Dinner Too Spicy? Scientists Discover Natural “Anti-Spice” Compounds

BY OHIO STATE U., SEPT. 29, 2025

https://scitechdaily.com/dinner-too-spicy-scientists-discover-natural-anti-spice-compounds/

A new study has identified natural molecules that suppress chili pepper heat, potentially paving the way for an “anti-spice” condiment. 

Credit: Shutterstock

Chili pepper compounds that suppress heat may also help manage pain.

If you’ve ever second-guessed a spicy order, take note: a new study has identified molecules that can temper the heat of chili peppers. The results point to the possibility of turning these compounds into an “anti-spice” condiment for meals that otherwise feel too hot to eat.

To understand why pepper heat can vary, the researchers examined a range of samples and pinpointed three compounds associated with lower pungency. Chemical analyses predicted their effect, and a trained tasting panel confirmed that samples containing these compounds produced a weaker heat sensation.

The findings could be put to work in several ways: breeding chili peppers with targeted heat profiles, exploring a pain-relief option other than capsaicin, and offering households with different spice preferences a new pantry condiment that takes the edge off.

“If you’re at home and you’ve ordered cuisine that has spice to it that’s a little too hot for some tastes, you can just sprinkle on a form of chili pepper that has got these suppressant agents in them that will dial it down,” said senior study author Devin Peterson, professor of food science and technology at The Ohio State University.

“I think the idea of using a natural material as an anti-spice, especially for somebody with kids, would have value as a household ingredient.”

The research was recently published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Measuring the Heat

Chili pepper heat intensity has long been attributed to two members of a class of compounds called capsaicinoids: capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin. Scoville Heat Units, a scale used for over a century to determine the pungency of chili peppers, are calculated based on each pepper’s concentration of these two compounds.

For this study, Peterson and colleagues obtained 10 cultivars of chili peppers, determined their Scoville units based on their capsaicinoid content, and normalized the group so all samples, prepared in dried powder form, had the same number of Scoville units. The researchers then added the standardized powders to tomato juice and asked a trained tasting panel to gauge their pungency.

“They’re all in the same base and all normalized, so they should have had a similar heat perception, but they didn’t,” said Peterson, also faculty director of Ohio State’s Foods for Health Research Initiative. “That is a pretty clear indication that other things were at play and impacting the perception.”

With this sensory perception data in hand, the researchers created statistical models and consulted molecular structures in existing libraries of chemicals to arrive at five candidate compounds predicted to lower the peppers’ perceived spiciness.

A second trained panel of tasters then compared the pungency of a range of capsaicinoid samples mixed with varying levels of these candidate compounds during tests in which different samples were placed on each side of the tongue simultaneously.

The second round of sensory results combined with high-resolution mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance experiments led the team to narrow down the heat suppression effects to three compounds: capsianoside I, roseoside, and gingerglycolipid A. These results describe an overall mechanism that affects chili pepper heat levels, but are not exclusive to any specific chili pepper varieties.

Flavor, Health, and Pain Relief

Peterson’s lab studies the complex relationships between oral cavity receptors and food compounds that influence human perception of flavor. The broad goal: applying findings to improving the taste of healthful foods without adding sugar, salt and fats.

“What is maybe underappreciated from a science perspective is how important food flavor is to your dietary patterns and your enjoyment in life,” he said. “So part of what we focus on is, how do we make healthy eating less difficult?”

When it comes to capsaicinoids, however, there is also a pain management implication from this study’s results.

The TRPV1 receptors in the oral cavity that perceive chili pepper spiciness are triggered by molecules – including capsaicin – that cause sensations of pain and heat. These same receptors are present throughout the body, meaning that capsaicin in supplement and topical form eases pain by initially exposing receptors to the irritation signal and eventually desensitizing them to that stimulus, so the pain goes away.

The newly identified heat-suppressing compounds may have the same desensitization effect – without the initial burn, Peterson said.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

The Surprising Way Parents Transfer Longevity to Offspring

BY HOWARD HUGHES MEDICAL INST., SEPT. 28, 2025

https://scitechdaily.com/the-surprising-way-parents-transfer-longevity-to-offspring/

Research in C. elegans shows that longevity-related changes in lysosomes can be passed from parents to offspring. The study links lysosomes to the epigenome and reveals a new way epigenetic information is inherited, allowing organisms to transmit stress adaptations without altering DNA. 

Credit: Shutterstock

New research shows that roundworms can transmit lifespan-extending traits across generations through histone-based epigenetic inheritance, reshaping our understanding of how non-genetic information is passed down.

In the Wang Lab, it’s not unusual for worms to live for a long time.

HHMI Janelia Research Campus Senior Group Leader Meng Wang and her team study longevity. They’ve shown that by overexpressing an enzyme in the lysosomes of the roundworm C. elegans, they can extend the worm’s life by up to 60 percent.

But surprisingly, the team found the worms’ progeny without this genetic modification were still living longer than normal. When they crossed their long-lived worms with “wild-type” worms that weren’t overexpressing the enzyme—a routine lab procedure used to wipe clean any genetic manipulations—they saw that the offspring also lived longer than normal worms. Somehow, the longevity markers were being transferred from generation to generation, even four generations later.

In new research, Wang and her team uncover how changes in the worm’s lysosomes that promote longevity are transferred from cells in its body to its reproductive cells through histones—proteins that play a key role in organizing and regulating DNA. In reproductive cells, these histone messengers cause modifications in the worm’s epigenome—a collection of chemical tags that regulate gene expression—enabling the lysosomal changes to be passed from generation to generation without changing the underlying DNA.

A tulip-shaped image of a worm shows the intestine on the left and the germline on the right. Green highlights histone H3 lysine 79 dimethylation, while magenta marks cell nuclei stained with DAPI.

 Credit: Meng Wang




The findings have repercussions well beyond longevity. Epigenetic modifications can help organisms cope with many different types of environmental stressors—from diet changes to pollutant exposure to psychological stress—and the new work shows how these advantages could be conferred from parents to their offspring.

“You always think that your inheritance is in the nucleus, within the cell, but now we show that the histone can go from one place to another place, and if that histone carries any modification, that means you are going to transfer the epigenetic information from one cell to another,” Wang says. “It really provides a mechanism for understanding the transgenerational effect.”

Uncovering inheritance

The researchers found that one type of histone modification—a type of epigenetic change—was elevated in long-lived worms compared to those with normal lifespans. They wanted to see how this modification related to lysosomal changes that promote longevity.

Using a combination of genetic tools, transcriptomics, and imaging, they found that changes in lysosomal metabolism affecting the worms’ longevity activate a series of processes inside the cell. These actions trigger an increase in a specific histone variant, which is transported from the worm’s somatic or body tissues to its germline or reproductive cells through proteins that deliver nutrients to developing eggs. In the germline, the histone is modified, allowing the information from the lysosome to enter the germline and be passed from parent to child.

The researchers show that this pathway is activated during fasting, which causes a change in lysosomal metabolism—providing a link from the physiological phenomenon to the changes in the germline.

The new work adds to a growing body of evidence that lysosomes, once thought to only act as the cell’s recycling centers, also function as a signaling hub to control different processes in the cell and now are shown to affect generations.

The new research also unveils a new mechanism for transporting information from somatic to germline cells through histones, which could help explain how other types of inherited information are passed from parent to offspring.

By providing a mechanism for understanding how environmental changes to somatic cells are passed through the germline, the new work could help researchers better understand transgenerational effects that have been previously observed, like the malnutrition of a parent affecting its offspring.

“We now show that the soma and the germline can be connected by the histone and can carry memorable genetic information for generations,” Wang says.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Vast Anomaly in Earth's Gravity Field Signals Shifts Deep Beneath The Surface

29 Sept. 2025, By M. STARR

https://www.sciencealert.com/vast-anomaly-in-earths-gravity-field-signals-shifts-deep-beneath-the-surface

Some of Earth's gravitational anomalies as recorded by GRACE. 

(NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio)

In 2007, something strange happened over the eastern Atlantic Ocean. According to satellites orbiting Earth, our planet's gravity field developed a continent-scale anomaly before subsiding to its original state.

The odd event, undetectable to humans on the surface, has only just been discovered in data collected by gravity-monitoring satellites – and the cause was a tremendous redistribution of mass far beneath us, a new analysis suggests.

According to a team led by geophysicist Charlotte Gaugne Gouranton of Paris City University in France, that redistribution was likely the result of a phase change of material some 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) down, close to the lower boundary of the mantle.

The anomaly was detected by a joint DLR and NASA mission called Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), a pair of satellites that orbited Earth from 2002 to 2017.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s93i7m82h54&t=1s

As they whirl around in low-Earth orbit, satellite configurations are far more sensitive to changes in Earth's gravity field than sensors on the surface. They stay within a detectable proximity to each other in a precise formation; the distance between them changes as the strength of the gravity field changes.

These changes can then be linked to changes in mass distribution on the surface, such as changes in groundwater reservoirs, glacial melt, and sea level changes, all of which manifest as tiny changes in the planetary gravity field.

Gaugne Gouranton and her colleagues thought it possible that these satellites might have recorded some mass shifts from deeper within the planet, so they scoured the data collected during the GRACE mission's tenure, looking for signs of an anomaly that didn't fit with surface activity.

Between 2006 and 2008, with a peak in January 2007, they found a subtle but vast dipole pattern: stronger gravity in one band and weaker just next to it, spanning about 7,000 kilometers over the eastern Atlantic. This pattern indicates mass being redistributed, rather than simply added or removed.

What made this signal even more intriguing was that it coincided with a jerk in Earth's magnetic field in the same region, recorded by other satellites, known as a geomagnetic jerk. These changes are thought to be the result of changes deep inside the planet, close to or even in the liquid outer core.

The researchers modeled various scenarios to determine if the gravitational anomaly could be linked to surface processes, with a specific focus on shifting water, both groundwater and oceanic.

Not only were the models unable to match the location, scale, or timing of the anomaly, but the sheer amount of moving water required to produce an anomaly of the observed scale would be physically impossible.

Once surface processes had been ruled out, it remained for the researchers to work out what processes deep under the surface could have been responsible.

The most abundant mineral in Earth's mantle is bridgmanite ((Mg,Fe)SiO₃). Under certain conditions, bridgmanite can undergo a phase transition, shifting from a perovskite crystalline structure to a post-perovskite structure.

This means that the atoms inside the mineral shift into a different lattice configuration, and it happens under very high pressures and temperatures that are only naturally found at the core-mantle boundary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-ab1YPBdj8&t=2s

This change in the structure of bridgmanite also involves a significant change in the material's density, which would redistribute the mass in that region quite rapidly, producing dramatic shifts in the gravity field above. This can also explain the geomagnetic jerk that occurred at the same time.

The team's work is yet to be confirmed, but there are other implications. Seismic data has revealed strange blobs of material near Earth's core that seem to have different properties from the surrounding material. The proposed location of the 2007 gravitational anomaly phase shift was very close to one of these blobs, which could mean the two phenomena are linked.

"By analyzing time series of GRACE-derived gravity gradients, we have identified an anomalous large-scale gravity gradient signal in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, maximum at the beginning of 2007, which cannot be fully explained by surface water sources nor core fluid flows," the researchers write.

"This leads us to suggest that at least part of this signal could reflect rapid mass redistributions deep in the mantle."

How common these mass redistributions could be, and how they fit in with the broader landscape of Earth's interior dynamics, remains to be investigated.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Mushrooms Evolved Psychedelics Twice, and Scientists Just Found Out

BY LEIBNIZ INST. - HANS KNÖLL INST., SEPT. 27, 2025

https://scitechdaily.com/mushrooms-evolved-psychedelics-twice-and-scientists-just-found-out/

Psilocybe cubensis grows worldwide in tropical and subtropical regions, including Central and South America, Southeast Asia, and Oceania. The mushroom prefers moist, fertilizer-rich soils and contains the psychoactive substance psilocybin, which is currently being researched as an active compound for the treatment of therapy-resistant depression. 

Credit: Felix Blei, Leibniz-HKI

Scientists have uncovered that mushrooms evolved the ability to make psilocybin not once but twice, using completely different biochemical toolkits.

This rare case of convergent evolution shows nature arriving at the same mind-altering molecule by two separate paths. The true reason fungi produce psilocybin remains unsolved, but theories range from predator defense to chemical communication. Beyond evolutionary intrigue, the discovery also offers new enzyme tools that could help produce psilocybin more efficiently for future medicines.
Ancient Molecule With a Modern Role

“This concerns the biosynthesis of a molecule that has a very long history with humans,” explains Prof. Dirk Hoffmeister, head of the research group Pharmaceutical Microbiology at Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology (Leibniz-HKI).

“We are referring to psilocybin, a substance found in so-called ‘magic mushrooms’, which our body converts into psilocin – a compound that can profoundly alter consciousness. However, psilocybin not only triggers psychedelic experiences, but is also considered a promising active compound in the treatment of therapy-resistant depression,” says Hoffmeister.

Two Evolutionary Paths to Psilocybin

The study, carried out within the Cluster of Excellence ‘Balance of the Microverse’, reveals that fungi developed the ability to produce psilocybin on at least two separate occasions in evolutionary history. Psilocybe mushrooms rely on a familiar set of enzymes to make the molecule, while fiber cap mushrooms use an entirely different biochemical toolkit. Despite these very different methods, both groups arrive at the same compound. Scientists call this convergent evolution, when unrelated species independently evolve the same trait.

Two paths lead to the same molecule: Independently of each other, different genera of ‘magic mushrooms’ have developed two different enzyme pathways that produce the same psychoactive substance, psilocybin – a rare example of convergent evolution in natural product biosynthesis. 

Credit: Tim Schäfer, Leibniz-HKI

Hidden Clues in Fungal Genomes

Lead author Tim Schäfer, a doctoral researcher in Hoffmeister’s lab, explains: “It was like looking at two different workshops, but both ultimately delivering the same product. In the fiber caps, we found a unique set of enzymes that have nothing to do with those found in Psilocybe mushrooms. Nevertheless, they all catalyze the steps necessary to form psilocybin.”

The team then studied these enzymes in the lab. Using protein models built by Innsbruck chemist Bernhard Rupp, they confirmed that the reaction sequence in fiber caps differs greatly from what is known in Psilocybe. “Here, nature has actually invented the same active compound twice,” notes Schäfer.

Mysteries Behind the Molecule’s Purpose

However, why two such different groups of fungi produce the same active compound remains unclear. “The real answer is: we don’t know,” emphasizes Hoffmeister. “Nature does nothing without reason. So there must be an advantage to both fiber cap mushrooms in the forest and Psilocybe species on manure or wood mulch producing this molecule – we just don’t know what it is yet.”

“One possible reason could be that psilocybin is intended to deter predators. Even the smallest injuries cause Psilocybe mushrooms to turn blue through a chemical chain reaction, revealing the breakdown products of psilocybin. Perhaps the molecule is a type of chemical defense mechanism,” says Hoffmeister.

Biotech Opportunities From Fungal Chemistry

Although it is still unclear why different fungi ultimately produce the same molecule, the discovery nevertheless has practical implications: “Now that we know about additional enzymes, we have more tools in our toolbox for the biotechnological production of psilocybin,” explains Hoffmeister.

Schäfer is also looking ahead: “We hope that our results will contribute to the future production of psilocybin for pharmaceuticals in bioreactors without the need for complex chemical syntheses.” At the Leibniz-HKI in Jena, Hoffmeister’s team is working closely with the Bio Pilot Plant, which is developing processes for producing natural products, such as psilocybin, on an industrial scale.

Unlocking Nature’s Hidden Strategies

At the same time, the study provides exciting insights into the diversity of chemical strategies used by fungi and their interactions with their environment. It thus addresses central questions of the Collaborative Research Center ChemBioSys and the Cluster of Excellence ׅ‘Balance of the Microverse’ at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, within the framework of which the work was carried out and funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), among others. While the CRC ChemBioSys investigates how natural compounds shape biological communities, the Cluster of Excellence focuses on the complex dynamics of microorganisms and their environment.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Scientists “Improve on Mother Nature” To Create Powerful Cancer-Killing Molecule

BY MED. RESEARCH COUNCIL (MRC) LAB. OF MEDICAL SCI., SEPT. 28, 2025

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-improve-on-mother-nature-to-create-powerful-cancer-killing-molecule/

Researchers discovered that bacteria inside tumors can create a molecule that makes chemotherapy more powerful. This surprising microbial ally could pave the way for new, more effective cancer treatments.

 Credit: Shutterstock

A bacterial molecule enhances chemotherapy. Its synthetic form could inspire new cancer drugs.

An international group of researchers, led by teams at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS), Imperial College London, and the University of Cologne, has discovered that bacteria living within tumors can generate a molecule that influences cancer development and enhances the effectiveness of chemotherapy.

While microbes are commonly recognized for their roles on the skin or in the gut, more recent findings show that tumors also harbor their own bacterial communities. Scientists are now working to understand how these tumor-associated microbes shape cancer growth and the body’s response to treatment.

In a study published online in Cell Systems, the researchers reported a major breakthrough: they identified a strong anti-cancer compound made by bacteria linked to colorectal cancer. This discovery opens up new possibilities for therapy, including drugs designed to amplify the benefits of existing treatments.

Discovery of a bacterial metabolite

To reach this finding, the team carried out an extensive screening process, testing more than 1,100 conditions in the microscopic worm C. elegans. They discovered that E. coli produced a molecule known as 2-methylisocitrate (2-MiCit), which could increase the potency of the chemotherapy drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU).

Computer modelling showed that the tumor-associated microbiome (bacteria located in and around tumors) in patients also had the capacity to produce 2-MiCit. To validate these results, the scientists tested the molecule in two additional systems: cultured human cancer cells and a fly model of colorectal cancer. In both cases, 2-MiCit demonstrated strong anti-cancer activity, and in the fly model, it was able to extend lifespan.

An artistic representation of tumor-associated microbes impacting the efficacy of anti-cancer drugs. Credit: Julie Schubert, an Admin Assistant from the Cabreiro Lab at the University of Cologne



Professor Filipe Cabreiro, head of the Host-Microbe Co-Metabolism group at the LMS, and group leader at the CECAD Research Cluster in Cologne, explains the significance of the discovery: “We’ve known that bacteria are associated with tumors, and now we’re starting to understand the chemical conversation they’re having with cancer cells. We found that one of these bacterial chemicals can act as a powerful partner for chemotherapy, disrupting the metabolism of cancer cells and making them more vulnerable to the drug.”

How 2-MiCit disrupts cancer cells

The study revealed that 2-MiCit works by inhibiting a key enzyme in the mitochondria (structures inside cells that generate energy for cellular functions) of cancer cells. This leads to DNA damage and activates pathways known to reduce the progression of cancer. This multi-pronged attack weakens the cancer cells and works in synergy with 5-FU. The combination was significantly more effective at killing cancer cells than either compound alone.

Dr Daniel Martinez-Martinez, postdoctoral researcher at the LMS and first author of the paper, says: “Microbes are an essential part of us. That a single molecule can exert such a profound impact on cancer progression is truly remarkable, and another piece of evidence on how complex biology can be when considering it from a holistic point of view. It is really exciting because we are only scratching the surface of what is really happening.”

In collaboration with medicinal chemists, the researchers also modified the 2-MiCit compound to enhance its effectiveness. This synthetic version proved even more powerful at killing cancer cells, demonstrating the potential to develop new drugs based on natural microbial products. Filipe adds: “Using the natural microbial product as a starting point, we were able to design a more potent molecule, effectively improving on Mother Nature.”

These exciting discoveries highlight how the cancer-associated microbiome can impact tumor progression, and how metabolites produced by these bacteria could be harnessed to improve cancer treatments. These findings are also important in the context of personalized medicine, emphasizing the importance of considering not only the patient, but also their microbes.

The Life of Earth

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Earth’s Ancient Shield: Scientists Crack the Billion-Year-Old Mystery of the Magnetic Field

BY E. ZURICH. SEPT. 29, 2025

https://scitechdaily.com/earths-ancient-shield-scientists-crack-the-billion-year-old-mystery-of-the-magnetic-field/

A view of the Earth’s interior around 1 billion years ago: Tangled magnetic field lines inside the core are linked with the Earth’s exterior magnetic field. (Scientifically correct image from a research simulation). 

Credit: ETH Zurich / SUS Tech

A new model uncovers how Earth’s liquid core has sustained its magnetic field since the planet’s beginnings, offering new insights into its future.

Earth benefits from the presence of a magnetic field, which acts as a shield against harmful cosmic radiation and makes life possible. In contrast, planets like Mars are exposed to a constant barrage of charged particles that create a far more hostile environment.

Scientists attribute Earth’s magnetic field to what is known as the dynamo theory. According to this explanation, the slow cooling of the planet’s liquid iron and nickel core drives powerful convection currents in the outer core. As Earth rotates, these flows are deflected, spiraling in screw-like patterns. The motion of the liquid metal generates electric currents, which in turn create magnetic fields, giving rise to most of Earth’s protective magnetic shield.

Yet this theory has a limitation. Before the inner core began to crystallize—an event that occurred about 1 billion years ago—the Earth’s core was entirely liquid. This raises a critical question: could a magnetic field have existed during that earlier period?

A recent study published in Nature offers an answer. In it, three geophysicists from ETH Zurich and SUSTech in China present new insights that shed light on this longstanding mystery.
New model provides the answer

As the Earth’s interior and the processes taking place within it cannot be observed directly, geoscientists study this with the aid of computer models.

The researchers developed a computer model of the Earth with which to simulate whether a completely liquid core could also generate a stable magnetic field. Their simulations were partially calculated on the Piz Daint high-performance computer at the CSCS in Lugano.

In the simulations, the researchers demonstrate the correct physical regime in which the Earth’s core viscosity has no influence on the dynamo effect. This means that the Earth’s magnetic field was generated in the early history of the Earth in a similar way to today.

The research team is the first to successfully minimize the influence of the Earth’s core viscosity to a negligible value in a model. “Until now, no one has ever managed to perform such calculations under these correct physical conditions,” says the study’s lead author, Yufeng Lin.
Understanding the history of the Earth’s magnetic field

“This finding helps us to better understand the history of the Earth’s magnetic field and is useful in interpreting data from the geological past,” says co-author Andy Jackson, Professor of Geophysics at ETH Zurich.

This also places the emergence of life in a different light. Billions of years ago, life apparently benefited from the magnetic shield, which blocked harmful radiation from space, making its development possible in the first place.

The researchers can also use the new findings to study the magnetic fields of other celestial bodies, such as the Sun or the planets Jupiter and Saturn.
Indispensable for modern civilizations

The Earth’s magnetic field not only protects life, however; it plays a crucial role in making satellite communications and many other aspects of modern civilization possible. “It is therefore important to understand how the magnetic field is generated, how it changes over time, and what mechanisms maintain it,” says Jackson. “If we understand how the magnetic field is generated, we can predict its future development.”

The magnetic field has changed its polarity thousands of times throughout the history of the Earth. In recent decades, researchers have also observed a rapid shift of the magnetic north pole toward the geographic north pole. It is essential for our civilization to understand how magnetism is changing on Earth.

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Graham Hancock: They Tried to Silence Me About Real World Map - But I'm Revealing it Anyway!

By Uncovered X on ytube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMSDdfhLiBA

What if the world we know is built on fragments of a civilization long forgotten? Ancient maps like the Piri Reis chart show Antarctica ice-free 12,000 years ago, centuries before modern explorers even knew the continent existed.

Genetic traces link the Amazon to Australasia in ways no migration theory can explain. And megalithic ruins like the Bimini Road align perfectly with coastlines that vanished beneath the ocean at the end of the last Ice Age.

In this video, we explore Graham Hancock’s explosive claims: that humanity’s greatest age of exploration happened not 3,000 years ago with the Polynesians, but 12,000 years ago—and that evidence of a global seafaring culture lies hidden beneath rising seas, lost libraries, and myths of world floods.

 Some believe these maps are echoes of a human civilization erased by time. Others whisper they’re proof of something else—external intelligence mapping our world long before history began.

Could the maps, the DNA, and the ruins be the fingerprints of a forgotten age—or the first proof we were never alone?

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

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Strong Social Bonds May Literally Slow Aging at the Cellular Level

BY CORNELL U., SEPT. 28, 2025

https://scitechdaily.com/strong-social-bonds-may-literally-slow-aging-at-the-cellular-level/

A lifetime of social support, from nurturing parents to strong friendships, community ties, and faith-based connections, may help slow the body’s biological aging.

Credit: Stock

Strong, sustained social connections across life may slow biological aging, lowering inflammation and keeping the body’s “epigenetic clock” younger.

A lifetime of supportive relationships and community ties may help slow the body’s aging process. From the warmth of parents in childhood to friendships, religious involvement, and engagement in community life during adulthood, these social advantages appear to influence biological aging. Researchers suggest that such advantages can “reset” what are known as epigenetic clocks, making a person’s biological age younger than the number of years they have actually lived.

The findings were published in the journal Brain, Behavior and Immunity – Health and are based on data from more than 2,100 adults who participated in the long-term Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study.

Anthony Ong, a psychology professor at Cornell University, and his colleagues discovered that individuals with greater “cumulative social advantage” experienced slower rates of epigenetic aging and showed reduced levels of chronic inflammation.

Central to the research were epigenetic clocks, molecular markers that estimate how quickly the body is aging. Two clocks in particular, GrimAge and DunedinPACE, are considered among the best predictors of disease risk and lifespan. Participants who maintained broader and more consistent social networks displayed notably younger biological profiles on both measures.

The Role of Lifelong Relationships

“Cumulative social advantage is really about the depth and breadth of your social connections over a lifetime,” Ong said. “We looked at four key areas: the warmth and support you received from your parents growing up, how connected you feel to your community and neighborhood, your involvement in religious or faith-based communities, and the ongoing emotional support from friends and family.”

The researchers hypothesized that sustained social advantage becomes reflected in core regulatory systems linked to aging, including epigenetic, inflammatory, and neuroendocrine pathways. Remarkably, they found that higher social advantage was linked to lower levels of interleukin-6, a pro-inflammatory molecule implicated in heart disease, diabetes, and neurodegeneration. Interestingly, however, there were no significant associations with short-term stress markers like cortisol or catecholamines.

Unlike many earlier studies that looked at social factors in isolation – whether a person is married, for example, or how many friends they have – this work conceptualized “cumulative social advantage” as a multidimensional construct. And by combining both early and later-life relational resources, the measure reflects the ways advantage clusters and compounds.

“What’s striking is the cumulative effect – these social resources build on each other over time,” Ong said. “It’s not just about having friends today; it’s about how your social connections have grown and deepened throughout your life. That accumulation shapes your health trajectory in measurable ways.”

Long-Term Impact on Health

This doesn’t mean a single friendship or volunteer stint can turn back the biological clock. The authors suggest that the depth and consistency of social connection, built across decades and different spheres of life, matters profoundly. The study adds weight to the growing view that social life is not just a matter of happiness or stress relief but a core determinant of physiological health.

“Think of social connections like a retirement account,” Ong said. “The earlier you start investing and the more consistently you contribute, the greater your returns. Our study shows those returns aren’t just emotional; they’re biological. People with richer, more sustained social connections literally age more slowly at the cellular level. Aging well means both staying healthy and staying connected – they’re inseparable.”

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Chuck's picture corner to Sept. 28, 2025

Enough rain has finally fallen to green the grass since last weekend's surprise frost. Fall has definitely arrived. So much to do to prepare for winter from making preserves to cleaning windows. Not to mention cleaning up after my roofing work.

So happy to see these raspberries that I was gifted growing well. Thanks Rhonda

still a dozen pears on the tree ready to harvest

willows the first to leaf out in the spring and the last to lose them in the fall

This nut tree stands out so much

the end of another day, last evening

12 L. jars from 16L of pickled beets we made Sat. 30 lbs of beets

well at least they are good for my heart. lol

the kitchen in action

Leaving Rachelle's in the mountains of Quebec

The lake that Rachell's mountain stream flows into.

Turkey tracks

wild flowers outside the solarium

We regrouted the tiles in the bathroom

Love the colour of the many wild asters about this time of year.

Enjoy your Day

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

DNA Study of 117-Year-Old Woman Reveals Clues to a Long Life

25 Sept. 2025, By C. CASSELLA

https://www.sciencealert.com/dna-study-of-117-year-old-woman-reveals-clues-to-a-long-life

Maria Branyas in 1925. (Wikimedia Commons/PD)

There's no escaping the unrelenting passage of time, but supercentenarians who live to see their 110th birthday have a peculiar ability to postpone the inevitable.

A thorough health evaluation of one of the world's oldest people, Maria Branyas, suggests that one of the reasons she lived to 117 was that she possessed an exceptionally young genome.

Some of her rare genetic variants are linked to longevity, immune function, and a healthy heart and brain.

Scientists in Spain say they are now using these findings to "provide a fresh look at human aging biology, suggesting biomarkers for healthy aging, and potential strategies to increase life expectancy."

The results are based on blood, saliva, urine, and stool samples that Branyas volunteered before her passing in 2024, when she was the oldest living person in the world.

According to a team led by scientists at the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute in Barcelona, Branyas had cells that "felt" or "behaved" as though they were much younger than her chronological age. She exceeded the average life expectancy of women in her home of Catalonia by more than 30 years.

Maria Branyas on her 117th birthday. 

(Family archive of Maria Branyas Morera/Wikimedia Commons/PD)



In her ripe old age, Branyas presented with overall good health, scientists say, marked by excellent cardiovascular health and very low levels of inflammation.

Despite her advanced years, her immune system and gut microbiome both had markers that matched much younger cohorts. She also displayed extremely low levels of 'bad' cholesterol and triglycerides, and very high levels of 'good' cholesterol.


All of these factors may help explain her excellent health and extreme longevity.

Branyas lived a mentally, socially, and physically active life, but she also lucked out on genetics. While eating a Mediterranean diet high in yogurt may have played a role in her lengthy life, extreme longevity is probably influenced by a wide range of genetic and environmental variables.

Interestingly, scientists noticed a "huge erosion" in Branyas' telomeres – the caps at the ends of her chromosomes.

Telomeres protect our genetic material, and shorter ones are linked to a higher risk of death. Recent studies, however, suggest that among the oldest of the old, telomeres are not actually a useful biomarker of aging.

In fact, having very short telomeres may have provided Branyas with an advantage. Hypothetically speaking, write the authors, the short lifespan of her body's cells may have stopped cancer from ever proliferating.

"The picture that emerges from our study, although derived only from this one exceptional individual, shows that extremely advanced age and poor health are not intrinsically linked," write the researchers, led by epigeneticists Eloy Santos-Pujol and Aleix Noguera-Castells.

Younger features and aging features of Maria Branyas. 

(Santos-Pujol et al.,Cell Reports, 2025)

Research on just one person, especially one as remarkable as Branyas, is limited in what it can reveal for the rest of us. Santos-Pujol, Noguera-Castells, and their colleagues in Spain acknowledge that larger cohorts are needed to extrapolate on their results.

But larger studies comparing exceptionally long-lived people to their shorter-lived peers have also found biomarkers that set some humans apart, including unique features that may help them resist disease.

Centenarians are the fastest-growing demographic in the world, but only 1 in 10 people who make it to 100 live to see the next decade. What Branyas has provided researchers is a rare opportunity to study the possible pathways that make an extreme human lifespan possible.

The birth of modern Man

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

23 Sept. 2025, By D. NIELD

 https://www.sciencealert.com/study-reveals-brain-system-that-repairs-your-body-while-you-sleep

(Richard Drury/DigitalVision/Getty Images)

When we sleep, the body releases its 'growth hormone', building up and repairing muscles and bones – but the details of how and why have been something of a mystery, until now.

Through a close analysis of brain circuitry in mice, researchers led by a team from the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) have found special mechanisms and feedback loops that regulate growth hormone release while we sleep.

The findings could help us better treat conditions that come with sleep problems, including type 2 diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. Understanding sleep is the key to understanding a whole host of aspects of our health.

"People know that growth hormone release is tightly related to sleep, but only through drawing blood and checking growth hormone levels during sleep," says neuroscientist Xinlu Ding, from UC Berkeley.

"We're actually directly recording neural activity in mice to see what's going on. We are providing a basic circuit to work on in the future to develop different treatments."

The researchers analyzed the release of growth hormone in mice during sleep/wake cycles. 

(Ding et al., Cell, 2025)

That directly recorded neural activity, logged during multiple sleep-wake cycles in mice, revealed that growth hormone was released in different ways during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep and non-REM sleep.

While growth hormone was increased in both phases, the neurons promoting and inhibiting its production shifted in terms of their influence. There was also a feedback loop involving neurons in the locus coeruleus, a part of the brain linked to wakefulness.

"This suggests that sleep and growth hormone form a tightly balanced system," says neuroscientist Daniel Silverman. "Too little sleep reduces growth hormone release, and too much growth hormone can in turn push the brain toward wakefulness."

"Sleep drives growth hormone release, and growth hormone feeds back to regulate wakefulness, and this balance is essential for growth, repair, and metabolic health."

Besides its main job – promoting growth – growth hormone manages how glucose and fat are processed in the body. Without the right amount of the hormone, through a lack of sleep, the risk of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease can increase. That adds to the number of ways that the new discoveries could be linked to good health.

What's more, the locus coeruleus also plays a part in managing how alert the brain is while we're awake. It's possible that the mechanisms revealed here are affecting cognition during the day.

A lot more research is needed to determine all this for sure, and while there's good reason to believe that human brains and mice brains operate in the same way in these areas, it still needs to be proven. Ultimately though, new treatments for poor sleep could follow, which is something so many of us struggle with.

"Understanding the neural circuit for growth hormone release could eventually point toward new hormonal therapies to improve sleep quality or restore normal growth hormone balance," says Silverman.

"There are some experimental gene therapies where you target a specific cell type. This circuit could be a novel handle to try to dial back the excitability of the locus coeruleus, which hasn't been talked about before."

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

What’s Shaking Santorini? AI Reveals Massive Magma Movement Under the Aegean Sea

BY HELMHOLTZ CENTRE FOR OCEAN RESEARCH KIEL (GEOMAR), SEPT. 24, 2025

https://scitechdaily.com/whats-shaking-santorini-ai-reveals-massive-magma-movement-under-the-aegean-sea/

Scientists have uncovered that Santorini’s earthquake swarm was sparked by magma rising from deep below, mapped with cutting-edge AI and seafloor sensors. 

Credit: SciTechDaily.com

The analysis of the earthquake swarm around Santorini reveals the origin and development of the seismic crisis.

At the start of 2025, the Greek island of Santorini and its surroundings were rocked by tens of thousands of earthquakes. A new study in Nature from the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences and GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, conducted with international partners, now offers the first detailed geological explanation of this seismic crisis.

By combining measurements from land-based earthquake stations with data collected by instruments on the seafloor near the Kolumbo underwater volcano (about 7 km from Santorini), researchers applied an advanced AI-supported technique to pinpoint earthquake activity. Their analysis shows that nearly 300 million cubic meters of magma rose from deep within the crust and stalled roughly four kilometers beneath the ocean floor. As it traveled upward, the magma fractured surrounding rock, producing thousands of quakes and tremors.

A seismically unstable region – geological background

Santorini itself lies in the eastern Mediterranean within the Hellenic volcanic arc, one of the region’s most geologically active areas. The island group forms the edge of a caldera created by a colossal eruption about 3,600 years ago, a landmark event in volcanic history.

The active underwater volcano Kolumbo lies in the immediate vicinity. In addition, the region is crossed by several active geological fault zones, which is the result of the African Plate pushing north-east against the Hellenic Plate. The Earth’s crust beneath the Mediterranean region has broken up into several microplates that shift against each other, and in some cases subduct and melt, thus, sourcing volcanic activity.

Santorini has produced multiple eruptions is historic times, most recently in 1950. In 1956, two severe earthquakes occurred in the southern Aegean Sea, only 13 minutes apart, between Santorini and the neighboring island of Amorgos. These had magnitudes of 7.4 and 7.2 respectively, triggering a tsunami.

The earthquake swarm that initiated in late January 2025 took place in exactly this region. During the crisis, more than 28,000 earthquakes were recorded. The strongest of these reached magnitudes of over 5.0. The severe shaking caused great public concern during the seismic crisis, partly because the cause was initially unclear, being potentially either tectonic or volcanic.

What happened underground? – Findings from the current study

The new study now shows that the earthquake swarm was triggered by the deep transport of magma. The chain of events had already begun in July 2024, when magma rose into a shallow reservoir beneath Santorini. This initially led to a barely noticeable uplift of Santorini by a few centimeters. At the beginning of January 2025, seismic activity intensified, and from the end of January, magma began to rise from the depths, accompanied by intense seismic activity.

However, the seismic activity shifted away from Santorini over a distance of more than 10 kilometers to the northeast. During this phase, the foci of the quakes moved in several pulses from a depth of 18 kilometers upwards to a depth of only 3 kilometers below the seafloor. The high-resolution temporal and spatial analysis of the earthquake distribution, combined with satellite radio interferometry (InSAR), GPS ground stations and seafloor stations, made it possible to model the events.

Dr Marius Isken, geophysicist at the GFZ and one of the two lead authors of the study, says: “The seismic activity was typical of magma ascending through the Earth’s crust. The migrating magma breaks the rock and forms pathways, which causes intense earthquake activity. Our analysis enabled us to trace the path and dynamics of the magma ascent with a high degree of accuracy.”

As a result of the magma movement, the island of Santorini subsided again, which the authors interpret as evidence of a previously unknown hydraulic connection between the two volcanoes. Dr Jens Karstens, marine geophysicist at GEOMAR and also lead author of the study, explains: “Through close international cooperation and the combination of various geophysical methods, we were able to follow the development of the seismic crisis in near real time and even learn something about the interaction between the two volcanoes. This will help us to improve the monitoring of both volcanoes in the future.”

View from many perspectives – methods

Two factors in particular enabled the exceptionally detailed mapping of the subsurface. For one, an AI-driven method developed at the GFZ for the automatic evaluation of large seismic data sets. Secondly, GEOMAR had already deployed underwater sensors at the crater of the underwater volcano Kolumbo at the beginning of January as part of the MULTI-MAREX project. These sensors not only measured seismic signals directly above the reservoir, but also pressure changes resulting from the subsidence of the seabed by up to 30 centimeters during the intrusion of magma beneath Kolumbo.

Scientific research activity on Santorini is continuing despite the decline in seismic activity. The GFZ is conducting repeated gas and temperature measurements on Santorini, while GEOMAR currently has eight seabed sensor platforms in operation.

Prof. Dr Heidrun Kopp, Professor of Marine Geodesy at GEOMAR and project manager of MULTI-MAREX, says: “The joint findings were always shared with the Greek authorities in order to enable the fastest and most accurate assessment of the situation possible in the event of new earthquakes.” Co-author Prof. Dr Paraskevi Nomikou is Professor of Geological Oceanography at the University of Athens and works closely with the German partner institutes on the MULTI-MAREX project. She adds: “This long-standing cooperation made it possible to jointly manage the events at the beginning of the year and to analyze them so precisely from a scientific point of view. Understanding the dynamics in this geologically highly active region as accurately as possible is crucial for the safety and protection of the population.”

The Life of Earth

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/

Scientists Finally Reveal Why 'Hobbits' Were So Small

26 Sept. 2025, By T. MONSON & A. WEITZ, THE CONVERSATION

https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-finally-reveal-why-hobbits-were-so-small

A Homo floresiensis skull.

 (Stuart Hay/ANU)

Until Homo floresiensis was discovered, scientists assumed that the evolution of the human lineage was defined by bigger and bigger brains.

Via a process called encephalization, human brains evolved to be relatively more massive than would be expected based on corresponding body size.

This proportionally bigger brain is what anthropologists argued enabled us and our relatives to perform more complex tasks such as using fire, forging and wielding tools, making art and domesticating animals.

Exhibit on brain size at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. 

(Tesla Monson)

But these theories had to be thrown out the window when archaeologists announced our fossil cousins Homo floresiensis via scientific publication in 2004. Homo floresiensis lived from about 700,000 to 60,000 years ago in the rainforests of Indonesia, partially contemporaneous with our own species.

Aptly nicknamed Hobbits, Homo floresiensis were short-statured, at just over 3 feet (1 meter) tall, and had a chimp-size brain. This discovery upended the assumption that brains have been increasing in size over the past several million years and generated confusion about what separates recent human relatives in our genus Homo from our more ancient ancestors.

Our new research on the skulls and teeth provides a novel theory for how the Hobbits evolved to be small.


We are professors of anthropology at Western Washington University. After attending a 2023 workshop for biological anthropologists studying juveniles in the fossil record, we began looking at brain size changes across human evolution.

Our previous work on the proportions of molar teeth generated new insights into the evolution of pregnancy by demonstrating that fetal growth rates are tightly linked to molar proportions in primates. Now, we wanted to see whether we could uncover a relationship between tooth proportions and brain size among our fossil relatives.

Paleontologists have only limited skeletal materials, sometimes only a few teeth, for many fossil species, including Homo floresiensis. If tooth proportions can provide information about fossil brain size, it opens up a world of possibilities for assessing past changes in encephalization.

Reconstructing brain size using teeth

We collated data on tooth and brain size for 15 fossil species on the human family tree, spanning about 5 million years of evolution. Somewhat oxymoronically, the third molars – otherwise known as wisdom teeth – have gotten proportionally smaller as brain size has gotten larger throughout human evolution, for most species.

Overall, human relatives with relatively larger wisdom teeth are more ancient and had smaller brains. More recent taxa, like Homo neanderthalensis, had relatively smaller third molars, compared to their other teeth, and larger brains.

This relationship allows researchers to figure out something about brain size for fossils that are incomplete, perhaps existing only as a few lone teeth. Since teeth are predominately made of inorganic matter, they survive in the fossil record much more often than other parts of the body, making up the vast majority of paleontological materials recovered.

Being able to know more about brain size from just a few teeth is a truly useful tool.

A replica of LB1, the most complete skeleton of Homo floresiensis, in profile in an exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. 

(Tesla Monson)



Scientists recognize now that the formation of the brain and the teeth are inextricably connected during gestation. And for most species, larger brains are correlated with smaller wisdom teeth.

The one exception in genus Homo is Homo floresiensis, the Hobbit. The wisdom teeth of the Hobbits are small proportional to the other molars – the typical pattern for members of genus Homo. But their brains are also small, which is quite unusual.

There are two primary ways for brain size to decrease: by slowing down growth during gestation before birth or by slowing down growth after birth, during childhood. Because teeth develop early in gestation, slowing down growth rates during pregnancy tends to affect tooth shape and size, or even whether the teeth develop at all.

Slowing growth later, during childhood, influences skeletal shape and size in other ways, because different parts of the body develop at different times.

Our new research provides evidence that the body size of Homo floresiensis likely shrank from a larger-bodied Homo ancestor by slowing down growth during childhood.

The Hobbits' small wisdom teeth suggest that, at least in utero, they were on track for the proportionally bigger brains that are the trademark of humans and their relatives. Any brake that slowed down brain growth likely occurred after birth.

In fact, this is the same mechanism through which some short-statured modern human populations have adapted to their local ecological conditions.

Getting small on islands

The small body size of Homo floresiensis was likely an adaptation to the unique conditions of their island environment on Flores.

Evolving small body size as an adaptation to living on an isolated island is known as insular nanism. There are many examples of other mammals becoming small on islands over the past 60 million years. But one of the most relevant examples is the dwarf elephant, Stegodon sondaarii, that lived on Flores and was hunted by H. floresiensis for food.

Both Homo floresiensis and Homo luzonensis, another short, island hominin from southeast Asia, likely evolved very short stature because of the ecological effects of limited food availability and lack of large predators, which tends to characterize island habitats.

Because brain size and body size are tightly linked, body size evolution inherently affects brain evolution. Among modern humans, larger people have larger brains, and smaller people have smaller brains.

But people with smaller brains are certainly no less intelligent than people with larger brains. Variation in body size dictates brain size; it is not a measure of cognitive ability. The island Hobbits crafted tools, hunted large-for-them game in the form of pygmy elephants, and likely made and used fire.

Our research supports that their small body size originated from a slowdown in growth during childhood. But this process would likely have had little impact on brain function or cognitive ability. We hypothesize that the Hobbits were small but highly capable.

Exhibit of cranial variation in fossil hominids, with Homo floresiensis in the foreground, at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. 

(Tesla Monson)

Understanding the evolution of us

New research, including our study, continues to reinforce the importance of understanding how pregnancy and child growth and development evolved. If we want to know what distinguishes humans from our evolutionary ancestors, and how we evolved, we must understand how the earliest moments of life have changed and why.

Our work also encourages the reevaluation of endless attention on increasing brain size as the predominant force in human evolution. Other species in genus Homo had small brains but were likely not much different from us.

The birth of modern Man

https://chuckincardinal.blogspot.com/