Scientists Discover Groundbreaking Clues to Tissue Regrowth and “Immortality” in the Ocean

By Bigelow Lab. for Ocean Sciences, Oct. 11, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-discover-groundbreaking-clues-to-tissue-regrowth-and-immortality-in-the-ocean/

The sea cucumber study reveals an unusual form of tissue regrowth, with detached fragments continuing to heal, reorganize, and grow for more than three years in natural seawater.

 Credit: Shutterstock

Sea cucumber tissue kept growing for more than three years after removal, surviving in seawater teeming with microbes.

Like Thing, the disembodied hand in The Addams Family, a severed piece of sea cucumber tissue kept living without the body it came from, prompting scientists to describe the animal as a “real-life zombie.” Weeks after being cut from a tube foot, the fragment appeared to be growing in seawater full of microbes, far from the sterile conditions usually needed to keep tissue cultures alive.

Scientists at Memorial University of Newfoundland followed up by placing tissue removed from the feet, main body, and tentacles of three sea cucumbers in flowing seawater. The animals belonged to Psolus fabricii, a cold-water species. Working with collaborators including Rachel Sipler, a senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, the team documented what happened to those fragments in a study published in Science Advances.

Microscopy image of an excised tube foot stained with 5-bromo-2′-deoxyuridine showing cell differentiation, with denser green coloring reflecting areas of more active cellular processes. 

Credit: Sara Jobson



The detached fragments, called explants, retained their structure and could move independently, while the researchers detected immune activity and tissue reorganization. More than three years after removal, the tissue remained active when the team ended the experiments to prepare the findings for publication.

Seawater may feed the mouthless fragments

Without a mouth to take in food, the fragments appeared to absorb amino acids directly from the seawater. These molecules, which cells use to build proteins, offered a possible source of nourishment for tissue separated from its animal.

“Natural seawater is just about the most microbially diverse, least clean approach we could take experimentally,” Sipler said. “Yet, that rich environment full of bacteria and all this organic matter was actually feeding them and allowing this tissue to heal and grow.”

Keeping “immortal” cell lines such as HeLa alive has enabled scientists to conduct long-term experiments since the mid-20th century. Those cells can continue dividing indefinitely, but the earlier tissue cultures described by the researchers depended on carefully maintained “axenic” conditions, meaning bacteria and other organisms were absent. The team reports this as the first known demonstration of discarded tissue surviving and growing over the long term outside those tightly controlled conditions.

A progression of tube foot tissue one year (top) versus several years (bottom) after excision showing increasing wound closure and healing at the wound site over time. Shifting colors from red to lighter white and pink reflects pigmented cells forming and consolidating aggregates of healthy tissue and the progression of transparent connective tissue. 

Credit: Sara Jobson



When many echinoderms lose tissue, they can regenerate it, and many members of this animal group also show little cellular aging. Sea cucumbers belong to that group, but researchers had generally expected their detached tissue to eventually die. How long the surviving fragments can remain viable is still an open question.

“We haven’t grown a new, complete sea cucumber yet, but we are seeing pretty stunning growth and diversification of cells literally years after this tissue was removed,” Sipler said. “It’s like a lizard that loses its tail. We know some lizards can grow new tails; we’re talking about whether the tail can grow a new lizard.”

Regeneration research with fewer laboratory barriers

By studying how the tissue repairs itself in the presence of microbes, biomedical scientists and engineers could investigate new approaches to tissue regrowth and antimicrobial healing, the authors suggest.

“This discovery highlights that the ocean holds profoundly unexpected biological innovations,” said Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute Science Director Andrea Bodnar, who was not involved in the study. “The fact that tissue explants from a sea cucumber can heal, reorganize, and survive independently for years in natural seawater suggests an entirely new model for biological resilience and tissue regeneration.”

Culturing sea cucumber tissue could also give research and teaching laboratories a more accessible experimental model. The authors say it is easier to grow and, because it comes from an invertebrate, involves fewer research restrictions than human-based or other vertebrate cell lines. That could be useful where legal obstacles or limited biosafety infrastructure make those established models difficult to use.

Sipler, an oceanographer, credits “keen observation” with recognizing the significance of that discarded tube foot tissue, still growing in seawater weeks after removal. “The best advances in science are made when you find a natural analog for what you’re studying,” she said. “Here is this species that has this groundbreaking ability, and we had no idea. It’s a reminder how much is yet to be discovered in the marine environment, and how important it is to protect these resources that may hold really valuable knowledge for us.”

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Your Mouth's Bacteria May Be Linked to How Quickly You Think

11 Oct. 2026, By E. Öz

https://www.sciencealert.com/your-mouths-bacteria-may-be-linked-to-how-quickly-you-think

(Olga Shefer/iStock/Getty Images)

A new study published in PLOS ONE found some intriguing statistical links between bacteria on your tongue and how quickly we process information.

Among 60 healthy adults in the UK and Belgium, the abundance of certain tongue bacteria was associated with performance on cognitive tests.

That might sound weird, but think about this: you swallow a mouthful of beetroot. Some of its nitrate enters your bloodstream, then takes an unexpected detour: back into your mouth.

Bacteria on your tongue help transform it into a substance your body can use to make nitric oxide, a molecule that helps blood vessels widen.

This small chemical journey is one reason scientists are investigating whether the microbes in our mouths are connected to memory, attention and how quickly we process information.

To understand the link further, researchers led by Joanna E. L'Heureux at the University of Exeter, with colleagues at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, recruited 15 younger and 15 older adults in each country.

The younger groups were generally in their twenties, while the older groups averaged in their sixties or seventies.

Participants completed tests of memory, attention, emotion recognition and processing speed. The team also measured blood pressure and collected blood, saliva and swabs from the tongue.

All participants were non-smokers; people with recent antibiotic use or an oral disease history were excluded.

By identifying the bacteria in those swabs, researchers could compare each person's oral microbial community with their test performance.

One finding appeared in both countries. People with more of a bacterium called Prevotella histicola responded faster on certain tests, although the tasks differed between countries.

Another species, Haemophilus parainfluenzae, showed a mixed pattern. In Belgium, it was linked to faster responses on emotion recognition and visual learning tasks, and better working-memory accuracy. In the UK, it was linked to faster responses on some tasks but slower emotion recognition responses.

Having more of a particular bacterium therefore did not necessarily mean performing better across all tests.

Age itself was the most consistent predictor of cognitive performance: older age was associated with lower overall scores and slower responses in both countries.

The researchers also found that 17 bacterial species differed in abundance between younger and older adults.

At a broader grouping level, bacteria from the genera Treponema and Tannerella, which include species associated with gum disease, were more abundant in older adults. One nitrate-reducing species was more abundant in younger participants.

But being more common in younger mouths did not automatically make a bacterium a marker of better cognition. That same nitrate-reducing species was also more abundant in the UK group with lower overall test performance.

All participants were healthy and had passed cognitive screening. These differences reflected variation among healthy people, rather than diagnoses of cognitive impairment.

Geography was another important part of the picture. The bacterial communities differed between the UK and Belgian participants, even though some age-related patterns appeared in both places.

The study builds on an earlier study from the same group, published in PNAS Nexus in 2025, which examined oral microbes and nitric oxide biomarkers in older adults, including people with mild cognitive impairment.

The new research examined whether similar associations appeared across younger and older healthy adults in two countries.

Chemical measurements were mixed. In the UK, higher plasma nitrate was linked to better performance on one test but poorer emotion recognition accuracy. Higher nitrite was linked only to slower responses.

The chemical pathway involving oral bacteria is also relevant to research on beetroot and physical performance. Bacteria convert nitrate into nitrite, which can subsequently contribute to nitric oxide production.

But the new study did not show that this process caused the differences in test performance. Nor did it test whether changing someone's oral bacteria could improve their cognitive performance.

With just 30 participants in each country, the findings are exploratory. The authors say larger studies are needed to distinguish genuine biological patterns from statistical variability.

Diet was not controlled, and physical activity and sleep were not comprehensively assessed. These could influence both the bacteria in someone's mouth and how they perform on cognitive tests.

Data were collected between 2017 and 2019. Belgian samples were transported in liquid nitrogen to the UK; the authors acknowledge storage differences that could introduce variability.

The paper describes multiple-comparison corrections for some analyses but not for the regressions linking bacteria to cognitive tests. Testing numerous associations can increase the chance of apparent findings arising by chance.

The team compared younger and older people rather than following individuals as they aged. It cannot establish whether oral bacteria predict cognitive decline or influence its speed.

The results therefore do not demonstrate that altering oral microbes prevents dementia, improves memory or slows brain aging.

For now, certain mouth bacteria appear to accompany differences in thinking skills. Whether those microbes help shape the differences, or reflect other influences shared by the mouth and brain, remains to be established.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Scientists Say the Older Brain May Be Optimized for Something Different

By Ass. for Psychological Science, Oct. 11, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-say-the-older-brain-may-be-optimized-for-something-different/

Brain aging is not simply a process of decline. As we grow older, the brain changes how it stores, retrieves, and interprets information, often relying more on accumulated knowledge, broader meaning, and experience. 

Credit: Shutterstock

( a second post on this concept)

New research suggests that healthy brain aging may reflect a shift in cognitive priorities rather than simple decline.

The aging brain may not simply be a younger brain in decline. New research from the University of Arizona argues that healthy aging involves a shift in cognitive priorities, with less emphasis on preserving precise details and more on extracting meaning, using accumulated knowledge, and integrating experience.

Researchers call this the adaptive aging hypothesis. Evidence from molecular biology, neuroimaging, human studies, and animal models suggests that later life may represent a distinct developmental stage rather than a prolonged period of deterioration.

From Detail to Meaning

The hippocampus helps encode detailed memories of specific events, while the frontal cortex plays a larger role in organizing concepts and broader meaning. In younger people, strong hippocampal activity helps build a store of knowledge. With healthy aging, the balance appears to shift toward existing knowledge and interpretation.

“If we look at normative aging as a story of just decline, we are really missing the boat,” said study coauthor Fabian-Xosé Fernandez, an associate professor of cognition and neural systems at the University of Arizona. “The older brain is optimized for different things than the younger brain, predominantly the sharing of stored expertise and social relationships.”

The researchers suggest this transition could help support teaching, mentoring, storytelling, judgment, and the transfer of knowledge across generations.

Healthy Aging Is Not Alzheimer’s

The framework may also help distinguish normal aging from Alzheimer’s disease. Although both can affect memory, the underlying processes appear to differ.

“When I was in grad school, people thought about Alzheimer’s as a more intense version of cognitive aging, but that is just not the case,” Fernandez said. “They are completely different.”

In healthy aging, reduced reliance on the hippocampus may be part of the expected shift toward greater frontal cortex involvement. In Alzheimer’s disease, pathological processes involving amyloid and tau may disrupt that transition.

“In normative aging, hippocampal activation is deemphasized, which is probably what should be happening in a 70-year-old. But in many cases of Alzheimer’s, it turns out the hippocampus is hyperactive,” he said.

Rethinking Cognitive Aging

If the hypothesis is correct, trying to make an older brain process information exactly like a younger one may overlook its changing strengths. The researchers argue that later life may favor broad understanding, established knowledge, and social connection over exact recall of every detail.

“People see older individuals and look at them as not being on par with younger individuals across a lot of metrics,” Fernandez says. “The way I look at it is that you’ve got someone with a brain that has been active for several decades and has seen a lot. There is tremendous value there, and we don’t do a good job of unlocking it.”

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Chuck's picture corner to Oct 11, 2026

A busy week on the cooler side. The final harvest of stuff hopefully finishes today. Summer projects finished for the season and prep. for another season of snow begins.  Starting with the car of course, the furnace service has already happened. 

I'm so happy this wet year that I finally after 25 years got a dryer. It's a gas dryer so as to not push my small electric system too much stress , it works great. I only use it when it's precipitating. 

sedum colours

hot peppers hanging to ripen and dry

shopping

One of the free red oak I got this spring.

A ginko tree I bought last spring, it spent last winter in the back (cool) room where I will keep it again this winter. It gets planted next spring. Ginkgo is a very very old species of tree.

The asters are almost done.

This pampas grass has done it's job, the stump it grows on has totally rotted, perhaps it's time has come. The stuff is ragingly prolific.

The last of the hibiscus.

My son came by and we finally finished siding the back of the house. So great to work with someone literate in construction, and completed with tools.

The gas company came to change my meter without prior notice. When the guy finished he did a surprise safety inspection. He turned my gas off. After 30 years it turns out I have code safety issues, the gas pipe was too close to the wall. It cost me $850. to get my gas back on.

marigold companion plants 

The final pick from the apple tree.

Enjoy the day

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Scientists Find Squid Are Covered in Hair-Like Cells Remarkably Similar to The Ones in Human Ears

11 Oct. 2026, By J. Cockerill

https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-find-squid-are-covered-in-hair-like-cells-remarkably-similar-to-the-ones-in-human-ears

A hatchling squid imaged with light-sheet microscopy, to highlight its hair cells. 

(Wang et al., Current Biology, 2026)

The skin of a squid, surprisingly, has much in common with an organ inside your ear.

As reported in a new study in Current Biology, scientists have found that squid are covered in cells with little hair-like structures, similar to those inside human ears, which detect information carried by passing waves.

For humans, these little hairs help us to interpret sound waves from a melody or a voice, or the honk of an impatient driver.

For squid, it's all the little details carried in water movement: the twitch of nearby prey, the rumble of a distant shore, the pull of a current.

Until now, scientists had no idea that squid were totally studded with these hair cells – and the discovery may be able to tell us something about our own hearing equipment.

Hair bundles on the surface of the squid, and their neuronal connectivity. (Wang et al., Current Biology, 2026)



Brian McDermott from Case Western Reserve University is an otolaryngologist – a scientist who studies inner ears, noses, and throats.

As a medical researcher, he started out trying to understand human hearing and deafness. But by tracing the lineage of the specialized hair cells that bring music to our ears, he has now arrived at the longfin inshore squid (Doryteuthis pealeii): an animal separated from humans by hundreds of millions of years of evolution.

"Squid are cephalopods with a diverse population of hair cells on the surface of their bodies, which may yield insights not only into how these fascinating animals detect water movement to survive, but also into how hearing and deafness occur in humans," McDermott says.

Before we go further, it's probably important to note that the hair cells we're talking about here have nothing to do with the hair that grows from follicles in your skin. In all vertebrates, except fish, hair cells exist only within organs in our ears (remember the fish part – we'll come back to that).

For vertebrates that live on land, hair cells are crucial to hearing. They line the inner surface of the cochlea, which is a spiral-shaped, fluid-filled organ that, from the outside, looks a lot like a snail.

If someone hears a sound, it's typically because waves in the air have traveled into their ears, vibrating their eardrums and a succession of tiny bones that then translate this movement into waves in the cochlear fluid.

It's these fluid waves that the hair cells of a human ear are attuned to. As the 'hairs' wave about within the cochlear fluid, their movement is translated by the cell into a message that can be sent on to the brain. It's at this point that we perceive sound.

Inside a human ear, not all hair cells are identical. Some have bundles of long hairs, which are much better at picking up low-pitched sounds, while some have short hairs, ideal for high-pitched frequencies.

Here's where fish come in. Fish, unlike many other vertebrates, have hair cells on the outside of their bodies, in an organ called the lateral line.

Other sea creatures – including squid – have lateral lines too. When you spend your whole life underwater, the waves in your surroundings are already transmitted by fluid.

Unlike us landlubbers, marine animals don't have to translate the waves from air to fluid: their hair cells can pick up that motion directly from the source.

But in fish, the 'hairs' are more or less the same length.

Squids, on the other hand, seem to have evolved diverse, specialized hair cells much like our own.

McDermott and his team mapped the entire bodies of several hatchling squid using light-sheet microscopy, which makes the squid's hair cells light up in pictures.

"Unexpectedly, we identified hair bundles organized in two patterns: previously
described linear arrays and broad regional fields that have not been explicitly reported in squid or fish, which we term lateral line fields," the team reports.

"Anatomical positions and corresponding variation in hair bundle lengths suggest some lateral lines detect distinct stimuli."

Scanning electron microscope image of some of the movement-sensing 'hairs' on a squid's skin. (Wang et al., Current Biology, 2026)



For instance, on the squid's mantle, hair bundles were very short compared to those on the head lateral line.

"Our results show that the whole squid's surface is elaborately ornamented with varied lateral lines that likely register specific types of local water movements," the team concludes.

It's pretty fascinating stuff in its own right, but McDermott's interests are primarily medical. He believes squid could be useful models for understanding how human hearing works, or, in some cases, doesn't.

"Often, when a child is born deaf or a hearing person loses their hearing, it is the hair bundle that has been damaged," McDermott said.

"So, studying the squid's hair bundle holds promise for understanding how hearing loss occurs."

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Your Gut Bacteria May Reveal How Cancer Treatment Will Affect You

By Mayo Clinic, Oct. 10, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/your-gut-bacteria-may-reveal-how-cancer-treatment-will-affect-you/

Certain gut bacteria and their genes were linked to cancer outcomes and chemotherapy side effects.

 Credit: Shutterstock



Gut bacteria may hold clues to cancer survival and chemotherapy side effects before treatment even begins.

A tumor can produce large amounts of lactate, a molecule that some gut bacteria consume as food. Mayo Clinic researchers found higher levels of both lactate and one of those bacteria, Veillonella parvula, in adults diagnosed with colorectal cancer at 50 or younger than in patients diagnosed later in life.

Colorectal cancer incidence is increasing about 3% a year among adults ages 20 to 49, according to the American Cancer Society. Breast cancer incidence is also climbing, rising 1.4% annually among women younger than 50. The Mayo findings identify specific microbial differences to investigate as researchers work to understand cancers diagnosed at younger ages.

Mayo Clinic researchers analyzed stool samples from 1,364 patients with cancer, examining the trillions of microbes living in their digestive tracts. Patients represented 40 states and provided samples before beginning treatment at Mayo Clinic in Arizona, Florida, and Minnesota. The team linked those samples to clinical records covering cancer types, stages, treatments, side effects, and outcomes, allowing researchers to examine both the patients’ diagnoses and what happened during their care. The study, part of the Mayo Clinic Cancer Microbiome cohort, appears in Cell.

Breast cancer’s gut patterns differ by age

Younger breast cancer patients also had a different microbial profile from those diagnosed later in life, with changes across 64 bacterial species. One was Clostridium scindens, which helps process bile acids and steroid molecules. These patients also had lower levels of primary bile acids, substances made by the liver that help digest fats.

Patients with brain cancer, the third cancer examined in the age analysis, showed no comparable differences between younger and older adults. The age-related patterns in colorectal and breast cancer therefore did not extend to every cancer the team examined, and the study did not establish that those patterns cause early-onset disease.

Ruben Mars, Ph.D., works within an anaerobic chamber in the Microbiomics Program laboratory at Mayo Clinic. 

Credit: Mayo Clinic
341 species linked to five cancer groups



Comparing the cancer patients with 287 people without cancer helped researchers identify broader differences in gut microbes. They then compared patients across cancer types to distinguish changes associated with particular cancers. After accounting for other health conditions, the team identified 341 bacterial species associated with five cancer groups.

Patients with neuroendocrine tumors showed a broad loss of common gut bacteria associated with health, while those with liver and intrahepatic bile duct cancers had higher levels of several bacteria, including Enterococcus faecalis. Esophageal cancer was associated with higher levels of six species, including Streptococcus bacteria. Researchers also found distinct associations in lymphoid leukemia and in multiple myeloma and related plasma cell cancers.

Purna Kashyap, M.B.B.S. 

Credit: Mayo Clinic



“We can now narrow the search to those microbial changes that are most specific to individual cancers,” says co-corresponding author Ruben Mars, Ph.D., a microbiome researcher at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. “Those are the signals we need to understand first if we want to determine whether the microbiome plays a causal role in cancer and ultimately develop targeted interventions.”

Matching the microbial profiles with patients’ clinical outcomes extended the analysis beyond differences at diagnosis. Researchers identified gut bacteria associated with survival in colorectal, liver and intrahepatic bile duct, ovarian, and prostate cancers, as well as melanoma. In liver and intrahepatic bile duct cancers, Bifidobacterium longum was associated with longer survival, while Blautia A massiliensis was associated with shorter survival.

Bacterial genes linked to chemotherapy diarrhea

The samples collected before treatment also allowed researchers to look for connections between gut bacteria and how patients tolerated chemotherapy. Among patients receiving 5-fluorouracil, or 5-FU, those who later developed diarrhea had lower levels of bacterial genes capable of breaking down the drug. Much of that drug-processing capacity came from Anaerostipes hadrus, a common gut bacterium.

Patients receiving carboplatin, another chemotherapy drug, did not show the same link between those genes and diarrhea. That contrast suggests the finding was specific to 5-FU, which is used to treat many types of cancer, rather than a general association with diarrhea during chemotherapy.

“This gives us a proof of concept that we can begin to understand why some patients experience a particular side effect and identify a target that could potentially be acted upon,” says co-corresponding author Purna Kashyap, M.B.B.S., director of the Mayo Clinic Microbiome Program. “The microbiome is not the sole driver of cancer or treatment outcomes, but it is an underappreciated component that has not traditionally been considered in therapeutic approaches.”

The team will now test whether microbial signals can predict treatment side effects in larger patient groups. They will also investigate whether cancer-specific microbes contribute to disease, including whether V. parvula’s ability to feed on lactate inside the gut plays a role in colorectal cancer among younger adults.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Archaeologists Uncover Unprecedented Evidence of Neanderthal Woodworking Skills

10 Oct. 2026, By J. Cockerill

https://www.sciencealert.com/archaeologists-uncover-unprecedented-evidence-of-neanderthal-woodworking-skills

(Paul Hudson/Flickr/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

We Homo sapiens are pretty damn proud of our tool-making prowess.

From smartphones to the humble-yet-mighty wheel, our ability to craft objects to help us attain our goals is something that we've often thought defines us as a species.

But tens of thousands of years ago, Homo sapiens were not the only humans with a wide arsenal of tools.

In a recent dig at a significant Neanderthal site in Barcelona, Abric Romaní, archaeologists have unearthed a massive cache of wood imprints, several of which appear to be tools.

The findings, recently published in Science Advances, suggest our extinct Paleolithic relatives were actually skilled and prolific woodworkers.

Of the 597 wood imprints the team discovered, 13 are clearly modified tools and other domestic objects.

One of the most exciting objects identified was a wooden club, which seems to have been deliberately shaped for whacking stuff.

It's reminiscent of the classic 'caveman' costume prop, but archaeologists have never actually seen anything like it in the prehistoric record.

Photograph of the club-shaped impression. 

(M. D. Guillén/IPHES)




"To date, only one possible example has been reported from Kalambo Falls (Zambia), dated to ∼400 kyr," writes Palmira Saladié and a team of researchers based at the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES).

"Consequently, assessing the precise function, use intensity, or behavioral context of such implements, particularly in relation to Neanderthal occupations at Abric Romaní, remains challenging given the limited comparative record and the functional variability documented among recent hunter-gatherers."

The team also found structural poles that may have been used for shelter; a tripod; some pointed wood objects that may be digging sticks; and two spears.

Pointed objects identified throughout the dig. 

(M. D. Guillén/IPHES)



They believe four charred bark objects may have been used as trays or containers for food.

It's not the first evidence that Neanderthals may have made tools with wood, but it's possibly the most detailed and extensive collection of specimens.

In 1995, wooden weapons were found in Germany that dated back to 300,000 years ago, and in 2018, a paper described 171,000-year-old wooden tools found in Tuscany, Italy.

Another pair of artifacts found in Greece may also be Neanderthal – though in all these cases, it's more of an archaeologist's best guess as to who the craftsperson really was.

Wood tools are much less likely to be preserved than those made from stone, for instance, because of their organic quality: wood easily decays.

Archaeologists at Abric Romaní found traces of hundreds of wood artifacts.

 (Gerard Campeny/IPHES-CERCA)



But at Abric Romaní, the imprints of wooden artifacts are preserved across layers of limestone. Even though the wood is long gone, calcium carbonate built up around the wood before it rotted away. This mineral cast left a negative imprint of the tool that survived the millennia.

In some cases, these imprints are so clear that the researchers can see details down to the cellular level, which is how they know they're looking at traces of wood.

"Wood technology likely played a key role in human evolution, yet it remains poorly documented because organic materials rarely preserve in archaeological contexts," Saladié and team note.

"The Abric Romaní assemblage highlights the importance of wood within Neanderthal technological systems and provides previously unknown insights into the role of organic materials in Middle Paleolithic societies."

The birth of modern Man

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

https://scitechdaily.com/penguin-poop-is-turning-antarctica-green-and-scientists-are-concerned

By Frontiers, Oct. 8, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-reveal-a-staggering-12-trillion-potential-hidden-in-the-worlds-oyster-reefs/

Oyster reefs are underwater ecosystems formed by dense colonies of oysters that attach to one another, creating complex structures that support marine biodiversity.

 Credit: Shutterstock

Scientists have identified vast coastal areas where oyster reefs could potentially thrive but are largely absent today.

An estimated 85% of the world’s oyster reefs have disappeared over the past century, taking with them ecosystems that protect coastlines, support marine life, and help keep coastal waters clean. A new study suggests that restoring these reefs could unlock ecological benefits worth trillions of dollars.

“Here we estimate that fully restored oyster reefs in the top ten hotspot countries worldwide would yield a GEP of $12 trillion,” said Dr Matteo Convertino, an associate professor at Tsinghua University and corresponding author of the study, published in Frontiers in Marine Science.

The researchers used gross ecosystem product (GEP) to estimate the value of benefits that nature provides to people and the environment. Unlike conventional measures of economic output, GEP accounts for ecological services such as water purification, carbon storage, and coastal protection.

The Hidden Value of Oyster Reefs

Oyster reefs do far more than supply seafood. As oysters filter water, they remove suspended particles, while the surrounding reef ecosystem helps regulate nutrients. These underwater structures also reduce wave energy along coastlines and provide feeding areas, shelter, and nursery habitat for fish and invertebrates.

The researchers calculated that reefs occupying all suitable areas identified in their analysis could filter enormous quantities of water. In the United States alone, the estimated potential reached 77.58 quadrillion liters (20.5 quadrillion gallons). Across the modeled areas, restored reefs could also sequester as much as 12.3 million metric tons (13.6 million U.S. tons) of carbon annually.

For the United States, the combined potential annual value of water purification, nitrogen removal, and carbon sequestration was estimated at $25.1 billion. These figures represent modeled ecological benefits under extensive reef restoration, not services currently being delivered.

Scientists Identify Vast Areas for Reef Restoration

To identify places where oyster reefs could thrive, the research team analyzed thousands of geographically referenced reef records from two public databases. They used machine learning to predict suitable habitats based on environmental conditions, including water temperature, salinity, light availability, nutrient concentrations, and dissolved oxygen.

The analysis identified ten countries with particularly high potential: the United States, Australia, Chile, China, Japan, South Korea, Argentina, France, Germany, and Italy. Together, these countries contain approximately 295,000 square kilometers (114,000 square miles) of suitable reef habitat, representing about 6% of their coastal zones. Yet known oyster reefs currently occupy only about 10% of that suitable area, primarily in bays, lagoons, estuaries, and river deltas.

Most Suitable Reef Habitats Remain Unprotected

Restoring oyster reefs on such a large scale would require substantial conservation efforts. Only 23% of the identified suitable habitat currently falls within marine protected areas, leaving much of the potential restoration area without formal protection.

“We estimated that 90% of sites suitable for oyster reefs require restoration, while 80% need protection through conservation efforts. In other words, the current oyster situation is very suboptimal but there is a huge opportunity, considering the benefits,” said Convertino.

The study’s $12 trillion estimate also carries substantial uncertainty. Its calculations rely on global averages for ecosystem services rather than direct measurements at every location. Changes in oyster populations, local environmental conditions, and the success of restoration efforts could all affect the benefits ultimately delivered.

Climate Change Could Reshape the Future of Oyster Reefs

Rising temperatures and other climate-related changes threaten the long-term survival of oyster reefs in many coastal environments. However, the effects are unlikely to be uniform, and some regions could become more suitable for oyster growth as environmental conditions shift.

“Because global warming generally decreases the habitat quality of oyster reefs, we expect that their global GEP will go down from the current potential value of $12 trillion. But some countries may see an expansion of reefs due to more favorable conditions for the growth and dispersal of oysters: in particular, this could happen in Australia, Indonesia, South Korea, Japan, and France.”

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Penguin Poop Is Turning Antarctica Green, and Scientists Are Concerned

By American Geophysical Union, Oct. 10, 2026

https://scitechdaily.com/penguin-poop-is-turning-antarctica-green-and-scientists-are-concerned/

Penguins may be transforming Antarctica’s snowy coastline in an unexpected way. A new study reveals how nutrients from their droppings fuel colorful algae blooms, potentially accelerating snowmelt and reshaping the frozen landscape. 

Credit: Shutterstock

Penguins are playing an unexpected role in Antarctica’s changing landscape.

Penguin droppings are helping turn parts of Antarctica’s snowy coastline green, and the resulting algae blooms could be accelerating the loss of coastal snow. A new study has found that nutrients deposited by penguins support dense growths of microscopic algae that absorb more sunlight, potentially contributing to the expansion of ice-free areas along the Antarctic Peninsula.

The color of these blooms makes a substantial difference in how much solar energy the snow absorbs. Red algae-covered snow absorbs about 20% more sunlight than clean, white snow, while green snow absorbs roughly 40% more. As Antarctic coastal temperatures rise and suitable habitats expand, these biological changes could intensify local snowmelt.

Why Antarctic Snow Turns Green or Red

Snow algae can produce striking red or green patches across the Antarctic landscape, depending on their growing conditions. When nutrients are plentiful, the organisms produce chlorophyll and other green pigments that support photosynthesis, allowing them to grow rapidly during the short Antarctic summer.

Under harsher conditions or when nutrients become scarce, the algae shift toward a protective state. They produce red pigments that act like sunscreen, shielding their cells from intense sunlight while slowing growth. Researchers found that phosphate, a nutrient abundant in penguin droppings, helps explain why some snow algae remain green rather than entering this protective red stage.

Investigating the Connection Between Penguins and Snow Algae

To investigate this relationship, researchers collected red and green snow samples along the West Antarctic Peninsula, covering five degrees of latitude. Their sampling locations included coastal areas both with and without penguin colonies. The team traveled across the Drake Passage by boat before gathering algae-stained snow with ceramic spoons, sometimes working close to large accumulations of penguin droppings.

“[Penguin] poop can visually look similar to the red snow algae,” said Alia Khan, a cryosphere biogeochemist at the University of Colorado Boulder and senior author of the study. “It’s very stinky working near penguins. They’re just waddling around in their poop and tracking it all over the snow.”

Back in the laboratory, lead author Elise Ryan and colleagues examined the samples under microscopes to count algae cells and analyzed their pigments and nutrient concentrations. Snow dominated by green algae contained substantially more phosphate than samples dominated by red algae, providing evidence that nutrients from bird droppings help sustain the green blooms.

How the Ocean Fertilizes Antarctic Snow

Penguins acquire nutrients through their marine diets, then transport them onto land through their droppings. Other seabirds, including skuas, contribute to the same process, depositing nutrients (including phosphate) across coastal snow. These nutrients support algae growth in an environment where essential resources can be limited.

“This finding links the marine food web to snow ecology,” Khan said. “The penguin guano acts as a fertilizer… that fuels these dense green snow algae blooms.”

By supporting larger populations of actively growing green algae, this natural fertilization process can increase the amount of sunlight absorbed by coastal snow. The darkening effect could reinforce warming and melting already occurring in parts of Antarctica.

A Missing Factor in Antarctic Melting Predictions

“The link between wildlife, nutrients, and snow algae is a critical missing component in projections of expansion of ice-free areas in Antarctica,” said Khan, who began the research while at Western Washington University. “Without accounting for these biological darkening effects, we are likely underestimating how rapidly coastal snowpacks are melting and how fast ice-free terrain will expand across Antarctica.”

Penguin populations may also shift farther south as Antarctic conditions change, potentially bringing nutrient-rich droppings to additional snow algae habitats. Such changes could extend the influence of these blooms across a larger area, although their future extent and effect on melting remain uncertain.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

DNA From a Human Brain Gene Has Turned Up In a Virus

08 Oct. 2026, By E. Öz

https://www.sciencealert.com/dna-from-a-human-brain-gene-has-turned-up-in-a-virus

Unrelated virus.

 (Heather Davies/SPL/Getty Images)



Some pieces of our DNA can copy themselves into new locations. Copies derived from one gene active in human brain cells appear to have taken that journey further: into a virus.

Researchers found two such sequences, derived from a gene called BC200, inside molluscum contagiosum virus, which infects our skin and causes small, raised lesions.

The discovery reveals an unusual genetic double life. BC200 acquired a cellular role millions of years ago, yet retained the ability to produce copies that insert themselves elsewhere.

A study published in Science suggests this movement has continued throughout primate evolution, contributed to differences among human genomes, and carried BC200-derived sequences across the boundary between humans and a virus.

But the virus didn't simply take a gene from a brain cell, and nothing suggests it gained anything resembling brain function. What these sequences actually do inside the virus is still unknown.

BC200 works differently from most genes: it skips the step of coding for a protein altogether, producing a short RNA molecule instead – one that's especially abundant in neurons.

Laboratory experiments suggest this RNA helps regulate protein production. Its precise physiological role, however, remains poorly understood.

A gene being especially active in one tissue does not mean its DNA exists only there. Most cells with a nucleus carry essentially the same genetic information. What differs is which genes they use, and how much.

Calling BC200 a "brain gene" describes its activity in neurons.

Its origins lie in a transposable element, one of the mobile DNA sequences often called "jumping genes". Some make copies of themselves that enter new locations while the original stays put.

A predecessor of BC200 became established in a common ancestor of monkeys and apes roughly 35 to 55 million years ago. Around 40 million years ago, it was recruited for a cellular role, apparently in regulating protein production in neurons.

Such recruitment typically accompanies a loss of mobility. BC200 appears to have retained both abilities.

"Somehow evolution hasn't been able to untangle these two things," Cedric Feschotte, in Cornell University's Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, says in a university statement.

(Kateryna Kon/Science Photo Library/Getty Images)



The team, including researchers at Capital Normal University in China and the University of Texas at Arlington, screened available poxvirus genomes for sequences resembling mobile genetic elements.

Two BC200-derived sequences stood out in molluscum contagiosum virus. One covered the human gene's entire Alu-derived domain, a region inherited from its mobile ancestor. The other was shorter and incomplete at both ends.

So what turned up in the virus are fragments derived from BC200 – not a complete, intact copy of the gene itself.

Several clues pointed to a human origin. BC200 occurs in humans and related primates, while molluscum contagiosum virus is only known to infect humans in nature.

The researchers found no corresponding elements in other poxvirus genomes they examined, including a closely related virus infecting horses.

The analysis pointed to two separate transfer events, not a single insertion that later duplicated itself inside the virus.

The likely mechanism involves LINE-1, another mobile genetic element capable of producing the molecular machinery to copy RNA into DNA and insert it into a genome.

BC200 has no transport machinery of its own, so it hitches a ride on LINE-1's – borrowing another element's equipment to make the jump.

Genetic signatures surrounding the viral insertion supported this explanation. However, the team reconstructed the transfer from DNA evidence, rather than watching it happen.

Although BC200 RNA is abundant in neurons, it is also expressed at low levels in skin. The researchers found increased BC200 expression in cultured human fibroblasts infected with the virus.

That suggests infection might help create conditions for transfer, without directly establishing where the historical events occurred.

The team then examined sequencing data from 908 people, identifying eight BC200-derived insertions that varied among individuals.

Two were widespread across five continental population groups, suggesting ancient origins. Another was largely restricted to African individuals. The remaining five were rarer: one occurred in just two people, while four were each detected in a single individual.

These rare insertions suggest very recent activity. Being detected in one person, however, does not establish that an insertion arose during that person's lifetime.

Across anthropoid primates, the researchers also identified hundreds of lineage-specific insertions, placing the viral discovery within millions of years of continued movement.

Whether the virus benefits remains uncertain. The team found evidence that its BC200-derived sequences are transcribed into RNA. Such RNA might help manipulate protein production in infected cells, but that possibility still needs testing.

The study does not demonstrate that the virus has become more dangerous. Instead, it shows that acquiring a cellular function need not end a genetic element's mobility.

BC200's combination of function and movement makes the boundary between genes and jumping DNA appear more flexible than expected.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Kids Who Got a Smartphone at 12 Were 49% More Likely to Report Eating Disorder Symptoms by 14

08 Oct. 2026, By C. Cassella

https://www.sciencealert.com/one-everyday-habit-is-linked-to-49-higher-risk-of-eating-disorder-symptoms-in-teens

(Catherine Falls Commercial/Moment RF/Getty Images)

Giving a child a smartphone before age 13 could be risky for some aspects of their mental health.

In a new study of nearly 9,000 adolescents in the US, researchers found that owning a smartphone at age 12 was associated with a 36 percent higher chance of reporting any symptom of an eating disorder.

At this age, smartphone users reported a 61 percent higher prevalence of binge-eating symptoms than non-users.

Nearly 70 percent of 12-year-olds in the study owned a smartphone.

The findings were published in JAMA Network Open and support growing preliminary evidence that early and unsupervised smartphone ownership may be associated with downsides for mental health.

The research, led by scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), suggests that delaying smartphone access among children may be worth considering, given its links to disordered eating habits.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yM7_hbpRXc

The results can't prove that smartphones are causing eating disorder symptoms, but it's possible that early and unsupervised access to social media could exacerbate body dissatisfaction in puberty.

That's something parents should be aware of, the authors argue, and clinicians may want to consider screening for smartphone ownership and social media use when assessing eating disorder risks in teens.

"Eating disorders are serious, potentially life-threatening conditions that are nonetheless often preventable and responsive to early interventions," write the authors, led by pediatrician Jason Nagata at UCSF.

"While major social media platforms enforce a minimum age of 13 years, this threshold can be easily circumvented, raising concerns about the feasibility of age-based protections."

(NIMH)

The analysis included health data from an ongoing longitudinal study of adolescents in the US.

At age 12, smartphone ownership was already linked to a variety of eating disorder symptoms.

Some of these associations were still apparent two years later.

By age 14, nearly a quarter of kids who had had a smartphone since age 12 reported at least one eating disorder symptom.

Compared to kids who didn't have a smartphone at age 12, those who did were 103 percent more likely to report tying their self-worth to their weight.

They also faced 49 percent greater risk of reporting any eating disorder symptom by age 14.

"Owning a personal smartphone during early adolescence may be particularly consequential, given its potential to increase unsupervised and individualized exposure to digital environments during a sensitive developmental period," write the study authors.

"These influences may also accumulate over time and be shaped by developmental timing."

Just because a teen reports a symptom of an eating disorder doesn't mean they necessarily have one.

This analysis only measured the self-reported symptoms of teens. It did not analyze how smartphone use impacts an actual clinical diagnosis.

An eating disorder is defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as a persistent disturbance of eating or eating-related behavior that significantly impairs physical health or psychosocial functioning.

Among young people, eating disorders are relatively common, impacting between 5.5 to 18 percent of young women, and up to 2.4 percent of young men by the time they reach early adulthood.

Recent increases in prevalence have been reported mainly among females aged 15 to 19.

Social media use allows for greater peer pressure than ever before, and idealized body content on social media is associated with an increased risk of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating.

It's possible that influencers and online 'fitspiration' content are exacerbating feelings of body dissatisfaction in young people and teaching them unhealthy eating habits.

One study, for instance, has shown that among adolescents, each additional hour of total screen time and social media use is associated with higher odds of behaviors to prevent weight gain and binge-eating symptoms.

"Our findings are notable given that early adolescence, when self-regulation is still maturing and sensitivity to social evaluation is heightened, coincides with puberty, which is a time of increased eating disorder risk," explain the authors of the recent study.

Of course, the use of social media and smartphones doesn't have to be harmful. Some research suggests it could even have mental health benefits for some teens, l such as lower levels of depression among those who text more.

How teens use digital devices may matter more for their mental health than how much time they spend on them.

The digital world we live in isn't likely to go away any time soon, and it's important to know at what age it is safe to give a child a smartphone and how to regulate their usage.

Studies like these get us closer to understanding the risks behind smartphone use. Only then can we figure out how to best protect the next generation.

The birth of modern Man

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/