GoKawiilNewly-discovered ‘ruptoblasts’ explode to shower nearby cells with toxic chemicals. Plus, how psychology is tackling its reproducibility crisis and when to settle, according to maths.
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Intact immune cells (left column) had disintegrated (right column) only 100 seconds after their explosion was triggered by adding a hormone. A cell’s plasma membrane (bottom row, yellow) started to rupture 60 seconds after the hormone was added.Credit: C. Chai et al./Cell
Newly discovered immune cells called ‘ruptoblasts’ explode when triggered, ejecting toxic chemicals that make quick work of surrounding cells. This process, dubbed ruptosis, seems to be a new form of cell death that differs considerably from other known types, say researchers. The team discovered the cell type while studying Schmidtea mediterranea, a species of flatworm with extraordinary regenerative capabilities. In vitro, ruptosis of a single cell killed as many as 70 surrounding cells without discrimination — bacterial, flatworm and human cells all fell victim to the blast.
Nature | 5 min read
Reference: Cell paper
Ötzi the Iceman, the iconic mummy found in the Italian Alps, might have died 5,300 years ago, but remnants of his microbiome appear to be still active — despite him spending the last few decades chilled to –6 ℃. Researchers used a suite of genetic sequencing tools to separate what microbes might have lived on the Copper Age man’s skin and in his gut from modern environmental contaminants. The main motivation was to check how well the mummy is being conserved, but the survey turned up gut flora that are very rare today, offering a glimpse into humanity’s microbial past.
Reuters | 7 min read
Reference: Microbiome paper
When to settle, according to maths At a visit to a favourite restaurant, you have a dilemma: order the same great dish every time, or try something new that might end up being better? Nobel-prizewinning physicist Richard Feynman once knocked out the mathematics that described the solution while sitting in a Thai restaurant with his friend and collaborator Ralph Leighton — but no one could fully read Feynman’s writing. Now researchers have transcribed the notes and confirmed the solution to this type of ‘optimal stopping problem’ — a category that includes such conundrums as how to choose a parking spot or settle on a spouse. Nature | 5 min read Reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences paper For his ‘what to order at your favourite restaurant’ problem, Feynman found the optimal approach was to try different options, seeking the tastiest one, but hedging your bets by keeping in mind how many chances you might have to eat there. Where n is the number of dinners, and we score the meals from 0 to 1, the threshold at which we should stick with that dish for the rest of our days can be calculated with this handy equation. But caveat calculator: the equation doesn’t take into account boredom — even the tastiest dish might not be desirable forever.
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