Lagrange Point

Fungal invasions taking over living hosts is the thing of science fiction, but the humble button mushroom is taken steps to start. Often a fungi will specialize in symbiosis, invading or decomposing. But Mycena are starting to adapt to do all three. Humans, plants and fungi are in a complicated relationship where we influence the development of each other. The complex fungal toxin patulin is dangerous for humans, but can be broken down by microbes in soil. What can we learn from soil to fight back against fungal toxins and keep our fruit safe.

1. Megumi Mita, Rina Sato, Miho Kakinuma, Hiroyuki Nakagawa, Toshiki Furuya. Isolation and characterization of filamentous fungi capable of degrading the mycotoxin patulin. MicrobiologyOpen, 2023; 12 (4) DOI: 10.1002/mbo3.1373
2. Christoffer Bugge Harder, Emily Hesling, Synnøve S. Botnen, Kelsey E. Lorberau, Bálint Dima, Tea von Bonsdorff‐Salminen, Tuula Niskanen, Susan G. Jarvis, Andrew Ouimette, Alison Hester, Erik A. Hobbie, Andy F. S. Taylor, Håvard Kauserud. Mycena species can be opportunist‐generalist plant root invaders. Environmental Microbiology, 2023; 25 (10): 1875 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.16398

E.coli is one of the most studied and versatile bacteria, so how can we make it work for us? Bacteria's ability to generate electricity is well known, but often requires complex conditions. How can we use E.Coli to generate electricity without a complicated setup? Geothermal systems seem to promise unlimited power but sometimes a cold water 'short circuit' ruins the plan. How do you carefully control the efficiency of geothermal power in the extreme temperatures and pressures of the earth?

References:

1. Mohammed Mouhib, Melania Reggente, Lin Li, Nils Schuergers, Ardemis A. Boghossian. Extracellular electron transfer pathways to enhance the electroactivity of modified Escherichia coli. Joule, 2023; DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2023.08.006
2. Qitao Zhang, Arash Dahi Taleghani. Autonomous fracture flow tunning to enhance efficiency of fractured geothermal systems. Energy, 2023; 281: 128163 DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2023.128163

How does a jellyfish manage to see and learn without a large central brain? Like the Scarecrow of Oz, jellyfish are a without a brain but are still able to learn and do great feats. How does the nervous system of a jellyfish learn to dodge and avoid obstacles without a big brain? Plants respond to light, but is it possible to communicate with them about upcoming dangers?

1. Jan Bielecki, Sofie Katrine Dam Nielsen, Gösta Nachman, Anders Garm. Associative learning in the box jellyfish Tripedalia cystophora. Current Biology, 2023; DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.08.056
2. Bo Larsen, Roberto Hofmann, Ines S. Camacho, Richard W. Clarke, J Clark Lagarias, Alex R. Jones, Alexander M. Jones. Highlighter: An optogenetic system for high-resolution gene expression control in plants. PLOS Biology, 2023; 21 (9): e3002303 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002303

There are many different types of treatments for cancer, all of them with pros and cons. Enhancing our anti cancer toolbox requires careful testing to help reduce side effects. CAR-T takes your immune cells and boosts them to help fight cancer, but can have some pretty nasty side effects. By carefully coating CAR-T cells you can fight back against cancer and limit the chance of a cytokine storm or neurotoxicity .

1. Ningqiang Gong, Xuexiang Han, Lulu Xue, Rakan El-Mayta, Ann E. Metzloff, Margaret M. Billingsley, Alex G. Hamilton, Michael J. Mitchell. In situ PEGylation of CAR T cells alleviates cytokine release syndrome and neurotoxicity. Nature Materials, 2023; DOI: 10.1038/s41563-023-01646-6

Infrastructure projects and large engineering projects can lead to archaeological discoveries. When you start digging a large sewer network, the last thing you suspect to find is 1,000s of fossils. Large water projects in Auckland managed to discover new species and shed light on New Zealand 3 million years ago. We often think of modern plumbing as being a sign of the modern era, but in ancient China, a community banded together to build their own drainage network. 

References:​

1. Bruce W. Hayward, Thomas F. Stolberger, Nathan Collins, Alan G. Beu, Wilma Blom. A diverse Late Pliocene fossil fauna and its paleoenvironment at Māngere, Auckland, New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 2023; 1 DOI: 10.1080/00288306.2023.2243234
2. Chunxia Li, Yanpeng Cao, Chi Zhang, Ling Qin, Zhenhua Deng, Yan Chen, Shuzheng Zhu, Wei Li, Junping Yuan, Hai Zhang, Yijie Zhuang. Earliest ceramic drainage system and the formation of hydro-sociality in monsoonal East Asia. Nature Water, 2023; DOI: 10.1038/s44221-023-00114-4

At the depths of the ocean, in freezing waters there is somehow a paradise for Octopi. Off the coast of Monterey, an extinct underwater volcano creates just the right conditions for an absurd number of octopi to breed, nest and survive despite the freezing temperatures. With water near freezing, an octopi egg would normally take 8 years to hatch, but how are they managing to survive in huge numbers?

References:

1. James P. Barry, Steven Y. Litvin, Andrew DeVogelaere, David W. Caress, Chris F. Lovera, Amanda S. Kahn, Erica J. Burton, Chad King, Jennifer B. Paduan, C. Geoffrey Wheat, Fanny Girard, Sebastian Sudek, Anne M. Hartwell, Alana D. Sherman, Paul R. McGill, Aaron Schnittger, Janet R. Voight, Eric J. Martin. Abyssal hydrothermal springs—Cryptic incubators for brooding octopus. Science Advances, 2023; 9 (34) DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adg3247

How long do you really have to wait after a concussion? Athletes are always keen to get back in the game after a head knock, but how long do they really need to wait? When trying to assess and track a concussion getting hard data is difficult. Using special headbands and measuring the pulse of the brain you can get an insight into concussion recovery. Concussion symptoms can disappear long before the brain has truly recovered. If you are slowly recovering fro a concussion how long will you need to wait?

1. Cathra Halabi, Lynda Norton, Kevin Norton, Wade S. Smith. Headpulse Biometric Measures Following Concussion in Young Adult Athletes. JAMA Network Open, 2023; 6 (8): e2328633 DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.28633
2. Thomas Walker McAllister, Steven P Broglio, Barry P Katz, Susan M Perkins, Michelle LaPradd, Wenxian Zhou, Michael A McCrea. Characteristics and Outcomes of Athletes With Slow Recovery From Sport-Related Concussion: A CARE Consortium Study. Neurology, 2023; 10.1212/WNL.0000000000206853 DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000206853

When whales and humans interact the results can be confusing and messy for both sides. Whether it be noisy boat propellers, or orcas on a collision course, humans and whales don't always get on. How can we monitor and track how whales respond to humans. The best ways of monitoring animals is often with tags, but the very act of tagging can ruin what you're trying to study. 

1. Lars Reiter Nielsen, Outi M. Tervo, Susanna B. Blackwell, Mads Peter Heide‐Jørgensen, Susanne Ditlevsen. Using quantile regression and relative entropy to assess the period of anomalous behavior of marine mammals following tagging. Ecology and Evolution, 2023; 13 (4) DOI: 10.1002/ece3.9967

Antibiotic resistance is a global challenge, but the solution may come from the natural predator of bacteria. Bacterial infections can be nasty, but you can engineer a phage to help better identify and treat them. Knowing exactly which bacteria is causing problems can help doctors target treatment more precisely and tailor antibiotic courses. Using bacteriophages  you can quickly identify and then eliminate common types of bacterial infections.

1. Jiemin Du, Susanne Meile, Jasmin Baggenstos, Tobias Jäggi, Pietro Piffaretti, Laura Hunold, Cassandra I. Matter, Lorenz Leitner, Thomas M. Kessler, Martin J. Loessner, Samuel Kilcher, Matthew Dunne. Enhancing bacteriophage therapeutics through in situ production and release of heterologous antimicrobial effectors. Nature Communications, 2023; 14 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39612-0
2. Susanne Meile, Jiemin Du, Samuel Staubli, Sebastian Grossmann, Hendrik Koliwer-Brandl, Pietro Piffaretti, Lorenz Leitner, Cassandra I. Matter, Jasmin Baggenstos, Laura Hunold, Sonja Milek, Christian Guebeli, Marko Kozomara-Hocke, Vera Neumeier, Angela Botteon, Jochen Klumpp, Jonas Marschall, Shawna McCallin, Reinhard Zbinden, Thomas M. Kessler, Martin J. Loessner, Matthew Dunne, Samuel Kilcher. Engineered reporter phages for detection of Escherichia coli, Enterococcus, and Klebsiella in urine. Nature Communications, 2023; 14 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-39863-x

Getting an accurate picture of someone's health or vital signs is essential in medicine, but hard to physically do without wires. Invasive health monitoring systems can't provide insights into 'everyday' scenarios. Trying to assess someone's posture, gait and rehabilitation is hard if they're wired into a harness. Smart Pants using fibre optics can help rehabilitation by fully understanding the problem points in high detail. Non-contact monitoring of breathing and other vital signs is important in a hospital setting to reduce risk, but camera based solutions are too variable. How can you 'remove the wires' in a hospital setting? By using LiDAR and RF radar. 

1. Leticia Avellar, Anselmo Frizera, Arnaldo Leal-Junior. POF Smart Pants: a fully portable optical fiber-integrated smart textile for remote monitoring of lower limb biomechanics. Biomedical Optics Express, 2023; 14 (7): 3689 DOI: 10.1364/BOE.492796
2. Ziqian Zhang, Yang Liu, Tegan Stephens, Benjamin J. Eggleton. Photonic radar for contactless vital sign detection. Nature Photonics, 2023; DOI: 10.1038/s41566-023-01245-6

Its a huge leap from a single celled organism to a complex multicellular beast. So how does evolution manage it? You can evolve humble yeast from a single celled organism into a complex interwoven multicellular one. Over 3,000 generations in the lab, the humble yeast was evolved from microscopic to macroscopic with super strength. Grouping together or splitting apart can offer benefits for organisms, but what environmental pressures cause an organism to go one way or the other? 

1. G. Ozan Bozdag, Seyed Alireza Zamani-Dahaj, Thomas C. Day, Penelope C. Kahn, Anthony J. Burnetti, Dung T. Lac, Kai Tong, Peter L. Conlin, Aishwarya H. Balwani, Eva L. Dyer, Peter J. Yunker, William C. Ratcliff. De novo evolution of macroscopic multicellularity. Nature, 2023; DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06052-1
2. Florian van der Ent, Susann Skagseth, Bjarte A. Lund, Jaka Sočan, Julia J. Griese, Bjørn O. Brandsdal, Johan Åqvist. Computational design of the temperature optimum of an enzyme reaction. Science Advances, 2023; 9 (26) DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adi0963

Humans are filling the atmosphere with more and more pollution. How does it get out of the air and where does it go? For complex pollutants in the atmosphere, having a bit of hydroxide around helps break it down but where does it come from? Hydroxide can spontaneously generate in droplets but it doesn't seem to need sunlight's or photo-chemistry. Spontaneous generation of hydroxide in water droplets helps clean up our atmosphere. Which trees are best at cleaning up the air around them? From conifers to broad leave trees which help keep our air clean the best? C is for conifer, and their leaves and needles help capture pollution out of the air.  Broadleaf trees are well...broad and this helps them capture lots of air pollution. 

References:

1. Kangwei Li, Yunlong Guo, Sergey A. Nizkorodov, Yinon Rudich, Maria Angelaki, Xinke Wang, Taicheng An, Sebastien Perrier, Christian George. Spontaneous dark formation of OH radicals at the interface of aqueous atmospheric droplets. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2023; 120 (15) DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2220228120
2. H. Pleijel, J. Klingberg, B. Strandberg, H. Sjöman, L. Tarvainen, G. Wallin. Differences in accumulation of polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs) among eleven broadleaved and conifer tree species. Ecological Indicators, 2022; 145: 109681 DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.109681

As our climate changes extreme weather events become more common, but what does this mean for ecosystems? Ecosystems and plants that have adapted to on extreme climate, can thrive in another. An adaption that helps you survive in extreme cold can be very helpful when there is a drought. There is a balancing act between choosing when to grow and when to conserve energy. Plants carefully manage their resources in extreme drought and extreme cold. 

1. Joan Dudney, Andrew M. Latimer, Phillip van Mantgem, Harold Zald, Claire E. Willing, Jonathan C. B. Nesmith, Jennifer Cribbs, Elizabeth Milano. The energy–water limitation threshold explains divergent drought responses in tree growth, needle length, and stable isotope ratios. Global Change Biology, 2023; DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16740

How can tiny bacteria change the entire planet? Greenland is beautiful and covered in glaciers, but they are turning more and more dark and black. Black algae is tinting glaciers in Greenland darker, and causing changes in our climate. The more our climate changes, the easier it is for algae to thrive in glacier runoff and change the colours of the glaciers. Algae can survive in strange locations on earth, what can that teach us about microorganisms across the solar system? 

1. James A. Bradley, Christopher B. Trivedi, Matthias Winkel, Rey Mourot, Stefanie Lutz, Catherine Larose, Christoph Keuschnig, Eva Doting, Laura Halbach, Athanasios Zervas, Alexandre M. Anesio, Liane G. Benning. Active and dormant microorganisms on glacier surfaces. Geobiology, 2022; 21 (2): 244 DOI: 10.1111/gbi.12535

Bacteria are masters of survival, pausing and shielding themselves when times get tough. So how do they know when to wake up? The mechanisms bacteria use to survive harsh conditions are one of the reasons they're able to survive so well. The protective layers and pausing all activity inside the cell enable the bacteria, as a spore, to survive very long periods of time. After suspending themselves through a tough period of time,how do bacteria wake themselves up?

1. Yongqiang Gao, Jeremy D. Amon, Lior Artzi, Fernando H. Ramírez-Guadiana, Kelly P. Brock, Joshua C. Cofsky, Deborah S. Marks, Andrew C. Kruse, David Z. Rudner. Bacterial spore germination receptors are nutrient-gated ion channels. Science, 2023; 380 (6643): 387 DOI: 10.1126/science.adg9829

Your body is constantly communicating about what's happening outside and inside of it, but how can we listen in. When your immune system is responding to a virus, or a wound is healing, there are lots of signals to decode if only we could hear them. By amplifying the signals inside your body with special folding DNA and transistors we can understand how our body responds. The brain's neural networks are a treasure trove of information if we're able to blend in and listen. Using a microbot you can get precise information from on inside in the brain rather than relying on external information.

1. Xudong Ji, Xuanyi Lin, Jonathan Rivnay. Organic electrochemical transistors as on-site signal amplifiers for electrochemical aptamer-based sensing. Nature Communications, 2023; 14 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-37402-2
2. Eunhee Kim, Sungwoong Jeon, Yoon‐Sil Yang, Chaewon Jin, Jin‐young Kim, Yong‐Seok Oh, Jong‐Cheol Rah, Hongsoo Choi. A Neurospheroid‐Based Microrobot for Targeted Neural Connections in a Hippocampal Slice. Advanced Materials, 2023; 35 (13) DOI: 10.1002/adma.202208747

How does your body pass information along to your brain? The thalamus connects those sensory inputs back to your cerebral cortex but it's a lot sparser than you'd think. The synapses that link your senses to your cortex are often weak and rare, but their diversity gives them a boost. Lots of diverse synapses with different strengths help you perceive the world more clearly. Do both your eyes get equally treated by your brain?

1. Aygul Balcioglu, Rebecca Gillani, Michael Doron, Kendyll Burnell, Taeyun Ku, Alev Erisir, Kwanghun Chung, Idan Segev, Elly Nedivi. Mapping thalamic innervation to individual L2/3 pyramidal neurons and modeling their ‘readout’ of visual input. Nature Neuroscience, 2023; DOI: 10.1038/s41593-022-01253-9
2. Joel Bauer, Simon Weiler, Martin H.P. Fernholz, David Laubender, Volker Scheuss, Mark Hübener, Tobias Bonhoeffer, Tobias Rose. Limited functional convergence of eye-specific inputs in the retinogeniculate pathway of the mouse. Neuron, 2021; DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2021.05.036

Seeing how something happens makes it much easier to understand. Biological process can be very hard to capture with images or video. Understanding how a protein requires thinking in 3D but to take images of them we often have to 'snap freeze' them in place. How can lasers, ions and quantum mechanics be used to help capture a protein in motion. PCR based diagnostics tests are accurate but require a lot of setup and expertise. Can you make a PCR test more like a point of care test using bio-luminescence.

1. Shiny Maity, Brad D. Price, C. Blake Wilson, Arnab Mukherjee, Matthieu Starck, David Parker, Maxwell Z. Wilson, Janet E. Lovett, Songi Han, Mark S. Sherwin. Triggered Functional Dynamics of AsLOV2 by Time‐Resolved Electron Paramagnetic Resonance at High Magnetic Fields. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2023; 62 (13) DOI: 10.1002/anie.202212832
2. Harmen J. van der Veer, Eva A. van Aalen, Claire M. S. Michielsen, Eva T. L. Hanckmann, Jeroen Deckers, Marcel M. G. J. van Borren, Jacky Flipse, Anne J. M. Loonen, Joost P. H. Schoeber, Maarten Merkx. Glow-in-the-Dark Infectious Disease Diagnostics Using CRISPR-Cas9-Based Split Luciferase Complementation. ACS Central Science, 2023; DOI: 10.1021/acscentsci.2c01467

Life in a radiation exclusion zone is challenging but not impossible. We find out about tales of survival, endurance and adaption in radiation zones and in March Mammal Madness. How does life adapt to high exposure of toxic chemicals, radiation and heavy metals? Studying the DNA of differing animal populations in Chernobyl helps researchers understand how life responds to environmental disasters.  What's more stressful for wild boar - humans or a radiation disaster zone? Around Fukashima wild boar and snakes are thriving in what is classified as a radiation disaster zone. We also preview March Mammal Madness and find out about the different divisions in this year's edition.

1. March Mammal Madness resources compiled by Arizona State University https://libguides.asu.edu/marchmammalmadness
2. Megan N. Dillon, Rachael Thomas, Timothy A. Mousseau, Jennifer A. Betz, Norman J. Kleiman, Martha O. Burford Reiskind, Matthew Breen. Population dynamics and genome-wide selection scan for dogs in Chernobyl. Canine Medicine and Genetics, 2023; 10 (1) DOI: 10.1186/s40575-023-00124-1
3. Kelly Cunningham, Thomas G. Hinton, Jared J. Luxton, Aryn Bordman, Kei Okuda, Lynn E. Taylor, Josh Hayes, Hannah C. Gerke, Sarah M. Chinn, Donovan Anderson, Mark L. Laudenslager, Tsugiko Takase, Yui Nemoto, Hiroko Ishiniwa, James C. Beasley, Susan M. Bailey. Evaluation of DNA damage and stress in wildlife chronically exposed to low-dose, low-dose rate radiation from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. Environment International, 2021; 155: 106675 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2021.106675

How did birds end up with their trademark beaks? You can broadly group birds into two categories, ancient and modern jaws or beaks. We thought mobile beaks were a modern invention but new fossils overturn this idea. Just when did birds first develop their modern mobile beaks? Wild jungle fowl were domesticated to become the chickens we love today. But wild chickens are not isolated completely from modern ones. Gene transfers between wild and domesticated chickens are eroding the genetic diversity of the species.

1. Benjamin A. Tonelli, Casey Youngflesh, Morgan W. Tingley. Geomagnetic disturbance associated with increased vagrancy in migratory landbirds. Scientific Reports, 2023; 13 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-26586-0
2. Meng Yue Wu, Giovanni Forcina, Gabriel Weijie Low, Keren R. Sadanandan, Chyi Yin Gwee, Hein van Grouw, Shaoyuan Wu, Scott V. Edwards, Maude W. Baldwin, Frank E. Rheindt. Historic samples reveal loss of wild genotype through domestic chicken introgression during the Anthropocene. PLOS Genetics, 2023; 19 (1): e1010551 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010551