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Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday, 4/5/25 [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-04-05
Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, eeff, Magnifico, annetteboardman, Besame, jck, and JeremyBloom. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Interceptor 7, Man Oh Man (RIP), wader, Neon Vincent, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), rfall, ScottyUrb, Doctor RJ, BentLiberal, Oke (RIP) and jlms qkw.
OND is a regular community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing each day near 12:00 AM Eastern Time. Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments. I don’t know how many of these science editions we’ve got left. The shutdown of science funding by the federal government will have an effect on the amount of science news.
A New Cat Color Is Defying Genetic Expectations
A new type of cat coat color has officially been discovered.
Named salmiak, or ‘salty liquorice,’ the cats have hair strands that start out black, and become white the further they grow from the follicle.
It turns out the unique color is caused by a recessive genetic mutation, rather than the expression of a gene known to turn cats white. You’ve probably heard of spooky black cats, chaotic orange cats, and distinguished-looking tuxedo cats. If you’re really into cats, you might have even lesser-known color variants like seal point and ticked tabby. But there’s officially a new cat color in town— salmiak, or ‘salty liquorice.’ The pretty black, white, and grey shade—named for a popular snack food in Finland, where this coat color has been making itself known—is thanks to a fur strand that starts off black near the root, but grows whiter and whiter out towards the tip. The coat was first spotted in 2007, and in 2019, it was brought to the attention of a group of cat experts lead by feline geneticist Heidi Anderson. Since then, the group has been trying to figure out exactly what causes this shade to express itself, and recently, they finally figured it out. A paper on the discovery has been published in the journal Animal Genetics. x Genetic Mutation Underlying Finland’s ‘Salty Liquorice’ Cats Identified, out of University of Helsinki🇫🇮 + Wisdom Panel, published by Animal Genetics by @GrrlScientist #pets #cats🐈⬛ #caturday🐾 #genetics🧬 #color🎨 #salmiak #Finland🇫🇮 #SciComm🧪 www.forbes.com/sites/grrlsc... — Slava Ukraini 🇺🇦 (@grrlscientist.bsky.social) 2024-05-24T17:48:35.632Z
Open Source Genetic Database Shuts Down To Protect Users From 'Authoritarian Governments'
An anonymous reader quotes a report from 404 Media: The creator of an open source genetic database is shutting it down and deleting all of its data because he has come to believe that its existence is dangerous with "a rise in far-right and other authoritarian governments" in the United States and elsewhere. "The largest use case for DTC genetic data was not biomedical research or research in big pharma," Bastian Greshake Tzovaras, the founder of OpenSNP, wrote in a blog post. "Instead, the transformative impact of the data came to fruition among law enforcement agencies, who have put the genealogical properties of genetic data to use." OpenSNP has collected roughly 7,500 genomes over the last 14 years, primarily by allowing people to voluntarily submit their own genetic information they have downloaded from 23andMe. With the bankruptcy of 23andMe, increased interest in genetic data by law enforcement, and the return of Donald Trump and rise of authoritarian governments worldwide, Greshake Tzovaras told 404 Media he no longer believes it is ethical to run the database. "I've been thinking about it since 23andMe was on the verge of bankruptcy and been really considering it since the U.S. election. It definitely is really bad over there [in the United States]," Greshake Tzovaras told 404 Media. "I am quite relieved to have made the decision and come to a conclusion. It's been weighing on my mind for a long time." Greshake Tzovaras said that he is proud of the OpenSNP project, but that, in a world where scientific data is being censored and deleted and where the Trump administration has focused on criminalizing immigrants and trans people, he now believes that the most responsible thing to do is to delete the data and shut down the project. "Most people in OpenSNP may not be at particular risk right now, but there are people from vulnerable populations in here as well," Greshake Tzovaras said. "Thinking about gender representation, minorities, sexual orientation -- 23andMe has been working on the whole 'gay gene' thing, it's conceivable that this would at some point in the future become an issue." "Across the globe there is a rise in far-right and other authoritarian governments. While they are cracking down on free and open societies, they are also dedicated to replacing scientific thought and reasoning with pseudoscience across disciplines," Greshake Tzovaras wrote. "The risk/benefit calculus of providing free & open access to individual genetic data in 2025 is very different compared to 14 years ago. And so, sunsetting openSNP -- along with deleting the data stored within it -- feels like it is the most responsible act of stewardship for these data today." "The interesting thing to me is there are data preservation efforts in the U.S. because the government is deleting scientific data that they don't like. This is approaching that same problem from a different direction," he added. "We need to protect the people in this database. I am supportive of preserving scientific data and knowledge, but the data comes second -- the people come first. We prefer deleting the data."
'She loves me, she loves me not': Physical forces encouraged evolution of multicellular life, scientists propose
Humans like to think that being multicellular (and bigger) is a definite advantage, even though 80 percent of life on Earth consists of single-celled organisms -- some thriving in conditions lethal to any beast. In fact, why and how multicellular life evolved has long puzzled biologists. The first known instance of multicellularity was about 2.5 billion years ago, when marine cells (cyanobacteria) hooked up to form filamentous colonies. How this transition occurred and the benefits it accrued to the cells, though, is less than clear. This week, a study originating from the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) presents a striking example of cooperative organization among cells as a potential force in the evolution of multicellular life. Based on the fluid dynamics of cooperative feeding by Stentor, a relatively giant unicellular organism, the report is published in Nature Physics.
Giant, Ancient Life Form Doesn’t Fit Into Any Known Branch of Life
Hundreds of millions of years ago, mysterious life forms called Prototaxites towered toward the sky. Believed to be the first giant organisms to thrive on dry land, some species of Prototaxites grew up to 26 feet (8 meters) in height and resembled tree trunks composed of tiny interconnected tubes. Their position in the greater tree of life has been hotly debated for over a century and a half. New research suggests this is because Prototaxites don’t have a place in the tree of life as we know it—they belonged to a previously unknown branch. Researchers from the United Kingdom analyzed the fossil remains of a Prototaxites species called Prototaxites taiti and concluded that Prototaxites likely belonged to a now-extinct lineage of multicellular terrestrial eukaryotes (organisms, including all animals and plants, whose cells contain a nucleus). Their work is detailed in a study posted to the preprint server bioRxiv, and hasn’t been peer-reviewed yet. “We conducted an extensive re-examination of P. taiti, leading us to reject the most widely held hypothesis that Prototaxites was a Fungus,” the researchers, including Corentin Loron from The University of Edinburgh’s School of Physics and Astronomy, wrote in the study. A 2007 paper had previously suggested that Prototaxites was ancient fungi. x Giant, Ancient Life Form Doesn’t Fit Into Any Known Branch of Life gizmodo.com/giant-ancien... #Prototaxites #science — Áine ☽𖤐☾ (@whoa-magic.lol) 2025-04-02T12:02:50.988Z
Discovery of Quina technology challenges view of ancient human development in East Asia
While the Middle Paleolithic period is viewed as a dynamic time in European and African history, it is commonly considered a static period in East Asia. New research from the University of Washington challenges that perception. Researchers discovered a complete Quina technological system -- a method for making a set of tools -- in the Longtan site in southwest China, which has been dated to about 50,000 to 60,000 years ago. Quina technology was found in Europe decades ago but has never before been found in East Asia. The team published its findings March 31 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
New warnings of a 'Butterfly Effect' -- in reverse
A new study warns that global climate change may have a devastating effect on butterflies, turning their species-rich, mountain habitats from refuges into traps. Think of it as the 'butterfly effect' -- the idea that something as small as the flapping of a butterfly's wings can eventually lead to a major event such as a hurricane -- in reverse. The new study also suggests that a lack of comprehensive global data about insects may leave conservationists and policymakers ill-prepared to mitigate biodiversity loss from climate change for a wide range of insect species. x Climate change threatens butterfly diversity in mountain habitats, potentially turning these refuges into traps. A global assessment highlights the urgent need for insect-focused conservation strategies. doi.org/g9bfvf — Science X / Phys.org (@sciencex.bsky.social) 2025-03-31T22:47:23-04:00
New study links lower proportions of certain sleep stages to brain changes associated with Alzheimer's disease
New research reveals that lower proportions of specific sleep stages are associated with reduced brain volume in regions vulnerable to the development of Alzheimer's disease over time. Results show that individuals with lower proportions of time spent in slow wave sleep and rapid eye movement sleep had smaller volumes in critical brain regions, particularly the inferior parietal region, which is known to undergo early structural changes in Alzheimer's disease. The results were adjusted for potential confounders including demographic characteristics, smoking history, alcohol use, hypertension, and coronary heart disease. "Our findings provide preliminary evidence that reduced neuroactivity during sleep may contribute to brain atrophy, thereby potentially increasing the risk of Alzheimer's disease," said lead author Gawon Cho, who has a doctorate in public health and is a postdoctoral associate at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut.
The proportion of harmful substances in particulate matter is much higher than assumed
People breathing contaminated air over the course of years are at greater risk of developing numerous diseases. This is thought to be due to highly reactive components in particulate matter, which affect biological processes in the body. However, researchers from the University of Basel, Switzerland, have now shown that precisely these components disappear within hours and that previous measurements therefore completely underestimate the quantities in which they are present. From chronic respiratory problems to cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and dementia, health damage caused by particulate matter air pollution is wide-ranging and serious. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that over six million deaths a year are caused by increased exposure to particulate matter. The chemical composition of these tiny particles in the air, which come from a wide range of both anthropogenic and natural sources, is highly complex. Which particles trigger which reactions and long-term diseases in the body is the subject of intensive research.
Rocky Mountain snow is contaminated, study shows
Mountain snowpacks accumulate snow throughout the winter, building up stores of water that will supply communities across the American West throughout the long dry season. Now, a new study shows that as storms carry snow to the Rocky Mountains, they are also bringing mercury and other contaminants from mines in the region. The research helps scientists understand how contaminants are spread by atmospheric circulation and has implications for snowpack preservation and illuminating the lasting environmental impact of mining activities. The study, published in the May issue of the journal Environmental Pollution, examined contamination levels for Mercury, Zinc, Cadmium and Antimony from nearly 50 sites in the Rocky Mountains. DRI's Monica Arienzo, Associate Research Professor of Hydrology, led the research, along with colleagues from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the University of Nevada, Reno, and Portland State University. They found higher levels of metal contaminants in the northern Rockies and identified mines in the Pacific Northwest, Idaho, and Montana as the likely source by following winter storms back in time. It is one of the first studies to look at metal contamination across the greater Rocky Mountains.
Sound frequencies of stars sing of our galaxy's past and future
A new study led by UNSW Sydney researchers into a cluster of stars 2700 light years away reveals their stages of evolution through the 'sounds' they make. This discovery will allow scientists to map the history of the Milky Way and other galaxies, accelerating knowledge in the field of astrophysics. Dr Claudia Reyes is the lead author of the study published today in Nature. While undertaking her PhD at the UNSW School of Physics, she studied 27 stars in a cluster of stars called M67. The stars in this stellar cluster were all born from the same cloud of gas four billion years ago. She says these stars have similar chemical compositions but different masses which made them ideal for studying evolution in real-time.
Insight from one of Milky Way's most extreme environments
Sagittarius C is one of the most extreme environments in the Milky Way Galaxy. This cloudy region of space sits about 200 light-years from the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. Here, a massive and dense cloud of interstellar gas and dust has collapsed on itself over millions of years to form thousands of new stars. In a new study, a team of scientists used observations from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to study Sagittarius C in unprecedented detail. The research was led by University of Colorado Boulder astrophysicist John Bally, Samuel Crowe at the University of Virginia, Rubén Fedriani at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía in Granada and their colleagues. The findings could help solve a long-running mystery about the innermost stretches of the galaxy, or what scientists call the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ): The region hosts high densities of interstellar gas. So why are fewer new stars born here than scientists once predicted? x Two views of the Milky Way centre 🌌 A recent image of the Sagittarius C stellar nursery from the MeerKAT radio telescope spans 1,000 light-years, putting in context an image covering 44 light-years from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. Read more 👉 esawebb.org/images/Sagit... 🔭 🧪 — ESA Space Science (@science.esa.int) 2025-04-02T14:01:32.405Z
Seeing humanity's transition from hunting to farming as a cultural shift
Using a mathematical model, researchers have shed new light on the transition from hunter-gatherer to farming societies. Rather than focusing exclusively on external factors, they looked at internal demographics and the significant impact of human interactions. The model identified potential societal outcomes based on demographic changes, emphasizing aspects such as migration rates, cultural assimilation and the role of mortality in these transitions. The researchers aim to further develop their model with the aim of making it a standard tool for studying historical demographic interactions. Understanding the shift from hunting and gathering to farming has been a major concern in the study of human history. Often this major transition is attributed to external factors such as environmental changes. The shift could have happened in two ways: either groups developed agriculture independently, or these early farming groups interacted with hunter-gatherers who then adopted these new techniques. "In our new study, we argue that humans were not just passive participants in this process; they played an active and crucial role in this transition," says first author Alfredo Cortell-Nicolau from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and the University of Cambridge in the UK. "We focus on how the population dynamics of these groups directly influenced the adoption of agriculture." To study this, the research team adapted an ecological model that imitates the interactions between different species, in particular between predators and prey. In this context, farmers are the 'predators' and the hunter-gatherers are the 'prey'. Factors such as group migration and cultural assimilation were also included in the analysis.
Western diet causes inflammation, traditional African food protects
A switch of just two weeks from a traditional African diet to a Western diet causes inflammation, reduces the immune response to pathogens, and activates processes associated with lifestyle diseases. Conversely, an African diet rich in vegetables, fiber, and fermented foods has positive effects. This study, published in Nature Medicine, highlights the significant impact of diet on the immune system and metabolism. Lifestyle diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and chronic inflammatory conditions are surging across Africa, posing a growing challenge to healthcare systems throughout the continent. Increasing economic development, urbanization and wider availability of processed foods have accelerated the adoption of Western eating habits in Africa. To understand the health consequences of this shift, researchers from Radboud university medical center and KCMC University in Tanzania have studied the effects of such dietary changes on health. Seventy-seven healthy men from Tanzania, both urban and rural residents, participated in the study. Some participants who traditionally ate an African diet switched to a Western diet for two weeks, while others who ate a Western diet adopted a traditional African diet. A third group consumed a fermented banana drink daily. As a control, ten participants maintained their usual diet. The researchers comprehensively analyzed the function of the immune system, blood inflammation markers, and metabolic processes at baseline, after the two-week intervention, and again four weeks later. x A two-week switch from a traditional African diet to a Western diet increases inflammation and reduces immune response, while the African diet shows protective effects against lifestyle diseases. — Science X / Phys.org (@sciencex.bsky.social) 2025-04-03T05:02:45-04:00
Monkeys are world's best yodellers -- new research
A new study has found that the world's finest yodellers aren't from Austria or Switzerland, but the rainforests of Latin America. The research provides significant new insights into the diverse vocal sounds of non-human primates, and reveals for the first time how certain calls are produced. The researchers have discovered that special anatomical structures called vocal membranes allow monkeys to introduce 'voice breaks' to their calls. These have the same rapid transitions in frequency heard in Alpine yodelling, or in Tarzan's famous yell, but cover a much wider frequency range. x Monkeys in Latin American rainforests use vocal membranes to produce "ultra-yodels," achieving frequency leaps up to five times larger than human yodels and spanning over three octaves. — Science X / Phys.org (@sciencex.bsky.social) 2025-04-02T19:47:28-04:00
Study strengthens link between shingles vaccine and lower dementia risk
An unusual public health policy in Wales may have produced the strongest evidence yet that a vaccine can reduce the risk of dementia. In a new study led by Stanford Medicine, researchers analyzing the health records of Welsh older adults discovered that those who received the shingles vaccine were 20% less likely to develop dementia over the next seven years than those who did not receive the vaccine. The remarkable findings, to be published April 2 in Nature, support an emerging theory that viruses that affect the nervous system can increase the risk of dementia. If further confirmed, the new findings suggest that a preventive intervention for dementia is already close at hand. Shingles, a viral infection that produces a painful rash, is caused by the same virus that causes chicken pox -- varicella-zoster. After people contract chicken pox, usually in childhood, the virus stays dormant in the nerve cells for life. In people who are older or have weakened immune systems, the dormant virus can reactivate and cause shingles.
17 modifiable risk factors shared by stroke, dementia, and late-life depression
Age-related brain diseases such as stroke, dementia, and late-life depression are a debilitating part of growing older, but people can lower their risk of these diseases through behavioral and lifestyle changes. In a new extensive systematic review, Mass General Brigham researchers identified 17 modifiable risk factors that are shared by stroke, dementia, and late-life depression. Modifying any one of them can reduce your risk of all three conditions. The findings, which provide evidence to inform novel tools, such as the Brain Care Score, are published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry. "Our study identified 17 modifiable risk factors shared between stroke, dementia, and/or late-life depression, emphasizing that there are many different steps individuals can take to lower their risks for these age-related brain diseases," said senior author Sanjula Singh, MD, PhD, MSc (Oxon), principal investigator at the Brain Care Labs at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system. The researchers systematically searched the scientific literature for previously published meta-analyses of risk factors associated with stroke, dementia, and late-life depression. Then, they combined these data to identify modifiable risk factors (i.e., those that can be altered through behavioral change) shared amongst at least two out of the three diseases. They also estimated the relative impact of each risk factor on measures of quality of life and early death.
Southern Ocean warming will mean a wetter West Coast, US
As global temperatures warm, the Southern Ocean -- between Antarctica and other continents -- will eventually release heat absorbed from the atmosphere, leading to projected long-term increases in precipitation over East Asia and the Western U.S., regardless of climate mitigation efforts. These teleconnections between the tropical Pacific and far-flung areas are reported in a Cornell University-led computer-model study published in Nature Geoscience. While other computer models have projected similar precipitation increases generated by a warming Southern Ocean, major uncertainties and a wide range of predictions exist between models.
Wealthy Americans Have Death Rates On Par With Poor Europeans
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: [...] The study, led by researchers at Brown University, found that the wealthiest Americans lived shorter lives than the wealthiest Europeans. In fact, wealthy Northern and Western Europeans had death rates 35 percent lower than the wealthiest Americans, whose lifespans were more like the poorest in Northern and Western Europe -- which includes countries such as France, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. "The findings are a stark reminder that even the wealthiest Americans are not shielded from the systemic issues in the US contributing to lower life expectancy, such as economic inequality or risk factors like stress, diet or environmental hazards," lead study author Irene Papanicolas, a professor of health services, policy and practice at Brown, said in a news release. The study looked at health and wealth data of more than 73,000 adults across the US and Europe who were 50 to 85 years old in 2010. There were more than 19,000 from the US, nearly 27,000 from Northern and Western Europe, nearly 19,000 from Eastern Europe, and nearly 9,000 from Southern Europe. For each region, participants were divided into wealth quartiles, with the first being the poorest and the fourth being the richest. The researchers then followed participants until 2022, tracking deaths. The US had the largest gap in survival between the poorest and wealthiest quartiles compared to European countries. America's poorest quartile also had the lowest survival rate of all groups, including the poorest quartiles in all three European regions. While less access to health care and weaker social structures can explain the gap between the wealthy and poor in the US, it doesn't explain the differences between the wealthy in the US and the wealthy in Europe, the researchers note. There may be other systemic factors at play that make Americans uniquely short-lived, such as diet, environment, behaviors, and cultural and social differences. "If we want to improve health in the US, we need to better understand the underlying factors that contribute to these differences -- particularly amongst similar socioeconomic groups -- and why they translate to different health outcomes across nations," Papanicolas said. The findings have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
A Busy Hurricane Season is Expected. Here's How It Will Be Different From the Last
Yet another busy hurricane season is likely across the Atlantic this year -- but some of the conditions that supercharged storms like Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024 have waned, according to a key forecast issued Thursday. A warm -- yet no longer record-hot -- strip of waters across the Atlantic Ocean is forecast to help fuel development of 17 named tropical cyclones during the season that runs from June 1 through Nov. 30, according to Colorado State University researchers. Of those tropical cyclones, nine are forecast to become hurricanes, with four of those expected to reach "major" hurricane strength. That would mean a few more tropical storms and hurricanes than in an average year, yet slightly quieter conditions than those observed across the Atlantic basin last year. This time last year, researchers from CSU were warning of an "extremely active" hurricane season with nearly two dozen named tropical storms. The next month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released an aggressive forecast, warning the United States could face one of its worst hurricane seasons in two decades. The forecast out Thursday underscores how warming oceans and cyclical patterns in storm activity have primed the Atlantic basin for what is now a decades-long string of frequent, above-normal -- but not necessarily hyperactive -- seasons, said Philip Klotzbach, a senior research scientist at Colorado State and the forecast's lead author.
How the brain and inner ear are formed
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