The limits of life are being redefined by extreme microbes
Sampling micro-organisms on Earth: fun, dangerous, and dangerous adventures with submersibles and permafrosts
Sampling and studying these micro-organisms is difficult — and sometimes dangerous. Dealing with the challenges and keeping reasonably safe requires teamwork, portrayed here with the right balance of light-hearted banter and ominous foreboding. Lloyd brings the reader along as she examines gas-rich mats aboard a deep-sea submersible in the gulf of Mexico, and samples sulfurous gas fumaroles in Andean volcanoes and digs permafrost soil in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard.
Other encounters includeMicrobes that have never been cultured before,Microbes that can live on extremely limited energy supplies, andMicrobes that remain in suspended animation for thousands of years. The extraterrestrials in the title echo the ones that may populate planets and moons. There are surprising microbes that thrive here on Earth, so there’s no need to search far for alien-like life.
Lloyd and her partners attempt to sample bugs in the turquoise-green crater lake of the Pos volcano in Costa Rica in hopes that the volcano will not erupt in the future, but it did so 54 days later. Falling into or even touching the lake ‘water’ during sampling — while precariously standing on ground at a boot-melting 100 °C and leaning over with a syringe — is not advised: with a pH lower than 1, its concentrated mix of sulfuric and hydrochloric acid is acutely toxic. Lloyd’s adventures are briskly paced and set the stage for tackling challenges such as the physiology of acid-adapted microbes and their mode of energy generation, which not only tolerates but often requires high acidity.
Largely out of sight, intraterrestrials have, over billions of years, diversified into a veritable forest of microbial evolutionary lineages that are gradually being explored and mapped. The metagenomic analysis is a method of analyzing data from the entire community of organisms to understand their genes and pathways.
A family of four drumming chimpanzees reveals different genetic shifts and how they influence the local culture and environmental conditions
The genes that make up the genomes of each child are not found in either of their parents. To find out how much DNA changes, and how fast the human genome mutates, researchers compared the genomes from four generations of a single family. They found many more genetic changes than had been seen before.
The effects of trauma can ripple across generations, but most work in the field focuses on individuals, analysing symptoms such as the biological markers of stress. Cindy Sangalang is a researcher of social welfare and ethnic studies and she believes that missing out on the full community and cultural context is a risk. “Think of a child who has the devastating experience of losing a parent,” she posits. What if the event happened as a result of persistent local violence, or at the hands of state authorities? An understanding of the child’s trauma is important. “But a broader understanding of how the community’s history shaped the neighbourhood can reveal larger-scale opportunities to prevent such harm in future.”
Chimpanzees have drumming cultures different from each other. Plus, the EPA and NOAA are being hobbled by DOGE red tape and how fast the human genome mutates.
Wild chimpanzees drum on tree roots in specific rhythms to communicate across long distances. The western Chimpanzees thump in evenly spacing beats, while their eastern brethren take alternating long and short pauses after beats. The study looked at how the Western Chimps throw stones against trees. The social dynamics of the animals could be related to the evolution of musicality, according to researchers.
Source: Daily briefing: Chimp societies drum to a distinct beat
AI AI versus Google: What do we actually know about medical images and what can we learn from digital imaging? Commentary on the DOGE Task Force
Google says that an upgraded version of its medical chatbot can use smartphone photos to diagnose rashes and evaluate a host of other medical imagery. And the system — called the Articulate Medical Intelligence Explorer (AMIE) — reportedly gave more accurate diagnoses than did human physicians when shown images such as electrocardiograms and PDFs of laboratory results in simulated medical scenarios. AMIE is experimental but brings us closer to an artificial intelligence assistant that mirrors what a clinician actually thinks, says epidemiologist Eleni Linos. However, “there’s a lot of uncertainty about how it would be helpful”, says digital-health specialist Dan Zeltzer, who also notes that the preprint did not reveal the code or prompts.
The main science division of the EPA has been shut down, despite denying it on multiple occasions. The Office of Research and Development is carrying out research to support environmental laws and regulations. The ORD has been shut down by Donald Trump’s first administration because of the cut-off money, according to the principal deputy assistant administrator.
The situation at the EPA is among the most pronounced examples of an approach, spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk’s DOGE task force, that is hobbling activities across several US federal agencies including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “This makes sense if you assume that the purpose of DOGE is not to make government work better,” says public-policy researcher Donald Moynihan , “but to stop government from working at all.”
A family of four drumming chimpanzees has revealed different genetic shifts, and how they influence local culture and environmental conditions. Researchers compared the genomes from four generations of a single family. Cindy Sangalang is a researcher of social welfare and ethnic studies and said missing out on the full community and cultural context is a risk.