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Dolphins chat when teaming up to do tasks
In this section n Using atoms as tiny hard drives, page 10 n Climate agreement: are countries signing a doomed deal?, page 18 n Matchmaking by looking at data, page 22
Cow’s milk carb boosts a baby’s good bacteria COW’S milk straight up may be longum infantis, or B. infantis for off the menu for young babies, short. “Up to 90 per cent of a but one of its ingredients seems baby’s gut bacteria can be B. to encourage the growth of a infantis,” says David Mills at the healthy set of gut bugs, much as University of California at Davis. breast milk does. Cow’s milk itself “If you don’t have infantlacks essential nutrients but the associated Bifidobacteria, a type compound could be added to called bacteroides can become infant formula. dominant, and encourage the Breast milk is a wonder drink growth of E. coli.” for newborns. It contains a host Now Mills’s team has found of beneficial components, such that oligosaccharides in cow’s as antibodies that protect a baby “A nutrient in cow’s milk from disease, and the proteins, could provide a ready vitamins and fat needed for source of prebiotics for development. It also contains use in infant formula” oligosaccharides – carbohydrates that act as prebiotics and encourage the growth of the milk can encourage B. infantis to right gut bacteria. thrive. They used an enzyme to This is important: a baby’s first separate the oligosaccharides collection of bacteria is thought from the proteins in cow’s milk, to affect which other microbial and tried growing the bacteria species are able to make a home on each of the two nutrients. B. in their gut. Allowing the wrong infantis failed to grow on the ones to dominate can put a person proteins from the milk. But the at risk of developing all sorts of oligosaccharide had striking disorders, including obesity and effects, encouraging the bacteria even Parkinson’s disease. to grow dramatically. A baby’s gut microbiome is far Interestingly, it had no impact simpler than that of a healthy on similar strains of bacteria adult. It is usually dominated by commonly found in adults – it a single species – Bifidobacteria only worked on the infant strain
YOU must be pulling my flipper. Bottlenose dolphins have been seen chattering to each other while solving a tricky puzzle, hinting they have vocalisations dedicated to cooperating on problem-solving. Holli Eskelinen of the Dolphins Plus research institute in Florida and her colleagues presented a group of six captive dolphins with a locked canister filled with food (pictured below). The canister could only be opened by simultaneously pulling a –Soup it up with prebiotics– rope at either end of it. The team conducted 24 trials, during which all six dolphins were present. Only two (Applied and Environmental of the dolphins managed to crack Microbiology, doi.org/bfcz). the puzzle and get to the food. “It’s a bit of a surprise, because In 20 of the trials, the same human milk is so different to two adult males worked together cow’s milk,” says Mills. to open the food canister within just Because of those differences 30 seconds. In the other four trials, cow’s milk isn’t recommended one of the two males opened it for children under 1. But in terms alone, but this was much trickier of the oligosaccharides at least, and took longer. the two types of milk are actually When the dolphins teamed up, similar, says Mills. This means they made more vocalisations than that cow’s milk – and potentially they did while opening the canister the milk of other animals – on their own or when there was either could provide a ready source no canister present or no interaction of these prebiotics for adding with the canister (Animal Cognition, to infant formula. doi.org/bfct). Karen Scott at the University “The results point toward the of Aberdeen, UK, agrees. “It looks possibility of a dolphin language that like if you pre-treat cow’s milk enables team problem-solving,” says with an enzyme, you could have marine ecologist Leigh Torres at a low-cost source of useful Oregon State University. Robin Wylie n oligosaccharides, which are
difficult to manufacture,” she says. One source could be whey permeate – a by-product of cheese-making. At the moment, this tends to be thrown away, but it could contain plenty of useful oligosaccharides, says Mills. Mills’s wider goal is to figure out exactly what makes for an ideal microbiome in babies. “The more we know about what B. infantis looks like, the better we can diagnose a healthy gut in a healthy child,” he says. Jessica Hamzelou n
brian Skerry/national geographic
Thanasis Zovoilis/Getty
Dolphins chat when teaming up to do tasks
–Come on, butterflippers– 23 April 2016 | NewScientist | 9
Cow’s milk carb boosts a baby’s good bacteria COW’S milk straight up may be longum infantis, or B. infantis for off the menu for young babies, short. “Up to 90 per cent of a but one of its ingredients seems baby’s gut bacteria can be B. to encourage the growth of a infantis,” says David Mills at the healthy set of gut bugs, much as University of California at Davis. breast milk does. Cow’s milk itself “If you don’t have infantlacks essential nutrients but the associated Bifidobacteria, a type compound could be added to called bacteroides can become infant formula. dominant, and encourage the Breast milk is a wonder drink growth of E. coli.” for newborns. It contains a host Now Mills’s team has found of beneficial components, such that oligosaccharides in cow’s as antibodies that protect a baby “A nutrient in cow’s milk from disease, and the proteins, could provide a ready vitamins and fat needed for source of prebiotics for development. It also contains use in infant formula” oligosaccharides – carbohydrates that act as prebiotics and encourage the growth of the milk can encourage B. infantis to right gut bacteria. thrive. They used an enzyme to This is important: a baby’s first separate the oligosaccharides collection of bacteria is thought from the proteins in cow’s milk, to affect which other microbial and tried growing the bacteria species are able to make a home on each of the two nutrients. B. in their gut. Allowing the wrong infantis failed to grow on the ones to dominate can put a person proteins from the milk. But the at risk of developing all sorts of oligosaccharide had striking disorders, including obesity and effects, encouraging the bacteria even Parkinson’s disease. to grow dramatically. A baby’s gut microbiome is far Interestingly, it had no impact simpler than that of a healthy on similar strains of bacteria adult. It is usually dominated by commonly found in adults – it a single species – Bifidobacteria only worked on the infant strain
YOU must be pulling my flipper. Bottlenose dolphins have been seen chattering to each other while solving a tricky puzzle, hinting they have vocalisations dedicated to cooperating on problem-solving. Holli Eskelinen of the Dolphins Plus research institute in Florida and her colleagues presented a group of six captive dolphins with a locked canister filled with food (pictured below). The canister could only be opened by simultaneously pulling a –Soup it up with prebiotics– rope at either end of it. The team conducted 24 trials, during which all six dolphins were present. Only two (Applied and Environmental of the dolphins managed to crack Microbiology, doi.org/bfcz). the puzzle and get to the food. “It’s a bit of a surprise, because In 20 of the trials, the same human milk is so different to two adult males worked together cow’s milk,” says Mills. to open the food canister within just Because of those differences 30 seconds. In the other four trials, cow’s milk isn’t recommended one of the two males opened it for children under 1. But in terms alone, but this was much trickier of the oligosaccharides at least, and took longer. the two types of milk are actually When the dolphins teamed up, similar, says Mills. This means they made more vocalisations than that cow’s milk – and potentially they did while opening the canister the milk of other animals – on their own or when there was either could provide a ready source no canister present or no interaction of these prebiotics for adding with the canister (Animal Cognition, to infant formula. doi.org/bfct). Karen Scott at the University “The results point toward the of Aberdeen, UK, agrees. “It looks possibility of a dolphin language that like if you pre-treat cow’s milk enables team problem-solving,” says with an enzyme, you could have marine ecologist Leigh Torres at a low-cost source of useful Oregon State University. Robin Wylie n oligosaccharides, which are
difficult to manufacture,” she says. One source could be whey permeate – a by-product of cheese-making. At the moment, this tends to be thrown away, but it could contain plenty of useful oligosaccharides, says Mills. Mills’s wider goal is to figure out exactly what makes for an ideal microbiome in babies. “The more we know about what B. infantis looks like, the better we can diagnose a healthy gut in a healthy child,” he says. Jessica Hamzelou n
brian Skerry/national geographic
Thanasis Zovoilis/Getty
Dolphins chat when teaming up to do tasks
–Come on, butterflippers– 23 April 2016 | NewScientist | 9