations.

There are heated debates about whether these observations are biased, or whether the cosmological model, which predicts the structure and evolution of the entire universe, may need a rethink. Some even claim that cosmology is in crisis. Right now, we do not know which side will win. But excitingly, we are on the brink of finding that out.

Continue reading “Cosmology Is at a Tipping Point—We May Be on the Verge of Discovering New Physics” »