Deep underground, plunging 1604ft (489m) beneath the Chihuahuan Desert in southern New Mexico, lies the Lechuguilla Cave, a cavern which stretches on for 149 miles (240km). There is no light, and little to eat either. Any living thing must eke out an existence under conditions of near starvation.

"You can go in an entrance and travel for 16 hours in one direction before you get to the end of it," says Hazel Barton, professor of geological sciences at the University of Alabama.

"So you're a very, very, very long way from the entrance. You're isolated, and there are places in that cave where more people have walked on the moon than have been in that area."

The bacteria also have an even more surprising trick up their sleeve – they are resistant to most antibiotics, despite the fact that they have been trapped in a cave that formed six million years ago, most of which was completely sealed off from humans until 1986. Not only is this resistance a remarkable natural phenomenon, it is now helping guide researchers to drugs that can withstand the onslaught of antimicrobial resistance in modern medicine.

In 2020, scientists at Tufts created tiny novel living forms called xenobots from frog cells, capable of traversing a watery environment, healing their own injuries, and even gathering other cells to build xenobot siblings.

Now, researchers at Tufts and the Wyss Institute have taken the quest to reimagine life forms a step further, adding nerve cells and observing how they self-organize and alter xenobot behavior. The resulting neurobots take on new shapes and show unique behaviors...

The more we understand about the importance of sleep, the more we try to improve our sleep — making apps that claim to track sleep using smartwatches and other devices increasingly popular. But the technology is still new, and its effectiveness is not fully understood. A study by scientists in Norway shows that, while some users find their sleep improves, people with insomnia symptoms are more likely to experience stress and other negative effects. If your sleep is already poor, using an app to fix it could make things worse.

Research.

Researchers show that a quick nasal swab can pick up early biological changes linked to Alzheimer’s, even before thinking and memory problems appear.

In spain they managed to grow half the vegables of all of EU on a landsize equalent to half of new york using the power of the sun inside huge "tents" with roof of clear plastic. This is so impressive, and gives hope for the future!

Research.

Some generations—especially late Gen X and early Millennials—are already experiencing worse mortality than those before them

According to the FSIP’s forecast, China’s public spending on research is likely to overtake that of the United States in the next two to three years.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/8001312

Scientists in Brazil described a new-to-science species of poison dart frog last year. It was first found among the leaves of wild banana plants on a research expedition to the Juruá River Basin in the western Amazon in 2023.

The frog, around the length of a paperclip (14–17 millimeters, or 0.5-0.7 inches), is reddish-brown and blue on top, bright blue with black spots underneath, and has copper-colored legs. It was named Ranitomeya aetherea, in reference to the word “ethereal.”

“We attribute this name to one’s feeling of enchantment and delicacy when encountering these frogs, as if they were from outside this world,” the study’s authors wrote in the species’ description.

The species has only been found at one site, where it lays its eggs in the small pools of water that collect inside plant leaves. This remote habitat is largely intact, with no immediate threats from deforestation or wildfires, creating a shield of protection from human-led activities.

This is in stark contrast to most other amphibian species, 40% of which are threatened with extinction. However, researchers stressed that biopiracy — the illegal collection and trade of rare species — and climate change are still threats.

The frog’s exact toxicity is unknown, but the whole Ranitomeya family is known to be poisonous, with toxins on their skin and bright colors to alert would-be predators.

“We know it’s poisonous to those that try to prey on it,” lead author Alexander Mônico, a researcher at the National Institute for Amazonian Research (INPA), told Mongabay. “But for us it’s fine, we’re able to handle them with our bare hands. We just need to be careful about any cuts.”

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/57064739

The survey of nearly 1,000 researchers supported by the National Institutes of Health, the nation’s leading funder of biomedical research, paints a concerning portrait of the state of American science. More than a quarter of respondents have laid off lab members, and more than 2 out of every 5 have canceled planned research. Two-thirds have counseled students to consider careers outside the ivory tower.

Strikingly, despite courts reversing some grant terminations and Congress thwarting plans to slash the NIH budget, just 35% of respondents whose grants were cut or delayed said their government funding had been fully restored by the end of 2025.

Labs aren’t just shrinking. In some cases, they’re on track to shut down permanently, with early-career researchers among the hardest hit. A staggering 81% of junior tenure-track scientists said they are very or somewhat concerned that disruptions to their research productivity could threaten their chances of earning tenure.

In follow-up interviews, survey respondents told STAT that interrupted funding and changes in federal priorities caused patients to drop out of a diabetes prevention trial in Puerto Rico, forced an Ohio researcher on the cusp of losing her position to close her lab, and led one scientist to take a 95% pay cut in a last-ditch bid to avoid laying off staff.

STAT interviewed 30 respondents, not all of whom have been severely impacted. But many said they were enraged and disillusioned that the federal government, historically science’s largest and most reliable partner, had blindsided researchers with an array of funding cuts and delays. Several warned that the full scope of last year’s policy changes — measured in discoveries that aren’t made, at least not in the United States — won’t be visible for years. As they spoke, a couple of researchers wept.

“This is like the Titanic hitting the iceberg,” said Steve Shoptaw, who runs the Center for Behavioral and Addiction Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, which has shrunk by 40% due to funding cuts. “People are still eating at the table, music’s still playing, and yet the ship is sinking.”

New regulations ask manufacturers to provide efficacy and safety data—or withdraw their products