Category: Science

The James Webb Space Telescope is designed to detect stars from the universe’s earliest periods, just a few million years after the Big Bang.

However, a team of MIT students has found that some of these ancient stars might be much closer, only thousands of light-years away instead of billions.

They identified about 65 stars formed 13 billion years ago in the Milky Way’s halo, a discovery that could significantly impact our understanding of the early universe. This research began when MIT physics professor Anna Frebel started a project called Observational Stellar Archaeology, where students analyzed data from the Magellan-Clay telescope at the Las Campanas Observatory.

The Big Bang occurred 13.8 billion years ago, and the first stars, mostly composed of helium and hydrogen with trace amounts of strontium and barium, formed shortly after. Frebel and her students focused on these elements in their data review.

They found 10 stars with low levels of strontium, barium, and iron, similar to ancient stars and dwarf galaxies observed in the distant universe. These stars have about 1/10,000th of the elements found in our Sun.

To support their theory that the Milky Way contains remnants of ancient dwarf galaxies, Frebel and her students examined the orbital data of these stars. They found that the stars moved in retrograde, orbiting in the opposite direction of the Milky Way’s galactic disk and halo. Frebel explained, “The only way you can have stars going the wrong way is if you threw them in the wrong way.”

They also noticed these stars were moving quickly, at hundreds of kilometers per second. Frebel and her team call these stars Small Accreted Stellar System stars, or SASS stars, theorizing they are the remnants of ancient dwarf galaxies absorbed by the Milky Way.

Frebel and her students have developed a straightforward method to identify these stars, providing astronomers with a new way to study the early universe by observing stars closer to Earth. “These oldest stars should definitely be there, given what we know of galaxy formation,” Frebel said. “They are part of our cosmic family tree. And we now have a new way to find them.”

Researchers in Zurich have developed a new blood-draw device aimed at addressing the shortcomings of traditional methods. Needle phobia can trigger adverse reactions like exhaustion and fainting, while conventional finger prick devices often yield imprecise measurements due to the small amount of blood they collect.

This innovation, which employs suction cups and microneedles, aims to alleviate both issues simultaneously. Inspired by the suction mechanism of leeches, the device gently draws blood without causing significant discomfort or requiring specialized training.

The design, featuring microneedles within a small suction cup, minimizes penetration into the skin when placed on the upper arm. According to Nicole Zoratto, a postdoc at ETH Zurich and the lead author of the project, this approach is not only effective but also cost-efficient.

Zoratto envisions the device being particularly beneficial in low-income regions like sub-Saharan Africa, where diseases such as malaria are diagnosed through blood samples. Its user-friendly nature and reduced risk of needle-related injuries make it a promising tool for widespread use.

However, before deployment, further optimization of the device’s material composition and thorough safety testing with a small group of subjects are essential. The research team is actively seeking additional funding partnerships to support these crucial steps.

Johns Hopkins scientists have reported promising results regarding an experimental antibody drug that could potentially prevent and reverse the onset of type 1 diabetes in mice, potentially extending their lifespans. The drug, known as mAb43, is distinguished by its direct targeting of insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas, aiming to protect them from attacks by the body’s immune system cells.

Researchers highlight mAb43’s specificity for these cells, suggesting it could be used long-term in humans with minimal side effects. Monoclonal antibodies like mAb43 are produced by replicating animal or human cell lines.

Published in the May issue of Diabetes, these findings offer hope for a new treatment for type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune condition affecting around 2 million Americans with no current cure or prevention method.

Unlike type 2 diabetes, where the pancreas produces insufficient insulin, type 1 diabetes occurs because the immune system targets and destroys pancreatic cells responsible for insulin production, disrupting blood sugar regulation.

Dr. Dax Fu, leading the research team at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, explains that mAb43 binds to a specific protein on beta cells’ surfaces, providing a shield against immune system attacks.

Initial trials involved administering weekly doses of mAb43 to non-obese mice predisposed to type 1 diabetes. By 35 weeks, all treated mice showed no signs of diabetes. Even when doses were delayed until later stages, only one out of five mice developed diabetes, with no adverse effects noted.

Moreover, mice treated with mAb43 lived significantly longer than untreated mice, showcasing the drug’s potential longevity benefits.

Further analysis revealed that mAb43 prompted beta cells to multiply while reducing inflammation in the pancreas, suggesting a potential reduction in insulin dependence with continued use.

The researchers are now focused on developing a humanized version of mAb43 for future clinical trials to assess its safety and efficacy in preventing type 1 diabetes.

Modern agricultural science has indeed cultivated some super-powered plants, and while we humans have proudly taken credit for these agricultural marvels, new research led by molecular microbiologist Jacob Malone from the John Innes Center in the UK suggests we’re not the only cultivators in the game. According to this study, plants themselves are adept at shaping their own ecosystems to ‘farm’ their preferred microbial species.

The research focused on barley (Hordeum vulgare), a staple crop behind much of the world’s beer production, revealing that it actively manages the microbial communities around its roots by adjusting the sugars it secretes. This insight sheds light on an often-overlooked aspect of agricultural science: the microbiome of the soil in the rhizosphere—the area directly surrounding a plant’s roots.

Beneficial microbes are critical for a plant’s survival, offering enhanced nutrient uptake, disease suppression, and immune activation. However, the relationship with microbes like Pseudomonas is competitive; these microbes can colonize a wide range of hosts, prompting plants to actively engage in attracting beneficial microbial communities.

The study, which involved two barley cultivars, Chevallier and Tipple.

The team grew these barley varieties in a controlled environment and analyzed their rhizospheres. They found that the Tipple variety attracted significantly more Pseudomonas bacteria, likely due to higher levels of simple sugars in its root secretions. In contrast, the Chevallier variety supported a more diverse microbial community and exerted more control over its soil fungi, promoting certain species while almost completely excluding others.

Published in PLOS Biology, this research paves the way for future studies to explore how these dynamics play out in actual farm fields and the extent to which they can be harnessed to enhance agricultural sustainability and productivity.