In 1935, 101 cane toads from Hawaii were set loose in Australia to help control beetles that were decimating the Australian sugar crop. But instead […]

The post Discovery: Australia’s invasive cane toads modify their bodies to conquer new territory faster appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

New species don’t just spring out of thin air. Speciation, the evolutionary process by which new and distinct species arise, usually takes millions of years. […]

The post Simultaneous hermaphrodites: Understanding Speciation in fish called “hamlets” appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Hundreds of experiments have shown biodiversity fosters healthier, more productive ecosystems. But many experts doubted whether these experiments would hold up in the real world. […]

The post In the wild, biodiversity’s power surpasses what experiments predict appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Scott J. Neal, Qingxiang Zhou, and Francesca Pignoni

The specification of organs, tissues and cell types results from cell fate restrictions enacted by nuclear transcription factors under the control of conserved signaling pathways. The progenitor epithelium of the Drosophila compound eye, the eye imaginal disc, is a premier model for the study of such processes. Early in development, apposing cells of the eye disc are established as either retinal progenitors or support cells of the peripodial epithelium (PE), in a process whose genetic and mechanistic determinants are poorly understood. We have identified Protein Phosphatase 2A (PP2A), and specifically a STRIPAK-PP2A complex that includes the scaffolding and substrate-specificity components Cka, Strip and SLMAP, as a critical player in the retina-PE fate choice. We show that these factors suppress ectopic retina formation in the presumptive PE and do so via the Hippo signaling axis. STRIPAK-PP2A negatively regulates Hpo kinase, and consequently its substrate Wts, to release the transcriptional co-activator Yki into the nucleus. Thus, a modular higher-order PP2A complex refines the activity of this general phosphatase to act in a precise specification of cell fate.

Javad Fahanik-babaei, Bahareh Rezaee, Maryam Nazari, Nihad Torabi, Reza Saghiri, Remy Sauve, and Afsaneh Eliassi

We have determined the electropharmacological properties of a new potassium channel from brain mitochondrial membrane by planar lipid bilayer method. Our results showed the presence of a channel with a conductance of 150 pS at potentials between 0 and –60 mV in 200 cis/50 trans mM KCl solutions.

The channel was voltage-independent, with an open probability value ~0.6 at different voltages. ATP did not affect current amplitude and Po at positive and negative voltages. Notably, adding iberiotoxin, charybdotoxin, lidocaine, and margatoxin had no effect on the channel behavior. Similarly, no changes were observed by decreasing the cis-pH to 6. Interestingly, the channel was inhibited by adding sodium in a dose dependent manner. Our results also indicated a significant increase in mitochondrial complex IV activity and membrane potential and decrease in complex I activity and mitochondrial ROS production in the presence of sodium ions.

We propose that inhibition of mitochondrial K⁺ transport by Na ions on K⁺ channel opening may be important for cell protection and ATP synthesis.

A mysterious cycle of booms and busts in marine biodiversity over the past 500 million years could be tied to a periodic uplifting of the world's continents, scientists report

The post Boom and bust cycle of marine biodiversity every 60 million years linked to uplifting of continents appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Odile Madden knows a lot about plastic. A materials scientist with the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute, she has spent the past eight years studying plastics […]

The post Microplastics in our environment: A conversation with Odile Madden, Smithsonian plastics scientist appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Entangled embedded periodic nets and crystal frameworks are defined, along with their dimension type, homogeneity type, adjacency depth and periodic isotopy type. Periodic isotopy classifications are obtained for various families of embedded nets with small quotient graphs. The 25 periodic isotopy classes of depth-1 embedded nets with a single-vertex quotient graph are enumerated. Additionally, a classification is given of embeddings of n-fold copies of pcu with all connected components in a parallel orientation and n vertices in a repeat unit, as well as demonstrations of their maximal symmetry periodic isotopes. The methodology of linear graph knots on the flat 3-torus [0,1)3 is introduced. These graph knots, with linear edges, are spatial embeddings of the labelled quotient graphs of an embedded net which are associated with its periodicity bases.

The post With the recent hatching of two Cuban crocodiles, the National Zoo just got a little snappier! appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post Belize’s South Water Caye Marine Reserve protects biodiversity of Belizean Barrier Reef appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Five critically endangered Cuban crocodiles hatched at the National Zoo’s Reptile Discovery Center between July 29 and Aug. 7. The eggs were laid by Dorothy, […]

The post Five Critically endangered Cuban crocodiles hatched at National Zoo appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Mexico is the fourth largest honey producer and fifth largest honey exporter in the world. A Smithsonian researcher and colleagues helped rural farmers in Mexico […]

The post Genetically modified soybean pollen threatens Mexican honey sales appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The post Global forest network cracks the case of tropical biodiversity appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Visitors to the tropics are amazed by the huge variety of colorful, complex and sometimes ferocious creatures living near the equator. Smithsonian scientists and colleagues […]

The post Is This the Long-Sought Answer to the Question of Tropical Biodiversity? appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

If you try to open a text file with UTF-16 or UTF-32 encoding, the Import Tool displays a warning message stating that the encoding is not supported.  If you continue to load the file anyways, it is opened with UTF-8 encoding, and the file may not be displayed or imported as expected.This bug exists in the following release(s):
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The monoclinic crystal structure of Na2SO3(H2O)7 is characterized by an alternating stacking of (100) cationic sodium–water layers and anionic sulfite layers along [100]. The cationic layers are made up from two types of [Na(H2O)6] octa­hedra that form linear 1∞[Na(H2O)4/2(H2O)2/1] chains linked by dimeric [Na(H2O)2/2(H2O)4/1]2 units on both sides of the chains. The isolated trigonal–pyramidal sulfite anions are connected to the cationic layers through an intricate network of O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, together with a remarkable O—H⋯S hydrogen bond, with an O⋯S donor–acceptor distance of 3.2582 (6) Å, which is about 0.05 Å shorter than the average for O—H⋯S hydrogen bonds in thio­salt hydrates and organic sulfur com­pounds of the type Y—S—Z (Y/Z = C, N, O or S). Structural relationships between monoclinic Na2SO3(H2O)7 and ortho­rhom­bic Na2CO3(H2O)7 are discussed in detail.

Entangled embedded periodic nets and crystal frameworks are defined, along with their dimension type, homogeneity type, adjacency depth and periodic isotopy type.

Combining sodium hydride with some solvents can be a bad idea, as a group of researchers from Corteva Agriscience and Dow Chemical remind the chemistry community in Organic Process Research & Development ,(2019, DOI: 10.1021/acs.oprd.9b00276). Reports of explosions from combining NaH with a polar aprotic solvent such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), and N,N-dimethylacetamide […]

The post Don’t mix sodium hydride with polar aprotic solvents appeared first on CENtral Science.

(The Paypers) Financial institutions (FIs) working in digital assets have been required by US regulatory bodies to pay attention to their anti-money laundering and...

Georgi Dimchev
Apr 9, 2020; 133:jcs239020-jcs239020
Articles

The emerging science of gene drives has the potential to address environmental and public health challenges, but gene-drive modified organisms are not ready to be released into the environment and require more research in laboratories and highly controlled field trials, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

The current process for planetary protection policy development is inadequate to respond to increasingly complex solar system exploration missions, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine reviews current evidence and updates intake recommendations known as the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) for sodium and potassium that were established in 2005.

Urban flooding is a complex and distinct kind of flooding, compounded by land use and high population density, and it requires a different approach to assess and manage, says Framing the Challenge of Urban Flooding in the United States, a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Most people infected with the novel coronavirus develop antibodies in response.

But scientists don't know whether people who have been exposed to the coronavirus will be immune for life, as is usually the case for the measles, or if the disease will return again and again, like the common cold.

"This to me is one of the big unanswered questions that we have," says Jeffrey Shaman, a professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University, "because it really says, 'What is the full exit strategy to this and how long are we going to be contending with it?' "

He's one of many scientists on a quest for answers. And the pieces are starting to fall into place.

Antibodies, which are proteins found in the blood as part of the body's immune response to infection, are a sign that people could be developing immunity. But they are by no means a guarantee they will be protected for life – or even for a year.

Shaman has been studying four other coronaviruses that cause the common cold. "They're very common and so people seem to get them quite often," Shaman says. Ninety percent of people develop antibodies to those viruses, at least in passing, but "our evidence is those antibodies are not conferring protection."

That may simply because colds are relatively mild, so the immune system doesn't mount a full-blown response, suggests Dr. Stanley Perlman, a pediatrician who studies immunology and microbiology at the University of Iowa. "That's why people get colds over and over again," he says. "It doesn't really tickle the immune response that much."

He's studied one of the most severe coronaviruses, the one that causes SARS, and he's found that the degree of immunity depended on the severity of the disease. Sicker people remained immune for much longer, in some cases many years.

For most people exposed to the novel coronavirus, "I think in the short term you're going to get some protection," Perlman says. "It's really the time of the protection that matters."

Perlman notes that for some people the symptoms of COVID-19 are no worse than a cold, while for others they are severe. "That's why it's tricky," he says, to predict the breadth of an immune response.

And it's risky to assume that experiences with other coronaviruses are directly applicable to the new one.

"Unforutunately, we cannot really generalize what kind of immunity is needed to get protection against a virus unless we really learn more about the virus," says Akiko Iwasaki, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at the Yale University School of Medicine.

An immunobiologist, she is part of a rapidly expanding effort to figure this out. She and her colleagues are already studying the immune response in more than 100 patients in the medical school hospital. She's encouraged that most people who recover from the coronavirus have developed antibodies that neutralize the coronavirus in a petri dish.

"Whether that's happening inside the body we don't really know," she cautions.

Research like hers will answer that question, eventually.

But not all antibodies are protective. Iwasaki says some can actually contribute to the disease process and make the illness worse. These antibodies can contribute to inflammation and lead the body to overreact. That overreaction can even be deadly.

"Which types of antibodies protect the host versus those that enhance the disease? We really need to figure that out," she says.

The studies at Yale will follow patients for at least a year, to find out how slowly or quickly immunity might fade. "I wish there was a shortcut," Iwasaki says, "but we may not need to wait a year to understand what type of antibodies are protective."

That's because she and other immunologists are looking for patterns in the immune response that will identify people who have long-term immunity.

Researchers long ago figured out what biological features in the blood (called biomarkers) correlate with immunity to other diseases, says Dr. Kari Nadeau, a pediatrician and immunologist at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She expects researchers will be able to do the same for the new coronavirus.

Nadeau is working on several studies, including one that seeks to recruit 1,000 people who were previously exposed to the coronavirus. One goal is to identify people who produce especially strong, protective antibody responses. She says the antibody-producing cells from those people can potentially be turned into vaccines.

Another critical question she's zeroing in on is whether people who become immune are still capable of spreading the virus.

"Because you might be immune, you might have protected yourself against the virus," she says, "but it still might be in your body and you're giving it to others."

That would have huge public health implications if it turns out people can still spread the disease after they've recovered. Studies from China and South Korea seemed to suggest this was possible, though further studies have cast doubt on that as a significant feature of the disease.

Nadeau is also trying to figure out what can be said about the antibody blood-tests that are now starting to flood the market. There are two issues with these tests. First, a positive test may be a false-positive result, so it may be necessary to run a confirmatory test to get a credible answer. Second, it's not clear that a true positive test result really indicates a person is immune, and if so for how long.

Companies would like to be able to use these tests to identify people who can return to work without fear of spreading the coronavirus.

"I see a lot of business people wanting to do the best for their employees, and for good reason," Nadeau says. "And we can never say you're fully protected until we get enough [information]. But right now we're working hard to get the numbers we need to be able to see what constitutes protection and what does not."

It could be a matter of life or death to get this right. Answers to these questions are likely to come with the accumulation of information from many different labs. Fortunately, scientists around the world are working simultaneously to find answers.

You can contact NPR Science Correspondent Richard Harris at rharris@npr.org.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Biodiversity on organic farms is, on average, 34% higher than on conventional farms, according to a recent study. The researchers used data from a large number of studies to show that this figure has remained stable over the last 30 years.

Groundwater is the earth’s largest freshwater resource and is vital for irrigation and global food production. In dry periods farmers pump groundwater to water crops, this is already happening at an unsustainable level in many places — exceeding the rate at which rain and rivers can refill the groundwater stores. This study seeks to identify where groundwater pumping is affecting stream flows and estimates where and when environmentally critical stream flows — required to maintain healthy ecosystems — can no longer be sustained.

Extreme and catastrophic floods in Europe, such as those seen in 2013, currently occur approximately once every 16 years, but this may increase to once every 10 years by 2050, according to new research. The study also suggests that annual average economic losses caused by extreme floods could reach almost five times higher than 2013 values.

Householders who believe that climate change increases flood risk are up to 12% more likely to protect their homes against flooding than those who do not hold this belief, finds recent research from Germany. The national survey also found that previous experience of flood damage increased the likelihood of households introducing flood protection measures.

The widespread use of higher-yielding improved varieties of crops as part of the ‘Green Revolution’ has averted the conversion of between 18 to 27 million hectares of forests, woodlands and pastures in the period 1965 to 2004, according to a recent study. However, its authors caution that the relationship between these crops and land use change is complex, and good governance is needed to protect biodiversity from future expansion of agricultural land.

Policy measures to protect biodiversity must be scientifically sound in order to deal with the complexity of nature and the human pressures on nature. This thematic issue reports on research which can help policy makers understand biodiversity in water and different ways in which human activity can be managed to ensure both wildlife and humans benefit from healthy aquatic and marine ecosystems.

Climate change will lead to an increased risk of flooding and huge economic losses if countries do not invest in appropriate adaptation measures, according to a new study. The research estimates the risks posed by flooding to cities around the world and the associated economic losses in 2005 and 2050, and suggests that flood protection must be increased to maintain the same level of risk to coastal cities.

Mental health and supply problems, such as loss of electricity, were perceived by residents as the most serious impacts of 2013 flooding in Germany, according to new research. The most frequent effect of the flooding on companies was interruption to their business. The researchers say that focusing on impacts that can be measured in financial terms does not fully describe the effects of flooding, and make recommendations for improving flood data collection.

Woodlands in the grounds of old manor houses or castles can provide high quality habitat for numerous forest species, a recent study from Estonia concludes. The researchers found that, compared to nearby forests, old rural park woodlands appeared to be better at supporting biodiversity.

To keep Europe’s ecosystems healthy, we need to protect biodiversity. How can the ecosystem service approach help? And how can we capture people’s more deeply held values beyond mere money? Watch the video produced by Science for Environment Policy about the different tools in the ecosystem services toolbox.

Synthetic biology may propose solutions to some of the greatest environmental challenges, such as climate change and scarcity of clean water. However, the introduction of novel, synthetic organisms may also pose a high risk for natural ecosystems. Check out our infographics on some of the history and science behind synthetic biology.

A new EU-commissioned report has investigated the social value of biodiversity conservation, particularly in terms of its links to employment. It estimates that 35% of jobs in developing countries and 7% of jobs in the EU are dependent on ecosystem services.

Although most energy in homes is used for heating and hot water, significant amounts of energy are also used when a house is built. A lifecycle assessment of a low-energy, affordable timber house indicates that large energy and carbon savings can be made when alternatives to traditional methods of construction are used.

Information about geodiversity — i.e. the variety of the material, non-biological parts of the natural world — could be better used and more integrated in environmental management in the UK, finds new research. The authors examined the inclusion of geodiversity information in UK assessments and identified a number of areas where geoscience knowledge is vital for informing ecosystem management.

Flood prevention actions can redirect flooding to another location. A new French survey indicates that current local compensation policies to deal with this situation may be financially unviable. It suggests more practical solutions would involve insurance schemes and state intervention, as well as local water management institutions.

A new study outlines the challenges faced in securing Europe's coastlines against flood damage. The study highlights the importance of taking an integrated approach to coastal management which accounts for scientific, socio-economic and political factors, and considers the problem at local, regional and national levels, from the perspectives of all stakeholders.

Climate change is expected to increase the intensity and occurrence of regional floods in Europe. A recent study has examined existing natural and constructed retention (or holding) basins that can be adapted to provide flood defences. As part of the study, a classification system for flood defence structures was developed to help Member States design sustainable flood risk management plans.

A new study has investigated the restoration of a damaged estuary in Spain by comparing the costs of installing sewage systems with the associated benefits for water quality and biodiversity in the area. Long-term benefits, particularly in the inner part of the estuary, increased with investment in sewage treatment schemes.

A new study provides the first global estimates of river and coastal flooding, highlighting past and future trends, and indicates that Asia and Europe are two of the regions that are worst affected. The researchers suggest that their methods could be useful in developing a global framework for flood risk assessment.

Measures to protect biodiversity can also improve carbon storage and water flow regulation, research indicates. In a Spanish protected area, researchers mapped biodiversity, carbon storage and water flow regulation, and found there was substantial overlap between the three.

The socio-economic costs and benefits of adaptation to river flooding caused by climate change have been assessed in a new study. According to the study, adaptation measures could save €53.1 billion every year in flood-related losses across Europe by 2080.

Researchers have analysed the policy response to the 2013–2014 flooding of the Somerset Levels and Moors in the UK. Analysis of media coverage and interviews with stakeholders revealed how local pressure promoted dredging — a policy that had fallen out of favour with the national Environment Agency (EA). Although dredging was eventually readopted by the EA, there remain uncertainties over its long-term viability due to funding constraints and debates over its effectiveness.

Considering the sustainability of the services provided by an ecosystem could help to overcome management challenges and hit water quality targets defined by the EU, says a new study. By exploring 13 of the ecosystem services (ES) provided by the Venice Lagoon, Italy, the researchers identify factors affecting sustainable and unsustainable patterns of ES provision, and suggest that confined and more open water bodies could benefit from different management strategies.