Aubrey Zerkle

🔭 #astronomy #astro

🔭 #astronomy #astro

🔭 #astronomy #astro

🔭 #astronomy #astro

Influence of Rare Earth Elements on Prebiotic Reaction Networks Resembling the Biologically Relevant Krebs Cycle Rare earth elements can act as mediators in a prebiotic reaction network, producing various intermediates of the citric acid cycle starting from glyoxylate and pyruvate. The ionic radius and the resu...

You can also read their manuscript here: doi.org/10.1002/anie...

Astrobiology Revealed #30: Lena Daumann and Jonathan Gutenthaler-Tietze — SAGANet We asked Lena Daumann and Jonathan Gutenthaler-Tietze about their recent paper, “Influence of Rare Earth Elements on Prebiotic Reaction Networks Resembling the Biologically Relevant Krebs Cycle.” Lene...

New Astrobiology Revealed! @daumannl.bsky.social and @joguti.bsky.social describe how rare earth elements could play an important role in prebiotic chemistry.
#SciComm #SciNews
www.saganet.org/articles/ast...

The European ant that clones another species – Sciworthy European ant queens can lay eggs of a different species to mate with them and create a separate set of workers.

Researchers from France demonstrated that one species of ants, Messor ibericus, can naturally produce offspring of another species, challenging scientists’ assumptions about reproductive biology.
#SciComm #SciNews #evobio
sciworthy.com/the-european...

New packaging can warn you when meat has spoiled – Sciworthy Scientists designed color-changing carbon dot biosensors that can detect spoiled meat in sealed packages in real-time.

Researchers from China developed color-shifting carbon nanodots that detect spoiled food. When incorporated into food packaging, these sensors enable contactless real-time assessment of meat freshness using only UV light and a smartphone.
#SciComm #SciNews
sciworthy.com/new-packagin...

Hidden bacteria dominate Earth’s deep soils – Sciworthy Scientists showed that an understudied bacterium is widespread in deep soils worldwide and adapted to life with very little energy.

Researchers from China and the US found a phylum of bacteria, CSP1-3, with genes for a streamlined metabolism and low-energy survival that are adapted to life in deep, nutrient-poor soils.
#SciComm #SciNews #microsky 🦠🧫
sciworthy.com/hidden-bacte...

Finding cancer cells in a cocktail of complex tissues – Sciworthy Scientists used technology similar to ChatGPT to develop a tool that can differentiate between the DNA of cancer cells and healthy cells in a patient’s tissue samples.

Researchers from Germany developed a new AI tool, MethylBERT, that can identify cancer DNA in data from any sequencing platform.
#SciComm #SciNews #CanSky #OncoSky
sciworthy.com/finding-canc...

Jellyfish from NOAA Ocean Exploration & Research is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Scientists have shown that adding easily digestible carbon to soils increases microbes’ appetite for other, more difficult-to-degrade stuff. But does the same hold for microbes in the deep sea?
#SciComm #SciNews #microsky 🦠 🧫
sciworthy.com/why-do-deep-...

Editing genes to fight prion disease – Sciworthy Scientists used a newly developed gene-editing technique to create RNA strands that block the production of misfolded proteins.

Researchers from Harvard used CRISPR to fix faulty RNA, correcting protein mistakes that cause fatal diseases.
#SciComm #SciNews #medsky 🩺⚕️
sciworthy.com/could-gene-e...

Unzipping bamboo to make better plastics – Sciworthy Scientists developed a recyclable plastic from bamboo that is stronger and more biodegradable than conventional petroleum-based products.

Scientists from China have developed a new bamboo-based bioplastic using a scalable and sustainable manufacturing process.
#SciComm #SciNews
sciworthy.com/unzipping-ba...

Dental floss delivers vaccines through the gums – Sciworthy Scientists triggered a strong immune response in mice by using vaccine-coated dental floss to access their leaky gums.

What if you could get a flu vaccine without any needles? Researchers recently discovered a solution to this question in the form of dental floss.
#SciComm #SciNews #immunosky
sciworthy.com/can-vaccines...

Gases power diverse microbial life in caves – Sciworthy Researchers found that cave-dwelling microbes use atmospheric trace gases like methane and carbon monoxide as sources of energy and carbon.

Researchers from Australia have shown that atmospheric trace gases are crucial energy sources for cave-dwelling microbes, supporting a diverse microbial population.
#SciComm #SciNews #microsky 🦠 🧫
sciworthy.com/gases-power-...

Is the most profitable fertilizer level also safe for the environment? – Sciworthy Researchers in the Midwest measured how much nitrogen corn plants used versus how much remained in the soil for a range of fertilizer levels.

Scientists across 8 states in the Midwest compiled data on cornfield fertilization levels to test whether current economic guidelines restrict fertilizer use enough to protect the environment as well as profits.
#SciComm #SciNews #agriecon #PlantScience #Botany
sciworthy.com/is-the-most-...

Scientists test new life-saving customized gene therapy – Sciworthy Researchers fixed an infant’s potentially fatal digestive issue using a gene-editing technique to help break down toxic ammonia in his liver.

Scientists at Penn Medicine recently used the DNA-editing technology CRISPR to modify the genes of a baby with a fatal liver disease. After 2 rounds of treatment, they found that his liver function and metabolism were improving.
#SciComm #SciNews #medsky 🧬
sciworthy.com/scientists-t...

Fungi could reshape the next generation of smart materials – Sciworthy Scientists dispersed living fungal fibers into mixtures that can act as fast-responding smart materials in food, packaging, and electronics.

Could living fungus someday power our electronics, weave our textiles, or reinvent plastic as we know it? Researchers used fungal mixtures to develop self-stabilizing emulsifiers, tunable films, and fast-responding smart materials.
sciworthy.com/fungi-could-...
#SciComm #SciNews #fungi #mushrooms

Removing this gene improves Alzheimer's in mice – Sciworthy Scientists deleted a gene linked to Alzheimer’s disease in mice, which reduced protein buildup and cognitive decline.

Researchers at the Gladstone Institute and UC-San Francisco showed that removing the protein APOE4 from the nerve cells of mice can reduce brain issues related to Alzheimer’s.
#SciComm #SciNews #dementia #alzheimers #alzsky #medsky
sciworthy.com/removing-thi...

#microsky 🦠 🧫

🔭 #astronomy #astro

Nanoplastics could promote Parkinson’s disease – Sciworthy Scientists demonstrated that nanoplastics cause proteins associated with Parkinson's disease to accumulate in mice’s brains.

Researchers at Duke University have shown that polystyrene nanoplastics speed up the spread and aggregation of the brain protein Ɑ-synuclein in mice, triggering neurological symptoms such as tremors and slowed movement.
#SciComm #SciNews #Medskies
sciworthy.com/parkinsons-d...

🔭 #astronomy #astro

Newsletter – Sciworthy Interested in exclusive content exploring the latest in science news? Sign up for our monthly newsletter! You can find past issues here. And, as always, we won’t bombard you with ads or sponsored cont...

Want more free and impartial science news? Sign up for Sciworthy's monthly newsletter! The December "Year in Review" issue will drop next week. And Sciworthy is a non-profit, so your email is safe with us. Don't miss out - sign up today!
#SciComm #SciNews
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Metal-tolerant plants could change the future of mining – Sciworthy Researchers found that some plant species store high amounts of nickel in their biomass, making them good candidates for “phytomining.”

Researchers from France and the Netherlands demonstrated that the plant Bornmuellera emarginata can hyperaccumulate nickel with minimal stress, even in extremely high nickel concentrations.
#SciComm #SciNews #PlantScience #PlantBiology #Botany
sciworthy.com/metal-tolera...

Artificial cells that reproduce without biology – Sciworthy Researchers used simple molecules to create cell-like bubbles that grow and divide on their own, without the need for DNA or enzymes.

Chemists from Harvard have synthesized non-biochemical self-reproducing systems that could explain how early protocells functioned before life evolved.
#SciComm #SciNews #alife⚙️🧫
sciworthy.com/artificial-c...

New evidence for the origin of Mars' moons!
🔭 #astronomy #astro #earth-science #geoscience ⚒️

Lava tubes contain unknown “microbial dark matter” – Sciworthy Researchers discovered that lava tubes on Mauna Loa contain previously unknown microorganisms that could thrive on Mars.

Researchers discovered novel microbes in lava tube caves that could aid astrobiologists in understanding potential life in similar environments on Mars.
#SciComm #SciNews #microsky 🦠 🧫
sciworthy.com/lava-tubes-c...

This ant queen gives birth to a different species – Sciworthy Researchers found that the queen of one ant species can produce both her own species and another by cloning the males of the other species.

Scientists studying harvester ants in the Mediterranean found that the queen of one species gives birth to both her own offspring and males from another harvester ant species.
#SciComm #SciNews #evosky
sciworthy.com/this-ant-que...

How molecules copy themselves with fewer errors – Sciworthy Researchers found that molecules can self-replicate with fewer errors by selecting similar ingredients.

Scientists from the Netherlands and @bluemarblespace.bsky.social discovered a new way that molecules copy themselves with fewer errors, using “selective binding.”
#SciComm #SciNews #ALife #evosky #molevol
sciworthy.com/how-molecule...