Earth

Researchers at the Australian Institute of Marine Science have developed a dipstick test that can detect crown-of-thorns starfish (CoTS) on coral reefs by using the same technology as home pregnancy tests.

The dipstick, which is designed to be used in the field, measures specific DNA that CoTS release into the seawater. The rapid test can detect very low numbers of the coral-eating pest, which can be difficult to spot with current survey methods.

AIMS biochemist and the study's lead author Jason Doyle said the sensitive test could support an early warning and intervention system for future CoTS outbreaks. It could also enable citizen scientists, tourism operators and Great Barrier Reef managers to help with early warnings.

"It's the sort of technology we would love to get out to as many people as possible, because the more people that are doing this kind of test, the more information we have about the location of CoTS and the better management outcomes we can achieve," Mr Doyle said.

An average adult CoTS (Acanthaster cf. solaris) can eat up to a dinner-plate amount of coral every day, and outbreaks contribute considerably to the loss of corals on the Great Barrier Reef. There have been three outbreaks since 1962, with a fourth outbreak currently underway.

The native starfish often hide under or on coral plates, while younger CoTS can be as small as a couple of millimeters. This makes it harder for traditional diver surveys to spot the creatures and identify emerging outbreaks.

The dipstick test research, published in the journal Environmental DNA, builds on AIMS' previous breakthrough work developing laboratory-based, DNA-detection techniques to find CoTS more effectively and at pre-outbreak levels.

"Organisms leave a genetic shadow wherever they go, so we use the genetic shadow of CoTS in seawater to flag the presence of both adults and babies," Mr Doyle said. "But if this technique was really going to be an early warning system, we needed to bring our validated tools for environmental DNA (eDNA) detection out of the lab and into the hands of non-lab people in the field."

For their recent study, Mr Doyle and his AIMS colleague Dr Sven Uthicke turned to the world of human diagnostics for the answer. They adapted an off-the-shelf dipstick and a technology called Lateral Flow Assay (LFA) to detect DNA in marine environments. LFA has been used for many years in home blood sugar and pregnancy tests, and more recently for Coronavirus tests.

The new test can measure very small amounts of CoTS DNA, down to 0.1 picograms, making it potentially sensitive to very low densities of the animal. Like its human-diagnostic counterparts, the CoTS dipstick tests reveal a positive response via the appearance of a stripe.

Researchers collected seawater samples from Lizard Island, north of Cairns, and Elizabeth Reef, north of Mackay, and found CoTS DNA where traditional survey methods did not find any of the animals.

Mr Doyle said the study was the first step in developing a tool that could eventually require just a few drops of seawater to detect CoTS. He also stressed that the new method is not an alternative to survey methods but would enhance their cost effectiveness.

"We see it as a way to raise the red flag so we know there's probably a good reason to get people in the water in this spot, but not that spot over there, maximising the use of resources such as divers, boats and other infrastructure," he said.

Biological control of insect pests - where 'natural enemies' keep pests at bay - is saving farmers in Asia and the Pacific billions of dollars, according to University of Queensland-led research.

Dr Kris Wyckhuys from UQ's School of Biological Sciences said biological control involved the careful release of an exotic natural enemy from a pest's native habitat.

"Scientists meticulously choose co-evolved beneficial insects that are the most effective and least likely to pose ecological upsets," Dr Wyckhuys said.

"We've reviewed how biological control introductions have effectively managed 43 insect pests in food, feed and fibre crops in the Asia-Pacific region over a century."

The team found that biological control has helped regulate invasive pest threats in multiple key food crops such as banana, breadfruit and coconut.

"Our work shows these techniques are saving farmers in Asia around $20.1 billion to $26.8 billion (US$14.6-19.5 billion) per year," Dr Wyckhuys said.

"That's a phenomenal amount of money and benefit, particularly when compared to other innovations in the agricultural sector.

"A good point of comparison is the Green Revolution in Asia during the late 1960s, which tripled the output of local rice production but also saw a rise of chemical fertilisers, agrochemicals and newer methods of cultivation.

"A large part of the Green Revolution impacts can be ascribed to double-yielding rice varieties, which generated $4.8 billion (US$4.3 billion) per year in Asia."

UQ's Associate Professor Michael Furlong said recognition of the success of biological control might lead to greater uptake and more resilient, prosperous farming globally.

"Biological control offers great opportunities for some of the world's poorest farmers," Dr Furlong said.

"It's promoted rural growth and prosperity even in marginal, poorly endowed, non-rice environments.

"A great example is the coconut scale (Aspidiotus destructor), which jeopardised the economic prosperity and food security of entire nations.

"This coconut scale posed a serious problem to crops like coconut, bananas and copra industries in Fiji at the start of the Twentieth Century.

"In 1928, lady beetles from Trinidad and millimetre-long parasitic wasps were introduced, and the results were almost immediate.

"Coconut scale ceased to be an economic issue on all of the main Fijian islands within nine months, and after 18 months, the scale was so rare it was difficult to find.

"These innovative approaches, with increasingly better science, are helping feed the world, safeguard on-farm biodiversity and increase farmers' quality of life.

"We're hoping this research provides lessons for future efforts to mitigate invasive species, restore ecological resilience, and sustainably increase the output of our global food system."

Most animal cells need to become spherical in order to divide. To achieve this round shape, the cells must round up and deform their neighboring cells. In a growing tumor tissue, the tumor cells need to divide in an environment that is becoming more crowded than the healthy tissue. This means that the dividing tumor cells likely need to generate much higher mechanical forces to round up in such a densely packed surrounding. Yet, tumor cells seem to be adapted to overcome these difficulties. Scientists led by Dr. Elisabeth Fischer-Friedrich were curious how do the tumor cells gain this enhanced ability to deal with the crowded tumor environment?

The researchers found that the EMT could be one of the answers. What is it exactly? "EMT or epithelial-mesenchymal transition is a hallmark of cancer progression," says Kamran Hosseini, PhD student who performed the experiments. It is a cell transformation during which tumor cells lose their asymmetric organization and detach from their neighbors, gaining the ability to migrate into other tissues. This, together with other factors, allows tumors to metastasize, i.e., move into the blood and lymphatic vessels and ultimately colonize other organs.

"So far, EMT has been mainly linked to this enhanced cell dissociation and cell migration. Our results suggest that EMT might also influence cancer cells by promoting successful rounding and cell division. These results point towards a completely new direction of how EMT could promote metastasis of carcinoma in the body," explains Kamran Hosseini.

Just as we test the ripeness of the fruits by squeezing them gently with our hands, the scientists examined the mechanical properties of individual human cells. Except, they squished the cells using an atomic force microscope. This state-of-the-art setup measured properties such as cell stiffness and cell surface tension before and after the EMT. In addition, the group of Dr. Elisabeth Fischer-Friedrich in collaboration with Dr. Anna Taubenberger (BIOTEC, TU Dresden) and Prof. Carsten Werner (IPF, Dresden) cultured mini-tumors and trapped them inside elastic hydrogels to check how mechanical confinement affects cell rounding and division of tumor cells.

The authors identified changes in rounding and growth of the tumor. EMT influenced the cancer cells in two contrasting ways. The dividing tumor cells became stiffer while surrounding non-dividing cells became softer. Furthermore, the researchers found hints that the observed mechanical changes could be linked to the increased activity of a protein called Rac1, a known regulator of the cytoskeleton.

"Our findings will not only provide important results to the field of cell biology but may also identify new targets for cancer therapeutics," says Dr. Elisabeth Fischer-Friedrich.

Water molecules undergo ultrafast dithering motions at room temperature and generate extremely strong electric fields in their environment. New experiments demonstrate how in presence of such fields free electrons are generated and manipulated in the liquid with the help of an external terahertz field.

The water molecule H2O displays an electric dipole moment due to the different electron densities on the oxygen (O) and hydrogen (H) atoms (Fig. 1a). Such molecular dipoles generate an electric field in liquid water. The strength of this field fluctuates on a femtosecond time scale (1 femtosecond = 10^-15 seconds = one billionth of a millionth of a second) and, for short periods, reaches peak values of up to 300 MV/cm (300 million volts per cm, Fig. 1b). In such a high field, an electron can leave its bound state, a molecular orbital (Fig. 1b) and tunnel through a potential energy barrier into the neighboring liquid. This event represents a quantum mechanical ionization process. In equilibrium, the electron returns very quickly to its initial state since the fluctuating electric field has no preferential spatial direction and, thus, the electron does not move away from the ionization site. Because of the highly efficient charge recombination, the number of unbound (free) electrons remains extremely small, on average less than a billionth of the number of water molecules.

Researchers from the Max-Born-Institute in Berlin have now shown that an external electric field with frequencies in the range of 1 terahertz (1 THz = 10^12 Hz, approximately 500 times higher than a typical cell phone frequency) enhances the number of free electrons by up to factor of 1000. The THz field has a maximum strength of 2 MV/cm, that is less than 1% of the strength of the fluctuating field in the liquid. However, the THz field has a preferential spatial direction (Fig. 2). Along this direction, electrons generated by the fluctuating field are being accelerated and reach a kinetic energy of approximately 11 eV, the ionization potential of a water molecule. This transport process suppresses charge recombination at the ionization site. The electrons travel over a distance of many nanometers (1 nm = 10^-9 m) before they localize at a different site in the liquid. The latter process causes strong changes of the absorption and the refractive index of the liquid (Fig. 2c) by which the dynamic behavior of the electrons can be followed with the method of two-dimensional THz spectroscopy (Fig. 2a).

These surprising results reveal a new aspect of extremely strong electric fields in liquid water, the occurrence of spontaneous events of tunneling ionization. Such events could play an important role in the self-dissociation of H2O molecules into OH-- und H3O+ ions. Moreover, the experiments establish a novel method for the generation, transport, and localization of charges in liquids with the help of strong THz fields. This allows for manipulating the basic electric properties of liquids.

As introduced species spread around the world, the complex networks of interactions between plants and animals within ecosystems are becoming increasingly similar, a process likely to reinforce globalization's imprint on nature and increase risks of sweeping ecological disruption.

Researchers at the University of Maryland's National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) and at the Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE) at Aarhus University, have found that introduced species are reshaping mutualistic relationships between plants and animals at an accelerating pace, creating new ecological links between previously disconnected ecosystems. Their new study is featured on the cover of the Sept. 3 issue of Nature and published online September 2.

Featured on the cover of the Sept. 3 issue of Nature, the study was carried out by researchers at the University of Maryland's National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) and Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World (BIOCHANGE) at Aarhus University.

Losing Biodiversity's Portfolio Effect

Biodiversity is changing worldwide not only through the loss of species, but by species composition becoming more similar across different regions--a process called biotic homogenization. Just as diversification in an investment portfolio buffers it from downturns in certain sectors, diversity across ecosystems buffers natural systems from widespread collapse. The researchers found that homogenization affects mutualistic networks made up of plants and the animals that disperse their seeds. By compiling data from hundreds of sites around the world, they found that interactions involving a plant or animal that was an introduced species has increased seven-fold over the past 75 years. The resulting loss of the portfolio effect poses greater risk of sweeping disruption by broad-scale stressors such as climate change or disease outbreaks.

Introduced species are also influencing the structure of mutualistic networks in ways that reduce stability of individual ecosystems. When researchers look at the web of species interactions within natural ecosystems, there are often 'compartments' of closely interacting species that interact little outside their compartment. "This makes a network resilient because a disturbance such as overhunting, disease, or a pesticide that affects a certain species does not spread to affect species in other compartments," explained study author Evan Fricke, of SESYNC. The study shows that introduced species are often so generalized that they interact across multiple compartments, causing the loss of compartmentalized network structure and exposing more species to a given disruption.

A Breakdown of Geographic Isolation

The research also shows how regions that naturally had different combinations of species and interactions because of historic geographic isolation now are linked. "Eurasian blackbirds dispersing hawthorn seeds is a common mutualistic interaction among species native to Europe," Fricke said. "Today, that same species interaction also occurs on the opposite side of the planet in New Zealand where those species have been introduced by people."

The researchers quantified how introduced species have altered geographic patterns in the global web of mutualistic interactions. "What's striking to see is that natural biogeographic patterns that have existed for millions of years are being erased so quickly," Fricke said. A consequence of these new connections is that co-evolved relationships unique to isolated places in Madagascar, Hawaii, or New Zealand are now affected by introduced species. The loss of isolation changes the co-evolutionary trajectories of these mutualisms, which may cause species to evolve traits more similar to species in other parts of the world. "However, the introduced species may with time also themselves diverge from their source populations, adapting to their new setting," added study author Jens-Christian Svenning, professor and director of BIOCHANGE.

Feedbacks Shaping Future Ecosystems

As mutually beneficial interactions, seed dispersal mutualisms can determine which species are successful as ecosystems change over time. Compared to native species, introduced species are twice as likely to interact with partners that are also introduced, according to the study. This feedback may favor regeneration of introduced plants over native species. "These could have knock-on homogenizing effects for plant communities during natural reforestation of degraded forests, as well as plant range shifts as a result of climate change," Fricke said.

Managing the Loss of Complexity

"While many unintentionally introduced species may cause homogenizing effects that threaten ecosystem integrity, other introduced species may provide ecological benefits or even reverse the effects of biotic homogenization," Svenning continued. In the Hawaiian Islands, introduced animals perform nearly all seed dispersal for native plants after numerous extinctions and severe declines in native bird populations. While Hawaii represents an extreme case, ecosystems around the world have experienced steep declines of their largest animals, many of which are important seed dispersers. Like the birds in Hawaii, introduced large mammals can perform functions missing due to the decline of native species. "Our future research will target which species interact in ways that are likely to further homogenize ecosystems and those that can reverse homogenization by filling ecological roles lost due to past species decline," Svenning concluded.

On September 2 2020, the open-access journals PLOS ONE & PLOS Medicine launched a Special Collection of manuscripts centered around the healthcare provided by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the primary U.S. federal agency for improving healthcare in underserved or vulnerable populations.

HRSA, which operates under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), was created in 1982, and helps those in need of high-quality primary care, people with HIV/AIDS, pregnant women, and mothers. HRSA also supports the training of health professionals; oversees organ, bone marrow, and cord blood conation; compensates individuals harmed by vaccination; and maintains databases that protect against healthcare malpractice, waste, fraud and abuse.

Research into the populations that HRSA serves is critical to improving healthcare in a variety of ways for these populations. The new collection, which includes 6 research articles and a policy forum article, addresses such wide-ranging issues as how home visits can address maternal depression, how to increase access to housing services for people with HIV, and how to identify at-risk populations to inform health workforce and health care planning.

In one research article, Sue Lin of HRSA and colleagues used data from the 2014 Health Center Patient Survey to assess the prevalence of self-reported mental health conditions among female patients of reproductive age and examine the association between depression and health conditions including obesity, hypertension, smoking and diabetes. Patients with depression had two to three times higher odds of experiencing co-occurring physical health conditions, the study found.

In another, Marci Sontag of the University of Colorado Denver and colleagues assessed the timeliness and quality of newborn screening programs across the country. These programs are critical to early identification and treatment of affected infants prior to onset of symptoms. The researchers showed that the percent of specimens collected before 48 hours of life improved from 95% in 2016 to 97% in 2018 and that time-critical result reporting also improved during this time frame. The results help inform future efforts to improve newborn screening.

A third manuscript described how Veni Kandasamy of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and colleagues examined the regional variation in Black infant mortality around the United States. The mortality rate among Black infants varied 1.5-fold across regions, they showed. Factors including a state's maternal and child health care budget helped, in part, explain this variance.

These articles, and the others included in the Special Collection, not only help provide quantitative measures of the progress that HRSA has made in improving care for underserved communities around the country over recent years, but will shape future endeavors to improve this care.

"The wide range of topics covered in this collection demonstrate the diverse needs of the populations HRSA serves," said Tom Engels, the HRSA Administrator. "We hope the insight shared in these articles can raise awareness on key issues and inform future health care."

When NASA's Terra satellite passed over the Northwestern Pacific Ocean, it gathered water vapor data on recently developed Typhoon Haishen and found powerful storms in two locations.

Haishen strengthened quickly. It developed on August 31 as Tropical Depression 11W, and by Sept. 1, it had reached tropical storm status. By Sept. 2, it was a typhoon.

Water vapor analysis of tropical cyclones tells forecasters how much potential a storm has to develop. Water vapor releases latent heat as it condenses into liquid. That liquid becomes clouds and thunderstorms that make up a tropical cyclone. Temperature is important when trying to understand how strong storms can be. The higher the cloud tops, the colder and the stronger the storms.

NASA's Terra satellite passed over Haishen on Sept. 2 at 9:35 a.m. EDT (1335 UTC), and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument gathered water vapor content and temperature information. The MODIS image showed highest concentrations of water vapor and coldest cloud top temperatures were around the center of circulation and in a large band of thunderstorms in the northeastern quadrant of the storm.

MODIS data also showed coldest cloud top temperatures were as cold as or colder than minus 70 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 56.6 degrees Celsius) in those storms. Storms with cloud top temperatures that cold have the capability to produce heavy rainfall.

On Sept. 2 at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC), Typhoon Haishen had maximum sustained winds near 70 knots (80 mph/130 kph) and it was strengthening. It was centered near latitude 19.5 degrees north and longitude 140.4 degrees east, about 812 nautical miles east-southeast of Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan. Haishen was moving to the west-northwest.

Haishen's Forecast Path Expected Similar to Maysak's

As Typhoon Maysak approaches landfall in southern South Korea today, forecasters at the Joint Typhoon Warning Center now expect Haishen to follow a similar path.

Haishen will veer to the northwest while intensifying to 120 knots. The storm is forecast to move west of Kyushu, Japan, and will make landfall in South Korea after four days.

NASA's Terra satellite is one in a fleet of NASA satellites that provide data for hurricane research.

NASA Researches Tropical Cyclones

Hurricanes/tropical cyclones are the most powerful weather events on Earth. NASA's expertise in space and scientific exploration contributes to essential services provided to the American people by other federal agencies, such as hurricane weather forecasting.

For more than five decades, NASA has used the vantage point of space to understand and explore our home planet, improve lives and safeguard our future. NASA brings together technology, science, and unique global Earth observations to provide societal benefits and strengthen our nation. Advancing knowledge of our home planet contributes directly to America's leadership in space and scientific exploration.

Seaport footprints will need to expand by up to 3,689 square kilometers (1,424 square miles) worldwide in the next three decades to cope with the combination of sea-level rise and rising demand, according to a new study published in Earth's Future, a peer-reviewed scientific journal focusing on climate change and future sustainability.

The new study modeled trade growth and port demand through 2050 under four combinations of climate policy interventions and global temperature increases. All scenarios lead to increased traffic through ports, requiring doubling or quadrupling port areas.

The cost of building new port capacity to meet demand for freight traffic will dwarf sea level rise adaptation costs, according to the new study published by AGU, a global organization supporting 130,000 Earth and space science enthusiasts and experts. The scenario with minimal greenhouse gas restrictions produced the highest cost projections, 750 billion US dollars, generated mostly from port expansion to meet rising demand.

Previous studies of the economic impacts of climate change on ports have focused on the costs of adapting existing port facilities to sea level rise and stronger, more frequent storms. But demand for port services will also continue to rise, according to UN maritime trade and industry projections.

Policies designed to limit global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius by the end of century are expected to slow trade growth overall, according to the new study, and shift distribution of traded goods, increasing, for example, movement of bioenergy commodities and decreasing demand for fossil fuels . Energy commodities currently account for about 40% of seaborne trade.

Ships transport 80% of trade goods worldwide. Ports have been expanding since the 1980s to meet increasing growth in the sector driven by liberalization of trade, the opening of China's economy and increased use of containers.

Incorporating adaptation strategies into new construction is a relatively low-cost means to prevent future disruption from the effects of climate change, according to the study's authors.

Climate change could deliver more silt, sand and pollution to the San Francisco Bay-Delta, along with a mixed bag of other potential consequences and benefits, according to a new study in the AGU journal Water Resources Research, which publishes research articles and commentaries providing a broad understanding of the role of water in Earth's natural systems.

By running models of future climate change scenarios, researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey found that as air temperatures increase by 1.6 to 5.3 degrees Celsius by the end of the 21st century, with varying changes in rainfall, streams and rivers draining through the Sacramento Valley may see higher peak streamflows. Future storms will not necessarily bring more water overall, just more water during shorter time periods. Those higher streamflows will carry 39% to 69% more sediment down to the Bay-Delta by the end of the century, according to the researchers' models.

The study, published by AGU, a global organization supporting 130,000 Earth and space science enthusiasts and experts, concludes that one of the possible negative impacts of this change is that more pollution could be carried from the Sacramento Valley into the Bay-Delta. The researchers also found that there was an upside to the added sediment: It could help raise the Bay-Delta as sea level rises, and support wetland habitats and native species.

All cancers are the result of cells that have gone haywire, multiplying out of control and expanding beyond their normal constraints. But not all tumors are the same: for reasons that remain poorly understood, some are more likely to become aggressive and metastasize to other parts of the body.

New research highlights a long-overlooked aspect of how and why some tumors become more dangerous than others. A team led by Rockefeller's Elaine Fuchs found that mechanical properties of the tissue elements that surround pre-malignant tumor cells powerfully shape the development of two of the most common forms of skin cancer, causing one to become far more aggressive and invasive than the other.

The work, published recently in Nature, may eventually help clinicians predict how a particular tumor will evolve and could lead to novel anti-cancer therapies.

Not so simple

The researchers focused on two types of tumors that originate within stem cells in the skin known as epidermal stem cells: basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas, the latter of which tends to be much more aggressive and dangerous than the other. The two tumor types also possess highly distinctive structures and appearances: basal cell carcinomas originate as bud-like clusters of cells, while squamous cell carcinomas begin as tiny folds in the skin tissue.

Led by postdoctoral fellow Vince Fiore in the laboratory of Elaine Fuchs, the team induced each type of tumor in two different groups of genetically engineered mice, and then measured their physical properties and that of the surrounding tissue. Collaborating with researchers at Princeton University, they also constructed computer models of the epidermis that accurately simulated how the tumors arose and acquired their characteristic shapes.

Previous research had shown that in simple, single-layer tissues such as those found in the gut, tumors develop and change shape largely in response to the rapid proliferation of cancer cells and the forces they exert as the cells push and pull on one another. But the team's computer simulations showed that these factors cannot generate the distinctive shapes and structures of basal and squamous cell carcinomas that form within more complex, multilayered tissues like the epidermis--a suggestion that was borne out by experiments on the mice.

So the team set about looking for other culprits that could in fact produce the two distinct tumor types.

A rock and a hard place

By analyzing differences in gene expression between the two types of tumors, Fiore and his colleagues identified a set of genes that play a critical role in setting the physical properties of the basement membrane, a thin dense layer of intertwined proteins secreted by the stem cells of the epidermis and its developing tumors. "The basement membrane acts as a kind of floor that separates the tumor from the surrounding tissue," Fiore explains.

Computer modeling predicted that softening the basement membrane or increasing the rate at which it is assembled would generate the buds characteristic of basal cell carcinomas. Stiffening the membrane or slowing down its assembly rate, on the other hand, would cause the folding associated with squamous cell carcinomas.

To test those predictions, the researchers manipulated the expression of the genes in their lab animals, altering the stiffness and assembly rate of the basement membrane in various ways. The simulations proved correct: changing the mechanical properties of the basement membrane did in fact influence both the shape and behavior of basal and squamous cell carcinomas.

"In each case, what we predicted would happen indeed happened," Fiore says.

Further experiments revealed that basal and squamous cell carcinomas aren't just shaped by the physical properties of the floor beneath their feet, however. Their structure and behavior are also influenced by the stiffness of the roof over their heads: the layers of so-called suprabasal cells that lie directly above them.

Squamous cell carcinomas are characterized by a relatively stiff suprabasal roof, making it more likely that the tumors will eventually break through the basement membrane floor, escape into deeper layers of the skin, and ultimately spread throughout the body. Basal cell carcinomas, whose suprabasal roof is less rigid, are more likely to stay put, rendering them more benign.

"Because epidermal stem cells make both basement membrane and overlying suprabasal cells, they control the tissue's architecture," says Fuchs, who is Rockefeller's Rebecca C. Lancefield Professor. "However, as stem cells acquire cancer-inducing mutations that change their program of gene expression, they begin to lose control of the mechanical properties needed to keep the tissue fit and healthy."

By identifying some of the genes that shape tumor development, the research could someday help clinicians predict whether a particular tumor is likely to become dangerously aggressive--and provide targets for drugs that might prevent that from happening.

"With these principles in mind, you can begin to understand how tumors become malignant, and then use that knowledge to perform risk assessment or develop new therapies," Fiore says.

Marine animals are notoriously difficult to track, creating big gaps in how scientists understand their behavior and migration patterns - key insights for helping conserve important habitats. Researchers in Australia, using satellite tags and a decades-old satellite photographic database, published a paper in Frontiers in Marine Science that suggests a migratory species like the reef manta ray is somewhat of a homebody.

The study found that a population of Mobula alfredi, one of the largest species of rays in the world, lives and travels long term between two UNESCO World Heritage areas along the middle of Australia's west coast. Nearly 10 percent of the more-than-1,100 reef manta rays identified by photographs had been visiting Ningaloo Marine Park for more than a decade, with the longest one spanning about 15 years.

"This is a great discovery for the reef manta rays on this coastline, because these protected areas provide the legislative framework needed to underpin further management action," said Amelia J. Armstrong, lead author of the new paper and a PhD student in biomedical sciences at the University of Queensland.

Reef manta rays are a long-lived species with a relatively slow reproductive life cycle, and they are listed as "vulnerable" on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. International trade in manta ray body parts, particularly gill plates used in traditional Chinese medicine, is driving population decline, according to Armstrong.

"Unfortunately for manta rays, a slow growth rate and few offspring means that populations can take a long time to recover from disturbance," she said.

The researchers tagged 20 reef manta rays in 2016 and two more in 2019 in and around Ningaloo Reef, one of the longest fringing reefs in the world where deep-ocean upwellings and local currents create a hotspot of feeding activity. The satellite tags can't use GPS while the animals are underwater, so the devices collect depth, temperature, and light-level readings. Models then extrapolate location based on that information.

The oldest photograph in the photo database used in the study dates back to the early 2000s. From birth, reef manta rays sport the same unique spot patterns, which scientists use to recognize individuals over time. The photographs, including imagery collected from photos by local tourism operators and citizen scientists through social media, helped the Australian team identify more than 1,100 individual animals from about 5,000 sightings.

The two methods reveal different, complementary types of information.

"Satellite tags allow us a short peek into the secret lives of these animals to understand where else they frequent outside of key tourism locations, while photographic identification helps us track visitation over longer periods," Armstrong explained.

The study notes that understanding the key areas where migratory species like the reef manta ray like to congregate is crucial for their future conservation. While the Ningaloo and Shark Bay World Heritage Areas are protected, nearby coastal development and tourism create their own kind of population pressures, including animals injured by boat propellers and fishing gear.

"Further investigation into population size and trends is an urgent research priority to ensure this manta ray population is robust and resilient in the face of future change," Armstrong said.

There are memory cells that remember previously encountered pathogens and help to react quickly and strongly when exposed to them again. The developmental process of strong immune cells that make these memory cells in advance without having to encounter the pathogens have been discovered.

Understanding the developmental process of these cells, which are responsible for biodefense in places where contact with pathogens are common such as lungs, intestines and skin is anticipated to be used as fundamental data to overcome various infectious diseases or malignant tumors caused by immune dysregulation.

The National Research Foundation of Korea has announced (President Jung-Hye Roe) that the joint research team from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and Yonsei University Health Systems - led by professors You Jeong Lee and Sanguk Kim of Pohang Institute of Science and Technology (POSTECH) and Professor Jong Kyoung Kim of Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST) - have identified the developmental process of novel immune T cells. These research findings were published in the international journal Nature Communications on August 31.

T cells, which play an essential role in eliminating pathogens and cancer cells such as viruses, germs and fungi, including the recently prevalent COVID-19, have more than 10 different subtypes.

The recently discovered innate T cell is made in active form from the developmental stage without having encountered the pathogen and account for 20-30% of all T cells, but its production process or role was not well known. In response, the team focused on the developmental process of three congenital T cells common in humans and mice: natural killer T cells, gamma delta T cells, and MAIT cells.

These cells, which were believed to have disparate developmental systems and functions through single cell genomic analysis, actually share the same developmental path from each precursor and has been found to differentiate into functional subtypes that secrete the same cytokines, such as interferon gamma, interleukin-4, and interleukin-17.

In examining the composition of congenital T cell subtypes, mice have many natural killer T cells, but humans have many MAIT cells or gamma-delta T cells. Because of this, strong anti-cancer and antiviral efficacy of natural killer T cells that secrete interferon gamma in mice are verified but it is difficult to expect the equal effect in humans who possess a very low number of natural killer T cells.

The study has found that MAIT cells or gamma-delta T cells in humans are functionally equivalent to the natural killer T cells in mice. The research team anticipates that immunotherapy using MAIT and gamma-delta T cells, which secrete interferon gamma in humans, will produce anti-cancer and antiviral effects as they do in mice in the future.

Mite extinctions are occurring at least 1,000 times the 'natural' rate - a finding a University of Queensland researcher says is another warning that global biodiversity is in deep trouble.

The 1.25 million mite species around the planet occupy an enormous variety of terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems, from the equator, to polar regions and high altitude areas.

In the first global study on mite biodiversity, UQ's Dr Greg Sullivan and colleague Dr Sebahat K. Ozman-Sullivan compiled data that showed the ongoing extinction of an alarming number of species.

"Mites are critical to ecosystems all over the planet - some provide essential ecosystem services such as the incorporation of organic matter into the soil," Dr Sullivan said.

"These services underpin the survival of innumerable species, and act as a proxy for environmental health.

"However, the humble mite is in trouble, as the majority of mite species are assumed to be in the tropical rainforests, where 50 per cent have been destroyed or severely degraded," he said.

"And based on estimates of overall biodiversity loss, around 15 per cent of mite species were likely to have become extinct by 2000.

"Losses are currently expected to increase by between 0.6 per cent and six per cent by 2060."

The researchers said humans are responsible for the erosion of mite diversity.

"Habitat destruction and degradation continue on an enormous scale, with increasing global population and resource consumption the overarching drivers of extinction," Dr Sullivan said.

"The maintenance of mite biodiversity is highly dependent on the maintenance of plant diversity, habitat complexity and insect diversity.

"This means we urgently need to minimise the rate of destruction and degradation of habitat, especially in subtropical and tropical regions, and protect representative natural areas, especially the global biodiversity hotspots, like the Forests of East Australia biodiversity hotspot."

In addition, he said climate change was likely worsening the effects of the other drivers at an increasing rate.

"We need a rapid global implementation of technologies that decrease greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon sequestration, including the widespread regeneration of degraded forests with local species.

"This, coupled with an effectively executed international climate agreement, will play a critical role in determining the fate of a substantial proportion of the remaining global biodiversity - including the small, but mighty, mite."

Chinese people have been paying more and more attention to water safety, especially since the Wuxi "water crisis" in Lake Taihu in 2007. However, more than 10 years after the crisis, how healthy are Chinese lakes now?

A scientific research group, led by the Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology (NIGLAS) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been monitoring the health status of lakes in China. As indicated by the research covered 30 lakes during 2008 and 2018, total phosphorus (TP), which is one of the major pollutants in Chinese lakes, increased in 47% of the lakes, while chlorophyll a (Chla) increased in 70% of the lakes. A dataset showing the results of monthly monitoring in 12 typical lakes also proved the increase of TP and Chla.

Lake Taihu is a good example of lake restoration efforts in China, since more resources have been put into it than into any other lake in China. However, results show that both TP and Chla have increased markedly in the lake since 2007, while total nitrogen (TN) has decreased significantly. As a result, cyanobacteria blooms have shown no sign of easing.

"This is because external loading was not fully controlled," said QIN Boqiang, lead scientist on the research. QIN noted that construction of an urban sewage pipe network effectively reduced the concentration of pollutants from urban discharge into the water body. However, the total amount of discharged pollutants did not decrease, due to the simultaneous increase in urban population and the rapid increase in urban water consumption.

Upgrading the technology of heavy-polluting enterprises or closing them altogether has effectively reduced point source pollution. However, agricultural and urban non-point source pollution has not been significantly reduced over the past 10 years.

In addition, the contribution of internal loading has been ignored for a long time. For example, as the economy developed, many pollutants were discharged into lakes via rivers. Unfortunately, the flow rate of lakes is very low in comparison with rivers. As a result, pollutants settled to the bottom of lakes, thus becoming a potential source of pollution.

Many lakes in China are shallow lakes and sediments are prone to resuspension due to disturbances such as wind and waves. "The pollutants in the sediments continuously enter the water body, thereby offsetting the positive effects of reducing external sources, especially in the initial stage of external source reduction," said QIN.

Climate change has also partially offset the positive effects of pollution control and lake management in recent years. For example, higher temperatures and more frequent heavy rain have accelerated the input and mineralization of nutrients in basins and lakes. At the same time, reduced wind speed also enhances water column stability in lakes and promotes the release of nutrients from sediments.

Based on this research, the group said that lake restoration in China should involve the reduction of effluent nutrients, especially phosphorus. QIN noted that such reduction should be "stricter in the future" to offset the negative effects of climate change and internal loading from sediments.

The scaffolds that help hold together the world's tropical reefs are at risk from acidification due to increased carbon dioxide in the world's oceans, according to geoscientists at the University of Sydney.

Extensive sampling of the Great Barrier Reef fossil record has shown that the calcified scaffolds that help stabilise and bind its structure become thin and weaker as pH levels fall.

Scientists have seen incidental evidence for this in the past, but a new study led by Zsanett Szilagyi of the Geocoastal Research Group at the University of Sydney has shown that this is a global process, affecting reefs worldwide.

The research is published this week in Marine Geology.

"For the first time we have comprehensively shown that the thickness of this geologic 'reef glue' correlates with changes in ocean pH and dissolved carbon dioxide," said Ms Szilagyi.

The thickness of these crusts can now be regarded as a reliable indicator of ocean acidification going back tens if not hundreds of thousands of years.

"We haven't had such a complete and high-resolution record before. And this geologic study shows that as oceans became more acidic, this is reflected in the thickness of these reef crusts," said Associate Professor Jody Webster from the School of Geosciences, who coordinated the study.

WHAT ARE MICROBIALITES?

The 'reef glue' is made up of calcified deposits from microbes that live within reef formations around the world. Known as microbialites, these structures play an important role in many types of aquatic systems and are probably best known from the ancient stromatolites that are built by cyanobacteria in Western Australia, which are billions of years old.

In some types of reef systems, including the Great Barrier Reef, microbialite crusts likely formed by sulfate-reducing bacteria stabilise and bind the reef framework, forming a robust scaffold that can be used by corals and other reef builders to colonise and grow.

In the past these crusts have been more abundant than the corals and algae that grow on and around them and they display variations in thickness over time, while still performing their structural role.

"This means they are really good indicators of changes in environmental conditions of our oceans," Associate Professor Webster said.

The study found a variation in thickness from 11.5 centimetres 22,500 years ago to about 3 centimetres in younger Great Barrier Reef sections, about 12,000 years ago.

When combined with studies from 17 reef systems worldwide, the data shows this thinning of the microbialite crusts coincides with pH dropping below 8.2 right up to modern times.

GLOBAL RESULTS

The researchers gathered a dataset of microbial crusts from the Great Barrier Reef as far back as 30,000 years. They compared a comprehensive three-dimensional analysis of samples to two-dimensional scans of the crust thickness.

The results from the Great Barrier Reef show that the two-dimensional analysis of crust thickness provides an accurate proxy for the more detailed three-dimensional method. Compiling 2D sample data from across the world, the scientific team built a global model of microbialite thickness through time.

The study found that the 2D technique gave results within 10 percent of the 3D analysis.

"A real breakthrough here is that we are confident we can now apply a 2D analysis to reefs and obtain reliable information about the history of microbialite formations. This will give us substantial savings in time and resources," Associate Professor Webster said.

"Previous studies have given us glimpses as to how these microbial crusts respond to changes in their environment. What is new in our study is that we measured more than 700 well-dated microbialite samples from the International Ocean Discovery Program on the Great Barrier Reef and combined this with a meta-analysis of 17 other reef records from around the world," he said.

"This allowed us to assess global-scale changes in microbialite development over the past 30,000 years. And, frankly, the findings are a stark warning sign for the dangers of rapid acidification of oceans."

The study argues that in the present-day context of rapid global climate change, changes in dissolved carbon dioxide, pH and temperature, could lead to reduced microbial crust formation, thereby weakening reef frameworks in the future.