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Category: biological

Chance discovery converts toxic nitric oxide into nitrogen gas at room temperature

Nitrogen is a crucial component of proteins and nucleic acids, the fundamental building blocks of all living things, and thus is essential to life on Earth. Gaseous N2 from the atmosphere can be fixed by soil bacteria capable of converting N2 to ammonia or nitrates (NO3).

Nitrifying bacteria in the soil then convert ammonia into NO3, which plants utilize for growth. Animals that consume plants put the N2 back into the soil in the form of ammonia when they die or excrete waste.

The NO3 in the soil is converted back into N2 and released into the atmosphere by the activity of denitrifying microbes in the soil. This native nitrogen cycle regulates the N2 levels in the atmosphere and on Earth and is vital for sustaining life.

Quantum Algorithm Solves Metabolic Modeling Test

A Japanese research team from Keio University demonstrated that a quantum algorithm can solve a core metabolic-modeling problem, marking one of the earliest applications of quantum computing to a biological system. The study shows quantum methods can map how cells use energy and resources.

Flux balance analysis is a method widely used in systems biology to estimate how a cell moves material through metabolic pathways. It treats the cell as a network of reactions constrained by mass balance laws, finding reaction rates that maximize biological objectives like growth or ATP production.

No. The demonstration ran on a simulator rather than physical hardware, though the model followed the structure of quantum machines expected in the first wave of fault-tolerant systems. The simulation used only six qubits.

Moss spores survive 9 months outside International Space Station

Mosses thrive in the most extreme environments on Earth, from the peaks of the Himalayas to the sands of Death Valley, the Antarctic tundra to the lava fields of active volcanoes. Inspired by moss’s resilience, researchers sent moss sporophytes—reproductive structures that encase spores—to the most extreme environment yet: space.

Their results, published in the journal iScience on November 20, show that more than 80% of the spores survived nine months outside of the International Space Station (ISS) and made it back to Earth still capable of reproducing, demonstrating for the first time that an early land plant can survive long-term exposure to the elements of space.

“Most living organisms, including humans, cannot survive even briefly in the vacuum of space,” says lead author Tomomichi Fujita of Hokkaido University. “However, the moss spores retained their vitality after nine months of direct exposure. This provides striking evidence that the life that has evolved on Earth possesses, at the cellular level, intrinsic mechanisms to endure the conditions of space.”

Scientists Uncover New Biological Law, Cracking an 80-Year Mystery

Scientists uncover a basic principle that shows how higher nutrient levels change the pace of cell growth, revealing a universal rule that applies to microbial growth. A research group that includes a scientist from the Earth-Life Science Institute (ELSI) at Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan, has

Mindscape 242 | David Krakauer on Complexity, Agency, and Information

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/seanmcarroll.
Blog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/07/10/242-…formation/

Complexity scientists have been able to make an impressive amount of progress despite the fact that there is not universal agreement about what “complexity” actually is. We know it when we see it, perhaps, but there are a number of aspects to the phenomenon, and different researchers will naturally focus on their favorites. Today’s guest, David Krakauer, is president of the Santa Fe Institute and a longtime researcher in complexity. He points the finger at the concept of agency. A ball rolling down a hill just mindlessly obeys equations of motion, but a complex system gathers information and uses it to adapt. We talk about what that means and how to think about the current state of complexity science.

David Krakauer received his D.Phil. in evolutionary biology from Oxford University. He is currently President and William H. Miller Professor of Complex Systems at the Santa Fe Institute. Previously he was at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he was the founding director of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery and the Co-director of the Center for Complexity and Collective Computation. He was included in Wired magazine’s list of “50 People Who Will Change the World.”

Mindscape Podcast playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrxfgDEc2NxY_fRExpDXr87tzRbPCaA5x.
Sean Carroll channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/seancarroll.

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Humans and artificial neural networks exhibit some similar patterns during learning

Past psychology and behavioral science studies have identified various ways in which people’s acquisition of new knowledge can be disrupted. One of these, known as interference, occurs when humans are learning new information and this makes it harder for them to correctly recall knowledge that they had acquired earlier.

Interestingly, a similar tendency was also observed in artificial neural networks (ANNs), computational models inspired by biological neurons and the connections between them. In ANNs, interference can manifest as so-called catastrophic forgetting, a process via which models “unlearn” specific skills or information after they are trained on a new task.

In some other instances, knowledge acquired in the past can instead help humans or ANNs to learn how to complete a new task. This phenomenon, known as “transfer,” entails the application of existing knowledge of skills to a novel task or problem.

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