A 24-Hour Fast Activates a Microbial Pathway That Helps Heal the Gut

By U. of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, July 16, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/a-24-hour-fast-activates-a-microbial-pathway-that-helps-heal-the-gut/

RNAscope image of small intestinal crypts showing expression of intestinal stem cell markers Lgr5 (white) and Olfm4 (yellow), Clu+ revival stem cells (red), and ChgA+ enteroendocrine cells (green). Nuclei are counterstained with DAPI (blue). 

Credit: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center



A gut bacterium appears essential to the intestinal repair benefits linked to fasting before radiation.

During radiation treatment for abdominal cancer, the therapy aimed at a tumor can also injure the delicate lining of the small intestine. That damage can lead to severe digestive problems and may restrict how much radiation a patient can safely receive.

The bacterium, Akkermansia muciniphila, or AKK, appears to work with metabolic changes caused by short-term fasting to place intestinal cells into a state that supports regeneration after radiation injury. The findings, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could eventually help researchers develop ways to protect healthy tissue during cancer treatment, although the work has not yet been tested in patients.

Helen Piwnica-Worms, Ph.D., professor of Experimental Radiation Oncology, and Kunal Rai, Ph.D., professor of Genomic Medicine, co-led the research.

“Fasting helps prepare intestinal cells to respond more quickly and effectively after injury, almost like training the cells with an emergency preparedness plan,” Piwnica-Worms said. “This study helps explain how that plan is organized and identifies a key bacterium involved in coordinating the response.”

Helen Piwnica-Worms, Ph.D. 

Credit: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Intestinal damage can limit radiation treatment

Radiation therapy is frequently used against abdominal cancers, including pancreatic, colorectal, and gynecologic cancers. The difficulty is that the small intestine contains rapidly renewing cells that are especially vulnerable to radiation.

When the intestinal lining is injured, patients can experience nausea, diarrhea, and infection. Severe damage can lead to life-threatening complications, which may restrict the amount of radiation doctors can safely deliver.

Earlier preclinical research from the Piwnica-Worms Laboratory showed that fasting before treatment improved intestinal recovery after radiation. That result raised a more difficult question: what changed inside the intestine during fasting, and how did those changes prepare the tissue to repair itself?

Fasting recruits a key gut bacterium

The researchers found that fasting for 24 hours increased the abundance of AKK in the small intestine. That shift mattered because AKK produces propionate, a small molecule created when microbes process nutrients.

Propionate worked alongside other metabolic changes caused by fasting to modify histones inside intestinal cells. Histones are proteins that package DNA, much like spools organizing long threads. Small chemical tags added to these proteins can loosen or tighten access to particular genes without changing the underlying genetic code.

In this case, the tags helped expose genes connected with tissue regeneration. A group of intestinal cells that accumulated during fasting appeared to carry these repair programs in a more accessible state, leaving them prepared to respond once injury occurred.

After radiation exposure, those cells multiplied and helped rebuild the intestinal lining. The sequence offered the researchers a possible explanation for how fasting before treatment could influence recovery afterward.

Repair requires both fasting and AKK

To determine whether AKK was simply present during the response or actually necessary for it, the researchers selectively removed the bacterium. The protective benefit associated with fasting then disappeared.

Kunal Rai, Ph.D. 

Credit: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center

Restoring AKK by itself was not enough. The regenerative response returned only when the bacterium was reintroduced together with fasting, indicating that the microbial and metabolic changes worked as a combined system.

The results suggest that fasting alters intestinal cells before radiation arrives rather than merely helping them recover afterward. By changing gut microbes, metabolism, and access to regeneration genes, the process may allow repair to begin more rapidly once tissue is damaged.

This connection between diet, microbes, and gene activity could help researchers understand how healthy tissues organize their response to injury. It may also point toward ways to reduce treatment-related harm while preserving the cancer-fighting effects of radiation.

Future studies will need to determine whether the pathway operates similarly in patients receiving abdominal radiation. Researchers also want to investigate whether it could protect other rapidly dividing tissues, including bone marrow, from damage caused by cancer treatment.

New therapies may avoid fasting

Fasting can be physically difficult or medically inappropriate for people undergoing cancer therapy. For that reason, the researchers are interested in reproducing its protective effects without requiring patients to stop eating.

Possible approaches could include treatments based on AKK, propionate, or other metabolites involved in the repair pathway. Dietary interventions might offer another way to influence the same biological response.

“Fasting is not always practical for cancer patients, and this work supports several other potential ways to enhance recovery after treatment,” Rai said. “Whether through dietary interventions, targeted microbes or their metabolites, the goal is to help repair healthy tissue more effectively while patients receive the cancer therapies they need.”

The Life of Earth

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Neglected Museum Fossils Turn Out to Be The First T. Rex Hatchlings Ever Found

14 July 2026, By M. Irving

https://www.sciencealert.com/neglected-museum-fossils-turn-out-to-be-the-first-t-rex-hatchlings-ever-found

A photo of the baby T. rex puppet used in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. 

(Michael Irving/ScienceAlert)

Jurassic Park was wrong. Again.

In the second movie, hunters find an infant Tyrannosaurus rex and use it to lure the adults into a trap.

But in reality, that baby would have been much smaller, about the size of a cat. And it probably wouldn't have been alone – the nest may have been absolutely crawling with dozens of them.

It likely wouldn't have been very useful as bait either: Its parents probably would have considered losing a baby or two as just part of the process, and wouldn't have cared enough to push a research trailer off a cliff.

So why are we updating our understanding of T. rex's childhood?

In a "vanishingly rare" discovery, paleontologists have found and closely examined fossils of tyrannosaur hatchlings. The remarkable findings are published in the journal Biology – and the implications go way beyond everyone's favorite dinosaur.

"Going through museum collections, my colleagues and I have discovered the first remains of hatchling tyrannosaurs," announced Nick Longrich, paleontologist and evolutionary biologist at the University of Bath in the UK.

A size comparison between Tyrannosaurus rex hatchlings and a modern cat. 

(Longrich et al., Biology, 2026)



When people think of dinosaurs, they tend to think of giants with long necks craning into the treetops, huge horned herbivores duking it out, and of course, the biggest land carnivores the planet has ever known.

But we know far less about the smaller species of reptiles, mammals, and other dinosaurs that were running around underfoot. That's because not only did their remains fossilize less frequently than the behemoth's, but modern scientists also tend to favor the big, attention-grabbing bones.

"Paleontologists overlook these little remains, which are almost always isolated bones, in favor of larger and more complete skulls and skeletons," Longrich told ScienceAlert.

"There's just a bias in what people study. Partly the small isolated stuff is hard to study, and partly people just assume it's not that important, so it ends up stuck in a museum and neglected."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd0dR2n9hLA (long vid)

Longrich and his team set out to investigate these fragmented fossils gathering dust in storeroom drawers, expecting to find adult specimens of small dinosaurs. Instead, ironically, the work led the team back to the big guys.

One of the small bones appeared to be a third metatarsal – the middle foot bone – of a theropod dinosaur. But on closer inspection, it didn't look like it came from a fully grown animal.

"The surface of the bone was incredibly porous," Longrich says in a video on his YouTube channel.

"And this is the result of all these little microscopic blood vessels creating this dense network of blood vessels. And these nourish the bone as it grows. So they're providing blood to the bone cells as they deposit bone tissue and remodel the bone. And this is typical of an immature dinosaur."

The tiny metatarsal that started it all. 

(Longrich et al., Biology, 2026)



When the bone was compared to others of its era, the researchers realized only one species fit the characteristics they were seeing.

"This is the foot bone of a very, very tiny T. rex. This is the smallest T. rex that we've ever seen," said Longrich.

After that find, the team began to look more closely at other small fossils of bones and teeth, and realized that many could also be attributed to tyrannosaur hatchlings.

"I was most surprised by how closely the hatchling Tyrannosaurus fossils resembled those of big adults," Eric Snively, paleontologist at Oklahoma State University in the US, told ScienceAlert.

"The foot bone had all the traits of a huge adult Tyrannosaurus; it was just narrower compared to its length. The teeth were chunky and worn, so the babies were biting into bone just like a 10-ton adult sundering bones of a big Triceratops."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Rn9Dqa5l9A (long vid)

Importantly, these bones were distinct from Nanotyrannus, a pygmy tyrannosaur species that can be mistaken for a juvenile T. rex. Other bone features excluded the possibility that these tiny tyrannosaurs were just embryos.

In the end, the researchers paint a very different picture of T. rex hatchlings, of which we know almost nothing. They estimate the main specimen to have been about 75 centimeters (30 inches) long and to have weighed around 2.5 kilograms (5.5 pounds).

Scaling back, it could have been as light as 1.7 kilograms when it first hatched. That's much smaller than previous estimates, which suggested tyrannosaurs could have been up to a meter long when they hatched.

From this new size estimate, the team was able to calculate roughly how big an egg these hatchlings emerged from. These were surprisingly small too, given the sheer size of the monster laying them.

That suggests tyrannosaurs laid many eggs: the researchers estimated 20 to 30 per clutch. And that has some fascinating implications for their reproductive strategy.

No complete or certain Tyrannosaurus rex egg has ever been found.

The goal of reproduction is obviously to make more of yourself, and in a general sense, organisms use one of two broad strategies to get there.

They either have lots of offspring, quickly and often, so that it doesn't really matter if some (or most) of them don't live very long – there are plenty of backups. Organisms that use this method, such as rodents, are known as r-strategists.

The other method is to have fewer babies, but invest heavily in making sure they survive. These are the K-strategists, and that group includes whales and, of course, us.

It's a trade-off, for sure: Do you leave dozens of your offspring on a beach to fend for themselves from birth? Or will you still be bringing snacks to their room after two decades? Both strategies seem to work for different species.

Because larger animals and modern dinosaurs (ie, birds) tend to be K-strategists, it was long thought that tyrannosaurs would raise their young with care.

But the new discovery that tyrannosaur young were small and numerous suggests they had more r-strategist tendencies than we thought.

That's not to say T. rex parents were completely (tiny) hands-off, though. They seem to mark a kind of transitional phase that was happening throughout the animal kingdom during the time of the dinosaurs.

"It shows tyrannosaurs are transitional between reptiles like crocodilians and turtles on the one hand, and modern birds on the other," said Longrich.

"Avian-mammal intensive parental investment and care seems to evolve gradually in the Mesozoic. At the same time tyrannosaurs are evolving larger and fewer young (relative to reptiles), we see mammals and plesiosaurs and even insects making similar shifts. Parental investment strategies change a lot in the Jurassic and Cretaceous."

The Life of Earth

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Bones of Ancient Egyptian Princesses Reveal They Were Kind of Badass

17 July 2026, By J. Cockerill

https://www.sciencealert.com/ancient-egyptian-princesses-were-skilled-with-powerful-weapons-lost-remains-reveal

(Hashesh et al., Front. Environ. Archaeol., 2026)

Ancient Egyptian princesses actually knew how to use the weapons they were buried with, according to a new study published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology.

Any doubts around the women's prowess with the weapons – which include daggers, bows, and maces – have been quashed by a new analysis of the princesses' long-lost mummified remains.

At the apex of the 1890s Egyptomania craze, French archeologist Jacques de Morgan discovered the 4,000-year-old bodies within the Dahshur pyramid complex.

In 1895, scientific investigations were carried out on the two most high-ranking royals in the burial complex, King Hor and Princess Noub-Hotep.

19th-century handwriting is visible on the bones, and the papers they were wrapped with. 

(Hashesh et al., Front. Environ. Archaeol., 2026)

In 1915, the Dahshur bodies were brought to the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, where they were left in a wooden box and forgotten for over a century.

Then, in 2020, Zeinab Hashesh, an archaeologist at Beni-Suef University in Egypt, rediscovered the remains: King Hor and Princess Noub-Hotep, Princess Itaweret, Princess Khenmet, Princess Ita, and another female skeleton whose identity remains unknown.

"Early curators at the Egyptian museum gave the whole box only one number and described it as 'human remains'. That's it," Hashesh told ScienceAlert.

The women's skulls are still nowhere to be seen.

The skulls of Noub-Hotep (B) and the other princesses are missing. 

Only the king's (A) skull remains paired with his body.

 (Hashesh et al., Front. Environ. Archaeol., 2026)



"In 1906, the crania (skulls) were separated from the bodies and sent to the Cairo School of Medicine for examination," Hashesh adds.

"They were eventually lost, which made a complete assessment of the individuals impossible for later researchers."

Now, Hashesh and her colleagues have re-examined the bodies, analyzing bone features along with X-rays to better understand the lives of these ancient people.

The dagger found buried alongside Princess Ita.

(DCHNwam/Flickr)



"Finding and analyzing these skeletons after they had spent 130 years in a box was a profoundly moving experience. As scientists, we felt a sense of responsibility to finally give a 'voice' to these individuals who were central to the Middle Kingdom royal court," Hashesh said.

"There was a mix of scientific excitement and a sense of historical justice in proving that these women were more than just the silent, decorative figures they had been assumed to be."

Turns out, these long-lost women were actually kind of formidable.

"These were not just symbolic gifts but tools they actively used." - Zeinab Hashesh

They were buried with a powerful arsenal of weapons, traditionally associated with males – something that really confused French egyptologists back in 1894 – and which archaeologists have continued to dismiss as "purely symbolic or 'votive' tokens for the afterlife," Hashesh said.

There's plenty of evidence the princesses knew how to use them, based on the state of the muscle attachments on their bones, and the signs of injuries these women sustained in life.

(A) Dagger of Princess Ita, courtesy of the Egyptian Museum;

 (B) Arrows of Princess Noub-Hotep, courtesy of Eman Shawky. 

(Hashesh et al., Front. Environ. Archaeol., 2026)

The princesses' bones developed to sustain heavy muscle use that corresponds directly to the weapons that were found buried with them in their tombs.

For instance, Princess Noub-Hotep and the king both have the kind of robust muscle attachments you see in skilled archers.

"We found pronounced development in the upper limbs of these individuals, which correlates to repetitive, high-intensity actions like pulling a bowstring or stabilizing a weapon, proving these activities were habitual throughout their lives," Hashesh says.

"This directly explains the presence of bows, arrows, and maces in the women's tombs; these were not just symbolic gifts but tools they actively used."

The other princesses bear similar signs of a life of weapon-wielding, for activities like archery and hunting.

"Princess Ita was a young woman aged between 28 and 34 with strong upper-body muscle attachments, suggesting she habitually used weapons like maces or daggers," says Hashesh.

"Princess Khenmet was a woman in her late 30s or 40s who showed signs of thinning bones, but had very robust ligament attachments.

"Princess Itaweret was a young woman aged between 20 and 34 who survived broken ribs and foot fractures; her skeleton shows she was a skilled archer."

The princesses' bodies show many signs of active, rigorous lifestyles, and wear-and-tear specific to the weapons they were buried with.

 (Hashesh et al., Front. Environ. Archaeol., 2026)

This was not a sedentary royal family: they kept up their physical activity throughout their lives.

Hashesh explained that their training may be linked to ancient Egyptian beliefs about the afterlife: that with proper training, it was possible for the spiritual body to survive beyond death.

"These women held the title mesu-nisut ('King's Children'), and their presence was integral to the ritual regeneration of the divine king," Hashesh told ScienceAlert.

"Far from leading sedentary lives of luxury, they were well-conditioned athletes and skilled practitioners of archery and martial arts hunting."

"In the elite sphere of Dahshur, these princesses were viewed as active ritual agents. They were not imitating men; rather, their royal blood and their role in the 'machine for surviving death' required them to be disciplined, powerful actors capable of wielding skilled force," she said.

It's an incredible example of just how much we can learn from what is left behind – and that some of the most exciting discoveries might be hiding in the basement, waiting to be seen with fresh eyes.

The birth of modern Man

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Hidden in a Guatemalan Ruin For 1,200 Years Was The Signature of a Maya Mathematical Genius

14 July 2026, By D. Nield

https://www.sciencealert.com/we-finally-know-the-name-of-a-revered-maya-astronomer-mathematician-sak-tahn-waax

The researchers had a series of hieroglyphs to decipher.

 (Rossi et al., Antiquity, 2026)

The Classic Maya period, from around 250-900 CE, is seen as something of a golden age for the civilization.

During that time, the Maya people made huge leaps forward in terms of architecture, city-building, art, writing, mathematics, and astronomy.

However, in those last two disciplines, scientists have been unable to identify individual scholars who made a difference during this time – until now.

A team of researchers from the US, writing in the journal Antiquity, has identified someone called Sak Tahn Waax, which translates as 'White-chested Fox'. The name of this Indigenous mathematician-astronomer was left alongside a rather impressive mathematical formula.

It's the first time a specific piece of work in mathematics or astronomy from the Classic Maya period has been attributed to a specific individual.

"While artists' and sculptors' signatures for painted ceramic vessels and carved monuments have been identified, the scholars behind computational timekeeping have remained anonymous," says archaeologist Franco Rossi, from MIT.

The finding comes from the Xultun archaeological site in Guatemala. In one of the small buildings there, the researchers discovered more than 50 mathematical and astronomical 'microtexts' – short inscriptions listing dates, numbers, and calculations.

A sketch of the room where the writing was recovered and a scan of part of the microtext.

 (Rossi et al., Antiquity, 2026)



When one of these texts was deciphered, using a combination of drawing, photography, and digitally enhanced images, it was discovered that it not only contained a mathematical formula but also credited the person responsible for it.

The formula itself is unique in Maya texts, the researchers say.

It rather cleverly plots the movement of Venus and other planetary bodies in a way that had no precedent at the time, though the astronomical and calendrical units used in it are familiar.

"The math involves his unique understanding of connections and patterns between several cycles of time, including the 260-day ritual day-count, the solar year, as well as the cycles of Venus and Mars," says Mayanist David Stuart, from the University of Texas at Austin.

And these calculations would have mattered: in the Classic Maya period, dates corresponding to the movement of celestial bodies would've been used to schedule royal events and plan building projects.

Some 16 years after this particular room at the Xultun site was discovered, researchers now have a special and unprecedented discovery to take away from it – based on the scribblings and inscriptions on the walls.

The name as translated by the researchers. 

(Rossi et al., Antiquity, 2026)



"These 'rough draft' calculations and tables are akin to finding an early version of a well-known manuscript, or a sketch of a great artwork," says archaeologist Heather Hurst, from Skidmore College.

"This fills out an important dimension of Classic Maya life that had typically been reconstructed through ethnohistories and Spanish accounts written centuries later."

Given the uniqueness of the formula, the academic behind it may have been keen to get recognition for it, the researchers suggest, which may be why the name was left.

Work is now continuing to analyze the dozens of other microtexts at the same site, some of which may also be the work of the newly identified Sak Tahn Waax.

Correlations can now be drawn to other writings both in terms of the style of the text used and the characteristics of the calculations.

The discovery sits alongside many other incredible Maya works in the fields of astronomy and mathematics – including maps of the Universe and charts of solar eclipses.

This was a civilization that knew its numbers well.

As well as telling us more about the people who made a difference during this fascinating period in Classic Maya history, the discovery also helps historians put the Maya civilization in context with the other nations and empires of the time.

"Contemporaries of the ancient world in India, Iraq, China, and Greece were similarly calculating solar and planetary cycles, predicting eclipses, and charting star progressions, their achievements often ascribed to individual thinkers," says Rossi.

"We can now add Sak Tahn Waax to such thinkers, highlighting the great Indigenous astronomy and calendrical traditions of the Americas."

The birth of modern Man

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Atlantic Ocean Slowdown Could Supercharge California Storms

By U. of California Riverside, July 16, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/atlantic-ocean-slowdown-could-supercharge-california-storms/

Atmospheric river forming over the Pacific Northwest.

 Credit: NASA/NOAA

A new study shows how changes in ocean circulation could reshape global rainfall patterns.

A storm reaching California can begin with changes thousands of miles away in the Atlantic Ocean. Climate modeling suggests that as one of the planet’s major ocean circulation systems weakens, more moisture could be directed toward the West Coast while snowfall declines over Greenland.

The system is known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC. It moves warm tropical water northward near the ocean surface, helping keep parts of Europe relatively mild. After the water cools and becomes denser, it sinks and flows southward through the deep ocean.

Researchers at the University of California, Riverside, examined how a slower AMOC could influence storms and atmospheric moisture far beyond the Atlantic. Their projections indicate that the consequences could extend across North America, South America, Antarctica, Greenland, and the Arctic.

“It is well known that the AMOC is a big player in the world’s climate system, and that it is slowing down. What we didn’t know is exactly how the AMOC might impact atmospheric moisture and storms outside the Atlantic region,” said Mohima Mimi, a UCR doctoral student in climate dynamics and the paper’s lead author.

“It turns out a weakening AMOC will strengthen storms across parts of North America by the end of the century, along the California coast in particular, while reducing them over Greenland and the Arctic.”

A weaker current redirects storm moisture

The study, published in Nature Communications, traced the connection from the ocean to the atmosphere. As the AMOC weakens, it changes patterns of ocean temperature. Those temperature shifts influence how much water vapor the air can carry and alter the strong high-altitude winds that guide storms across the Northern Hemisphere.

The modeling showed that these winds could intensify, allowing storms to carry more moisture toward California. Much of that water would arrive through atmospheric rivers, which are long, narrow streams of vapor that move tropical moisture toward higher latitudes.

Atmospheric rivers are essential to California’s water supply, but their strongest forms can produce flooding, landslides, and extensive infrastructure damage. That makes any projected increase important for both water planning and disaster preparation.

These rivers are long, narrow corridors of water vapor carrying moisture from the tropics to higher latitudes. “In California, atmospheric rivers are a double-edged sword,” Mimi said. “They supply much of the state’s water supply, but as they become stronger, they’re likely to also bring widespread destruction.”

Storm shifts extend across continents

The projected changes were not limited to California. The models also indicated that atmospheric rivers could become more common along the eastern coast of South America and around Antarctica.

Greenland showed the opposite pattern. With fewer storms reaching the region, snowfall would decline, reducing the amount of new ice added to the surface.

These projections were based on a high greenhouse gas emissions scenario in which the AMOC continues weakening through the end of the century. Scientists have already detected signs that the circulation is slowing as human-caused climate change warms the planet, and models suggest that continued high emissions would reinforce that trend.

Greenhouse gases come largely from burning coal, oil, and natural gas. Other major sources include methane from livestock, deforestation, industrial activity, and waste in landfills.

Wei Liu, an associate professor of climate change and the paper’s senior author, said reducing emissions could limit further disruption to the AMOC and lessen its effects on future rainfall patterns.

Better planning could limit damage

Stronger atmospheric rivers would create greater risks for flooding and infrastructure, but they could also deliver more water during individual storms. Communities may be able to make better use of that moisture by improving forecasts and expanding reservoirs or other storage systems.

The projections show why changes in ocean circulation cannot be viewed as a problem confined to the Atlantic. By altering ocean temperatures, atmospheric moisture, and storm-guiding winds, a weakening current could reshape weather patterns across distant regions.

Those shifts could affect drinking water, agriculture, ecosystems, flood control, and ice accumulation across several continents. Understanding the chain of effects gives communities more time to prepare for changes that may otherwise appear unrelated to the Atlantic Ocean.

“This research shows that the effects of the AMOC extend far beyond the Atlantic Ocean,” Mimi said. “Understanding these connections will help us better prepare for future changes in water resources and extreme weather.”

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

A Lost Human Lineage May Have Left a Genetic Legacy in People Today

By S. C.Reynolds, Bournemouth U., July 15, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/a-lost-human-lineage-may-have-left-a-genetic-legacy-in-people-today/

A new analysis of ancient tooth enamel is reshaping the story of human evolution in East Asia. Molecular evidence suggests that long-separated human lineages may have exchanged genes far more often than once believed, leaving traces that persist in people today. 

Credit: Shutterstock

Homo erectus may have left a detectable genetic trace in living humans through ancient interbreeding with Denisovans.

For much of the 20th century, human evolution was often pictured as a branching tree. One trunk split into separate limbs, and each ancient human relative, or hominin, occupied its own tidy branch.

That was the version many students learned for decades. Homo sapiens emerged in Africa, spread across the globe, and replaced every archaic human group it encountered. Neanderthals, Homo erectus, and other ancient relatives were treated as evolutionary side paths that eventually disappeared without leaving descendants.

Over the past 30 years, that simple story has fallen apart. Human origins now look less like a clean tree and more like a tangled history of movement, contact, survival, and genetic exchange.

A new study published in Nature by Qiaomei Fu from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and colleagues adds another important piece to that revised picture. The team achieved something that would have seemed unreachable only a decade ago: recovering meaningful biological information from Homo erectus fossils that are far too old to preserve DNA.

Instead of genetic sequences, the team extracted ancient proteins from the enamel of six teeth from three Chinese sites – Zhoukoudian (which, in the early 20th century, produced fossil remains known as “Peking Man”), Hexian and Sunjiadong – all dating to around 400,000 years ago.

Homo erectus is widely regarded as the first hominin to leave Africa; the evidence suggests this species had moved into Eurasia nearly two million years ago. It remains the most geographically widespread human ancestor that ever lived. The new study indicates that Homo erectus exchanged genes (probably through interbreeding) with Denisovans in East Asia roughly 400,000 years ago.

The study suggests that some of that genetic legacy, it now appears, was passed on to living people in the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, and across south-east Asia.

Proteins reveal ancient mixing

Tooth enamel is the hardest tissue in the body, and its proteins survive long after DNA has degraded beyond recovery. What the team found in those proteins is striking. All six specimens share a previously unknown amino acid variant – a tiny molecular signature, a single letter changed in the protein sequence, never seen in any other hominin alive or dead.

This variant clusters these east Asian H. erectus into a distinct group, confirming their identity and settling a long-running debate about whether the unusual Hexian fossils were H. erectus at all. A second variant they share, however, is not unique to H. erectus.

It also appears in Denisovans – a mysterious archaic (non-Homo sapiens) human group known mainly from a cave in Siberia. The corresponding genetic variant turns up in living people at frequencies of 21% in the Philippines and about 1% in India, distributed in a pattern that matches what we’d expect if it entered modern humans via Denisovan ancestry.

The Harbin skull, discovered in north-east China, was recently identified as a probable Denisovan. 

Credit: Fu et al. Cell



The most reasonable interpretation is that H. erectus populations in east Asia passed this variant to Denisovans through interbreeding, and Denisovans later passed it on to the ancestors of modern south-east Asians and Oceanians. This transfer of genetic material from one species to another is known as introgression.

The lineage we once thought was a dead end has, it turns out, left a small but detectable trace in living human genomes – a molecular thread connecting a Peking Man tooth to living people in Asia.

Interbreeding was not rare

But the significance of today’s paper extends well beyond the specific variant or the specific populations involved. What it really shows is that interbreeding between archaic human lineages was not exceptional. It was routine.

Every major hominin lineage we have been able to examine genomically shows admixture. Modern humans outside Africa carry roughly 2% Neanderthal DNA. Papuans and Aboriginal Australians carry an additional 2–5% Denisovan ancestry.

West African populations carry genetic signatures from an unidentified archaic lineage. Even Denisovans themselves, as today’s study adds further weight to, received gene flow from something older and more diverged — likely H. erectus.

A 2019 review in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology documents at least three distinct introgression events from Denisovan-like populations into south-east Asian and Oceanic ancestors alone, some occurring as recently as 20,000 years ago. The picture is not one of clean lineages but of a tangled web of contact and exchange extending across millions of years.

The implications are far-reaching. Our genomes are not the product of a single unbroken lineage emerging from Africa. They are mosaics, assembled from contributions by multiple archaic groups, each adapted to its own regional environment.

Some of the Denisovan-derived variants in Papuan genomes, for instance, appear to influence immune function. The H. erectus-derived variant identified today has unknown functional consequences – that remains an open question – but the precedent from other gene variants that have introgressed (genes that have passed from one species into another) suggests that adaptation to new environments may have been part of the story.

Lost lineages may remain

Perhaps most intriguing is what the new paper implies about all the populations we cannot yet study. H. erectus survived in Indonesia until perhaps 100,000 years ago. Homo floresiensis, the diminutive “hobbit” species, was present on Flores when modern humans arrived. Another human lineage, Homo luzonensis, occupied the Philippines.

None of these populations have yielded DNA, and until today, none had yielded any molecular data at all. Were they also absorbed, at least partially, into the human populations that replaced them? The genomic evidence from living people has not, so far, detected their signal clearly – but the tools available until recently were blunt instruments.

The proteomic approach demonstrated in today’s paper offers a way forward. If proteins can be recovered from H. erectus enamel at 400,000 years, the same approach applied to floresiensis or luzonensis material might finally reveal whether those lineages, too, contributed something to the humans who came after them.

The old metaphor of a tree – a single trunk branching into distinct species – has been quietly replaced in the scientific literature. It might be better to consider the process as a braided river, with many channels running partly together and partly apart, exchanging water continuously.

This new study is one more confirmation that when ancient human populations disappeared, they left traces of themselves behind.

The birth of modern Man

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Michael Button, 4 Jul 2026

For most of the twentieth century, scientists believed sophisticated human intelligence emerged around 50,000 years ago. Today, that timeline has been pushed back over a million years. 

From ancient sea crossings and symbolic art to the oldest wooden structure ever discovered, a series of remarkable archaeological finds has quietly transformed our understanding of what early humans were capable of. 

Yet almost nobody has stopped to consider what these discoveries mean when viewed together...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KZzTkmbTsA&t=3s

The birth of modern Man

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Urban Rodents Are Evolving To Survive Common Poisons

By Rutgers U., July 14, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/urban-rodents-are-evolving-to-survive-common-poisons/

A genetic survey of urban rodents in the northeastern United States has revealed widespread mutations associated with resistance to commonly used poisons.

 Credit: Shutterstock

Urban rodents may be evolving genetic defenses against widely used control methods.

A mouse that eats poison and survives does more than escape a trap. It may pass that survival advantage to the next generation.

That possibility is becoming increasingly relevant in cities across the northeastern United States, where pest control professionals have reported that some rodent infestations are no longer responding as expected to standard treatments.

Researchers at Rutgers University have now found evidence that genetic resistance may be part of the problem. In a study of urban rodents, 84% of the house mice tested carried at least one mutation associated with resistance to rodenticides.

The findings suggest that decades of chemical control may be shaping rodent populations in ways that make some poisons less reliable. The research was published in the international journal Pest Management Science.

“Pest management professionals often told us that rodent control was becoming more difficult in some areas, even though they applied the effective rodenticides,” said Jin-Jia Yu, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Entomology at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and the first author of the study. “I wanted to find out whether this was occurring in the northeastern United States, especially the metropolitan areas, and how widespread the problem might be.”

Yu works in the laboratory of Changlu Wang, an extension specialist in the Department of Entomology and a leading expert on urban pests, including rodents, cockroaches, and bed bugs.

A Genetic Clue to Failed Treatments

The team examined DNA from 147 house mice and 143 Norway rats collected in urban areas of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C.

The researchers focused on a gene called Vkorc1. This gene is involved in the biological pathway targeted by anticoagulant rodenticides, which interfere with blood clotting and are among the most commonly used rodent control chemicals in the U.S.

Certain changes in Vkorc1 can reduce the effects of these poisons, allowing an exposed animal to survive.

Among the house mice tested, 84% carried at least one mutation in the gene. Nearly 70% had mutations already known to help mice withstand commonly used rodenticides.

The pattern was less pronounced in Norway rats. About 35% carried mutations in the same gene, although the biological effects of many of those variants remain uncertain.

“We found that resistance appears to be much more widespread in house mice than many people realized,” Yu said. “Norway rats also carried genetic mutations, but scientists do not yet know whether most of those mutations affect Norway rats’ susceptibility to rodenticides.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeiWRBegE7s

A rat steals bait from a trap without getting caught, illustrating the kind of behavior Rutgers researchers Changlu Wang and Jin-Jia Yu are studying as they investigate why some urban rodent populations are becoming more difficult to control. 

Credit: Wang Lab/Rutgers University

Mutations Scientists Have Not Seen Before

The researchers also identified several genetic variants that had not previously been documented in house mice or Norway rats.

Whether those variants increase resistance is still unknown. Genetic screening can reveal that a mutation is present, but additional laboratory work is often needed to determine how strongly it affects survival after exposure.

The study began after years of discussions with pest control professionals who described recurring infestations despite repeated treatments. Those reports raised a broader question: Were control failures caused only by bait placement, sanitation, and rodent behavior, or were the animals themselves becoming less vulnerable?

The new results suggest that, in many mouse populations, genetics may be an important part of the answer.

How Resistance Spreads

Rodenticide resistance is an example of evolution occurring under human pressure.

When a population is repeatedly exposed to the same poison, animals with protective mutations are more likely to survive and reproduce. Over many generations, those mutations can become increasingly common.

Not every treatment failure is caused by resistance. Rodents may avoid bait, find other food, enter through unsealed gaps, or recolonize an area after treatment. Poor sanitation and easy access to shelter can also allow an infestation to persist.

Resistance, however, can make those existing problems harder to solve. A baiting program that once worked reliably may remove susceptible animals while leaving more tolerant individuals behind.

Why Mice and Rats May Respond Differently

The Rutgers researchers found that house mice appeared more likely than Norway rats to carry known resistance mutations.

Behavior may help explain the difference. Mice tend to investigate unfamiliar foods quickly, which can increase their exposure to poison baits. That repeated exposure may create stronger evolutionary pressure on mouse populations.

Rats are often more cautious around unfamiliar food and objects. This behavior, known as neophobia, can make them difficult to trap or bait even without genetic resistance.

“Rats are very clever,” Yu said. “They will approach the novel food many times before they really take the food or the bait.”

That hesitation can protect rats from immediate exposure, while mice may encounter rodenticides more often and therefore face stronger selection for resistance.

A Public Health Challenge

Rodents are not simply an inconvenience. They can contaminate food, damage wiring and buildings, and carry pathogens and parasites.

In densely populated cities, even a modest decline in control effectiveness can have wider consequences. Infestations may last longer, require more labor to eliminate, and lead to greater use of chemical treatments.

“This research provides some of the first information on rodenticide resistance in the northeastern United States,” Yu said. “By understanding how prevalent the mutations are and where resistance exists, pest management professionals and public health agencies can make better decisions about how to control rodents.”

The findings may also help explain why a treatment that works in one neighborhood performs poorly in another. Urban rodent populations are often highly localized, and resistance may vary from block to block depending on previous exposure and breeding patterns.

Rethinking Rodent Control

Wang said the results reinforce the need to move beyond strategies that depend too heavily on poison.

“Rodents are more than a nuisance,” Wang said. “As resistance becomes more common, it becomes even more important to use science-based management strategies that protect both public health and the environment.”

A broader approach, often called integrated pest management, combines several methods instead of relying on a single chemical. These may include closing gaps around pipes and doors, removing food and water sources, improving waste storage, reducing clutter, monitoring activity, and using traps where appropriate.

The goal is not only to kill rodents already present, but also to make buildings and surrounding areas less suitable for them.

“Studies like this help us understand how rodent populations are changing and how our management strategies need to evolve with them,” he added.

The researchers hope genetic information will eventually help pest control professionals choose more effective strategies for specific locations while reducing unnecessary pesticide use.

“Ultimately, we want to help communities maintain effective rodent control, reduce unnecessary pesticide use and protect public health,” Yu said.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Gummies Packed With Beneficial Bacteria Can Reduce Gum Bleeding in Just 6 Weeks, Trial Finds

15 July 2026, By D. Nield

https://www.sciencealert.com/gummies-packed-with-beneficial-bacteria-can-reduce-gum-bleeding-in-just-6-weeks-trial-finds

(Kaisphoto/E+/Getty Images)



There's a heap of compelling evidence that keeping your pearly whites squeaky clean benefits the rest of your body, as well as your mouth.

But sweet, sugary gummies are probably not what comes to mind if you're thinking about ways to better your oral health; quite the opposite, in fact.

However, a new formulation loaded with bacteria has just been tested in a Japanese study and might offer an innovative way to maintain good gum health.

Researchers led by a team from the Institute of Science Tokyo in Japan wanted to see if there was a way to ward off damaging gum disease (or periodontitis) beyond the basics of daily brushing and flossing.

They discovered that snacking on gummy chews loaded with beneficial bacteria could reduce gum bleeding and improve health markers in people with mild gingivitis (where the gums bleed and swell, often leading to periodontitis).

Heat-killed bacteria were fed to some participants, while others got a placebo.

 (Institute of Science Tokyo)

The findings are reported in The Journal of Periodontology and are based on results from 116 participants over six weeks – roughly half of whom ate bacteria-boosted gummies twice daily, while the other half unknowingly ate placebos.

"By evaluating the gummies under normal daily living conditions, we were able to better understand their practical potential for supporting gum health," says periodontologist Takanori Iwata, from the Institute of Science Tokyo.

Over time, it's become increasingly apparent that conditions like gum disease can be brought on and exacerbated by a bad mix of microbes in the mouth.

There have been several studies looking at how flooding the mouth with beneficial bacteria – that boost the immune system and crowd out the bad bacteria – might help improve oral health, but there's still a lack of consensus over the best approach.

"Rather than solely focusing on bacterial eradication, management efforts of periodontal disease have shifted toward restoring and maintaining a symbiotic microbiota, known as eubiosis," write the researchers in their published paper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VJtFTn43wc

In this study, rather than using live bacteria (probiotics), the researchers opted for dead bacteria (postbiotics), specifically the Lactiplantibacillus pentosus species.

The thinking is that "postbiotic" bacteria are more stable and therefore successfully packaged into treats than live ones, and live or not, the presence of the bacteria may change the mouth ecosystem or have anti-inflammatory effects.

Eating gummies is also quick and easy, so participants were likely to stick to their assigned treatment.

The bacteria-loaded gummies (and the placebo gummies, to a lesser but non-significant degree) effectively reduced Bleeding On Probing (BOP) – a standard measure of inflamed gums, given as a percentage area of the mouth showing signs of bleeding.

"Delivering treatment in a gummy formulation offers practical advantages: chewing increases salivary flow and prolongs the contact of the active agents with oral tissues, which may partially explain the mild reduction in BOP in both groups," write the researchers.

"Notably, these outcomes were achieved in the absence of oral hygiene instructions, supporting the external validity of the intervention."

That's one of the key strengths of the study: The participants weren't given any instructions about regular tooth brushing. It seems that the gummy treatment works in the real world, where we might not remember to look after our teeth every day.

There are some caveats to bear in mind too. The difference between the bacteria gummy group and the placebo group in terms of bleeding reduction wasn't huge: BOP in the real gummy group dropped from 17.6 to 12.3 percent on average during the study, compared with 18.9 to 16.6 percent among the placebo participants.

Overall, its a win for postbiotics, even if it's a modest win. These bacteria, inactivated by heat, are easier to manufacture and store – and can still have benefits for oral hygiene even in their postbiotic state, according to this research.

Next, the team wants to investigate how the bacteria actually reduce bleeding at a fundamental level, and how these gummies might work over a longer period.

With up to 1.5 billion people thought to be at risk of severe gum disease by 2050, a simple healthy snack could make a significant difference.

"Our findings suggest that postbiotic-based approaches can be adopted to support the management of gingival inflammation in individuals at an increased risk of periodontal disease, offering an additional management option," the researchers conclude.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Your Daily Orange Juice Could Have an Unexpected Health Benefit

By D. C. Gaze, U. of Westminster, July 9, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/your-daily-orange-juice-could-have-an-unexpected-health-benefit/

Scientists have found that regular orange juice consumption may alter gene activity linked to inflammation and cardiovascular health. 

Credit: Shutterstock

A modest daily glass of orange juice may influence inflammation, blood flow, and other markers tied to long-term heart health.

Orange juice is often treated as a familiar breakfast drink, not something that might alter what is happening inside immune cells. But emerging research suggests that regular intake may influence biological pathways tied to inflammation, blood pressure, and how the body handles sugar, all of which matter for long-term heart health.

In one recent study, daily orange juice consumption was linked to changes in the activity of thousands of genes in immune cells. Many of the affected genes are involved in controlling inflammation, regulating blood vessel function and shaping metabolic responses, giving researchers a possible clue as to why orange juice has been associated with cardiovascular benefits in previous trials.

Daily juice shifts gene activity

The study followed adults who drank 500ml of pure pasteurized orange juice each day for two months. By the end of 60 days, several genes connected to inflammation and elevated blood pressure were less active.

Among them were NAMPT, IL6, IL1B, and NLRP3, which are commonly involved in stress and inflammatory responses. Activity also decreased in SGK1, a gene that helps influence how the kidneys retain sodium (salt).

Those gene activity changes are consistent with earlier evidence showing that daily orange juice consumption can lower blood pressure in young adults.

The findings help explain why orange juice may affect heart health in ways that go beyond its sugar content. Rather than acting only as a source of calories, the drink appears to produce subtle changes in regulatory systems that may ease inflammation and support more relaxed blood vessels.
Citrus compounds may explain effects

Natural compounds in oranges, particularly hesperidin, a citrus flavonoid known for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, seem to influence processes related to high blood pressure, cholesterol balance, and the way the body handles sugar.

The response also varies by body size. People carrying more weight tended to show greater changes in genes involved in fat metabolism, while leaner volunteers showed stronger effects on inflammation.

Heart markers show modest gains

A systematic review of controlled trials involving 639 participants from 15 studies found that regular orange juice consumption lowered insulin resistance and blood cholesterol levels. Insulin resistance is a key feature of pre-diabetes, and high cholesterol is an established risk factor for heart disease.

Another analysis focusing on overweight and obese adults found small reductions in systolic blood pressure and increases in high-density lipoprotein (HDL), often called the good cholesterol, after several weeks of daily orange juice consumption. Although these changes are modest, even slight improvements in blood pressure and cholesterol can make a meaningful difference when maintained over many years.

More clues come from studies that examine metabolites, the tiny molecules produced as the body processes food. A recent review found that orange juice influences pathways related to energy use, communication between cells, and inflammation. It may also affect the gut microbiome, which is increasingly understood to play a role in heart health.

One study showed that drinking blood orange juice for a month increased the number of gut bacteria that produce short-chain fatty acids. These compounds help maintain healthy blood pressure and reduce inflammation. Volunteers also showed improved blood sugar control and lower levels of inflammatory markers.

People with metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors that includes high blood pressure, raised blood sugar, and excess body fat, may see particular benefits.

In one study, daily orange juice consumption improved the function of the lining of blood vessels, known as endothelial function, in 68 obese participants. Endothelial function describes how well blood vessels relax and widen, and better function is associated with a lower risk of heart attacks.
Whole fruit still has advantages

Not all studies report the same outcomes. A broader analysis of blood fat concentrations found that although levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL), often called the bad cholesterol, often fall, other lipid measurements such as triglycerides and HDL may not change much. Even so, people who regularly drink orange juice may still benefit.

A study of 129 workers in an orange juice factory in Brazil reported lower blood concentrations of apolipoprotein B, or apo-B, a marker that reflects the number of cholesterol-carrying particles linked to heart attack risk.

Altogether, the evidence challenges the idea that drinking citrus fruit juice is simply consuming sugar in a glass. Whole fruit remains the better choice because of its fiber, but a modest daily glass of pure orange juice appears to have effects that build up over time.

These include easing inflammation, supporting healthier blood flow, and improving several blood markers linked to long-term heart health. It is a reminder that everyday foods can have more influence on the body than we might expect.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Intermittent Fasting Benefits May Last Long After the Diet Ends

By U. of Granada, July 13, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/intermittent-fasting-benefits-may-last-long-after-the-diet-ends/

Researchers found that a 12-week intermittent-fasting program produced measurable effects that persisted one year later. 

Credit: Stock

An eight-hour eating window helped adults maintain weight loss one year after a 12-week intervention.

For many people trying to lose weight, the hardest part begins after the diet ends. The scale may move during a structured program, but keeping that weight off months later is often the real test.

Research from the University of Granada (UGR), the Granada Institute for Biomedical Research (ibs.GRANADA), the Public University of Navarra, and the Biomedical Research Networking Center (CIBER) suggests that limiting eating to an eight-hour daily window may help overweight or obese adults maintain weight loss one year after the intervention ends.

The approach is a form of intermittent fasting known as 16:8. Participants fast for 16 hours and eat during the remaining eight hours. The study found that weight maintenance benefits were still visible 12 months later, whether people ate earlier in the day (between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., known as early fasting) or later in the day (between 1 p.m. and 9 p.m., known as late fasting), compared with people who kept their usual eating schedule of 12 hours or more.

Both the early fasting and late fasting groups maintained significantly greater weight loss after one year. The early fasting group also kept off more fat mass, suggesting that when the eating window occurs may matter for body composition, even though both schedules helped with weight control.

Body Composition Assessment One Year Later

The study, published in Clinical Nutrition, the official journal of the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism, included 99 overweight or obese adults, half of whom were women. During the first 12 weeks, all participants received education on the Mediterranean diet, but they followed different eating schedules.

One group continued its usual eating window (12 hours or longer). A second group followed early fasting (an 8-hour window beginning before 10:00 a.m.). A third group followed late fasting (an 8-hour window beginning after 1:00 p.m.). A fourth group chose its own eight-hour eating window.

That design helped the researchers answer a practical question. If time-restricted eating works, does it require a strict morning schedule, or can people choose a window that fits their lives?

A picture of the researchers.

 Credit: University of Granada



To track the answer, the researchers measured body weight, fat mass, and fat-free mass before and after the 12-week intervention, then measured the same outcomes again one year later. The work is part of a larger project whose main results appeared in Nature Medicine, where participants practicing TRE lost an average of 3 to 4 kilos more than those who received only nutritional recommendations, regardless of eating schedule.

Dr. Alba Camacho Cardeñosa, a researcher at the University Joint Institute for Sport and Health (iMUDS) at the University of Granada (UGR) and a postdoctoral fellow at ibs.GRANADA in the Endocrinology and Nutrition Department at San Cecilio University Clinical Hospital, is the study’s first author.

She explains that “to date, although we knew that intermittent fasting promotes modest weight loss in the short term, it was unclear whether its effects were sustained over time. By evaluating the participants 12 months after the intervention ended, we demonstrated that the changes in body weight persist.”

In addition, the researchers highlight that “a very positive finding is that one in three people decided to continue practicing intermittent fasting on their own during that year of follow-up, suggesting that it is a relatively easy habit to integrate into daily life.”

A Flexible Strategy Against Obesity

For obesity care, the finding is important because adherence often determines whether a nutritional strategy lasts. A rigid plan may work in a trial but fail in daily life. Here, both earlier and later eating windows were associated with sustained weight benefits, giving patients more room to choose a schedule that fits work, family, and social routines.

The researchers note that a 12-week intermittent fasting intervention may offer a useful medium-term strategy for weight control in overweight or obese adults. Because both early-day and late-day schedules were effective, the results support a more flexible use of time-restricted eating as part of obesity treatment.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/