🪳Cyborg cockroaches beware! They are coming to save us!

Why are orange cats so unique, and what if you could see through walls just by putting on some contact lenses? And what about making your own army of cyborg cockroaches to act on your whims!? Well, not really, but it could be used to help with rescue missions in disaster zones. These and many more things this week. Check them out!

In the research we liked this week, researchers at the University of Osaka controlled cockroaches with UV light stimulation. You can check out the paper from the Advanced Intelligent Systems. But in essence, the goggles light up when the sensors on the cockroaches (yep, they are wearing a backpack) detect that the roaches aren’t moving. Cockroaches tend to avoid light, so by differentially stimulating the optic lobes, the roaches could be steered. With Japan prone to natural disasters, the Japanese researchers hope that these little cyborg critters could one day be used in search and rescue. You can watch a video of a helmet-clad bug in action over HERE.

Everyone knows orange cats are the most ‘annoying’ ones. But we didn’t know how they got their orange tan. It turns out there is no apparent homolog for Sex-linked orange in other mammals, except cats! Stanford and Cheetah conservation fund, among others, found that unrestrained expression of ARHGAP36 blocks protein kinase A and causes orange hair color. Check out the science HERE for the publication by the Stanford team and HERE by the Kyushu University. Both of these teams undertook studies concurrently to crack this case.

The most interesting thing about this work is that it was initiated by a crowdfunded research campaign! Hiroyuki Sasaki at Kyushu University was able to finally get the answer to his lifelong question, with the help of 619 backers of the project!

Cancer is caused by malicious mutations in cells, often randomly, as the cells can no longer keep up with ‘housekeeping’. This is why the older we get, the higher the chances. But then there are elephants. Larger than us and living a similar lifespan. So, more cells and more opportunities? Not really. Only about 5% of elephants succumb to cancer, whereas the same number in humans is 25%. So what gives? This is what puzzled scientists too, and is also called Peto’s paradox by the scientist who found the discrepancy.

Now, studies have shed light on what the mechanism may be, and one such finding is that elephants have multiple copies of a p53 gene, which is responsible for regulating cell death in erroneous cases. In comparison, humans only have one copy. The scientists have also hypothesized that elephants evolved to have more copies to increase sperm quality, as their testicles are not housed outside the body, as many other mammals do. This increases heat and thus errors. So the hypothesis is that the multiple copies were born to counterattack this, and thus, as a side-effect, cancer.

Read more about this HERE

In a recent study, scientists compared the effects of two drugs used for type 2 diabetes, Metformin and Sulfonylureas, on women’s longevity. They found that metformin correlated with less than a 30% risk of death before the age of 90. However, it is also noted that since there is no placebo, further studies are required.

The data used for the study were gathered from the Women’s Health Initiative, which has more than 30 years of follow-up on the participants. The initial count of participants was around 168,000, and the current active participants are around 42,000.

You can read more HERE or check the study published in the Journal of Gerontology.

Humans are naturally limited to seeing visible light, but what if we could expand our vision into the infrared spectrum without bulky equipment? A breakthrough study showcased in Cell demonstrates exactly this possibility through revolutionary contact lenses that convert infrared light into visible wavelengths.

These innovative lenses use specialized nanoparticles embedded in biocompatible polymers to detect near-infrared light (800-1600 nm) and convert it to wavelengths our eyes can naturally perceive. Unlike traditional night vision goggles, these contacts require no power source and allow users to see both visible and infrared light simultaneously. The technology proved effective in both mice and human participants, with users successfully detecting Morse code-like infrared signals and spatial information.

The researchers have even developed trichromatic versions that color-code different infrared wavelengths - 980 nm appears blue, 808 nm shows as green, and 1,532 nm converts to red. This breakthrough opens doors for security applications, rescue operations, and could potentially help color-blind individuals by converting invisible wavelengths into visible ones.

Read more HERE

We had an interesting bunch of news again this week. Personally, I really loved the surprising simplicity of the idea used to control the ‘cyborgs’. Not because I’m thinking of world domination, but because I think how fun it would be to race your friends! But I wouldn’t mind having super vision either. Again, we ask if you can share this with a friend or a colleague that you might think would enjoy this and give feedback if you feel that we could do something better or worse!

Also, Happy Pride Month 🏳️‍🌈! We are taking an active part to show our support, and encourage you to do the same, no matter how small. Until next week! Prateek & Jere

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