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Category: chemistry

Massive impact could be the cause of our lopsided moon

Our nearest neighbor, the moon, is still something of a mystery to us. For decades, scientists have wondered why it appears so lopsided, with dark volcanic plains on the near side (the side we see) and rugged, cratered mountains and a thicker crust on the far side. Now we might be closer to knowing why.

Analysis of lunar soil and rock brought back from the far side by China’s Chang’e-6 mission suggests that a massive impact long ago changed the moon’s interior.

The samples were collected from the South Pole-Aitken basin, a massive impact crater covering nearly one-quarter of the moon’s surface. Because it is so deep, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences wanted to see whether the impact had reached the moon’s mantle and changed its chemistry.

Cyanobacteria can utilize toxic guanidine as a nitrogen source

Guanidine is an organic compound primarily used as a denaturing reagent to disrupt the structures of proteins and nucleic acids. Together with partner institutions, scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) have demonstrated that cyanobacteria, which play a central role in global biogeochemical cycles, use guanidine as a nitrogen source.

The results were recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers shed light on the underlying mechanisms and the potential for a new tool for sustainable biotechnological applications.

Q&A: What do scientists need to learn next about blocking enzymes to treat disease?

Enzymes are the molecular machines that power life; they build and break down molecules, copy DNA, digest food, and drive virtually every chemical reaction in our cells. For decades, scientists have designed drugs to slow down or block enzymes, stopping infections or the growth of cancer by jamming these tiny machines. But what if tackling some diseases requires the opposite approach?

Speeding enzymes up, it turns out, is much harder than stopping them. Tarun Kapoor is the Pels Family Professor in Rockefeller’s Selma and Lawrence Ruben Laboratory of Chemistry and Cell Biology. Recently, he has shifted the focus of this lab to tackle the tricky question of how to make enzymes work faster.

Already, his lab has developed a chemical compound to speed up an enzyme that works too slowly in people with a rare form of neurodegeneration. The same approach could open new treatment possibilities for many other diseases where other enzymes have lost function, including some cancers and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s.

NASA Rover Detects Electric Sparks in Mars Dust Devils, Storms

Perseverance confirmed a long-suspected phenomenon in which electrical discharges and their associated shock waves can be born within Red Planet mini-twisters.

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has recorded the sounds of electrical discharges —sparks — and mini-sonic booms in dust devils on Mars. Long theorized, the phenomenon has now been confirmed through audio and electromagnetic recordings captured by the rover’s SuperCam microphone. The discovery, published Nov. 26 in the journal Nature, has implications for Martian atmospheric chemistry, climate, and habitability, and could help inform the design of future robotic and human missions to Mars.

A frequent occurrence on the Red Planet, dust devils form from rising and rotating columns of warm air. Air near the planet’s surface becomes heated by contact with the warmer ground and rises through the denser, cooler air above. As other air moves along the surface to take the place of the rising warmer air, it begins to rotate. When the incoming air rises into the column, it picks up speed like spinning ice skaters bringing their arms closer to their body. The air rushing in also picks up dust, and a dust devil is born.

Designer enzyme enables yeast to produce custom fatty acids, reducing need for palm oil

Whether they are laundry detergents, mascara, or Christmas chocolate, many everyday products contain fatty acids from palm oil or coconut oil. However, the extraction of these raw materials is associated with massive environmental issues: Rainforests are cleared, habitats for endangered species are destroyed, and traditional farmers lose their livelihoods.

A research team led by Prof. Martin Grininger at Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany, has now developed a biotechnological approach that could enable a more environmentally friendly production method. The team’s work appears in Nature Chemical Biology.

A new valve for quantum matter: Steering chiral fermions by geometry alone

A collaboration between Stuart Parkin’s group at the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics in Halle (Saale) and Claudia Felser’s group at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids in Dresden has realized a fundamentally new way to control quantum particles in solids. Writing in Nature, the researchers report the experimental demonstration of a chiral fermionic valve—a device that spatially separates quantum particles of opposite chirality using quantum geometry alone, without magnetic fields or magnetic materials.

The work was driven by Anvesh Dixit, a Ph.D. student in Parkin’s group in Halle, and the first author of the study, who designed, fabricated, and measured the mesoscopic devices that made the discovery possible.

“This project was only possible because we could combine materials with exceptional topological quality and transport experiments at the mesoscopic quantum limit,” says Anvesh Dixit. “Seeing chiral fermions separate and interfere purely due to quantum geometry is truly exciting.”

Pancreatic organoid study reveals key factors shaping complex lumen formation

Organs often have fluid-filled spaces called lumens, which are crucial for organ function and serve as transport and delivery networks. Lumens in the pancreas form a complex ductal system, and its channels transport digestive enzymes to the small intestine. Understanding how this system forms in embryonic development is essential, both for normal organ formation and for diagnosing and treating pancreatic disorders. Despite their importance, how lumens take certain shapes is not fully understood, as studies in other models have largely been limited to the formation of single, spherical lumens. Organoid models, which more closely mimic the physiological characteristics of real organs, can exhibit a range of lumen morphologies, such as complex networks of thin tubes.

Researchers in the group of Anne Grapin-Botton, director at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) in Dresden, Germany, and also Honorary Professor at TU Dresden, teamed up with colleagues from the group of Masaki Sano at the University of Tokyo (Japan), Tetsuya Hiraiwa at the Institute of Physics of Academia Sinica (Taiwan), and with Daniel Rivéline at the Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire (France) to explore the processes involved in complex lumen formation. Working with a combination of computational modeling and experimental techniques, the scientists were able to identify the crucial factors that control lumen shape.

Three-dimensional pancreatic structures, also called pancreatic organoids, can form either large spherical lumen or narrow complex interconnected lumen structures, depending on the medium in the dish. By adding specific chemical drugs altering cell proliferation rate and pressure in the lumen, we were able to change lumen shape. We also found that making the epithelial cells surrounding the lumen more permeable reduces pressure and can change the shape of the lumen as well.

This years biggest breakthroughs in longevity!

Wrap up for 2025.

Every year I compile what I think were some important contributions to longevity research. Here is my list for 2025!!

Find me on Twitter — / eleanorsheekey.

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through PayPal — https://paypal.me/sheekeyscience?coun… through Patreon — / thesheekeyscienceshow TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 – Intro & “What is aging?” / Hallmarks 2025 02:07 – Cellular reprogramming 05:47 – Senescent cells 11:45 – GLP‑1 agonists & ITP 13:43 – Elastin fragments & ECM aging 15:22 – Cardiac ‘age‑switch’ experiment 16:18 – Systemic environment: FOXO3 cells, antler EVs, plasma exchange 19:26 – Things you wouldn’t have thought of: AI-predicted antibodies REFERENCES: What is aging / hallmarks Hallmarks of aging update 2025 (14 hallmarks, ECM + psychosocial isolation) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science… reprogramming Prevalent mesenchymal drift in aging and disease is reversed by partial reprogramming – Cell 2025 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.0… A single factor for safer cellular rejuvenation (SB000) – bioRxiv 2025 https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.06.05.65… https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.11… OpenAI x Retro Biosciences: AI‑designed reprogramming factors https://openai.com/index/accelerating… Restoration of neuronal progenitors by partial reprogramming in the aged neurogenic niche – Nature Aging 2024 (YouthBio’s scientific basis) https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-024-00… Chemical reprogramming ameliorates cellular hallmarks of aging and extends lifespan in Caenorhabditis elegans – EMBO Molecular Medicine 2025 https://doi.org/10.1038/s44321-025-00… https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles… Senescent cells An unbiased cell‑culture selection yields DNA aptamers as senescence‑specific reagents – Aging Cell 2025 https://doi.org/10.1111/acel.70245 Senolytic CAR T cells reverse senescence‑associated pathologies – Amor et al., Nature 2020 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-24… Anti‑uPAR CAR T cells reverse and prevent aging‑associated defects in intestinal regeneration and fitness – Nature Aging 2025 https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-025-01… Rejuvenation of Senescent Cells, In Vitro and In Vivo, by Low‑Frequency Ultrasound – Aging Cell 2025 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles… Supplements, ITP & GLP‑1s Are GLP‑1s the first longevity drugs? – Nature Biotechnology 2025 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-025-02… GLP‑1 receptor agonists at the crossroads of metabolism and longevity – Nature Aging https://www.nature.com/articles/s4151… Extension of lifespan by epicatechin, halofuginone and mitoglitazone in male but not female UM‑HET3 mice – GeroScience 2025 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-025-01… https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40973… ECM, elastin & cardiac environment Elastin‑derived extracellular matrix fragments drive aging through innate immune activation – Nature Aging 2025 https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-025-00… Sun, A.R., Ramli, M.F.H., Shen, X. et al. Hybrid hydrogel–extracellular matrix scaffolds identify biochemical and mechanical signatures of cardiac ageing. Nat. Mater. 24, 1489–1501 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-025-02… Systemic environment: stem cells, EVs, plasma Senescence‑resistant human mesenchymal progenitor cells counter aging in primates – Cell 2025 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.0… Attenuation of primate aging via systemic infusion of senescence‑resistant cells – https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles… Extracellular vesicles from antler blastema progenitor cells reverse bone loss and mitigate aging‑related phenotypes – Nature Aging 2025 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles… Human clinical trial of plasmapheresis effects on biomarkers of aging – Aging Cell 2025 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles… “Things you wouldn’t think of” – AI antibodies Atomically accurate de novo design of antibodies with atomic precision – Baker Lab, Nature 2025 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09… Computational design of human antibodies targeting any antigen – https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.1… Please note that The Sheekey Science Show is distinct from Eleanor Sheekey’s teaching and research roles. The information provided in this show is not medical advice, nor should it be taken or applied as a replacement for medical advice. The Sheekey Science Show and guests assume no liability for the application of the information discussed. Icons in intro; “https://www.freepik.com/free-photos-v…“Background vector created by freepik — www.freepik.com.
through Patreon — / thesheekeyscienceshow.

TIMESTAMPS:

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Deep learning creates virtual multiplexed immunostaining to improve cancer diagnosis

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), in collaboration with pathologists from Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center and the University of Southern California, have developed a deep learning–based method that can digitally generate multiple immunohistochemical stains from a single, unstained tissue section.

The work is published in the journal BME Frontiers.

The approach enables accurate assessment of vascular invasion—a key indicator of cancer aggressiveness—without the need for conventional chemical staining procedures.

Modeling human embryo implantation in vitro

The new 3D model system looks to replicate the complex physiological properties and cellular composition of the endometrium. The model is built in a step-by-step process by bringing together the different components of endometrial tissue. The team isolated two essential cell types that form endometrial tissue – epithelial cells and stromal cells – from tissue donated by healthy people who had endometrial biopsies.

As well as the cell types, the researchers sought to recreate the structure of the womb lining. Information from donated endometrial tissue was used to identify the tissue components that give the womb lining its structure. The researchers were able to incorporate these components together with the stromal cells into a special type of gel to support the growth of the cells in a thick layer. On top of this, they added the epithelial cells, which spread out over the surface of the stromal cells.

Once assembled, this formed an advanced replica of the womb lining, matching a biopsy of endometrial tissue in terms of cellular architecture, and showing responses to hormone stimulation that indicate the engineered womb lining’s receptivity for embryo implantation.

The team tested their model using donated early-stage human embryos from IVF procedures, and found that the embryo – at this point a compact ball of cells – underwent the expected stages expected of adhesion and invasion into the endometrial scaffold. Following implantation, the embryos increased secretion of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), a biochemical marker used in pregnancy tests to confirm pregnancy, and other pregnancy-associated proteins.

Furthermore, the system supported post-implantation development of the embryo, enabling the analysis of embryo stages (12−14 days post fertilisation) that have been largely unexplored. The researchers observed that implanted embryos reached several developmental milestones, such as the appearance of specialist cell types in the embryo and also the establishment of precursor cell types important for the development of the placenta.

Using single cell analysis of implantation sites, the researchers were able to profile cells at the interface between the embryo and endometrium model, effectively listening in to the molecular communication between the tissues. Their results provide new insight into the complex interactions between the embryo and endometrial environment that underpin embryo development immediately after implantation.

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