genomes

Scientists Create First Viruses Designed By AI, What Does This Mean For The Future Of Medicine?

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Scientists have created the first viruses that were designed using artificial intelligence. This feat is being highly debated within the scientific community as both a major milestone advancement for medicine, and a potential threat if this technology isn’t protected. 

Dr. Brian Hie is a chemical engineer at Stanford University in California, who utilized genome language models to design functioning genomes for bacteriophages. The models are the genetic equivalent to the language models used for AI chatbots, and bacteriophages are the specific viruses that only infect bacteria, so they’re used to treat patients with persistent infections. 

The viruses were then made in the laboratory and specifically put against E. coli in a dish, according to the research recently published in the journal Science. “The ability to rapidly design genomes and tune them for specific bugs while overcoming resistance could transform phage therapy and expand biotechnological toolkits,” the researchers wrote. 

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On the other hand, the scientists have also stated that the new work raised “important biosafety, biocontainment, and biosecurity consideration,” telling other people who are designing whole genomes to “consult both safety and security professionals throughout the project.”

Professor Tom Inglesby and Dr. Mori Hanke at the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins University wrote an accompanying article in which they emphasized the researchers safety warnings: 

“Although this is promising for life sciences applications, it also raises urgent biosafety and biosecurity questions. The ability to compose viral genomes using generative AI now exists; the governance to safely steer it does not.”

Dr. Hie and his colleagues mapped out in their article how they used AI models named Evo1 and Evo2 to design the new viral genomes. The models were specifically trained with genetic data from 2 million bacteriophages.

To keep the focus on the bacteriophages that can be utilized in medicine, the scientists made sure to carefully exclude any genetic codes for viruses that can infect living beings so the AI training doesn’t design any dangerous viruses. 

The AI worked to generate thousands of potential genomes, and the researchers chose about 300 to then make in a lab. Those genomes were then dropped into bacteria which read the genetic code and created the new bacteriophages. 

Only 16 bacteriophages were viable, however, the makeup of them were able to overcome resistance in two different strains of E. coli. 

Professor Inglesby and Dr. Hanke said that although only 16 out of the 300 were viable, the work proves that generative AI can create viral genomes, and there should be safeguards put into place to ensure that the technology can never be used to create pathogens that can infect plants, animals, and especially humans. 

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“Such genomes might encode new pathogens that … cannot be contained by existing countermeasures,” they wrote. 

Tom Ellis, a professor of synthetic genome engineering at Imperial College London, stated that this work was very impressive, but when it comes to creating more complex genomes, there’s a lot more work to actually be done. 

“This is literally the smallest and easiest genome to make,” he said. 

“An AI trained on the genetic code of dangerous bugs could be used to design more harmful viruses,” the Guardian reported that Ellis said. 

“But controlling access to genetic data and having restrictions on making genomes that look dangerous would help. Governments are working hard to do this already,” he added.

“But honestly, the threat from full AI design and writing of a genome of a virus or bacteria is very overblown when we consider that just taking existing pathogens and making gain-of-function changes to their genomes is so much easier and much more likely to be a real pathogenic threat.”

Dr. Filippa Lentzos, a reader in science and international security at King’s College London, stated that one of the biggest things to now look out for with this type of work is making sure no scientific groups try to manufacture anything involving DNA. 

“It’s important to see the bigger governance picture and not focus regulation solely on the AI model,” she said. 

“A layered approach makes more sense: safeguards around model development and access, responsible research review, synthesis screening, and established laboratory biosafety and biosecurity.”

wildfire

Europe’s Wildfire Weather Is Being Fueled By The Climate Crisis 

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Major wildfires have been spreading throughout Europe, specifically in Spain and France. According to a scientific analysis, the extreme heat and drought that is fueling these fires is only being exacerbated by the climate crisis. 

Experts from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) consortium calculated that global heating has made hot, dry, and windy weather 20 times more likely in Spain and twice as likely in France. Constant and increased burning of oil, gas, and coal has warmed the planet making extreme weather events such as wildfires much more common in recent years. 

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The end of June saw a major heatwave spread throughout Europe, and has caused an estimated 20,000 deaths. This heat, according to another WWA study, could not have accumulated without the extra heat that has been trapped in the atmosphere from climate change. 

Another study from the group also found that the climate crisis is causing soils to become extremely dry, leading to major drought throughout the continent as well. 

Between the heatwaves and dry lands, a perfect storm was created for wildfires. Studies performed last year also showed that the 2025 wildfires were fuelled by the climate crisis. 

Europe also experienced a wet winter and spring, which allowed extra vegetation to grow, and eventually dry out from the summer’s intense heat, and further allowing wildfires to spark and spread. 

Dr Clair Barnes, a research associate at Imperial College London and part of the WWA study team, said: 

“We’ve seen repeatedly how climate change increases hot, dry, flammable conditions that are extremely conducive to wildfires.”

“What’s unique about [the July fires in Spain and France] is that it’s still early in the season – and with another heatwave looming, these findings are extremely scary. What we’re seeing is a clear sign of the escalating impacts of [human-caused] warming.”

“What we are seeing now in Spain and France goes well beyond what we would expect from past events,” said the director of programs at Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Center, Julie Arrighi. 

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Dr. Augustin Colette at the French National Institute for Industrial Environment and Risks stated: 

“The smoke increased particulate [pollution] peak levels up to 20 times above what is considered ‘fair air quality’, and extremely poor air quality was felt up to 400 km away from the fires.” 

Since early July, severe wildfires have been burning across Spain and France. More than 300,000 people were forced to leave their homes with thousands being destroyed. The WWA specifically analyzed the seven-day period in which the highest daily severity ratings for each country was recorded. 

They used weather records to establish statistical methods to estimate how much more likely a week of extremely high DSR is in today’s world when compared to the world before mass fossil-fuel burning raised the global temperature, according to the Guardian. 

The UN’s climate chief, Simon Stiell, said: 

“These European mega-fires show how fast climate-driven extreme heat and dry landscapes can turn wildfires into devastating national disasters.”

“Humanity continuing to burn colossal amounts of coal, oil and gas is making these conditions more dangerous, and these megafires more deadly and destructive. But the solutions are equally clear: all countries must move faster from fossil fuels to renewables and protect people from worsening climate impacts, from wildfires, to megastorms and floods, to droughts hitting food production.”

International Space Station

NASA Wants To Dump The International Space Station In The Ocean

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NASA is planning to deorbit the International Space Station (ISS) in the coming years, however, their proposed strategy for doing so is causing a lot of controversies among international governments and ocean conservation groups. This is because NASA is planning to deorbit the ISS by having it come back into Earth’s atmosphere and dumping it into the ocean.

NASA has blueprinted that they will take a series of actions leading up to, and into, 2030 to accomplish the ISS’s deorbiting. In early to mid-2028, the ISS will begin to be lowered through a combination of Earth’s natural atmospheric drag and re-entry measures by Russia’s segment of the station, according to reports from Space.com.

Then, a year later in mid-2029, NASA is planning the launch of a SpaceX-supplied US Deorbit Vehicle that will attach to the ISS and fire 46 Draco thrusters to push the station further down and into the ocean. 

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This plan has ecology experts very concerned, specifically The Ocean Foundation. The foundation is headquartered in Washington D.C., and has an overall mission of improving global ocean health and the relationship humans have with our world’s waters. 

Mark Spalding, the president of the foundation, said that NASA’s plan to deorbit the ISS “raises serious concerns for ocean health that the space community has not adequately grappled with.”  

A recent report from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) was released to discuss the main problems with NASA’s plan to deorbit the ISS and transition it to commercial space stations. 

The report explained that at the end of 2030 or early 2031, the US Deorbit Vehicle will perform the re-entry burn which will push the ISS through the Earth’s atmosphere and into Point Nemo, also known as the pole of inaccessibility as it’s the furthest point from any landmass in the world. 

“As part of the reentry process, NASA expects portions of the ISS and deorbit vehicle to break up and fall into the remote part of the ocean to minimize the risk to populated areas,” the GAO report says. 

Spalding told Space.com that “there is a troubling structural gap in international law that the ISS deorbit throws into sharp relief,” when it comes to using Point Nemo as the dumping ground for the ISS.

He also pointed out that under the Space Liability Convention of 1972, if space debris falls on another nation’s territory or damages property, the nation that launched the space craft in question owes compensation without “needing to prove fault. But no equivalent protection exists for the ocean.” 

“As a result, when space agencies have control over where debris falls, they aim for the high seas, and in doing so, they incur no legal obligation to pay for cleanup or environmental remediation,” he said. 

While Spalding explained that he understood the rationale for targeting Point Nemo for this mission, considering it’s the furthest point away from any populated area, it doesn’t negate the damage that can be done to the ocean’s ecosystem and marine life. 

“The ocean’s remoteness from human infrastructure should not be mistaken for a lack of value or vulnerability. The ocean and its creatures deserve the same protection that international law affords to national territories.”

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When speaking with Space.com, Spalding begged the question about what will happen to marine ecosystems and life on the seafloor where ISS leftovers end up. Speaking vulnerably, he said there’s no way to truly know until it actually happens, which is problematic.

“The honest answer is, we don’t fully know. That is deeply troubling for a structure the size of a football field. We do know that not everything burns up on reentry. Denser components will survive and reach the seafloor.”

Spalding explained that there hasn’t been enough research put into the specific pieces of the ISS and what would be destroyed upon reentry, what would enter the ocean, and how it would directly impact marine life and the ocean’s ecosystem. This “has not been adequately studied or disclosed. That uncertainty is itself the problem.

What environmental harm may begin before the debris hits the water is worrisome. As the largest reentry in history, the cumulative atmospheric impact of down-falling ISS hardware deserves serious study.”

As a part of his argument regarding the lack of proper research, he cited a newly negotiated High Seas Treaty that is relevant to the deorbiting of the iSS. The Treaty requires parties involved to conduct environmental impact assessments for any activities that may impact marine environments and life that goes beyond the national jurisdiction, especially when the effects are unknown. 

“It is fair to ask whether the ISS deorbit – the largest such reentry in history, targeting the high seas – should trigger that obligation,” he explained. 

The Ocean Foundation laid out what discussions and research should be conducted before the downing of the ISS into the ocean. They revealed that they want a full environmental impact assessment of the anticipated debris that will sink to the seafloor, as well as the atmospheric impact in the air above the ocean. 

The foundation also wants all the materials that will survive the reentry and reach the ocean floor to be disclosed publicly and not kept confidential. 

The foundation also cited obligations and analysis legally required under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the London Protocol of 1996. This protocol maps our an international standard for nations to both individually and collectively protect and preserve our oceans from pollution that is caused by the dumping of waste. 

“The high seas have no sovereign who can demand accountability. We believe this gap in international law needs to be closed, and the ISS deorbit is a vivid illustration of why,” Spalding concluded.

bumble bee

Study Finds Bumblebees Can Solve Puzzles Like Chimps and Elephants

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For decades, complex problem-solving was often considered the domain of animals with large brains. Chimpanzees, elephants and certain bird species have all demonstrated the ability to overcome obstacles to obtain rewards. New research suggests that bumblebees, insects with brains no larger than sesame seeds, may belong on that list as well.

In a study published in Science, researchers found that untrained bumblebees could solve a challenge reminiscent of a classic intelligence experiment first conducted more than a century ago by German psychologist Wolfgang Köhler. The findings add to growing evidence that sophisticated cognition can emerge in creatures with remarkably small nervous systems.

“We had this underlying assumption that somehow bigger brains means more powerful computations,” Cat Hobaiter, a primatologist at the University of St. Andrews who was not involved in the study, told NPR. “And so demonstrating this in the bumblebees is really wonderful.”

Hobaiter noted that the work closely mirrors problem-solving experiments previously conducted across a wide range of animals. “Intelligent brains come in really diverse shapes and sizes,” she said.

The project was led by Olli Loukola, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Turku in Finland. After spending years studying bumblebees, Loukola said he has learned not to underestimate them. “Very tiny brains can solve super complex problems,” he said.

The inspiration for the experiment traces back to Köhler’s famous work with chimpanzees. In that study, a banana was suspended just out of reach while boxes were left nearby. Without training, a chimpanzee stacked the boxes, climbed up and retrieved the fruit, demonstrating what Köhler interpreted as spontaneous problem-solving.

Similar tests have since been adapted for birds and elephants, both of which successfully completed the challenge. Loukola wondered whether a comparable task could be designed for bumblebees.

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His previous research had already revealed surprising capabilities in the insects.

“They learn socially from each other; they even understand the role of their partner in cooperative tasks. They learn to use tools.”

After studying bumblebees for about a decade, if you don’t have limitations on what’s possible for them, “you can go wild and crazy and find completely novel stuff,” he added.

Designing an insect version of Köhler’s challenge required some creativity. Because bees can fly, simply placing a reward out of reach would not work. To begin, researchers trained bees to associate a small blue circle with a sugary reward.

“Bees are super fast in associating things together,” Loukola said. “They will learn immediately that blue means reward. Then they start searching for blue stuff.”

The team then created a shallow, hollow arena roughly an inch high. A blue target was attached to the ceiling, but the setup prevented the bees from either flying to it or reaching it while standing on the floor.

“We designed the arena so that it’s just annoyingly [a] little bit too high for them to stand and reach the ceiling,” Loukola said, “but too tiny for them to fly.”

Inside the enclosure sat a small Styrofoam ball. Video recordings showed the insects repeatedly grabbing and moving the ball around the arena.

“Bumblebees, they love rolling balls,” Loukola said. “Some of them needed more time and made more errors. But then they continued.”

Eventually, nearly three-quarters of the bees maneuvered the ball directly beneath the blue target. They then climbed onto the ball and used it as a stepstool to reach the overhead reward.

“I planned the experiment so that it’s challenging for the bees,” Loukola said. “They really need to understand the task in order to solve it.”

Still, the results left another possibility open; perhaps the bees were simply moving the ball around at random and happened to succeed by luck.

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“It’s possible that the bees don’t need to understand anything,” Loukola acknowledged. “Is this really goal-directed behavior or is this just playing with the balls and solving these tasks by chance?”

To test that question, researchers modified the arena by adding barriers that blocked the insects’ view of the blue target. Bees now had to navigate around obstacles before locating the goal, while the ball began in a separate location.

Even under those more demanding conditions, about 80% of the bees successfully rolled the ball beneath the target and climbed onto it. The result convinced Loukola that the insects were solving the problem spontaneously rather than stumbling upon a solution accidentally.

According to Loukola, it is the first demonstration of this type of spontaneous problem-solving in an insect.

The ability to adapt in this way could have important real-world benefits. Bumblebees forage in constantly changing environments where food sources appear and disappear rapidly.

“Today they might find flowers from here, but tomorrow those flowers are not blooming anymore. If the workers can flexibly find new ways to get food for the colony, that’s the skill that they need to have.”

The findings have also opened the door to new research questions. Loukola hopes to examine whether bumblebees display subtle body movements, grooming patterns or other behavioral signals before arriving at a solution.

Future technologies may even enable observation of brain activity as insects work through similar challenges. For now, Loukola believes scientists are only beginning to understand what bumblebees can do.

“When I started, the [cognitive] limit was somewhere here,” Loukola said, indicating a low point with his hand. “And now it’s much higher.”

“We have to be smarter to develop or design experimental setups where we can test their real limits.”

heat

Extreme Heatwave In Europe Is ‘A Brutal Reminder’ Of Climate Crisis, UN Chief States 

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The United Nations climate chief recently stated that the extreme early heat events taking over parts of western Europe have become a “brutal reminder of the spiraling impacts of the climate crisis.” This month, both France and the United Kingdom set new temperature records on two consecutive days. 

Simon Stiell is the executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and this week he said that the “main culprit” of the climate crisis is humanity’s burning of oil, coal, and gas. 

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“The science is clear that human-induced climate change is making these heatwaves more frequent and extreme.”

France, Spain, and the UK have been reaching temperatures that are, on average, only seen in July and/or August.  

“Protecting human lives, businesses and economies from extreme heat and the many other soaring costs of climate change is core business for every nation, and it starts with kicking the fossil fuel addiction much faster.”

Other reports have shown that the war in the Middle East has greatly impacted the “soaring costs” of fossil fuels, and led to a need to move to cleaner sources of energy. Stiell also pointed out that India has experienced nearly 110 degrees Fahrenheit conditions which have led to deaths from heatstroke. 

The UK’s Met Office stated that Kew Gardens in London recorded a temperature of 92.2 degrees Fahrenheit, breaking the record for highest temperature in May, which was set the day before. The readings also surpassed a previous record of 91.04 degrees Fahrenheit which was set in 1922, and again in 1944. 

France experienced local highs of 102.2 degrees Fahrenheit on Wednesday, and recorded their hottest day in May ever on Tuesday when the national heat index, an average of 30 readings around the nation, hit 76.64 degrees Fahrenheit, according to reports from the Guardian. 

Météo-France, the national weather service, stated that a “heat dome,” which causes heat to be held in place by a high-pressure weather front, was producing temperatures up to 55.4 degrees higher than what is usual for this time of year. 

17 out of 96 of France’s administrative departments, including Paris, were placed on an orange high temperature alert for Thursday, the second highest level. This alert level requires the nation’s population to be “very vigilant and take precautions.” Another 29 were placed on the more moderate yellow warning. 

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Scientists have stated that as the world continues to warm, extreme heat events that are typically exclusive to the peak of summer are becoming both more frequent and intense, and are happening earlier and later into the year. 

Peter Thorne, the director of climate research at Maynooth University in Ireland, said: “We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that events such as this have been made more likely and more severe due to climate change arising from our emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.”

“Nevertheless, many of the records being set, particularly in the UK and France, are mind-bogglingly crazy.”

This week, French authorities reported at least seven deaths that were directly and indirectly connected to the high temperatures. Five of these deaths were drownings, as many people were seeking out swimming spots to cool off. Authorities in Britain stated that four teenagers have also drowned in England since Sunday. 

Spain is reporting temperatures could hit 104 degrees Fahrenheit this week. These reports led to the Basque Country being placed on an orange weather alert.

Aemet, Spain’s state meteorological office, said that temperatures typically experienced in July have already been recorded across the country. Rubén del Campo, a spokesperson for Aemet, said that the heat was “more characteristic of the dog days, the hottest period of the year.”

“Both this episode and the atmospheric pattern that’s causing it are part and parcel of climate change and of what’s been observed in recent years.” 

dinosaur

New Dinosaur Species Discovered in Thailand Is Largest Ever Found in Southeast Asia

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A gigantic new dinosaur species discovered in Thailand is giving paleontologists a clearer picture of prehistoric life in Southeast Asia and setting a new regional size record in the process.

Scientists have identified the dinosaur as Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis, an enormous long-necked herbivore that roamed the region roughly 100 million to 120 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous period. According to researchers, the dinosaur measured nearly 89 feet long and weighed an estimated 27 metric tons, making it the largest dinosaur ever found in Southeast Asia.

The findings were published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports by a team from Thailand and the United Kingdom.

The species belonged to the sauropods, a group of massive plant-eating dinosaurs recognized for their towering necks, heavy bodies and pillar-like limbs. Famous members of the group include Brontosaurus and Diplodocus, both among the largest land animals known to have existed.

“One of the many features that we’re kind of excited about is the size of this dinosaur,” lead author Thitiwoot Sethapanichsakul, a paleontologist and Ph.D. student at University College London, told NPR.

While enormous, Sethapanichsakul said the species falls within the “upper middle” range of the largest dinosaurs ever discovered, offering researchers insight into a key moment in sauropod evolution before truly colossal species emerged later in the Cretaceous period.

“It gives us an understanding of the potential kind of evolutionary trends that are beginning to occur” around this time, he said.

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Researchers have identified even larger sauropods from later Cretaceous periods, including some estimated to weigh as much as 70 tons.

“In the Middle Cretaceous, we find dinosaurs in China, South America and probably Africa that are super giants. They are the biggest of the biggest. The new discovery essentially represents that kind of on-ramp towards that kind of supersizing.”

One fossil immediately stood out: a humerus, or upper arm bone, measuring nearly six feet long.

“When I first laid eyes on the humerus, it was taller than me, and that was quite surprising,” Sethapanichsakul told CNN. The paleontologist added that fossils of such scale are extremely uncommon in Thailand.

The dinosaur’s remains were first uncovered after a local resident spotted bones near a communal pond in northeastern Thailand during a 2016 drought, when lower water levels exposed the fossils. Excavations continued over several years, with teams conducting fieldwork from 2016 to 2019 before returning in 2024 for additional digs.

Recovered fossils included portions of the spine, ribs, pelvis and limb bones. Scientists later created 3D scans of the remains and determined the animal represented a previously unknown species.

Its name draws from both mythology and geography. “Naga” refers to serpent-like beings in South and Southeast Asian folklore, while “Titan” nods to the gigantic figures of Greek mythology.

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“The Nagas are also often associated with water, and considering the dinosaur was found on the side of a communal pond, it just seemed very apt to have a serpent giant be the name.”

The final part of the species name honors Chaiyaphum province, where the fossils were discovered.

For Sethapanichsakul, who is originally from Thailand, the discovery also carried personal significance.

“It fulfills a kind of childhood promise. That, yeah, I’m going to name a dinosaur one day. And I want it to be from Thailand.”

Researchers believe Nagatitan chaiyaphumensis lived in a hot, relatively arid landscape crisscrossed by river systems. The environment would have supported a wide variety of ancient wildlife, including crocodiles, turtles, freshwater sharks and fish.

The dinosaur also likely shared its habitat with smaller herbivorous dinosaurs related to Iguanodon as well as “a kind of very early form of what we would call Ceratopsians, cousins of Triceratops,” Sethapanichsakul said.

He added that Thailand may hold one of the richest dinosaur fossil records in Asia because of its extensive layers of exposed Mesozoic Era sedimentary rock, dating to around 252 million to 66 million years ago.

“These rocks are exposed to less rain and vegetation, which could end up eroding or destroying those bones,” he said.

The discovery site now hosts a research center dedicated to further paleontological work, and scientists continue to study sauropods across Southeast Asia.

A life-sized reconstruction of the dinosaur is currently displayed at the Thainosaur Museum in Bangkok.

rain

Study Suggests Plants Respond to the Sound of Rain

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A raindrop striking the ground may sound soft to human ears, but beneath the surface, it delivers something closer to a shockwave. For seeds lying in soil or submerged in water, that impact can act as a powerful environmental cue that may determine when it’s time to grow.

In a study published in Scientific Reports, researchers found that rice seeds exposed to the sound of rainfall germinated significantly faster than those kept in silence, offering some of the first direct evidence that plants can detect and respond to sound.

The finding adds a new dimension to a long-standing scientific question around how much plants actually sense about the world around them. While previous research has suggested plants can respond to light, gravity, touch, and chemical signals, evidence linking sound to a clear biological outcome has remained limited.

To test the idea, researchers submerged roughly 8,000 rice seeds in water, conditions that mirror their natural growing environment, and exposed some to recorded rain sounds while keeping others in identical, quiet conditions. The seeds exposed to sound consistently sprouted earlier, from 30 to 40 percent faster, suggesting that rainfall itself may act as a trigger for germination.

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“What this study is saying is that the seeds can sense sound in ways that can help them survive,” said study co-author Nicholas Makris, a professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in a statement. “The energy of the rain sound is enough to accelerate a seed’s growth.”

“Brilliant research has been done around the world to reveal the mechanisms behind the ability of plants to sense gravity. Our study has shown that these same mechanisms seem to be providing plant seeds a means of perceiving submergence depths in the soil or water that are beneficial to their survival by sensing the sound of rain. It gives new meaning to the fourth Japanese microseason, entitled ‘Falling rain awakens the soil.’”

The mechanism behind that response may lie in statoliths, tiny starch-filled structures within plant cells that help detect physical changes, such as gravity and orientation. These structures shift within cells to guide early growth, including the direction roots take as they emerge.

Makris and his team hypothesized that vibrations from raindrops, especially in water or saturated soil, could be strong enough to disturb these statoliths, effectively signaling that conditions are favorable for growth.

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The physics of sound supports that theory.

“It has to do with the fact that water is denser than air, so the same drop makes larger pressure waves underwater. So, if you’re a seed that’s within a few centimeters of a raindrop’s impact, the kind of sound pressures that you would experience in water or in the ground are equivalent to what you’d be subject to within a few meters of a jet engine in the air.”

From a seed’s perspective, then, rainfall may not be subtle at all. Instead, it becomes a powerful environmental signal that could provide a crucial timing advantage. Germinating quickly after rain allows seeds to take immediate advantage of moisture and nutrients, increasing their chances of survival.

Although the study focused on rice, the researchers suggest that similar responses may occur in other plant species, particularly those that require wet conditions for germination.

Makris and his co-author, Cadine Navarro, plan to explore whether plants might also respond to other environmental cues, such as wind, which can generate its own patterns of vibration.

If those signals prove meaningful, it would further challenge the idea of plants as passive organisms, suggesting instead that they are quietly attuned to the physical rhythms of their environment.

 

Stephans Quintet

Astronomers Identify Possible “Magma Ocean” Planet 35 Light Years Away

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Astronomers studying a distant exoplanet say it may represent a previously unknown category of world—one dominated not by rock or water, but by molten lava.

The number of known exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system, has reached 6,000, according to NASA. The new research focuses on L98-59d, a planet orbiting a small red dwarf star roughly 35 light-years from Earth. The planet is about 1.6 times Earth’s size, placing it in a size range where scientists typically expect either rocky planets or ocean-covered “water worlds.” Yet new findings suggest it may instead be something entirely different.

Earlier observations using the James Webb Space Telescope revealed that L98-59d possesses an atmosphere unusually rich in sulfur. That chemical signature puzzled astronomers because neither rocky planets nor water worlds should be able to sustain such an atmosphere over the nearly 5 billion years the planet has existed.

To investigate, researchers at the University of Oxford ran advanced computer simulations tracing the planet’s evolution from shortly after its formation. The models suggest the world may contain a vast global magma ocean extending thousands of kilometers beneath its surface.

“Until now, astronomers would have placed a planet like this into one of two familiar categories, either a rocky ‘gas-dwarf’ with an atmosphere of hydrogen, or a water-rich world made of deep oceans and ice,” the University of Oxford said in a statement.

“These new findings reveal that L 98-59d fits neither description. Instead, it appears to belong to an entirely different class of planet containing heavy sulfur molecules.”

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“You can only really explain this planet if it has this deep magma ocean inside of it,” said Dr. Harrison Nicholls, an astrophysicist at the university.

“The magma ocean efficiently stores the gases and keeps the gases protected from physical processes that would otherwise remove them.”

If the model is correct, L98-59d would be a world of extreme conditions. Scientists estimate that surface temperatures could reach 3,500°F (1,900°C). Tidal forces from neighboring planets may generate enormous waves across the molten surface, while the atmosphere, rich in hydrogen sulfide, would likely smell strongly of rotten eggs. “The whole thing really is in a mushy, molten state. It’s like molasses. It’s likely that this planet’s core would also be molten,” Nicholls said.

“We cannot yet quantify how rare this scenario is. However, given the results of our modeling, and also on the basis of well-justified physical processes which happen during planet formation, we believe that these magma ocean planets may represent a substantial fraction of the exoplanets in our galaxy.”

Although the discovery highlights the diversity of planetary systems beyond our own, researchers say the environment on L98-59d is unlikely to support life.

“If there are aliens out there that could live in lava, that would be amazing, but I don’t think it’s likely that it’s habitable. It’s nice to revel in the alienness of the planet itself.”

Studying exoplanets has long posed challenges for astronomers. Because these worlds are too distant to visit or directly photograph, scientists historically relied on indirect measurements, such as monitoring the slight dimming of a star when a planet passes in front of it, to estimate properties like size, density and temperature.

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More recently, the James Webb Space Telescope has enabled analysis of planetary atmospheres by examining how starlight filters through them. These observations provided the initial clues that L98-59d might not fit neatly into existing categories of planets.

The possibility that molten planets could exist in significant numbers may also complicate how astronomers evaluate distant worlds for potential habitability.

“Some planets in the so-called habitable zone might not be very habitable at all, they might be these molten planets,” Nicholls said.

“While this molten planet is unlikely to support life, it reflects the wide diversity of the worlds which exist beyond the solar system. We may then ask, what other types of planets are waiting to be uncovered?”

Dr. Jo Barstow, a planetary scientist at the Open University who was involved in earlier Webb observations of L98-59d, said the new analysis offers a compelling explanation for the planet’s unusual characteristics.

“We talked about it possibly being an exoplanet that resembles Jupiter’s moon Io, with lots of volcanoes caused by tidal heating,” she said. “This work suggests it could be even more extreme.”

“What’s astonishing is that exoplanets are still delivering huge surprises decades after the field began,” said Dr. Sara Seager, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at MIT, who wasn’t involved in the study. “We can look forward to more examples of this possible class of hydrogen-rich, sulfur-bearing atmosphere worlds.”

scientist

Scientists Discover Siberian Mummy Covered In Tattoos

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A team of scientists have made an amazing discovery that offers a new insight into mummification and, interestingly enough, tattooing in ancient culture. Gino Caspari, from the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology and the University of Bern, led a team of researchers who found a mummified woman in Siberia who lived over 2,000 years ago. 

Her mummified body was also covered in tattoos described as intricate designs found on her hands and forearms, and are some of the most detailed found from ancient culture, according to reports from Daily Galaxy. 

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The publication also stated that the team’s discovery is a “breakthrough” in understanding how tattoos were applied pre-technology and their role in culture. 

Caspari and his team used cutting-edge imaging techniques and technology to see the tattoos, which were actually hidden due to the mummification process. 

The team’s study was published in Antiquity from Cambridge University Press, and wrote that the tattoos on the Pazyryk woman’s body are highly detailed especially in relation to how old they are. The report wrote that the team specifically used infrared and near-infrared photography to show what was under the surface. 

The photography allowed them to see the tattoos that were darkened and blurred from the mummification process, and showed them a wide range of designs including simple patterns to complex scenes. 

Her hands, specifically, showed things like flowers and a bird believed to be a rooster. The forearm tattoos were more intricate and showed a “moose-like animal being attacked by a mythical creature, and another features a dramatic battle between antlers animals and tigers,” Melissa Ait Lounis wrote for Daily Galaxy. 

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History and past studies show that Pazyryk people placed a lot of importance and meaning within their tattoos. The placement of the specific tattoos were also intentional. 

Gino Caspari said that this shows how carefully the population thought out the process of tattooing as potentially a form of personal expression or social identity. 

“The insights really drive home to me the point of how sophisticated these people were.” 

Tattooing throughout Pazyryk culture was something that was deeply embedded in their community and the designs hold spiritual and/or social meaning. The placement on specific body parts also shows an understanding over how body art can be used to increase pieces of one’s identity. 

In general, tattooing in ancient times was a complex procedure. The designs were placed on the body using hand-poking methods with sharp tools/needles being used to puncture the skin, a very tedious and lengthy process.

“This study provides the first positive evidence that the Pazyryk tattoos were created by hand poking, and establishes the use of multiple tool types.” said tattoo artist Danny Riday who helped with the study. 

“It also reiterates the ability of Pazyryk tattooers, and establishes them as skilled craftspeople comparable to the Iron Age artisans who created Scythian textiles, wood, leather, and metal work.”

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Google DeepMind Unveils AI Tool To Help Scientists Identify Genetic Drivers Of Disease 

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Google DeepMind has recently launched their newest artificial intelligence tool that they’re claiming will help scientists identify the genetic drivers of disease to ideally create new treatments.

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DeepMind is a “team of scientists, engineers, ethicists, and more working to build the next generation of AI systems safely and responsibly, By solving some of the hardest scientific and engineering challenges of our time” the company is “working to create breakthrough technologies that could advance science, transform work, service diverse communities – and improve billions of people’s lives.” 

The newest tool is known as AlphaGenome and it predicts how mutations interfere with the way genes are controlled, changing when they are switched on in which cells of the body, and whether their biological volume controls are set to high or low, according to reports from the Guardian. 

AlphaGenome could potentially be a game changer for treating a multitude of different diseases and disorders. Heart disease, autoimmune disorders, cancers, and mental health issues all are linked to mutations impacting gene regulation, but it’s difficult for experts to specifically identify which genetic mutations are responsible. 

In a press briefing regarding the new research and tool, DeepMind researcher Natasha Latysheva stated: 

“We see AlphaGenome as a tool for understanding what the functional elements in the genome do, which we hope will accelerate our fundamental understanding of the code of life.”

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The researchers trained AlphaGenome using public databases of both human and mouse genetics. This allowed the tool to learn connections between mutations in specific tissues, as well as their impact on gene regulation. 

The human genome has about 3 billion pairs of letters that comprise the DNA code. The AI can analyze up to 1 million letters of DNA code at once to predict how mutations will affect different biological processes, reports state. 

The team behind DeepMind believes that the tool will be able to help scientists map out which specific strands of genetic code are the most essential for the development of particular tissues, and pinpoint the most important mutations for driving cancer and other diseases. 

Carl de Boer, a researcher who was not involved in the work, said: 

“AlphaGenome can identify whether mutations affect genome regulation, which genes are impacted and how, and in what cell types. A drug could then be developed to counteract this effect.”

“Ultimately, our goal is to have models that are so good we don’t have to do an experiment to confirm their predictions. While AlphaGenome represents a significant innovation, achieving this goal will require continued work from the scientific community.”