#biotechnology

By using antibodies from a human donor with a self-induced hyper-immunity to snake venom, scientists have developed the most broadly effective antivenom to date, which is protective against the likes of the black mamba, king cobra, and tiger snakes in mouse trials. Described in the journal Cell, the antivenom combines protective antibodies and a small molecule inhibitor and opens a path toward a universal antiserum.

"If you're hoping that reef-restoring coral larvae will settle down in damaged reefs, you can't just sit around and wait for it to happen. You have to get out there and entice the larvae, which is exactly what a new algae-based gel is designed to do.

While we may think of coral reefs' "skeletons" as being composed solely of calcium carbonate produced by coral polyps, much of the material is in fact generated by what are known as crustose coralline algae.

Along with contributing greatly to the structural integrity of reefs, the algae-produced calcium carbonate also serves as a home to planktonic coral larvae. Once those formerly free-swimming organisms settle in and become polyps, they start producing reef-building calcium of their own.

It's a good arrangement for the coral, but it also benefits the algae.

Not only does the reef itself provide the algae with protection from the elements, the coral polyps also emit ammonia which the algae feed upon. It is therefore in the algae's best interest to entice any coral larvae that may be swimming past in the water column. In order to do so, the algae release metabolite chemicals that attract the larvae.

Led by Dr. Daniel Wangpraseurt, scientists at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography have now incorporated those metabolites into a gel that can be applied to degraded coral reefs. Called SNAP-X, the substance reportedly boosts coral larval settlement by up to 20 times as compared to untreated surfaces.

If the algae metabolites were just applied to the coral on their own, they would soon dissipate in the water, leaving the coral larvae unable to follow them to their source. For that reason, the researchers started by encasing the chemical molecules in durable silica nanoparticles. Those particles were then suspended within a biocompatible liquid blend of gelatin methacrylate and polyethylene glycol diacrylate.

When that liquid is sprayed or painted onto a surface – such as a piece of dead coral – then exposed to ultraviolet light, it polymerizes into a hydrogel form. That gel is capable of clinging to the surface for up to one month while immersed in flowing water, gradually releasing its larvae-attracting nanoparticles as it does so.

Initial lab tests showed that application of SNAP-X resulted in a six-fold increase in larval settlement. Subsequent tests that more accurately simulated the water flow on coral reefs, however, produced the 20-times figure.

It should be noted that all of the tests conducted so far have involved a single type of coral, but Wangpraseurt believes the technology should work on other species with a few tweaks.

"I think this material is a breakthrough that can hopefully make a big contribution to coral restoration," he says. "Biomedical scientists have spent a lot of time developing nanomaterials as drug carriers, and here we were able to apply some of that knowledge to marine restoration."

A paper on the research was recently published in the journal Trends in Biotechnology."

Battiloro, for instance, didn’t lack Niotis’s company or friendship so much as he was angered by her refusal to prioritize him in her considerations. Nor did he escalate because she hated him; he did so because she ignored him. Her indifference was the insult that he couldn’t tolerate.

Loneliness is an emotional state, but recognition panic is a defensive reaction to a perceived threat to status and the entitlements that come with it. Collapsing them is unhelpful and has consequences. (See footnote 2 below for more.)

Among men, the “male loneliness crisis” as a political and media phenomenon is doing very specific work. Mainstream political and media coverage of male loneliness implicitly centers white, college-educated, and economically middle-class men. It centers, in other words, the emotional distress of the group least accustomed to being ignored, while rendering invisible men who are structurally abandoned and women more broadly. This strongly suggests that the real grievance is the loss of centrality and recognition, not social isolation per se.

Even when advocates go out of their way to provide intersectional analyses, the media strips out gender, class, and race specificity. Among Black men, for instance, suicide rates have risen significantly over the past ten years. Yet this shift receives only a fraction of the attention devoted to the more extensive male loneliness narrative. Poor and working-class men are also lonelier and more at risk than higher-wage-earning men, and yet there is no particular focus on either.

Here’s what definitely doesn’t and won’t work: Teaching boys that they will feel better if they are always centered does not prepare them for a world in which they will not be the way they once were. This only produces stressed-out and status-anxious men, as we are seeing so vividly today, who experience equality of any kind as erasure and threat. Yet, many well-meaning attempts to address men’s distress deepen complex problems by doubling down on men’s centrality rather than widening the field of both problems and solutions.

Precarious manhood is at the heart of masculinity crises.

At the core of this issue and the violence it breeds is that our society continues to essentially tell boys and men they have no intrinsic self-worth. Masculinity, in other words, as sociologist have explained for decades, a precarious state. Masculine identity, in theory a biological state that is fixed, is really an achievement that has to be earned, publicly performed, and reconfirmed continuously. It has to be proved over and over.

This means, for instance, that a single perceived failure — maybe a woman who outperforms a man or withholds deference or a person who doesn’t conform to hegemonic cis hetero norms — registers as a threat, propelling aggressive and disproportionate reactions.

This is also why trans people are so threatening. Conservatives keep the focus of their scapegoating on “men in women’s sports and bathrooms” as a danger. However, the real threat is to precarious manhood on multiple levels. Trans existence makes the performance of gender explicit. If manhood can be given up, transitioned into, or claimed by anyone, then it can’t be the fixed, essential category that the entire edifice of male supremacy is built on. I’m not suggesting this is a logical argument being consciously made, but this is why right-wing reaction to trans life is so disproportionate to the actual social or political footprint of trans people.

Today, queer and trans people’s lives are threatening male supremacy for the same reason women’s independence is threatening: all refuse the terms on which patriarchal masculinity depends. You cannot perpetuate precarious manhood without the gender binary. But to have the binary you have to police and enforce it at all times. The violence we live with follows from this logic to a tee.

From this perspective, the Manosphere as a Precarious Manhood Pyramid Scheme comes sharply into focus. What is a man, in this frame, if he cannot effortlessly demonstrate dominance over women, or gain access to them, or prove their dependence on him? If he has to compete against a woman and loses? If he has to earn women’s regard rather than assume it? He doesn’t just lose a relationship or work; he loses legibility within the system of male supremacist hierarchy on which his sense of self has been built. In fast-changing, uncertain times, boys and men are particularly vulnerable to pressure to “self-optimize” to keep up and compete for women, jobs, status, cars, and money. Online or off, the rage and contempt directed at women, especially those who distance themselves from men for any reason at all, is real, but its primary audience isn’t women but other men.

Recognition in crisis is the engine of the backlash politics, the vicious assemblies, and the firehose of assaults on women that we see every day. Men and male supremacist institutions are defensively responding to the withdrawal of a default centrality with the full range of tools and weapons available to them: from legislation to lawsuits to public harassment to interpersonal and political violence.”]

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1. Zoo 'overjoyed' as lion cubs increase pride to 10

“The litter of rare northern African lions was the second batch to be born recently at Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire, after three arrived in November. […] "The youngsters will grow up side-by-side with their half-siblings, and I'm sure they'll love having an abundance of playmates."”

2. Ohio Appeals Court Rules Trans Care Is Healthcare, Strikes Down Ban For Trans Youth

“The ruling rested on two key findings: first, that gender-affirming care constitutes legitimate medical treatment, and second, that parents have the constitutional right to make healthcare decisions for their children.”

3. Oystercatcher Recovery Campaign Offers a Rare Success Story about Shorebird Conservation

“Fifteen years of coordinated conservation efforts have produced a significant recovery in the U.S. population of the American oystercatcher[….] Schulte predicted that the protection efforts will survive [federal funding cuts] because of the large number of non-federal partners involved.”

4. Fish-tracking robot aims to make fishing more sustainable in developing nations

“A solar-powered, transparent [robot] that can roam the waters autonomously for five days at a stretch, counting fish [… can help fishers] avoid the overfishing [… and] mean less fuel consumed by boats searching for schools of fish, and less degradation of nets due to trawling where there are no fish.”

5. Zoologist Rediscovers Grasshopper Species Believed Extinct

“[… T]he Appalachian grasshopper […] camouflages with its surroundings—perhaps part of the reason people haven’t seen it [since 1946]. [… A zoologist] had seen some reports on iNaturalist that he thought could have been the species[, …] and after surveying several locations, he found a female.”

6. Scaling agroforestry can support fisheries, local food production and cultural practices

“The research found that combining native forest protection (100,000 acres) with transitioning suitable fallow agricultural land to agroforestry (400,000 acres) could [reduce] erosion and boosting nearshore food production by almost 100,000 meals per year[….]”

7. A cell pulls off one of the 'Holy Grails' of biotechnology

“[… A] single-celled alga with a nucleus [… can conduct] a chemical conversion reaction that helps create some of the essential building blocks of life. […] One day, Capone says the nitroplast could be introduced to crops to allow them to convert their own nitrogen without relying on external fertilizer.”

8. FERC: Solar + wind set for a strong 3-year run despite Trump’s sabotage

“Solar accounted for 68.2% of all new generating capacity placed into service in January – more than double the solar capacity added a year earlier (1,176 MW). […] Around 30% of US solar capacity is in small-scale (e.g., rooftop) systems that are not reflected in FERC’s data.”

9. As ghost junk haunts the sea, ‘mermaids’ are fighting back

“Just two days after completing the training, Diana Garcia, one of the Sirenas, helped remove nearly 900 kilograms (2,000 pounds) of [abandoned] ghost gear and debris in the waters near her community[….]”

10. A Nest-Protecting Program Pays Off for Alabama’s Snowy Plovers

“Over the past two breeding seasons, 18 Snowy Plover chicks fledged—a major turnaround after five years of almost no chick survival. [… The team made] a concerted effort to educate the public about the need to give the birds space[, … and] people have not directly caused plover losses in Alabama recently[….]”

"Meet Romulus and Remus—the first animals ever resurrected from extinction. The dire wolf, lost to history over 10,000 years ago, has returned. Reborn on October 1, 2024, these remarkable pups were brought back to life using ancient DNA extracted from fossilized remains.

Watch the pups grow up and catch exclusive videos on our YouTube channel. "