'Heslington brain' belonging to a British man decapitated 2,600 years ago was incredibly preserved thanks to unique folded proteins that could help fight dementia, study finds

• Heslington brain was found in 2008 from a decapitated man who lived 600BC
• Folded proteins called aggregates are responsible for the brain's preservation  
• Scientists now hope to use the findings to tackle dementia in living people    
• Disease is often caused by rogue proteins and knowing how to protect the brain could be invaluable, scientists claim  

By JOE PINKSTONE FOR MAILONLINE 

PUBLISHED: 19:01 EST, 7 January 2020

The world's oldest preserved brain, belonging to an ancient Briton who lived 2,600 years ago, may hold the key in the fight against dementia, scientists believe. 

Known as the 'Heslington brain', the extraordinarily well-preserved organ was discovered in a muddy pit during excavations in the village of Heslington near York in 2008. 

The unprecedented level of preservation is thought to be down to clusters of tightly folded proteins known as aggregates.  

These folded structures may have protected the brain and prevented it from decomposing, according to scientists.

Misfolding of rogue proteins is a known cause of Alzheimer's and similar diseases.

Researchers now hope to understand the difference between disease-causing protein folding and the aggregates that helped preserve the brain for millennia.  

The scientists are hopeful their analysis could help create treatments for protein-folding conditions that cause cognitive decline, such as dementia.

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The 'Heslington brain' was discovered in 2008 and careful analysis has revealed the brain produced hardy proteins which protected it against decomposition

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It is thought these folded structures protected the brain and prevented it from decomposing and researchers hope their analysis can be used to create treatments for conditions that cause cognitive decline

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The unprecedented level of preservation in the brain of the decapitated Briton is thought to be down to substances called aggregates which are created by tightly folded proteins

WHAT IS THE HESLINGTON BRAIN?  

The Heslington brain is the name given to a 2,600-year-old preserved brain. 

It was dug up in the village just outside York in 2008. 

Researchers say the preservation of the organ is an enigma as the brainis normally one of the first thngs to decompose after death. 

Despite it having shrunk to only about a fifth of its original size, it showed few signs of decay.

It was inside a decapitated skull at an Iron Age site and researchers studying the brain claim it had a 'resilient, tofu-like texture'. 

The brain's owner, believed to be a man in his 30s, had been hanged before being decapitated with a knife and his head appears to have been buried immediately.

Some experts believe he it is possible the man was the victim of a human sacrifice.

All other soft tissue on the skull had rotted away, including flesh and hair. 'There are a number of well-known mutations to brain proteins which can promote aggregate formation and which are related to human disease,' said corresponding author Dr Axel Petzold, a neurologist at University College London. 

'These findings have implications for diseases related to protein folding and aggregate formation.' 

The brain of the ancient British man, who died in his 30s between 673-482 BC, is the world's oldest surviving grey matter.

It was found inside a decapitated skull at an Iron Age site, and researchers studying the brain claim it had a 'resilient, tofu-like texture'.  

The brain's owner, believed to be a man in his 30s, had been hanged before being decapitated with a knife and his head appears to have been buried immediately.

Some experts believe it is possible the man was the victim of a human sacrifice. 

The rest of the body was missing and, unlike his brain, all other soft tissue had rotted away - a mystery as the brain is known to decompose quicker than the rest of the body.

The brain's preservation has been called enigmatic by researchers, with no clear explanation. 

However, a few theories have been suggested beyond the protein folding.  

Inhibition of autolysis - the process where bodily tissues destroys itself after death via its own enzymes - may have helped preserve the brain. 

It likely started in the outer parts of the brain, potentially as an acidic fluid seeped into it and slowly spread inwards. 

Writing in the study, the researchers explain that 'preservation might have been possible by an acidic compound'.

Dr Petzold also suggested the the manner of this individual's death, or subsequent burial, may have enabled the brain's long term preservation. 

'Something cruel must have happened to this person,' he said, pointing to evidence that the person was hit hard on the head or neck before being decapitated. 

Researchers spent a year unpacking the densely folded proteins that had created a stable state for the brain tissue, and found it regained many of the features found in normal, living brain tissue. 

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The brain was found by chance while the skull was being cleaned. It was extracted at York Hospital

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The yellowy brown organ is known as the 'Heslington brain' after the village near York where it was dug from a muddy pit in 2008. It was inside a decapitated skull at an Iron Age site and researchers studying the brain claim it had a 'resilient, tofu-like texture'

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The brain's owner, believed to be a man in his 30s, had been hanged before being decapitated with a knife and his head appears to have been buried immediately. Some experts believe he it is possible the man was the victim of a human sacrifice

WHAT IS DEMENTIA? 

Dementia is an umbrella term used to describe a range of progressive neurological disorders, that is, conditions affecting the brain.

There are many different types of dementia, of which Alzheimer’s disease is the most common.

Some people may have a combination of types of dementia.

Regardless of which type is diagnosed, each person will experience their dementia in their own unique way.

Dementia is a global concern but it is most often seen in wealthier countries, where people are likely to live into very old age.

HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE AFFECTED?

The Alzheimer’s Society reports there are more than 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK today, of which more than 500,000 have Alzheimer's.

It is estimated that the number of people living with dementia in the UK by 2025 will rise to over 1 million.

In the US, it's estimated there are 5.5 million Alzheimer's sufferers. A similar percentage rise is expected in the coming years.

As a person’s age increases, so does the risk of them developing dementia.

Rates of diagnosis are improving but many people with dementia are thought to still be undiagnosed.

IS THERE A CURE?

Currently there is no cure for dementia.

But new drugs can slow down its progression and the earlier it is spotted the more effective treatments are.

Source: Dementia UK A British-led team carried out the first detailed analysis of the brain's structure using powerful microscopes that scanned the tissue with a focused beam of electrons.

The proteins regained many of the features typically encountered in a normal, living human brain, reports the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.  

If researchers can unpick this unique case of protein folding in a 2,600-year-old specimen, they may glean essential insights to help dementia sufferers. 

The discovery of aggregates could also help find treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer's, Huntington's and Parkinson's. 

The researchers write in the study: 'In contrast to the iceman and most other previously reported finds of preserved human brains, there were no sign of hair, skin or any other soft tissue associated with the ancient brain subject to the present study.'

They continue: 'Collagen from the bone was radiocarbon dated (OxA-20677) to 673-482 BC.

'There was no evidence for tannins or artificial preservation techniques. 

'The preservation of the ancient brain tissue remains enigmatic because of rapid decomposition and autolysis after death.'

There is no evidence the man was suffering from any mental illness at the time of his death, say the international team.  

Dr Petzold said: 'In conclusion, the preservation of human brain proteins at ambient temperature should not be possible for millennia in free nature.'

Unlike the brain proteins, DNA was of poor quality preventing reliable sequencing, Dr Petzold said.

He added: 'Taken together the data presented in this study on protein stability from the unique find of a preserved prehistoric human brain is of mutual benefit to the fields of protein biomarker research, medicine, structural and functional proteomics, biomedical applications and archaeology.' 

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A British led team carried out the first detailed analysis of the brain's structure using powerful microscopes that scanned the tissue with a focused beam of electrons

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A range of experiments revealed the hardy proteins hold the brain together and it took researchers more than a year to untangle them. The proteins regained many of the features typically encountered in a normal, living human brain

Early Stone Age populations in Tanzania made cutting tools that were optimised for different uses 1.85 million years ago

• Olduvai Gorge harbours early human tools dating back 1.85–1.2 million years
• Evidence has shown that three local stones were used to make cutting tools
• Experts tested the material properties of the three local stones used for tools
• They found that sharp and hardy chert was best for small tools when available
• Basalt, on the other hand, was ideal for longer-life tools because it is durable 
• This suggest a previously unseen level of Stone Age tool-building complexity

By IAN RANDALL FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 19:01 EST, 7 January 2020 | UPDATED: 19:36 EST, 7 January 2020

Early Stone Age populations living in northern Tanzania around 1.2 million years ago made cutting tools that were optimised for their intended use, a study has found.

The Olduvai Gorge was occupied by early humans for more than 1.8 million years, with stone tools found at the location from around 1.85–1.2 million years ago.

The region has three suitable stone materials for making tools — chert, quartzite and basalt derived from lava flows — all of which were used by Stone Age populations.

Researchers used modern engineering techniques to explore the material properties of flakes of each of the three stones when used as a cutting tool.

They found that the three stones have varying levels of edge sharpness and durability which would make each suitable for different applications.

This could explain the variation of tools found in the Olduvai Gorge — and why sharp and durable chert appears to have been preferred where available for small tools.

In contrast, the durability of basalt could explain why the volcanic rock makes up so many large tools like hand-axes that would have needed to last a longer time.

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Early Stone Age populations living in northern Tanzania around 1.2 million years ago made cutting tools that were optimised for their intended use, a study found. Pictured, a chert flake

Archaeologist Alastair Key of the University of Kent and colleagues used modern experimental engineering techniques to assess the edge sharpness and durability of freshly-flaked samples of basalt, chert and quartzite collected from the gorge.

The team did this by determining the force, work and material deformation needed when using flakes of each material to cut samples of 2 mm-diameter PVC tubing.

PVC was chosen to test cutting because — as one applies a tool to it — it deforms before a physical cut develops, just like biological materials like muscular tissue.

The researchers found significant differences in the physical properties of the three tool-making materials.

Freshly-made flakes of quartzite and chert from the Olduvai Gorge were found to be significantly sharper than those made from basalt.

Although the quartzite flakes were slightly sharper, the team found that chert made edges that were slightly more durable than quartzite.

Meanwhile, basalt flakes — the least sharp — were seen to have the most durable edges.

The Olduvai Gorge region has three suitable stone materials for making tools — chert, quartzite (pictured left) and basalt derived from lava flows (right) — all of which were used by Stone Age populations from around 1.85–1.2 million years ago

Archaeologist Alastair Key of the University of Kent and colleagues used modern experimental engineering techniques, pictured, to assess the edge sharpness and durability of freshly-flaked samples of basalt, chert and quartzite collected from the gorge

'These substantive differences had potential to impact raw material material selection-related behaviours throughout the Early Stone Age at Olduvai,' the researchers wrote in their paper.

'Each [material] has advantages and could have been preferentially chosen dependent on a tool's context of use,' they added. 

The findings, the team suggest, may explain why the sharpest tool material — quartzite — appears to have been preferentially used for flake tools at Olduvai, with the slightly more durable but less common chert used instead when available.

In contrast, basalt's durability may have proven more desirable — and overridden concerns around sharpness — for those large cutting tools like hand-axes that were expected to be used for longer.

This, the researchers add, could explain the proliferation of basalt-based large cutting tools at some of the early human sites in the gorge. 

Making such decisions to optimise tool-material selection for a given activity, they conclude, 'represents previously unseen complexity in how raw material functional considerations were flexibly managed by multiple hominin species.'

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Archaeologist Alastair Key of the University of Kent and colleagues used modern experimental engineering techniques, pictured, to assess the edge sharpness and durability of freshly-flaked samples of basalt, chert and quartzite collected from the gorge

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PVC was chosen to test cutting because — as one applies a tool to it — it deforms before a physical cut develops, just like biological materials like muscular tissue. Pictured, a quartzite flake is subjected to materials testing

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Olduvai Gorge was occupied by early humans for more than 1.8 million years, with stone tools found at the location from around 1.85–1.2 million years ago. Pictured, this stone tool from Olduvai dates back to 1.8 million years ago and is the oldest artefact in the British Museum

More studies may be needed before the findings can be extrapolated to other sites of Stone Age human occupation, the researchers noted. 

'It should be noted, however, that the cutting performance of chert, quartzite and basalt recorded here are specific to Olduvai Gorge,' they wrote.

Given this, they added, 'caution is necessary before applying these results to similar raw materials (particularly quartzite) from other locations.'

The full findings of the study were published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface. 

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Northern Tanzania's Olduvai Gorge, pictured, was occupied by early humans for more than 1.8 million years, with stone tools found at the location from around 1.85–1.2 million years ago

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Northern Tanzania's Olduvai Gorge was occupied by early humans for more than 1.8 million years, with stone tools found at the location from around 1.85–1.2 million years ago

WHEN DID HUMANS START USING TOOLS?

It is hard for scientists to say precisely when humans started making tools because the more primitive remains look like a natural object rather than a human artefact.

The oldest-known instruments are the Oldowan stone tools from Ethiopia, which date back about 2.6 million years.

The Acheulean tool technology period - up to 1.76 million years ago - featured large stone hand axes made from flint and quartzite.

Towards the end of this period, the tools became more refined and then followed the so-called Levallois technique, which saw the creation of scrapers, slicers, needled and flattened needles.

About 50,000 years ago more refined and specialised flint tools were made and used by Neanderthals and it is believed it was at this stage tools were constructed out of bone.

As human culture advanced, artefacts such as fish hooks, buttons and bone needles were used.

Cut marks have found on animal bones that have been dated to be 3.4 million years old - around the time that a squat ape-like ancestor called Australopithecus afarensis - known as Lucy - roamed Africa. 

 NEW An Iranian official has mocked President Donald Trump after he tweeted an image of the country's flag (centre) as multiple missiles were fired at a US airbase in Iraq. After the assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani on January 3, President Trump tweeted an image of the American flag (bottom right). In the early hours of this morning representative of the supreme leader to the secretary of supreme national security council in Iran, Saeed Jalili retaliated and mocked the President by posting an image of the Iranian flag. Local media outlets have reported that the supreme leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, is currently in the operation room overseeing the Iranian military.

People are comparing the response by billionaires to Notre Dame with the Australian wildfires
 by Louis Staples in news

As wildfires continue to ravage Australia, destroying everything in their path, pleas are being made for urgent funds to tackle the crisis.

We’ve all seen the videos of koalas being rescued and read the shocking statistics about the millions of species which risk extinction as a result of these devastating fires.

So why doesn’t the money seem to be pouring in to save them?

People have been donating in their droves, and celebrities have also been putting their money where their mouth is. Aussie actor Chris Hemsworth announced that he’d donated $1m to the relief effort.

But when it comes to the super rich (like, billionaires), there’s been far fewer public declarations of big donations.

Of course, it’s obviously possible to donate without publicly announcing it. Yet it’s impossible to ignore the fact that, in the aftermath of the horrific fire at Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral last year, billionaires were lining up to pledge money to rescue the landmark. £650m pounds was raised in a matter of days after the fire.

Comedian Celeste Barber has called out billionaires who have failed to donate to help Australia's bushfire crisis but pledged millions of dollars to Notre Dame. She said:

Remember when Notre Dame burnt down - very sad, don't get me wrong, RIP Notre Dame, history, building.


And something like billions of dollars were raised, by I think like a handful of people. Where are those people now?

She isn’t alone. Lots of other people have pointed out the disparity.

So why the lack of donation announcements this time?One reason could be that billionaires might be reluctant to draw attention to climate change – which is widely considered the cause of these fires – because their businesses might have a big carbon footprint. Those who have made fortunes in oil, for instance, might want to make themselves scarce.

Also Notre Dame is a landmark in a world famous city, whereas the Aussie wildfires have mostly affected rural, sparsely populated areas. Perhaps the cathedral occupies a special place in the hearts of the uber-wealthy?

Regardless, surely it isn’t too much to ask for the world’s richest people to match their commitment to the cathedral in order to save lives and wildlife?

Though it's also worth mentioning that numerous reports claimed that many of the billionaires who pledged to save the cathedral didn't pay up, leaving the landmark to be saved by smaller donations.

So perhaps we should stop relying on billionaires to come to the rescue.

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