The T.rex could be lost to science

The Bat Immune System Explained by Javier Juste: How a “Super Cool Animal” Helps a Doctor to Understand Brain Diseases

The bat immune response is underpinned by the biological mechanisms which include identification of cell types that are different to bats. Bat species tolerate many different types of infections. This can help determine whether there is “one global mechanism that applies to all of the bats, and all of the viruses”, says Diane Bimczok, a mucosal immunologist at Montana State University in Bozeman, who has jumped on the bat bandwagon. We don’t know if that is the case.

The colony was set up by Lin-fa Wang, a virologist at Duke–NUS Medical School to create a controlled setting for studying bat biology, including the inner workings of their immune system.

The lack of tools means that researchers still don’t have a clear picture of the “basic architecture of the bat immune system”, says Peng Zhou, an infectious-diseases researcher at the Guangzhou Laboratory, China.

“There are going to be some huge steps forward in the next two or three years in terms of bat virology and bat immunology,” says Tony Schountz, an immunologist at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.

“The colony has given us everything we wanted,” says Wang. His office is adorned with souvenirs from the years: a bat-printed mug, a bat-encased bat specimen, framed drawings of bats.

Researchers find a lot to puzzle over in bats. They are “super cool animals” says Zwaka. They are the only mammals to have evolved flight, and they use sound waves to locate objects in the dark. They live exceptionally long lives for their small size, and have a low incidence of cancer.

Bats don’t overreact with an outsized inflammatory response, which is often responsible for much of the damage caused from an infection. Bats have several ways to tame the inflammatory response, such as suppressing the activity of large multiprotein molecules known as inflammasomes. Instead of spending huge amounts of energy getting rid of a virus completely, they seem to tolerate low levels of its presence, says Irving. There is a peace treaty between bats and the pathogens that they host.

Some of these questions took Javier Juste to an abandoned dam in Cádiz, Spain, one night in May 2020. He crept into a tunnel at the dam and retrieved two horseshoe bats.

The researchers now plan to use the stem cells to generate lung, gut and blood tissue, as well as infecting the cells with viruses. Zwaka wants to use bat tissue to better understand bat immunity and develop strategies for human health. Bat organoids developed with stem cells from bats are being used by other researchers.

Together with Teeling and other colleagues, Zwaka sequenced the RNA expressed by these cells and found an abundance of sections that were essentially viral fragments, many of which were originally coronavirus genomes. The viral gene expression was higher and more diverse in pluripotent cells than in both bat skin cells and in pluripotent cells from mice and humans. What’s more, the pluripotent bat cells actually used the viral fragments to make what appeared to be virus-like particles.

The project is part of a global genome consortium that was co-founded by Teeling and aims to create high-quality genomes for every bat species. A surge in funding and interest in the study of bats has led to the collection of 80 bat genomes so far.

Among the trendiest techniques enabled by high-quality genomes is single-cell RNA sequencing, in which researchers take a cell of interest and analyse its RNA contents to explore the cell’s components and how they work.

A harpsichordous dinosaur auctioned in the vivarium in Singapore: A funfair tale of Yroy and Foo, yroy, and Trinus

Back in Singapore, it is hot and humid under the bright midday Sun, but inside the vivarium, the temperature is noticeably cooler. Yroy and Foo are speaking loudly above the noisy hum of a machine outside.

The fossil is expected to fetch millions at an auction, putting it out of reach of museums. Plus, ‘smooth’ physics pioneer wins top maths prize, and how bats’ weird immune system could stop pandemics.

A tyrannosaurus rex fossil is set to be auctioned in Switzerland next month. A 67-million-year-old skeleton named Trinity was unearthed in 2008 in Montana and Wyoming and it’s a combination of bones from three dinosaurs. Trinity’s value has ranged from between US$ 5 million and $ 8 million. Its price tag could put it out of reach of museums and make it inaccessible to researchers. “Everyone who is interested in the natural world loses, from schoolchildren to scientists,” says palaeontologist Thomas Carr.

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00872-x

Detecting and managing typhoid diseases through clean water: The case for the Argentina-based mathematician Luis Caffarelli

Argentinian mathematician Luis Caffarelli has won the 2023 Abel Prize — essentially a Nobel prize for mathematics — for his work on differential equations. These describe simple-sounding phenomena, such as how the shape of a piece of ice changes as it melts. The problems are often impossible to solve smoothly because the numbers run away to unphysical infinites. Caffarelli says that his proudest achievement is a smoothness result on the solutions to the notoriously complex Navier–Stokes equations, which describe how fluids move. The first person born in South America to win the award was Caffarelli.

Scanning sewage for viruses that infect the typhoid bacterium could reveal where typhoid vaccines are most needed. The disease can be treated with antibiotics, but some countries are immunizing their people to avoid creating antibiotic-resistant strains. Outbreaks can be traced through waste water, but detecting the bacteria is difficult and expensive. Typhoid-killing viruses can serve as a proxy for typhoid burden. If the viruses are present, the sewage water will kill the bacteria and form clear patches on the dish.

The US wants clean energy, but doesn’t want the necessary minerals mined closer to home, which is a dilemma for the administration. “There is virtue in embracing tough trade-offs,” says environmental-security scholar Saleem Ali. There is a sordid history of exploitation and plunder in the mining industry. Benefit agreements withcommunities can be created with regulatory oversight to ensure mining practices are sustainable.

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00872-x

A Conversation with Praveen Paul on the Impact of Climate Change on Afghanistan: Why AI is so misright when it comes to brain processes?

It was after Broussard found out that an artificial intelligence had been looking through her medical records that she began testing her cancer-detection feature on her mammograms. Broussard claims that computers are wrong when it comes to brain processes. A prediction is different from a diagnosis. The results of her experiment left her sceptical about whether AI could work well enough outside highly constrained circumstances to replace physicians. Some day? Maybe. Soon? Unlikely.”

Afghan scientists say the world must engage with Afghanistan and its regime on climate issues, which could help to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the country. A series of droughts over the past few years has been made worse by decades of conflict, poor water management and the Taliban takeover in 2021. The regime abolished the agency responsible for managing water resources. Aid agencies have stopped work after officials fled and they lost technical expertise. “Some key positions in climate sectors are filled by mullahs” — or religious scholars — “who have zero understanding about climate issues,” says water researcher Najibullah Sadid.

Praveen Paul tells us how she and Michael Motskin started the yearly Pint of Science festival which is an annual worldwide science festival and brings researchers to local pubs, bars and cafes to talk with the public. (Nature | 6 min read)