A new study reveals that asteroid impact sites in the ocean may possess a crucial link in explaining the formation of the essential molecules for life. The study discovered the emergence of amino acids that serve as the building blocks for proteins -- demonstrating the role of meteorites in bringing life's molecules to earth, and potentially Mars.
There are two explanations for the origins of life's building molecules: extraterrestrial delivery, such as via meteorites; and endogenous formation. The presence of amino acids and other biomolecules in meteorites points to the former.
Researchers from Tohoku University, National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Center for High Pressure Science & Technology Advanced Research (HPSTAR), and Osaka University simulated the reactions involved when a meteorite crashes into the ocean. To do this, they investigated the reactions between carbon dioxide, nitrogen, water, and iron in a laboratory impact facility using a single stage propellant gun. Their simulation revealed the formation of amino acids such as glycine and alanine. These amino acids are direct constituents of proteins, which catalyze many biological reactions.
The team used carbon dioxide and nitrogen as the carbon and nitrogen sources because these gases are regarded as the two major components in the atmosphere on the Hadean Earth, which existed more than 4 billion years ago.
Corresponding author from Tohoku University, Yoshihiro Furukawa, explains, "Making organic molecules form reduced compounds like methane and ammonia are not difficult, but they are regarded as minor components in the atmosphere at that time." He adds, "The finding of amino acid formation from carbon dioxide and molecular nitrogen demonstrates the importance in making life's building blocks from these ubiquitous compounds."
The hypothesis that an ocean once existed on Mars also raises interesting avenues for exploration. Carbon dioxide and nitrogen are likely to have been the major constituent gases of the Martian atmosphere when the ocean existed. Therefore, impact-induced amino acid formation also provides a possible source of life's ingredients on ancient Mars.
Furukawa says, "further investigations will reveal more about the role meteorites played in bringing more complex biomolecules to Earth and Mars."
From Science Daily
Jun 9, 2020
Water vapor in the atmosphere may be prime renewable energy source
The search for renewable energy sources, which include wind, solar, hydroelectric dams, geothermal, and biomass, has preoccupied scientists and policymakers alike, due to their enormous potential in the fight against climate change. A new Tel Aviv University study finds that water vapor in the atmosphere may serve as a potential renewable energy source in the future.
The research, led by Prof. Colin Price in collaboration with Prof. Hadas Saaroni and doctoral student Judi Lax, all of TAU's Porter School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, is based on the discovery that electricity materializes in the interaction between water molecules and metal surfaces. It was published in Scientific Reports on May 6, 2020.
"We sought to capitalize on a naturally occurring phenomenon: electricity from water," explains Prof. Price. "Electricity in thunderstorms is generated only by water in its different phases -- water vapor, water droplets, and ice. Twenty minutes of cloud development is how we get from water droplets to huge electric discharges -- lightning -- some half a mile in length."
The researchers set out to try to produce a tiny low-voltage battery that utilizes only humidity in the air, building on the findings of earlier discoveries. In the nineteenth century, for example, English physicist Michael Faraday discovered that water droplets could charge metal surfaces due to friction between the two. A much more recent study showed that certain metals spontaneously build up an electrical charge when exposed to humidity.
The scientists conducted a laboratory experiment to determine the voltage between two different metals exposed to high relative humidity, while one is grounded. "We found that there was no voltage between them when the air was dry," Prof. Price explains. "But once the relative humidity rose above 60%, a voltage began to develop between the two isolated metal surfaces. When we lowered the humidity level to below 60%, the voltage disappeared. When we carried out the experiment outside in natural conditions, we saw the same results.
"Water is a very special molecule. During molecular collisions, it can transfer an electrical charge from one molecule to the other. Through friction, it can build up a kind of static electricity," says Prof. Price. "We tried to reproduce electricity in the lab and found that different isolated metal surfaces will build up different amounts of charge from water vapor in the atmosphere, but only if the air relative humidity is above 60%. This occurs nearly every day in the summer in Israel and every day in most tropical countries."
According to Prof. Price, this study challenges established ideas about humidity and its potential as an energy source. "People know that dry air results in static electricity and you sometimes get 'shocks' you when you touch a metal door handle. Water is normally thought of as a good conductor of electricity, not something that can build up charge on a surface. However, it seems that things are different once the relative humidity exceeds a certain threshold," he says.
The researchers, however, showed that humid air may be a source of charging surfaces to voltages of around one volt. "If a AA battery is 1.5V, there may be a practical application in the future: to develop batteries that can be charged from water vapor in the air," Prof. Price adds.
Read more at Science Daily
The research, led by Prof. Colin Price in collaboration with Prof. Hadas Saaroni and doctoral student Judi Lax, all of TAU's Porter School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, is based on the discovery that electricity materializes in the interaction between water molecules and metal surfaces. It was published in Scientific Reports on May 6, 2020.
"We sought to capitalize on a naturally occurring phenomenon: electricity from water," explains Prof. Price. "Electricity in thunderstorms is generated only by water in its different phases -- water vapor, water droplets, and ice. Twenty minutes of cloud development is how we get from water droplets to huge electric discharges -- lightning -- some half a mile in length."
The researchers set out to try to produce a tiny low-voltage battery that utilizes only humidity in the air, building on the findings of earlier discoveries. In the nineteenth century, for example, English physicist Michael Faraday discovered that water droplets could charge metal surfaces due to friction between the two. A much more recent study showed that certain metals spontaneously build up an electrical charge when exposed to humidity.
The scientists conducted a laboratory experiment to determine the voltage between two different metals exposed to high relative humidity, while one is grounded. "We found that there was no voltage between them when the air was dry," Prof. Price explains. "But once the relative humidity rose above 60%, a voltage began to develop between the two isolated metal surfaces. When we lowered the humidity level to below 60%, the voltage disappeared. When we carried out the experiment outside in natural conditions, we saw the same results.
"Water is a very special molecule. During molecular collisions, it can transfer an electrical charge from one molecule to the other. Through friction, it can build up a kind of static electricity," says Prof. Price. "We tried to reproduce electricity in the lab and found that different isolated metal surfaces will build up different amounts of charge from water vapor in the atmosphere, but only if the air relative humidity is above 60%. This occurs nearly every day in the summer in Israel and every day in most tropical countries."
According to Prof. Price, this study challenges established ideas about humidity and its potential as an energy source. "People know that dry air results in static electricity and you sometimes get 'shocks' you when you touch a metal door handle. Water is normally thought of as a good conductor of electricity, not something that can build up charge on a surface. However, it seems that things are different once the relative humidity exceeds a certain threshold," he says.
The researchers, however, showed that humid air may be a source of charging surfaces to voltages of around one volt. "If a AA battery is 1.5V, there may be a practical application in the future: to develop batteries that can be charged from water vapor in the air," Prof. Price adds.
Read more at Science Daily
Physical activity in all of its forms may help maintain muscle mass in midlife
A large study of middle-aged women shows that age-related changes in skeletal muscle are part of everyday life for women in their fifties. During this time, women transition from perimenopause to postmenopause and the production of estrogen ceases. Loss of estrogen has an effect on muscles and leads to a decline in muscle mass. Physical activity in all of its forms may help maintain muscle mass in midlife.
"We already knew that estrogen has a role in the regulation of muscle properties," says doctoral student Hanna-Kaarina Juppi. "By following the hormonal status, measuring many aspects of muscles and by taking into consideration the simultaneous chronological aging of women going through menopausal transition, we were able to show that the decrease of muscle mass takes place already in early postmenopause."
In the current study, muscle size was measured in the perimenopausal state and right after entering postmenopause, when menstruation had permanently stopped. Women were on average 51-and-a-half years old at the beginning of the study and 53 years old at the final measurements, so the average duration of menopausal transition was one-and-a-half years. The time it takes a woman to go through menopause is unique: in this study it varied from less than six months to more than three years. During this time, the decrease in muscle mass was on average one percent.
Juppi continues: "The observed change does not seem like much, but what is meaningful is that the decline happens in a short period of time and can have an impact on metabolism, as muscles are important regulators of whole-body metabolism."
Physical activity was found to be positively associated with the maintenance of muscle mass during the menopausal transition. Women who were more active had higher muscle mass before and after menopause compared to the less active women. It seems that even though menopause alone decreases muscle mass, staying physically active throughout middle age can help women to slow the change.
The current study was conducted in the Gerontology Research Center and Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, and is part of a larger study, Estrogenic Regulation of Muscle Apoptosis (ERMA), led by Academy Research Fellow Eija Laakkonen. More than a thousand women between the ages of 47 and 55 from the Jyväskylä region participated in the ERMA study. At the beginning of the study, 381 of them were perimenopausal, while 234 reached early postmenopause during the study. The research was funded by the Academy of Finland and the European Commission.
From Science Daily
"We already knew that estrogen has a role in the regulation of muscle properties," says doctoral student Hanna-Kaarina Juppi. "By following the hormonal status, measuring many aspects of muscles and by taking into consideration the simultaneous chronological aging of women going through menopausal transition, we were able to show that the decrease of muscle mass takes place already in early postmenopause."
In the current study, muscle size was measured in the perimenopausal state and right after entering postmenopause, when menstruation had permanently stopped. Women were on average 51-and-a-half years old at the beginning of the study and 53 years old at the final measurements, so the average duration of menopausal transition was one-and-a-half years. The time it takes a woman to go through menopause is unique: in this study it varied from less than six months to more than three years. During this time, the decrease in muscle mass was on average one percent.
Juppi continues: "The observed change does not seem like much, but what is meaningful is that the decline happens in a short period of time and can have an impact on metabolism, as muscles are important regulators of whole-body metabolism."
Physical activity was found to be positively associated with the maintenance of muscle mass during the menopausal transition. Women who were more active had higher muscle mass before and after menopause compared to the less active women. It seems that even though menopause alone decreases muscle mass, staying physically active throughout middle age can help women to slow the change.
The current study was conducted in the Gerontology Research Center and Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, and is part of a larger study, Estrogenic Regulation of Muscle Apoptosis (ERMA), led by Academy Research Fellow Eija Laakkonen. More than a thousand women between the ages of 47 and 55 from the Jyväskylä region participated in the ERMA study. At the beginning of the study, 381 of them were perimenopausal, while 234 reached early postmenopause during the study. The research was funded by the Academy of Finland and the European Commission.
From Science Daily
Drug researcher develops 'fat burning' molecule
Obesity affects more than 40 percent of adults in the United States and 13 percent of the global population. With obesity comes a variety of other interconnected diseases including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and fatty liver disease, which makes the disease one of the most difficult -- and most crucial -- to treat.
"Obesity is the biggest health problem in the United States. But, it is hard for people to lose weight and keep it off; being on a diet can be so difficult. So, a pharmacological approach, or a drug, could help out and would be beneficial for all of society," said Webster Santos, professor of chemistry and the Cliff and Agnes Lilly Faculty Fellow of Drug Discovery in the College of Science at Virginia Tech.
Santos and his colleagues have recently identified a small mitochondrial uncoupler, named BAM15, that decreases the body fat mass of mice without affecting food intake and muscle mass or increasing body temperature. Additionally, the molecule decreases insulin resistance and has beneficial effects on oxidative stress and inflammation.
The findings, published in Nature Communications on May 14, 2020, hold promise for future treatment and prevention of obesity, diabetes, and especially nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a type of fatty liver disease that is characterized by inflammation and fat accumulation in the liver. In the next few years, the condition is expected to become the leading cause of liver transplants in the United States.
The mitochondria are commonly referred to as the powerhouses of the cell. The organelle generates ATP, a molecule that serves as the energy currency of the cell, which powers body movement and other biological processes that help our body to function properly.
In order to make ATP, nutrients need to be burned and a proton motive force (PMF) needs to be established within the mitochondria. The PMF is generated from a proton gradient, where there is a higher concentration of protons outside of the inner membrane and a lower concentration of protons in the matrix, or the space within the inner membrane. The cell creates ATP whenever protons pass through an enzyme called ATP synthase, which is embedded in the membrane. Hence, nutrient oxidation, or nutrient burning, is coupled to ATP synthesis.
"So anything that decreases the PMF has the potential to increase respiration. Mitochondrial uncouplers are small molecules that go to the mitochondria to help the cells respire more. Effectively, they change metabolism in the cell so that we burn more calories without doing any exercise," said Santos, an affiliated member of the Fralin Life Sciences Institute and the Virginia Tech Center for Drug Discovery.
Mitochondrial uncouplers transport protons into the matrix by bypassing ATP synthase, which throws off the PMF. To reestablish the gradient, protons must be exported out of the mitochondrial matrix. As a result, the cell begins to burn fuel at higher than necessary levels.
Knowing that these molecules can change a cell's metabolism, researchers wanted to be sure that the drug was reaching its desired targets and that it was, above all, safe. Through a series of mouse studies, the researchers found that BAM15 is neither toxic, even at high doses, nor does it affect the satiety center in the brain, which tells our body if we are hungry or full.
In the past, many anti-fat drugs would tell your body to stop eating. But as a result, patients would rebound and eat more. In the BAM15 mouse studies, animals ate the same amount as the control group -- and they still lost fat mass.
Another side effect of previous mitochondrial uncouplers was increased body temperature. Using a rectal probe, researchers measured the body temperature of mice who were fed BAM15. They found no change in body temperature.
But one issue arises concerning the half-life of BAM15. The half-life, or the length of time that a drug is still effective, is relatively short in the mouse model. For oral dosing in humans, the optimal half-life is much longer.
Even as BAM15 has some serious potential in mouse models, the drug won't necessarily be successful in humans -- at least not this same exact molecule.
"We are essentially looking for roughly the same type of molecule, but it needs to stay in the body for longer to have an effect. We are tweaking the chemical structure of the compound. So far, we have made several hundred molecules related to this," said Santos.
The penultimate goal of the Santos lab is to transition the anti-fat treatment from animal models to a treatment for NASH in humans. The lab has used their better compounds in animal models of NASH, which have been proven to be effective as anti-NASH compounds in mice.
Working alongside Santos is Kyle Hoehn, an assistant professor of pharmacology from the University of Virginia and an associate professor of biotechnology and biomolecular sciences at the University of New South Wales in Australia. Hoehn is a metabolic physiology expert who is in charge of conducting the animal studies. Santos and Hoehn have been collaborating for several years now and they even founded a biotech company together.
Co-founded by Santos and Hoehn in 2017, Continuum Biosciences aims to improve the ways in which our bodies burn fuel and fight back against our bodies ability to store excess nutrients as we age. These promising NASH treatment compounds are licensed by their company and are patented by Virginia Tech.
The company is looking to use mitochondrial uncouplers for more than just obesity and NASH. The molecules also have a unique anti-oxygen effect that can minimize the accumulation of reactive oxygen species, or oxidative stress, in our bodies, which ultimately results in neurodegeneration and aging.
Read more at Science Daily
"Obesity is the biggest health problem in the United States. But, it is hard for people to lose weight and keep it off; being on a diet can be so difficult. So, a pharmacological approach, or a drug, could help out and would be beneficial for all of society," said Webster Santos, professor of chemistry and the Cliff and Agnes Lilly Faculty Fellow of Drug Discovery in the College of Science at Virginia Tech.
Santos and his colleagues have recently identified a small mitochondrial uncoupler, named BAM15, that decreases the body fat mass of mice without affecting food intake and muscle mass or increasing body temperature. Additionally, the molecule decreases insulin resistance and has beneficial effects on oxidative stress and inflammation.
The findings, published in Nature Communications on May 14, 2020, hold promise for future treatment and prevention of obesity, diabetes, and especially nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), a type of fatty liver disease that is characterized by inflammation and fat accumulation in the liver. In the next few years, the condition is expected to become the leading cause of liver transplants in the United States.
The mitochondria are commonly referred to as the powerhouses of the cell. The organelle generates ATP, a molecule that serves as the energy currency of the cell, which powers body movement and other biological processes that help our body to function properly.
In order to make ATP, nutrients need to be burned and a proton motive force (PMF) needs to be established within the mitochondria. The PMF is generated from a proton gradient, where there is a higher concentration of protons outside of the inner membrane and a lower concentration of protons in the matrix, or the space within the inner membrane. The cell creates ATP whenever protons pass through an enzyme called ATP synthase, which is embedded in the membrane. Hence, nutrient oxidation, or nutrient burning, is coupled to ATP synthesis.
"So anything that decreases the PMF has the potential to increase respiration. Mitochondrial uncouplers are small molecules that go to the mitochondria to help the cells respire more. Effectively, they change metabolism in the cell so that we burn more calories without doing any exercise," said Santos, an affiliated member of the Fralin Life Sciences Institute and the Virginia Tech Center for Drug Discovery.
Mitochondrial uncouplers transport protons into the matrix by bypassing ATP synthase, which throws off the PMF. To reestablish the gradient, protons must be exported out of the mitochondrial matrix. As a result, the cell begins to burn fuel at higher than necessary levels.
Knowing that these molecules can change a cell's metabolism, researchers wanted to be sure that the drug was reaching its desired targets and that it was, above all, safe. Through a series of mouse studies, the researchers found that BAM15 is neither toxic, even at high doses, nor does it affect the satiety center in the brain, which tells our body if we are hungry or full.
In the past, many anti-fat drugs would tell your body to stop eating. But as a result, patients would rebound and eat more. In the BAM15 mouse studies, animals ate the same amount as the control group -- and they still lost fat mass.
Another side effect of previous mitochondrial uncouplers was increased body temperature. Using a rectal probe, researchers measured the body temperature of mice who were fed BAM15. They found no change in body temperature.
But one issue arises concerning the half-life of BAM15. The half-life, or the length of time that a drug is still effective, is relatively short in the mouse model. For oral dosing in humans, the optimal half-life is much longer.
Even as BAM15 has some serious potential in mouse models, the drug won't necessarily be successful in humans -- at least not this same exact molecule.
"We are essentially looking for roughly the same type of molecule, but it needs to stay in the body for longer to have an effect. We are tweaking the chemical structure of the compound. So far, we have made several hundred molecules related to this," said Santos.
The penultimate goal of the Santos lab is to transition the anti-fat treatment from animal models to a treatment for NASH in humans. The lab has used their better compounds in animal models of NASH, which have been proven to be effective as anti-NASH compounds in mice.
Working alongside Santos is Kyle Hoehn, an assistant professor of pharmacology from the University of Virginia and an associate professor of biotechnology and biomolecular sciences at the University of New South Wales in Australia. Hoehn is a metabolic physiology expert who is in charge of conducting the animal studies. Santos and Hoehn have been collaborating for several years now and they even founded a biotech company together.
Co-founded by Santos and Hoehn in 2017, Continuum Biosciences aims to improve the ways in which our bodies burn fuel and fight back against our bodies ability to store excess nutrients as we age. These promising NASH treatment compounds are licensed by their company and are patented by Virginia Tech.
The company is looking to use mitochondrial uncouplers for more than just obesity and NASH. The molecules also have a unique anti-oxygen effect that can minimize the accumulation of reactive oxygen species, or oxidative stress, in our bodies, which ultimately results in neurodegeneration and aging.
Read more at Science Daily
Jun 8, 2020
Astronomers find elusive target hiding behind dust
Astronomers acting on a hunch have likely resolved a mystery about young, still-forming stars and regions rich in organic molecules closely surrounding some of them. They used the National Science Foundation's Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) to reveal one such region that previously had eluded detection, and that revelation answered a longstanding question.
The regions around the young protostars contain complex organic molecules that can further combine into prebiotic molecules that are the first steps on the road to life. The regions, dubbed "hot corinos" by astronomers, are typically about the size of our Solar System and are much warmer than their surroundings, though still quite cold by terrestrial standards.
The first hot corino was discovered in 2003, and only about a dozen have been found so far. Most of these are in binary systems, with two protostars forming simultaneously.
Astronomers have been puzzled by the fact that, in some of these binary systems, they found evidence for a hot corino around one of the protostars but not the other.
"Since the two stars are forming from the same molecular cloud and at the same time, it seemed strange that one would be surrounded by a dense region of complex organic molecules, and the other wouldn't," said Cecilia Ceccarelli, of the Institute for Planetary Sciences and Astrophysics at the University of Grenoble (IPAG) in France.
The complex organic molecules were found by detecting specific radio frequencies, called spectral lines, emitted by the molecules. Those characteristic radio frequencies serve as "fingerprints" to identify the chemicals. The astronomers noted that all the chemicals found in hot corinos had been found by detecting these "fingerprints" at radio frequencies corresponding to wavelengths of only a few millimeters.
"We know that dust blocks those wavelengths, so we decided to look for evidence of these chemicals at longer wavelengths that can easily pass through dust," said Claire Chandler of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, and principal investigator on the project. "It struck us that dust might be what was preventing us from detecting the molecules in one of the twin protostars."
The astronomers used the VLA to observe a pair of protostars called IRAS 4A, in a star-forming region about 1,000 light-years from Earth. They observed the pair at wavelengths of centimeters. At those wavelengths, they sought radio emissions from methanol, CH3OH (wood alcohol, not for drinking). This was a pair in which one protostar clearly had a hot corino and the other did not, as seen using the much shorter wavelengths.
The result confirmed their hunch.
"With the VLA, both protostars showed strong evidence of methanol surrounding them. This means that both protostars have hot corinos, and the reason we didn't see the one at shorter wavelengths was because of dust," said Marta de Simone, a graduate student at IPAG who led the data analysis for this object.
The astronomers caution that, while both hot corinos now are known to contain methanol, there still may be some chemical differences between them. That, they said, can be settled by looking for other molecules at wavelengths not obscured by dust.
Read more at Science Daily
The regions around the young protostars contain complex organic molecules that can further combine into prebiotic molecules that are the first steps on the road to life. The regions, dubbed "hot corinos" by astronomers, are typically about the size of our Solar System and are much warmer than their surroundings, though still quite cold by terrestrial standards.
The first hot corino was discovered in 2003, and only about a dozen have been found so far. Most of these are in binary systems, with two protostars forming simultaneously.
Astronomers have been puzzled by the fact that, in some of these binary systems, they found evidence for a hot corino around one of the protostars but not the other.
"Since the two stars are forming from the same molecular cloud and at the same time, it seemed strange that one would be surrounded by a dense region of complex organic molecules, and the other wouldn't," said Cecilia Ceccarelli, of the Institute for Planetary Sciences and Astrophysics at the University of Grenoble (IPAG) in France.
The complex organic molecules were found by detecting specific radio frequencies, called spectral lines, emitted by the molecules. Those characteristic radio frequencies serve as "fingerprints" to identify the chemicals. The astronomers noted that all the chemicals found in hot corinos had been found by detecting these "fingerprints" at radio frequencies corresponding to wavelengths of only a few millimeters.
"We know that dust blocks those wavelengths, so we decided to look for evidence of these chemicals at longer wavelengths that can easily pass through dust," said Claire Chandler of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, and principal investigator on the project. "It struck us that dust might be what was preventing us from detecting the molecules in one of the twin protostars."
The astronomers used the VLA to observe a pair of protostars called IRAS 4A, in a star-forming region about 1,000 light-years from Earth. They observed the pair at wavelengths of centimeters. At those wavelengths, they sought radio emissions from methanol, CH3OH (wood alcohol, not for drinking). This was a pair in which one protostar clearly had a hot corino and the other did not, as seen using the much shorter wavelengths.
The result confirmed their hunch.
"With the VLA, both protostars showed strong evidence of methanol surrounding them. This means that both protostars have hot corinos, and the reason we didn't see the one at shorter wavelengths was because of dust," said Marta de Simone, a graduate student at IPAG who led the data analysis for this object.
The astronomers caution that, while both hot corinos now are known to contain methanol, there still may be some chemical differences between them. That, they said, can be settled by looking for other molecules at wavelengths not obscured by dust.
Read more at Science Daily
Countries must work together on CO2 removal to avoid dangerous climate change
The Paris Agreement lays out national quotas on CO2 emissions but not removal, and that must be urgently addressed, say the authors of a new study.
The Paris Agreement aims to keep global temperature rise this century well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C. Reaching these targets will require mitigation -- lowering the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted through changes such as increased use of renewable energy sources, and removal of CO2 from the atmosphere through measures such as reforestation and carbon capture and storage.
However, while countries signed up to the Paris Agreement have individual quotas they need to meet in terms of mitigation and have individual plans for doing so, there are no agreed national quotas for CO2 removal.
Now, in a paper published today in Nature Climate Change, an international group of researchers have argued that to meet the Paris Agreement's targets, CO2 removal quotas cannot be allocated in such a way that any one country can fulfil its obligations alone.
Cross-border cooperation
The team, from Imperial College London, the University of Girona, ETH Zürich and the University of Cambridge, say countries need to start working together now to make sure enough CO2 is removed in a fair and equitable way. This should involve deciding how quotas might be allocated fairly and devising a system where countries that cannot fulfil their obligations alone can trade with countries with greater capacity to remove CO2.
Co-author Dr Niall Mac Dowell, from the Centre for Environmental Policy and the Centre for Process Systems Engineering at Imperial, said: "Carbon dioxide removal is necessary to meet climate targets, since we have so far not done enough to mitigate our emissions. Both will be necessary going forward, but the longer we wait to start removing CO2 on a large scale, the more we will have to do.
"It is imperative that nations have these conversations now, to determine how quotas could be allocated fairly and how countries could meet those quotas via cross-border cooperation. It will work best if we all work together."
Co-author Dr David Reiner, from Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge, added: "Countries such as the UK and France have begun to adopt binding 'net-zero targets' and whereas there has been extensive focus on greenhouse gas emissions and emissions reductions, meeting these targets will require greater attention to the negative emissions or carbon dioxide removal side of the equation."
Allocating quotas
A critical element in any negotiations will be to determine the fairest way to allocate quotas to different nations. Different methods have been used for determining previous quotas, such as the ability of a country to pay and its historic culpability (how much CO2 it has emitted), with a blend of methods often used implicitly or explicitly in any final agreement.
The team modelled several of these different methods and applied them to countries across Europe. While the quotas varied significantly, they found that only a handful of countries could meet any of the quotas using only their own resources.
Co-lead author Dr Ángel Galán-Martín, from ETH Zürich, said: "The exercise of allocating CO2 removal quotas may help to break the current impasse, by incentivising countries to align their future national pledges with the expectations emerging from the fairness principles."
Carbon dioxide removal can be achieved in several ways. Reforestation uses trees as natural absorbers of atmospheric CO2 but takes time to reach its full potential as the trees grow. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) takes CO2 out of the atmosphere and stores it in underground geological formations.
CCS is usually coupled with a fossil fuel power station to take the CO2 out of the emissions before they reach the atmosphere. However, it can also be coupled to bioenergy -- growing crops to burn for fuel. These systems have the double benefit of the crops removing CO2 from the atmosphere, and the CCS capturing any CO2 from the power station before it is released.
Beginning the process
However, different countries have varying abilities to deploy these CO2 removal strategies. For example, small but rich countries like Luxembourg might incur a heavy CO2 removal burden but not have the geological capacity to implement large-scale CCS or have the space to plant enough trees or bioenergy crops.
The authors therefore suggest, after quotas have been determined, that a system of trading quotas could be established. For example, the UK has abundant space for CCS thanks to favourable geological formations in the North Sea, so could sell some of its capacity to other countries.
This system would take a while to set up, so the authors urge nations to begin the process now. Co-lead author Dr Carlos Pozo from the University of Girona, said: "By 2050, the world needs to be carbon neutral -- taking out of the atmosphere as much CO2 as it puts in. To this end, a CO2 removal industry needs to be rapidly scaled up, and that begins now, with countries looking at their responsibilities and their capacity to meet any quotas.
Read more at Science Daily
The Paris Agreement aims to keep global temperature rise this century well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C. Reaching these targets will require mitigation -- lowering the carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted through changes such as increased use of renewable energy sources, and removal of CO2 from the atmosphere through measures such as reforestation and carbon capture and storage.
However, while countries signed up to the Paris Agreement have individual quotas they need to meet in terms of mitigation and have individual plans for doing so, there are no agreed national quotas for CO2 removal.
Now, in a paper published today in Nature Climate Change, an international group of researchers have argued that to meet the Paris Agreement's targets, CO2 removal quotas cannot be allocated in such a way that any one country can fulfil its obligations alone.
Cross-border cooperation
The team, from Imperial College London, the University of Girona, ETH Zürich and the University of Cambridge, say countries need to start working together now to make sure enough CO2 is removed in a fair and equitable way. This should involve deciding how quotas might be allocated fairly and devising a system where countries that cannot fulfil their obligations alone can trade with countries with greater capacity to remove CO2.
Co-author Dr Niall Mac Dowell, from the Centre for Environmental Policy and the Centre for Process Systems Engineering at Imperial, said: "Carbon dioxide removal is necessary to meet climate targets, since we have so far not done enough to mitigate our emissions. Both will be necessary going forward, but the longer we wait to start removing CO2 on a large scale, the more we will have to do.
"It is imperative that nations have these conversations now, to determine how quotas could be allocated fairly and how countries could meet those quotas via cross-border cooperation. It will work best if we all work together."
Co-author Dr David Reiner, from Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge, added: "Countries such as the UK and France have begun to adopt binding 'net-zero targets' and whereas there has been extensive focus on greenhouse gas emissions and emissions reductions, meeting these targets will require greater attention to the negative emissions or carbon dioxide removal side of the equation."
Allocating quotas
A critical element in any negotiations will be to determine the fairest way to allocate quotas to different nations. Different methods have been used for determining previous quotas, such as the ability of a country to pay and its historic culpability (how much CO2 it has emitted), with a blend of methods often used implicitly or explicitly in any final agreement.
The team modelled several of these different methods and applied them to countries across Europe. While the quotas varied significantly, they found that only a handful of countries could meet any of the quotas using only their own resources.
Co-lead author Dr Ángel Galán-Martín, from ETH Zürich, said: "The exercise of allocating CO2 removal quotas may help to break the current impasse, by incentivising countries to align their future national pledges with the expectations emerging from the fairness principles."
Carbon dioxide removal can be achieved in several ways. Reforestation uses trees as natural absorbers of atmospheric CO2 but takes time to reach its full potential as the trees grow. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) takes CO2 out of the atmosphere and stores it in underground geological formations.
CCS is usually coupled with a fossil fuel power station to take the CO2 out of the emissions before they reach the atmosphere. However, it can also be coupled to bioenergy -- growing crops to burn for fuel. These systems have the double benefit of the crops removing CO2 from the atmosphere, and the CCS capturing any CO2 from the power station before it is released.
Beginning the process
However, different countries have varying abilities to deploy these CO2 removal strategies. For example, small but rich countries like Luxembourg might incur a heavy CO2 removal burden but not have the geological capacity to implement large-scale CCS or have the space to plant enough trees or bioenergy crops.
The authors therefore suggest, after quotas have been determined, that a system of trading quotas could be established. For example, the UK has abundant space for CCS thanks to favourable geological formations in the North Sea, so could sell some of its capacity to other countries.
This system would take a while to set up, so the authors urge nations to begin the process now. Co-lead author Dr Carlos Pozo from the University of Girona, said: "By 2050, the world needs to be carbon neutral -- taking out of the atmosphere as much CO2 as it puts in. To this end, a CO2 removal industry needs to be rapidly scaled up, and that begins now, with countries looking at their responsibilities and their capacity to meet any quotas.
Read more at Science Daily
Virus DNA spread across surfaces in hospital ward over 10 hours
Virus DNA left on a hospital bed rail was found in nearly half of all sites sampled across a ward within 10 hours and persisted for at least five days, according to a new study by UCL and Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH).
The study, published as a letter in the Journal of Hospital Infection, aimed to safely simulate how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, may spread across surfaces in a hospital.
Instead of using the SARS-CoV-2 virus, researchers artificially replicated a section of DNA from a plant-infecting virus, which cannot infect humans, and added it to a millilitre of water at a similar concentration to SARS-CoV-2 copies found in infected patients' respiratory samples.
Researchers placed the water containing this DNA on the hand rail of a hospital bed in an isolation room -- that is, a room for higher-risk or infected patients -- and then sampled 44 sites across a hospital ward over the following five days.
They found that after 10 hours, the surrogate genetic material had spread to 41% of sites sampled across the hospital ward, from bed rails to door handles to arm rests in a waiting room to children's toys and books in a play area. This increased to 59% of sites after three days, falling to 41% on the fifth day.
Dr Lena Ciric (UCL Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering), a senior author of the study, said: "Our study shows the important role that surfaces play in the transmission of a virus and how critical it is to adhere to good hand hygiene and cleaning.
"Our surrogate was inoculated once to a single site, and was spread through the touching of surfaces by staff, patients and visitors. A person with SARS-CoV-2, though, will shed the virus on more than one site, through coughing, sneezing and touching surfaces."
The highest proportion of sites that tested positive for the surrogate came from the immediate bedspace area -- including a nearby room with several other beds -- and clinical areas such as treatment rooms. On day three, 86% of sampled sites in clinical areas tested positive, while on day four, 60% of sampled sites in the immediate bedspace area tested positive.
Co-author Dr Elaine Cloutman-Green (UCL Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering), Lead Healthcare Scientist at GOSH, said: "People can become infected with Covid-19 through respiratory droplets produced during coughing or sneezing. Equally, if these droplets land on a surface, a person may become infected after coming into contact with the surface and then touching their eyes, nose or mouth.
"Like SARS-CoV-2, the surrogate we used for the study could be removed with a disinfectant wipe or by washing hands with soap and water. Cleaning and handwashing represent our first line of defence against the virus and this study is a significant reminder that healthcare workers and all visitors to a clinical setting can help stop its spread through strict hand hygiene, cleaning of surfaces, and proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE)."
SARS-CoV-2 will likely be spread within bodily fluid such as cough droplets, whereas the study used virus DNA in water. More sticky fluid such as mucus would likely spread more easily.
Read more at Science Daily
The study, published as a letter in the Journal of Hospital Infection, aimed to safely simulate how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, may spread across surfaces in a hospital.
Instead of using the SARS-CoV-2 virus, researchers artificially replicated a section of DNA from a plant-infecting virus, which cannot infect humans, and added it to a millilitre of water at a similar concentration to SARS-CoV-2 copies found in infected patients' respiratory samples.
Researchers placed the water containing this DNA on the hand rail of a hospital bed in an isolation room -- that is, a room for higher-risk or infected patients -- and then sampled 44 sites across a hospital ward over the following five days.
They found that after 10 hours, the surrogate genetic material had spread to 41% of sites sampled across the hospital ward, from bed rails to door handles to arm rests in a waiting room to children's toys and books in a play area. This increased to 59% of sites after three days, falling to 41% on the fifth day.
Dr Lena Ciric (UCL Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering), a senior author of the study, said: "Our study shows the important role that surfaces play in the transmission of a virus and how critical it is to adhere to good hand hygiene and cleaning.
"Our surrogate was inoculated once to a single site, and was spread through the touching of surfaces by staff, patients and visitors. A person with SARS-CoV-2, though, will shed the virus on more than one site, through coughing, sneezing and touching surfaces."
The highest proportion of sites that tested positive for the surrogate came from the immediate bedspace area -- including a nearby room with several other beds -- and clinical areas such as treatment rooms. On day three, 86% of sampled sites in clinical areas tested positive, while on day four, 60% of sampled sites in the immediate bedspace area tested positive.
Co-author Dr Elaine Cloutman-Green (UCL Civil, Environmental & Geomatic Engineering), Lead Healthcare Scientist at GOSH, said: "People can become infected with Covid-19 through respiratory droplets produced during coughing or sneezing. Equally, if these droplets land on a surface, a person may become infected after coming into contact with the surface and then touching their eyes, nose or mouth.
"Like SARS-CoV-2, the surrogate we used for the study could be removed with a disinfectant wipe or by washing hands with soap and water. Cleaning and handwashing represent our first line of defence against the virus and this study is a significant reminder that healthcare workers and all visitors to a clinical setting can help stop its spread through strict hand hygiene, cleaning of surfaces, and proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE)."
SARS-CoV-2 will likely be spread within bodily fluid such as cough droplets, whereas the study used virus DNA in water. More sticky fluid such as mucus would likely spread more easily.
Read more at Science Daily
Blood pressure medications help even the frailest elderly people live longer
Taking blood pressure medication as prescribed helped even the frailest elderly people (65 and older) live longer, and the healthiest older people had the biggest survival boost, according to a large study in northern Italy published today in Hypertension, an American Heart Association journal.
"We knew that high blood pressure medication was protective in general among older people, however, we focused on whether it is also protective in frail patients with many other medical conditions who are usually excluded from randomized trials," said Giuseppe Mancia, M.D., lead study author and professor emeritus at the University of Milano-Bicocca in Milan, Italy.
Researchers reviewed data on almost 1.3 million people aged 65 and older (average age 76) in the Lombardy region of northern Italy who had 3 or more high blood pressure medication prescriptions in 2011-2012. Examining the public health care database, researchers calculated the percentage of time over the next seven years (or until death) that each person continued to receive the medications. Because almost all medications are free or low-cost and dispensed by the public health service, this corresponds roughly to people's adherence in using the medication in Italy.
To look separately at outcomes among older people with various medical conditions, researchers used a previously developed score that accounts for 34 different health factors and has a close relationship with mortality.
Researchers compared roughly 255,000 people who died during the 7-year follow-up with age-, gender-, and health-status-matched controls who survived and divided them into four groups of health status: good, medium, poor or very poor.
The probability of death over 7-years was 16% for people rated in good health at the beginning of the study. Mortality probability increased progressively to 64% for those rated in very poor health.
Compared with people with very low adherence to blood pressure medications (dispensed pills covered less than 25% of the time period), people with high adherence to blood pressure medications (more than 75% of the time period covered) were:
44% less likely to die if they started in good health; and
33% less likely to die if they started in very poor health.
A similar pattern was seen with cardiovascular deaths. The greatest survival benefit was among the people who started in good health, and the most modest survival benefit was in those who started in very poor health.
"Our findings definitely suggest that even in very frail people, antihypertensive treatment reduces the risk of death; however, the benefits may be smaller in this group," Mancia said.
No matter what a person's initial health status, survival benefits were greatest in those who received blood pressure medication to cover more than 75% of the follow-up period, compared with those with intermediate (25-75%) or low levels (less than 25%) of coverage, highlighting the importance of consistent use of blood pressure medications.
"Do your best to encourage and support patients to take their medications, because adherence is crucial to getting the benefits. Medications do nothing if people don't take them," Mancia said.
Read more at Science Daily
"We knew that high blood pressure medication was protective in general among older people, however, we focused on whether it is also protective in frail patients with many other medical conditions who are usually excluded from randomized trials," said Giuseppe Mancia, M.D., lead study author and professor emeritus at the University of Milano-Bicocca in Milan, Italy.
Researchers reviewed data on almost 1.3 million people aged 65 and older (average age 76) in the Lombardy region of northern Italy who had 3 or more high blood pressure medication prescriptions in 2011-2012. Examining the public health care database, researchers calculated the percentage of time over the next seven years (or until death) that each person continued to receive the medications. Because almost all medications are free or low-cost and dispensed by the public health service, this corresponds roughly to people's adherence in using the medication in Italy.
To look separately at outcomes among older people with various medical conditions, researchers used a previously developed score that accounts for 34 different health factors and has a close relationship with mortality.
Researchers compared roughly 255,000 people who died during the 7-year follow-up with age-, gender-, and health-status-matched controls who survived and divided them into four groups of health status: good, medium, poor or very poor.
The probability of death over 7-years was 16% for people rated in good health at the beginning of the study. Mortality probability increased progressively to 64% for those rated in very poor health.
Compared with people with very low adherence to blood pressure medications (dispensed pills covered less than 25% of the time period), people with high adherence to blood pressure medications (more than 75% of the time period covered) were:
44% less likely to die if they started in good health; and
33% less likely to die if they started in very poor health.
A similar pattern was seen with cardiovascular deaths. The greatest survival benefit was among the people who started in good health, and the most modest survival benefit was in those who started in very poor health.
"Our findings definitely suggest that even in very frail people, antihypertensive treatment reduces the risk of death; however, the benefits may be smaller in this group," Mancia said.
No matter what a person's initial health status, survival benefits were greatest in those who received blood pressure medication to cover more than 75% of the follow-up period, compared with those with intermediate (25-75%) or low levels (less than 25%) of coverage, highlighting the importance of consistent use of blood pressure medications.
"Do your best to encourage and support patients to take their medications, because adherence is crucial to getting the benefits. Medications do nothing if people don't take them," Mancia said.
Read more at Science Daily
Jun 7, 2020
Chance of finding young Earth-like planets higher than previously thought
Research from the University of Sheffield has found that the chance of finding Earth-like planets in their early stages of formation is much higher than previously thought.
The team studied groups of young stars in the Milky Way to see if these groups were typical compared to theories and previous observations in other star-forming regions in space, and to study if the populations of stars in these groups affected the likelihood of finding forming Earth-like planets.
The research, published in The Astrophysical Journal, found that there are more stars like the Sun than expected in these groups, which would increase the chances of finding Earth-like planets in their early stages of formation.
In their early stages of formation these Earth-like planets, called magma ocean planets, are still being made from collisions with rocks and smaller planets, which causes them to heat up so much that their surfaces become molten rock.
The team, led by Dr Richard Parker, included undergraduate students from the University of Sheffield giving them the opportunity to apply the skills learnt on their course to leading published research in their field.
Dr Richard Parker, from the University of Sheffield's Department of Physics and Astronomy, said: "These magma ocean planets are easier to detect near stars like the Sun, which are twice as heavy as the average mass star. These planets emit so much heat that we will be able to observe the glow from them using the next generation of infra-red telescopes.
"The locations where we would find these planets are so-called 'young moving groups' which are groups of young stars that are less than 100 million years old -- which is young for a star. However, they typically only contain a few tens of stars each and previously it was difficult to determine whether we had found all of the stars in each group because they blend into the background of the Milky Way galaxy.
"Observations from the Gaia telescope have helped us to find many more stars in these groups, which enabled us to carry out this study."
The findings from the research will help further understanding of whether star formation is universal and will be an important resource for studying how rocky, habitable planets like Earth form. The team now hopes to use computer simulations to explain the origin of these young moving groups of stars.
The research team included undergraduate students Amy Bottrill, Molly Haigh, Madeleine Hole and Sarah Theakston from the University of Sheffield's Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Molly Haigh said: "Being involved in this project was one of the highlights of our university experience and it was a great opportunity to work on an area of astronomy outside the typical course structure.
"It was rewarding to see a physical application of the computer coding we learnt in our degree by sampling the initial mass distribution of stars and how this can relate to the future of exoplanet detection."
Read more at Science Daily
The team studied groups of young stars in the Milky Way to see if these groups were typical compared to theories and previous observations in other star-forming regions in space, and to study if the populations of stars in these groups affected the likelihood of finding forming Earth-like planets.
The research, published in The Astrophysical Journal, found that there are more stars like the Sun than expected in these groups, which would increase the chances of finding Earth-like planets in their early stages of formation.
In their early stages of formation these Earth-like planets, called magma ocean planets, are still being made from collisions with rocks and smaller planets, which causes them to heat up so much that their surfaces become molten rock.
The team, led by Dr Richard Parker, included undergraduate students from the University of Sheffield giving them the opportunity to apply the skills learnt on their course to leading published research in their field.
Dr Richard Parker, from the University of Sheffield's Department of Physics and Astronomy, said: "These magma ocean planets are easier to detect near stars like the Sun, which are twice as heavy as the average mass star. These planets emit so much heat that we will be able to observe the glow from them using the next generation of infra-red telescopes.
"The locations where we would find these planets are so-called 'young moving groups' which are groups of young stars that are less than 100 million years old -- which is young for a star. However, they typically only contain a few tens of stars each and previously it was difficult to determine whether we had found all of the stars in each group because they blend into the background of the Milky Way galaxy.
"Observations from the Gaia telescope have helped us to find many more stars in these groups, which enabled us to carry out this study."
The findings from the research will help further understanding of whether star formation is universal and will be an important resource for studying how rocky, habitable planets like Earth form. The team now hopes to use computer simulations to explain the origin of these young moving groups of stars.
The research team included undergraduate students Amy Bottrill, Molly Haigh, Madeleine Hole and Sarah Theakston from the University of Sheffield's Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Molly Haigh said: "Being involved in this project was one of the highlights of our university experience and it was a great opportunity to work on an area of astronomy outside the typical course structure.
"It was rewarding to see a physical application of the computer coding we learnt in our degree by sampling the initial mass distribution of stars and how this can relate to the future of exoplanet detection."
Read more at Science Daily
Scientists discover that nicotine promotes spread of lung cancer to the brain
Among people who have the most common type of lung cancer, up to 40% develop metastatic brain tumors, with an average survival time of less than six months.
But why non-small-cell lung cancer so often spreads to the brain has been poorly understood.
Now scientists at Wake Forest School of Medicine have found that nicotine, a non-carcinogenic chemical found in tobacco, actually promotes the spread, or metastasis, of lung cancer cells into the brain.
"Based on our findings, we don't think that nicotine replacement products are the safest way for people with lung cancer to stop smoking," said Kounosuke Watabe, Ph.D., professor of cancer biology at Wake Forest School of Medicine and lead author of the study.
In the study, published in the June 4 edition of the Journal of Experimental Medicine, Watabe's team first examined 281 lung cancer patients and found that cigarette smokers exhibited a significantly higher incidence of brain cancer.
Then, using a mouse model, the researchers discovered that nicotine enhanced brain metastasis by crossing the blood-brain barrier to change the microglia -- a type of immune cell in the brain -- from being protective to supporting tumor growth.
Watabe and colleagues then looked for drugs that might reverse the effects of nicotine and identified parthenolide, a naturally occurring substance in the medicinal herb feverfew, which blocked nicotine-induced brain metastasis in the mice.
Because feverfew has been used for years and is considered safe, Watabe believes parthenolide may provide a new approach to fight brain metastasis, particularly for patients who have smoked or still smoke.
"Currently, the only treatment for this devastating illness is radiation therapy," Watabe said. "Traditional chemotherapy drugs can't cross the blood-brain barrier, but parthenolide can, and thus holds promise as a treatment or possibly even a way to prevent brain metastasis."
Read more at Science Daily
But why non-small-cell lung cancer so often spreads to the brain has been poorly understood.
Now scientists at Wake Forest School of Medicine have found that nicotine, a non-carcinogenic chemical found in tobacco, actually promotes the spread, or metastasis, of lung cancer cells into the brain.
"Based on our findings, we don't think that nicotine replacement products are the safest way for people with lung cancer to stop smoking," said Kounosuke Watabe, Ph.D., professor of cancer biology at Wake Forest School of Medicine and lead author of the study.
In the study, published in the June 4 edition of the Journal of Experimental Medicine, Watabe's team first examined 281 lung cancer patients and found that cigarette smokers exhibited a significantly higher incidence of brain cancer.
Then, using a mouse model, the researchers discovered that nicotine enhanced brain metastasis by crossing the blood-brain barrier to change the microglia -- a type of immune cell in the brain -- from being protective to supporting tumor growth.
Watabe and colleagues then looked for drugs that might reverse the effects of nicotine and identified parthenolide, a naturally occurring substance in the medicinal herb feverfew, which blocked nicotine-induced brain metastasis in the mice.
Because feverfew has been used for years and is considered safe, Watabe believes parthenolide may provide a new approach to fight brain metastasis, particularly for patients who have smoked or still smoke.
"Currently, the only treatment for this devastating illness is radiation therapy," Watabe said. "Traditional chemotherapy drugs can't cross the blood-brain barrier, but parthenolide can, and thus holds promise as a treatment or possibly even a way to prevent brain metastasis."
Read more at Science Daily
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