Super bacteria are not "hexagonal warriors", their fatal weakness is... | Technology Weekly

Compiled by Zhou Shuyi and Pingsheng

In this "competition" with ants, humans lost

Ants and humans are both highly social animals, and they are the only two species that habitually cooperate to carry large objects. A study published in PNAS on December 23 designed a "competition" and the researchers raised an interesting question: Who is better at carrying large objects and traversing complex mazes?

For comparison, the researchers designed a real-life version of the "piano transport problem". This classic computational problem is often used in the fields of robotics and motion planning, and involves how to move objects of special shapes (such as pianos) from point A to point B in a complex environment. In this experiment, the participants did not carry a piano, but a huge T-shaped object. The "maze" they passed through was a chamber separated by two slits, divided into two groups of sizes, matching the body sizes of ants and humans, as well as groups of different sizes. The study designed three combinations of ants: a single ant, a small group (about 7 ants) and a large group (about 80 ants); human participants were divided into three combinations: a single ant, a small group (6-9 people) and a large group (26 people).

To make the results more comparable, some experiments restricted human participants from communicating, such as prohibiting them from talking or gesturing, and even requiring them to wear masks and sunglasses to prevent mouth movements and eye contact. In addition, human participants could only apply force through a handle that simulated the grip of an ant, and the force would be recorded by a meter on the handle.

The analysis showed that in single-person tasks, humans easily outperformed ants with cognitive advantages and strategic planning. However, in group tasks, the situation was reversed. Especially in large groups, the performance of ant colonies was not only better than that of individual ants, but in some cases even surpassed that of human groups. They showed unique group "cognitive" behaviors that helped them maintain a specific direction of movement and avoid repeating mistakes.

In contrast, humans do not perform significantly better in group action. When communication is limited, performance is even worse than when acting alone. They tend to choose the most obvious course of action to reach consensus, a strategy that often works in the short term but is not wise in the long run. "Our results confirm this view: ants acting in groups are smarter, and for them, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In contrast, group action does not expand human cognitive abilities. The 'crowd intelligence' that is so popular in the social networking era did not stand out in our experiments."

Super bacteria also have fatal weaknesses

Superbugs are coming in droves, and the antibiotics that have been tried and tested are powerless against them. A natural question is, since bacteria have evolved antibiotic resistance and have an advantage over ordinary bacteria, then they should proliferate and dominate. However, this is not the case. Why?

A study recently published in Science Advances provides the answer: antibiotic resistance comes at a price. While bacteria acquire resistance, they lose other competitive advantages. Gürol Süel, an author of the paper and a professor at the University of California, San Diego, said: "We have discovered the 'Achilles' heel' of antibiotic-resistant bacteria."

Ribosome model | Ashley Moon, Süel Lab, UC San Diego

Ribosomes are molecular machines used by cells to synthesize proteins and rely on magnesium ions to stabilize their structure and function. At the same time, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is the main energy source for cells and must be bound to magnesium ions to maintain biological activity. When magnesium supply is limited, the two will compete with each other. The new study used atomic-level simulation to study a ribosome-resistant variant called "L22" in Bacillus subtilis and found that L22 ribosomes bind to magnesium ions more tightly than ordinary non-resistant bacteria. Under conditions of limited magnesium supply, ATP levels in resistant variant cells will drop significantly, while ordinary bacteria will be less affected. Co-culture competition experiments have shown that even under antibiotic pressure, magnesium deficiency will more significantly limit the growth of resistant bacteria. This causes resistant bacteria to often "lose" in the competition with ordinary bacteria.

"Although antibiotic resistance is generally believed to be the main advantage of bacterial survival, we found that the ability to cope with a lack of magnesium in the environment is more important for bacterial proliferation." Süel believes that the new discovery is expected to prevent the spread of antibiotic resistance through non-drug means.

Every cigarette you smoke shortens your life by 20 minutes

A new study on the harm of smoking shows that each cigarette smoked will shorten the smoker's life by about 20 minutes on average. This is significantly higher than the evaluation results of previous studies. The relevant paper was published in Addiction on December 29.

Everyone knows that smoking is harmful, but the extent of the harm is often underestimated.

An old study in 2000 estimated that each cigarette reduces life expectancy by an average of 11 minutes. The new study is based on newer and better data and was commissioned by the UK Department of Health and Social Care and conducted by University College London on British smokers. The researchers used 50 years of follow-up data from the British Doctors Study and the Million Women Study to track and analyze the health status of the British population.

After taking into account socioeconomic status and other factors, the results of the study pointed out that for every cigarette smoked by men, the average life span lost was about 17 minutes, and for women, about 22 minutes. This means that a pack of 20 cigarettes can shorten a person's life by about 7 hours. If smokers do not quit smoking, their average life expectancy will be shortened by about 10 years (male) to 11 years (female), which is significantly higher than the 6.5 years estimated in previous studies.

"Some people may say that they don't mind living a few years less, since they tend to suffer from chronic diseases and disability when they get older anyway. But this is not the case. Smoking does not shorten the unhealthy stage at the end of life. It mainly erodes the relatively healthy time in prime age and brings illness earlier. This means that the health of a 60-year-old smoker may be comparable to that of a 70-year-old non-smoker," said Sarah Jackson, the paper's corresponding author.

Although some smokers live longer, some people become ill or even die in their 40s because of smoking. This difference is mainly due to different smoking habits, such as the type of cigarettes, the frequency of smoking and the depth of smoke inhalation; each person's sensitivity to toxic substances in cigarettes is also different.

Researchers pointed out that the harm caused by smoking is "cumulative" and there is no so-called "safe dose". Quitting smoking at any age is beneficial, but the earlier you quit smoking, the healthier you are and the longer your life expectancy. According to the new research, if a person who smokes 10 cigarettes a day quits smoking on January 1, 2025, he can avoid one day of life loss by January 8, and one month of life loss by August 5.

Well-known journal editors collectively resigned to protest AI proofreading and high publishing fees

According to the website Retraction Watch, on December 27, local time, the editorial board of Elsevier's well-known paleoanthropology journal Journal of Human Evolution (JHE) issued a statement on the social platform X, saying that all members except one deputy editor resigned collectively "with deep sorrow and great regret", saying that "Elsevier's actions are completely contrary to the spirit of the journal and the quality and integrity on which JHE relies for its success." So far, Elsevier has not responded to this. According to statistics, this is the 20th collective resignation of editors since 2023.

JHE | Retraction Watch

The statement wrote that over the past decade, Elsevier has taken a series of "harmful and unhelpful" reform measures that undermined the core principles that the journal has upheld for 38 years. This includes the cancellation of support for text editors and special issue editors; in response to protests, Elsevier responded that "editors should not focus on language, grammar, readability, consistency, and accuracy of terminology and format." The editors emphasized that journals like JHE should pay special attention to following international standards to facilitate the widespread dissemination of papers. But Elsevier does not attach importance to this and frequently introduces errors that do not exist in the original manuscript during the processing process. For example, in the fall of 2023, Elsevier used AI to modify articles that had been received and edited without communicating with the editor, resulting in a large number of formatting problems: all proper nouns in the paper were not capitalized, and genera and species were not italicized. It took the editors six months to correct the problem.

The statement also mentioned that Elsevier reorganized the editorial board despite strong opposition and "unilaterally controlled" the "scientific and personnel structure" of the editorial board. It cut the number of associate editors in half and required all JHE associate editors to re-sign contracts every year starting in 2023. Fewer associate editors means that their knowledge range is difficult to cope with a wide range of highly interdisciplinary paper topics. In addition, Elsevier also intends to cancel the dual editor-in-chief model that JHE has adopted since 1986; after strong opposition, it proposed that the dual editors-in-chief could be retained, but at the cost of halving their salaries.

The statement criticized that Elsevier's article processing charge (APC) in JHE is as high as $3,990 (excluding tax), which is much higher than similar journals. The editors believe that this will discourage most researchers and run counter to the fairness and inclusiveness promised by the journal. Under the high publishing fees, Elsevier outsources the paper processing to inferior companies, producing substandard papers, "which is detrimental to science, disciplines, and the career development of new researchers."

Crossing the Uncanny Valley: Making Robot Facial Expressions More Lifelike

In a study published in the Journal of Robotics and Mechatronics on December 20, researchers at Osaka University in Japan developed a dynamic facial expression synthesis technology that allows humanoid robots to better express emotional states, such as excitement or sleepiness. This technology is expected to significantly improve the communication capabilities of robots, allowing them to exchange information with humans in a more natural and human-like way.

Realizing a sleepy expression on a child-like robot | Hisashi Ishihara

It is reported that although humanoid robots can smile, frown or show various other familiar expressions, it is difficult to find a consistent emotional state behind these expressions, making it impossible to determine its true feelings, which makes people feel uncomfortable.

Traditionally, facial expressions of humanoid robots are achieved using a "patchwork approach". This approach requires the preparation of multiple pre-set action scenes to ensure that unnatural facial movements are avoided when switching between these scenes. However, it is challenging in actual use, as it requires not only the preparation of complex action scenes in advance, minimizing unnatural movements during transitions, but also fine-tuning the movements to finely control the expressions conveyed.

In this new study, researchers developed a dynamic facial expression synthesis technology using "waveform motion". This technology represents the various facial movements that make up expressions, such as blinking and yawning, as individual waves. These waves are propagated to the relevant facial areas and superimposed to generate complex facial expressions in real time. This method does not require the preparation of complex and diverse motion data in advance, while avoiding unnatural facial movement transitions. This technology can also adjust individual waveforms according to the internal state of the robot, so that changes in the robot's internal conditions can be instantly reflected as changes in facial movements.

Researchers said that with the help of this technology, robots with complex facial movements will be able to show more vivid expressions and change their emotions according to changes in the surrounding environment, which will greatly enrich the communication between humans and robots. (Xinhua News Agency)

Two injections a year, nearly 100% prevention of AIDS treatment approved in my country

On January 2, the official website of the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) showed that the marketing application for the 5.1-class new drug lenapavir tablets and lenapavir injection submitted by the US biopharmaceutical company Gilead has been approved for use in combination with other antiretroviral drugs to treat adult patients infected with multidrug-resistant human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) who cannot achieve virological suppression with the current regimen. However, Gilead has not yet announced the commercialization plan and pricing of lenapavir.

Lenapavir is an HIV-1 capsid inhibitor that is based on the concept of pre-exposure prophylaxis. It treats HIV infection by preventing viral replication while reducing the risk of HIV infection.

On June 20, 2024, Gilead announced that lenavavir was 100% effective in the Phase III clinical trial of pre-exposure prevention of HIV in women. None of the 2,134 women who used the drug were infected with HIV. This is the first time in the world that an HIV prevention drug has achieved 100% effectiveness in a Phase III clinical trial. The drug is taken once every six months and is available in two specifications: injection and tablet. In 2020, the drug was approved by the European Commission and the US FDA for the treatment of adult patients infected with multidrug-resistant HIV. In November 2022, Gilead submitted an application for the marketing of lenavavir tablets and injection, which was accepted by the Drug Review Center of the National Medical Products Administration. (Gilead Sciences)

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