Illustration +1! What does the hairiest beetle in the world look like? | Expo Daily

Illustration +1!

What does the world's hairiest beetle look like?

In the rainforest of the Gold Coast hinterland in southeast Queensland, Australia, a doctoral student accidentally discovered a beetle covered with white fluffy hairs, which may be the most densely haired beetle in the world. This discovery not only brings novelty to the field of entomology, but also adds a new chapter to the study of biodiversity.

He mistook it for bird droppings on a leaf during a camping trip, but upon closer inspection he discovered it was actually a 10mm long, red and black beetle covered in long white hairs, especially on the upper part of the body. After further research and collaboration with experts, he confirmed that it was a completely new species and a new genus. The beetle was named Excastra albopilosa, which means "white hairy creature from the camp."

The purpose of these white hairs is still unclear, but scientists speculate that they may have a protective effect, making the beetles look like they are infected with fungi and thus avoid being eaten by predators. This discovery once again proves the diverse defense mechanisms that organisms in nature have evolved to survive.

Sadly, this beetle is the only individual ever found, and despite multiple returns to the area, no further specimens have been found.

A beetle covered with white, fluffy hairs.

Image credit: James Tweed

Chinese scientists break through new low-cost battery technology

Among the new energy storage technology routes, liquid flow battery energy storage technology represented by all-vanadium liquid flow batteries is inherently safe and can be flexibly deployed, making it the preferred electrochemical energy storage technology route for long-term energy storage technology.

However, limited by the release of vanadium resources, the current industrial development of all-vanadium flow batteries faces the problem of high costs. Therefore, developing new systems and technologies for low-cost flow batteries is a way to solve the bottleneck of the current industrial development of flow batteries.

Recently, the corrosion electrochemistry research group of the Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences has made progress in the research of new low-cost iron-based liquid flow battery energy storage technology.

Based on the previous research on all-iron liquid flow batteries, the researchers took the reversibility of the redox reaction of the iron negative electrode as the starting point, and successively achieved the uniform deposition and dissolution of iron on the surface of the electrode fiber during the charge and discharge process through electrode interface defect design and polar solvent adjustment. They further achieved the non-solidification of the electrolyte and stable operation of the battery under low temperature conditions of -20°C by weakening the hydrated hydrogen bond network.

This research has laid a technical foundation for the industrial development and application promotion of wide-temperature range all-iron liquid flow battery technology.

Electrode preparation mechanism and morphology characterization.

Image source: Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Emoji classification is too biased, and scientists can't stand it

Many of the emoji symbols that are popular around the world represent natural things. However, a recent study published in Cross-Science suggests that the "tree of life" in emojis is not comprehensive.

The research team analyzed all the biological-related emojis in the emoji encyclopedia and found that emojis have a heavy "favor" towards vertebrates, but pay little attention to plants and fungi, and some other life groups have never even appeared in emojis.

Overall, 76% of animal emojis represented vertebrates, 16% represented arthropods, and 4%, 2%, and 1% represented mollusks, cnidarians, and annelids, respectively.

This strong taxonomic bias is consistent with the current social understanding of biodiversity - people tend to prioritize vertebrates over other groups. The authors of this study believe that this expression bias may hinder the dissemination of relevant biological and ecological information on the Internet. And humans are using emojis more and more frequently, so it is necessary to fill in the gaps in this "electronic dictionary".

Rather than calling for an emoji for every species, the researchers suggest that the biodiversity represented by emojis could be significantly increased by adding just three new ones: flatworms, tardigrades (water bears), and starfish.

Some animals and plants in emoji.

World's first pig kidney transplant to a living human successfully completed

Every year, there are hundreds of thousands of patients waiting for kidney transplants, but the organ donation rate is low, and the matching success rate is poor, so most patients die while waiting. Recently, Nature magazine reported the world's first operation of transplanting pig kidneys to living human recipients, which was successfully performed in Massachusetts, USA. This makes researchers full of hope for larger-scale clinical trials involving pig organs.

The recipient of the pig kidney, Richard Slayman, a 62-year-old man with end-stage renal failure, is recovering well after surgery on March 16, according to his transplant surgeon.

We know that the human immune system is the main factor that hinders organ transplantation. The immune system's job is to eliminate foreign bodies, not only killing pathogens, but also killing transplanted organs. Even successful immune matching between humans is difficult, so how do scientists overcome the differences between pigs and humans?

It turns out that the owner of this kidney is not just any pig. Scientists have continuously introduced gene editing into this pig, so that the pig's genes carry the information of human cells, allowing pig cells to "disguise" as human cells and thus escape the attack of the immune system.

Specifically, three genes that help produce three sugars on the surface of pig cells were deleted. The human immune system attacks cells carrying these three sugars as a sign of foreign invaders. In addition, seven genes were added because they produce human proteins that help prevent organ rejection.

In addition, 59 gene changes were made to inactivate the virus embedded in the pig genome. These changes address the risk of the virus becoming active once it enters the human body. Before transplanting this kidney containing 69 gene edits to humans, scientists first transplanted it to monkeys for testing and found that the transplanted monkeys were able to survive for several years.

So, after obtaining approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, on March 16, doctors performed a kidney transplant on the candidate patient. The operation to transplant a pig kidney for Sleman took four hours. Before the operation, researchers collected and froze blood samples from Sleman, his family, and surgeons. If Sleman develops an infection, researchers can test these blood samples to determine if they are the source of the pathogen.

Before the transplant, the patient's creatinine level was 10 milligrams per deciliter, but by the fourth day it had dropped to 2.4, close to the normal range of 1.5.

The patient was recently discharged from the hospital and is receiving immunosuppressant medications and has so far shown no signs of organ rejection.

A pig kidney is unpacked and prepared for transplantation into a patient.

Image source: Massachusetts General Hospital

Total solar eclipse, meteor shower, bright comet...

The "astronomical drama" will be staged in April!

A total solar eclipse, meteor showers and bright comets are the three most interesting astronomical phenomena for many astronomy enthusiasts. Coincidentally, the upcoming April Tianyu will have all three.

On April 9, a total solar eclipse will occur in North America. The eclipse belt will pass through large areas of land in Mexico, the United States, and Canada. People within the eclipse belt will enjoy a total eclipse lasting up to 4 minutes and 28 seconds.

"Due to geographical limitations, the total solar eclipse cannot be seen in our country. The public who are interested can use the Internet, television, mobile apps and other means to learn about and pay attention to this 'solar eclipse'. The public who have the conditions can bring observation equipment to the United States, Canada and Mexico for observation, and welcome this astronomical feast with astronomy enthusiasts from all over the world." said Xiu Lipeng, member of the Chinese Astronomical Society and astronomy science popularization expert.

On the west bank of the beautiful Milky Way, there is a well-known bright star, Vega, which together with some small stars around it forms the Lyra constellation. The meteor shower named after this constellation is active in mid-to-late April every year.

"This year's Lyra meteor shower will reach its peak on April 22, and the peak is expected to occur around 3 p.m. Interested members of the public can try to observe it on the nights of the 21st and 22nd. However, the moon phase on these two days is close to a full moon, and the bright moonlight will have a greater impact on observation. In addition, the meteor shower itself has an average flow rate, so you need a bit of luck to observe meteors," said Xiu Lipeng.

Bright comets are the darlings of astronomy enthusiasts. This year, Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks returns to the solar system, attracting attention. This short-period comet, which returns to the solar system every 71 years, will pass perihelion on April 21, reaching its closest point to the sun.

"Recently, this comet has appeared in the low sky in the northwest shortly after sunset. Many star photography enthusiasts have captured the image of this lovely elf with the help of professional equipment. For most areas in the northern hemisphere, there is still a chance to observe it in early to mid-April, but the altitude of this comet is a bit low; after mid-April, the altitude of this comet will continue to decrease and it will gradually become difficult to observe," said Xiu Lipeng.

In addition to the total solar eclipse, meteor showers, and bright comets, April's "astronomical theater" will also feature the Pleiades accompanying the moon (in the evening of the 11th) and several pairs of planets in close proximity: Mars and Saturn will be very close before dawn on the 11th; Jupiter and Uranus will be very close on the evening of the 20th; and Mars and Neptune will be very close before sunrise on the 29th.

2024 "Astronomical Drama" Schedule

Image source: Xinhua News Agency

The content is compiled from China Science Popularization Expo Weibo, China Science Daily, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Science Academy, Xinhua News Agency

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