Babies are abounding in the yard, we are finally going to get 3 whole days of above average temps before they once again drop below average for at least a week and who knows beyond that. Fruit trees are beginning to bloom and most shrubs and trees are leafing out. I cut the lawn last week and the next morning had my first signs of allergy symptoms. Ahhh the winter air has also come alive.
the pear tree in bloom behind the cherry tree in bloom taken this morning
the side yard looking green and alive
I visited Rachelle yesterday, and she has lots of birds visiting her feeders.
A rose breasted grosbeak and I haven't identified the bird on the right.
a purple leafed purple flowering crab, birds enjoy the berries later in the year.
plum blossoms
plum in bloom
I'm putting steel siding up on the house, 10' sheets vertically of black and mid grey in a checkerboard pattern.
what I can reach on the ladder, I'll be putting scaffolding up and have asked for help from the lads the first weekend of July. (any other volunteers would be welcome)
the end of another day.
the first house project of the season begins.
not sure what this weed is.
the white liloc beginning to bloom
It's hard for me to believe I planted these golden weeping willows as cutting a couple of dozen years ago
the clouds of spring
viola
driving home from the grocery store, down the hill on a street facing the river
Researchers have identified a protein that appears to play a crucial role in protecting cartilage from the damage associated with osteoarthritis, a leading cause of joint pain and reduced mobility worldwide.
Credit: Stock
Researchers have identified the SHP protein as a key regulator that suppresses cartilage-degrading enzymes and slows osteoarthritis progression.
For millions of people living with osteoarthritis, treatment options have long focused on one thing: managing pain. But while medications and injections may temporarily ease aching knees and stiff fingers, they do little to stop the slow destruction of cartilage that lies at the heart of the disease.
Now, scientists in South Korea say they may have uncovered a powerful new way to protect joints before the damage becomes irreversible.
In a new study published in Nature Communications, researchers identified a protein called SHP (NR0B2) that appears to act as a natural defender of cartilage. The team found that SHP levels decline as osteoarthritis progresses, accelerating joint deterioration. Restoring the protein in animal models not only reduced cartilage damage but also improved joint function and eased pain, raising hopes for therapies that could one day slow or even halt the disease itself.
The research was led by Dr. Chul-Ho Lee and Dr. Yong-Hoon Kim at the Laboratory Animal Resource Center of the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), in collaboration with Prof. JinHyun Kim at Chungnam National University Hospital.
From left: Kang Eun-jeong, researcher, and Lee Chul-ho and Kim Yong-hoon, principal researchers at KRIBB.
Credit: KRIBB
SHP protects vulnerable cartilage
To investigate SHP’s role, the researchers analyzed cartilage tissue from osteoarthritis patients as well as animal models of the disease. They discovered that SHP protein levels dropped sharply as osteoarthritis advanced, suggesting that the loss of this protective molecule may contribute directly to cartilage breakdown.
Further experiments revealed just how important the protein may be. Mice lacking SHP developed more severe pain and experienced faster cartilage degeneration than normal mice. In contrast, restoring SHP levels in affected joints significantly reduced cartilage damage and improved mobility, highlighting the protein’s potential as a therapeutic target. A pathway slows cartilage breakdown
The mechanistic work showed that SHP helps defend cartilage by reducing the production of enzymes that destroy the tissue, especially MMP-3 and MMP-13.
These enzymes are known to break down cartilage. For the first time, the researchers showed that SHP blocks these enzymes at the signaling level by controlling the IKKβ/NF-κB pathway, helping preserve cartilage structure.
Schematic illustration of SHP (NR0B2)-mediated protection against osteoarthritis.
Credit: Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB)
Gene delivery reduces damage
The team then tested whether SHP could be used therapeutically through gene delivery. After injecting a viral vector carrying the SHP gene into affected joints, the researchers observed lasting benefits from a single treatment.
Even in animals that already had osteoarthritis, the approach significantly reduced cartilage damage and relieved pain.
“This study is the first to demonstrate that the SHP protein plays a critical role in protecting cartilage during the development and progression of osteoarthritis,” said Dr. Chul-Ho Lee, the study’s lead investigator. “Therapeutic strategies targeting SHP may offer a new approach to slowing or preventing osteoarthritis progression.”
The Roman Empire helped transform humanity for centuries during its reign, then left a legacy that has continued to influence civilization ever since.
Even the ancient Romans had to stand on giants' shoulders, though.
That includes not just earlier civilizations like Egypt and Greece, but also countless prehistoric people whose innovations have been largely lost to history – or, in some cases, erroneously attributed to later generations.
In a new study, researchers report that a sophisticated plaster-making technique long credited to the Romans was also used by Neolithic people about 8,000 years earlier.
But how is that possible?
Ancient Rome is renowned for its engineering prowess, as seen in iconic projects like the aqueducts and the Pantheon. In addition to their design and construction skills, Roman builders likely benefitted from durable concrete and other high-quality materials.
Some Roman buildings incorporated dolomite-based plaster, a quick-drying paste, which is stronger and more water-resistant than the traditional calcitic plasters often produced in antiquity.
"However, using dolomitic lime is challenging and requires a high level of expertise at all steps of preparation, which may explain why it is not commonly found in archaeological sites," the researchers write.
Dolomite refers to a mineral made of calcium magnesium carbonate, or to a rock featuring mostly this mineral. Similar to calcitic limestone, it can serve as a source of the inorganic material lime, which in turn can be useful in the production of certain building materials.
The earliest written record of dolomitic lime seems to come from the Roman architect and engineer Vitruvius during the first century BCE, the authors note.
While Vitruvius didn't mention dolomite by name, he seemed to describe the mineral in a discussion of lime production.
Plaster had been common for a long time before Vitruvius, but there is little indication of anyone using dolomitic lime before his description of it about 2,000 years ago.
Archaeological evidence suggests the main materials for making plaster in prehistory were calcite and gypsum.
About 10,000 years ago, however, people at a Neolithic settlement in the Judean Hills apparently made dolomite-based plaster, leaving behind subtle clues that went unnoticed until now, the researchers report.
Located in what's now Israel and Palestine, this region was already a hub of human activity at the time, bustling with settlements thousands of years before the dawn of the Iron Age or the Roman Empire.
An overview of the Motza archaeological site.
(Maor et al., J. Archaeol. Sci., 2026)
One of those settlements eventually became the modern-day archaeological site known as Motza, located about 5 kilometers west of Jerusalem, where researchers conducted a series of excavations between 2015 and 2021 before construction of a highway through the area.
Sifting through multiple occupations over the millennia, the researchers focused on a large Neolithic settlement dated to roughly 9,000 years ago. They found more than 100 plaster floors from that era, noting many were "particularly well-preserved and coated with red pigment".
They also found separate kilns where residents had burned either limestone or dolomite to make plaster, indicating a degree of sophistication not often attributed to Neolithic people.
Calcitic and dolomitic lime require different conditions for plaster production, the researchers explain, and yet these prehistoric people evidently understood that well enough to build specialized kilns for each substance.
Using dolomite to make plaster was an impressive feat for humans at the time, but the method employed at Motza remains intriguing even by modern standards, the researchers add.
"They may have successfully made dolomitic plaster where dolomite is fully recrystallized along with the calcite, something that to our knowledge has not been observed anywhere else and was thought to be physically impossible," they write.
Aside from capitalizing on a local abundance of dolomite, this method likely yielded a superior plaster for use in buildings, with greater strength and water resistance than traditional alternatives.
Given the difficulty of making dolomite-based plaster, plus the lack of earlier evidence, credit for its invention has long fallen to Ancient Rome.
While it's possible the technique survived for 8,000 years after Motza and then resurfaced in Rome, the lack of archaeological evidence from the interim seems to indicate the Romans independently discovered it.
"The results suggest a technology lost to history," the researchers write.
Retired chicken farmer Mihail Mihailidis just wanted to build a retaining wall. He acquired a block of sandstone from a local quarry in Kincumber, Australia, and set to work preparing it for its new purpose.
When he turned the stone over, however, his plans fell apart.
There, clear as daylight, was an unmistakable impression of an ancient creature. The outline was so distinct that even a non-expert could tell it wasn't just an odd pattern in the rock. Something had been preserved there – something with a spine, limbs, and a body that had once moved through water.
Meet Arenaerpeton supinatus, a name that means "upside-down sand-creeper".
(UNSW Sydney/Richard Freeman)
In 2023, decades after the Mihailidis family donated the stone to the Australian Museum, scientists formally described the beastie, named Arenaerpeton supinatus. It's a rare, extinct relative of modern amphibians, belonging to a group known as temnospondyls, and it lived hundreds of millions of years ago.
It's similar to a prehistoric salamander, but chunkier, and with a nastier set of teeth.
"Superficially, Arenaerpeton looks a lot like the modern Chinese Giant Salamander, especially in the shape of its head," said paleontologist Lachlan Hart of the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and the Australian Museum.
"However, from the size of the ribs and the soft tissue outline preserved on the fossil, we can see that it was considerably more heavyset than its living descendants. It also had some pretty gnarly teeth, including a pair of fang-like tusks on the roof of its mouth."
An artist's impression of Arenaerpeton in life.
(Jose Vitor Silva)
The fossil truly is a spectacular specimen. It's preserved in sandstone, which is interesting enough.
Sandstone often preserves ancient traces, but it typically forms in dynamic, oxygen-rich environments where bodies are easily broken apart and decompose quickly.
In most cases, that means only fragments, such as isolated bones, teeth, or tracks, survive long enough to fossilize. Complete skeletons are much harder to come by, and delicate features like skin or body outlines almost never make it through the process intact.
Arenaerpeton – the only specimen of its species ever found – is very far from the typical sandstone fossil. The skeleton is almost complete and fully articulated, and the fossil retains traces of soft tissue – rare in any fossil, let alone sandstone.
The fossil (A) and a diagram (B) of the articulated skeleton of Arenaerpeton.
(Hart et al., J. Vertebr. Paleontol., 2023)
"This is one of the most important fossils found in New South Wales in the past 30 years, so it is exciting to formally describe it," said paleontologist Matthew McCurry of UNSW and the Australian Museum.
"It represents a key part of Australia's fossil heritage."
The researchers believe that Arenaerpeton died in a calm aquatic environment with anoxic or colder bottom waters, inhospitable to scavengers, where its carcass could lie undisturbed while fossilization processes unfolded.
With little disruption and limited oxygen, decay slowed to a crawl, giving the surrounding sediment time to seal in the shape of the animal's body before it could disintegrate.
Arenaerpeton's cranium and mandible.
(Hart et al., J. Vertebr. Paleontol., 2023)
"We don't often find skeletons with the head and body still attached," Hart said, "and the soft tissue preservation is an even rarer occurrence."
The animal dates back around 240 million years, to the Triassic period – a time before dinosaurs rose to dominance, when the world was still recovering from the Great Dying, the most devastating extinction event the world has ever seen.
During this time, Australia was still part of the Gondwana supercontinent and sat closer to the South Pole than it does today. Temnospondyls were relatively widespread across Gondwana, and their remains have been found across multiple continents that later split apart.
Arenaerpeton inhabited freshwater rivers in a region now known as the Sydney Basin and likely hunted fish with its fearsome tusks.
The specimen is missing its tail, but Hart estimates its full length was around 1.2 meters (3.9 feet). That's toward the larger end for early temnospondyls in Australia, although some later relatives would grow significantly bigger.
This size could have given it a leg up the evolutionary ladder.
"The last of the temnospondyls were in Australia 120 million years after Arenaerpeton, and some grew to massive sizes," Hart explained.
"The fossil record of temnospondyls spans across two mass extinction events, so perhaps this evolution of increased size aided in their longevity."
Arenaerpeton spent decades languishing in storage before arriving at its rightful place in the fossil record – a missing link that may help explain the rise of the temnospondyls.
So maybe take a leaf out of Mihailidis's book and give a closer look to that slab of rock before adding it to your garden wall.
A sweeping new study suggests the human brain may remain capable of meaningful improvement well into old age.
Credit: Shutterstock
A long-term study found that brain health can improve throughout life with consistent daily habits, cognitive training, and personalized support, regardless of age.
What if the brain doesn’t have to follow the familiar path of gradual decline with age? A major new study published in Scientific Reports is challenging long-held assumptions about aging, revealing that the human brain may remain capable of measurable growth and improvement well into later life.
Researchers at the Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas tracked nearly 4,000 adults between the ages of 19 and 94 over a three-year period. Using the BrainHealth Index (BHI) — a multidimensional tool designed to assess overall brain fitness — the team found that targeted, brain-healthy habits were linked to gains in cognitive performance across the lifespan.
Unlike conventional assessments focused mainly on detecting disease or impairment, the BHI measures growth potential in three key areas: clarity (thinking skills), connectedness (social purpose), and emotional balance (mental resilience).
Key findings
No Limit to Improvement: Participants across all performance levels showed measurable gains in brain health. Even individuals with the highest initial scores continued improving over more than 1,000 days, suggesting brain optimization may not have a clear upper limit.
Biggest Gains Among Low Starters: People who began the study with the lowest baseline scores experienced the fastest and most significant improvement, indicating that poor brain health can be improved over time.
Small Daily Habits Matter: The strongest results were linked to consistency. Participants who spent 5 to 15 minutes per day on microtraining exercises and incorporated brain-healthy habits into daily life achieved the highest scores.
Benefits Across All Ages: Younger adults improved at rates similar to participants in their 70s and 80s, challenging the idea that proactive brain care only benefits older adults.
Case #1 graph from the paper “Measuring and Increasing the Brain Health Span across Adulthood: A Public Health Imperative” shows the trajectory of a male in his 60s with a bachelor’s degree. Employed full time, he also serves as a caregiver for a family member with dementia.
Credit: Center for BrainHealth
Study Challenges Myths About Cognitive Decline
“For too long, we’ve operated under the outdated notion that we need to wait until something bad happens to our brain before we do anything for it,” said Sandra Bond Chapman, PhD, chief director of the Center for BrainHealth and distinguished professor at UT Dallas.
“This study reminds us that our brain is not defined by age; it is defined by possibility. Humans have already expanded how long we live. Now, we are expanding how long the brain can continue to improve, disrupting the trajectory of decline that often begins in our early 30s. Because the true promise of longer life is a brain that allows us to thrive year by year.”
Study authors Sandi Chapman, PhD, and Mark D’Esposito, MD, speak about recent research breakthroughs during the BrainHealth Week 2026 Science Summit. Screen behind reads: The BrainHealth Project, The BrainHealth Network.
Credit: Center for BrainHealth
Researchers also identified what they described as a rebound effect. Participants used cognitive strategies to recover, maintain, or even improve brain health during stressful life events, including illness, job loss, and caregiving responsibilities. The findings suggest that brain health is adaptable and can be strengthened using proven techniques.
Personalized Brain Training Shows Lasting Benefits
The research was conducted through The BrainHealth Project, a long-term initiative focused on improving brain health throughout life. Available online and through a mobile app, the program combines brain strategy training, lifestyle guidance, personalized coaching, and ongoing progress tracking through the BrainHealth Index.
“Every brain is as unique as a fingerprint and has potential for growth,” said Lori Cook, PhD, director of clinical research at the Center for BrainHealth. “By moving away from one-size-fits-all solutions, we are empowering people with a personalized blueprint and the agency to continuously invest in their brain health and performance.”
Using a scalable digital platform, Center for BrainHealth has expanded its research beyond the lab into real-world settings across all 50 states and more than 60 countries. Researchers say this approach could help shift public health efforts toward proactive and cost-effective ways to improve brain performance on a global scale.
A major Atlantic Ocean current system that helps stabilize Earth’s climate has been weakening for almost 20 years, according to new research.
Credit: NOAA
A giant Atlantic Ocean current that helps regulate Earth’s climate is slowing down, and scientists say the impacts could be global.
A massive Atlantic Ocean circulation system that plays a central role in regulating Earth’s climate has been weakening for nearly 20 years, according to a new study. Scientists say the slowdown spans a large portion of the Atlantic and could eventually alter weather patterns in many parts of the world.
The research, led by scientists at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science, provides some of the strongest direct observational evidence so far that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is losing strength. Researchers say the findings could improve climate forecasts and help scientists better understand how global warming may affect future weather and ocean conditions.
“A weaker AMOC can shift weather patterns, potentially leading to more extreme storms, changes in rainfall, or colder winters in some regions,” said Shane Elipot, a senior author of the study and physical oceanographer at the Rosenstiel School. “It can also influence sea-level rise along coastlines, affecting communities and infrastructure.”
Deep Ocean Monitoring Reveals Long-Term Trend
To study the current system, researchers examined long-running observations collected from four ocean monitoring arrays positioned along the western side of the North Atlantic, stretching from tropical waters into higher latitudes.
The instruments, anchored to the seafloor, continuously measured pressure, temperature, density, and ocean currents. Scientists used the same analysis method at every site—using changes in bottom pressure to estimate deep ocean flow below about 1,000 meters. By comparing the data across locations and over long periods of time, the team identified a sustained decline in the strength of the overturning circulation.
Measurements from several latitudes revealed a steady weakening in an important section of the AMOC along the Atlantic’s western boundary, extending from the subtropics to mid-latitudes (about 16.5°N to 42.5°N). Because the trend appeared across such a broad region, researchers say it points to a large-scale shift rather than a temporary fluctuation.
Why the AMOC Matters for Global Climate
The AMOC is one of the most important systems controlling climate in the Atlantic region. It helps distribute heat through the ocean, influencing temperatures, weather patterns, and sea levels, especially around the North Atlantic.
Scientists say a slowdown in the circulation could affect European winters, hurricane activity, rainfall patterns, and other climate conditions around the globe.
Researchers also believe measurements taken along the western boundary of the Atlantic may act as an early warning signal for future climate changes. They compared the monitoring approach to a canary in a coal mine because it may provide an efficient way to track long-term changes in this crucial climate-regulating system.
“This research helps scientists better predict how the climate may change in the coming decades—information that governments, businesses, and communities use to prepare for future environmental conditions,” said Elipot.
The study, titled “Meridionally consistent decline in the observed western boundary contribution to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation,” was published in the April 8 issue of Science Advances.
Glyphosate weedkillers may help drive the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria across hospitals and agricultural environments, according to new research.
Credit: Shutterstock
Scientists have uncovered evidence that one of the world’s most widely used weedkillers may also help dangerous bacteria survive antibiotic treatments.
Each year, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) contributes to an estimated 1.1 million to 1.4 million deaths worldwide. Researchers now say the rise of drug-resistant bacteria may not be driven only by antibiotics. Common weedkillers could also be helping bacteria survive and spread.
“Here we show that the most common species of multidrug-resistant bacteria from hospitals are not only resistant to multiple antibiotic classes but also to high concentrations of the weedkiller glyphosate,” said Dr. Daniela Centrón, a researcher at the Institute of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology in Buenos Aires and the senior author of the study in Frontiers in Microbiology.
“These results suggest that weedkillers—which, unlike antibiotics, are widely applied in agricultural environments—may have the unintended side effect of selecting for AMR among bacterial communities within the soil.”
Scientists Test Environmental and Hospital Bacteria
In 2018 and 2020, Centrón and her team collected 68 bacterial strains from sediment in a protected wetland area in the Paraná Delta north of Buenos Aires. Nearby agricultural land is regularly treated with glyphosate.
Researchers tested how resistant the strains were to 16 commonly used antibiotics, including ampicillin with sulbactam, meropenem, tetracycline, and vancomycin. They also examined resistance to pure glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicides, which are among the world’s most widely used weedkillers.
The results were compared with 19 bacterial strains taken from local hospitals, including multidrug-resistant species. Another 15 strains came from feedlots and agricultural soils exposed to herbicides.
Hospital Superbugs Show Strong Glyphosate Resistance
The hospital strains showed resistance to between one and 16 antibiotics, confirming widespread antimicrobial resistance. About 74% were resistant to carbapenems, a powerful class of broad-spectrum antibiotics often used as a last-resort treatment. Every hospital strain also showed strong resistance to glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicides.
“This means that if these bacteria enter the environment through untreated wastewater from hospitals, they could go on to thrive in agricultural areas where glyphosate is used,” said first author Dr Camila Knecht from Dr Centrón’s group.
The Paraná Delta samples included 15 bacterial genera, such as Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, Exiguobacterium, and Chryseobacterium. All showed at least some resistance to glyphosate and related herbicides, even though those chemicals have never been applied inside the reserve. Enterobacter strains tolerated the highest glyphosate levels, reaching up to 80 milligrams per milliliter (about 2.7 ounces per gallon).
By contrast, Bacillus strains commonly found in soil were highly sensitive. Their growth was inhibited at glyphosate concentrations of just 2.5 milligrams per milliliter (about 0.08 ounces per gallon). Strong glyphosate resistance was also observed in bacteria linked to highly drug-resistant hospital infections.
When researchers created a genetic “family tree” of all 102 bacterial strains, the most glyphosate-resistant strains were often closely related, regardless of where they were found. The same bacterial genera showed resistance in hospitals, agricultural areas, and the Paraná Delta.
“In the environment, the use of glyphosate leads to the evolution of resistant bacteria in impacted soils, whereas the use of antibiotics favors their evolution in hospitals. Bacteria carrying antibiotic resistance genes can spread and breed between those two niches in both directions and in multiple ways, with the water cycle playing a key role in transmission,” concluded coauthor Dr Jochen A. Müller, a group leader at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.
Glyphosate remains highly controversial. Studies have linked it to harm in arthropods, especially bees, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies it as a probable human carcinogen. France, Belgium, and the Netherlands have banned glyphosate for household use, while Germany prohibits its use in public spaces.
“Policies for the use of any pesticide, as well as its metabolites, should stipulate the requirement for co-selection testing with antibiotics before marketing. Labels should include a warning that genes for antibiotic resistance can spread from glyphosate-contaminated soils to hospitals through untreated water,” counseled Centrón.
There could be nearly 330 years' worth of lithium hiding beneath the Appalachian Mountains, which stretch like a stony spine across the eastern United States.
New research from the US Geological Survey suggests that the Appalachians may contain around 2.3 million metric tons (2.5 million US tons) of recoverable lithium oxide locked away in pegmatites, the grainy, granite-like rocks that form as water-rich magma cools and crystallizes deep within the Earth.
"This research shows that the Appalachians contain enough lithium to help meet the nation's growing needs – a major contribution to US mineral security, at a time when global lithium demand is rising rapidly," says Ned Mamula, Director of the US Geological Survey (USGS).
Therefore, mapping US mineral resources may help reverse the country's recent reliance on lithium imports.
The Blue Ridge Mountains are part of the Appalachian region.
(Jonathan Guthrie/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 3.0)
"The United States was the dominant world producer of lithium three decades ago, and this research highlights the abundant potential to reclaim our mineral independence," Mamula adds.
The soft, silvery lithium is the lightest of the metals and the least dense of the solid elements. It's also one of the oldest elements in existence, as trace amounts were produced during the Big Bang.
Importantly, it is the primary active chemical in lithium-ion batteries, which account for 87 percent of global lithium demand.
These rechargeable batteries power our most essential devices, including smartphones, laptops, electric vehicles, and grid-scale energy storage systems, making lithium indispensable for emerging clean energy initiatives.
Batteries account for 87 percent of global lithium demand.
(kynny/Canva)
Accordingly, lithium demand is projected to grow over 40 times by 2040, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
As a result, the USGS has been tasked with assessing critical mineral deposits throughout the US.
So, as described in the recent study, USGS scientists combined various methods to assess the extent and availability of undiscovered lithium-containing pegmatite deposits in the Appalachian region of the US.
First, the researchers compiled publicly available geological and geochemical data, such as mineral maps, to pinpoint a set of "permissive tracts," or areas that are more or less likely to hold lithium deposits.
They then estimated the quantity of lithium in these potentially undiscovered reserves using the Delphi Method, a structured communication technique involving a panel of more than 20 USGS geoscientists, over a two-day period in July 2024.
The researchers also extrapolated the quality and quantity of the lithium-containing ore by drawing on data from known global lithium deposits, previously determined through methods such as mineral inventory reports.
Finally, the researchers ran 20,000 probabilistic simulations based on the above data to determine the most realistic lithium distribution scenarios, applying an economic filter to gauge how much of this lithium could be feasibly extracted.
The research suggests that 900,000 metric tons of lithium oxide may be economically extractable in the northern Appalachian region, with Maine, New Hampshire, and parts of Vermont deemed the most prospective areas.
Another 1.43 million metric tons could be extractable in the southern Appalachian region, chiefly concentrated in the Carolinas.
Together, the researchers say this huge deposit could meet the lithium needs of the US for 328 years, based on consumption and import rates in 2025.
For perspective, this could furnish every person in the world with 60 smartphones. It's also equivalent to supplying the world with laptops for 1,000 years – though by that point, computers may be more brain than machine, or embedded within our biological tissues.
A USGS graphic showing use cases for the 2.3 metric tons of recoverable lithium oxide discovered throughout the Appalachians (left), as well as the extrapolated concentration of lithium oxide in the northern Appalachian region (right).
(USGS/Public Domain)
These as-yet untapped reserves are not the only potentially profitable lithium reserves in the US.
An unrelated report recently described a sizable lithium concentration swirling in the salty waters of an ancient limestone aquifer beneath Arkansas, a structure known as the Smackover Formation.
However, actually extracting these reserves may prove more difficult.
Should this lithium eventually make its way from beneath the northern Appalachians to beneath the cover of our smartphones, it will have completed a journey that began more than 300 million years ago with the formation of the supercontinent Pangea.
New research shows that carefully chosen chemical additives can dramatically change the behavior of MOF glasses, helping scientists better control how the materials are processed and engineered.
Credit: Shutterstock
A centuries-old glassmaking strategy has helped researchers unlock new ways to engineer futuristic MOF glasses with promising applications in gas storage and advanced materials.
Scientists have applied a centuries-old chemistry concept to improve a new class of glass made from metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), materials built from metal atoms linked by organic molecules. These glasses can trap gases such as CO₂ and hydrogen and can also absorb water.
The international research team, which included scientists from TU Dortmund University and the University of Birmingham, published its findings in Nature Chemistry. The study shows that MOF glasses can be adjusted and engineered using methods similar to those used for conventional glass.
The researchers found that adding small sodium- or lithium-containing compounds changes both the structure and properties of the material. These additives reduce the temperature at which the glass softens and improve how easily it flows when heated, potentially simplifying manufacturing.
The results establish a new strategy for designing customized MOF glasses for advanced technologies. Possible uses include gas separation, chemical storage, and specialized coatings. Lowering Processing Temperatures
Dr. Dominik Kubicki from the University of Birmingham said: “Glass has been part of human civilization for millennia. From ancient Mesopotamia to modern fiber-optic cables, small amounts of chemical modifiers make it easier to process glass and change its functional properties.
“However, MOF glasses soften only at high temperatures – above 300 °C (572 °F) – close to their degradation temperature, making manufacturing challenging and limiting broader use. This discovery unlocks new possibilities for future high-performance materials.”
One of the most well-known MOF glasses is ZIF-62, a porous material that can be melted and cooled into glass while preserving some of its internal porosity. That characteristic makes it promising for gas separation, membranes, and catalysis.
Professor Sebastian Henke from TU Dortmund University said: “Our approach is inspired by how conventional silicate glasses have been modified: disrupting the network structure to tune melting behavior and mechanical properties.
“Our study shows the same principle can be transferred to hybrid metal-organic glasses. This advance brings MOF glasses a step closer to real-world manufacturing and applications in gas separation, storage, catalysis, and beyond.”
Revealing the Glass Structure
To understand how sodium additives change the internal structure of the glass, the researchers used advanced characterization methods.
Scientists at the University of Birmingham, led by Drs. Dominik Kubicki and Benjamin Gallant, carried out atomic-level studies of the modified material. The team also performed high-temperature solid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy experiments at the UK High-Field Solid-State NMR Facility.
These experiments showed how sodium ions become incorporated into the glass network and disrupt its connections.
Another Birmingham team, led by Professor Andrew Morris and Dr. Mario Ongkiko, used AI-driven computational modeling to analyze the complex NMR data. Machine-learning-assisted simulations revealed how sodium interacts with the glass structure and confirmed the experimental findings.
The combined results showed that sodium does more than occupy empty spaces inside the material. It can replace some zinc atoms, slightly loosening the structure and altering the material’s behavior.
The researchers say further work is needed to improve the stability of these glasses, better predict their properties, and evaluate how well they perform in practical technologies.
Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains, Siberia is where the first evidence of Denisovans was found.
(rusak/iStock/Getty Images Plus)
The hominin family tree is more like a complicated, tangled bramble.
Homo sapiens is the only member of the genus left today, but in millennia past, the world was inhabited by multiple related Homo species – including the Neanderthals, Homo erectus, and Homo habilis, and traces of a mysterious group known as the Denisovans.
In recent years, evidence has emerged that these populations did not live in isolation. Multiple overlapping human groups roamed Eurasia, occasionally fighting, trading – and even interbreeding.
Now, new evidence has emerged of this complex history. From three sites across China, archaeologists have identified proteins in six H. erectus teeth that contain a genetic variant also seen in Denisovans, hinting at genetic mixing between the groups.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZv8VyIQ7YU&t=2s
Because organic material degrades so efficiently over time, peering into our ancient past is difficult. Teeth are a particularly valuable resource. The hard enamel retains proteins that can be linked to DNA variations inherited across generations.
When scientists do succeed in decoding this information, there are often surprises waiting.
Humans mixed with Neanderthals. Neanderthals mixed with Denisovans. Denisovans mixed with humans. Human DNA even shows genetic traces of long-lost, unidentified 'ghost' hominids.
But the Denisovans remain deeply mysterious. Scientists have found only a few fragmented remains – teeth, a jawbone, and shards of other bones – that are not consistent with humans or Neanderthals, but do seem to have things in common with each other.
One of the teeth examined in the study, from Zhoukoudian near Beijing.
(Qiaomei Fu, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
We don't know whether the Denisovans consisted of just one group or were a collection of related groups. We don't know how far they dispersed, or how long they were around, or when they disappeared.
They have no formal classification, description, or species name. The little evidence recovered suggests that they were closely related to the Neanderthals and shared an ancestor in common with both Neanderthals and modern humans.
The new evidence about this mysterious group comes from six H. erectus teeth from three archaeological sites across China – Zhoukoudian near Beijing, Hexian in Anhui Province, and Sunjiadong in Henan Province.
H. erectus predates modern humans, but belongs to the broader human lineage from which H. sapiens emerged.
The geographic locations of the three fossil sites and the tooth samples discovered at each one.
(Fu et al., Nature, 2026)
The teeth the researchers studied are around 400,000 years old – far too old for DNA to have survived under most normal conditions. However, DNA encodes genes, which make proteins, and tooth enamel is tough enough to retain proteins for a very, very long time.
By carefully extracting and analyzing proteins in the enamel of these ancient teeth, a team of scientists led by paleoanthropologist Qiaomei Fu of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in China identified inherited genetic variants preserved in the proteins.
Those proteins, from all six teeth, contained two unusual inherited variants of the enamel protein ameloblastin.
One variant appears to be unique to these Chinese H. erectus individuals – it's never been seen before in any other known hominin, and may indicate a distinct lineage of East Asian H. erectus.
A tooth from Sunjiadong, included in the study.
(Qiaomei Fu, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences)
The other had previously been identified in Denisovans – suggesting populations related to the two groups may have interacted somewhere in their history.
It's difficult to determine how widespread Denisovan populations really were because the fossil record is extremely sparse, but the evidence we have suggests they coexisted with H. erectus in East Asia for a time.
Because the variant appeared in all six H. erectus teeth studied across multiple Chinese sites, the researchers argue it most likely originated in populations related to H. erectus before later appearing in Denisovans.
"Their shared habitats create opportunities for interactions," the researchers write in their published paper.
The course of human evolution was far more complicated than a linear progression.
(Overearth/iStock/Getty Images Plus)
These findings don't solve the mystery of the Denisovans. Instead, they add to a growing body of evidence that the course of human evolution was deeply messy in a way that Charles Darwin could never have imagined.
Rather than one neat evolutionary lineage, the picture being constructed is one of multiple groups repeatedly overlapping, interacting, and sharing genetic material over hundreds of thousands of years.
The results also add weight to the idea that the Denisovans at least roamed far enough to intermix with other groups and were more genetically diverse than once thought.
And there's one more tantalizing possibility. Scientists have never been able to isolate a full H. erectus genome; the samples are just too old and degraded.
This new study suggests that genetic information from populations related to H. erectus may have entered the Denisovan genome; from there, parts of it may have entered the human genome.
The second protein variant, the one already known from Denisovans, was also found in some modern humans.
The researchers propose that one variant, AMBN(M273V), may have originated in populations related to Homo erectus and then 'flowed' into Denisovans, ending up in the genomes of some modern humans.
(Fu et al., Nature, 2026)
Other recent studies have similarly uncovered traces of Denisovan DNA in modern human genomes, adding to our own genetic diversity.
So it's exciting to think that with increasingly sophisticated tools and analysis techniques, scientists are bringing us closer to untangling some of the most twisted parts of ancient human history.
In time, with more specimens and samples, we may even work out who the 'ghosts' in our genomes are.
"Further research on H. erectus, including molecular data across different periods and regions, will help to clarify their microevolution, population diversity, and interactions with Denisovans," the team concludes.
