Bampot

We show that the impact of agropastoral societies on terrestrial ecosystems was locally confined during the Bronze and Iron Ages (5200–2750 years ago), although we record an onset of Pb pollution already at 5200 cal. years BP and thus about 1200 years earlier than previous archeological evidence. 

Our data demonstrate a marked increase in Pb pollution at 2150 cal. years BP that left an imprint across terrestrial and marine settings of the Aegean region. This first manifestation of marine pollution coincides with maximum deforestation and agricultural expansion, signaling pervasive human impact on ecosystems connected to the advanced monetized societies during the Hellenistic and Roman periods in Ancient Greece.

Rumored to have killed the Roman emperor Augustus, nightshade's berries are notoriously deadly. Tomatoes belong to the same plant family, Solanaceae, and produce toxic steroidal glycoalkaloids too.

Solanaceae make use of steroidal glycoalkaloids as a natural defense against pests. These molecules are thought to mess with animal cell membranes, damaging them and eventually causing cell death.

Potatoes, another member of this toxic family, have been cultivated to have safe levels of these compounds, though they can pump them out when damaged or exposed to large amounts of light.

Bai and team discovered that in tomatoes, the chemicals that make the fruits redder, softer, and sweeter also coordinate the breakdown of the toxic glycoalkaloid into a less toxic compound called esculeoside A.

"[This helps] ensure that high levels of toxic steroidal glycoalkaloids remain in immature fruits to maintain resistance against herbivory attacks, guaranteeing that the fruits reach the seed maturation stage," the team explains in their paper.

Source:

Removal of toxic steroidal glycoalkaloids and bitterness in tomato is controlled by a complex epigenetic and genetic network

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ads9601

Some forms of blood cancer, such as multiple myeloma and lymphoma, are malignant diseases that originate from immune cells, specifically lymphocytes. In recent years, CAR-T cell therapies have become an essential part of the treatment of patients whose lymphoma or multiple myeloma has relapsed. This involves genetically modifying the patient’s own T lymphocytes (T cells) in order to specifically recognise and eliminate the cancer cells using a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR).

A special case is the subject of the current scientific publication. A 63-year-old patient with multiple myeloma developed T cell lymphoma in the blood, skin and intestine nine months after undergoing CAR-T cell therapy at the University Hospital of Cologne. The tumour developed from the genetically modified T cells that were used in the treatment.

What is Indigenous futures thinking and who does it?

Futures thinking involves imagining and describing different possible futures. It asks us to consider what we want society, the environment and the world to look like in 50 or even 500 years from now. The future we think up can then be used as the basis for strategies to achieve those visions.

Futures thinking has helped people from diverse backgrounds to reach a common understanding of important issues and their underlying causes. It helps people find ways to work towards a future they prefer.

An important emerging area within this field is Indigenous futures thinking. This brings unique Indigenous perspectives into how people view the future. Indigenous perspectives emphasise the need to look after the land for the well-being of future generations.

Indigenous people consistently express their responsibilities for the past, present, and future of their societies and their traditional lands, built on centuries, sometimes millennia, of knowledge.

France's parliament on Thursday voted to limit the production and sale of some items containing polluting and health-threatening "forever chemicals" including cosmetics, most clothing and ski wax in the Alpine nation.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are human-made chemicals used since the late 1940s to mass produce the non-stick, waterproof and stain-resistant treatments that coat everything from frying pans to umbrellas, carpets, dental floss and ski wax.

Because PFAS take an extremely long time to break down—earning them their "forever" nickname—they have seeped into the soil and groundwater, and from there into the food chain and drinking water.

These chemicals have been detected virtually everywhere on Earth, from the top of Mount Everest to inside human blood and brains.

Chronic exposure to even low levels of the chemicals has been linked to liver damage, high cholesterol, reduced immune responses, low birthweights and several kinds of cancer.

Respiratory diseases are a challenging problem to treat. Inhalable medicines are a promising solution that depends on the ability to deliver tiny particles known as aerosols to the correct location in the lungs at the correct dosage.

How effectively this works can get complicated, depending on the drug, delivery method and patient. This is because it is difficult to predict just how much medicine gets in and where it goes in the lung. Similar challenges exist when thinking about measuring an inhaled environmental exposure, say to particles of asbestos or a toxin like smoke. If it's something environmental and toxic that we're worried about, knowing how far and how deep in the lung it goes is important.

Fromen and her team demonstrate how their new 3D lung model can advance the understanding of how inhalable medications behave in the upper airways and deeper areas of the lung.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-02-3d-lung-bar.html

A new research study highlights the significant health risks associated with dust storms, revealing an increase in emergency department (ED) visits for respiratory and cardiovascular conditions, as well as motor vehicle accidents, in three Southwestern U.S. states.

Dust storms are expected to become more frequent due to climate change, so it's crucial that we understand their immediate and long-term health impacts.

We often forget how wonderful it is that life exists, and what a special and unique phenomenon it is. As far as we know, ours is the only planet capable of supporting life, and it seems to have arisen in the form of something like today’s single-celled prokaryotic organisms.

However, scientists have not given up hope of finding what they call LUCA (Last Universal Common Ancestor, the ancestral cell from which all living things we know are descended) beyond the confines of our planet.

Martians in your stomach

In the 1980s, two Australian doctors, Barry Marshall and Robin Warren, began studying gastroduodenal ulcers. Until then, the condition had been attributed to stress or excess gastric acid secretion, which did little to help cure the condition.

In 2005, Barry Marshall and Robin Warren received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of Helicobacter pylori and its role in gastric diseases, a discovery that revolutionised the field of gastroenterology.

A new study, published in The Lancet Public Health, reveals that the food we eat, physical inactivity and obesity are largely to blame, as well as the COVID pandemic.

Of all the countries studied, England experienced the biggest slowdown in life expectancy.

It means that rather than looking forward to living longer than our parents or grandparents, we may find that we are dying sooner.

Countries studied included Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

https://www.rcseng.ac.uk/library-and-publications/library/blog/phossy-jaw-and-the-matchgirls/

Consider the examples of siding contractors cutting cementitious cladding materials for 8 hours a day, five days a week. Or trades that work with tile or granite countertops, as well as those cutting clay roof tiles or concrete slabs.

All of them, and others in similar roles, are at risk, including others working nearby, as silica dust can remain airborne for hours, posing risks even after the immediate task is completed.

Moreover, the development of silicosis can take years, particularly with chronic silicosis, which typically arises after a decade or more of low-level silica exposure. Inhalation of these small crystalline particles can lead to multiple health conditions, including the incurable lung disease silicosis, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and kidney disease.

Key Points

• Mineral dust concentrations from the MERRA-2 atmospheric reanalysis product are investigated at Hawaii's ocean Station ALOHA back to 1980

• Two semi-annual dust pulses at the site are described and little evidence is seen for long-term shifts in total dust or pulse timing

• Dust concentrations exhibit different periodicities and relationships with precipitation and Pacific Decadal Oscillation index

Plain Language Summary

Dust blown from Earth's continents fertilizes the oceans with iron and other nutrients needed for plants to grow. This affects ocean ecosystems and is an important control on Earth's climate. Modern models for the atmosphere report dust very precisely in time and space but rarely address how it affects specific ocean sites over time. We examine these best-available model outputs for a well-studied site at Hawaii to improve our understanding of how dust has varied over the many decades this region has been studied by oceanographic and atmospheric researchers.