Author: Bertie Atkinson

  • The First Artificial Embryo from Stem Cells

    The First Artificial Embryo from Stem Cells

    Without an egg cell or uterus, two research teams have grown mouse embryos in a “test tube” for the first time. Instead of fertilized eggs, they used single stem cells. The cultures of stem cells turned into a yolk sac, which was the beginning of the placenta and the embryo. The embryo grew and changed until it had heart cells that beat and the beginnings of all organs, including the brain and intestine. For the first time, the most important steps of embryonic development were completed outside of the womb and without fertilized eggs.

    One fertilized cell may produce new life, and this process is very intricate and a wonder of nature. Numerous genetic, pharmacological, and mechanical cues ensure that early embryonic cells travel to the appropriate location and differentiate into the tissue type needed there.

    Complex Procedures

    However, in order for the embryo to grow and nest, the fertilized egg cell must also create the placenta, which subsequently takes over the supply together with maternal tissue, as well as the yolk sac, which feeds the embryo for the first few days. One embryonic and two extraembryonic cell types are differentiated into at the blastocyst stage, a few days after conception.

    This stage is followed by the gastrulation of the embryo with the formation of the cotyledons and, as it progresses, the formation of the first organ precursors, including the neural tube, which gives rise to the brain and spinal cord. If anything goes wrong at this stage, the pregnancy will fail since it lays the scene for everything else that will occur later.

    Stem Cells Instead of Fertilized Egg Cells

    This highlights how crucial it is for medicine to be able to research this early stage of embryonic development, for instance by simulating this procedure in the lab. Not only observing how the fertilized egg cell develops, but also attempting to recreate the processes using a synthetic embryo is the greatest method to pinpoint the governing mechanisms. This embryo develops from individual stem cells rather than via fertilization.

    For the first time, two research teams have now been successful in creating an artificial embryo from stem cells. Three distinct kinds of mouse stem cells were used as the beginning material, and they were combined in specially designed rotating culture vessels. The researchers mimicked the natural forces in the womb and stimulated the cells to continue to grow into the two extraembryonic tissues and an embryo by turning on certain genes in a specially modified culture medium.

    Embryo With Placenta and Yolk Sac

    Comparison between artificial and natural mouse embryos.
    Comparison between artificial and natural mouse embryos. (Amadei and Handford)

    Success was achieved: the originally disorganized stem cells underwent the same phases as real mouse embryos, resulting in the formation of a blastula, a yolk sac, and the placental precursors. The body axis became evident, and gastrulation started after around five days. At this point, Zernicka-Goetz’s team observed that the embryos resembled a natural gastrula, and their sizes varied a bit more.

    A closer look found that extraembryonic cells act as a key at this early stage, influencing the growth and differentiation of embryonic cells by sending them vital chemical and mechanical signals. This phase of human existence is so mysterious, and scientists now examine how stem cells communicate and what may go wrong.

    Brain, Heart, and Precursor Organs

    More significantly, the synthetic embryo was grown by both study teams for the first time to the stage when organ production starts. According to Zernicka-Goetz, the mouse embryo model not only generated a brain but also a beating heart and all the other components that make up the body. The embryo had attachments for its organs, spine, digestive system, and all of its brain by the eighth day, which was still less than half of its complete maturation period. In the back of the embryo, germ cell precursors were even formed.

    The researchers have been working to duplicate these phases of embryonic development for more than ten years, and they have finally been successful. Gene activity and cell metabolism research revealed that the embryos developed from stem cells essentially matched their natural counterparts. Minor variations were seen only in a few kinds of extraembryonic cells.

    A second team headed by Jacob Hann of the Weizman Institute of Science in Israel, concluded that despite these variations, the embryos, which are little over eight days old, are very comparable to their natural counterparts, whether they developed within or outside the uterus.

    Huge Potential for Science

    The findings from these experiments provide crucial insights into early embryonic development and are now creating new opportunities, such as the ability to investigate the origins of malformations. The stem cell embryos are significant because they allow us access to developmental phases that ordinarily take place in the womb. Scientists can now modify individual genes, for instance, to better understand their function in embryonic development, thanks to artificial embryos.

    The Moral Issues

    But the technique, which has only been used for mouse embryos thus far, also has potentially explosive ethical implications. This is due to the fact that the two research teams are already modifying the processes for using human embryos. This may enable the development of human embryos only from stem cells, devoid of eggs, sperm, or the uterus. While Zernicka-Goetz and her colleagues view this as a chance for, for instance, targeted organ donor breeding, others worry about ethical ramifications:

    What is the capacity of a roller bottle for (human) organogenesis compared to a uterus? Many individuals have moral concerns about the prospect of human reproductive cloning, which might result from the use of artificial embryos developed solely from stem cells. This might simplify germ line interventions and the possibility of genetic modifications to the embryo. However, there are a few methodological hurdles that must be overcome before this may occur.

    In comparison to a uterus, how far may (human) organogenesis go in a roller bottle? For instance, artificial embryos created only from stem cells might lead to human reproductive cloning, which many people find to be an ethical disaster. This might also make genetic alterations to the embryo and therefore interventions in the germ line easier. Before this to happen, however, a number of methodological obstacles would need to be overcome.


  • Thalassotitan Once Ruled the Cretaceous Seas

    Thalassotitan Once Ruled the Cretaceous Seas

    Mosasaurs were marine reptiles that resembled dinosaurs in certain ways. A new fossil of this marine lizard that is huge in size has just been discovered in Morocco. The animal called Thalassotitan occupied the highest possible rung on the food chain.

    Thalassotitan atrox was a fearsome predator that lived in the Cretaceous sea off the coast of northwest Africa more than 65 million years ago. It had a mouth full of sharp, pointed teeth, powerful fins, and could grow to a length of up to 39 feet (12 meters).

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    He certainly stood at the top of the food chain in that region of the sea.
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    The fossil of a huge mosasaur was discovered by Nick Longrich and his colleagues in the rich fossil beds near Casablanca, Morocco. Their findings were published in the journal Cretaceous Research. They discovered the skeletal remains of the species as well as those of possible prey, such as those of sea turtles, plesiosaurs, and other mosasaurs, along with the animal itself.

    The size comparison of Thalassotitan atrox with Orcinus orca, the killer whale, and human. (©Nick Longrich, University Of Bath)
    The size comparison of Thalassotitan atrox with Orcinus orca, the killer whale, and human. (Nick Longrich, University Of Bath)

    According to what Longrich and coauthors have written, the new species should be envisioned as a combination of the Komodo dragon, the great white shark, the Tyrannosaurus rex, and the killer whale. The lizards and snakes that live on Earth today are distantly related to the dinosaurs known as Mosasaurs.

    However, they were even more suited to living in the water than the sea lizards that reside on the Galapagos Islands and routinely go ashore to spawn or even simply to warm up. This is because the sea lizards on the Galapagos Islands go onshore to breed. For example, Thalassotitan atrox and its cousins did no longer have legs; instead, they had fins and a tail that was similar to that of sharks.

    Thalassotitan means “sea monster,” and it comes from the Greek words “thalassa” and “titan,”. The species name atrox, means “cruel” or “merciless.”

    Wear on a tiny Thalassotitan's teeth. (Longrich et al., 2020, Cretac. Res.)
    Wear on a tiny Thalassotitan’s teeth. (Longrich et al., 2020, Cretac. Res.)

    Skulls, vertebrae, and the limbs of fingers and toes were among the bones that were unearthed. When taken together, they made it possible to provide a comprehensive description of the head, including the jaws and teeth, as well as the skeleton, which included the shoulders and the forelimbs. As a result of possessing a gigantic skull that measured 4.6 feet (1.4 meters) in length and a body that was over 29 feet (9 meters) in length, the Thalassotitan was larger than killer whales.

    And whereas the majority of mosasaurs have long jaws and thin teeth to hunt fish, the Thalassotitan had a short, wide snout and enormous, conical teeth similar to killer whales. Because of this, it was able to seize and devour enormous prey.

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    These modifications point to the individual’s status as an apex predator. They filled the same role in the ecosystem as killer whales and great white sharks do in the present day.

    Some of the fossil teeth showed significant signs of wear and breakage: This mosasaur hunted not just soft prey but also creatures with hard bones or shells, such as sea turtles or smaller marine dinosaurs. Both soft and hard prey were consumed by the mosasaurs. This is further supported by the fact that prospective victims’ bones have been discovered beside the fossil and exhibit symptoms of having been subjected to acidic environments, such as the acidic environment of the stomach.

    The group uncovered the similar remains of several mosasaurs and plesiosaurs, as well as bony fish and a sea turtle, in the nearby area of Thalassotitan. However, there is not yet any evidence that can be taken as conclusive that these creatures were in fact prey.

    Thalassotitan atrox's fossil skull includes remarkable teeth. (©Nick Longrich, University Of Bath)
    Thalassotitan atrox’s fossil skull includes remarkable teeth. (Nick Longrich, University Of Bath)

    The discovery also lends credence to what paleontologists already knew about the area, namely that the area around northwest Africa and the ocean that surrounded it was one of the most hazardous places on the planet during the Cretaceous period. Paleontologists discovered some of the biggest carnivorous dinosaurs ever found at the Kem Kem Group fossil deposit, which is located between the countries of Morocco and Algeria.

    Carnivores like thalassotitans lived in the sea while huge pterosaurs roamed the sky and formidable crocodiles hunted alongside freshwater sharks in the rivers and lakes of what was once the green Sahara. These are among the creatures that belong to the Kem Kem Group.

    The newly discovered mosasaur, thalassotitans, inhabited the Earth in the last million years before the extinction of dinosaurs. The species, in conjunction with earlier findings of mosasaurs from Morocco, provides evidence that mosasaurs were not in a state of decline prior to the catastrophic asteroid impact that occurred at the end of the Cretaceous era. On the contrary, they were successful and most likely continued to give rise to new species right up to the end.

  • How Rabbits Came to Australia

    How Rabbits Came to Australia

    Australian wild rabbits are regarded as an invasive species. But how and when did their forebears enter the continent? DNA testing reveals that all Australian rabbits are descended from a single import.

    It seems that Australia’s ongoing rabbit infestation was started by a single English settler. According to genetic testing, the 24 individuals that Englishman Thomas Austin sent to the newly discovered continent in 1859 are the ancestors of all current Australian rabbits. Rabbits that had previously been imported, however, did not seem to be able to develop into an invasive species.

    In Australia, rabbits are regarded as the best illustration of an invading species. These herbivores, which were brought to the continent by English immigrants but were not indigenous to Australia, proliferated quickly. They still pose a menace to local animals and vegetation and yearly result in agricultural loss of over $200 million. The introduction of the myxomatosis virus, which was supposed to kill the rabbits, and other control techniques failed to achieve the expected results.

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    Across the Continent

    However, how did the rabbit invasion start? This matter has finally been resolved by a team headed by Joel Alves from the University of Oxford utilizing genomic studies. Alves and his colleagues used historical records of introduction occasions in conjunction with genetic analysis to integrate the results from 187 rabbits taken between 1865 and 2018 in Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and France.

    The historical records show that the British fleet’s ships brought the first five domestic rabbits to mainland Australia as early as 1788. At least 90 other species were imported during the next 70 years, but none of these populations spread aggressively. A batch of 24 rabbits were then shipped to English immigrant Thomas Austin in 1859 for his property near Geelong in Victoria. It has been debatable up until now whether one of these imports, or a combination of them, is to blame for the current rabbit infestation on the continent.

    Linkage to the Southwest of England

    The answer is now available from comparative studies of rabbit genomes. It appears that despite many introductions over a 70-year span, the invasion was started by a single release of a small number of rabbits that spread thousands of miles across the continent. Austin’s introduction of rabbits in 1859 was the main source of the current population in Australia.

    The origins of the invasive population in Australia may be traced to southwest England, when Austin’s family acquired the rabbits in 1859. In October 1859, Austin’s family gave him six wild bunnies and seven domestic rabbits, and they multiplied along the route to Australia, arriving at 24 animals, according to historical documents.

    The researchers discovered that all rabbits in Australia now do indeed contain genetic mixtures of wild and farmed rabbits, which is consistent with this account.

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    Additionally, it revealed that the area with the most genetic variety was close to Austin’s land, providing compelling evidence that this is where the population started.
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    Heritage of Wild Rabbits as a Success Factor

    But why did Austin’s rabbits manage to expand quickly across Australia when earlier imported rabbits at best created tiny local populations? The introduction of a novel genotype that was better suited to environmental circumstances was the decisive element.

    Historical records depict previously imported rabbits as domesticated pets with floppy ears and elaborate coat colors. Feral domestic rabbits may exhibit a variety of characteristics that make them ill-suited to surviving in the wild. They may not have had the genetic diversity required to endure Australia’s dry and semi-arid environment.

    In contrast, Austin’s animals were at least partially wild rabbits. So it’s plausible that Thomas Austin’s wild rabbits and their offspring had an evolutionary edge when it came to adjusting to these circumstances.

    The Past Biological Invasion

    The researchers claim that genetics has a significant impact on biological invasions, in addition to variables like environmental circumstances and the number of imported specimens. The success of biological invasions must be understood if they are to be stopped since they pose a serious danger to the world’s biodiversity.

    Australian rabbits have now succeeded in achieving this: Australia may have been more open to invasion due to environmental changes, but one of the biggest biological invasions in history was actually caused by the genetic composition of a tiny population of wild rabbits. This serves as a reminder that even a single person or a small group of people may have a significant negative impact on the environment.


    Sources:

  • Immortal Jellyfish Genes May Aid in Stopping Aging

    Immortal Jellyfish Genes May Aid in Stopping Aging

    A group of researchers from the University of Oviedo have successfully identified the genes of the Turritopsis dohrnii jellyfish, also known as the “immortal” jellyfish. After five years of hard work, they have discovered a number of factors that contribute to the jellyfish’s ability to live for a significantly longer time, even to the point where they do not die. This is a big step forward that may aid researchers in their quest to find treatments for diseases that are associated with aging in humans.

    Carlos López-Otrn, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology who is also in charge of the research project, says that the goal of this work is not to find a way to make people live forever, but to figure out the keys and limits of the fascinating cellular plasticity that lets some organisms go back in time.

    Because of this, researchers believe that the goal is to discover better treatments for the many diseases that are linked to aging. This tiny jellyfish changes its life cycle to an earlier asexual stage called a polyp and rejuvenates. This is in contrast to the vast majority of living things, which, after the reproductive stage, advance in a typical process of cellular and tissue aging that ultimately results in death.

    Genes That Allow to Live Forever

    Comparison between the mortal and the immortal jellyfish
    A comparison between the mortal and the immortal jellyfish

    After sequencing the genome of Turritopsis dohrnii and comparing it to the genes of its mortal sister, Turritopsis rubra, researchers were able to identify specific genes that are either amplified in the immortal jellyfish or have differential variations that are only found in the immortal jellyfish. These genes are thought to be responsible for the jellyfish’s ability to live forever.

    These genes have an effect on activities that have been associated with a healthy and long life in humans, such as the replication and repair of DNA, the preservation of telomeres, the renewal of stem cell populations, intercellular communication, and a decrease in the oxidative cellular environment.

    During the investigation of changes in gene expression that took place during jellyfish rejuvenation, gene-silencing signals were found to be mediated through the so-called “Polycomb” route. Additionally, there was a rise in the expression of genes associated with the cellular pluripotency pathway.

    Because both processes are necessary for specialized cells to differentiate and become any kind of cell, which results in the production of a new creature, these findings suggest that these two metabolic pathways are key mediators in the rejuvenation cycle that this jellyfish goes through.

    Multiple Keys to Immortality

    According to Mara Pascual-Torner, a postdoctoral researcher, the various mechanisms discovered act synergistically as a whole, and orchestrating the process to ensure the successful rejuvenation of the jellyfish. This means that there is not a single key to immortality and rejuvenation. Instead, the mechanisms work together to ensure the successful rejuvenation of the jellyfish.

    The study was published today in the American journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and it was funded by the EU and the Ministry of Science and Innovation. The study involved researchers from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Oviedo.

  • Humans May Have Settled in the Americas 36,000 Years Ago

    Humans May Have Settled in the Americas 36,000 Years Ago

    Contrary to popular belief, there may have been inhabitants of North America more than 36,000 years ago, or roughly 20,000 years earlier than previously believed. A massive battle site on the Colorado Plateau in New Mexico serves as proof of this. Researchers have found bones with impact marks, scrapes, and holes that suggest human processing there as well as the remnants of campfires.

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    This lends credence to the idea that people inhabited America prior to the conclusion of the previous ice age.

    The current theory is that the first people did not cross the Bering Strait, which separates Asia and North America, until the end of the last ice age, or around 15,000 years ago. According to the long-held theory, they were then able to go south along the coast and via a channel in the interior ice that opened up about 13,000 years ago.

    However, archaeologists have discovered evidence of a considerably older human presence all throughout the both American continents. These include scribe traces on animal bones from Alaska and Uruguay, 23,000-year-old footprints in the southern United States, and 30,000-year-old stone tools in Mexico, and scribe marks on stone tools found in Alaska.

    Broken Bones

    Two mammoths are represented by the dispersed collection of ribs, skull pieces, and other bone fragments. A massive battle site from 36,000 years ago. (Credit: Tim Rowe, the University of Texas at Austin)
    Two mammoths are represented by the dispersed collection of ribs, skull pieces, and other bone fragments. A massive battle site from 36,000 years ago.

    Timothy Rowe of the University of Texas at Austin and his colleagues have just found further evidence of early American colonization in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Rowe had by coincidence found the fossil bones of two Ice Age mammoths. Numerous pieces of these creatures’ bones were discovered in addition to a damaged cranium. Skeletons are not properly laid up; instead, the area is somewhat disorganized.

    But it was this finding that caught his attention.

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    The abundance of fractured and shattered bones and their haphazard placement indicates that the cadavers were disturbed later on, probably by early people. The location immediately identified itself as a potential battleground of the Clovis Culture. They used five distinct radiocarbon dating techniques to ascertain the age of the mammoth bones. They examined the collagen and other organic elements in the fossilized artifacts for this reason.

    The results show that, depending on the dating technique, the age of the mammoth bones ranges from 31,000 to 38,000 years old. While the most trustworthy date points to 36,000 to 38,000 years ago. This indicates that the bones were created at least 15,000 years before the Clovis people arrived on the continent.

    Drilled Holes By Human Hands

    Humans may have settled in America 36,000 years ago

    But why did people create these bone pieces? The researchers used a variety of high-tech methods to assess the findings, including chemical analysis, scanning electron microscopy, micro-computed tomography, and spectrometry. They discovered prominent circular holes in several bone pieces along the way, which at first look seemed to be caused by the predator’s teeth.

    Predator bite marks are biggest on the outside and narrow to a point on the inside, therefore the form didn’t fit. However, these holes grew inward were smallest towards the bone’s surface. These ridges are characteristic of the traces left by a pointed instrument that has been drilled into a bone and then rocked back and forth, for example, to remove the internal fat and marrow.

    Specific Bone Chips

    A disproportionately high incidence of bone knockdowns—flat pieces from the tough shell of limb bones—was also unexpected. These knockdowns have a peculiar pattern that neither geological phenomena nor animal eating can account for. This is due to the fact that about 80% of these bone pieces were precisely parallel to or perpendicular to the line of the bones when they were chipped. This orientation was also used for secondary blows.

    The scientists said that non-cultural bone findings had never shown such obvious consistency with the bone structure. Scavengers, trampling, and other nonhuman activities were taken into consideration, but it turned out to be quite improbable that the comprehensive, organized, and highly structured degradation of the bones was brought on by such factors. They believed that these bone pieces were created by humans to be used as tools, for instance.

    Burned Fish Scales and A Bonfire

    Microparticles from the site’s chemical analysis also revealed traces of human effect. Because they were discovered to be made of ash, charcoal, powdered bone, charred fish scales, bones, and other minute animal remnants. The location is around 230 feet (70 meters) away from the closest river, hence the fish artifacts are outstanding. They claimed that numerous prehistoric hearths often used bones and bone meal as fuel.

    The researchers believe that this indicates that humans may have built campfires in addition to killing mammoths at this location around 36,000 years ago. These discoveries established a new standard for the settlement of the Americas. According to the results, there must have been a larger immigrant population before the Ice Age’s conclusion and the emergence of the Clovis people.

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    However, it’s still unclear how, when, and from where they came to the continent.

  • A Nile Branch Once Used to Build the Pyramids

    A Nile Branch Once Used to Build the Pyramids

    A research suggests that a branch of the Nile that is no longer flowing may have been essential for the building of the Giza pyramids. The Egyptian builders were able to transport the massive stone blocks to the plateau of the pyramids by ship because the Khufu branch of the Nile was navigable at the time period. Despite the Nile’s level already having plummeted during the reigns of Pharaohs Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure, the branch was still navigable the whole time the pyramids were being built.

    One of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the three enormous pyramids of Giza—Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure—are among the most well-known buildings on the whole globe. They were constructed during the Fourth Dynasty between 2620 and 2500 BC on a large limestone plateau, which is now located about 6 miles (10 km) from the west bank of the Nile. It has long been a mystery as to how laborers of the period moved the massive stones to the plateau which weighed tons and were hauled from quarries up the Nile.

    A Potential Port at Nile’s Arm

    However, it is now known that geography and a good climate had a role in the transportation logistics of the pyramid building. Long-held theories among scientists suggest that the plateau of the pyramids was once directly reached by a now-dry branch of the Nile River. According to Hader Sheisha of the University of Aix-Marseille and his colleagues, the river port theory postulates that the pyramid builders excavated a passage through the west bank of this Nile arm of Khufu and widened it.

    Location of the pyramids and the Cheops Arm. Drill sample markers are red; artifacts from ancient Egyptian port buildings were discovered at Giza 3.
    Location of the pyramids and the Khufu Arm. Drill sample markers are red; artifacts from ancient Egyptian port buildings were discovered at Giza 3. (Credit: PNAS/Sheisha et al.)

    They assume that this made it possible to transport the building materials for the pyramids straight up to the plateau and discharge them there. The question of whether the level of the Nile and its Khufu branch at the time was high enough to permit this transport by ship to the plateau remained unanswered.

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    With the aid of five drill cores taken from the region of the old Khufu branch, researchers have now looked at this question further. They were able to recreate the water level over 8,000 years using climate models, pollen and rock analysis, and other methods.

    From Too Deep to Just Right

    The finding was that Egypt had generally rainy weather up until around 3500 BC, and the Khufu branch of the Nile river had unusually high water levels. Then, however, the levels began to gradually decline, enabling people to colonize the rich lowlands along the riverbanks throughout the predynastic era and the early Egyptian Kingdom. According to the researchers, this decline in river levels may be intimately related to the appeal of Giza throughout the fourth century BC.

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    The climate began to become considerably drier at approximately 2970 BC, and the yearly Nile floods also became less powerful. However, the Khufu branch’s water level stayed consistently high enough to be navigable.

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    The pharaohs of the early part of the Old Kingdom gained the most from this beginning in 2686 BC. Khufu branch was later adapted for setting out and developing the pyramid construction site by the Third to the Fifth Dynasties.

    The Khufu Arm Was Navigable During Construction

    The researchers claim that there is proof that the Khufu Nile and the Giza plateau were both used for the construction of the pyramids. Sheisha and his colleagues claimed that the Old Kingdom engineers made use of the river environment and the yearly Nile floods to create their colossal monuments on the plateau. To better unload goods, the builders had the arm of Khufu’s deepened in some places and constructed canals and port facilities.

    This helped the builders manage the transfer of stones and other supplies by ship and made it possible for even heavily laden freighters to proceed virtually straight to the pyramid building site, especially during the yearly Nile floods. The outcome was a sharp rise in the number of archaeological sites on the Giza plateau, particularly during the Fourth Dynasty. This was used by the pharaohs Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure to construct the Great Pyramids, a special structure that is still standing today.

    The Old Empire Came to an End Because of Declining Levels

    The steady water levels in the Khufu branch of the Nile persisted until about 2225 BC, or around the end of the Old Kingdom. Following that, the Nile and its branches experienced a drop in water levels, and a short time later, North Africa experienced a dry spell that prevented even the annual Nile flood from occurring. It is thought that this failure set off terrible famines that brought about the end of the Old Kingdom and the start of the First Intermediate Period of Egypt.

    The climate and water levels changed drastically over the next centuries until another dry spell loomed around the start of Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s reign in 1349 BC. The water levels of the Nile and the Khufu branch had dropped significantly by the start of the Third Intermediate Period, which led to the Khufu branch progressively silting up and drying out.

  • Surprising Pair Formation in the Atomic Nucleus

    Surprising Pair Formation in the Atomic Nucleus

    An unexpected phenomenon appears to be occurring in light atomic nuclei. An experiment shows that two protons unexpectedly join frequently in light nuclei to form short-lived pairs. In this experiment, these similar pairs had a share of almost 20 percent, while five percent at most would be considered normal based on earlier observations. As they report in Nature, the physicists have no idea what caused this unexpected outcome.

    The atomic nucleus is a dynamic environment where protons and neutrons are constantly interacting with one another through strong nuclear interaction.

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    This sometimes creates temporary combinations of excited nuclear particles. These can be short-lived helium nuclei with two protons and two neutrons, although nucleon pairs are more frequent in heavier nuclei. Two nuclear building blocks interact so intensely in this so-called short-range correlation (SRC) that their structures momentarily cross over.

    Pairs That Differ Are Favored

    The conventional wisdom holds that these pair formations mostly happen between neutrons and protons, the two unequal nuclear building units. Proton-neutron pairs were responsible for nearly 95% of these short-range correlations in studies of diverse elements, from carbon to lead. Only very rarely were similar pairings of neutrons or protons likewise able to be found by physicists (neutron-neutron or proton-proton).

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    It was once believed that this distribution held true for all types of atomic nuclei.


    But now, an investigation at Virginia’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility shows an unexpected finding: There are atomic nuclei that appear to differ from this so-called “normal” pair ratio. They form far more often than previously known pairings of two protons. In heavier atomic nuclei, there is a notable departure from the nearly total dominance of neutron-proton correlations.

    Mirror Cores

    Despite having three nuclear building blocks apiece, tritium and helium-3 contain different ratios of protons or neutrons.
    Despite having three nuclear building blocks apiece, tritium and helium-3 contain different ratios of protons or neutrons. Jenny Nuss/Berkeley Laboratory

    The short-lived pairings in the atomic nucleus could be found thanks to a new technique the scientists had created for their investigation. They performed this by irradiating the tritium (H3) and helium-3 nuclei with electrons. These atomic nuclei are what are referred to as mirror nuclei since they both have three nuclear particles. However, helium-3 has two protons and one neutron compared to tritium’s two neutrons and one proton.

    Scientists can identify whether short-lived pairs exist in these nuclei based on the direction and energy of the electrons reflected from these nuclei: This is comparable to the variation in how a ping-pong ball bounces off the windshield of a car that is going quickly or slowly.

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    The electron behavior during these measurements could likewise be used to infer the nature of the pairings. The ratios of these correlations in both atomic nuclei should be the same when compared with the earlier measurements.

    A Surprising Number of Similar Pairs

    The measurement results, however, showed something else: In the two light atomic nuclei, the proportion of comparable pairings was four times higher than predicted. Together, proton-proton and neutron-neutron pairs accounted for a sizable 20% of the correlations. Scientists didn’t anticipate such a striking departure; all they really wanted to do was measure the short-range correlations with higher accuracy. This begs the question of what makes these nuclei unique.

    Physicists can only make conjectures as of now. One theory, however, is that the distance between the nuclear building blocks influences how the nucleons interact. Protons and neutrons have a bit more freedom to move around in small, light atomic nuclei. By making comparable observations in other light atomic nuclei, the study team will now attempt to determine whether this is the case.

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    At the Jefferson Lab accelerator, Arrington and his colleagues are already hard at work on a further experiment that will evaluate short-range correlations for isotopes of lithium, beryllium, boron, and some heavier elements.

    Vital for Astrophysics and Particle Physics

    Scientists are curious to know why they continue to discover surprises in such simple atomic nuclei because this may provide insight into how nucleons interact with each other nearby. For a wide range of topics and scientific studies, it is crucial to comprehend the processes in the atomic nucleus. The reason for this is that they have an impact on how elementary particles behave in collisions in particle accelerators or detectors.

    Additionally, the behavior of nuclear building blocks is crucial to understanding astrophysics, as it affects processes inside neutron stars as well as nuclear fusion in the sun.

  • Why Does Your Face Look Different in the Mirror Than in Real Life?

    Why Does Your Face Look Different in the Mirror Than in Real Life?

    Imagine a world devoid of mirrors. Extremely unlikely. A mirror is an essential tool in our daily lives. Many of us would be very inhibited in our public activities if we did not have it. A mole that is on the right side of your face, can appear on the left when you look in the mirror. Does the mirror even reflect reality? The mirrors are structured to distort reality. Let’s see why.

    We have long been in the habit of looking at ourselves in the mirror upon waking, after washing our hands, in the elevator, and before and after we brush our teeth.

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    Despite this, how we view ourselves in the mirror isn’t always how others see us. When seen in a mirror, our right and left sides seem to be switched.

    It Is About the Smoothness

    But the question is, why does a mirror reflect at all? Typically, a mirror will have two distinct layers. Aluminum makes up the base, while glass makes up the upper layer. The mirror is protected by glass, and the reflection is provided by an aluminum coating. The aluminum layer is so smooth that it allows for such precise reflection.

    But in theory, we can also see ourselves reflected in any other smooth surface. As in the case of a freshly painted automobile or the screen of a smartphone. Plaster walls are treated differently. Because of its irregular surface, it scatters and sometimes absorbs light.

    One unique property of mirror surfaces is that they reflect light at exactly the same angle at which it was incident. This means that even when a lot of light beams are combined, the result is still a symmetrical image. Now, when we look at ourselves in a mirror, those distorted rays enter our retina and our brain forms a picture from them.

    Not Even Close

    Light from your hair bounces off the mirror and enters your eyes from above; light from your chin enters your eyes from below
    Light from your hair bounces off the mirror and enters your eyes from above; light from your chin enters your eyes from below.

    When we compare our mirror image to a photograph of ourselves, we notice tiny variations, such as the fact that our reflection seems to be twice as far away from us as the mirror. In addition, our mole has switched sides and is now on the other side of the face.

    The mirror fools our brains into giving us a distorted reflection of our true appearance. The brain understands that light rays can only travel in a straight line and uses this knowledge to determine the location and distance of things in space. Mirrors, on the other hand, are reflecting the light back into its source again. Our brain is now thrown off since it doesn’t realize the twist that the light has now bent.

    The brain interprets the direction from which a beam of light enters the eye and ignores everything else. For this reason, when we look at ourselves in the mirror, it often seems as if we are looking at each other from a considerable distance.

    Is Our Mirror Image Reversed?

    It’s not reversed. This is evident from the fact that the mirror would also have to reverse the top and bottom of the reflection. However, that is not what it does. A model standing opposite us would have a distinct appearance from our mirrored image.

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    The latter would allow us to glimpse the mole from the opposite angle. Because when you look in a mirror, you just see things backward. Nothing is actually switching from left to right or up to down. On the contrary, it’s being turned backward.

    Light particles, or photons, head toward the glass and scatter off of its smooth surface. They follow the same route they took to the mirror, which results in everything in the mirror’s field of view being mirrored backward.

    The mirror switches the rear and front dimensions. It is easier to understand this with a model in the coordinate system. For this, we consider that we just mirror the model’s horizontal axis and not its vertical axis. When we do this, we get a reflection that is identical to what we see in the mirror.

    The brain is therefore misled a second time. Only one dimension is swapped by the mirror, not the others. We may turn in any direction, but the mirror image will never be congruent with us. Our reflection in the mirror is called “mirror-inverted,” disproving the myth that it is sideways.

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