Let’s delve into the new scientific research that happened in the past month or so and explore the latest technologies that are being created and breakthroughs that were achieved in this field.
In current blog, you will read about the following science events of the month:
- COP28 concludes in Dubai
- Earth nearing Climate breaking Point; Climate Catastrophe due!
- Fruits and Vegetables losing nutrients and taste
- Innovative Biocomputer developed that can recognize voices
- 1500 bird species driven to extinction due to Anthropogenic activities
- Organs aging quickly than others leads to diseases
- Quantum-Computing Approach Uses Single Molecules as Qubits for First Time
- IBM launches first ever 1000 Qubit Chip
- AI chemist performs complex experiments based on plain text prompts
- Sweaters created from fibre biomimicking Polar bear fur found to be extremely warm and lightweight
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| Current Science Report: December 2023; Mufawad |
COP28 concludes in Dubai
COP28, the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, took place from November 30 to December 13, 2023 at Expo City, Dubai. The conference included the 28th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 28) and the fifth meeting of the COP serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA 5).
The conference included the first Global Stocktake (GST), which provided a comprehensive assessment of progress since the adoption of the Paris Agreement. The GST will help align efforts on climate action, including putting measures in place to bridge the gaps in progress.
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The COP28 climate summit in Dubai envisaged the future world transitioning away from fossil fuels. Scientists, however, have voiced mixed reactions to a pledge to "transition away from fossil fuels" made by the world's governments at the end of the conference.
Lisa Schipper, a developmental geographer at the University of Bonn, Germany, says that "transitioning away" rather than "phasing out" fossil fuels is disappointing because "transition" could be interpreted in different ways. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the agency that organizes COP meetings, stated at the top of its press release that the COP28 agreement "signals the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era." However, hours after the agreement, Saudi Arabia's energy minister, Abdulaziz bin Salman, was reported in Al Arabiya, as saying that it would not affect the country's exports of crude oil.
Mizan Khan, an environmental scientist at the International Centre for Climate Change and Development in Dhaka, Bangladesh, says that most climate-vulnerable countries, including Bangladesh, wanted, at a minimum, to see in the agreement language on phasing out fossil fuels.
It is pertinent to mention here that COP meetings rarely produce strong outcomes, because decisions are made through a consensus of more than 190 countries. Charles Fletcher, a climate scientist at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa who studies sea-level rise, urged member states to consider taking decisions agreed on by only 75% of nations.
This year's COP meeting started optimistically with another historic deal in which rich countries pledged more than US$700 million to a new 'loss and damage fund' to support those nations that are most affected by climate change.
Some 130 participating governments also pledged to treble renewable energy generation capacity by 2030. The agreement includes text on how to provide funds to help countries adapt to the impacts of climate change, but it did not set actual targets or make specific financial commitments.
Sources: The Nature, Google Bard
Earth nearing Climate breaking Point; Climate Catastrophe due!
A report by over 200 scientists has issued a 'Doomsday' warning about major climate "tipping points" that could bring catastrophe worldwide in the next 10 years if the planet continues to heat up. The report, titled 'Global Tipping Points', states that five important natural thresholds are already at risk of being crossed, and three more may be reached in the 2030s if the world heats 1.5C (2.7F) above pre-industrial temperatures.
Triggering one tipping point could trigger another in a dangerous domino effect, potentially wiping out human livelihoods. These tipping points in the Earth system could also trigger damaging tipping points in societies, such as food security crises, mass displacement, and conflicts. Stopping these threats requires urgent global action.
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A tipping point is a situation where a small aberration in the ecosystem could trigger abrupt and irreversible changes due to amplifying feedback processes. The five major tipping points nearing crossing include the loss of the Greenland ice sheet, the demise of the West Antarctic ice sheet, the die-off of tropical coral reefs, the abrupt thaw of large areas of Arctic permafrost, and the slowing of an ocean current known as the North Atlantic subpolar gyre.
The warning comes as world leaders are in Dubai for the COP28 climate summit. EU's Copernicus Climate Change report predicts 2023 to be the hottest year on record, with an "extraordinary" November becoming the sixth record-breaking month in a row.
Sources: Wion
Fruits and Vegetables losing nutrients and taste
The agricultural fields around Rothamsted's estate in Hertfordshire, England, are home to the longest running scientific experiment in the world, the Broadbalk long-term experiments. In 1843, John Bennet Lawes, the owner of the estate, began a series of long-term field trials on the land, which became known as the Broadbalk long-term experiments. His aim was to test the effects of different mineral fertilisers and organic manures on the yield and quality of major British crops such as wheat and barley. Lawes and his colleagues kept samples of crops and soils, and successive generations of scientists at Rothamsted have continued to add to the collection.
The Rothamsted Sample Archive now holds more than 300,000 samples, providing a window into how farmers grew food in the past. Today, scientists use these samples in various ways, including comparing the nutrient content of today's fruit and vegetables with those of the past. However, what they are seeing is a bit of a puzzle.
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Researchers have been looking for a more scientific answer to the question of whether there is a nutrient collapse. In several papers, researchers have used food tables – country-by-country compendia of historical information on the mineral composition of foods – to report an apparent decline in micronutrients such as iron, vitamins, and zinc in fruit and vegetables over time.
One study on this subject dates back to 1997, when Anne-Marie Mayer, a nutrition consultant in the UK, looked at the composition of the UK government's food tables. She compared the mineral content of 20 fruits and 20 vegetables reported in the 1930s to those in the 1980s and found that the 1980s batch had lower levels of magnesium, copper, and other micronutrients.
In 2004, a team in the US carried out a similar analysis, comparing the nutrients in 43 raw vegetables commonly grown in home gardens in 1950 and 1999. They found an apparent decline in six nutrients (protein, calcium, phosphorus, iron, riboflavin, and vitamin C) in the later batch. However, while both papers show a clear decline over time, the authors of the latter explicitly state in the conclusion that their paper can't confirm with certainty whether there is a real decline in nutrients in staple foods. This is because the data used, taken from food tables, struggles to provide a clear answer.
In 2022, Mayer published another study comparing food in the UK with tables’ data, this time with three data points: 1940, 1991, and 2019. Her findings suggest an astonishing decline in nutrients since 1940, with the biggest overall reductions in sodium, iron, copper, and magnesium.
In conclusion, the conclusions from these studies tend to be controversial, and not all researchers agree that we're seeing a nutritional collapse based on this type of research. However, there are other strategies for assessing changes in nutrient levels, which brings us back to Hertfordshire.
A 2008 study by McGrath found that grain mineral concentrations in wheat grains were stable between 1845 and 1967, but began to decline after 1968 due to the use of inorganic fertilisers. Micronutrients either remained stable or increased over the same period, with some minerals being attributed to inorganic fertilisers. However, soils worldwide are not in perfect shape, as agricultural practices like tillage and monocropping disrupt soil structure and reduce the number of bacteria, fungi, nutrients, and other microbes in the soil. Over 60% of soils in the European Union are in an unhealthy state, but there is not enough evidence to definitively link soil health to nutrient depletion in crops grown on these soils. There is still debate around the relationship between soil health and nutritional value.
The nutritional decline in wheat between 1968 and 2005 coincides with the introduction of new, high-yielding varieties of wheat during the Green Revolution. In the late 1960s, agronomists introduced new crops to meet the needs of a growing population, producing higher yields and more grain to feed more people.
One of the agronomists at the time, Norman Borlaug, who led the effort to breed these high-yielding wheat varieties, was later awarded the Nobel peace prize for his work in alleviating world hunger. However, for all its benefits, the Green Revolution seems to have had one unwanted consequence: modern varieties contained fewer minerals when grown under the same conditions and side by side with older varieties. This suggests that the decline in micronutrients is not due to environmental factors, but to something happening inside the plant.
The genetics changed, and the allocation of nutrients has changed, resulting in the plant putting more of its carbohydrates, production, into the grain and less into the straw. The increase in carbohydrates dilutes other grain components, including minerals, so although we see higher yields, the grains themselves are poorer in micronutrients: average concentrations of zinc, copper, iron, and magnesium in the grain of the newer varieties were 19-28% lower than those of the older ones. These results provide some answers to the question of whether the nutrient content of our food is changing, although they only look at one crop (wheat) in one country (England).
Other studies paint a more global picture. In 2020, a team analysed wheat samples from Rothamsted and samples from herbaria in 16 different countries. They found that, like in the British samples, wheat all over the world has undergone nutritional changes in recent decades. Carbohydrates have increased, while protein and mineral content have declined. Similar to what McGrath saw in 2008, these trends are linked to the introduction of higher-yielding varieties. But scientists also pointed to an environmental factor: a rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide.
The amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has been rising steadily for decades. While hundreds of species will be adversely affected, some plants may actually thrive. For about 90-95% of them, the current carbon dioxide concentration is less than optimal. More carbon dioxide stimulates photosynthesis and growth, but bigger isn't always better.
In 2018, a team of scientists tested whether carbon dioxide concentrations affected the nutrient content of rice plants at facilities in China and Japan. They found a 10% reduction in protein in the rice varieties with the most carbon dioxide, significant reductions in iron, zinc, vitamins B1, B2, B5, and B9, while vitamin E was increased.
For poor and marginalized populations that eat a lot of starch as the main component of their diet, having 10% less protein is going to have consequences. The researchers have a few ideas: the type of plants studied here seem to respond to increased carbon dioxide concentrations by producing more carbohydrates. And because there's more carbon in the plant, there seems to be relatively less nitrogen-based compounds such as proteins and vitamins.
Fortified crops could be one way of tackling this problem in regions where people are more likely to be affected. Adapting the way, we grow food is another. Changing farmers' rewards could be a step forward as well. In this context, the use of supplements may come to mind, and supplement companies tend to exploit these findings to promote their products.
Sources: Chemistry World
Innovative Biocomputer developed that can recognize voices
Researchers have developed a hybrid biocomputer called BrainOware, which combines laboratory-grown human brain tissue with conventional electronic circuits. The system can perform tasks such as voice recognition and could be integrated into artificial intelligence (AI) systems or used to improve models of the brain in neuroscience research. BrainOware uses brain organoids, which are bundles of tissue-mimicking human cells that are used in research to model organs. These organoids are made from stem cells capable of specializing into different types of cells, such as neurons, similar to those found in our brains.
The researchers aimed to build a bridge between AI and organoids by leveraging the biological neural network within the brain organoid for computing. They placed a single organoid onto a plate containing thousands of electrodes, connecting the brain tissue to electric circuits. The tissue's response was picked up by a sensor and decoded using a machine-learning algorithm.
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To test BrainOware's capabilities, the team trained the system on 240 recordings of 8 people speaking. The organoid generated a different pattern of neural activity in response to each voice, and the AI learned to interpret these responses to identify the speaker, with an accuracy of 78%.
This study confirms some key theoretical ideas that could eventually make a biological computer possible, as it is the first time it has been shown in a 3D brain organoid. Combining organoids and circuits could allow researchers to leverage the speed and energy efficiency of human brains for AI, study the brain, and potentially replace animal models of the brain.
However, using living cells for computing poses challenges, such as growing and maintaining the organoids in incubators and engineering them to be more stable and reliable.
Sources: The Nature
1500 bird species driven to extinction due to Anthropogenic activities
A study published in Nature Communications has found that around one in nine bird species has gone extinct in the past 126,000 years, with humans likely driving most of those extinctions. The rate of bird extinctions is more than double the number estimated previously, and more than half of the extinct bird species were never documented.
The global magnitude of these previously undetected extinctions is likely to come as a shock to many, but this estimate could actually be conservative. Human activities have triggered waves of extinctions among birds and other animals through land clearing, hunting, and introducing non-native species. Islands have been particularly badly affected, with 90% of known bird extinctions occurring in isolated ecosystems.
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Rob Cooke, an ecological modeller at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, and his colleagues built a model of bird extinctions by combining documented extinctions, fossil records, and estimates of undiscovered extinctions across 1,488 islands. The model suggested that around 1,300-1,500 bird species, about 12% of the total worldwide, have become extinct since the Late Pleistocene.
Human activities are likely to have caused the vast majority of these extinctions. The researchers also estimated that 55% of these vanished species would not have been discovered by humans or left any trace in the fossil record.
The Pacific region has been the hardest hit, with almost two-thirds of all bird extinctions occurring in the Pacific region. The most intense of these waves occurred just over 700 years ago, when people first arrived on islands in the eastern Pacific, particularly Hawaii, the Marquesas Islands, and New Zealand. Understanding how many species have been lost over time could help policymakers set biodiversity targets. The findings offer important lessons for tracking and conserving bird species that remain on the planet today.
Sources: The Nature
Organs aging quickly than others leads to diseases
Scientists at Stanford University have developed a blood test that can monitor the ageing of 11 major body parts, including the heart, brain, and lungs. The protocol was tested on thousands of adults, mostly middle-aged or older. The results suggest that one in five healthy adults aged 50+ might have at least one fast-ageing organ, and one to two in every 100 might have several organs that test older than their birthday years.
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The researchers believe that knowing which organs are in rapid decline could help reveal what health issues may be looming. For example, an "old-for-its-time" heart increases the risk of heart failure, while a rapidly ageing brain might be more prone to dementia. In the study, having one or more organs ageing fast was linked with a higher risk of certain diseases and death over the next 15 years.
The blood test looks for levels of thousands of proteins to give clues on which organs are ageing at different rates. The pattern of proteins detected appeared to be specific to particular organs. Researchers trained a machine-learning algorithm to make predictions using lots of blood test results and patient data.
Dr. Tony Wyss-Coray, one of the investigators, explained that 18.4% of those aged 50 or older had at least one organ aging significantly more rapidly than the average. They found that these individuals were at heightened risk for disease in that particular organ in the next 15 years.
The university has submitted the paperwork to patent the test, in case it can be used and sold in the future. More studies are needed to check how good it really is at predicting organ age and health before that.
Sources: BBC
Quantum-Computing Approach Uses Single Molecules as Qubits for First Time
Researchers have created pairs of calcium monofluoride molecules to become entangled, a requirement for quantum computers to perform algorithms. They used arrays of laser devices called optical tweezers to cool the molecules to temperatures just above absolute zero, allowing them to be manipulated.
Non-rotating molecules represented the '0' state of their qubits, while rotating ones represented the '1' state. Calcium monofluoride is highly polar, and the researchers coaxed two molecules to interact by 'feeling' each other's positive and negative poles. The dipolar interaction of these molecules is supposed to be giving extra tuning knob.
Physicists used lasers as 'optical tweezers' to position molecules so precisely that they can be used as qubits to process quantum information. The molecules were gingerly manoeuvred so that they became entangled and behaved as a single collective quantum system. Molecules have advantages over other qubit candidates, such as atoms, as they can be pushed into service as 'qutrits', which have three possible states: −1, 0 and +1.
Sources: The Nature
IBM launches first ever 1000 Qubit Chip
IBM has unveiled its first modular quantum computer, IBM Quantum System Two, located in Yorktown Heights, New York. This scalable solution operates in a near-perfect vacuum at a temperature colder than deep space. It has begun operations with three IBM Heron processors and supporting control electronics.
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IBM plans to launch new chips in the next 5 years for upgrades. The company also introduced Heron, a quantum chip with a record-low error rate, five times lower than its previous processor.
Quantum chips power quantum computers that perform certain computations that classical computers cannot. They can easily handle problems that supercomputers are believed to take hundreds or thousands of years to solve. IBM has also introduced a chip called Heron, which has a record-low error rate, five times lower than its previous quantum processor.
The IBM Quantum System Two is the first modular quantum computer and IBM's quantum-centric supercomputing architecture. It is 15-feet tall and ‘as said’ operates in a near-perfect vacuum at a temperature colder than deep space. It is a scalable solution that can be upgraded with chips that the company plans to launch in the next 5 years. Additional IBM Heron processors will join the company's utility-scale fleet of systems over the course of the next year.
Sources: The Nature
AI chemist performs complex experiments based on plain text prompts
Given simple text prompts, an artificial intelligence-driven system can plan and execute difficult chemical reactions (Nature 2023, DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06792-0). The system could ease communication between humans and AI systems to speed up scientific research.
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Dubbed Coscientist, the system uses the language model behind the chatbot ChatGPT. With a prompt such as “perform multiple Suzuki reactions”, the AI browses the internet to learn about the reactions, scours relevant literature and hardware documentation for information, and in minutes, outlines the procedures necessary to perform these reactions. It then writes a code, which a robot uses to run the experiment.
“We are converting bits to atoms,” says Gabe Gomes, a chemist and chemical engineer at Carnegie Mellon University, in a press briefing. “Taking a natural language prompt, the bits, and converting it into an actual chemical reaction.”
Coscientist could successfully perform the complex Nobel Prize-winning palladium-catalyzed cross coupling reaction named after Akira Suzuki with a 50% yield the very first time. It could also accurately plan procedures to synthesize common pharmaceutical compounds such as aspirin and ibuprofen. Gomes says he and his team are fully aware of the potential illicit use of Coscientist and are collaborating with other researchers and policymakers to prevent such misuse.
Tiago Rodrigues, a medicinal chemist at the University of Lisbon, says that Coscientist fills the important gap of communication necessary to meet the long-standing goal of self-driving labs. AI chemists such as Coscientist and ChemCrow, which was recently developed by another research team, could enable the full automation of the design-make-test cycle, he says. “This can have tremendous impact in terms of productivity since researchers can dedicate their time to other tasks.”
Sources: C&EN
Sweaters created from fibre biomimicking Polar bear fur found to be extremely warm and lightweight
Scientists at Zhejiang University in China have developed a synthetic fibre that mimics polar bear fur, making it thinner but warmer than traditional down jackets. The ultralight aerogel coated with polyurethane is washable, durable, and can protect wearers from the cold at a fraction of the thickness needed for conventional sweaters or down jackets.
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Inspired by the pelts of animals living in extreme cold environments, the researchers recreated the core-shell structure of polar bear fur, creating a strong polymeric aerogel fibre called EAF with pores within a thin, stretchable rubber layer made from thermoplastic polyurethane.
The resulting fibre is not only super-warm but also flexible enough for knitting or weaving, and can be washed and dyed. They also knitted a jumper that was a fifth as thick as the average down jacket but provided roughly the same degree of insulation. However, the scientists warn that manufacturing the fibre currently takes too long to make it commercially viable.
Sources: MSN
