As the year prepares to take off, let’s take a moment to reflect on the scientific discoveries that have already made it so special.
New evolutionary flaws exposed in SAR11 Bacteria
The bacteria SAR11 was previously held as one of evolution’s great success stories; abundant across the globe’s seawaters, SAR11 used their genetic streamlining strategy to become one of the dominant marine bacterial species. Genetic streamlining is a theory suggesting that prokaryotes gain greater benefits from having smaller genomes, since this allows them to reduce their nutrition and energy needs and thus respond better to selective pressures. SAR11 has evolved to have a highly efficient genome with minimal non-coding elements.
Researchers found that genes essential for the regulation of the cell cycle were often absent in many strains of SAR11. As a result, they were unable to respond appropriately to stressors in their environment, which often led to abnormal chromosomal numbers when they attempted cell division. Thus, while they may have been well adapted for low nutrient environments, this naturally limits their population growth when more nutrition becomes available. Not only does this study highlight the consequences of over-efficiency for organisms, but also the potential damage of climate change — which could change the environment in ways many micro-organisms simply haven’t evolved correctly for — raising dangerous implications for the carbon cycle.
First clinical trial using skin patch to monitor drug activity
Using therapeutic drugs safely and effectively often requires fine control of concentrations in blood. To enable this, scientists developed a skin patch that acts as a wearable electronic sensor. The sensor works using a concentration dependent signal specific to its target molecule as detected using aptamers: short oligomers that can bind to these molecules and undergo conformational changes due to the signal.
They tested it in human participants using the antibiotic vancomycin, known to be hard to manage the dose for and to have potentially dangerous consequences. The non-invasive technique proved successful in monitoring the target molecule’s concentration in the participant’s bloodstreams in real time. This has potentially beneficial implications for its future applications by medical practitioners.
New evidence that Bonobos can play pretend
Hopkins researchers have found the first evidence of non-human animals understanding make-believe with the bonobo Kanzi. Kanzi was subjected to versions of classic developmental tests often given to human children.
One key test in the experiment involved two cups, ‘filled’ with imaginary juice from an empty pitcher. One of the cups was then ‘emptied’ and put back. The results showed that Kanzi was far more likely to select the cup that remained ‘filled’: selecting it 34 out of 50 times despite neither cup having any actual juice. Additionally, the researchers confirmed that Kanzi could tell the distinction between real and imaginary juice, as the Bonobo would select a cup with real juice over a glass with ‘imaginary’ juice. The findings unveil new insights and possibilities for primate and animal cognition.
