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A nanoscale robotic cleaner can hunt, capture and remove bacteria

Tiny robots—around 50 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair—open up fascinating possibilities: they enable the controlled manipulation of objects far too small for human hands. This brings us closer to a long-standing dream—the direct interaction with the microscopic world.

Particularly relevant are biological objects in aqueous environments, such as single cells or bacteria. Handling such objects in a controlled and targeted way has remained a major challenge.

A team of researchers have demonstrated how such microscopic cleaners can be employed and precisely controlled. The study is published in the journal Nature Communications. The nanorobots presented demonstrate that controlled manipulation, including collection and relocation of bacteria, is already achievable.

The brain’s default mode network splits into ‘sender’ and ‘receiver’ zones, study finds

The default mode network (DMN) is a distributed set of interconnected brain regions that has long been associated with internally oriented cognition, such as remembering the past, thinking about the future, or thinking about oneself. Accumulating evidence also indicates that the DMN is engaged during tasks involving external perceptual input, such as language comprehension and social perception. However, the mechanism by which the same network supports both internally and externally oriented cognition has remained unknown.

Now, a research team led by Zhang Meichao from the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has identified an organizational principle within the DMN that helps explain how the network supports both internal and external cognition.

The study, published in PNAS, reveals that distinct subregions within the DMN act as “senders” and “receivers” of information, enabling flexible shifts between perception and memory-driven thought.

New acute myeloid leukemia “don’t eat me” signal discovered!

Macrophages, much like Alice of “Alice in Wonderland,” recognize and consume tumor cells that display “eat me” surface markers. However, tumor cells can evade detection by macrophages if they successfully present “don’t eat me” signals.

The team conducted a genome-scale loss of function screen in AML cell lines, systematically turning off individual genes and cataloging those that affected detection by macrophages.

Surprisingly, the classic CD47 “don’t eat me” signal had only a weak effect. Instead, the researchers found that another signal—CD43—had a much stronger influence on macrophage detection.

The inhibitory activity of CD43 was dependent on its sialic acid residues and the length of its ectodomain but independent of the canonical sialic acid–binding receptors SIGLEC-1, SIGLEC-7, and SIGLEC-9.

Inactivation of CD43 function restored the ability of macrophages to phagocytize AML. ScienceMission sciencenewshighlights.

One DNA letter can trigger complete sex reversal

Researchers at Bar-Ilan University have discovered that changing just one letter in DNA can completely alter sex development in mice. In the new study, published in Nature Communications, a single-letter insertion in a non-coding regulatory region caused XX mice, which would normally develop as females, to develop instead as males with testis and male genitalia.

The finding is especially striking because the mutation was not made in a gene itself, but in a distant stretch of DNA that helps control a key developmental gene. The study highlights the major role of the non-coding genome —the 98% of DNA that does not make proteins but helps regulate when and how genes are turned on and off.

“This is a remarkable finding because such a tiny change—just one DNA letter out of approximately 2.8 billion—was enough to produce a dramatic developmental outcome,” said Dr. Nitzan Gonen, from the Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences and Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials at Bar-Ilan University. “It shows that non-coding DNA can have a profound effect on development and disease.”

Longitudinal study links associative learning gains to later improvements in fluid intelligence

As children grow, their capacity to memorize associations and their ability to solve novel problems actively reinforce each other. New research suggests that these core cognitive skills develop together in a bidirectional loop during elementary school.

Gravitational waves may be hidden in the light atoms emit

“Our findings may open a route toward compact gravitational-wave sensing, where the relevant atomic ensemble is millimeter-scale,” said Navdeep Arya, a postdoctoral researcher at Stockholm University. “A thorough noise analysis is necessary to assess practical feasibility, but our first estimates are promising.”

If confirmed, this approach could eventually lead to much smaller and more accessible detectors, offering a new way to observe some of the universe’s most dramatic events.

Enucleated cells with Nectin-1 overexpression capture HSV-1 and promote viral elimination for herpes simplex encephalitis therapy

Zhou et al. describe an antiviral strategy for herpes simplex encephalitis that employs enucleated MSCs overexpressing Nectin-1 as decoys. This strategy effectively sequesters the virus and prevents its intracellular replication. Ultimately, they undergo programmed apoptosis, thereby facilitating macrophage-mediated clearance. This strategy offers a therapeutic approach for refractory viral infections.

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