Lifeboat Foundation

We now have a standard model of cosmology, the current version of the Big Bang theory. Although it has proved very successful, its consequences are staggering. We know only 5% of the content of the universe, which is normal matter. The remaining 95% is made up of two exotic entities that have never been produced in the laboratory and whose physical nature is still unknown.

These are dark matter, which accounts for 25% of the content of the cosmos, and dark energy, which contributes 70%. In the standard model of cosmology, dark energy is the energy of empty space, and its density remains constant throughout the evolution of the universe.

According to this theory, sound waves propagated in the very early universe. In those early stages, the universe had an enormous temperature and density. The pressure in this initial gas tried to push the particles that formed it apart, while gravity tried to pull them together, and the competition between the two forces created sound waves that propagated from the beginning of the universe until about 400,000 years after the Big Bang.

Researchers report in the journal Cell that ancient viruses may be to thank for myelin—and, by extension, our large, complex brains.

The team found that a retrovirus-derived genetic element or “retrotransposon” is essential for myelin production in mammals, amphibians, and fish. The gene sequence, which they dubbed “RetroMyelin,” is likely a result of ancient viral infection, and comparisons of RetroMyelin in mammals, amphibians, and fish suggest that retroviral infection and genome-invasion events occurred separately in each of these groups.

“Retroviruses were required for vertebrate evolution to take off,” says senior author and neuroscientist Robin Franklin of Altos Labs-Cambridge Institute of Science. “If we didn’t have retroviruses sticking their sequences into the vertebrate genome, then myelination wouldn’t have happened, and without myelination, the whole diversity of vertebrates as we know it would never have happened.”

Polyploidization-rediploidization process plays an important role in plant adaptive evolution. Here, the authors assemble the genomes of mangrove species Sonneratia alba and its inland relative Lagerstroemia speciosa, and reveal genomic evidence for rediploidization and adaptive evolution after the whole-genome triplication.

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Heme proteins can catalyze the formation of carbon–silicon bonds.

Dr. David Cohen comments on 10-year results from a trial of transcatheter vs. surgical aortic valve replacement:

Over the past decade, transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has evolved from a niche procedure to treat severe aortic stenosis in high-risk patients to a mainstream procedure that is also performed in intermediate-and low-risk patients. With this evolution in practice, the large number of younger patients with life expectancies 10 years now receiving TAVR has raised concerns about its durability and patients’ long-term outcomes. Now, 10-year results are available from the NOTION trial of TAVR versus surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) that was conducted between 2009 and 2013 (NEJM JW Cardiol May 29 2015 and J Am Coll Cardiol 2015; 65:2184).

Two hundred eighty patients aged 70 years (mean age, 79 years; mean predicted risk of surgical mortality, 3%) were randomized to SAVR using any commercially available bioprosthesis or TAVR using the first-generation self-expanding CoreValve device. At 10-year follow-up, there was no significant between-group difference in the composite of death, stroke, or myocardial infarction (66% for both groups) or any of the individual components. Rates of bioprosthetic valve failure and repeat valve intervention were also similar. However, the rate of bioprosthetic valve dysfunction was lower with TAVR, largely reflecting lower rates of patient–prosthesis mismatch. The rate of structural valve deterioration was lower with TAVR as well, driven mainly by lower transvalvular gradients with TAVR that emerged early and persisted throughout follow-up.

Continue reading “Long-Term Outcomes of Transcatheter vs. Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement” »

Postbiological evolution.

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Cosmologists are wrestling with an interesting question: how much clumpiness does the Universe have? There are competing but not compatible measurements of cosmic clumpiness and that introduces a “tension” between the differing measurements. It involves the amount and distribution of matter in the Universe. However, dark energy and neutrinos are also in the mix. Now, results from a recent large X-ray survey of galaxy clusters may help “ease the tension”

The eROSITA X-ray instrument orbiting beyond Earth performed an extensive sky survey of galaxy clusters to measure matter distribution (clumpiness) in the Universe. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics recently shared their analysis of its cosmologically important data.

“eROSITA has now brought cluster evolution measurement as a tool for precision cosmology to the next level,” said Dr. Esra Bulbul (MPE), the lead scientist for eROSITA’s clusters and cosmology team. “The cosmological parameters that we measure from galaxy clusters are consistent with state-of-the-art cosmic microwave background, showing that the same cosmological model holds from soon after the Big Bang to today.”

University of Melbourne researchers are leading a new push to address the growing harm of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as more humans and animals become seriously ill or die from infections that medicine once treated easily.

Over-use and misuse of microbe-killing drugs – including antibiotics, antivirals and antifungals – is the main driver accelerating the evolution of resistance to these drugs in bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites around the world.

The World Health Organisation calls AMR a top global public health threat that was directly responsible for 1.27 million deaths and contributed to 4.95 million deaths in 2019.

Scentists have uncovered a fascinating link between ancient viruses and the development of myelination, the biological process crucial for the advanced functioning of the nervous system in vertebrates, including humans.

Scientists discovered a gene, ‘RetroMyelin,’ from ancient viruses, essential for myelination in vertebrates, suggesting viral sequences in early vertebrate genomes were pivotal for developing complex brains. This breakthrough in Cell unravels how myelination evolved, highlighting its significance in vertebrate diversity.