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Hello Nature readers, | |||||
Rendering based on electron-microscope data, showing the positions of neurons in a fragment of the brain cortex. Neurons are coloured according to size. (Google Research & Lichtman Lab (Harvard University). Renderings by D. Berger (Harvard University)) | |||||
A millimetre of brain in spectacular detailResearchers have created an exquisitely detailed atlas of a tiny piece of one woman's brain, which had been removed during surgery to treat her epilepsy. The sample was cut into thousands of nanometre-thick slices and each was imaged with electron microscopes. AI tools then classified different structures and cells, and created a 3D reconstruction of the sample. "I remember this moment, going into the map and looking at one individual synapse from this woman's brain, and then zooming out into these other millions of pixels," says neuroscientist and study co-author Viren Jain. "It felt sort of spiritual." Nature | 4 min read (from May)Reference: Science paper | |||||
The fat-gut-cancer linkA study in mice and people suggests why there is a link between obesity and some cancers: a high-fat diet increases the number of Desulfovibrio bacteria in the gut. These release leucine, an amino acid, which encourages the proliferation of a kind of cell that suppresses the immune system. With a suppressed immune system, breast cancer tumour growth increases. "It's a provocative finding that will open up new avenues that we should be thinking about," says nutritional biologist Stephen Hursting. Nature | 3 min read (from May)Reference: PNAS paper | |||||
Biggest genome ever foundA species of fork fern, Tmesipteris oblanceolata, has the biggest genome ever recorded. It contains 160 billion base pairs — 11 billion more than the previous record holder, the flowering plant Paris japonica, and 50 times more than the human genome. It's not known why the plant evolved that way, or how it accesses the relatively small proportion of DNA that is actually useful. "It's like trying to find a few books with the instructions for how to survive in a library of millions of books — it's just ridiculous," says evolutionary biologist Ilia Leitch, who co-discovered the giant genome. Nature | 4 min readReference: iScience paper | |||||
Tmesipteris oblanceolata is native to New Caledonia and neighbouring archipelagos in the South Pacific. (Pol Fernandez) | |||||
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Four must-read science booksOur pick of the best science and science-fiction books to read now:
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Great science, one minute at a timeScience in Shorts is an opportunity for researchers to tell the world about their work in a video of one minute or less. The top 10 (full disclosure: I was one of the judges for the shortlist) premiered at the Curious2024 - Future Insight conference where the 2000-strong crowd voted Microbial Medicine for Plants as the winner — and once you see the costumes, you'll know why. Science in Shorts | 10 1-min videos | |||||
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Summer books: our pick of what to read this season
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