It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Wednesday, April 02, 2025
Museum collections reveal worldwide spread of butterfly disease
UGA researchers track parasite infections across six continents
Butterfly collections are a common sight in museums, their brightly colored wings and unique patterns drawing the eyes of visitors. While these pinned specimens on display are stunning on their own, a new study from the University of Georgia explored how museum specimens can be used to track the spread of disease.
Ophryocystis elektroscirrha (OE) is a protozoan parasite that can hamper a butterfly’s growth and flight. Caterpillars can become infected by eating spores on the surface of plants, and the resulting infection can persist into adulthood.
OE rarely kills its victims directly, as it depends on adult butterflies to spread its spores. Even so, it’s estimated that millions of monarchs don’t survive their annual migration due to infection.
“A lot of people don’t think about butterflies as getting sick, but butterflies and other insects can be host to microbes that cause problems for them,” said Sonia Altizer, Martha Odum Distinguished Professor in UGA’s Odum School of Ecology and a corresponding author of the study. “It’s like having a debilitating lifelong illness that makes it harder for you to travel and work, but it doesn’t necessarily kill you outright.”
The researchers studied almost 3,000 butterfly specimens from five museums in the U.S. and abroad, including the Georgia Museum of Natural History. Five of the 61 butterfly species they sampled were found to be infected, with cases dating as far back as 1909, 60 years before the first published descriptions of OE in monarchs and queens. This study also contains the first reported infections of Jamaican monarchs.
Distribution of infections widespread
The butterfly specimens came from all over the world and were collected from 1832 to 2019. Because of how fragile the specimens are, the researchers had to use a special technique to avoid damaging them.
When butterflies are infected with OE, spores of the parasite appear on the outside of their bodies. The researchers collected samples by carefully twisting a fiber swab against the body and sampling the butterfly’s scales. The scales can then be transferred to a glass slide and examined under a microscope.
This study focused on milkweed butterflies, as they can be found globally, and monarchs and queens are already known to be susceptible to the disease. This group gets their name due to feeding on milkweed and concentrating the plant’s toxins inside their bodies to protect them from predators
Using this group, the researchers found evidence of infection in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania. But where butterflies were getting infected varied, even within the same species.
“There were a lot of places where these species were sampled with no infection, even though there were other places where they were,” Altizer said. “There was a lot of geographic variation within each species as to where infections were detected.”
Infection limited to certain types of butterflies
Even with OE showing up worldwide, the number of species affected was limited. Only five species — lesser wanderers, monarchs, plain tigers, queens and Jamaican monarchs — tested positive for OE. These species were all in the Danaus genus.
This opens the question as to why OE only seems to affect a small group of closely related species.
Part of this may be due to specialization of the parasites themselves; the spores recovered from monarchs tended to be darker and larger than ones found on the other four species.
A sister study led by Maria Luisa Müller-Theissen, who conducted this research as part of her Ph.D. studies in ecology at UGA in 2024, also explored the possibility of cross-infection between monarchs and queens. While monarchs could be infected by parasites affecting both species, queens were only impacted by parasites that target queens. Monarchs were also hit harder by disease compared to infected queens.
“If you put monarchs and queens side by side, the monarchs tend to outcompete the queens for food,” Altizer said. “The queens compensate for that by being more resistant to parasites and tougher in other ways.”
Museum collections critical for research
Although there’s still uncertainty about the dynamic between OE and its hosts, the museum collections are valuable for developing a clearer picture of infection patterns in the wild.
“No one person could go all around the world and look at all these different species in a reasonable amount of time and money,” Altizer said. “But we can go to a museum and access samples from all over the world going back decades or longer and get information from these animals.”
Given the harmful effects OE can have on butterflies, better understanding parasite distributions and other threats could help guide conservation efforts for monarchs and the survival of other species.
The study was published in Ecological Entomology with lead author Maria Luisa Müller-Theissen and co-authors Paola Barriga, Katie Yan and Nicole Gottdenker.
NEW YORK—Thirty-two early career researchers, tackling issues from improving food security to developing better medical implants, were awarded up to two years of grant funding to pursue innovative interdisciplinary science, Schmidt Science Fellows announced today.
Now in its eighth year, the fellowship, a program of Schmidt Sciences, provides financial support for a postdoctoral placement of one to two years at a world-class research institution. The funding equips scientists to apply their knowledge to a new field of study with the goal of accelerating discoveries.
“Philanthropic funding of scientific research, and especially support of early-career researchers, has never been more important,” said Wendy Schmidt, who co-founded Schmidt Sciences with her husband, Eric. “By providing Schmidt Science Fellows with support, community, and freedom to work across disciplines and gain new insights, we hope they'll tackle some of the world's most vexing challenges, achieve breakthroughs and help create a healthier, more resilient world for all.”
The 2025 fellows represent 15 nationalities, including researchers from Jordan and United Arab Emirates for the first time in the program’s history. This year’s cohort will work on a range of problems from cancer treatment to quantum technologies to sustainability. For example, Zhaoquan Wang (nominated by Cornell University) will pivot from immunology to evolutionary biology and explore advanced cognitive and regenerative capabilities of the octopus, pioneering cutting-edge biomedical research. Noora Almarri (nominated by University College London) will turn from electrical engineering to biomaterials with an aim of developing smart artificial blood vessels that enhance regrowth and provide real-time health monitoring. They join a community of 209 fellows from nearly 40 countries who are leaders in interdisciplinary science.
“Our fellows represent the next generation of visionary research leaders,” said Megan Kenna, executive director of Schmidt Science Fellows. “Through their work, they will break down barriers, drive interdisciplinary breakthroughs, and push the frontiers of human knowledge. Our fellowship is designed to empower their growth—now and in the years ahead. Through tailored training, mentorship, and a dynamic community, we provide the support and environment they need to realize their full potential and make a lasting impact.”
Each year, Schmidt Science Fellows works in partnership with more than 100 universities to identify candidates for the fellowship. Nominees are selected via an application process that includes an academic review with panels of experts in their original disciplines and final interviews with a multidisciplinary panel of scientists and private sector leaders. Established in 2017, the program is delivered in partnership with the Rhodes Trust.
"The Schmidt Science Fellows Program is cultivating a dynamic global community of remarkable scientists and champions of interdisciplinary research,” said Stu Feldman, chief scientist at Schmidt Sciences. “Their work exemplifies Schmidt Sciences commitment to support pioneering approaches that will drive the next era of discovery and innovation."
The 2025 Schmidt Science Fellows represent 27 nominating universities, including, for the first time, McGill University in Canada, RWTH Aachen University in Germany, Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico, University of California, Los Angeles, and University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Alongside their research placement, fellows participate in a 12-month interdisciplinary science leadership program.
As part of the broader mission of supporting interdisciplinary science, Schmidt Science Fellows partnered with Times Higher Education to create theInterdisciplinary Science Rankings, which identifies and promotes best practices from institutions prioritizing cross-disciplinary research. The inaugural edition of the ranking was released in November 2024. This year’s list will be shared in fall 2025.
with the Rhodes Trust. Working with the scientific community, the organization breaks down barriers to interdisciplinary science and accelerates positive impacts for global society. It helps scientists solve bigger problems faster by identifying, developing, and amplifying the next generation of science leaders, building a community of scientists and supporters of interdisciplinary science, and leveraging this network to drive sector-wide change.
About Schmidt Sciences:
Schmidt Sciences is a nonprofit organization founded in 2024 by Eric and Wendy Schmidt that works to accelerate scientific knowledge and breakthroughs with the most promising, advanced tools to support a thriving planet. The organization prioritizes research in areas poised for impact including AI and advanced computing, astrophysics, biosciences, climate, and space—as well as supporting researchers in a variety of disciplines through its science systems program.
Exploring AI’s role in decarbonizing the chemical industry: A multi-scale perspective
Credit: Technology Review for Carbon Neutrality, Tsinghua University Press
As the chemical industry seeks sustainable transformation, decarbonization requires intelligent solutions across multiple scales to enhance efficiency and reduce emissions. A research team led by Professor Xiaonan Wang at Tsinghua University has systematically reviewed AI-driven multi-scale smart systems for decarbonizing this energy-intensive sector. Published in Technology Review for Carbon Neutrality, the study explores innovations from materials discovery to industrial park optimization, highlighting the role of cross-scale modeling in addressing complex chemical processes. The findings provide insights for policymakers and industry leaders to advance smart, sustainable, and carbon-neutral chemical production.
The review highlights the role of AI in simplifying traditional mechanistic models, improving efficiency, and promoting resource conservation. At the microscopic scale, machine learning aids in material design and performance prediction, with emerging research focusing on uncovering underlying mechanisms. However, data reliability remains a major challenge. At the mesoscale, AI-driven process modeling accelerates industrial applications of decarbonization technologies, though scaling up digital integration remains a key hurdle. At the macro level, industrial symbiosis strategies optimize chemical parks by linking production with external markets and environmental factors, with digital twin technology enabling real-time operational adjustments.
Despite promising advancements, the application of intelligent technologies in the chemical industry remains largely in the research phase. Cross-scale modeling is essential for bridging molecular-scale innovations with industrial-scale applications, while AI-driven optimization enhances efficiency and sustainability. However, full-scale industrial implementation faces challenges spanning technical, economic, social, and ethical dimensions. These include data security, infrastructure compatibility, AI interpretability, workforce displacement, and regulatory considerations.
The study underscores the need for interdisciplinary collaboration and multi-stakeholder cooperation to address these challenges and accelerate the chemical industry’s transition to carbon neutrality. By integrating AI and digital technologies across scales, the industry can advance toward a more efficient, sustainable, and low-carbon future
This work is supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2023YFE0204600), Tsinghua University Initiative Scientific Research Program and The Special Project of National Natural Science Foundation (No. 42341204).
Researchers stress that patients should consult their primary care provider about whether they are candidates for aspirin, as providers have the most knowledge of all the benefits and risks for each of their individual patients.
Recent guidelines have restricted aspirin use in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. The American Heart Association (AHA)/American College of Cardiology (ACC) guidelines restricted aspirin to patients under 70, and more recently, the United States Preventive Services Task Force restricted aspirin use to patients under 60. However, heart attack and stroke risks both rise with age, leaving health care providers unsure about when to stop prescribing aspirin, whether it should be used for primary prevention, and which patients would benefit most.
Researchers from Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Medicine, and other distinguished collaborators who have led major trials of aspirin in primary prevention, have published their perspectives, “Aspirin in Primary Prevention: Undue Reliance on an Uninformative Trial Led to Misinformed Clinical Guidelines,” in Clinical Trials, the official journal of the Society for Clinical Trials.
The authors emphasize thatbest practices for the design, conduct, analysis and interpretation of randomized controlled trials should adhere to rigorous statistical principles. Failure to follow these principles can lead to conclusions inconsistent with the totality of evidence and inappropriate recommendations made by guideline committees. They believe that both the AHA/ACC Task Force and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force were unduly influenced by the uninformative, not null, results of the Aspirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) trial. Specifically, this trial did not provide reliable evidence that aspirin showed no benefit in the age groups they enrolled.
“The reliable evidence indicates that, to do the most good for the most patients in primary prevention of heart attacks and strokes, health care providers should make individual clinical judgments about prescribing aspirin on a case-by-case basis and based on benefit-to-risk not just age alone,” said Charles H. Hennekens, M.D., FACPM, co-author and the first Sir Richard Doll Professor of Medicine and Preventive Medicine, Schmidt College of Medicine. “Further, it seems counterintuitive among patients taking aspirin long term to stop it just because a birth milestone is reached. Finally, absence of evidence does not equate to evidence of absence of effect.”
The authors stress that patients should consult their primary care provider about whether they are candidates for aspirin, as providers have the most knowledge of all the benefits and risks for each of their individual patients. In brief, health providers are equipped to balance the benefits to each patient of clot prevention against their individual bleeding risks. Thus, whether to prescribe aspirin should be an individual clinical judgment.
“Health care providers also should be aware that all patients suffering from an acute heart attack should receive 325 milligrams of regular aspirin promptly, and daily thereafter, to reduce their death rate as well as subsequent risks of heart attacks and strokes,” said Hennekens. “In addition, health care providers and patients should remain cognizant that among survivors of prior heart attacks or occlusive strokes, aspirin should be prescribed long-term unless there is a specific contraindication.”
The authors highlight the growing burden of cardiovascular disease, stressing the need for broader lifestyle changes and effective as well as affordable drug therapies for primary prevention. These changes include quitting smoking, weight loss, increased physical activity, and using statins and other medications to manage blood pressure. With respect to costs, aspirin is a particularly attractive option.
“While patient preference is always important to consider in decision-making, this assumes even greater relevance among patients in whom the absolute benefits and risks of aspirin are similar,” said Hennekens. “Patient preference may include consideration of whether the prevention of a first heart attack or stroke is more important consideration to them than their risk of a significant gastrointestinal bleed.”
The authors also note that the absolute risk of a cerebral bleed without, as well as with aspirin, is too low to be of clinical relevance for the vast majority of patients. In the U.S. and most developed countries, the authors say that individual clinical judgments by health care providers about prescribing aspirin in primary prevention may affect a relatively large proportion of their patients. For example, metabolic syndrome, a constellation of overweight and obesity, hypertension, high cholesterol and insulin resistance, a precursor to diabetes mellitus, affects about 40% of Americans 40 years of age and older and is increasing globally. The high risks of patients with metabolic syndrome for a first heart attack and stroke may approach those of patients with a prior event.
“Guidelines for aspirin in primary prevention do not seem to be justified,” said Hennekens. “As is generally the case, the primary care provider has the most complete knowledge about the overall benefits and risks for each patient and should make individual clinical decisions.”
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 859,000 Americans die of heart attacks or stroke every year, which account for more than 1 in 3 of all U.S. deaths. These common and serious diseases take a very large economic toll, costing $213.8 billion each year to the health care system and $137.4 billion in lost productivity from premature death alone.
Co-authors are Janet Wittes, Ph.D., an affiliate professor of biostatistics, FAU Department of Population Health; David L. DeMets, Ph.D., the first Max Halperin Professor and Chair Emeritus of Biostatistics and Informatics; KyungMann Kim, Ph.D., a professor of biostatistics and informatics; and Dennis G. Maki, M.D., FACP, all with the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health; J. Michael Gaziano, M.D., a professor of medicine; Marc A. Pfeffer, M.D., Ph.D., FACC, Distinguished Dzau Professor of Medicine; and Sarah K. Wood, M.D., director of the Harvard Macy Institute, all at the Harvard Medical School, with Gaziano and Pfeffer also affiliated with Massachusetts General-Brigham Hospital; and Panagiota Kitsantas, Ph.D., professor of biostatistics and epidemiology and chair of the Department of Health Administration and Policy, George Mason College of Public Health.
Hennekens was the first to discover that aspirin prevents a first heart attack in men in the U.S. Physician’s Health Study and prevents a first stroke in women in the Women’s Health Study. He was the U.S. principal investigator on the worldwide Second International Study of Infarct Survival (ISIS02), which demonstrated the lifesaving benefits of aspirin when given within 24 hours of onset of symptoms of a heart attack as well as among long-term survivors of prior occlusive events affecting their heart, brain or peripheral arteries. Gaziano was the principal investigator of the Aspirin to Reduce Risks of Initial Vascular Events (ARRIVE) trial, one of the four major trials recently reported in the peer reviewed literature.
- FAU -
About the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine:
Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine is one of approximately 159 accredited medical schools in the U.S. The college was launched in 2010, when the Florida Board of Governors made a landmark decision authorizing FAU to award the M.D. degree. After receiving approval from the Florida legislature and the governor, it became the 134th allopathic medical school in North America. With more than 170 full and part-time faculty and more than 1,300 affiliate faculty, the college matriculates 80 medical students each year and has been nationally recognized for its innovative curriculum. The college offers M.S. (thesis and non-thesis) and Ph.D. programs in biomedical science, along with a certificate in genomics and precision medicine. Taught by top researchers, the curriculum combines cutting-edge coursework with hands-on learning, preparing graduates for careers in medicine, research, industry, and academia. To further Florida Atlantic’s commitment to increase much needed medical residency positions in Palm Beach County and to ensure that the region will continue to have an adequate and well-trained physician workforce, the FAU Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine Consortium for Graduate Medical Education (GME) was formed in fall 2011 with five leading hospitals in Palm Beach County. The consortium currently has five Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited residencies including internal medicine, surgery, emergency medicine, psychiatry, and neurology, and five fellowships in cardiology, hospice and palliative care, geriatrics, vascular surgery, and pulmonary disease and critical care medicine. The college also manages the Florida Atlantic University Medical Group, offering comprehensive primary care, and the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health specializes in integrative pain management, precision therapies, and mental health. A 2023 partnership with Broward Health expands academic medicine, clinical training, and research opportunities.
About Florida Atlantic University: Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, Florida Atlantic serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students across six campuses located along the Southeast Florida coast. In recent years, the University has doubled its research expenditures and outpaced its peers in student achievement rates. Through the coexistence of access and excellence, Florida Atlantic embodies an innovative model where traditional achievement gaps vanish. Florida Atlantic is designated as a Hispanic-serving institution, ranked as a top public university by U.S. News & World Report, and holds the designation of “R1: Very High Research Spending and Doctorate Production” by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Florida Atlantic shares this status with less than 5% of the nearly 4,000 universities in the United States. For more information, visit www.fau.edu.
Sit down, relax and get your nails done at the sustainability salon.
In a new study, a team of researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder’s ATLAS Institute has designed a new kind of press-on nails that are biodegradable, colorful and endlessly customizable.
The group’s designs, called Bio-e-Nails, use common ingredients obtained from algae or the hard exteriors of shellfish and other animals. They come in all shapes and sizes: Do you like long and sparkly nails? You can make them yourself in your own kitchen. What about shorter, bright pink nails with built-in computer chips? They’re possible, too.
And, when you’re done with your latest look, you can melt down the nails and make a new set—or whatever else you can imagine, said co-creator Eldy Lázaro Vásquez.
“With Bio-e-Nails, there can be a second life, a third life, a fourth life,” said Lázaro Vásquez, a doctoral student at ATLAS and lead author of the new research. “The material can be remelted and reshaped into new objects. You can make a new nail, for sure, but also a coaster for your coffee cup.”
She and her colleagues unveiled their Bio-e-Nails in March at the 2025 Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction (TEI) conference in France.
The team’s instructions for making Bio-e-Nails are available for free online. They’re also easy enough that anyone can follow them using craft supplies and ingredients for sale at many grocery stores.
Mirela Alistar, the study’s senior author, explained that creating sustainable fashion doesn’t mean sacrificing functionality or beauty.
“Sustainability goes beyond merely replacing plastic with a substitute material,” said Alistar, assistant professor at ATLAS and the Department of Computer Science. “Both the designer and the user also need to change their mindset. That type of change, which considers the entire lifecycle of the wearable, is what we are tackling through our research in the Living Matter Lab.”
A few simple steps
Lázaro Vásquez noted that, for many people, going to the nail salon is an important ritual, and a very visible way to express themselves.
“[Nails] can be a reflection of your personality,” Lázaro Vásquez said. “They represent something that comes from you.”
But treating yourself can also come with a downside. Many of the chemicals that nails salons employ can generate air pollutants that pose risks to health of customers and workers. They include methyl methacrylate, which helps acrylic nails bond to your real ones. According to one estimate, the global press-on nails industry is worth nearly $700 million and growing rapidly, which means a lot of plastic waste going into landfills.
“We’re not used to thinking of nails as a waste material because they're so small, but they add up,” Alistar said.
Bio-e-Nails represent a new way of thinking about that process. Julia Tung, an undergraduate student who took a course on biodesign taught by Alistar in 2023, developed a set of bioplastic nails as a class project. Following Tung’s initial explorations, Lázaro Vásquez and her fellow graduate students Sepideh Mohammadi, Latifa Al Naimi and Shira David developed new biomaterial formulations and fabrication methods for their nails.
To make Bio-e-Nails, designers begin with one of two powder ingredients: Agar (which comes from algae and is often used as a vegan substitute for gelatin) or chitosan (which comes from seashells and other animal products and is a common health supplement).
If you’re using chitosan, you first mix that ingredient with vinegar and water, then warm and cool the slurry in a water bath. Next, pour it into a clay mold shaped like your favorite press-on nails. After 48 hours, you’re ready to peel off the thin film and trim away the excess material. (The directions for making agar nails are a little different but just as simple).
Voilá—it’s time to show off those new nails.
Make it your own
Lázaro Vásquez added that Bio-e-Nails are customizable for any aesthetic and can also be interactive.
You can, for example, add food coloring to create nails in bright orange, green, blue or any other color. You might also introduce sparkles or crystals for a bit of extra glam, even making nails that look like a starry night sky. The researchers experimented with incorporating tiny computer chips into Bio-e-Nails.
Bio-e-Nails in a range of styles
Bio-e-Nails are designed for short-term use, making them ideal for a night out.
Credit
Living Matter Lab
Living Matter LabYou can then program your smartphone to trigger certain commands when you tap it with your nail—such as displaying the number for your emergency contact or pulling up directions home.
Bio-e-Nails are designed for short-term use, Lázaro Vásquez said, making them ideal for occasions like a night out. The research team proposed three ways to extend the life cycle of the materials, with composting as the last resort. A better option is to reuse those materials for your next look.
“Composting should be the last alternative. We want to keep the materials in use as long as we can,” Lázaro Vásquez said. “In biodesign, it’s not just about replacing traditional materials with biodegradable ones—it’s about rethinking the entire design process, considering the life cycle of the material and eventual products, and how they can stay in circulation and be transformed before they ever return to nature.”
