How pregnancy affects the brain and how lizards make their own scuba gear

How pregnancy affects the brain and how lizards make their own scuba gear

Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Anaisa Ruiz Tejada Jeffrey Delvisio

Happy Monday, listeners! Let’s start the week off right with some of the latest science news. Scientific Americanof Science NowThis is Rachel Feltman.

First, an update from Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. The two NASA astronauts were scheduled to spend a little over a week in space in June, but will not actually return until February. Earlier this month, the two gave a press release from the International Space Station, shortly after the unfortunate Starliner spacecraft returned to Earth without them. Suni said that they are making the most of their free time in space as the best crewmates. Both said they look forward to voting from space in the 2024 presidential election.They’ve filed absentee ballot requests, which will be encrypted and downlinked to their local county clerk’s office. Both will have to list their current addresses as “low Earth orbit,” which is kind of cute. So even if you’ll be standing in long lines and dealing with other inconvenient logistics to vote on November 5, take a moment to look up at the sky and be thankful you won’t be stuck in space for eight months longer than you’d like.

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In more space news, a study published last Monday suggests that Earth may have once had a cool space fashion accessory: giant rings like the ones surrounding Saturn. The study authors hypothesized: The space rocky rings could have formed about 466 million years ago when a massive asteroid got too close to Earth and succumbed to the planet’s tidal forces. Once the rings collapsed to form a ring system, they could have blocked enough sunlight to cool the planet and send a ton of meteorites crashing into the surface. In fact, scientists came up with this hypothesis to try to explain a period of frequent meteorite impacts between about 485 and 443 million years ago. They’ll need more evidence to solidify this discovery, but in the meantime, we think it’s pretty cool to imagine a big rocky hula hoop on Earth.

And our Light blue dots, A study published last Friday is a reminder of just how complicated it is. Researchers found that iron carried by wind-blown dust from the Sahara to the Atlantic plays a key role in supporting marine life. Not all iron in the environment is “bioreactive,” or available to living organisms. The researchers say that the iron carried in Saharan dust becomes more bioreactive as it blows through the atmosphere, due to chemical reactions that occur there. In other words, this long-distance delivery They could be crucial for sustaining life in places like the Amazon Basin and the Bahamas.

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In less exciting environmental news, last Monday scientists published a report on microplastics found in the human brain. The researchers examined tissue taken from the corpses.They looked specifically at the olfactory bulb, the part of the brain where smell processing begins, and there are two of them located above the nasal cavity. Samples taken from eight of the 15 corpses contained plastic pieces measuring between 5.5 and 26.4 micrometres. It seems likely that we inhale these microplastics, and some are concerned that this could make its way into the rest of the brain – we know that some microbes can get that far. Microplastics have been linked to inflammatory responses, which could lead to all sorts of health problems. Last Thursday, International Expert Group He has published journal articles in the fields of marine biology, sustainability, environmental psychology, global plastics policy, and risk assessment. Science They are calling for international action to combat the problem of plastics and microplastics. They warn that unless we make efforts to drastically reduce plastic production, we risk “irreversible environmental damage” and that we must find ways to reduce the emissions and environmental pollution of the plastics we continue to use and throw away. Their call for action actually coincides with the 20th anniversary of the first study to use the term “microplastics,” which was published in 2010. ScienceFor more on microplastics, tune into the June 24th episode.

This wasn’t the only alarming health news from the past week. Lancet The study analyzed the increasing trend of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Over 39 million people will die over the next 25 yearsPrevious studies have shown that AMR It could become the leading cause of death worldwide by 2050Pathogens naturally evolve over time to become resistant to treatments such as antibiotics and antivirals, but this process is happening much faster. Excessive use of antimicrobials to treat humans, plants and animalsLeaders at the United Nations General Assembly this week are expected to sign a global commitment to combat AMR.

Another health study released last week in Nature Neuroscience The study aims to unlock the secrets of the infamous phenomenon “pregnancy brain” – or more precisely, all the changes in the brain that come with pregnancy. For the first time, researchers have followed individuals through their first pregnancy, from before conception to two years after giving birth, to map the changes in the brain. The team says the most notable changes occurred in cortical gray matter, the wrinkled outer part of the brain. As pregnancy hormones increased in the body, the volume of gray matter decreased. This change continued throughout the study period. This is not necessarily a bad thing. The researchers compared it to the changes seen as the brain transitions from adolescence to adulthood. They also saw an increase in white matter, which facilitates communication between different parts of the brain. White matter peaked in the second trimester and returned to baseline around the time of birth. While it is not known how an individual’s experience during pregnancy compares to the typical neurological changes that pregnant people go through, The researchers have made the dataset available for free online. To encourage further research on this topic.

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Now, as you all know, I like to end on something as fun as possible, and what could be more fun than a teeny tiny scuba diving lizard? I don’t know what that is, but if you have one, please email me. I’d love to see it.

Researchers studying semi-aquatic lizards called water anoles have previously noticed that the animals form funny little bubbles over their nostrils when they dive underwater to avoid predators, and now scientists have confirmed that the bubbles are more than just an adorable side effect of a quick dip in the water. Lizards actually use air pockets to breatheWhen some lizards were given a topical treatment that prevented air from sticking to their skin to prevent bubbles from forming, the new study found that the little diving helmets allowed the reptiles to stay underwater 32 percent longer than usual. In a press release, study author Lindsay Swierk called anoles the “chicken nuggets of the forest” and described them as being riddled with predators. So it’s no wonder these little creatures have evolved a trick that lets them stay underwater for at least 20 minutes to evade animals trying to drive through them.

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That’s it for this week’s news roundup. On Wednesday we talk about new research on PCOS. On Friday we’ll be releasing the next episode of our latest Fascination miniseries. If you missed episode 1 last week, go back and listen now – it’s all about the beautiful and mysterious world of mathematics. This week we ask a mind-bending question: does mathematics really exist? In fact, this is a more heated debate than you might think.

Science Now Produced by myself, Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff Delvisio. This episode was edited by Anassa Ruiz Tejada. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check the show. The theme music was composed by Dominique Smith. Subscribe here Scientific American We bring you more up-to-date and in-depth science news.

for Scientific American, This is Rachel Feltman. Have a great week!