Thursday, October 19, 2023

Yeast speeds discovery of medicinal compounds in plants

Cornell researchers have harnessed the power of baker's yeast to create a cost-effective and highly efficient approach for unraveling how plants synthesize medicinal compounds, and used the new method to identify key enzymes in a kratom tree.

Aspirin, morphine and some chemotherapies are examples of drugs that are derived from natural compounds produced by plants. Understanding how a plant creates such compounds usually begins with analyzing plant transcriptomes to identify up to hundreds of genes that could potentially code for the enzymes that work together to facilitate production. Each gene must then be biochemically characterized using specific substrates and reaction conditions—a laborious and expensive task that stifles the discovery process.

A new yeast-based screening method detailed in the journal Angewandte Chemie captures protein-protein interactions between plant enzymes, working in tandem with other screening methods to better pinpoint which genes are ultimately responsible for how a plant biosynthesizes medicinal compounds.

"Traditional methods find groups of proteins that exist in the plant at the same time, but our method complements that by looking at which of those groups physically cluster and play well with each other," said Sijin Li, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and lead author of the study. "Those are the ones responsible for the type of chemicals we might want to extract for a pharmaceutical."

Once gene candidates are predicted using plant transcriptomics, baker's yeast—the same kind used for brewing beer and baking bread—is engineered with the genes inside to see which ones produce proteins that interact with each other. As a result, the number of genes that must then be biochemically screened is significantly reduced.

"This method had been underutilized for pathway discovery and eliminates a big bottleneck for high-throughput screening," Li said. "It's cheaper and safer than using chemical substrates, and it's highly efficient and accurate."

Li and her research group demonstrated the yeast-based method using kratom leaves. Kratom is a tropical tree native to southeast Asia and although not well studied, has gained attention from the research community because of its pharmaceutical potential, according to Li.

"It produces a chemical called mitragynine, which some people call a next-generation opioid because it has a painkilling effect without leading to dangerous respiratory depression," said Li, who added that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned against the use of kratom as it has not approved any drugs containing the tree. "Producing pure mitragynine can help lower the risks associated with using the entire kratom matrix by ultimately leading to a safer treatment."

The yeast-based method led to the identification of six kratom enzymes from 20 candidates predicted by genetic screening to produce mitragynine or other targeted chemicals. Subsequent biochemical testing showed that none of the 14 discarded candidates were functional enzymes, while four of the six identified by the yeast-based method were functional. Li said the method's accuracy opens the door for a more efficient discovery process and continued research on the kratom tree.

"For clinical trials, the chemical has to be purified from the plant or synthesized using a chemical approach, which is very expensive," Li said. "Using the yeast method, we can more economically produce mitragynine and other chemicals that might lead us to new pharmaceuticals."

More information: Yinan Wu et al, Discovering Dynamic Plant Enzyme Complexes in Yeast for Kratom Alkaloid Pathway Identification, Angewandte Chemie International Edition (2023). DOI: 10.1002/anie.202307995

Journal information: Angewandte Chemie , Angewandte Chemie International Edition

Provided by Cornell University Kratom's reputed pain-relief benefits could come from one of its metabolites

SPACE NEWS
New map of space precisely measures nearly 400,000 nearby galaxies

by Lauren Biron, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

NGC 520 is one of the largest and brightest galaxies in the Siena Galaxy Atlas. It is made of two disk galaxies that will eventually merge together to form one massive system. Credit: NSF/AURA/NOIRLab/T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab) & M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab); Acknowledgments: PI: J. Moustakas (Siena College); Image Processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab) & M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab) & D. de Martin (NSF’s NOIRLab)

Astronomers have created a detailed atlas of almost 400,000 galaxies in our cosmic neighborhood. The Siena Galaxy Atlas was compiled using data from NSF's NOIRLab telescopes, and is designed to be the preeminent digital galaxy atlas for large galaxies. It's a treasure trove of information for researchers investigating everything from galaxy formation and evolution to dark matter and gravitational waves. It's also freely available online for the public to explore.

This research was presented in a paper that appears in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series .

Astronomers have long sought to map the night skies, not only to fill in our picture of the cosmos we inhabit, but also to support further research. Comprehensive compilations of astronomical objects serve many purposes: they can help scientists spot broad patterns across a population of objects, put new discoveries such as transient events in the context of their surroundings, and identify the best candidates for focused observations.

However, these resources must be routinely updated to reflect the continuous technological improvements of telescopes. Now, a new atlas has been released with detailed information on over 380,000 galaxies at a greater level of accuracy than ever before, promising to be a boon to future astronomical inquiry.

The Siena Galaxy Atlas (SGA), is a compilation of data from three surveys completed between 2014 and 2017 known as the DESI Legacy Surveys, which were carried out to identify galaxy targets for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey. Data were collected at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) and Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), both Programs of NSF's NOIRLab, and at the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory.
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Panning on galaxies NGC 520 and IC 4212, both from the Siena Galaxy Atlas. Credit: CTIO / NOIRLab / DOE / NSF / AURA / N. Bartmann; Image Processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab) & M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab); PI: J. Moustakas; Music: zero-project, "Still Breathing"

The DESI Legacy Surveys used state-of-the-art instruments on telescopes operated by NOIRLab: the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey (DECaLS), carried out using the DOE-built Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at CTIO in Chile; the Mayall z-band Legacy Survey (MzLS) with the Mosaic3 camera on the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at KPNO; and the Beijing-Arizona Sky Survey (BASS) with the 90Prime camera on the Bok 2.3-meter Telescope, which is operated by Steward Observatory and hosted at KPNO.

The DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys data, as well as a queryable copy of the full Siena Galaxy Atlas, are served to the astronomical community via the Astro Data Lab science platform and Astro Data Archive at NOIRLab's Community Science and Data Center (CSDC). The SGA contains additional data from a survey by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) satellite that has been reprocessed by Aaron Meisner, an astronomer at NOIRLab

These surveys captured images in optical and infrared wavelengths to chart a total area of 20,000 square degrees—nearly half of the night sky, making it among the largest galaxy surveys. Bringing this wealth of information together in one place, the SGA offers precise data on the locations, shapes and sizes of hundreds of thousands relatively nearby large galaxies. Besides the sheer number of objects recorded, the data in the SGA also achieve a new level of accuracy and it is the first such resource to provide data on the galaxies' light profiles.

"Nearby large galaxies are important because we can study them in more detail than any other galaxies in the universe; they are our cosmic neighbors," notes John Moustakas, professor of physics at Siena College and SGA project leader. "Not only are they strikingly beautiful, but they also hold the key to understanding how galaxies form and evolve, including our very own Milky Way galaxy."

IC 4212 is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Virgo. It is situated close to the celestial equator, meaning it is at least partly visible from both hemispheres in certain times of the year. Credit: CTIO / NOIRLab / DOE / NSF / AURA; PI: J. Moustakas (Siena College); Image Processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF’s NOIRLab) & M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab) & D. de Martin (NSF’s NOIRLab)

The SGA builds on several centuries of efforts to chart the night skies. The iconic "Catalogue des Nébuleuses et des Amas d'Étoiles (Catalogue of Nebulae and Star Clusters)," published in 1774 by French astronomer Charles Messier, was a major milestone, as was the "New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars (NGC)," published in 1888 by John Louis Emil Dreyer.

More recently, in 1991, astronomers assembled the "Third Reference Catalog of Bright Galaxies (RC3)." Several other valuable galaxy atlases have been published over the past two decades, but most of them draw on the photographic-plate measurements in the RC3, or are missing significant numbers of galaxies. Since the SGA uses digital images captured with highly sensitive instruments, it represents a substantial improvement in both data quality and completeness.

Arjun Dey, a NOIRLab astronomer who was involved in the project, explains, "Previous galaxy compilations have been plagued by incorrect positions, sizes and shapes of galaxies, and also contained entries which were not galaxies but stars or artifacts. The SGA cleans all this up for a large part of the sky. It also provides the best brightness measurements for galaxies, something we have not reliably had before for a sample of this size."

This versatile resource will drive progress in numerous branches of astronomy and astrophysics by helping scientists find the best galaxy samples for targeted observation. For example, the SGA will enhance research into how patterns of star formation vary across different galaxies, the physical processes underlying the diverse array of morphologies that galaxies display, and how the distribution of galaxies is related to how dark matter is spread across the universe. By acting as a map, the SGA will also help astronomers pinpoint the sources of transient signals like gravitational waves and understand the events that give rise to them.

Optical mosaics of 42 galaxies from the SGA-2020 sorted by increasing angular diameter from the top-left to the bottom-right. Galaxies are chosen randomly from a uniform (flat) probability distribution in angular diameter. The horizontal white bar in the lower-left corner of each panel represents 1 arcminute and the mosaic cutouts range from 3.2 to 13.4 arcminutes. This figure illustrates the tremendous range of types, sizes, colors and surface brightness profiles, internal structure, and environments of the galaxies in the SGA. Credit: CTIO / NOIRLab / DOE / NSF / AURA / J. Moustakas

"The SGA is going to be the pre-eminent digital galaxy atlas for large galaxies," says Dey.

However, he points out that the SGA is not just for academic researchers; it is freely available to view online for anyone wishing to get to know our corner of the universe better, adding, "In addition to its scientific utility, it has a lot of pictures of beautiful galaxies."

"The public release of these spectacular data contained in the atlas will have a real impact not only on astronomical research, but also on the public's ability to view and identify relatively nearby galaxies," says Chris Davis, NSF Program Director for NOIRLab. "Dedicated amateur astronomers will particularly love this as a go-to resource for learning more about some of the celestial targets they observe."

More information: John Moustakas et al, Siena Galaxy Atlas 2020, The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series (2023). DOI: 10.3847/1538-4365/acfaa2

Provided by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Over one billion galaxies blaze bright in colossal map of the sky

Study suggests gas giants may be more common than thought in some parts of the galaxy

by Bob Yirka , Phys.org

A team of astronomers and astrophysicists from INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell'Osservatorio 5, Universidad Diego Portales, the University of Exeter and Sorbonne Université has found evidence that gas giants may be more common than thought in some parts of the galaxy. In their study, reported in the journal Nature Communications, the group analyzed the mass and movement of 30 stars in the Beta Pictoris Moving Group.

Prior research has suggested that gas giants, similar in some respects to Jupiter, should form easily around stars with properties similar to the sun. But finding them has proven to be difficult, leading some in the planetary community to wonder if these assumptions have been wrong.

For this study, the research team took a new approach—they used a new type of high-contrast imaging to focus on a grouping of stars relatively near to Earth called the Beta Pictoris Moving Group. Prior research has shown that the small cluster of stars move together through space.

In their work, the research team focused on 30 stars in the group, seeking to determine their mass and movements. The team chose the group for several reasons: It is relatively small, there is a lot of space between the stars, and they seem to be rather young. They reasoned that gas giants might be more likely to develop in such places. The team found evidence of the potential existence of gas giants in 20 of the star systems they studied—all of which, if they do exist, orbit far from their star.

More work is required to confirm their findings. The researchers also suggest that gas giants appear more likely to form in small, low population groups, which have not typically been the focus of intense research efforts. And that, they point out, suggests that there may be many more gas giants than previously thought.

More information: Raffaele Gratton et al, Jupiter-like planets might be common in a low-density environment, Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41665-0

Journal information: Nature Communications

Old stars don't have hot Jupiters, suggests study

India plans manned Moon mission, space station

Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

India plans to send a man to the moon and set up a space station by 2040, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, as the country ramps up its space program.

The premier's announcement comes as the world's most populous country readies for a key test flight due Saturday for its first crewed space mission.

Modi told space agency officials that they should "build on the success of Indian space initiatives".

The country "should now aim for new and ambitious goals, including setting up 'Bharatiya Antariksha Station' (Indian Space Station) by 2035 and sending first Indian to moon by 2040," he said in a statement late Tuesday.

Modi asked them to develop plans for "a series of missions" to the moon.

India runs a low-budget space operation. It became the first to land a craft near the largely unexplored lunar south pole in August and, a month later, successfully launched a spacecraft to observe the outermost layers of the sun.

In 2014, India became the first Asian nation to put a satellite into orbit around Mars, and its space agency Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched 104 satellites in a single mission in 2017.

India's current focus remains on its first manned mission into outer space, called Gaganyaan or "Skycraft".

The three-day mission, expected to take place next year, aims to send a three-member crew into Earth's orbit at a cost of about $1.08 billion, according to ISRO.

The country also plans to launch a probe to the moon with Japan, land a craft on Mars, and send an orbital mission to Venus within the next two years.

India has been steadily matching the achievements of established spacefaring powers at a fraction of their cost.

Experts say India can keep costs low by copying and adapting existing technology, and thanks to an abundance of highly skilled engineers who earn a fraction of their global counterparts.

India says it only accounts for two percent of the $386 billion global space economy, a share it hopes to increase to nine percent by 2030.

© 2023 AFP

India space chief unfazed by Moon mission's apparent end

Searching for concentrated biosignatures in an ancient Mars mud lake

by Planetary Science Institute

(a) Map of Hydraotes Chaos showing how the interpreted mud volcanoes (orange dots) and diapirs (white dots) are widespread. Both feature types result from sedimentary volcanism – instead of magma upwells and eruptions, wet sediments, and salts reach and breach the surface, forming mounds and flows. Interestingly, these mounds only occur over the chaotic terrain floor materials and not on the mesas (red-shaded areas) they embay. This suggests a material composition link rather than a genesis by regional extensional forces generated by magmatic rises. (b) shows a possible mud volcano. Notice that its surrounding lobate deposits are highly eroded and removed (red arrows), consistent with the flows that emplaced them as fine-grained, volatile-rich materials. Credit: NASA

A landmark discovery by a collaborative team led by the Planetary Science Institute's Alexis Rodriguez has unveiled evidence of sedimentary plains created by aquifer drainage within Martian collapse formations termed chaotic terrains.

"Our research focuses on a sedimentary unit within Hydraotes Chaos, which we interpret to be the remnants of a mud lake formed by discharges from gas-charged mudstone stratigraphy dating back to nearly 4 billion years ago, a time when the surface of Mars was likely habitable," said Rodriguez, lead author of the paper, "Exploring the evidence of middle Amazonian aquifer sedimentary outburst residues in a Martian chaotic terrain," published in Scientific Reports.

"These sediments might harbor evidence of life from that or subsequent periods. It is important to remember that the subsurface of Mars might have included habitability lasting the duration of life's history on Earth."

PSI scientists Bryan Travis, Jeffrey S. Kargel and Daniel C. Berman are co-authors on the paper. Scientists from NASA Ames Research Center, the University of Arizona, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, and the University of Florida are also co-authors on the project.

The extensive study of Martian aquifer drainage has revealed enormous flood channels that stretch thousands of kilometers into the planet's northern lowlands. The prodigious erosion caused by these channels, combined with the subsurface sediments released from the aquifers, blankets extensive portions of the northern lowlands. This complex landscape presents a formidable challenge for the investigation of the nature of the Martian aquifers.

View of Hydraotes Chaos (white outline), including the location of the proposed mud lake (black arrow). Credit: NASA

"Venturing into the northern plains for sampling could prove precarious, as distinguishing between materials sourced from the aquifers and those eroded and transported during channel formation could become an intricate task. The plains, situated within Hydraotes Chaos, offer a unique glimpse into ancient aquifer materials. These plains, which we think formed from mud extruding into a basin directly above their source aquifer, provide a more targeted exploration opportunity," Rodriguez said.

"Unlike vast flood channels with their complex erosion patterns, this finding simplifies the examination of Martian aquifers, reducing the risk of overland sedimentary acquisition, and opens a new window into Mars' geological past."

"Our numerical models reveal a fascinating story. The lake's source aquifer likely originated from phase segregation within the mudstone, forming vast water-filled chambers, several kilometers wide and hundreds of meters deep. This process was likely triggered by intrusive igneous activity," co-author Travis said.

"Moreover, the observed segmented subsidence across the chaotic terrain suggests an interconnected network of chambers, depicting stable water-filled giant caverns, some reaching kilometers in widths and lengths, way larger than any known Earth counterparts."

"Initially biomolecules could have been dispersed throughout the volume of large groundwater filled cavities. As the water was released to the surface and ponded, the water went away leaving behind lags of sediments and potentially high concentrations of biomolecules," Rodriguez said.

Therefore, the residue of this ancient mud lake could provide unprecedented access to aquifer materials enriched in biomolecules that have remained hidden within Mars' subsurface for most of its existence.

Lobate margin forming part of a constant elevation contact, which we interpret as the lake’s inundation periphery. We plan to land somewhere near here. Credit: NASA

"NASA Ames is considering the plains as a possible landing site for a mission to search for evidence of biomarkers, specifically lipids. These biomolecules are extremely resistant and could have endured billions of years on Mars," co-author Mary Beth Wilhelm of NASA Ames Research Center said.

"In addition, the study region includes widespread mud volcanoes and possible diapirs, providing additional windows into subsurface, potentially habitable rocks. A small rover could within short distances sample the mud lake sediments and these materials, dramatically increasing the odds of biosignature detection," co-author Kargel said.

"Our crater counts indicate that the plains are relatively recent, returning an age of 1 billion years. This age is good news for our search for life. This age is way younger than the ages of most aquifer releases on Mars, dating back to approximately 3.4 billion years ago. So, the materials spent a huge amount of time in the subsurface," co-author Berman said.

More information: Rodriguez, J.A.P et al, Exploring the evidence of Middle Amazonian aquifer sedimentary outburst residues in a Martian chaotic terrain, Scientific Reports (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-39060-2

Journal information: Scientific Reports

Provided by Planetary Science Institute

A NASA spacecraft may have explored the edges of an early Mars sea in 1 997

SpaceX launch equals Space Coast record for the year

by Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel

Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

A SpaceX launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Tuesday night marked the Space Coast's 57th launch of the year, equaling the record total seen in 2022.

A Falcon 9 with 22 of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites lifted off from Canaveral's Space Launch Complex 40 at 8:36 p.m. This was the first-stage booster's 16th flight with a recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic.

For SpaceX it was its 53rd mission from either Canaveral or Kennedy Space Center this year while United Launch Alliance has flown three times and Relativity Space has flown once. SpaceX is the lone launch provider this year from KSC having flown 11 times while ULA, SpaceX and Relativity combined for 46 launches from Canaveral.

The majority of SpaceX launches have been for its growing Starlink constellation. This marks the 31st Starlink launch from the Space Coast.

But SpaceX has also flown all three U.S.-based crewed missions this year with Crew-6, Axiom 2 and Crew-7 all having launched from KSC. KSC has also hosted four of the Falcon Heavy launches including last week's Psyche launch, the first time NASA has used the powerhouse rocket.

The pace between launches has picked up as well, with only an eight hour and 42 minute gap between the Psyche launch that happened Friday morning and a Starlink launch on Friday evening.

That's the shortest time between launches since four Gemini program missions that flew in 1966. Those featured double launches from two different pads on what was then Cape Kennedy.

Those would send crew up in the Gemini capsule on Titan rockets about 100 minutes after Atlas boosers had sent up Agena Target Vehicles with which they would rendezvous in space. The record remains the two launches with Gemini 11, which sent up Pete Conrad and Richard Gordon from Launch Complex 19 only 97 minutes and 25 seconds after the Agena launch from Launch Complex 14 just over 1 mile to the south.

SpaceX itself has kept setting turnaround records for launches from SLC 40 at one point sending up two launches from the pad in under four days.

With about 11 weeks to go, the Eastern Range could end up with more than 70 launches for the year if it maintains its pace.

SpaceX has several more Starlink flights planned as well as the CRS-29 resupply mission as early as Nov. 1 and what could be the first successful launch of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) missions on Nov. 14, which aims to send the Intuitive Machines IM-1 lunar lander on its way to the moon.

There could also be one more Falcon Heavy launch before the end of the year on the USSF-52 mission for the Space Force.

While Relativity Space was one and done with its lone launch of the 3D-printed Terran 1 rocket in March, ULA could squeeze in one more flight before the year's end with the first launch of its new Vulcan Centaur rocket. The much-delayed flight of the replacement for ULA's Atlas and Delta family of rockets could fly in December, according to ULA President and CEO Tory Bruno. It had been targeting a May liftoff this year, and was on tap to make its primary payload, Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar lander, the first CLPS moon mission.

Space Launch Delta 45 leadership said at the beginning of the year, the Space Coast could have seen up to 92 launches in 2023, and a pace of two launches per week is something expected in the coming years as more rocket companies get their hardware to the launch pads.

SpaceX's pace is not expected to slow while ULA aims to ramp up its Vulcan Centaur flights to at least twice a month. Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin hopes to bring its New Glenn heavy lift rocket into space for the first time before the end of 2024., although that might slip to 2025.

2023 Orlando Sentinel. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

SpaceX launch today would equal Space Coast record for the year

Study predicts potential for 110% electricity increases in US urban buildings

by University of Oklahoma

A research study led by University of Oklahoma assistant professor Chenghao Wang and published in the journal Nature Communications tackled the critical issue of how city-scale building energy consumption in urban environments will evolve under the influence of climate change.

Fossil fuels account for approximately 40% of all building energy use in urban city centers in the United States, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration reports that residential and commercial buildings in U.S. cities are one of the major energy consumers (39%) and greenhouse gas emitters (28%).

"Understanding their future energy use is very important for developing climate change mitigation strategies, improving energy efficiency, developing and implementing energy and environmental regulations, policies, and incentive plans and enhancing the resilience and adaptation of our society under future climate and extreme weather conditions," said Wang, who leads the Sustainable Urban Futures, or SURF, Lab in the OU School of Meteorology.

"Previous studies made strides in estimating how energy use might change at the national or state levels in response to future changes in climate," he said. "However, there is a significant gap in our understanding when it comes to the city scale. As global cities commit to ambitious sustainability goals, a more granular understanding of energy use at the city scale becomes imperative."

The research team includes Janet Reyna and Henry Horsey from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Jiyun Song, Dachuan Shi and Yuyu Zhou from the University of Hong Kong, Sarah Feron from the Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Zutao Ouyang and Robert Jackson from Stanford University, and Ying Li from China Three Gorges University.

They examined 277 cities across the contiguous U.S., using model simulations and the most recent future climate projections from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, or CMIP6, dataset. They considered four possible warming scenarios that encompass a variety of possible climate warming scenarios and two electric power sector scenarios.

"In one power sector scenario, we assumed no future carbon policies would be implemented, but we also included a scenario that assumes rapid decarbonization and net-zero carbon emissions from the power sector by 2050, similar to with U.S. carbon-pollution-free goals announced by President Biden in 2023," Wang said.

To investigate how urban building energy use would evolve under future climate change, Wang's team used an indicator called energy use intensity, or EUI. The EUI is the energy used per square foot per year and is calculated by dividing the total energy consumed by the buildings by their total gross floor area.

"Due to climate change, we found that city-scale building EUI is projected to experience uneven changes by the 2050s when compared to the 2010s," Wang said. "The largest increase in electricity EUI will mainly occur in the South, Southwest, West, and Southeast, which will see an increase of up to 7.2%."

They discovered that the increase in electricity EUI during warm seasons and the hottest days will be much greater than the annual change, especially in the Northwest. This difference is mainly due to the higher air conditioning adoption rate and space cooling energy use under future warming. For each degree of warming, the average city-level space cooling EUI will increase by 13.8%.

"We found an average 10.1 to 37.7% increase in the frequency of urban summer peak building electricity EUI. However, some cities will experience over 110% increases. This will require higher grid capacity and also greater resilience against power outages during extreme heat waves," Wang said.

The team also assessed the potential changes in the source energy used by urban buildings, considering energy losses during generation, transmission and distribution.

"Power sector decarbonization is very effective in curbing the source energy consumption of future buildings in cities, but it's crucial to further reduce direct fossil fuel combustion in buildings," Wang said. "Simply put, we need rapid electrification for future urban buildings."

More information: Chenghao Wang et al, Impacts of climate change, population growth, and power sector decarbonization on urban building energy use, Nature Communications (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41458-5

Journal information: Nature Communications

Provided by University of Oklahoma

US can cut building emissions by up to 91%, saving $100 billion a year in energy-related costs, modeling study shows

Honda, GM plan driverless taxis in Tokyo in 2026

Japan's Honda and US auto titan General Motors announced on Thursday that they planned to launch a driverless taxi service in Tokyo in 2026, helping tackle labor shortages in an aging society.

Co-developed by San Francisco-based self-driving car operator Cruise, the project will offer "an entirely new kind of mobility experience" in Japan, Honda said in a statement.

"This will be a major step toward the realization of an advanced mobility society," its chief executive Toshihiro Mibe said.

The project is also aimed at "helping address societal issues facing Japan, such as the taxi and bus driver shortage", Honda added.

Autonomous vehicles are being pushed by Japan's government as the country battles a rapidly aging population and persistent labor shortages.

In 2020, Japan became the first country in the world to allow a vehicle capable of taking full control in certain situations to operate on public roads.

Auto giants from Toyota to Nissan are also trialing self-driving buses and taxis.

Honda's newly announced service will feature a "vast cabin space" capable of accommodating six passengers, stripped of a driver's seat and a steering wheel.

It will "pick up customers at a specified location and drive them to the destination, entirely through self-driving", with customers able to complete the whole process on a smartphone app, according to Honda.

"Dozens" of the driverless cars are expected to be launched in Tokyo in early 2026, with the developers then hoping to expand the project to a fleet of 500, and to areas outside central Tokyo.

"The benefits of AVs (autonomous vehicles)—from safety to accessibility—are too profound to ignore," Mary Barra, chair and CEO of GM, said.

But self-driving cars are no stranger to controversy, with safety under scrutiny as operators including Cruise increasingly gain traction in California.

Honda, GM and Cruise aim to establish a joint venture dedicated to their new initiative in 2024, pending regulatory approvals.

Cruise now testing self-driving cars in Atlanta

From one nightmare to another: Anthony Fauci's new concern

by Georgetown University Medical Center

COVID-19 — Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

"What keeps you up at night?" It's a question Anthony Fauci, MD, heard repeatedly over the course of his nearly four decades as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health.

Now a Distinguished University Professor at Georgetown University School of Medicine and the McCourt School of Public Policy, Fauci says he realized his worst nightmare—a twist on the usual question—in January 2020 when the type of virus he most feared triggered a worldwide pandemic.

Today, as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes, Fauci describes a new nemesis—lack of "corporate memory."

Writing in Science Translational Medicine, as if to help ensure an indelible, collective memory is created, Fauci reviews the key lessons learned from COVID-19 to help prepare and respond to the next pandemic, "whenever that occurs."

He describes two "buckets" for these lessons: the public health bucket and the scientific bucket.

"If there is a success story embedded in the COVID-19 saga, it is in the arena of basic, translational, and clinical science— the scientific bucket," Fauci writes. He attributes the success to decades of investment in basic research, noting the scientific achievements of Drew Weissman, MD, Ph.D., and Katalin Kariko, Ph.D., awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology for their discoveries that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.

Fauci also describes a possible path ahead for future scientific work involving prototype pathogen research.

Often perceived as the face of the public health response during the pandemic in the U.S., Fauci outlines failures that fall in the public health "bucket" ranging from institutional weaknesses to the disconnect between health care delivery and the public health infrastructure. Specifically, he notes poor coordination between state and governments, supply chain issues, and misinformation and disinformation.

"Fundamental to all this discussion is my comment above regarding the next inevitable pandemic, whenever that occurs," Fauci concludes.

"Over and over, after time has passed from the appearance of an acute public health challenge, and after cases, hospitalizations, and deaths fall to an 'acceptable' level … the transition from being reactive to the dwindling challenge to being durably and consistently prepared for the next challenge seems to fall flat. Hopefully, corporate memory of COVID-19 will endure and trigger a sustained interest and support of both the scientific and public health buckets.

"If not, many of us will be spending a lot of time awake in bed or having nightmares when asleep."

More information: Anthony Fauci et al, What Keeps Me Up at Night, Science Translational Medicine (2023). DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adj9469. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.adj9469

Journal information: Science Translational Medicine

Provided by Georgetown University Medical Center Fauci: US in 'a different moment' but pandemic not over

Women are turning to cannabis to treat menopause symptoms, study suggests

by Oumar Salifou, University of Alberta

cbd oil — Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

A new University of Alberta study published in BMJ Open suggests many women in Alberta use cannabis to treat symptoms of menopause despite a lack of evidence that it is effective for menopause symptoms.

"This research highlights that women are using cannabis as an alternative option to manage their symptoms," says Katherine Babyn, a second-year medical student who completed the study as a part of her master's program in the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

"It also highlights issues around menopause care in general that women are seeking other options to manage their symptoms."

The study involved 1,485 women aged 35 and older living in Alberta who completed an online survey about their cannabis use patterns in relation to reported menopause symptoms.

Of the respondents, about one-third (499 women) reported currently using cannabis while 66% used at some point. Of current users, 75% indicated using cannabis for medical purposes most common symptoms were for improving sleep, reducing anxiety and relieving muscle and joint aches.

The exploratory study was designed to inform further research into why and how women use cannabis and to help create clinical tools for health-care providers and educational material for women.

When Babyn and co-author Nese Yuksel, a professor in the Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Babyn's supervisor during her master's program, searched the scientific literature for studies on cannabis and menopause, they noticed a lack of published research.

"Even when we looked at specific symptoms that related to what a woman might experience during menopause, there weren't any randomized controlled trials that suggested cannabis could be an effective therapy option for menopause symptoms," says Yuksel, who is also a member of the Women and Children's Health Research Institute and incoming president of the Canadian Menopause Society.

"The fact that we were able to survey such a large number of women shows that there is an interest in this area, and it is an important topic to continue investigating."

In her previous clinical work at the menopause clinic at the Lois Hole Hospital for Women, Yuksel noticed more women using cannabis to alleviate symptoms they didn't realize were the result of menopause or perimenopause, which is the time leading up to menopause.

"It's not just the hot flashes and night sweats—it's the sleeping issues, it's the mood issues, it's the brain fog and that (difficulty with) concentration, which a lot of women talk about," says Yuksel. "But they may not understand that these could be related to menopause."

Babyn adds that women may choose to consume cannabis or natural health products because they come from natural sources, leading to the belief that natural options are safer or healthier alternatives to pharmaceutical or synthetic drugs.

"It's well known that natural does not necessarily equate to safer or better," says Babyn. "To establish if cannabis is safer or more effective, you really need those randomized control trials, just like all the other drug options that are studied."

Despite this, Yuksel says, the internet is full of informal information about using cannabis in menopause.

"We want to be able to guide women because we get a lot of questions."

Management options for menopause in Canada include menopausal hormone therapy, non-hormonal prescription medications, lifestyle modifications and complementary therapy such as cognitive behavioral therapy. Current menopause guidelines recommend menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) as the most effective option for treating bothersome vasomotor symptoms.

"Unfortunately, there's still a lot of fear of MHT that's a real issue," says Yuksel.

"We're trying to do a lot with the Canadian Menopause Society to bring awareness on feeling comfortable using MHT in the right population. For example, it can be safely considered in women who are less than 60 years of age or less than 10 years' menopause and without contraindications."

Bringing awareness to health-care providers is also important for Babyn and Yuksel because the stigma towards aging in women and menopause can lead to less open communication for patients seeking treatment.

"It's about making women feel comfortable talking, even sharing that they may be having issues," says Yuksel.

"Because of the stigma, the fear of MHT and a lot of misinformation out there, women start finding their own solutions. This study is reflective of the fact that maybe there are a lot of women not getting the help they deserve or need at that time."

For the second phase of their mixed-methods study, Babyn and Yuksel have also explored why the women they surveyed turned to cannabis as a treatment method.

In addition, an information pamphlet about cannabis in menopause including current evidence and support is being developed.

"It is not that we are advocating for cannabis for menopause symptoms; we believe there should be more research in this area so that we have the evidence to support women," notes Yuksel.

"We did provide a snapshot of what is happening in this area: that women are using cannabis as an option for managing their menopause symptoms and there should be more investigations moving on forward from this data."

More information: Katherine Babyn et al, Cannabis use for menopause in women aged 35 and over: a cross-sectional survey on usage patterns and perceptions in Alberta, Canada, BMJ Open (2023). DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-069197

Journal information: BMJ Open

Provided by University of Alberta

New study suggests growing use of cannabis to help manage menopause symptoms

Visual abstracts in journal articles found to increase social media engagement, readership

by Melissa Rohman, Northwestern University

medical research — Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

Social media posts with visual abstracts—images with text and icons that convey a study's methods and findings—of clinical trials published online in peer-reviewed academic journals increased social media engagement compared to social media posts with article figures, according to a recent research letter published in JAMA.

Led by Seth Trueger, MD, MPH, associate professor of Emergency Medicine, the analysis included 205 randomized clinical trials with VAs published across 12 of JAMA Network's peer-reviewed academic journals from September 2021 through May 2022.

For each clinical trial included, the investigators created social media posts comprising a text summary of the study findings, an article link, and one of three images: a linking visual abstract (clicking the image opens the article in a web browser), an expandable visual abstract (clicking the image expands the image to full screen), or an article figure or table.

The three posts were then published once to each of the journal's accounts on X (formerly known as Twitter) and Facebook, one minute apart in a random sequence one hour after the clinical trial was published online.

Engagement was measured for seven days after study publication and included the number of link clicks, platform-reported impressions (how many people saw each post on their timeline) and "all other engagement."

For X/Twitter, engagement included the sum of replies, retweets, detail expansions, likes, profile clicks, hashtag clicks, and follows. For Facebook, engagement included the sum of comments, shares, reactions, and clicks on "see more," profile pages, or profile photos.

The authors found that link clicks were significantly higher in clinical trials with linked visual abstracts than with expandable visual abstracts or article figures (18 link clicks compared to 11 and nine link clicks, respectively).

Subgroup analyses also showed that link clicks were higher with linked visual abstracts on X/Twitter but not on Facebook. Increases in link clicks also differed by social media platform and journal category. For example, the authors saw increases in impressions and engagement for expandable visual abstracts on Facebook but not on X/Twitter, and the JAMA had the most significant increase in link clicks with linked visual abstracts compared to JAMA Network's other specialty journals.

"I think the biggest question journals should ask about visual abstracts is: what are we trying to do and how much do we need to invest to do it? Are we trying to get people to click on the link and go to the journal webpage, so they read some or all of the full article, and usually click on another article while they're there? Or do we want people to see the visual abstract, get the gist of the article, and maybe learn something?" Trueger said.

More information: N. Seth Trueger et al, Randomized Clinical Trial Visual Abstract Display and Social Media–Driven Website Traffic, JAMA (2023). DOI: 10.1001/jama.2023.16839

Journal information: Journal of the American Medical Association

Provided by Northwestern University As scientists take to Twitter, study shows power of 'visual abstract' graphics

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