Heart attacks can cause deep healing sleep
Bringing out the animal capital in science: A case study of a school chemist at a pharmacological research institute in the UK
Biologist Cédric Sueur, philosopher Éric Fourneret and economist Romain Espinosa propose the concept of ‘animal capital’ to acknowledge animals’ contributions beyond the material — such as natural, social and cultural — and redefine the human-animal bond in the face of global changes and food insecurity. (npj Sustainable Agriculture | 12 min read)
Secondary schools stepped in to help the chemist prepare and analyse samples for a real research project. The technicalities of lab work and safety protocols can seem prohibitive to the inclusion of citizen scientists in chemistry, writes Murray, but barriers can be overcome if the project is planned appropriately and has a robust protocol. “The world is full of budding scientists ready to make and break chemical bonds,” says Murray. Their curiosity can lead you down paths you didn’t expect.
Source: Daily briefing: Heart attacks trigger deep healing sleep
Artificial Intelligence Can Reveal Deep Healing Sleep in Cats and Mouse Brains – Evidence from a Large-Scale Study
Artificial intelligence (AI) tools that can predict protein structures from an amino acid sequence, or generate new ones, have redefined the protein-engineering landscape (and won their developers this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry). But the tools are still far from perfect. There are hurdles that have not been cleared such as working out the connect between function and structure. Nature spoke to specialists about what it will take to overcome challenges faced by proteins design.
In the case of a heart attack, an Immune cells rush to the brain in order to sleep. Researchers found that mice that had suffered heart attacks spent more time in slow-wave sleep, a stage of deep sleep associated with healing. They traced the extra slumber to immune cells called monocytes, which flooded the mice’s brain and produced a proteins that promotes sleep and regulates inflammation. The team found that people who slept poorly in the weeks after a heart attack had a higher risk of having more serious heart problems over the next two years than people who slept well.
As cats get older, their brains show signs of atrophy and cognitive decline that resemble the deterioration seen in humans more closely than do brain changes in mice. Researchers have so far collected health records and blood test results from thousands of felines and taken brain scans of more than 50 to map events along the nonlinear relationship between cat and human ages. Cats could prove a valuable model for studying ageing in human brains because they live longer than mice and share an environment with their owners, and have not been as highly inbred for specific traits as dogs.
Source: Daily briefing: Heart attacks trigger deep healing sleep
Nature: Artificial Intelligence as a Threat to Fraudsters: Implications for Science and for the Future of the United States
Publishers are racing to develop tools that can help detect the use of Artificial Intelligence in scientific papers. The makers of tools like Imagetwin and Proofig use artificial intelligence to detect integrity issues in scientific figures, so they are looking for ways to increase their accuracy. Kevin Patrick, known as the scientific-image sleuth known as “Chec” on social media, says that fraudsters shouldn’t sleep well at night. I think they will be unable to fool the process forever.
“We hope the incoming administration will govern in the best interests of the United States,” says a Nature editorial on Donald Trump’s victory. Keeping the previous administration’s policies in tact and not reverting to them is what that means. A focus on climate change, respecting the consensus of research evidence to inform regulatory decisions in areas such as Artificial Intelligence, and continuing to support international bodies including the World Health Organization are all suggested by the editorial. “The research community must engage with the new administration with courage, tenacity, strength and unity of purpose,” says the editorial. “Scientists in the United States must know they are not alone.”
The United States has now re-elected Donald Trump as president. Nature has heard of many researchers who feel like the election result is a step backwards for facts, reason, knowledge and civility.
It is our hope that the new administration can work in the best interests of the United States. That means not returning to some of the policies of the first Trump presidency, as well as holding on to the best of what the previous administration did.
Is the United States ready to stand up against climate change? The challenge of supporting science and research in developing countries, with a special focus on low-income countries
The scientific consensus when making regulatory decisions in public health, environmental issues, artificial intelligence and elsewhere. This is one of the cornerstones of modern government. Policymakers and politicians retain control over decision-making, but they cannot control the facts.
Climate change needs to remain a priority. The United States took important steps to make it clear that it does not want to stand still as global temperatures continue to increase. The coming transition to a sustainable economy created policies to support industries. People from marginalized communities and the lowest income group will be the most affected by the repeal of those policies.
Trump’s threat to defund the WHO in 2020 was especially dangerous for those low-income countries where the agency’s work is crucial for tackling diseases and maintaining standards of public-health infrastructure. Currently, the WHO’s epidemiologists, clinicians and logistics personnel are helping to treat and control diseases in countries including Afghanistan, Ukraine, Sudan and Yemen. Diseases do not respect borders: to cooperate and engage with international institutions to fight their spread is in the best interests of the United States.
The US has the talent in science and other fields, and it’s a good thing. That must continue if the country wants to maintain its strength in research and innovation, the bedrock of prosperity.
Researchers claim to have found that AI tools that can predict protein structures from an amino acid sequence or generate new ones can reveal deep healing Sleep in cats and mice. Scientists found mice that had suffered heart attacks spent more time in slow-wave sleep, a stage of deep sleep associated with healing. AI tools won this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry.